A faint smell of blood hung in the air. It wasn't raining outside, yet the woman's red raincoat was drenched.
Black hair clung to her face, droplets of water sliding down from her collar. The woman kept her head lowered as she entered the restaurant. She didn't look at anyone, finding a seat by herself and sitting down.
"Let's keep our distance from her." Jia Ming whispered, immediately getting up to shuffle to the opposite side of the table.
He hadn't coordinated with Li Zheng beforehand, and as he stood and brushed past him, the others could clearly see a gun in Li Zheng's hand.
"Sit down and stay put!" Li Zheng pushed Jia Ming back into his seat, discreetly scanning the woman in the red raincoat from the corner of his eye before lowering his voice. "Do you know this woman?"
"She's a lunatic. Anyone who wears red in this place is a lunatic — don't get anywhere near them. Stay as far away as you possibly can." Jia Ming's body trembled slightly. "The Shadow told me this. You've got a death wish, but don't drag me down with you!"
"Red holds some special meaning here?" Li Zheng had a dozen more questions. Ever since entering the town, he'd sensed something was off, but with so little information at his disposal, he couldn't tell whether Jia Ming was lying or not.
"Red means danger. Never approach it — that's the iron law inside the door." Jia Ming's voice grew quieter still. "The Shadow isn't inside me right now, but he's done a great many things with this body, which is how I know some of these secrets."
"Inside the door?" Li Zheng committed every word Jia Ming said to memory. "Are there any other things we should watch out for?"
Perhaps realizing there was no escape, or perhaps having spotted Chen Ge and decided to change his plans, Jia Ming became considerably more cooperative. "Never enter any building with its doors closed. Don't walk past buildings with their doors open. Grey means safe. Red means danger. If you see black, don't waste your time running — use whatever time you have left to compose your last words."
While Jia Ming and Li Zheng were talking, footsteps echoed from the restaurant entrance once more, and several people turned to look at the same time.
"What a lively evening." A man in a black jacket dragging a large suitcase stepped inside. Five blood-red female heads were tattooed on his arm, and a white bone whistle hung from his lips.
No one in the restaurant paid him any attention, but he acted with great enthusiasm, greeting the other patrons one by one. It wasn't until he caught sight of the woman in the red raincoat that his body went rigid. He hurried past her, made his way to the counter, and said, "Owner, I'd like a room."
His voice had dropped considerably, as though he were afraid of disturbing the woman in red.
"Why is there yet another person?" Chen Ge pushed a serving cart out of the kitchen. They'd been rummaging around in there for a good while, but apart from some pre-cut meat of indeterminate origin and a few cakes, there was nothing else.
The original owner hadn't prepared those cakes for the customers either. From the recipe book in the kitchen, it was clear that every dish on the restaurant's menu was something the Gluttonous Female Ghost liked.
In other words, the menu here served no one but the Gluttonous Female Ghost, and the cakes still required further processing. A simple example: the kitchen had no ketchup or strawberry sauce, yet some of the cakes were red.
"A red-robed vengeful ghost with a sweet tooth? Now that's a rather compelling angle." Chen Ge pushed the cart along, already planning to convert this restaurant into a food-themed horror attraction once the mission was complete.
He'd only been in the kitchen for a few minutes, but when he came back out, he found the dining hall had gained quite a few more people. The appearance of the woman in the red raincoat surprised him the most.
Come to think of it, under the influence of the Out-of-Control Door, Liwan Town had truly become a place apart — the living could actually sit alongside a red-robed ghost.
"Perhaps this is what lies beyond the door. Ghosts born of obsession, and people trapped in nightmares." Chen Ge placed the uncolored cakes on the table. "Help yourselves. I won't charge you a thing. All I'll need is for you to answer a few questions later."
"You sure? You're not going to open it up and take a look? You might change your mind." The woman was bundled up tightly. She dragged her suitcase over to Chen Ge, straightened up, lifted her fingers off the case and placed them on the hem of her coat. Her suggestion to "open" it seemed to carry a double meaning.
"No need. If I want to open something, I'll handle it myself." Chen Ge lifted the heavy backpack with one hand. The Skull Crusher had recently smashed through blood vessels and a long tongue, and the thick scent of blood still hadn't faded.
"Fair enough." The woman dragged her suitcase back a few steps, the coquettish expression on her face vanishing without a trace — her mood shifted faster than flipping a page.
"Hey, where's the owner? Last time he asked me to look into something, and I've already got the answer." The man with the female-head tattoos dragged his suitcase closer to Chen Ge.
"He stepped out. He's left the restaurant in my hands for the time being — I'm the one in charge now." Chen Ge flashed a smile. In terms of customer service, he was certain he far surpassed the previous owner.
"The owner's gone?" The tattooed man was shrewd. He immediately sensed something was wrong and gave Chen Ge an awkward smile. "Then I suppose I'll have to come back another day. Sorry to have bothered you."
With that, he abandoned his suitcase entirely and turned to head for the exit.
"Wait a moment — did you not understand what I just said?" Chen Ge had Scissors block the tattooed man's path. "Right now, this place answers to me. Whatever the owner asked you to find out, you can simply tell me."
The tattooed man stood rooted to the spot, his eyes involuntarily darting toward the kitchen. The more he looked, the more panicked he became. "I don't think that would be appropriate."
"And what would you consider appropriate?" Chen Ge shifted to the side just enough for the tattooed man to see the collapsed wall inside the kitchen.
"Well, if you're a friend of the owner, then you're a friend of mine. We're all friends here, so naturally there's no problem." The tattooed man changed his tune at once. His honest, unassuming face contrasted sharply with the five grotesque female heads inked onto his arm. "There are too many eyes and ears around here. Let's step aside and talk."
He turned and headed toward the second floor. From the way he moved, he was clearly familiar with the restaurant — a regular, it seemed.