The taxi stopped at the exit of the White Dragon Cave Tunnel.
A long time passed before movement finally came from the driver's seat. Chen Ge gently pulled open the car door. "You're finally awake."
He patted the driver's face, then clamped a hand over the man's mouth. He had anticipated that the driver would start screaming the moment he regained consciousness, so he had taken preventive measures in advance.
The driver's eyes were wide with terror, his face a mask of horror.
"Calm down first — listen to what I have to say." After striking a deal with the Spider Boy, Chen Ge hadn't left immediately. To burn through the task's required time, he had stubbornly lingered in the eerie, nightmarish tunnel until nearly dawn.
After an entire night of exploration, he had managed to figure out quite a few things.
This tunnel was home to countless wronged spirits who had perished in car accidents. One could say the danger here was no less than that of the underground morgue. But every time the Shadow came through, he conducted a thorough purge — all the vengeful ghosts standing in his way were either taken away or devoured. Over time, the number of ghosts inhabiting the White Dragon Cave Tunnel had dwindled significantly, which worked out in Chen Ge's favor.
The reason they had seen so many lingering spirits filing into the tunnel upon first entering was actually the boy luring them in.
The boy had been wounded in his battle with the Shadow, and the simplest way to recover quickly was to feed.
Through further conversation, Chen Ge had also learned that the boy had been hiding the nature of his special ability, which seemed to be connected to that enormous spider body.
Chen Ge hadn't spoken with the boy at length. For the time being, he had no intention of bringing the boy back to the Haunted House.
After the child had pushed open the "door" during the great fire, he had completely turned to darkness.
He despised everything and everyone except his mother. Selfish, perverse — every negative emotion that could be found in a human being could be found in him. In other words, this child was far more dangerous than he let on.
Dragging his thoughts back to the present, Chen Ge turned to the panicked driver, softening his voice. "I think we ran into something supernatural tonight."
Slowly releasing his hand, Chen Ge calmly picked up his backpack and settled into the passenger seat. "Let's chat on the way. First priority — get out of this godforsaken place."
The driver immediately started the car, whipped it around, and sped back onto the road. "What just happened? I remember three — no, two strange passengers getting into the cab, and then we drove into White Dragon Cave. Inside the tunnel, people were slamming on the windows from all sides, blood handprints everywhere. The car broke down, my phone wouldn't connect…"
As he spoke, the driver's voice threatened to crack into sobs. Chen Ge quickly offered some reassurance. "You were possessed. I got into your cab in the western suburbs, heading to the eastern suburbs to visit a friend. But when we passed a building that obviously hadn't been lived in for ages, you suddenly stopped, started talking to thin air, and even opened the door. You have no idea — you scared the hell out of me."
"You didn't see anyone?" The driver's face had gone completely white.
"There was no one there. I just saw you talking to empty air. And it got worse from there — you drove a bit farther, then slammed on the brakes, screaming that you almost hit someone. I was wondering who on earth was there, but before I could even protest, you opened the back door and started carrying on a conversation with yourself." Chen Ge sounded as though he were reproaching the driver. "After that, it only got weirder. The moment your little conversation ended, you drove us straight into the White Dragon Cave Tunnel. I tried to stop you, but there was no reasoning with you."
"That part I remember." The driver sucked in a sharp breath, his hands and feet going ice-cold. "Could I really have been possessed? Are there actually ghosts in this world?"
"Whether ghosts exist or not, I can't say. But you definitely scared me half to death tonight." Chen Ge hugged the backpack — which gave off a faint, coppery scent of blood — and looked rather pitiful.
"Must have been a ghost wall," the driver muttered, staring at the perfectly clean windshield without a single blood handprint on it. He would never have guessed that Chen Ge had rallied every one of his employees and spent a solid hour scrubbing the windows clean.