The hallway had fallen quiet again. The old woman looked at Jia Ming's reinforced front door, a touch of sympathy in her voice: "The house is gone, the child is gone—no wonder he'd go mad after a blow that big. Poor little Jia."
Downstairs, the taxi driver was still staring at the busy tone on the other end of the phone, too stunned to process what had just happened.
"What did he just say? I've been caught up in a murder case? And someone was sick, too?" The driver felt like his brain was full of fog. He'd woken up to find his car parked in an unfamiliar residential compound, and he had no idea where he even was.
"Better call the police." His hands shaking, the driver dialed the emergency number and relayed to the officers how he had been taken hostage.
……
Chen Ge rested outside the last classroom of Muyang Middle School for a while before heading back inside.
The yin energy had dissipated. The several mentally ill spirits had turned nearly transparent, but their viciousness remained undimmed—they still couldn't be communicated with.
"They really are quite far gone."
He filed them back into the case files and walked out of Muyang Middle School, entering the Third Ward scenario. He found an empty hospital bed at random, didn't even bother taking off his jacket, and collapsed face-down to sleep.
At eight in the morning, Chen Ge was jolted awake by his phone alarm.
"Pretty comfortable, actually." He rubbed his eyes and pushed open the ward door. "All these beds sitting empty every night is such a waste. I could open a hotel that only operates at night—specifically for them to rest in."
After emerging from the underground scenario and freshening up briefly, he jogged over to the staff break room.
"Time to open up."
He opened the door, worried that Xiao Gu had been bullied by the White Cat and Xiao Xiao during the night. But once inside, he found Xiao Gu still sound asleep.
"Nothing rattles this kid. Though I guess someone like that would be pretty open to new things."
He woke Xiao Gu up, and the two of them gave the haunted house a quick once-over before getting ready to open for the day.
Chen Ge rolled up the safety barrier, and sunlight spilled over him. "Ever since coming back from the underground morgue, my body temperature has kept dropping, but it seems like the rate has slowed down quite a bit."
"Boss, you've been opening later and later, you know." A young woman with a generous bust walked out of the rest lounge, a breakfast bag in hand. "Yours."
"It's not even eight-twenty yet. You're the one who's here too early."
Chen Ge took the breakfast and started eating. Just then, Xiao Gu emerged from the haunted house as well.
"Morning, Sister Xu Wan!" Xiao Gu was an open book—no guile whatsoever. He strode out of the haunted house and eyed Chen Ge's breakfast with a hint of envy.
When she saw Xiao Gu walk out of the haunted house, Xu Wan offered a perfunctory greeting and was about to head inside when her pupils contracted sharply. She froze in place, staring at Xiao Gu.
"The barrier was just rolled open—you didn't go home last night?" Before Xiao Gu could answer, her expression grew even stranger. "Why are you wearing the boss's clothes?"
"It rained last night, and when I was heading home..." Xiao Gu stopped mid-sentence, suddenly remembering that Chen Ge had told him not to tell anyone about last night. He clamped his mouth shut and looked over at Chen Ge.