The door opened quickly.
Inside stood a woman in an apron, around forty years old, with some freckles on her face. She seemed to have been cooking earlier, her hands greasy.
She wiped them on her apron and gave a sly smile, "Please come in. Things haven't been peaceful in the building lately, so everyone is being cautious."
"It's alright." Chen Xue smiled professionally, and the two of them walked in.
The woman brought two cups of hot water and placed them on the coffee table, asking, "What's going on? It's just me and my son at home, it shouldn't have anything to do with us, right?"
"Your son? Can you call him out?" Chen Xue seemed to have thought of something.
"My son is only eight, he couldn't have done anything bad, right?" The woman's face looked a bit displeased.
"Don't misunderstand, ma'am. It's the same for every household; everyone at home needs to be registered to ensure there are no outsiders." Chen Xue casually made up a reason.
The woman nodded and went to the side bedroom.
Taking advantage of her absence, Chen Xue looked at Jiang Chen with a strange expression, "I used the Public Security Office credentials to question the residents in the building and found that besides Zhang Meimei, there's another strange person in this building."
"Many people have seen a little boy often squatting in the shadows of the hallway, eating with his back to others."
Jiang Chen's eyes flickered, recalling the "friend" the little girl mentioned earlier.
"Moreover, I learned from the nearby Public Security Office that the previous three victims had varying degrees of missing limbs and organs," Chen Xue added.
Hearing this, Jiang Chen squinted his eyes.
The victim in 502 only had facial injuries, but the body was intact. The Disfigured Ghost's killing characteristic is only slashing the face.
This indicates something else took away those bodies' limbs.
"Sorry, Yangyang is too shy. Why don't you go to his room and ask him?" The woman returned from the side bedroom, apologetically.
"Alright." Chen Xue nodded.
"I'll go back to cooking then. You two have worked hard, stay for dinner later," the woman said as she headed to the kitchen.
Jiang Chen and Chen Xue entered the side bedroom.
A little boy was lying on the table, drawing and writing. His face was very pale, as if he hadn't seen sunlight for a long time, and a faint foul smell emanated from his mouth.
Jiang Chen's eyes focused with Demonic Power, and he saw wisps of black Resentment Qi emanating from the boy.
However, he had tried outside before, and almost every place on the fifth and sixth floors of this building had such Resentment Qi. Turning to look at Chen Xue, it was the same effect.
Demonic Power couldn't directly help him identify a ghost trying to disguise itself.
"Little friend, have you been staying in the room all this time?" Chen Xue tried asking, as she also had no way to confirm the ghost, only to guide the other to reveal a flaw.
However, the boy just glanced at her and lowered his head, not saying a word.
"We're friends of your mom, you don't have to be afraid," Jiang Chen said with a smile.
Unexpectedly, the boy suddenly looked up and stared at him, seriously saying, "Are you talking about the woman outside? She's not my mom."
This statement stunned both Jiang Chen and Chen Xue.
"No, there's a family photo of three outside, clearly showing that woman and this child. Is he trying to confuse us?" Chen Xue whispered.
Jiang Chen nodded. He had also seen the family photo, but at this moment, his eyes were deep, deliberately asking, "Little friend, are you having a disagreement with your mom, so you're saying this on purpose?"
"No, she used to be my mom." The boy's expression was unusually serious, "One night, mom was washing her hair in front of the bathroom mirror. When dad went over, she suddenly looked up and asked dad to peel an apple for her."
"Dad went to get a knife and an apple. I was watching TV on the sofa."
"I didn't dare tell dad that only the mom in the mirror looked up. The real mom neither looked up nor said she wanted an apple."
"What?" Chen Xue was stunned.
Jiang Chen's eyes moved. The woman's behavior earlier was indeed abnormal. When the sound of fighting came from downstairs, she didn't ask when they came in, as if she wasn't curious at all.
"My dad has a habit of peeling apples in one go, and that night he succeeded." The boy continued.
"After peeling the apple, he handed it over. This time, the mom outside the mirror turned her head to take the apple, while the mom in the mirror kept washing her hair."
Hearing this, Chen Xue's expression changed.
"I didn't dare say anything because dad didn't seem to notice anything unusual. Then, two days later, dad disappeared. That noon, mom made a lot of meat dishes, but I didn't dare eat a bite."
"When I was hungry, I would go to the trash can downstairs to find food, secretly eating in the hallway before going home. Sometimes Liu Xiaoyao from 402 would share some food with me."
"Mom seemed to know about my behavior, but she never cared, still making a lot of meat dishes each time."
After hearing the boy's story, Chen Xue pulled Jiang Chen aside.
"What do you think?"
"He probably isn't lying," Jiang Chen said in a deep voice, "I've heard of an urban legend. At midnight, if you peel an apple completely in front of a mirror without breaking the peel, you can see the Mirror Ghost."
"And if you don't do it properly, the Mirror Ghost will take over your body and steal your life!"
"The person's soul will be trapped in the mirror forever."
"I've heard that too," Chen Xue nodded.
"But we need to confirm it." Jiang Chen led her out to the bathroom of the house. What made their pupils shrink was the faint glue marks on the wall where the mirror used to be, but the mirror was gone.
A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.
The two instantly confirmed their suspicions.
Because this is also part of the Mirror Ghost legend.
To prevent the soul of the possessed person from returning, it will smash the mirror that summoned it!
"Dinner's ready, Yangyang! Officers from the Public Security Office, please get ready to eat." The woman brought out several dishes from the kitchen, five or six in total, all meat, making one feel greasy just looking at them.
Jiang Chen and Chen Xue walked over, and the little boy came out too, but no one picked up their chopsticks.
"Hehe, is it not to your taste?" The woman smiled warmly, "Why isn't anyone eating? Please, dig in."
Jiang Chen looked at the table full of dishes and sighed, "Sorry, I'm quite particular about food."
The woman was taken aback, forcing a smile, "What does this young man like to eat? I can make it for you."
"High-end ingredients are often prepared in the simplest way. Ma'am, can you make raw pig intestines?" Jiang Chen asked.
The woman's mouth opened slightly.
Raw... pig intestines?
The Mirror Ghost felt a wave of nausea, Ghost Qi +20.