The group left the county yamen. Night had fallen completely.
Four constables carried lanterns, two in front and two behind, leading everyone toward the eastern part of the city.
The shops along the street were gradually closing their shutters. Only a few food stalls still had dim, yellow oil lamps glowing, their flames flickering in the night breeze.
Shen Hui's stomach growled.
Only then did he remember that from morning until now, he had apparently had nothing but a bowl of porridge and two eggs Fourth Senior Sister had stuffed into his hands.
Chen Shou glanced back at him and said quietly, "Are you hungry, Daoist? Once we've dealt with this matter, I'll have someone prepare some food."
Shen Hui waved a hand, not the least bit embarrassed. "It's nothing. Taking care of business comes first."
Chen Shou nodded and trudged after the group, looking a little awkward.
What a pitiful Assistant Magistrate.
Watching him, Shen Hui couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
The man had spent the entire day walking around with them, and now, at night, he still had to investigate a haunted house alongside them.
Even the two "door gods," one tall and one short, had finished their shift and gone home. Yet he was still here, holding the fort.
Some people had the worst jobs...
The lanterns swayed in the wind, stretching the group's shadows long and short across the ground.
The alley grew narrower as they walked. The walls on either side grew taller, and dry grass rustled along their tops, shivering in the cold wind.
Some dog must have caught the scent of strangers. It barked a few times from far away, then seemed to be frightened by something and whimpered into silence.
Shen Hui looked up. At the end of the alley crouched a pitch-black residence. Several roof tiles were missing, exposing the dark, gaping rafters beneath.
From a distance, it looked like a beast lying in wait, mouth open as it waited for its prey to walk right in.
"This is the place."
Chen Shou stopped, took a lantern from one of the constables, and held it high to light the way ahead.
Two large gates stood ajar. Most of their vermilion paint had peeled away, exposing layer upon layer of old, flaking lacquer beneath.
The plaque above the entrance was still there, though its characters had become illegible. Only a single "Liu" could be faintly made out.
The Old Taoist stood at the entrance with his hands behind his back, gazed inside for a moment, then stepped through without hesitation.
Chen Shou, however, lingered at the entrance. His Adam's apple bobbed twice, but in the end, he said nothing.
Shen Hui glanced at him.
Earlier, the Assistant Magistrate had strode along with a brisk step, speaking and handling affairs with crisp efficiency. Now, he looked as if someone had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, his legs nailed to the flagstones, unable to take that one step forward.
"Lord Chen."
"Huh?"
Chen Shou snapped back to his senses, as if he'd been pulled out of some train of thought. "D-Daoist, what do you need?"
"Please wait outside, my lord."
Chen Shou froze for a moment, then shook his head, forcing a hint of steely resolve onto his face.
"How can I do that? Though I may not be much, I am at least an official appointed by the court. How could I flee in the face of danger and cower instead of stepping forward..."
"If you stayed outside to watch our backs, I'd feel more at ease," Shen Hui cut in with a smile, offering him a way out.
Chen Shou's lips moved, but his voice trailed off. His face shifted from pale to blue in the lantern light.
He truly wanted to say that he would go inside, too, but the words caught in his throat.
Though the people at the yamen had shunned him, he was no sheltered scholar who had never seen the world.
He had read and reread the records about this residence in the case files.
The year before last, a bold constable had relied on his martial arts skills and barged inside alone to investigate.
The next day, he was found unconscious on the threshold. When he woke, he was raving like a madman. Within six months, he had quit his post, and no one knew where he had ended up.
Scholar Li fanned himself beside them and gave a light cough. "The Daoist is right. Lord Chen needn't force himself."
Shen Hui glanced at Scholar Li.
That scholar made it sound easy, but his fan was shaking so hard it nearly fell apart, and his face was hardly any better than Chen Shou's.
At last, the Assistant Magistrate's shoulders sagged. He handed over the lantern he was holding.
"Then... please, all of you, be very careful. I'll wait here. If anything happens, just call out."
Shen Hui took the lantern and smiled as he nodded.
Of course, whether the Assistant Magistrate would rush inside or run away if they really called for him remained to be seen.
Chen Shou turned to the two constables leading the way and instructed them, "Old Xu, you and Xiao Wu go into the residence with the Daoist."
At this, the constable called Old Xu's face immediately fell.
The younger one was more straightforward. He answered enthusiastically, but when his master, Old Xu, glared at him, he hunched his shoulders and shrank back.
Shen Hui turned and headed toward the two half-open gates.
"Hey, Daoist, wait a moment..."
Scholar Li put away his fan, lifted the hem of his robe, and hurried after him. "We'll go together, together!"
Shen Hui raised an eyebrow and looked him over, then stepped aside and gestured invitingly.
Scholar Li's face stiffened. He stopped dead, opened his fan again, and waved it. "I'll follow behind and watch your back."
Shen Hui chuckled and didn't press him. He stepped through the gate.
The monk brought his palms together, lowered his eyelids, and recited a Buddhist invocation before following the two of them.
The older constable sighed, shoved his lantern into the younger man's hands, then took a short baton from his waist and weighed it in his palm. In a muffled voice, he said, "Let's go."
One by one, the five of them entered.
The moment they stepped inside, a damp, musty stench washed over them, like rainwater that had soaked into wood for years, mixed with the rank smell of earth.
"Whoosh—"
A gust of cold wind rose from nowhere, like a wet, icy palm brushing over everyone's faces.
All their faces went deathly pale.
At the same time, the flames in the lanterns bent sharply to one side, their halos shrinking to pinpricks.
"Hey! Hey!"
The younger constable cried out and scrambled to shield the wick, nearly dropping the lantern.
Even though he managed to protect it, the flame swiftly turned from bright yellow to dark red. It wavered, close to going out.
Jingling!
The Soul-Alarm Bell hanging at Shen Hui's waist rang without warning, jolting the group out of their daze.
Fortunately, the wind had come and gone as quickly as it pleased, as if it had only meant to give them a warning.
But though the wind had stopped, the light did not return.
A few dim yellow flames trembled inside the lanterns, so faint they could barely illuminate the ground beneath their feet.
"M-Master..."
The younger constable's voice cracked, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He seemed to have finally realized that this was no easy assignment.
The older constable had seen a thing or two. Though he looked grim, he kept his voice steady. "Don't panic. Don't let yourselves lose your nerve..."
Even so, he couldn't stop himself from swallowing.
The lanterns grew dimmer and dimmer.
In the darkness, it was as if something were greedily sucking up what little light remained.
The distant barking at the alley's entrance had also vanished. It was as though the entire residence had been cut off from the outside world.
"Um... where's Daoist Ji Chen?" the older constable asked in a trembling voice.
"Don't worry." Shen Hui spoke calmly.
He raised the lantern in his hand and glanced at the flame that was on the verge of going out.
With that single glance, the wavering lantern suddenly blazed bright.
The flame surged as if someone had doused it in hot oil. With a whoosh, it leaped up, and its glow burst outward.
Warm, golden light spilled across the area, illuminating the space around them as bright as day.
At the same time, the other lanterns seemed to have received a push from something. They all brightened at once.
The flames no longer cowered. They shot straight up, their glow brighter than it had been outside.
"Let's go."
Shen Hui looked away, lifted his lantern, and led the way into the courtyard.
The others glanced at one another. Their lips twitched, but no one said a word. They hurried after him.