Gu Yi pushed his sunglasses up his nose, tilting his head to examine the small building across the courtyard gate, noting that the gray fog enveloping it seemed similar in nature to the Resentment Fog he’d encountered in the sewers.

Not far off, the two doors of a black Santana parked by the roadside swung open, and Bai Ru, Xu Hui, and Kuang Feifan spilled out. Gu Yi turned his head, saw them approaching him, and couldn't help but smile.

“You still don’t trust me going in alone?” Gu Yi asked Bai Ru.

Bai Ru’s face was grim, and she stated firmly, “I’m going in with you.”

Kuang Feifan chimed in beside her, unwilling to be left out, “I need to go in too.”

“Me too,” Xu Hui naturally couldn't fall behind.

Gu Yi gave an exasperated look. “I’m not going ghost-hunting. Going in alone means a quick entry and an even quicker exit. If you all go in together and something happens, I won't even be able to manage one of you.”

Bai Ru knew there was logic to his words, but watching him approach the small building solo made her uneasy, feeling it lacked camaraderie.

Gu Yi waved a hand dismissively. “Relax. You guys stand guard outside and be ready to back me up.”

Saying that, he walked toward the main gate.

The iron gate was secured with a heavily rusted padlock. Gu Yi couldn't be bothered to examine it; he simply gripped the bars of the iron gate, vaulted over with practiced ease, and landed inside.

He glanced back toward Bai Ru. “Help me get this open later, okay?”

With that, he waved at the group, turned, slipped his hands into his pockets, and strolled inside as casually as if he were visiting a neighbor.

Xu Hui couldn't help but purse his lips. “This guy... so cool...” He couldn't think of any other word to describe Gu Yi.

The others decided to park the car by the courtyard entrance. Kuang Feifan walked up to the gate and fiddled with the iron lock until it opened, tossing it aside.

“There wasn’t a lock here when we left yesterday?” Kuang Feifan muttered.

Bai Ru explained, “The malevolent energy radiating faintly from within and without this building forces ordinary people to subconsciously ignore its existence. That’s why this area is so deserted; even passersby wouldn't feel compelled to stop and look this way. As for the lock, it was probably here all along. No matter how many times we enter or exit, if the malevolent spirit residing inside this small building isn't eliminated, the gate will simply revert to how it was.”

At that moment, Gu Yi had already pushed open the building's door and stepped inside.

Entering the ground-floor hall, Gu Yi felt a slight surprise. Given the dense resentment outside, it was strangely weak within the structure. Unlike Kuang Feifan and the others, he didn't head straight for the second floor. Instead, he stood in the center of the lobby, carefully surveying his surroundings.

Meanwhile, outside in the Santana, Bai Ru and the others sat inside, their hearts heavy with apprehension, awaiting news from Gu Yi.

Suddenly, Kuang Feifan’s phone rang. When he answered, he realized it was the appraisal center calling. Upon inquiring, they had managed to recover a name from the ink traces on the small notebook: Shen Jun.

They had also extracted a few lines of text from the first page, recovered through computer enhancement of the faint impressions left by writing on the page beneath.

Since they were still waiting for Gu Yi, Kuang Feifan asked the center’s staff to email the electronic file to his phone. Bai Ru leaned over, and Xu Hui, bracing himself on the front seat, poked his head forward; the three huddled together to look at the content on Kuang Feifan’s screen.

“When I was walking home from school today, I ran into Uncle Wu next door as I was going upstairs. I politely said, ‘Hello, Uncle Wu.’ But Uncle Wu didn't acknowledge me, just walked downstairs with his head down past me. I looked back curiously, and on the back of Uncle Wu’s shirt, there was a face drawn there, smiling at me. That night, I told Mom, and she said I was too tired and seeing things. Tomorrow is our Xiangyang Elementary School Second Grade activity to pay respects to military families, so I need to sleep early.”

After reading the recovered document, Kuang Feifan couldn't help but look up and meet Xu Hui’s eyes; a flicker of astonishment crossed both their faces as they recalled the eerie pencil drawing they had once seen.

Bai Ru, unaware of the specific details Kuang Feifan and Xu Hui had experienced inside the building, noticed their expressions and couldn't help but ask, “What do you two know?”

Only then did Kuang Feifan recount their experience with the pencil drawing. Bai Ru was also startled. After thinking for a moment, she suggested, “If it’s possible, we should try to find this Shen Jun from back then and see if he can tell us anything about this small building.”

Xu Hui let out a rough snort. “Why don’t we just tear the small building down, or better yet, burn it to the ground?”

Bai Ru shook her head. “It’s not that simple. If we don't truly eliminate the malevolent spirit inside, simply destroying the building is equivalent to breaking the cage holding the spirit. It might hide anywhere afterward and continue to harm people.”

Xu Hui scratched his scalp. “That terrifying?”

Kuang Feifan frowned. “Is it like what they show in Ju-On?” He had watched his fair share of horror films in the past.

Bai Ru shrugged. “Something like that.”

Ultimately, Xu Hui agreed to her suggestion. Since they couldn't destroy the building from the outside, it seemed their only option was to understand the situation inside.

Night gradually fell, and the streetlights flickered on. The trio grew increasingly worried about the situation inside the small building.

Suddenly, a loud CRASH echoed from a distance. Startled, the three looked toward the sound and vaguely saw the main gate of the small building violently swing open as a figure charged out, carrying something heavy.

Bai Ru shoved her car door open and jumped out, turning back to Kuang Feifan and Xu Hui who were following. “Guard the main gate!” she commanded, then sped toward the building in quick strides.

By then, the figure had already rushed down the steps outside the building. Bai Ru ran to meet him and saw Gu Yi, drenched in sweat, shouldering the seemingly dead He Shaoqing, shouting urgently, “Seal the door!”

Seeing him like this, Bai Ru didn't ask questions. She sprinted to the main entrance of the small building, yanked both doors shut, and quickly reapplied the talismans. Simultaneously, she heard mournful wails shaking the very soul emanating from inside the building.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Throughout the process, sheets of cold, yin wind whipped past them. Bai Ru endured the skin-stinging pain to seal the door, then turned and fled with Gu Yi toward the courtyard gate.

By the courtyard gate, Xu Hui and Kuang Feifan were each bracing a section of the iron railing door, tense and watching Gu Yi’s figure, worried the gate might slam shut unexpectedly. Only when Gu Yi and Bai Ru rushed out one after the other did they turn and follow.

Kuang Feifan took He Shaoqing off Gu Yi’s shoulder. Looking at the figure, now nothing more than skin and bone, his heart tightened, and he subconsciously asked, “Is he... still alive?”

Gu Yi wiped sweat from his brow, his expression strained. “Not dead yet, for now. Let’s find a place to settle him.”

Xu Hui frowned. “Not the hospital?”

Gu Yi shook his head. “The hospital won’t help.”

Xu Hui gritted his teeth. “Then my place.”

The group piled back into the Santana. Xu Hui took the wheel, driving straight toward his family's villa.