Qiao Sang's pupils suddenly constricted.
One must understand that essence is a characteristic of living beings; the more abundant a person's essence, the more energetic and vital they seem.
As long as a person is alive, they possess essence; it is merely a matter of whether it is flourishing or declining. However, for this essence to attract the attention of a Ghost-type pet, simply being alive is not enough.
The body needs to be brimming with a vast amount of essence.
The Ghost-type pets in horror movies love to feast on the essence of young people; one never sees them specifically seeking out the elderly to feed upon.
An elderly person naturally has very little essence, and since it is recessed within the body, Ghost-type pets cannot sense it at all.
For pets like the Soul-Sucking Lantern, which enjoy guiding lost people in exchange for essence, big data shows that the people they help are almost always young.
Death Qi, on the other hand, is an aura associated with the absence of life.
Death Qi is most concentrated in places like funeral parlors, morgues, and cemeteries.
When Death Qi appears on a person, it indicates that their life is nearing its end.
For Death Qi to attract a Ghost-type pet, it must be extremely dense. Sensing it on a living person basically indicates that the person will certainly perish within three days.
Logically, the essence and Death Qi that can be sensed by Ghost-type pets should both be beyond the normal energy range.
Yet, Little Treasure-Hunting Ghost had sensed both on the old lady.
This defied logic!
Qiao Sang pondered privately. All abnormal phenomena were caused by supernatural creatures; could this be related to the missing Soul-Sucking Lantern?
Suddenly, Qiao Sang's mind raced.
She tried her best to connect all the dots: the old lady herself was on the verge of death, but her family arrived on the same day, and then the Soul-Sucking Lantern disappeared and the old lady lived.
Connecting the sequence of events...
Qiao Sang unconsciously rested her chin on her right hand and began to spin a conspiracy theory.
Could it be that the old lady's family knew of some ability of the Soul-Sucking Lantern and forced it to use that ability to extend the old lady's lifespan?
But if the price for doing so was death, then the Soul-Sucking Lantern would be gone, and the old lady, unaware of this, was still foolishly posting a mission to find it.
No...
Qiao Sang quickly dismissed her own hypothesis.
If the Soul-Sucking Lantern had died, the old lady, as its Beast Tamer, would have known immediately...
But what if the Soul-Sucking Lantern saved the old lady and didn't die?
Qiao Sang took out her phone and began searching.
[What ability does the Soul-Sucking Lantern have that can bring a dying person back to life?]
The webpage quickly provided an answer.
[Sorry, no webpages were found related to "What ability does the Soul-Sucking Lantern have that can bring a dying person back to life"]
Qiao Sang: "..."
It seemed no one had ever asked this question...
Unwilling to give up, she logged onto a forum and posted a thread about the issue.
Only ten seconds after posting, several replies appeared below.
[I don't know how a Soul-Sucking Lantern makes a dying person live, but I do know how it makes a dying person die faster. Want to hear it?]
[Why am I seeing this question in my feed?]
[OP, your way of thinking is a bit off.]
[Please! This is a Ghost-type pet, not some Divine Pet with God-tier healing skills!]
[I'll have to educate the OP on this: Soul-Sucking Lanterns absorb essence; they don't give it away.]
Qiao Sang fell into deep thought as she looked at the last reply.
That's right, Soul-Sucking Lanterns love essence the most, so they must store some amount of it in their bodies. If it could transfer that essence into a person on the brink of death...
Qiao Sang exited the forum and quickly scrolled through her recent call logs, finding the number she wanted to dial.
For a question that the general public wouldn't discuss, it was naturally more reliable to ask someone knowledgeable.
The phone rang twice before it was answered.
"Hello, what's up?" a steady voice came through the speaker.
"Vice Principal, I want to ask if a Soul-Sucking Lantern can give essence to a person?" Qiao Sang asked bluntly.
Liu Yao put down the documents in his hand. Qiao Sang had been contacting him frequently lately; he didn't even need the caller ID—he knew it was her just by the sound of her voice.
However, he hadn't expected her to call and ask such a question right off the bat.
Although Qiao Sang's academic grades weren't great, the problems she liked to explore were far beyond the level of a high school student.
After pausing for a few seconds, Liu Yao replied, "It cannot. A Soul-Sucking Lantern absorbs essence through the wick inside its body. If it were to release the absorbed essence, it would simply dissipate into the air; it wouldn't enter a human body in any specific way."
"The human anatomy is fixed; humans cannot absorb this kind of energy like Ghost-type pets do."
Qiao Sang frowned slightly. Had she guessed wrong?
"Then can the wick of a Soul-Sucking Lantern be transferred into a human body?"
Since the wick was the key to absorbing essence, wouldn't it work the same way inside a human body?
Liu Yao's expression turned solemn. He hadn't expected Qiao Sang to ask this.
Moving the wick from a Soul-Sucking Lantern into a human body was equivalent to removing the pet's most vital organ.
Several centuries ago, some researchers had conducted such insane experiments in order to obtain certain abilities of pets for themselves, but they only stopped after the Alliance strictly banned the practice.
He hadn't expected Qiao Sang to think of such a dark concept at her young age.
He felt it was necessary to correct Qiao Sang's thinking. Given her level of genius, her future prospects were undoubtedly limitless; if her mindset became warped, it could lead to a great disaster.
Liu Yao said seriously, "Of course not. A Soul-Sucking Lantern without a wick is like a human without a heart. Furthermore, the human body simply cannot withstand that kind of energy. If this were done, both the Soul-Sucking Lantern and the person receiving the wick would perish."
Qiao Sang fell silent. If that were the case, then her previous deduction was entirely wrong.
But then what was happening with the changes in the old lady?
Hearing no response from Qiao Sang, Liu Yao asked concernedly, "Where are you now? Did you see something or hear something from someone? Why are you suddenly asking this?"
Qiao Sang sighed and said, "I'm currently out doing a mission. Today we went to the Beast Center..."
After she spent two minutes explaining the cause and effect of the situation, she noticed there was no sound from the other end of the line.
Qiao Sang held the phone in front of her eyes and saw that the call was still connected.
"Vice Principal?" Qiao Sang called out uncertainly, placing the phone back to her ear.
"...I'm here. The signal was just bad."
Liu Yao felt a bit embarrassed. While someone else was working hard on a mission, he had actually been speculating that her thoughts were dangerous...
"Actually, it's not that a Soul-Sucking Lantern's wick cannot stay in a human body for a short period," Liu Yao said with a dry cough. "It's just that it cannot stay for too long, otherwise the Soul-Sucking Lantern itself will perish. Moreover, the wick can only be removed if the Soul-Sucking Lantern does so voluntarily."
"Researchers once found that whether using instrument scans or dissecting a dead Soul-Sucking Lantern, the wick could never be found."
(End of Chapter)