Bai Ru hung up the phone again, and dialing Kuang Feifan’s number still resulted in a dead line. She was now certain that Kuang Feifan was in trouble, almost certainly connected to that haunted building.

The phone in her hand suddenly rang; it was Gu Yi. After listening for a few sentences, Bai Ru’s expression darkened considerably.

Gu Yi informed her over the phone that Wu Zhongyou was an inside man, someone who had always maintained contact with the ghost in the sewer—or perhaps, he had been the one looking after the spirit.

Of course, Gu Yi couldn't clarify the exact details yet; further interrogation of Wu Zhongyou was required. However, there was good news: the child-form ghost had been successfully apprehended. The remaining task was figuring out how to neutralize the "Accumulated Grievance Dead Realm" lurking within the sewers.

“Be careful. Don’t worry about me; I’ll find you once I’m done here,” Gu Yi concluded.

Bai Ru hummed in response and pressed the disconnect button. Regardless, the business at Fuxing Middle School seemed to have reached a conclusion. As relief washed over her, her thoughts immediately drifted back to Kuang Feifan.

If Bai Ru knew that Kuang Feifan had returned to the haunted building solely because of Xu Hui’s personal safety, she would have given both of them a serious lecture.

But then again, Bai Ru wouldn't need to intervene now; the lesson Xu Hui and Kuang Feifan were currently receiving was likely far more impactful than anything she could deliver.

This entire sequence had begun the moment the two stepped inside the gates of the haunted manor.

The massive iron gate at the entrance posed no barrier to them; they entered the courtyard with notable ease.

The moment they crossed the threshold, Kuang Feifan’s heart involuntarily sank. His body tensed up, an immediate sense of unease washing over him, making his breathing slightly ragged. The experiences he endured within that building previously were not easily forgotten, and seeing the small structure again involuntarily triggered fragmented memories in his mind.

Xu Hui, however, felt no such sensation. He surveyed the desolate, run-down courtyard, even crouching down to grasp a handful of weeds sprouting between the flagstones of the path. He looked back at Kuang Feifan and asked, "What do you feel?"

Kuang Feifan glanced at him and shook his head. He chose not to share his own feelings. If He Shaoqing were standing there, he would have told him everything, but he and Xu Hui had only recently become acquainted, and he wasn't comfortable sharing his emotions with strangers.

Xu Hui stood up, his expression a bit peculiar. "Honestly, walking in here does give one the creeps. Is it because you told me so much, or..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a distant rumble of thunder echoed from the horizon. Both men looked up simultaneously, only then realizing that the previously partly cloudy sky had turned heavy with dark clouds. As they gazed upward, raindrops began to "pitter-patter" down.

"Damn, terrible luck!" Xu Hui muttered. Although the rain wasn't heavy, neither of them intended to get drenched. They quickened their pace, seeking refuge under the portico just before the small building’s main door.

If anyone had been paying attention near the courtyard entrance at that moment, they would have noticed something peculiar: only the sky directly above this specific building’s courtyard was blanketed in dense, dark clouds, and the rain, though steady, seemed confined only to this area, while the sky outside the compound remained merely overcast.

The gloom above plunged the surroundings into a deep twilight. Standing on the portico and looking out over the courtyard, a profound sense of desolation immediately arose, one that easily induced feelings of loneliness and sorrow.

Though the two didn't feel the melancholic wistfulness themselves, looking at the rain-soaked yard nevertheless left a heavy feeling in their chests.

Xu Hui intensely disliked this feeling. He took a deep breath, trying to expel the tightness in his lungs, then raised his eyes to examine the building’s two large black doors.

Kuang Feifan stared at the doors, lost in thought for a moment.

Noticing his unusual demeanor, Xu Hui reached out and clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't dwell on it. If you feel uneasy, wait for me outside."

Kuang Feifan didn't reply. He closed his eyes, adjusted his breathing, steadied his mind, and then reopened them. The confusion in his gaze instantly cleared. He looked at Xu Hui and smiled faintly. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Saying this, he extended a hand and gently pushed the main door. It swung inward silently.

Xu Hui was startled. He glanced at the hinges near the doorframe and blurted out, "Does someone clean this place every day?"

Kuang Feifan offered a wry smile. He knew exactly why Xu Hui had asked that—a long-abandoned building, yet the door opened without the slightest squeak. Such a thing wasn't seen every day. However, having encountered countless such anomalies, he was long past being surprised and simply shrugged, waving his hand toward the interior with an inviting gesture. "Well? Shall we go in?"

Xu Hui snorted, glancing sideways at Kuang Feifan. Seeing that his partner’s mood had normalized and his tone had relaxed, Xu Hui secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He certainly didn't want a highly strung partner tagging along.

The two entered the building one after the other. Behind them, a slightly damp, faint breeze swept between them, causing both to instinctively look back. There was nothing there.

Xu Hui frowned. "Are we being a bit too jumpy? It’s daytime, even if it’s raining outside. It shouldn’t make us this spooked."

Kuang Feifan considered this, then nodded in agreement. He had to admit that with his composure restored, his confidence had returned as well.

They didn't linger long at the entrance. Kuang Feifan, familiar with the layout, led Xu Hui up to the second floor. As they reached the landing at the turn of the staircase, Kuang Feifan instinctively glanced back toward the main door of the small building. His body trembled slightly. He saw the door was shut tightly, as if it had never been opened at all.

He didn't recall either himself or Xu Hui closing the door upon entry. Was the sequence of events from last time about to repeat itself? For some reason, he didn't mention this to Xu Hui.

Xu Hui hadn't noticed; he was debating whether to use his flashlight. Since entering the building, he had distinctly felt that the light inside was as dim as early evening, a stark contrast to the outside. Moreover, from the moment they stepped in, he sensed an oppressive atmosphere, though he couldn't pinpoint its source. Still, it wasn't so dark that they couldn't see their surroundings, so he hadn't pulled out the torch immediately, nor had he voiced his feelings to Kuang Feifan. This investigation had been his idea entirely, and he didn't want Kuang Feifan to think he was overreacting.

When they reached the second floor, Kuang Feifan’s gaze swept across the hallway, and a look of startled confusion crossed his face. Xu Hui caught the expression from the side and quickly asked, "What is it?"

Kuang Feifan looked left and right, then took a couple of steps to the right to confirm, before saying hesitantly, "The mirrors. All the mirrors in this hallway are gone."

Every mirror that had once hung along the corridor walls had vanished, and bizarrely, there wasn't a single mark left on the walls indicating where they had been mounted. He remembered clearly that he had shattered those mirrors himself using protective talismans. Now, they were gone. Kuang Feifan’s heart tightened, and he turned to look at Xu Hui.

Xu Hui didn't know the minute details of what Kuang Feifan and He Shaoqing had encountered inside the building, but seeing Kuang Feifan's reaction now, he knew something strange was happening.

He understood this wasn't the time to investigate oddities. He walked up to Kuang Feifan, tapped his shoulder, and said, "Which room was it you mentioned last time? Let’s quickly check it and leave."

Kuang Feifan understood this too; the building was inherently full of bizarre things. The best course was indeed to resolve the primary objective as quickly as possible.

He pointed to the first room down the right-hand corridor. "I remembered later that there were several pieces of furniture covered with white cloths in that room. I wonder if there are any clues hidden inside; we didn't examine them closely last time."

Xu Hui nodded, walked over, and pushed open the door to the first room. Looking inside, sure enough, several pieces of furniture draped in white sheets were arranged messily. He counted them—five items in total.

Kuang Feifan moved up beside him, surveying the interior. "He Shaoqing and I checked this room before, but we didn't thoroughly inspect the furniture for anything left behind."

Xu Hui scanned the room. Through the dust-caked window, he could vaguely see the sky choked with black clouds. It seemed the wind was picking up outside, driving the rain against the glass, mixing with the dust to create unsettling, shifting patterns. The room was unusually dim.

Just as the two were about to switch on their flashlights, a sudden bolt of lightning illuminated the space outside, bathing the room in blinding white light for a fleeting moment. In that brief flash, they almost simultaneously noticed a white cloth inside the room, at the furthest end, floating up into the air.

The lightning vanished as quickly as it appeared, and the rapid shift from brightness to darkness caused their eyes temporary blindness. They instinctively closed their eyes to recover. When they reopened them, there was no sign of any cloth hovering in mid-air.

"Did... did you see that?" Xu Hui asked out of the blue.

Kuang Feifan let out a low sound of confirmation, but instead of answering directly, he maneuvered past Xu Hui and stepped into the room.

"Be careful," Xu Hui reached out to stop him.

Kuang Feifan shook his head, pushing Xu Hui’s hand away. He wore the prayer beads Bai Ru had given him, which should offer protection against malevolent forces; that was why he needed to enter first.

Everything inside seemed normal. Kuang Feifan cautiously moved toward the spot where he had seen the floating cloth, but nothing abnormal occurred. He turned to look at Xu Hui.

Xu Hui curled his lip in frustration and stepped inside, reaching out to yank the nearest white sheet off a piece of furniture. Dust immediately exploded into the air, causing him to cough violently.

He squinted, tossing the sheet aside, and only when the thick cloud of dust began to settle did he fan the air in front of his face while examining the object beneath. It was a writing desk.

The desk appeared to be made of some kind of dark wood, with a very simple design: just two drawers beneath the tabletop, supported by four legs. It looked like the kind of desk extremely common in the sixties or seventies.

Xu Hui pulled open both drawers; they were completely empty, not even a tiny scrap of paper remained.

At that moment, he heard Kuang Feifan call out, "Look at this."

Xu Hui looked up to see Kuang Feifan standing near that far corner. He had already pulled the sheet off another piece of furniture, revealing an ornate dressing table with a somewhat ancient style. Kuang Feifan wasn't looking at the dressing table, however; he was holding his flashlight and staring intently at a piece of paper he held in his hand, his expression grave.

"What is it?" Xu Hui asked, walking over.

Kuang Feifan brought the paper closer to Xu Hui. Under the beam of the flashlight, he could see that the paper was actually a pencil sketch. Seeing the drawing instantly made Xu Hui's face change.

The style was somewhat reminiscent of a charcoal sketch. Under heavy pencil shading, the drawing depicted the back view of a tall man leading a small child by the hand. The child held an ice cream cone in their free hand, tilting their head back in a smile.

At first glance, it seemed warm and tender, but for some reason, the artist had drawn another child’s face superimposed on the man’s back. Although this second face was also smiling, its grin appeared deeply sinister, and the child’s eyes were completely blackened out. Under the flashlight beam, it seemed as if this shadowy child was staring directly at the two men viewing the picture, laughing.