The Child in the Arcade

Xu Yuan had been killed by a Vengeful Ghost at Sapphire Mall. After his death, he had also used Supernatural Power to preserve his corpse.

Since both events had happened at Sapphire Mall, some strange phenomena were bound to remain.

The Old Security Guard narrowed his eyes and thought for a long time as he looked around at the crowded mall.

"Haunted, you say?

"I've been working as a security guard here since construction began. I was so dedicated that even after the contracting company pulled out, I stayed on. No one died while they were building the foundations, let alone after the mall opened. How could there be any stories about hauntings?

"If you mean something that happened here before construction started, that was over twenty years ago. I wouldn't know anything about it.

"Old classmate, it's been ages. Why ask about something so unlucky? Come on, let's go have a drink."

The Supernatural Walkie-Talkie at Gao Tian's waist remained silent.

That meant neither Shata's team nor Jiangyang's had found any clues so far, whether in the basement or on the floors above.

Gao Tian grabbed the Old Security Guard by the arm and looked into his eyes.

"Think carefully. What's unusual about this place?

"You'll remember. It's important."

At Gao Tian's suggestion, the Old Security Guard's gaze grew hazy again. The Memory Ghost was at work once more.

"Something important...

"There is one thing, though. I don't know if it counts as important."

Gao Tian said, "Tell me."

The Old Security Guard pointed toward the Third Floor.

"At the far end of Section B, there's an Abandoned Arcade that's been closed for years.

"The Arcade Owner won the bid to open a shop here as soon as Sapphire Mall was built. Business was great at first. He was busy every month.

"But then, for some reason, his child died. His wife divorced him, too, and before long he went mad and killed himself.

"His other shops in different malls were quickly sold off in a package deal. But for some reason, no one ever took over this arcade at Sapphire Mall. Business had been good, yet all the machines and decorations were left to rot inside. Three years have passed, and no one's done anything about it.

"I don't know if that's the kind of story you wanted to hear.

"Come to think of it, the Arcade Owner went mad and killed himself less than a year after the arcade opened."

Gao Tian released his arm and nodded.

"Got it."

His search for the body was different from Shata and the others'. He wasn't going to search floor by floor, clearing each one as he went. Sapphire Mall was packed with people and swallowed up countless visitors every day. Every nook and cranny had been walked over countless times.

There was no way a body could stay hidden in an ordinary hiding place for two years. If no one had found it after all this time, Shata and the others were bound to fail if they tried to find it in a single day.

So Gao Tian had changed tactics from the start. The Green Text Mission had to have left some clues behind. He needed to look into local rumors or ghost stories.

He'd start by checking out the arcade the Old Security Guard had mentioned. If there was nothing unusual there, he'd only have wasted fifteen minutes. After that, he could question the cleaners, mall managers, elevator repairmen, and anyone else who knew the place, one by one.

"Hey, I've wanted to thank you all these years for what happened with Dao Ge. You sure won't have a drink?"

The Old Security Guard looked regretful as Gao Tian turned to leave. It wasn't easy to run into an old classmate at his age, and he wanted to persuade him to stay.

Gao Tian turned back to look at him.

"Uncle, you're about forty years older than me. How could I be your old classmate?

"You've mistaken me for someone else. You must have remembered wrong."

The Old Security Guard looked completely baffled.

"Huh?"

Before leaving, Gao Tian made sure to erase as much of the Memory Ghost's influence on ordinary people as he could.

The arcade on the Third Floor, Section B, was harder to find than he'd expected. It was tucked away at the very end of a corridor, around a corner, and all the directional signs had been removed. The farther Gao Tian walked, the more desolate it became, with fewer and fewer people around. He almost thought he'd left Sapphire Mall.

No wonder no one had rented the place since the Arcade Owner died. Gao Tian suspected that the mall managers themselves had forgotten the shop was even there, leaving it vacant.

At the very end of the deep corridor, two massive iron doors were tightly locked. The thick chains, each as wide as a wrist, had rusted a deep red. Gao Tian didn't have the original key, but even if he did, it wouldn't have helped. Rust had completely clogged the keyhole.

Through the glass in the door, now so grimy it was almost opaque, he could just make out the dusty arcade machines piled inside. If they'd been sold off when the arcade first closed, they might have been worth something. Now, they were worthless.

This world really was held together with string.

But the lock wouldn't stop Gao Tian. He'd brought an important item with him: the Ghost Transformation Spear. Its effect was incredible, but its sharpness and durability were no joke, either.

He started jabbing the spearhead at the rustiest part of the chain. The clank of metal rang out. With every hard strike, the lock ring visibly bent. A few more blows would probably break it.

Just as the chain was about to snap, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded from around the corner across the hall. A staff member in a Sapphire Mall uniform had been passing nearby and heard the noise. He strode over and caught Gao Tian in the middle of his enthusiastic assault on the lock.

The staff member's expression changed at once. He called into the pager beneath his collar as he hurried toward Gao Tian.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Who told you to break that lock?

"This is private property. If you can't explain yourself, I'm calling the police."

At the same time, a coworker's voice came through the pager at his collar.

"Old Boss, Old Boss, I'm patrolling the Fifth Floor.

"What's going on over there? Is another pipe leaking, or did a rat get in?"

There was no way to explain, but Gao Tian didn't panic. He feigned surprise, pointed toward the ceiling, and looked innocently at the staff member.

"I don't know, either. I heard the noise as soon as I got here.

"Maybe they're doing construction upstairs. Did you get a notice that they were renovating this spot on the Fourth Floor today?"

The Memory Ghost's ability took effect again. Gao Tian's gestures and words all planted false memories in the staff member's mind.

"What does the Fourth Floor have to do with this? This is clearly you—"

The anger on the staff member's face gradually gave way to confusion and uncertainty. Then, he began to come around.

He looked up toward the Fourth Floor, then hurried off in the opposite direction.

"Go check if there's a renovation crew on the Fourth Floor today. I heard banging while I was on the Third Floor..."

Gao Tian watched the staff member disappear around the corner at the end of the corridor. It seemed the Memory Ghost's ability had fooled him into leaving.

He turned around and brought the Ghost Transformation Spear down one last time. The chain snapped. The arcade doors had been sealed for years, but with a little effort, Gao Tian pushed them open with a creak.

Gao Tian slowly stepped inside.

After being shut away for years, the air was thick with dust. The arcade itself was small, less than two hundred square meters, but dozens of machines had been crammed into it. Even when no one was around, the place felt cramped.

With so much to search, he had no idea where to begin.

Maybe he should check the arcade's front counter first.

The Arcade Owner's sudden suicide probably wasn't just because his child had died and his wife had left him. Maybe the arcade itself had started losing money, too.

Gao Tian gripped the Ghost Transformation Spear tightly. It was useless against an actual Ghost, but at least it was sharp. Holding it as a weapon made him feel safer.

As Gao Tian continued forward, a sudden clattering sound came from a corner of the empty arcade. He heard a joystick rocking back and forth, along with the sound effect of a game character being attacked.

No... It couldn't be...

Gao Tian's body stiffened.

Even turning his head to locate the sound felt incredibly difficult.

Someone was playing a game in this abandoned arcade, empty for over two years. Was one of the machines actually being used?

Anyone could tell that was impossible. Never mind whether the machines still worked—how could an ordinary person get in with the iron doors locked like that? And the machines needed electricity. The Arcade Owner was dead, so who had been paying the arcade's electricity bill all this time?

That left only one possibility.

A Ghost.

Every muscle in Gao Tian's body tightened as he prepared to fight. He slowly turned around and looked at the only game machine still lit up in the arcade.

A boy of about twelve or thirteen sat in front of it. He had fair skin and red lips, and was quite handsome. He wore a black-and-red school uniform and carried a schoolbag. He was completely focused on the glowing screen, controlling his character. He hadn't noticed that anyone had entered the arcade—not even once looking up at Gao Tian.

Who was the Little Boy? The Arcade Owner had once had a son, who had died under mysterious circumstances. That had led, indirectly, to the Arcade Owner's suicide and the arcade's closure.

Could the Arcade Owner's son have been trapped here for some reason, unable to move on, still playing games in the place his father had owned?

They remained locked in a standoff for a while. Gao Tian could have simply left the arcade, but his instincts told him the boy was important. If he left out of fear now, he might not get another chance to meet him.

Gao Tian decided to take a risk. First, he tried using the Memory Ghost's ability to see if he could control the Little Boy and get some useful information out of him.

"Kid.

"Do you remember me? I'm your favorite Gao Gege. That Transformers toy you loved so much? It's still at your house. I bought it for you.

"Where's your dad? Is he nearby?"