Everyone, Please Stop Tearing Up Tickets!

When the old men told stories, they always enjoyed a few cups of wine and a handful of crunchy peanuts.

At first, the old man was unwilling to say much to them, but Gu Mian coaxed him out with just a few words.

Now, they were all sitting in a moderately sized restaurant nearby. The old man sat contentedly at the table, no longer even looking at the door.

He picked up a peanut, tossed it into his mouth, and chewed loudly, making Yuwen Hao and the others beside him swallow.

"Speaking of Zhou Guanglei and Zhao Wen, they both died two years ago, but with more than two months in between."

"Let's talk about Zhao Wen first. Zhao Wen stopped working here before he died. At the time, people at our factory thought he'd gone off to get rich somewhere. We didn't expect to hear he was dead less than three months later."

"Life and death are natural occurrences. Although people at the factory were surprised when they heard the news, they didn't dwell on it for long."

"It wasn't until two months later, when Zhou Guanglei, who was very close to Zhao Wen, also died, that people started to suspect their deaths weren't normal. They didn't even know how Zhao Wen died, but Zhou Guanglei's death was extremely strange."

"Before he died, he kept saying someone was knocking on his door and suspected we did it. Later, he spent all his time making phone calls in the middle of the night. I even received a call from him..."

"Later, I heard he died in his own home, strangled by his phone cord while lying in bed. Isn't that bizarre? How could a living person be strangled by a phone cord while lying in bed?"

"We all knew his death was unusual, but we didn't dare say much about it. People always felt that Zhao Wen and Zhou Guanglei's deaths were strange, but they couldn't find any connection."

"But they don't know how Zhao Wen died; I do! My nephew works at the police station."

"I heard my nephew tell me that when they were investigating Zhao Wen's family, his family also said that Zhao Wen kept hearing knocking sounds before he died."

Gu Mian and the others already knew this, but they didn't interrupt the old man, letting him continue.

The old man took another bite of a small dish, sipped his wine, and then continued, "As for the source of the knocking sound, others might not know, but I do. My nephew works at the police station, hehe."

Hearing this, Yuwen Hao and Qing Huan exchanged a look. The origin of the Knocking Ghost was finally being revealed.

"Speaking of the knocking sound, I have to mention a fire at our factory seven or eight years ago. Someone died in that fire, tsk tsk tsk. I was here back then too. I watched them carry out a charred body."

Yuwen Hao and the others had heard about this yesterday when they were investigating Zhou Guanglei. Three people had died at this factory: one in the fire, and the other two were Zhao Wen and Zhou Guanglei.

"Seven or eight years ago, around 1995, our factory had just been built. It was very new. Getting a job at the factory back then was quite desirable; many young people were eager to join."

"The young man who died in the fire was a young fellow named Yu Hai. I heard he was from a nearby rural village and wanted to make a name for himself in the small town. Little did he know, he lost his life soon after arriving."

"The fire started at night. It was a new factory, and the management was inexperienced. They were so petty, afraid someone would sneak in at night and dismantle the factory doors."

"So, our manager arranged for a few people to work the night shift. I was at the factory that night, on gate duty."

"Yu Hai was on duty in the office, which had a small attached bedroom with a bed. There were also people watching the workshop."

"I was dozing off when the fire broke out. It must have been around two in the morning. I was woken up by the people on duty in the workshop."

"When I woke up, the fire was already raging! I rushed over and saw that entire row of offices engulfed in flames! It was so fierce..."

At this point, the old man clicked his tongue and shook his head, still seemingly amazed by the ferocity of the fire back then.

"It was 1995, and phones weren't even common in our small town, let alone mobile phones. Only the manager had a brick phone, as big as a newborn baby."

"We couldn't call the fire department, and we didn't know where it was located. The police station was too far away, so we had to run out to find the manager to call the police with his brick phone."

"But it was too late. The person I sent to find the manager asked me to guard the burning offices. After he left, I heard noises from that row of offices..."

"It was Yu Hai's voice from inside... Sigh, he must have been trapped in the small bedroom inside the office."

"I heard him shouting from inside, screaming! He was also banging on the door, as if the bedroom door was stuck. He was desperately calling out from inside."

"I wanted to rush in and save him, but the fire was too intense at the time. It had completely engulfed the entire row of offices. I couldn't even see where the door was. Going in would have been suicide."

"I could only listen from outside as Yu Hai kept banging on the door, banging and banging, but it wouldn't open. Finally, his voice grew weaker, but he was still desperately knocking from inside..."

"By the time the fire trucks arrived, there was no sound from inside. It took the firefighters a great deal of effort to extinguish the fire. When the body was found, it was as black as charcoal..."

"Over the past seven or eight years, the factory staff has changed, and most people don't remember the details of that fire anymore, only that someone died."

"But I remember it clearly. I remember Yu Hai desperately knocking on the door in the fire that night, trying to get out. So, when I heard about Zhao Wen and Zhou Guanglei, Yu Hai was the first person I thought of."

At this point, the old man put down his chopsticks and sighed, unable to swallow the food in his mouth.

Gu Mian rubbed his chin. It seemed Yu Hai was the Knocking Ghost that had been following him. However, Yu Hai's death was strange, and he might have been killed by another ghost.

He looked at the old man, "What did the police say later?"

"My nephew said the fire was very strange. It didn't seem like an accident, nor did it seem man-made. It was more like a fire that appeared out of nowhere..."

"Did Yu Hai experience any supernatural events before he died?"

Now that the ghosts corresponding to the five of them had appeared, they were not far from the source. Perhaps the ghost that killed Yu Hai was the source of the curse.

"How would I know? He was a bachelor. I heard his parents died early, and he grew up being fed by many families. He was a simple giant, and didn't talk much to people. But I don't think he encountered any supernatural events before, otherwise, he would have been scared to death long ago."

"Were there any other strange occurrences at this factory before that?"

"When Yu Hai died, this factory was still very new, it had only been built for a short time. In such a short period, it couldn't have experienced any supernatural events. If you want to find answers, you'll have to go back to before this factory was built. I heard this land used to be a textile workshop."