Was Little Goofball's ability stealing away a target's certain functions? Earlier on it had been Little Aunt's sense of smell and taste, and this time it seemed like it was Uncle's ability to speak.

Zhang Yuanqing, who was pretending to cough, felt a surge of excitement. If it could steal away certain abilities from ordinary people, could it also steal abilities from Spirit Realm Walkers?

If that was the case, then this little spirit servant's value would be enormous.

At that moment, Uncle came to his senses. He recalled his most recent performance, and the nightclub veteran's face flushed red with confusion and embarrassment.

Haha, so even Uncle can feel awkward, Zhang Yuanqing gloated inwardly as he watched the infant spirit perched on uncle's neck. It seemed greatly drained and was growing drowsy.

"Um, well... I was just playing around with you all," Uncle said. "I suddenly remembered what Yuanzi looked like as a child and couldn't help but imitate him."

Uncle truly lived up to his reputation as an old hustler with decades of experience. His skin was thick as a city wall, and he quickly threw his nephew under the bus.

Zhang Yuanqing was caught off-guard.

"At your age? How embarrassing!" Grandma scolded him angrily.

"Mom, I'm still a child," Uncle said with a grin. "I'll always be your child."

Grandma looked disgusted.

"Get out, get out!"

After dinner ended, Uncle's family returned to their apartment across the hall. Zhang Yuanqing went to the bathroom early to wash up, instructed Little Aunt not to disturb him that night, then entered his bedroom.

He had to sleep early since he needed to get up early the next day to go to work. He had to meet Li Dongze to report the appearance of the infant spirit to him.

Before that, though, he wanted to try taming this little guy.

Zhang Yuanqing sat cross legged on the bed. Little Goofball was curled up and sleeping in his arms, holding onto his thumb and sucking it. The Power of the Dark Moon flowed into the baby like a gentle thread, entering the infant spirit's body and nourishing it.

According to the forum post's description, once a spirit servant was successfully refined, one only needed to feed it with the Power of the Dark Moon periodically to keep the spirit servant existing permanently in the world.

Zhang Yuanqing had basically found a ready-made treasure.

This little guy still doesn't seem too smart right now, he thought to himself. I wonder if his intelligence will improve in the future.

Zhang Yuanqing calmed his emotions and channeled the Power of the Dark Moon. Rich, viscous darkness surged from the depths of his eyes, gradually replacing the whites of his eyes and completely enveloping them.

"Huu..."

Zhang Yuanqing exhaled a breath of pale black mist that enveloped the infant spirit, then he opened his mouth and sucked it into his belly.

Instantly, Zhang Yuanqing felt an additional consciousness within his body, one that was weak and inactive.

Following the method described in the forum post, he activated the Power of the Dark Moon, washing it over this consciousness again and again, imprinting his own mark on it, making it accept his power and become his spirit servant.

The process lasted for over ten seconds. Suddenly, he felt his consciousness sink into a space of dark nothingness.

It was very warm and comfortable, like sleeping in a mother's embrace.

His consciousness had sunk into the infant spirit's "body" and briefly merged with it.

Everything the forum post said was true, he marveled. The master can control the spirit servant's consciousness and abilities, briefly dominating their 'body'.

After this initial adaptation period, a completely new talent naturally emerged in Zhang Yuanqing's mind, as if it were innate.

This talent was called Exchange. It allowed him to exchange some of his own things for those of his target.

For example, he could exchange his own sense of taste for the opponent's sense of taste, or his own speech for the opponent's speech. The duration of this power was three seconds.

To activate the skill, one had to touch the target.

That's why Little Aunt lost her sense of taste, and why Uncle regressed into infantile babbling, he realized.

This exchange didn't necessarily have to be equivalent. In theory, he could exchange his own worthless abilities for the more precious abilities of his targets. It was just that the infant spirit was too young, and its intelligence too limited, to allow it to perform such precise operations.

By itself, the infant spirit could only make equivalent exchanges, and even then, it activated this skill randomly. Additionally, the infant spirit was, for the moment, constrained to exchanging only physical abilities. It couldn't exchange skills, at least not at its current stage.

However, if Zhang Yuanqing were to operate it instead, he could achieve the fine manipulation of trading trash for divine skills.

Finally, as the master, Zhang Yuanqing could also transfer any damage, controlling effects and other negative conditions he suffered onto the spirit servant, splitting the burden between the two.

I finally understand why Nocturnal Specter is one of the peak classes. It really is ridiculously powerful, Zhang Yuanqing silently mused.

He brought his consciousness back to his own body.

"Yii, yii..."

The infant spirit crawled to his side on its little stubby legs and nuzzled Zhang Yuanqing's hand with its sparsely-haired head, wanting to suck his thumb.

This thing really could eat.

"No, this is where you should get your food," Zhang Yuanqing said, pointing to his chest.

The infant spirit tilted its head and stared at him blankly for a moment. It seemed to finally understand his meaning and obediently crawled toward his chest.

"Get lost."

Zhang Yuanqing swallowed it into his belly, storing it inside his body.

***

The next morning, Zhang Yuanqing got up and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Just as he picked up his toothbrush, a thought occurred to him. He opened his mouth and breathed out a stream of dark energy, and the tiny form of the infant spirit appeared on the sink.

Having been nourished by the Power of the Dark Moon, it looked quite energetic, and its dark round eyes looked at Zhang Yuanqing with pure innocence.

"Let me teach you some basic life knowledge," Zhang Yuanqing said to the infant spirit. "This is a toothbrush. Your master here is about to brush his teeth. Come on, repeat after me: toothbrush, brush teeth. Use the toothbrush to brush teeth..."

Since the little thing wasn't a mindless spirit, it would eventually grow. During its growing process, he, as its master, needed to impart the right values to it.

It had to be an upright ghost that obeyed laws and rejected gambling and drugs.

The infant spirit tilted its head and looked at him blankly.

"Toothbrush, brush teeth, use toothbrush to brush teeth. Hurry up and repeat after me..."

The little infant spirit stared at him in puzzlement.

Zhang Yuanqing persisted for a while more, then his motivation suddenly tanked and temporarily gave up on teaching. He couldn't tell whether he or Little Goofball was the bigger idiot in this scenario.

After washing up, his phone rang. It was Li Dongze calling.

"Hello. Yes, Squad Leader?" he answered.

"Yuanshi, come into the office this morning. There's something I need your cooperation with."

"What is it?"

"A Nocturnal Specter from the Taiyi Sect has something to ask you. We'll discuss the specifics when you get here."

A Nocturnal Specter from the Taiyi Sect is looking for me? Did they take a fancy to this peerless genius of mine and want to recruit me? In that case, they should have contacted me privately, he thought rather haughtily to himself.

"Alright, Squad Leader," Zhang Yuanqing said instead before he hung up.

He happened to need to go to work to report about the infant spirit incident anyway.

After breakfast, he shouldered his backpack pretending to go to school, left the residential complex, hailed a taxi, and headed straight for the Public Security Bureau, where he entered the two-storey glass building.

Just as he arrived at Li Dongze's office door, he heard hearty laughter coming from inside.

"Oh God, that's the funniest joke I've ever heard."

"Let me tell you another amusing story. You know Captain Zhao, right? The guy who always walks into the women's restroom by mistake? When he first became a Nocturnal Specter, he once devoured seven female spirits in one go. From then on, he developed the habit of squatting to pee, and couldn't change it for many years."

"Hahaha, oh God, that's the funniest joke I've ever heard. The previous one doesn't count."

"Not bad. I know many secrets about Nocturnal Specters. I'll tell you more in detail later, but you have to promise not to spread it around. After all, neither of us are gossips, right?"

Knock, knock!

Zhang Yuanqing rapped on the glass door.

The laughter inside immediately stopped, and Li Dongze's steady voice came through the door. "Come in."

Zhang Yuanqing pushed open the door and saw Li Dongze sitting on the sofa at the reception area, drinking with a man dressed in a black suit and black shirt.

This man dressed all in black had fairly decent features. His skin was slightly pale, and he was lean, with a vague air of nobility about him.

"Our excellent newcomer has arrived," Li Dongze announced with a smile, then flicked his eyes to a corner of the room. "There's cola in the fridge. Help yourself."

After Zhang Yuanqing twisted open the bottle cap and took a gulp, Li Dongze made the introductions.

"Yuan Ting, Taiyi Sect's captain that is stationed in Kangyang District, and a Level 3 Nocturnal Specter. He's an elite amongst elites in our official organizations."

Nocturnal Specters boasted peak combat power, and a Level 3 Nocturnal Specter was a top-tier existence in the Transcendent tier.

Yuan Ting sighed and shook hands with Zhang Yuanqing. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"A talented young man, indeed," he said with regret. "Elder Sun was truly foolish!"

Zhang Yuanqing's face lit up with an enthusiastic smile.

"The moment I saw Captain Yuan, I felt an inexplicable sense of closeness, as though I were meeting family," he declared. "Could this be the sense of belonging between Nocturnal Specters?"

Since there was an outsider present, he temporarily refrained from mentioning the matter of the infant spirit.

Yuan Ting was stunned.

"Nocturnal Specters shouldn't normally feel such a sensation," he murmured.

"So it's you who gave me that feeling of closeness, Captain Yuan!" Zhang Yuanqing declared, as though he'd just had a sudden realization. "You are truly charismatic!"

Yuan Ting couldn't control the smile blooming on his face. This kid really knew how to converse. However, he realized once again that he was speaking with Li Dongze's subordinate, and immediately felt a pang of regret.

"Elder Sun was truly foolish!" he repeated again.

Seeing the two making eyes at each other, Li Dongze coughed and said seriously, "Captain Yuan is here on official business today."

He turned to Yuan Ting and asked, "Should we do this in my office, or go to the conference room across the hall?"

"Let's go to the conference room," the Nocturnal Specter replied.

With that, he picked up the briefcase from the glass coffee table, nodded at Zhang Yuanqing, and smiled.

"Could we have a word in private?" he asked him.

Zhang Yuanqing wondered in surprise, He wants to interview me alone? Given Squad Leader's attitude, it doesn't seem like they're here to try to poach me. What exactly is this about?

However, he did not decline the invitation.

"Of course! But I'd like to use the restroom first."

Yuan Ting nodded in acknowledgment, and was the first to leave the office.

Zhang Yuanqing headed out into the main office area. He glanced around, deliberately ignored Wang Tai, who was hunched over writing some kind of academic paper, and walked to Guan Ya's desk.

"I didn't get the honey trap I was waiting for, but I hooked a Nocturnal Specter from the Taiyi Sect instead," he said jokingly.

Guan Ya, who was holding her cup, said with a smile, "That means it's not a honey trap. Hmm, Scorpios are supposed to have good luck today, but when talking with colleagues and superiors, you need to be extra careful, or things might completely reverse themselves."

She was wearing a white shirt and short skirt. Her long hair was slightly curled and freshly styled making her look refined and fashionable. Her oval face was bright and alluring, and her natural mixed-heritage charm was augmented by a light and tasteful hint of makeup.

"For example, when you're hitting on me, I might righteously reject you, which would cause our friendship to capsize?" Zhang Yuanqing replied teasingly.

"No, you won't refuse, because you're a Scorpio," Guan Ya said seriously.

Enough! If you keep slandering Scorpios, I'm going to beat you with a stick!

However, he had gotten the hint he wanted. He immediately turned around and quickly walked to the conference room door, then gently knocked on the glass door.

"Come in," Yuan Ting responded from inside.