Lou Lan was stunned for a moment.

She had never considered the consequences that might come after a dissection, and no one had ever told her that if a vengeful spirit was dissected, it might turn into an Evil Spirit.

She suddenly understood Shen Cang a little better. The reason he wouldn’t allow her to dissect every corpse probably included this concern, right?

If it’s an Evil Spirit, someone who did all kinds of wicked things when alive, then being dissected after death is nothing wrong, you could even call it a belated retribution.

But what if it’s a victim who never did anything bad their whole life, whose soul turned into a vengeful spirit because of resentment—if they discover that even their corpse was dissected after death, would they go mad?

Lou Lan took a deep breath and realized where her usual blind spot was. She had no sense of reverence at all, lumped all the corpses into one category, never thought about classifying them, even less about the existence of the dead’s consciousness after death. She only thought about the truth, and in doing so ignored far too many things.

"But... how am I supposed to tell an Evil Spirit from a vengeful spirit?"

"You’ve got me!" Little Taotie patted her tiny chest and straightened her back. The little thing stood like a pine tree, face full of confidence: "I can tell them apart!"

Lou Lan laughed.

Her gaze toward Little Taotie grew even softer and more loving.

In the past she’d never taken on a disciple. First, those guys had no talent. Second, they couldn’t endure hardship. Third, some of them had concepts that clashed with hers. Like there was once one who had talent and could endure hardship; just when she was thinking of taking him as a disciple, he stopped her from doing dissections, even said she was defying heaven and doing immoral things. After asking, she found out he was a devout believer. That made things difficult. How could she possibly take someone like that as a disciple? Were master and disciple supposed to argue every day?

When she’d asked that question just now, she’d actually been a bit scared, afraid that Little Taotie’s answer would be the same as that person’s back then. She hadn’t expected this little girl, for all her young age, to be so bright and sharp, giving an answer that was both surprising and satisfying.

Looking at it this way, besides Little Taotie, there was no one more suitable to be her disciple.

Someone who can see Ghosts, and can even tell whether a Ghost is an Evil Spirit or a vengeful spirit—not only possessing such a Superman-level Special Ability, but on top of that mastering real skills, learning bone-touching and bone-altering techniques and dissection, and then picking up some medical knowledge... this child’s future... is limitless!

"You, huh? But can you stay here and help me tell whether those Ghosts are Evil Spirits or vengeful spirits all the time? You seem pretty busy, aren’t you?"

Little Taotie was stumped by that question.

She really was pretty busy: school, filming dramas, shooting variety shows, and coming to work at the Special Department. It seemed... there really wasn’t much time left to help Teacher Lou.

Seeing the little girl troubled, Lou Lan didn’t press her. She smiled and said, "It’s not like I do dissections every day. I hate this smell too. The day you come to the Special Department each week just happens to be the day I do dissections and research."

"Then I’ll come help you!" The little girl promised in a milky voice, "Don’t worry, I definitely won’t get it wrong. I can tell at a glance who’s an Evil Spirit and who’s a vengeful spirit!"

"I believe you. How about this: from now on, whenever you come to the Special Department, come to me first and lend a hand."

"But what if there’s a mission?"

"Relax, at most two hours; if it goes fast, just half an hour. It won’t delay your work. As for the boss, I’ll go talk to him."

"Alright then, leave it to me!" Little Taotie thumped her chest heavily, looking every bit the responsible little adult.

Lou Lan couldn’t help but laugh. "From now on, just call me Teacher."

Little Taotie tilted her head. "But I already call you Teacher Lou."

"Drop the ’Lou,’ it feels a bit distant. Just call me Teacher."

Little Taotie didn’t really get what the difference was, but she still nodded obediently. "Okay! Teacher!"