Wang Ji woke up quickly. When he opened his eyes, Jiang Zhi was packing his things with a serious expression, putting away the talismans and peach wood sword he had just taken out.
Seeing this, Wang Ji realized something must have happened. The lingering drowsiness vanished in an instant, and his expression turned serious as well.
“What happened?”
Jiang Zhi finished packing his bag, holding it close to his chest. The usual smile in his eyes was completely gone.
“Do you know that you talk in your sleep?”
Wang Ji looked up in surprise, his face pale as if he was stunned for a moment, then he shook his head.
“Your friend must have encountered something similar, which is why he insisted on going to Zichou Road No. 671,” Jiang Zhi said.
Wang Ji listened, confused, and couldn’t help but ask, “What did I say?”
Jiang Zhi thought for a moment and shared his guess:
“Unless there’s something wrong with your memory, the missing Yang Dong likely had something done to him regarding this house, or perhaps regarding you. As for the specifics, I’m sorry, but I can’t tell right now.”
“The effect is that you are being manipulated in your dreams, and there is one, maybe more than one, external consciousness that communicates through you and those around you, luring others to Zichou Road No. 671.”
Wang Ji pondered for a while, seemingly digesting Jiang Zhi’s words, but soon noticed a problem: “Talking in my sleep? If the goal is to lure others, doesn’t that limit the scope too much? It seems a bit… redundant?”
Jiang Zhi had clearly thought of this already and replied, “I have two guesses about that.”
“Either your inner defenses are very strong, giving you some resistance to this manipulation, so it can only exert influence when your defenses are lowered in sleep.”
“Or the effectiveness of this manipulation is gradual, its influence increasing over time. Right now, it may only exist in dreams, but later…”
Jiang Zhi didn’t finish his thought but shifted the topic to Wang Ji, saying, “So, I suggest that until this matter is completely resolved, you should avoid contact with others for the next few days, and definitely don’t sleep when anyone else is around.”
Wang Ji was clearly frightened by this advice and didn’t say anything more, just nodded.
Jiang Zhi stood up, casually slinging his bag over his right shoulder. He ran a hand over his short, stiff hair and sighed. Though the path ahead was uncertain, he visibly relaxed.
“I need to go to that place. If I go missing too, you should find the person who gave you the business card and help me take him down.”
He said it with a serious tone, showing no sign of joking.
The business cards from Xishan Studio were always in high demand, each marked with a specific symbol. When Wang Ji brought his card over, Jiang Zhi recognized it immediately as belonging to the old carpenter from the market next to the police station.
That old man probably saw some opportunity and didn’t want to get involved, wanting to push the matter onto their boss. Unfortunately, he happened to run into the boss being out of town, and Jiang Zhi, inexperienced and eager for a quick buck, confusedly stumbled into quite a mess.
After saying this, without waiting for Wang Ji to respond, he stepped out the door.
Logically, at such a heroic moment of heading alone to the enemy’s lair, Jiang Zhi should have driven off in a luxury car, speeding away amidst the sunset’s glow, accompanied by grand music, exuding an air of majesty mixed with a hint of loneliness.
Unfortunately, Jiang Zhi was just an ordinary person, and a very poor one at that.
He scanned the roadside for a shared bike.
Any grandiose fantasies evaporated as he pulled out his phone to scan the code, but Jiang Zhi was a very optimistic person. His life motto was “take it one step at a time.” Although he had faced many setbacks because of it, he never changed.
At this moment, even with the ominous clouds still hanging over Zichou Road No. 671, he was already calculating how much he should charge for this job to make it worth his effort and risk.
Zichou Road was an old road, lined mostly with two- or three-story standalone houses. The nearby area had long been demolished and rebuilt, cutting what used to be a long road down to a small section, with house numbers starting from over six hundred.
As Jiang Zhi counted, No. 671 was at the end of this road, beyond which lay a dead end.
This house looked even older than the ones before it. Its exterior was only smoothed over with cement, covered in gray, with withered vines creeping over it, layered and clawing, giving it a somewhat eerie appearance in the dimming night.
He parked a little way off, seeking a hidden spot under a tree. From his bag, he pulled out a small silk pouch. Flipping it open, he poured out a handful of small trinkets, counted them briefly, and then tucked them into his pockets one by one.
Now, he had no Spiritual Energy at all, and no matter how many talismans he had, they wouldn’t work. The pouch contained small magical items that had leaked out from his boss’s fingers, infused with Spiritual Energy, usable by ordinary people. Their power wasn’t great, but they were enough for self-defense.
If he didn’t have these things, he wouldn’t dare to come here recklessly alone.
Jiang Zhi circled around Zichou Road No. 671 twice, noticing that the windows of the house seemed to be blocked by thick curtains, not letting in a single ray of light. He couldn’t tell if anyone was inside.
Standing in front of the door, pondering how to get in, the house seemed to sense his presence. The heavy wooden door creaked open by itself.
There were no lights on inside, and the moonlight only illuminated a small area at the door. Beyond that was a thick darkness that obscured everything.
Jiang Zhi wasn’t surprised; he was invited after all. Given how things had developed, it wasn’t strange for the house to open its door by itself.
However, he didn’t rush in. He pretended to hesitate, as if conflicted about whether to enter directly. In reality, he discreetly pulled out a small bead the size of a fingernail from his pocket and quietly tossed it by the door.
The bead would hide itself upon touching the ground, and if it wasn’t drawn out with another bead within two hours, it would explode.
He hoped that in two hours, he would be able to leave this place safely.
After doing this, he finally showed a determined expression, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
As soon as he entered, the heavy wooden door slammed shut behind him with a loud bang, plunging the surroundings into darkness, where he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face.
Just as Jiang Zhi was about to take out his flashlight from his bag, a flicker of candlelight suddenly appeared at his feet.
Or rather, it was a point of light resembling candlelight, floating in the air, flickering unpredictably.
Then, one after another, star-like points of candlelight gradually formed a line in front of him, leading toward a certain direction.
Jiang Zhi realized that this was guiding him.
How thoughtful, he thought to himself.
The illumination from the candlelight was quite limited. Following the faint glow, he seemed to walk through a long corridor, then turned into an open room, stopping in front of a wooden door.
The candlelight extinguished after he passed, leaving only the last flicker floating in front of the door, as if urging him to open it.
Jiang Zhi smiled silently. He reached out his hand but didn’t open the door. Instead, he directly grasped the flickering candlelight in his palm and squeezed tightly. The pale flame flickered once before being snuffed out with a hiss, a faint scent of burnt flesh wafting through the air.
His figure swayed and was suddenly engulfed by the returning darkness, disappearing from sight.
Surrounded by endless darkness again, it was eerily quiet, as if no one had ever visited.
The silence stretched time to an extreme length. It was hard to tell how long it had been when faint footsteps could be heard from behind the door, approaching from a distance.
With a creak, the door opened from the other side.
A man holding a small night lamp walked out from behind the door.
The man was dressed ordinarily, in a T-shirt and jeans, but he wore a pig’s head iron mask with sharp teeth, which gave a chilling impression as he emerged from the darkness.
He held the night lamp, shining it around as he stepped out, seemingly searching for the missing Jiang Zhi.
Jiang Zhi pressed himself against the wall beside the door. He had just swallowed a pill to conceal his presence, so the man didn’t notice him at all.
However, without Spiritual Energy to enhance it, the pill would only last for about thirty minutes.
Seeing someone coming, Jiang Zhi glanced around and indeed spotted a faint red glow in an inconspicuous corner.
He wasn’t mistaken; there were indeed surveillance cameras in this house. Since he arrived, every move he made had been under observation.
It seemed that the secret of Zichou Road No. 671 was not just an ordinary supernatural event.
His earlier bold entrance and sudden disappearance were meant to stir up trouble and make things easier for him.
As Jiang Zhi watched the man walk past him, the iron pig mask glinted coldly in the light of the night lamp. He looked a little longer but couldn’t discern anything special; aside from being fierce, he didn’t sense any malice or resentment.
Taking advantage of the door still being open, he slipped in behind the man.
Inside, the lights were also off, and it was pitch black. Since Jiang Zhi had concealed his presence, it was inconvenient to use a light, so he had to carefully feel his way along the wall.
The wall was very old, and he could feel the peeling wallpaper and bits of debris. Unable to see clearly, he brought it to his nose and caught a whiff of a musty, burnt smell.
This house had indeed experienced a fire.
However, Shanhai Town was too remote, and there wasn’t much information available online. Jiang Zhi had searched for a long time on his phone but couldn’t find any news about the fire.
He seemed to have passed through a fairly large room, turned a corner at the end of the wall, and finally saw a glimmer of light.
He walked toward the light and discovered it was a staircase leading to the second floor, blocked by a tall, ancient cabinet, while the light was coming from the direction of the basement.
Strangely, such an old house actually had a basement.
Shanhai Town was located in the south, where the air was humid. It was rare to have the habit of building basements.
Jiang Zhi descended the stairs, and the atmosphere around him began to grow murky, mixed with a faint hint of blood.
Halfway down, he suddenly heard a weak, sorrowful cry coming from the end of the stairs, not far from his feet.
The sound was low and wavering, weak and breathless, as if struggling on the brink of death, or whispering in a painful dream, sending chills down the spine in the dim light.