Ghost Hound Demon Child (Part 1)

~Classified File~

On August 7, 2999, residents of 215 Gushui Street in the Central District reported frequent nightmares at night. In their dreams, they were chased and beaten with blunt objects, the pain intense. They claimed "vengeful spirits were causing trouble." The on-duty squad conducted an on-site investigation and concluded that noise from the building's age and disrepair was disturbing residents. They soothed the residents and closed the case.

On November 20, residents of 215 Gushui Street reported frequent visual and auditory hallucinations. The residents were emotionally unstable. The on-duty squad suspected an anomaly caused by a Relic, but found nothing and reported it according to procedure. Beginning that night, squad members were assigned to stand watch day and night and observe the situation.

On November 21, the visual hallucinations were confirmed to be real...

On December 30, on-duty squad members reported emotional instability...

On February 4, 3000, on-duty squad members reported symptoms of weakness, accompanied by frequent auditory and visual hallucinations and pain inside the brain. By order of Ji Huaishu at headquarters, all residents were evacuated and the building at 215 Gushui Street was sealed off. By order of Jie An at headquarters, a three-month special observation period began.

"Let me remind you, Chu Hengkong—spirit entities have more tricks up their sleeves than you can imagine. Make sure you clean up afterward. Don't leave any loose ends..."

It was now May 3, with one day left before the special observation period ended. Standing before the entrance to 215 Gushui Street, Chu Hengkong recalled Jie An's grave instructions before he had left.

It was an old apartment building with some years on it. The staircase outside was mottled with rust, and old-fashioned metal security bars still covered the windows, making the building look from afar like a row of cramped cages. The squad member leading Chu Hengkong was called Lü Xing, a seasoned veteran. As he tore off the yellow seal on the apartment's iron gate, the hand that had caught countless criminals trembled faintly.

"The thing in there is real sinister, Inspector Chu. Be careful," Lü Xing said quietly.

"Have you tried using Relics?" Chu Hengkong asked.

"Knives and guns can't touch it. We don't have anything more advanced on hand." Lü Xing shuddered and handed him a ring of keys. "If you ask me, we should just tear this whole building down and be done with it."

"Let's see what we're dealing with first." Chu Hengkong took the keys and entered the building alone.

Lü Xing felt a new surge of respect. Inspector Chu really was a master bold enough to brave anything—he knew there was a ghost inside, yet he still dared walk in. What he did not know was that Chu Hengkong felt no sense of danger at all. For one thing, three months of observation had all but confirmed that the building was quiet during the day. For another, he had a talisman tucked in his pocket...

[Ghost-Banishing Talisman]

[Rating: Level 2]

[Origin: Chenjun Palace, Dragon Spring Township]

[Effect: When the talisman strikes an incorporeal spirit, it can restrain ghostly entities of mass point 2 or below.

When the talisman is affixed to a physical object, it can seal ghostly entities of mass point 2 or below; the physical object will transform into a Relic, with effects dependent on the ghostly entity's abilities.]

[Remembrance: Souls scattered and spirits fallen, the hearts of ghosts grow turbid. Soothe the soul and calm the spirit; let the heart submit, let the spirit be pardoned.

—Ji Qiufeng]

What a joke—this was a ghost-banishing talisman personally drawn by Huaisu's Father! It was probably more reliable than having his daughter take the field herself!

If he could hold a talisman and still fear ghosts, then he might as well quit. One look at its effects made it clear what that mysterious "three-month observation period" had been for. Jie An was waiting for the ghost to grow fatter so he could capture it and make it into an artifact spirit. So not only was Chu Hengkong not nervous in the least, he was actually looking forward to what this mission might yield. He climbed the exterior iron stairs one step at a time, the rusted steps creaking beneath him.

There was no "elevator" in the old building. He climbed all the way to the sixth floor, then used the key provided by the squad members to unlock the door to the "water distribution room." Most of the room was occupied by cylindrical machinery. Beside the main switch was a small hole like a coin slot. Chu Hengkong took out ten flow pearls, fed them into the hole one by one, and pulled down the main switch.

Glug.

Energy flowed in and the circuits connected, followed by the sound of water being released through opened sluice gates. The corridor lights came on one after another. The old building had come alive again, sustained by those little spheres worth a thousand flow pearls each. Over the past few days, Chu Hengkong had come to understand that Dragon's Return City had no electricity, only Tide. Flow pearls, which stored Tide, served as both currency and energy. Through some incomprehensible mechanism, they supplied power and kept the city running.

He just did not know whether vengeful spirits needed water too.

Chu Hengkong walked slowly down the corridor. The lights exposed traces hidden beneath the dust. The walls bore bullet pits of varying depths; more than one gunfight had taken place here. Wood chips and chunks of iron lay concealed in the corners. The larger fragments vaguely retained their original shapes, seeming to have been forcibly crushed and flattened by some enormous force... Judging by the marks, the strength was still inferior to his, but the creature had been huge...

Chu Hengkong tried to piece together the scraps of iron he found. Their savage fractures reminded him of wolves in the snowy mountains. Yet these pieces had once belonged to an entire massive shield. A wolf that could bite through an iron shield twice a man's height in one mouthful—how large would it have to be?

His nostrils flared slightly. He caught none of the musky stench of a beast, only a faint reek of garbage. The situation was more complicated than he had imagined. He rose, preparing to investigate further, when a soft sound came from behind him.

The lights went out.

From back to front, the lights died one by one. Chu Hengkong gripped a chunk of broken iron and slowly turned around. A sliver of green emergency lighting remained near the far end by the corridor entrance. On the wall washed green by that light, a gaunt face stared coldly at him. The face was covered in blood and bruises. Where its eyes should have been were only two bloody holes, black blood gushing from them like foul-smelling pus streaming down its features.

Not as frightening as in the movies, but damn ugly.

Chu Hengkong took a step forward. That step seemed to provoke the ghostly face in the wall. It vanished at once, leaving only a young girl's voice ringing from the upper floor. "Don't... don't... come closer...!"

A violent gale instantly swept through the corridor. Amid flying dust and wood splinters, a black shadow as large as a sedan came howling toward him!

Without a word, Chu Hengkong hurled the scrap of iron. The fist-sized shard struck the black shadow squarely in the head. Yet it passed straight through without resistance, just like the stones that had passed through the Imaginary Demon's body. Ordinary attacks truly were useless. In the space of a breath, the black shadow crossed the corridor and opened its enormous jaws to tear into him. The distinctive stench of a beast rode the gust of wind, so overpowering it was nearly impossible to breathe.

The black shadow bit at empty air. Chu Hengkong had been ready. He smashed the window with an elbow and leaped out of the apartment building, his tentacle whipping upward to hook around a protruding security-barred window.

Chu Hengkong hung outside a third-floor window by his tentacle, waiting for the vengeful spirit's next move. The ominous black shadow on the top floor dispersed, and he counted silently by the second.

One, two, three...

Boom!

Dust burst through the building, the impact so violent that even the security bars shook. Three and a half seconds later, the interlayer between the third and fourth floors suddenly collapsed. The black shadow had smashed through three floors, crashing down through the rubble and charging straight for the glass window. Chu Hengkong decisively released his hold and dropped to the ground. The glass window shattered in its bite just as he landed, and even the iron security bars were ripped to pieces.

Chu Hengkong retreated several steps beyond the apartment building's perimeter. Low growls came from the pitch-black interior, but nothing pursued him. After a while, as if realizing that he had no intention of entering the building, the beastly scent faded. Still, Chu Hengkong could feel something watching him. That thing was still staring at him. The moment he entered the apartment again, the battle would resume.

Lü Xing, who had remained outside on guard, hurried over. "Inspector Chu, are you all right?"

"It really is sinister." Chu Hengkong rolled his arm. "Tell the brothers to spread out. That thing can move in daylight too."

Lü Xing's voice trembled. "Are we tearing it down?"

"Not yet..." Chu Hengkong pondered.

This enemy would not be easy to deal with. Immunity to physical attacks alone would have been manageable—he only needed to find an opening and slap the talisman on it. But when he had hung outside the building, he had seen it clearly: that ghostly thing had smashed through the roof and bitten through the glass. It could inflict physical damage itself. The evil ghost possessed not only an incorporeal body, but monstrous strength as well. Going in unprepared would likely end in disaster. Better to probe its depths first.

Chu Hengkong recalled the ghostly face of that little girl and asked, "Have you checked the child disappearance cases nearby?"

"We investigated them late last year. There was one family that fit the conditions..."

Lü Xing hesitated, then handed over a briefing he had prepared long ago. Chu Hengkong gave it a rough scan, his brows knitting. "The case was closed after only a week?"

"We didn't dare investigate too deeply," Lü Xing added in a low voice. "They crossed the Cat."

Crossed the Cat was a piece of underworld slang.

Places with many stories always had their own local slang. The words Dragon's Return City residents used most often were "Gray Stoat," "White Cat," and "Crow." They sounded like harmless animals, but actually referred to the city's three untouchable powers. The Gray Stoat was the All-Spirits Society, a swamp cult; once you ran into them, they would bewitch you until your future was utterly ruined. The White Cat referred to the "Club" in the Central District, the giant that dominated every gambling business, luxury goods trade, and flesh trade in the city. The Crow was the Black Workshop in the skies. The weapons dealers acted brutally, and crossing them meant death.

Over the past three weeks of investigating cases, Chu Hengkong had also learned about the city's three beasts. He knew the citizens were so terrified that they did not dare speak their names outright. He just had not expected even members of the Resurrection Corps to be so wary of them.

Chu Hengkong rolled up the file and tapped Lü Xing with it, laughing as he scolded, "You're cops, yet you're afraid of criminals?"

"I wasn't at first." Lü Xing gave an embarrassed laugh. "But after doing this for long enough... you learn to be afraid."

Chu Hengkong nodded and did not press him. "Take me to see that family."

To save time, they took a shortcut through a market packed with street stalls. The sky was a solid sheet of black, without a trace of light leaking through. Vendors propped up small lamps on wooden poles to illuminate their wares. Smoke drifted through the feeble light, and the hawkers' cries sounded thin, like routine formalities. "Lost Panacea!" "Guaranteed-kill Relic!" "Swamp treasure map!" "Genuine secret Panacea!"... Behind the stalls selling fake medicine and fake Relics, merchants with proper storefronts sold water plants and frozen chickens and ducks. Old missing-person notices and wanted posters were pasted across the walls, their faces long blurred by rain.

The missing girl's family lived in Bangxing Tower two streets away. The building stood sixteen stories tall and had a lift, sparing Chu Hengkong the trouble of climbing up and down. He knocked on the door for a long time before it opened. The man started to shout angrily, but froze the instant he saw Chu Hengkong's tentacle.

"Sir, are you Inspector Chu?" The man's face was full of hope.

"Chu Hengkong of the Resurrection Corps." Chu Hengkong nodded. "I'd like to understand your family's situation."

The man's expression changed at once, like a drowning man who had caught sight of driftwood. He seized Chu Hengkong's hand. "Inspector, I'm begging you, help me! My daughter's been missing for half a year. We've looked everywhere and can't find her. I'm begging you..."

The man was nearly breaking down. Chu Hengkong patted his hand. "Let's talk inside."

The man's name was Hain Lu, twenty-three years old. He had worked night shifts at a hotel four kilometers away for a long time. His daughter took her mother's surname and was called Tina. His account was rambling and disordered. Most of the time, he described what his daughter looked like, yet he could not describe any distinctive traits. As he spoke, he began talking about how obedient and well-behaved she had once been, then started crying. He knew nothing at all about the details of the day she disappeared. It was simply that "she didn't come home after school," and then she was gone...

Emotional ordinary people were always like this. They could not provide much useful information; he would have to rely on his own eyes.

The home clearly had not been properly cleaned in a long time. Several unsealed garbage bags were piled by the door, and dog fur was hidden in the corners and between the sofa cushions. The door to the daughter's room was tightly shut. The man's bedroom door stood open, as did the wardrobe. A gaudy purple gown lay inside, covered in dust.

Chu Hengkong waited quietly for Hain to finish, then asked, "What did your wife do for work?"

Hain fell silent for a moment. "...She was a housewife."

Chu Hengkong said nothing, merely looking into his eyes. Hain crumpled beneath that calm gaze. "My wife worked pouring drinks at the Club... It was really just pouring drinks for customers. Nothing like that was involved..." His voice was tiny. Any man saying such things would feel humiliated.

"Can I speak with your wife?"

"She passed away... There was an accident in the lower levels last year..." Hain turned his head away. "She drowned in the swamp while walking at night."

There was no reason for a hostess in the Central District to go walking at night in the lower levels. Chu Hengkong knew Hain did not believe those words himself.

"My condolences." "..." "What did the pet you used to have look like?" "A black dog... very small. My daughter could carry it in her arms..." "Please describe it in more detail." "It was very obedient... My daughter loved it. She used her allowance to buy a leash and a stone collar..." "A stone collar?" "It was stone, but very light." "Where did the dog go?" "It disappeared with my daughter..."

Chu Hengkong noted down the details. "Do you know about the haunting on Gushui Street?"

"A haunting?" Hain looked back blankly. "I haven't heard of it... I've never been there..."

What followed was more meaningless conversation. Had he tried to find his daughter after she disappeared... He spent his free time searching for her in Jade Marsh... Because his wife had her accident in Jade Marsh, his daughter was probably there too... They would do their best, please wait for news... Chu Hengkong rose to leave.

"Mr. Hain, you know the truth in your heart," he said before leaving. "She's been missing for more than half a year. There isn't much hope."

That rotten plank had sunk beneath the water. The man who had lost hope sank into wave-like sorrow. He sat there alone, his voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

"At least... I want to bury her... with my own hands... her body..."

"I'll do my best." Chu Hengkong closed the door and said goodbye.

He stepped out of Bangxing Tower. Though the building had sixteen floors, it was exceedingly narrow. The dampness was even heavier than it had been two weeks ago. Water droplets covered the walls and floors, and even standing in the corridor felt so oppressive it was hard to breathe. But it remained oppressive after leaving the building. Under the curtain of water, everything was dark and lightless. The weapons in the sky looked as though they might fall at any moment and chop people into dust.

The sunshine when he had first arrived had been good fortune. This was Dragon's Return City's usual state.

Chu Hengkong took a deep breath and looked up to the side. The street was filled with narrow buildings like Bangxing Tower, crammed shoulder to shoulder like people bound in chains. Yet less than a hundred meters behind the tower lay a commercial district crowded with casinos and bars. The buildings there were spacious and brightly lit. Scantily clad women solicited customers in the streets, while well-dressed people passed beneath signs of every color. It was a lively spectacle of dazzling lights and indulgence.

Standing in the narrow alley between the towers, one could see both the mottled old buildings and the colorful lights of the casinos. Separated by only one street, they looked like two different worlds.

Lü Xing, waiting outside the building, handed him a pack of cigarettes, perceptive enough to read the mood. "Want one?"

"Quit." Chu Hengkong shook his head. "Get me a long gun. For exorcising spirits."