According to the black-robed man, the blood in the bottle was the most precious thing they had found behind the door—it concealed the secret of the Red Clothes and appeared to be the primary means by which the Ghost Story Association controlled them.
But what no one had expected was that the crimson threads containing the secret of the Red Clothes had now been swallowed by a cat.
"Swallowed?!" The black-robed man's fingers trembled with rage. He truly hadn't anticipated that anyone would carry a cat around with them everywhere.
"Cough it up!" The black-robed man's voice grew sharper—this was likely his real voice.
The white cat pressed its ears flat against its skull. It sensed the threat emanating from the black-robed man and assumed an attacking posture.
"Get it! I'll slice its belly open and squeeze every last drop of blood from its body!" The red-clothed monster covered in faces heard the command and lunged toward the rooftop.
As the Red Cloth charged, the white cat—still baring its fangs a moment ago—clamped the bottle between its jaws and bolted. It leaped across the rooftops, then squeezed into the mass of grotesque villagers.
Chaos erupted in the center of the village. The black-robed man gnashed his teeth. He had always been cautious—he never thought he'd trip up in a gutter like this.
"It has to be caught. That's the last bottle."
His fists clenched together as the black-robed man watched the vengeful Red Cloth ghost lured further and further away by the white cat, the distance between them growing with every second.
When roughly a dozen meters had opened up between them, a sudden premonition of danger seized him. He whipped his head around—Chen Ge was already charging at him with the Skull-Crushing Hammer raised high.
"Enjoy your little taste of freedom while it lasts! Those were your words just now—I'm returning them to you."
Hounded by the black-robed man step by step, Chen Ge had finally found an opening the moment his opponent lost his temper.
"I despise people like you who rely on outside forces the most. A man should depend on himself!" Wildly swinging the Skull-Crushing Hammer, Chen Ge sprinted forward. "If you've got any guts, let's fight hand to hand!"
The black-robed man took one look at the Skull-Crushing Hammer and sucked in a breath of cold air. "This lunatic."
He turned and ran. Chen Ge gave chase, refusing to let up.
The Red Cloth ghost had been lured away—this was a rare opportunity, and Chen Ge absolutely would not let it slip.
Fleeing in a panic, the black-robed man could no longer be bothered with maintaining his air of mystery. He clutched his hood and shouted toward the face-covered Red Cloth.
The scene was just like what Chen Ge had experienced back in the Fanghua Garden residential complex—the Red Cloth ghost lured away, leaving the person it was bound to vulnerable to attack.
"So even a Red Cloth ghost isn't omnipotent." Two consecutive encounters had made this crystal clear to Chen Ge. "That's right—a single Red Cloth ghost isn't reliable enough; they're too easy to draw away. I need to cultivate more!"
Though both served as vessels for ghosts, the black-robed man's physical condition was vastly inferior to Chen Ge's.
This probably had to do with the different methods of controlling spirits. Chen Ge had coaxed and persuaded his ghosts into willingly accepting him, while the Ghost Story Association's relationship with theirs seemed to be nothing more than mutual exploitation.
The black-robed man hadn't gotten far before his speed began to falter. Chen Ge noticed the moment his opponent slowed down and immediately surged ahead.
"Today I'm avenging that detective who threw himself off the building!"
Those who don't respect life won't receive life's respect in return.
The face-covered Red Cloth heard the black-robed man's cries for help and rushed back.
But as it passed the red coffin, every face on its body twisted into a different expression—as though it had spotted something extraordinarily dangerous and been seized by terror in an instant.
The black-robed man was on the verge of collapse, yet the face-covered monster never came to his side. It stopped beside the red coffin, every line of its body coiled in high alert.