Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
I searched around the office but found nothing. After leaving the Customer Service Department, I began looking in other places: the meeting rooms, the Development Department, the Project Department, and the Network Maintenance Department. I checked everywhere except for the locked Finance Department. I had searched all the places I could think of, including the women's restroom, which of course, Manager Li had entered first. After searching for a while, it was already eleven o'clock, and I still had no leads. I said, "If we can't find it, we'll just have to wait until the power goes out and it shows up on its own. Where's your smoking area? I need a smoke."
Manager Li replied, "We smoke at the stairwell. Come on, let's go together."
Once we reached the stairwell, I lit a cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke. Manager Li asked me, "Aren't you supposed to be able to see ghosts? Why are you going through all this trouble? You've been searching for so long and still haven't found anything."
I chuckled and said, "Brother Li, you've watched too many movies. Reality isn't like that. As long as I can help you resolve this issue, that's what matters. Don't worry." After saying that, I felt a bit puzzled about why I hadn't found anything despite searching such a wide area. I even started to suspect that my compass might be malfunctioning. However, when I held the compass steady, it didn't stop as expected; instead, it exhibited a slight rotation. That familiar frequency of movement indicated a faint response from a spirit.
But that response grew weaker until it vanished completely. A minute ago, there had been a spirit lingering here; or rather, there was one present when we came to smoke. As soon as I took out my compass, it must have left. There were only these two possibilities; as for where it went now, I had no idea.
Seeing my expression change, Manager Li hurriedly asked me, "What’s wrong? Did you discover something?"
I replied, "Nothing much; it was just here but has left now. Don’t worry; as long as it's here tonight at the right time, it will definitely show up again. Just leave it to me then. By the way, I need to talk to H alone to understand the situation better; can you help me find a place?"
After saying this, I flicked away my cigarette butt and left the smoking area.
Manager Li led me into a small meeting room and asked me to sit down while he went to call H. After a short while, H knocked on the door and found a seat; Manager Li followed her in.
H was quite delicate-looking with a nice demeanor but seemed a bit shaken from recent events; her spirits were not very high. Nonetheless, she was still an attractive young woman.
After exchanging pleasantries upon sitting down, I got straight to the point: "Miss H, please tell me everything you saw in detail. Also, were you the first one to discover A's death? What was your relationship with A like?"
Since only H could see A, it was clear that this matter needed to start with her.
H recounted her story again. In addition to what I already knew, she provided three new pieces of information: First, she was the one who went to call A that night; second, she went to call A because she vaguely saw two figures leaving while heading to the restroom and thought there might be thieves around; third, her relationship with A was quite ordinary—just acquaintances with no significant communication.
As she spoke to me about this incident, I hadn’t considered the possibility of soul replacement at that moment. However, those vague two figures were clues that others might dismiss as mere hallucinations; but in my view, they were likely not hallucinations at all. People don’t just see things without reason unless they are physically weak or mentally unwell—otherwise such occurrences are rare. Since she mentioned two figures, I would consider that there were indeed two involved in this situation. If there were two figures present, then this was certainly not an ordinary case of sudden death.
I didn’t press her further with questions like "Are you sure there were two?" because no one could definitively confirm such things—if it were hallucinations then certainty was impossible; if not hallucinations then ordinary people would find it even harder to confirm. But our conversation didn’t end there; we chatted about various topics for a while during which I learned that A was quite introverted and rarely spoke unless necessary for work-related matters—definitely someone who fit the profile of a lone wolf and single. After learning this about A, I asked H and found out she was also single.
After chatting for some more time, it was nearly noon. According to what they had said earlier, the power would suddenly go out after midnight and then H would see A's figure appear before disappearing once power returned—a cycle that would repeat itself. Since we couldn’t find anything now, we could only wait for that moment to arrive. I stood up and said, "It's almost noon; let’s wait for A now. You don’t need to worry; if something were going to happen it would have happened by now—just act like it's any other workday: be curious if you want and be scared if you want. Leave everything else to me." They nodded in agreement as we all exited the meeting room and returned to the Customer Service Department.
H's desk was on the right side upon entering the Customer Service Department directly facing a glass partition opposite the Development Department. After she sat down, I took a seat beside her while Manager Li told two other female colleagues to carry on with their tasks as usual before finding his own spot to sit down.
I glanced at H; she looked somewhat nervous. When she noticed me looking at her, she pointed toward a spot outside the glass partition and said, "That spot is where A used to sit when he was alive; from here I can see it directly."
I stood up and walked around her, saying, "Could you please get up for a moment? I want to take a look."
Once seated, I could clearly see that spot, with no obstructions in the way. This meant that A's position could also directly see H. During work hours, they could easily lock eyes with each other at any time.
As I realized this, a thought suddenly struck me: Could it be that A had developed feelings for H after seeing her every day? Considering this possibility, I directly asked, "Does A like you?"
H blushed at my question and replied, "No, he has never said anything. But sometimes he looks at me, and when I look back at him, his gaze doesn’t waver. He seems very serious, as if he’s deep in thought."
I pondered this as well; A was so introverted that it was likely a crush. A straightforward confession would be a significant hurdle for him. However, I was merely speculating and didn’t dare to assert the truth of the situation. I said, "Alright, I understand. Sit back down. When the lights go out later, you need to act very scared; I want to see your reaction."
She chuckled lightly and said, "No need to act; it really is terrifying—after all, he’s already passed away."
I turned to Manager Li and instructed, "You go wait by the circuit breaker. After three minutes of the power outage, you can turn it back on."
I pulled out the drawer beneath my desk where I kept the keyboard and placed the compass inside. Then I found a stand to create a makeshift device to hold it up. I positioned it on the stand and aimed the rear camera at the compass before starting the recording. The view was clear, and I nodded in satisfaction at my handiwork. The reason I didn’t place the compass on my desk was that it had some protective properties against evil spirits; if it were seen and ran away, that would be problematic. So, I covered it up.
Everyone focused intently on their computers; aside from the sound of keyboards clicking, there was no other noise in the office. They had all removed their phone handsets from their desks, so as a Customer Service Department, we didn’t even have the ringing of phones. The atmosphere was heavy with tension; everyone appeared anxious. Just as I was feeling bored, Manager Li sent me a text: "Time is almost up. Three minutes left; I wonder if anything will happen tonight." I replied: "Just wait; it will definitely come; it won’t be more than ten minutes apart."
The only thing puzzling me was why Yin Chai had come to collect souls but hadn’t taken anyone away. Something must have happened. Moreover, A was declared dead only after being taken away by an ambulance, which indicated that Yin Chai hadn’t taken A away. Logically speaking, if Yin Chai couldn’t take A but caused his death instead, then this Yin Chai was quite incompetent; negligence in such matters would lead to severe punishment. Why did it give up on forcibly taking A's soul?
Setting aside these thoughts, I steadied myself, knowing that A's spirit would soon arrive. I lowered my head and waited for the scheduled power outage until the time they mentioned arrived—but there was no blackout. I knew some deviation was normal; they weren’t panicking and continued with their tasks. About eight minutes later, there was a sudden small sound followed by a blackout.
I hurriedly turned on my flashlight towards the compass and began recording. The office was nearly devoid of light; however, thanks to some illumination from outside, I could vaguely make out some outlines within.
"Ah~~" H suddenly screamed, causing the other two people to panic and rush toward me. I wanted to stop them but knew that whatever I said wouldn’t help and might even draw A's attention. So I kept my head low.
"What do you want? What are you doing? We have no grievances against each other! Why are you following me? Go away! Ah~ ah~!" H seemed genuinely terrified now and spoke incoherently. After her outburst, she stopped yelling and began to sob quietly until Manager Li restored power.
When the lights came back on in the office, it suddenly became bright again; the other two girls were hiding behind my chair and trembling with fear. H’s shoulders shook as she continued to cry silently; her face was pale with sweat beading on her forehead as her lips trembled uncontrollably while she stared blankly ahead—clearly still in shock. It seemed she had truly been frightened out of her wits; she had previously thought it might just be an illusion or psychological effect until tonight when I arrived with the compass—now she was completely certain it was A's spirit. Once such a realization set in, fear would multiply exponentially.
Fortunately for her, she had prepared herself mentally and had already experienced some fright earlier; she wasn’t completely lost in terror yet. I stood up and performed several hand seals in front of her before creating a talisman water to dispel her fear. Seeing her gradually calm down, I reassured them: "It's okay; you don’t need to be afraid. As long as I'm here, it won’t harm you—I promise."
I’m not sure if it was my kind appearance or sincere words that made them trust me; either way, they believed me—though if they didn’t trust me, they seemed to have no other options at that moment. Just then, Manager Li returned.
I said, "It's nothing. She'll be fine in a few minutes. You all comfort her for now while I check the compass's response. We'll start setting things up shortly."
After saying that, I returned to my seat, took out the recording device, and began reviewing the earlier recording. It documented all the compass's reactions during the process, which could reveal some responses from the Spirit God. This would help me understand the entire situation better.
As I reviewed the diagnostic recording, matching it with the sounds from the office at that time, I quickly reached a conclusion: A was definitely thinking of H. The reason I say this is that when A shouted "Ah," it clearly stepped back. Then, when H asked, "What do you want? What do you want from me? We have no grievances; why are you following me?" A moved forward. When H said, "Go away, go away," A actually left and disappeared completely afterward. This information indicates one thing: A not only did not intend to harm H but was also very considerate of her feelings. A knew it had become a ghost and wanted to approach H but was afraid of scaring her. When H asked it to leave, it left without hesitation.
After studying the recording, I walked over to H, who had fully regained her composure.
Feigning ignorance, I asked, "Did you see A?"
"Yes, very clearly. However, it didn't seem like it wanted to harm me; it scared me quite a bit though. I thought I would be terrified, but after you casually handled it, I'm fine now. I'm not even scared anymore. How did you do that?" At this moment, she was no longer sobbing and seemed as if nothing had happened.
I wiped my forehead and said, "This wasn't just a casual handling; it takes a lot of mental energy. But I know A has special feelings for you; it really didn't want to harm you. It must be longing for you in some way. What kind of attachment is strong enough to break free from Yin Chai? What kind of obsession is that?"
"What is Yin Chai?" Manager Li and H asked in unison.
Comment 0 Comment Count