Rain had battered J City for a month without pause. I sat in silence on the second floor of a restaurant, my cheek resting on my hand, staring at the choked traffic below. The street was nearly deserted; those few souls who braved the rain moved with anxious, haunted urgency.
It seemed that the surrounding areas were all affected by Haven City—there was rain every day, and some places were already flooding. Instead of returning to Haven City right away, Tan Tian and I came to J City for now; going back would be pointless.
Behind me, a few young women were complaining about the rain. As they chatted, one of them started telling a ghost story—about a rainy night just a few days ago. She said she saw a pale figure standing in the middle of the road. She was sitting in a car at the time, and the car ahead hit that person, sending them flying. They thought there had been an accident, but when they got out of the car, there was nothing there.
I glanced back, a heaviness settling in my chest. It had begun—the ghost stories were spreading. The girls at the next table grew feverish with excitement, each eager to share her own recent brush with the supernatural.
Just then, the food arrived. I looked around—Tan Tian hadn’t come yet. Staring at my left arm, I felt a vague stabbing pain. I could sense Tan Tian nearby, very close, but he seemed unwilling to blend into society in human form. My phone rang. I glanced at the number—it was Leah King calling.
After a moment, I was surprised—Leah King seemed completely unaware of the events in Haven City. She said she’d been filming in J City for nearly three months. I asked her a bit about Haven City, but she said she hadn’t been there and everything seemed normal.
Thinking it over, I figured it must be Redmond’s doing—only he had the ability to pull this off. We agreed to meet tonight at the Lansley Grand Hotel. Leah King would be waiting there, saying she had a few days off. She called when she saw I’d arrived in Haven City, but hadn’t been able to reach me before.
Suddenly, a wave of yin energy swept through me. I dropped my chopsticks. A suffocating chill flooded the restaurant, thickening the air. Near the ceiling, a ghost began to materialize. I stood, scanning the room—people still laughed and talked, oblivious. Several tables murmured about ghosts. Just as the apparition was about to take form, it crumbled into ash—Tan Tian’s power at work. The oppressive energy vanished as quickly as it had come.
"Have you said enough?"
Unable to contain the anger boiling inside me, I spun around and barked at the girls at the next table. They stared back, startled and wide-eyed.
"Don't talk about ghosts at night, or you'll really see one!"
After I sat down, they started whispering again—this time about me. I sighed; things were much worse than I thought. No matter what the practitioners did, these ghosts would keep appearing everywhere.
If we can't find a solution, we'll lose this war before it even begins—and it will be a crushing defeat. More and more dead cities will emerge in the world of the living.
Suddenly, I sensed something strange. The girls at the next table screamed and ran, shouting that there was a snake on the table. Though it was only a subtle perception, I could feel a force moving behind me.
"Miss, are you alone? Got a moment?"
I glanced sideways at the man beside me—the Earth Soul. He felt completely different than before, though I couldn't say why. The restaurant staff came over as the girls chattered about the snake, but the waiters said they saw nothing. Many other guests came to look, but no one saw anything either.
"What do you want to do?"
I stared gravely at the Earth Soul. He raised a hand, and suddenly the girls screamed about seeing a ghost and ran off, with several waiters chasing after them. I didn't know what they saw, but it must have been terrifying; the Earth Soul had used his power to disturb their vision.
"Don't you think those little girls have nasty mouths? They've been talking about you the whole time. Are you really pretending not to hear? With your temper, can you stand for that?"
I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.