The rain grew heavier, blurring his vision. Chen Ge sat beside the phone ghost, silently watching it all unfold.
The phone ghost and his mother were separated by a single street — those dozen meters were the distance between two worlds. Visible, but unreachable.
"Do you want me to take you over there?"
Chen Ge asked in a low voice. The phone ghost shook his head frantically when he heard this, wiping the tears from his face with his hand, utterly unable to stop them.
After a long time, he sent Chen Ge a message.
"Call the police. Don't let her wait anymore."
Through the shop window, the phone ghost watched the woman standing in the downpour. He gently placed his hand against the glass, as if saying something, then slowly faded away.
Whether the woman across the street heard his voice, it was impossible to tell. She seemed to glance toward the coffee shop unconsciously, but she did not see the person she was looking for.
Only after the woman left did Chen Ge step out of the coffee shop. He gazed at the city shrouded in heavy rain, his expression complicated.
He had been through a great deal lately. First, Little Xiao's grandfather had fallen gravely ill, and then he had encountered the phone ghost and his mother.
Some people were already gone, yet those still alive still cared about them. Perhaps it was precisely this bond that gave the living something to hold on to.
Leaning against a wall, Chen Ge didn't care that his clothes were getting soaked. He was turning over a question that had bothered him for a long time: "What exactly are ghosts?"
Ever since obtaining the black phone, he had encountered all manner of spirits and specters, but the more he encountered, the less he seemed to understand.
He cast one last glance at the now-closed Tongtong Flower Shop, then pulled out his phone and headed into the back alley.
"Team Leader Yan, I'd like to ask you a favor. Seven years ago, a child named Tongtong went missing in the eastern suburbs of Jiujiang. The police believed he had been abducted by traffickers. Is your department still able to locate the case file?"
Team Leader Yan caught the odd note in Chen Ge's voice. He thought for a moment before replying. "That case might fall under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Suburbs Precinct. I'll give them a call and check."
"Thanks."
"Are you alright? Something sounds off about your voice."
"Don't worry about it."
After more than ten minutes, Team Leader Yan called Chen Ge back. "Found the file. The suspect couldn't be identified. All they knew was that the vehicle used to take Tongtong was seen entering Liwan Town in the eastern suburbs of Jiujiang. But the officers working the case never found Tongtong in Liwan Town. They suspected the child had been moved elsewhere by the suspect."
"When they conducted their search, did they check Puming Apartments on East Street?"
"Puming Apartments? Let me look into it." Team Leader Yan sent a message to the people at the Eastern Suburbs Precinct. After a while, he got back to Chen Ge. "The officers went door to door and searched the entire building. No sign of the child, and they didn't hear any crying."
"Got it. I understand." Chen Ge stood in the back alley, his body swallowed by shadow.
"Is there something you're not telling me?" Team Leader Yan sounded uneasy.
"It's nothing serious. One of my employees just suffered some injustice."
"Employee?" Team Leader Yan could hear the cold edge in Chen Ge's voice — something he had never heard before. "Chen Ge, whatever you're dealing with, don't do anything rash!"