Lucky Mutual Aid Society (17)

On the moving train, the scenery outside the window slowly passed by. Qian Xiaoyi glanced at the message from Inuyama Heita, typed a reply, "Received, proceed with caution," and then continued to stare at the direction indicated by the small compass in his hand. In the center of this compass, a cheap jade pendant was tied with red thread in a peculiar way. If Inuyama Heita were present, he would easily recognize that this jade pendant was the one used to seal the little ghost abducted from the Lucky Mutual Aid Society.

Today, Qian Xiaoyi was wearing a loose-fitting jacket, a baseball cap, and a messenger bag slung over his shoulder. He had changed his style of dress, making him look like the fashionable young people often seen in Shibuya. He lowered his head, and the needle of the compass in his hand trembled slightly in the direction the train was moving, as if affected by the train's vibrations.

Seeing no movement from the needle, Qian Xiaoyi sent another text to President Oiwa, asking if he was busy with work today and if he was free to go out for a drink in the evening. The other party immediately replied that they could go out and drink at their usual spot right away. This made Qian Xiaoyi feel bad about deceiving his straightforward old friend, so he chuckled and put away his phone.

After confirming that Matsui had indeed not informed President Oiwa about the gathering, Qian Xiaoyi's lips curled up slightly, revealing a strange smile. He then continued to stare at the compass's direction, quietly waiting.

Finally, after passing several more stations, the compass's direction changed significantly, and it began to slowly point in a certain direction as the train moved. Qian Xiaoyi stood up and got off at the next stop.

"Tsk... it still feels a bit far," Qian Xiaoyi muttered, looking at the compass's direction. "If only I had my own car..."

Complaints aside, taking a taxi was out of the question; they were simply too expensive. Unless it was an emergency, calling for a taxi a few more times would bankrupt Qian Xiaoyi. So, Qian Xiaoyi lowered his head and followed the needle, walking towards the direction indicated by the compass. After half an hour, he stopped outside a building.

Qian Xiaoyi was now in a rather remote area, quite far from the city center. The buildings were sparse, mostly one or two stories high. This area was near Tokyo Bay and had many factories, making it a vast industrial zone. The building in front of him was two stories high, and the compass's needle finally pointed to a location inside it.

"A personal storage unit?" Qian Xiaoyi glanced at the sign outside and walked into the building.

Behind the counter at the entrance of the first-floor lobby, the warehouse attendant was watching videos on his phone. Seeing someone arrive, he put away his phone and asked, "Are you here to pick something up?"

"I'd like to rent a storage unit. Could you show me around first?" Qian Xiaoyi said. The entrance to this personal storage unit was tightly shut; it seemed a key was needed to open it.

"Are you here to rent a storage unit? I understand. We have several price ranges for our units. Which one would you like..." The attendant got up from his chair. A set of keys hung from his waist. He turned and opened the door behind him. The rental storage units in this building were for personal use. The doors were roller shutters, looking quite old. There were no cameras at the entrance, making it very old-fashioned.

Qian Xiaoyi followed him inside, still holding the compass and looking around. The attendant, leading the way, curiously asked, "What is that you have there, sir?"

"Oh, I'm just checking the feng shui," Qian Xiaoyi waved his hand. "Don't mind me... please take me to see the units inside."

The attendant felt a bit speechless. How could he not mind such unusual behavior? However, the person wasn't doing anything outrageous, just wandering around with that compass, so he couldn't say much.

As they passed a particular storage unit in the corridor, Qian Xiaoyi paused slightly, turned to look at the unit number, noted it down, and continued following the attendant. After looking at a few units, Qian Xiaoyi said he needed to think about it and asked the attendant to take him outside.

"Sir, we are already the most affordable personal storage units in this area," the attendant said, not forgetting to try and attract business as he locked the door from the outside, with his back to Qian Xiaoyi. "We absolutely guarantee customer privacy, there's usually someone on duty, nothing gets lost, it's very safe..."

"No, I'm not dissatisfied with that," Qian Xiaoyi's voice came from behind him, gradually fading away. "The reason I'm not satisfied is because the feng shui here is bad... Haven't you heard any rumors while working here? Like, the sound of children..."

"Children? Don't be ridiculous, sir. Where are there any children here..." The attendant turned around, only to find that Qian Xiaoyi had already turned and left, disappearing without a trace.

The dim yellow sunlight shone in from the doorway, casting long shadows of objects. Everything was silent, as if frozen in the twilight.

"Feng shui..." the attendant muttered the word, feeling a chill. The guest had been looking down at the compass in his hand the whole time, his expression hidden by the black baseball cap, making it impossible to see his face.

He shivered and then loudly reassured himself, "Ha! What feng shui! That's just a joke, right? Children? I've never even heard of anything like that. Is this person trying to cause trouble..." He grumbled and sat back down in his chair. After mindlessly scrolling through videos for a while, he couldn't help but open his messaging app, find a colleague who worked the night shift, and send a message.

[Sakamoto, have you heard any rumors about children's voices in our warehouse?]

Less than a minute later, the other person replied.

[You heard that voice too? I knew I wasn't mistaken!]

Instantly, the attendant felt a chill down his spine, and goosebumps appeared all over his arms – he was scared by the reply.

He immediately typed: [Hey! Don't scare me! Is this really a thing?! I finally found this job.]

But after sending it, the chat box kept spinning, and finally, a red exclamation mark appeared, indicating that the message had not been sent. Just as he was about to try sending it again, a figure flashed past his peripheral vision.

"Who?!" The attendant looked up sharply, but saw no one. Just as he thought it was a false alarm, a gust of wind blew from behind him. He turned his head and was so startled that cold sweat broke out.

--The iron door leading to the warehouse corridor, which had been locked, was now half-ajar. The wind was blowing from inside.

"Didn't I lock that just now?" the attendant muttered stiffly to himself, walking over to close the door. But the moment he touched the doorknob, the sound of footsteps and children's laughter came from inside.

"Hee hee hee~~"

The attendant swallowed hard and said hesitantly, "...No way." His scalp was tingling. He wanted to turn and leave, but then he thought that if a child had really run in and he did nothing about it, he might lose his job. After weighing the options, he finally gritted his teeth, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.

He didn't notice at all that sometime earlier, a jade pendant had been placed in the back pocket of his pants.