Translator: CinderTL
Jiang Cheng pushed open the door and entered the room.
Fatty, Huai Yi, and Pi Ruan were all there, but to Jiang Cheng's surprise, Luo He was also present.
The atmosphere in the room was heavy. Luo He sat by the communal bed, his expression unreadable, while Fu Fu lay beside him.
Fu Fu's eyes were tightly shut, her eyeballs rolling beneath her eyelids. Unlike Pan Du and Linghu Yong, whom Jiang Cheng had seen earlier, her face didn't bear that eerie smile. She simply looked as if she were asleep.
"What happened?" Jiang Cheng asked.
Before Luo He could answer, Pi Ruan spoke up, "You scared the hell out of me! We agreed to take turns keeping watch at night. When it was her turn, I went to wake her, but she wouldn't budge."
"I tried too," Huai Yi added. "Except for the lack of breathing and a slightly lower body temperature, she seems perfectly normal."
Fatty scoffed, "Huai Yi, watch your words! Who's normal with no breath and a low body temperature? I'd bet it won't be long before she ends up like Pan Du and Linghu Yong."
Regardless, Fu Fu had clearly been affected. Standing near her gave the same unsettling feeling as being near Pan Du and Linghu Yong.
Jiang Cheng shifted his gaze from Fu Fu to Luo He. "When did you get here?"
"I just arrived."
Seemingly understanding what Jiang Cheng truly wanted to ask, Luo He continued, "I got out half an hour ago. Something happened at the police station, so they didn't have time to deal with me."
"I saw several bodies being carried in. Their faces were covered with white sheets. I overheard the people carrying them whispering that more people had died—many died last night."
At this point, Luo He turned his head, his gaze hinting at something specific. "Those bodies we saw earlier were the Japanese women who were with Yangzi."
"The police are still at the photography studio. They found several photos there documenting a Supernatural event."
"Yangzi's child had already died, but through a ritual, her child was strangely brought back to life," Luo He paused. "The ritual was conducted by High Priest Yamamoto Senjin, and Boss Sang of the photography studio was responsible for taking the photos."
"As far as I know, Yangzi's child was also named Yamamoto Senjin."
As Luo He revealed these details, the earlier clues gradually began to fit together.
The small footprints Jiang Cheng had seen, and the black handprint on the back of the photography studio owner, now had explanations.
"The ritual you witnessed was likely a form of succession," Jiang Cheng said after a moment's thought. "Every Great High Priest has been named Yamamoto Senjin."
"The previous Great High Priest, Crippled Liu, was cursed for overusing the Gate's power. Yangzi's child was his chosen successor."
"Every Great High Priest is a Disciple of the Door, and what they inherit is the Gate itself."
At first, Fatty was completely lost. Only at the end did it click. "So... now we're not just dealing with Crippled Liu, but also that child? Is the ghost possessing him?"
"I think dealing with the child alone will be enough," Luo He said, pulling a photo from his pocket. The photo showed two people.
A man and a woman, both hanging by their necks, their feet dangling in the air—clearly dead. The background was the Feng Family ancestral hall in Jiangcheng, where Fu Fu had been the previous night.
The woman was Yangzi, and the man was Crippled Liu.
"Dead?" Fatty stared at the photo, still struggling to process the flood of information. Crippled Liu, whom they'd been investigating for so long, had died without a sound.
Luo He nodded. "He's dead. We searched the area around the bodies, but the child wasn't there."
Looking at Fu Fu, who lay sleeping like Sleeping Beauty, Jiang Cheng frowned. "What's happening to her? Do you know?"
"She's trapped by that thing in a dream-like place, but it can't harm her for now. Likewise, she can't defeat it or escape the dream," Luo He replied without hesitation.
"So, it's a stalemate?" Huai Yi asked in surprise.
"More or less, but it's not in our favor in the long run," Luo He answered.
This was obvious. They were running out of time, and the deadline Director Qiao had set for solving the case was fast approaching. Yet they had only just confirmed the Ghost's identity.
As if sensing their thoughts, Luo He shook his head, his voice tinged with discomfort. "There's no time left. We have at most a few hours."
"She's fading fast," Luo He said, gazing at Fu Fu. A strange emotion flickered in his eyes. "When I first arrived, she was still breathing faintly, and her body temperature wasn't this low."
Judging by the results, Fu Fu was slowly turning into a corpse. Huai Yi stared at her face, which seemed even more eerie than when he first saw it.
If it suddenly twisted into the grotesque smile of Pan Du or Linghu Yong, he wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.
Crippled Liu, a key figure in the investigation, and Yangzi were both dead. The true Ghost had vanished without a trace, and the case, which had just begun to show promise, was once again at a standstill.
"What do you mean by 'a few hours'?" Huai Yi asked Luo He, glancing at Fu Fu. "I'd say it's she who has only a few hours left. We're not going to die with her just because she dies, are we?"
At this critical moment, it didn't matter whether the words were pleasant to hear or not. What mattered was reality.
But Huai Yi hadn't expected Luo He to remain calm. Instead, Luo He turned his gaze toward him and said calmly, "That's right. If she dies, we all die."
"Why?" Huai Yi demanded.
"As a Disciple of the Door, you should know about a type of Gate called the Gate of the Bizarre," Luo He said. "The thing inside this Gate is what's causing this."
He lowered his head to look at Fu Fu for a long moment before saying, "She also has such a Gate within her."
"So, whether the Gate within Fu Fu is consumed or some unknown situation arises from a collision—like two Abnormalities simultaneously losing control—the outcome is the same: we all die here."
Luo He spoke softly, without any threat in his tone. He was merely stating a fact calmly, though it was a difficult truth for the others to accept.
"What can we do to have a chance?" Jiang Cheng turned to Luo He. Since he'd given such a specific time limit, perhaps there was a way out.
"My ability can send someone into the dream they're currently experiencing," Luo He said. "If we can find a flaw in the dream, we can break the trap."
"Then why don't you go in yourself?" Jiang Cheng asked, posing an unflattering but pertinent question.
"That's right, Brother Jiang is right," Huai Yi chimed in. "Why don't you go in?" Luo He and Fu Fu were teammates, so logically, he should have been the obvious choice.
Hearing this, Luo He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it down, revealing his shoulder. To everyone's surprise, a dark handprint was imprinted there.
"I tried," Luo He said, buttoning his shirt back up, "but I failed."
(End of the Chapter)
---
📖Read (NS) on Pa.treon@CinderTL - c986. [+4]
🔑Early Access at $1.
✍Translated (6) Series, (4.1K+) Chapters, (5.8M+) Words.