Night!

"Don't eat that rice! It's for the dead!"

Gao Ming rushed toward Wan Qiu, but Xuan Wen held him back with an iron grip.

His lips stained red, Wan Qiu slowly shifted his body. His features scrunched together and his neck twitched as blood mixed with grains of rice spilled from his mouth. "Y-you..."

His voice was garbled, and the expression on his face kept changing.

An icy draft stirred the thick curtains. Scraps of paper money fluttered to the floor, while the walls and ceiling cracked and faded. Something like insects seemed to be crawling in the crevices.

Swaying unsteadily, Wan Qiu spoke in the voice of a weeping old man. "A tiger ahead, its ghostly thralls behind. Heaven won't answer, earth won't heed..."

Something inside the apartment seemed to be trying to tell Gao Ming and Xuan Wen something through Wan Qiu's mouth.

"Ghosts eat people, people eat flesh, flesh eats Ghosts."

Wan Qiu's mouth was dripping with blood, his lips bitten through, yet he kept spouting nonsense none of them understood until the round table began to tremble and bowls of white rice crashed to the floor.

"Eat it. Only if you eat it... can you live..."

After those final words, Wan Qiu collapsed. Gao Ming hurried over to help him up.

At the same time, Xuan Wen opened the door to the inner room. The apartment's only bedroom had been converted into a shrine for the dead, with memorial tablets and portraits of eight deceased people neatly arranged on the altar.

In the black-and-white photographs, their eyes were open, staring at the Eight Immortals Table.

"These are the eight victims of the Family Annihilation Case. The incense is still burning. Has someone been making offerings to them all this time?"

The bowls had shattered loudly. Worried that the noise would draw something's attention, Gao Ming carried Wan Qiu on his back and headed out.

He pushed open the living room door, and the metal door struck someone.

"Don't get the wrong idea! Don't get the wrong idea!" Uncle Wu stood in the doorway, clutching his forehead. Despite the sweltering weather, he wore a thick padded jacket. Tattered Talisman Paper hidden beneath his clothes scattered across the floor.

"What are you doing here?"

"Stop talking and hurry!" Without even stopping to collect his Talisman Paper, Uncle Wu led them to the fifth-floor Building Corridor. They escaped through a gap in the railing and returned to Building B.

"You really have some nerve!" Panting heavily, Uncle Wu sat straight down on the floor. "Do you know how many murders have happened in Building A on Sishui Street? That building is haunted by Ghosts!"

"Don't you go in there all the time yourself?" Gao Ming crouched beside Uncle Wu. "You're the one making offerings to those eight Posthumous Photographs, aren't you? What's your connection to the victims of the Family Annihilation Case?"

"Buy my protective charms, and I'll tell you." Uncle Wu took quite a while to catch his breath. "Take someone's money, ward off their troubles. Trust me."

"Put it on my tab. I'll pay you when I have some cash." Gao Ming "borrowed" three strange Talismans from Uncle Wu. They were folded into triangles and threaded with red string, with torn photographs wrapped inside.

"Make sure you pay me." Uncle Wu patted his ragged padded jacket and climbed to his feet. "I used to be a security guard in Building A. I was on duty the night of the Family Annihilation Case."

"What did you see?"

"Even before the Family Annihilation Case, there were plenty of frightening rumors about Building A. Some residents put up talisman papers in their homes to protect the place and keep themselves safe." Uncle Wu asked Gao Ming for a cigarette. "People from all over the country gather on Sishui Street, and the gods they worship are all strange and unusual. Most residents only did it for peace of mind, but someone became obsessed."

Exhaling a cloud of smoke, Uncle Wu let the ash fall onto his ragged jacket. "They laid bare all their misery and pain, seeking help from gods and Buddhas through their resentment. They became unstable and extreme."

"The killer behind the family massacre was one of those people, wasn't he?"

"Yes." Uncle Wu swallowed and pressed his chapped lips together before asking tentatively, "Have you ever heard of the Flesh-and-Blood Immortal?"

Gao Ming's gaze shifted slightly, but he still shook his head.

"Good. Don't believe anything you hear out there. Believe, and it exists. Don't believe, and it doesn't." Uncle Wu stubbed out his cigarette. "There are two kinds of Ghosts in Building A: Evil Ghosts and kind Ghosts. The protective charms I gave you can tell them apart."

"How?"

"When we were outside earlier, you said we'd all die tonight. Did you notice something?"

"Everyone who gets out of those black cars of yours disappears at night. That's why I said you'd die too." Uncle Wu might have seemed crazy, but he was actually shrewd.

"The black cars belong to the Investigation Bureau. Have you seen any other Investigators inside the building? They all wear the same uniform." Gao Ming wanted to get more information out of Uncle Wu. "Don't worry. The Investigation Bureau has plenty of factions. I'm not with the people who came before."

"There's something I'm not sure I should say." Only after a long silence did Uncle Wu speak again. "After Building A became haunted by Ghosts, those so-called Investigators didn't stop it. Instead, they kept moving all sorts of things inside. I suspect... it isn't that the building is haunted by Ghosts. Someone chose this building to raise Ghosts."

The Black Ring suddenly vibrated beneath Gao Ming's sleeve. Uncle Wu hurriedly covered his mouth, stepped on the cigarette butt, and backed away.

Gao Ming looked at the Black Ring and saw a mission issued by the Hanhai General Investigation Bureau. At ten that night, every Investigator who had experienced a level three anomaly event would be deployed to Sishui Street in the East District. The anomaly event at Sishui Apartments had reached the point where it had to be resolved, whatever the cost!

"Is everyone betting everything on tonight?"

Even Gao Ming, who had joined the Investigation Bureau only a few days earlier, had received deployment orders. That alone showed how serious things were. The General Investigation Bureau was gathering all its strength, determined to resolve the anomaly event. But if they failed again tonight, the strange tale inside Sishui Apartments would have swallowed so many living people that it would surely spiral out of control.

"Let's leave the apartments first."

Police cars drove past on the street outside. In preparation for that night's operation, the General Investigation Bureau was getting ready to seal off the entire surrounding area.

After meeting up with Zhu Miaomiao and Yan Hua at the restaurant, Gao Ming booked a private room and briefly explained what had happened inside the apartment building.

"We can now be certain this Anomaly Event is at least Level Four, and it's no ordinary Level Four Anomaly Event, either. There are numerous Ghosts inside, and the environment is complicated." Gao Ming had little confidence. "I survived the Level Three Anomaly Event last time because the Ghost involved bore me no ill will. This time, I really can't promise I'll get everyone out alive."

His gaze swept over everyone present before he continued. "Think this through carefully before you answer my next question."

"Go ahead." Xuan Wen seemed to know what Gao Ming was about to ask, and she already had her answer.

"There's more than a ninety percent chance we'll die in this Anomaly Event. Anyone willing to take the risk with me can stay. Anyone who isn't can drive back to the Bureau first. I won't force any of you." Once Gao Ming had finished, his expression relaxed a little.

"I'll stay." To everyone's surprise, Zhu Miaomiao was the first to speak. "I'm an Investigator with the Investigation Bureau. Investigating Anomaly Events is my job."

Her gaze moved between Zhu Miaomiao and Gao Ming, and Xuan Wen tapped the table. "I'm staying too. I need to keep an eye on you two."

"Enough talk. When do we move tonight?" Yan Hua frowned. Leaving had never even crossed her mind.

"Have you really thought this through?" Gao Ming wasn't simply nagging. They were living people, unarmed, with no tools capable of threatening Ghosts. Entering a Level Four Anomaly Event under those circumstances, facing Ghosts of unknown numbers and strength, was practically suicide.

"I want to go too." Wan Qiu had regained consciousness. He gripped Gao Ming's wrist. "Eight people... are waiting for me..."

No one backed out, and Gao Ming finally made up his mind. "All right. Once it gets dark, we'll avoid the Investigation Bureau and enter from the other side."

They used what little time they had to look up murders connected to Sishui Street, memorizing the location of every apartment where a murder had occurred.

Everyone threw themselves into the final preparations until night fell.

The torrential rain that had lasted for days was finally about to stop, but the dark clouds had yet to disperse.

Light rain pattered onto rows of black sedans. The whole of Sishui Street had been sealed off. People could enter, but no one could leave.

Investigators in black uniforms hurried back and forth. The Hanhai General Investigation Bureau's finest had all been sent here.

While most ordinary people in the city marveled that the downpour was over and the skies would finally clear, the Investigators standing in the shadows began approaching Building A of Sishui Apartments.

(End of chapter)