He wanted to understand why these people, who had dedicated their lives to fighting ghosts, had all gathered in this Chat Group after death. The obscure name "Galan Society" might be a major breakthrough; it was the name of the organization they had founded while alive.
Wild geese leave a sound, people leave a trace. As a citizen of the twenty-first century, Gao Tian refused to believe that out of so many people, not a single one had left any tracks on the internet. The only difficulty lay in figuring out how to dig up the information from when they were alive.
Dozens of webpages popped up. Most were related to murder mystery games, video games, or anime—clearly not what he was looking for.
Gao Tian filtered out the junk and scrolled all the way to the bottom, discovering a closed forum. It had been registered in 2013 under the name Galan Society, and its signature description consisted of a single short line:
We are the ghost hunters who silently protect the daylight of the living and wage war against the Inner World.
Forum Owner: Living Apartment.
Administrators: Ghost Infant, Ghost Cave, Burned Ghost... One familiar name after another, some of which Gao Tian had already seen in the Chat Group.
Every detail matched. There was no mistake. This forum had been created by this group of people who had already become ghosts.
Ghost hunters.
Was this what they had called themselves in life?It was deeply ironic when he thought about it. A group of people who had spent their entire lives fighting ghosts had all turned into ghosts after death. Now, like filthy things hiding from the light of day, they lingered in a tiny Chat Group.
Wanting to learn more about their lives, Gao Tian clicked into the forum's main page without hesitation.
Thinking back on it later, this was an incredibly careless move.
His entanglement with the Shattered Face Ghost proved that many ghosts could be transmitted entirely through images and Memes. All it took was a single glance, and they would crawl right through the network connection to butcher you.
If this abandoned Galan Society forum still harbored some post carrying a curse or mental pollution, Gao Tian's accidental intrusion might force him to face an even more terrifying Fierce Ghost right after escaping the Shattered Face Ghost.
Whether it was a stroke of luck or misfortune, every post in the forum had been deleted save for two. All the members following the forum had also canceled their accounts, their avatars turning a uniform gray.
"Once this mission is handled, I'm getting ready to retire."
Poster: Ghost Infant.
Date: 2017.
Content:
This mission really pays out a massive sum of money.
Once it's taken care of, I'll basically achieve financial freedom. Maybe I should consider retiring?
Would twenty-five be a little too early to retire?
Once I'm no longer a ghost hunter, I won't have to spend every day worrying and dealing with these filthy things. Will I have trouble adjusting to an ordinary life?
What should I do then? Travel the world, go back to school for a master's degree, or maybe open a bookstore?
Regardless, just thinking about doing what I actually want to do makes me so excited.
...
...
The other post.
"Discovering Some of the Fundamental Nature of Ghosts During the 'Living Apartment' Supernatural Incident."
Poster: Living Apartment.
Date: 2018.
The content of this post has been deleted. Please click on other posts to take a look.
...
...
The second post was locked. It left behind only a title, and he couldn't click into it.
Gao Tian slowly set down his mobile phone.
The Chat Group owner had gotten the name Living Apartment because he had been to the Living Apartment.
Did that mean Ghost Infant had also handled a supernatural incident named Ghost Infant, Ghost Cave had dealt with a Ghost Cave incident, and Burned Ghost had handled a Burned Ghost?
Could it be that these ghost hunters had taken the most difficult supernatural incidents they had ever handled and used them as their titles?
It was like how some people grew so old they forgot the names of their spouse and children, yet clearly remembered the exact year they had been admitted to Tsinghua University.
What a shame. Because this forum was so old, every single user had canceled their account. Of the two remaining posts, one was Ghost Infant complaining, and the other, far more important post, was locked.
Continuing his investigation down this particular trail would be impossible.
Suddenly, Gao Tian thought of someone.
If he found a hacker who understood network technology to take a look, they might be able to unlock the post.
The first person Gao Tian thought of was Cao Hua, a senior two years ahead of him. The guy had been a legendary figure back in high school, winning a silver medal in a national information technology competition during his sophomore year. He was later admitted to Jiaotong University on a recommendation. During his freshman year, he had even hacked into the school's academic affairs system to change his failing P.E. grade to a perfect score. When the incident came to light, he had been slapped with a major demerit.
Cao Hua and Gao Tian had been on pretty good terms in the past. However, they hadn't been in touch for a while, so he didn't know if Cao Hua could help with this.
Gao Tian searched his contacts and dialed the familiar number.
Five minutes later, a familiar voice rang out. Even through the mobile phone, he could feel just how unserious the owner of that voice was:
"Hey, son. It's been a long time since you called your old man. Why'd you suddenly think of your father at a time like this?
"There's never any good news when you suddenly call out of the blue. Out with it, are you lacking some fatherly love and care?"
Gao Tian had just survived a life-and-death crisis and had no time to banter with this greasy fatty:
"Brother Cao, I've run into a bit of trouble and need your technical support.
"Help me get this sorted, and I'll treat you to a meal when you come out."
Cao Hua said,
"My son's business is my business.
"Shoot."
Gao Tian said,
"I saw a really important post online. But because the forum hasn't been used in so long, everything inside has been deleted.
"If I want to open it now, is there any way you can help me out on the technical side?"
When it came to his field of expertise, Cao Hua dropped his playful demeanor, his tone turning slightly more serious:
"I can't guarantee anything, but it can usually be recovered.
"If the platform hasn't completely wiped it, I can still recover it through server backups and database logs.
"If the platform has permanently purged it and wiped the backups clean... Even then, I should still be able to retrieve it; it'll just be more of a hassle."
Gao Tian said,
"Sorry to trouble you, Brother Cao.
"These are relatively old posts, so the backend backups might be gone too."
Cao Hua said,
"What father doesn't love his son? How about this: send the link over on WeChat first. I'll take a look at the situation and get back to you when I have time.
"I won't say any more right now. I'm having coffee with a junior."
Beep, beep, beep.
A dial tone echoed from the other end of the mobile phone.
Gao Tian sent over the link to the Galan Society. He would leave the matter as it was for now and wait for news from Cao Hua.
In addition, he needed to find a place to stay for the day. Where would be a suitable temporary residence?
Gao Tian thought about it. He hadn't been home for a long time, and he couldn't return to his rented apartment right now, so he might as well go home first.
Sitting on the bus, he traveled for about an hour before it stopped in front of a residential community in a relatively suburban area. Gao Tian got off.
Perhaps because he hadn't been back in nearly half a year, as Gao Tian stepped into the residential community where he had grown up, it surprisingly felt somewhat unfamiliar.
At the first-floor entrance of the residential building hung a crooked plaque with some words written on it. Unfortunately, the writing was long rusted over and completely obscured by a thick layer of creeper vines.
As Gao Tian lowered his head and walked into the residential building, he noticed three young people gathered around a bench in the first-floor lobby, playing some kind of card game. There was a silver-haired boy with eyes narrowed into two slits, a girl dressed in Lolita fashion, and a young, bald monk in gray robes.
When Gao Tian passed by, the girl's shoulders twitched. Even without turning his head, he could still feel her gaze firmly fixed on his back.
The gray-robed monk stared intently at the cards in his hand, never once raising his head.
Gao Tian walked over to the elevator shaft. The elevator in this old-fashioned residential building only went up to the Third Floor. Since he lived on the fourth floor, he had to climb the final flight of stairs himself.
He pressed the up call button, and the elevator doors slowly slid open. Gao Tian walked inside.
Thinking about it, it had been more than half a year since he last came back. He had been away from home for a long time this time around. He wondered how his parents would react to his sudden return.
After stepping out of the elevator on the Third Floor, he followed the stairwell up to the fourth floor, coming to a halt in front of an incredibly familiar iron security door.
Looking at the faint traces left behind by the stickers he had pasted on the iron door as a child, he finally felt a sense of familiarity.
The door had been left slightly ajar. Gao Tian gave it a gentle push, and with an agonized groan from its hinges, the iron door slowly swung open.
The sound of a television program drifted out from the living room. His father was sitting on the sofa, his back turned toward him.
The sizzling sound of stir-frying came from the kitchen—it had to be his mother. She heard the front door open, and her voice called out from the kitchen:
"Gao Tian, why did you suddenly come back?
"You must be exhausted from these past few days. Go rest in your bedroom for a bit; we've still kept it for you. We'll just set an extra pair of chopsticks for lunch today."
His father's silhouette remained focused on the television without turning around. His voice also floated over:
"Tian Tian, weren't you out studying for your exams? Why did you suddenly run back here?
"Did you run into some trouble? Are you short on money? I just transferred this month's living expenses to you yesterday."
Gao Tian didn't know what to say. His bizarre encounter from the other night, and how he had played a game with ghosts to escape with his life, was simply too unbelievable.
He didn't know if his parents would believe him if he told them. Even if they did, it would only make them worry for nothing, since they couldn't help anyway.
Right now, Gao Tian just wanted to find a safe place to sleep and recover some energy. After that, he could take the cardboard splint off his finger and go to the hospital to have the bone set.
Walking toward his bedroom, he replied with a casual, dismissive excuse:
"Yeah, something happened. I probably can't stay in my apartment for the time being.
"I'll go get some sleep first, you and Mom don't need to save any food for me. I also injured my hand a bit, so I have to go to the hospital this afternoon."
His mother's voice echoed from the kitchen again:
"How did you injure your hand? I'm always telling you to be careful.
"I'll put your food in the fridge. Your dad and I are going out this afternoon. When you wake up, get it from the second shelf yourself."
Gao Tian walked to the end of the hallway. The second-to-last room was his bedroom.
However, when he pushed open the door to the bedroom that should have been incredibly familiar to him, Gao Tian stared at the scene before his eyes, completely dumbfounded.
Wait, this wasn't his bedroom at all.
Whose bedroom was this?