The backyard was colder than the front yard.
The well beside the dead tree had been sealed again, black sealing strips affixed around the edges of the stone slab. Xu An's remains had already been removed, and the bottom of the well had been cleared out once, but approaching it now, they could still smell damp earth, as though something buried underground for years had surfaced again.
Xu Zhihan walked to the well.
Lu Wenchuan stood beside him, his Short Knife still drawn. The Deputy Captain and two team members blocked off the backyard entrance. Song Zhixia was connected remotely to the monitoring equipment, her voice coming through their earpieces.
"Xu Zhihan, you're only looking this time. No direct confrontation."
Xu Zhihan looked at the well. "You're at Headquarters, and you're still this noisy."
Song Zhixia sneered. "I can fly over right now and stick you with a needle."
Lu Wenchuan lowered his head and laughed.
Xu Zhihan looked at him.
Lu Wenchuan immediately suppressed his smile.
The sealing strips on the stone slab began to change color.
The edges of the originally black talisman paper slowly reddened, as though blood were soaking into them from below. Xu Zhihan crouched down. Before his hand could touch the slab, a faint sigh came from the well.
A woman's voice.
Not Lin Wan's.
Nor He Guilan's.
The Deputy Captain's expression changed. "There's someone else down there?"
Xu Zhihan lowered his eyes. "A soul."
Lu Wenchuan asked, "Whose?"
Xu Zhihan did not answer immediately.
He watched the ring of reddening sealing strips around the well, and the words from Lin Wan's recording flashed through his mind.
Her line was not in the study, but by the well.
Xu Zhihan raised his hand, stopping his fingertips an inch above the sealing strips.
"Come out."