"Guest, please have some tea."
With a whoosh, Samantha Simons carried a steaming cup of tea and placed it on the table.
"Thank you, miss," Detective Stone said with a smile, looking at Samantha Simons.
Samantha Simons responded with a gentle smile, bowed, and disappeared into the cherry blossom grove.
"Such a beautiful woman... I doubt you could find someone like her in this world," Chief Stone said, resting his cheek on one hand as he watched Sophie Su and the others cleaning in the distance.
"Honestly, Ethan, even though everyone here besides you is a ghost, if it were me, I'd have no problem living here every day."
I shot Chief Stone a resentful glance.
"Alright, alright, Ethan. I came today to talk to you about this. I need to go to the city government—got to file a claim for the damaged elevator from a few days ago. I'll probably get chewed out again. Hugh Thompson will come pick you up later, and he'll explain everything to you."
I responded with a simple "Oh." Detective Stone finished his tea in one gulp.
"Excellent tea. I'm off, Ethan. Sorry to trouble you."
Speaking of the 'inviting ghosts' game, I once played it back when I was in school. I was scared out of my wits. I remember playing with my cousin and the others—turns out my cousin had set it all up to scare us. I was so frightened, but no one else felt anything, and nothing ever happened.
Pen Fairy, Paper Fairy, Water Fairy, grain-eating rituals... Ever since my cousin scared me, I stopped believing in any of it. To me, it was all fake. But now, here I am, deep in the world of ghosts, surrounded by them. I glance at Sophie Su's innocent face as she dances with her broom under the cherry trees.
"Isn't that a ghost? Heh."
With nothing better to do, I couldn't stand the perpetual night, so I decided to take a walk nearby. The university town is only a few kilometers away. I strolled over, first calling Hugh Thompson to let him know, then planned to have him pick me up later.
"Brother Ethan, where are you going?"
Sophie Su dropped her broom and floated over, grinning as she asked.
"Oh, just taking a walk near the university."
Suddenly, Sophie Su's smile faded.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing, Brother Ethan. Go ahead." Sophie Su forced a smile, but I saw the envy and sorrow in her eyes. Smiling, I headed for the door.
"Who is it..." came the voice of Mrs. Li, weak and weary.
"It's me, Mrs. Li—Qingyuan."
With a click, the security door opened.
"Qingyuan, Qingyuan..." Mrs. Li grabbed my hand as soon as she saw me, tears streaming down her face. She cried bitterly as we entered the living room. I set down my things and hurried to comfort her.
"Mrs. Li, please don't cry. Where's Mr. Qian?"
Mrs. Li shook her head, taking a long time to compose herself, still sobbing. Then she led me to the bedroom. My eyes widened—Mr. Qian lay on the bed with his eyes closed, his face deathly pale, looking much older than before.
"What exactly happened?"
Mrs. Li wiped away her tears.
"Xiao Ling... Xiao Ling went missing. A month ago, we searched for an entire month. Old Qian was so exhausted and worried about it that he fell ill."
Suddenly, I remembered that morning, my first day at Dongfeng Gas Company, when I ran into Mr. Qian and Xiao Ling. I was in a rush to get to work, but now that I think about it, Xiao Ling's eyes looked strange that day.
Later, I learned that a month ago, Xiao Ling's homeroom teacher called to say that Qian Ling hadn't returned to her dorm for a whole day. Mr. Qian and Mrs. Li rushed over, but after waiting three days and asking everywhere, there was still no sign of Qian Ling. They reported it to the police. For an entire month, Mr. Qian and Mrs. Li searched near that high school in the south, but it was all in vain.
I listened in utter confusion as Mrs. Li spoke through her tears, deeply heartbroken.
"Is Mr. Qian going to be all right?"
"A few days ago, he suddenly fainted. The doctor said it was high blood pressure caused by stress. He just took some sedatives and fell asleep."
"Was there any sign before she disappeared?"
Mrs. Li shook her head.
"The police told us too—it was a sudden disappearance. It's been a month now. Maybe..."
Mrs. Li broke down in tears again as she spoke.
"Mrs. Li, she'll be fine, she'll be fine, maybe..." I tried to comfort her, but deep down I knew—a girl her age missing for a month for no reason almost certainly meant something terrible had happened.
"What did the school say?"
Mrs. Li shook her head.
"The police questioned the students, but they all said they didn’t know anything."
Just then, my phone rang. It was Hugh Thompson calling.
"Qingyuan, I’m at University Town now. I’m planning to visit your old homeroom teacher’s house to investigate a bit. Where are you? Let’s go together."
I gasped, eyes wide, sinking into deeper despair. Qian Ling might already be...
I didn’t dare think further. I hadn’t expected Qian Ling’s disappearance to be connected to the ghost-inviting game.
I told Mrs. Li that a police friend of mine was coming to investigate. She nodded and started preparing tea for us. I hurried over.
"Mrs. Li, could you ask Mr. Qian to get up? We might need to talk to him soon."
After waiting twenty minutes, the doorbell rang. I opened the door—Hugh Thompson smiled and walked in.
"Sigh, Qingyuan, Qingyuan... Where on earth has Xiao Ling gone?"
Mr. Qian woke up, sighing deeply.
"Mr. Qian, Mrs. Li, hello. I’m a detective with the Special Criminal Bureau."
"Ah..." Mr. Qian exclaimed, staring at the badge in Hugh Thompson’s hand, his body trembling.
"So it’s connected to the criminal bureau... What happened to Xiao Ling? Where is she?" Mr. Qian was so agitated he stood up, trembling. I rushed over to support him.
Hugh Thompson smiled reassuringly.
"We’ve uncovered a few clues. Your daughter may be linked to a criminal gang trafficking girls. But she’s still alive—don’t worry. The police will do everything to find her."
I blinked—Hugh Thompson was clearly lying. But I saw Mr. Qian and Mrs. Li visibly relax, as if a heavy weight had been lifted from their hearts.
Hugh Thompson asked a few questions about daily life, then stopped and requested to see Qian Ling’s room. I followed him in. The pink room was spotless, the bed covered in stuffed animals.
Hugh Thompson put on shoe covers and plastic gloves. Mrs. Li helped Mr. Qian to the bathroom to take a medicinal bath.
"Why did you lie to them just now?" I asked. Hugh Thompson just smiled.
"I could see your teacher was extremely agitated. If I told him something bad had happened to his daughter, we wouldn’t be looking at her room right now—we’d be calling an ambulance."
I nodded. That was probably the only way. Even if I told Mr. Qian about ghosts and spirits, he wouldn’t believe it.
Hugh Thompson started searching the room.
"Why are you just standing there? Help out."
Hugh Thompson said, and I went in.
"Don’t come in—here, wear shoe covers and gloves." Hugh Thompson tossed me a pair, and I put them on before entering.
We searched for a long time but found nothing. Hugh Thompson went over to the wardrobe.
"Isn’t this a bit much? It’s a girl’s..." Before I could finish, Hugh Thompson opened the wardrobe and pulled out a bunch of clothes and brightly colored underwear.
"There it is. I knew it." Hugh Thompson said, pulling out a red hemp rope. A strange odor wafted out. The rope was about three or four meters long, and at the end was a pendant—a grotesque human face.
"What is this thing?"
"I paid a thousand yuan to a student just to get this. Those bastards kept claiming they knew nothing." Hugh Thompson said, his fist clenching so hard it cracked.
I took the rope and examined the pendant closely. It was carved with a distorted human face, its mouth twisted into a silent scream.
"This is used for the ghost-inviting game," Hugh Thompson said quietly, his expression dark.
I felt a chill run down my spine.
"What do we do now?" I asked, voice trembling.
"We have to find out who she played the game with. There’s a pattern to these disappearances."
I nodded, realizing the stakes were much higher than I’d thought.
We searched the room for more clues but found nothing else.
Afterward, Hugh Thompson took out his phone and started dialing.
"Who are you calling?" I asked.
"A student who was close to Qian Ling. Maybe she knows something."
The call went unanswered. Hugh Thompson frowned, his face growing darker.
"We’ll have to visit her in person."
I glanced at the pendant again, a sense of dread settling over me.
We left the room, Mrs. Li waiting anxiously in the living room.
"Mrs. Li, we’ll do our best to find Qian Ling," I said softly.
She nodded, her eyes red and swollen from crying.
Hugh Thompson and I walked out of the building, the afternoon sun casting long, cold shadows across the campus.
"This ghost-inviting game... it’s not just a rumor, is it?" I asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Hugh Thompson glanced at me, his eyes grim. "No. And if we don’t stop it, more people will disappear."
A chill swept over me. The nightmare was far from over.