We went downstairs, following the street, until we reached a small park so dark even the streetlights didn't reach it. This game is called "I Know Where You Are."
It's very simple: you place a personal item and a paper doll where the moonlight falls, then walk toward a place the moonlight can't reach, all the while chanting, "I know where you are."
After chanting for a few minutes, you return to where you placed the paper doll and your item. Pick up your item, walk back to the place hidden from the moonlight, and put it down. That's when you'll see the ghost. Throughout, you must keep chanting, "I know where you are."
Once we were ready, the three of us placed our personal belongings down.
"It's about to begin. No matter what happens, don't act rashly. Wait until the ghost is fully revealed before you do anything. You two have such heavy Deathbane Aura."
Frank Niu spoke as the three of us turned our backs, each searching for a place hidden from the moonlight.
I picked a spot beneath a cluster of thick trees. It was pitch black there, completely untouched by moonlight.
"Let's start," I said. The three of us began to walk, chanting as we went, "I know where you are."
When I reached the trees, I turned and looked back. I was already seven or eight meters away. A cold, eerie wind blew past, chilling me. I started heading back toward where the paper doll and items were placed.
Frank Niu was about ten meters from the center; Justin Huang was roughly the same. I quickly returned to my item, picked up the Blood Jade I wore, then turned again, chanting as I walked.
I reached the trees, put down the Blood Jade, and started shouting again.
"I know where you are."
"I know where you are too, hehe."
A cold, sinister voice echoed. Suddenly, I stopped chanting. The voice seemed to come from right above my head. I quickly looked up, but saw nothing.
I kept chanting. Justin Huang was chanting too. But then I realized Frank Niu was gone. Justin noticed it as well.
Sinister laughter echoed through the woods. I hurriedly grabbed the Blood Jade.
"Frank Niu, where are you? Where did you go?"
"Over there, Ethan!" Justin Huang shouted, striding toward Frank Niu's position. He swung his fist at a tree, and with a loud crack, the trunk split. A wailing sound followed, and a ghost instantly turned to ash.
I quickly formed a Deathbane Sword. Although we could see ghosts, especially at times like this—late at night—ghosts could freely enter the ghost realm. If they wanted to hide, they'd slip into the ghost realm, making themselves invisible to us unless we entered it too.
The laughter stopped. No matter how hard we searched, we couldn't find any trace of Frank Niu. We scoured the whole park, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Damn it." Justin Huang kicked through a tree trunk, furious.
I started to panic. Remembering what Howard Lee once taught me, I spoke up.
"No, Ethan. We're letting those ghosts lead us by the nose. They don't dare face us head-on. The method you mentioned about entering the ghost realm might work, but if we get trapped inside and can't come back, we're done for."
I was nearly frantic. After all, I was the one who suggested playing the ghost-summoning game, and now Frank Niu was missing, his fate unknown.
"It's obvious. They don't dare confront us directly. Tonight, we've searched all over the county and haven't found a single ghost. I bet they're all hiding."
As Justin Huang spoke, I calmed down a little, but I was still worried about Frank Niu.
"Panicking won't help, Ethan. What's most important now is finding out where they are. Tomorrow morning, we'll go question Deputy Lowell about why he's been hiding the truth about Sophie Su's case. After all, people can be scarier than ghosts sometimes."
As soon as Justin Huang said that, I understood.
"Could someone be working with the ghosts?"
Justin Huang nodded.
"This is such a big deal. Even if the Ghost Burial Squad has been busy lately and short-handed, the regular police have been acting way too strange."
"Exactly. They've suppressed the missing persons cases—why? And today, when I was going through the files, I found that many cases have been reclassified as missing persons instead of criminal cases."
I dialed Rachel Lan again. Sophie Su was being brought toward us, but it was fruitless—after less than thirty kilometers, she automatically flew back. The Ghost Burial Squad was searching for the body.
Back at Frank Niu's house, I couldn't sleep. Justin Huang was rummaging through Frank Niu's bedroom.
"What are you looking for?"
"I've never heard of this ghost-summoning game before, Ethan. So I'm searching for clues. Didn't Frank Niu say he played it with friends as a kid?"
What Justin Huang said reminded me of the red roulette Chen Hongyan came up with last time—already a pretty bizarre ghost-summoning game. Normally, I've heard of the standard games, like the spirit board or grain-eating, but this one, I've never heard of at all.
"Found something, Ethan—come take a look."
I hurried into Frank Niu's room. Inside a small, rusted, discolored jar, there was an old, yellowed photograph.
The photo showed two kids, about thirteen or fourteen. One was Frank Niu—easy to recognize, with a face full of dark moles. The other, wearing a red and blue plaid T-shirt and gray shorts, had a face covered in shadow.
Inside the little jar, we found a ballpoint pen filled with red ink. I thought of the pen Frank Niu used tonight to draw the paper doll. I rushed out, grabbed a blue ballpoint pen, and compared them—the pens were identical except for the ink color.
Suddenly, there was a rush of water from the bathroom. Justin Huang looked out, puzzled. I left the living room and entered the bathroom—water was everywhere, overflowing. I quickly turned off the faucet at the sink, opened the bottom cover, and let the water drain out.
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"Did you hear the water just now, Justin?"
Justin Huang walked over and shook his head.
"Something's off, Ethan. I've heard plenty of ghost stories before. There are all kinds of vengeful ghosts in this world, each with their own powers. The stronger ones can cause fires, floods, minor earthquakes, even twist human bodies. We'd better be careful."
I nodded. With no other options, we could only go to sleep. Tomorrow, we'd head to the police station and question Deputy Lowell from the criminal investigation team about what was really going on.
In my sleep, I turned over and felt a chill. Instantly, I opened my eyes and reached out—water was all over the floor. There was a crackling sound as sparks flew.
"Justin!" I shouted, punching him. Justin Huang woke me up.
"Get up, quick!"
I remembered there was an old outlet where the sparks were flying. We jumped up, and Justin Huang, quick on his feet, grabbed me and pushed me onto a stool.
Bang! Sparks exploded as electricity ran along the water, hitting Justin Huang. The room was filled with crackling sounds, and black smoke started to rise from Justin's skin.
"Damn, are you okay?"
Justin Huang just smiled and pressed the light switch.
"Trying to electrocute us, huh? Too bad—maybe that much electricity could hurt you, but I'm fine."
The current had blown the fuse, so I went outside to replace it while Justin Huang mopped up the water in the house.
The water was coming from the bathroom. The faucet I'd turned off earlier was now gushing again.
The house was bright again. It was barely six o'clock, but after all we'd been through, we decided to wait until seven to get breakfast and head to the police station at eight.
It's clear they don't want us involved. From sending ghosts to threaten and attack us, to ordering all ghosts to hide once they realized our strength, to tonight's ghost-summoning game and Frank Niu's disappearance—now they're trying to kill us with electricity.
Just then, my phone rang. It was Chief Stone calling.
"Damn, Chief Stone, that's not cool. If you want us to handle something, just say so—don't beat around the bush."
"Alright, alright, Ethan. We're just swamped over here, and we can't spare anyone. We don't want to drag this out. Rachel Lan called me yesterday, asking for help finding Sophie Su's body. There's finally a lead—even if we haven't found it yet, I wanted to let you know right away."
I then explained to Chief Stone the problems we were facing on our end.
"Sigh, that Frank Niu kid... Let me fill you in a little about him—and about that game. I know where you are."
Suddenly, I was wide awake.
When Frank Niu was seven or eight, he did encounter ghosts, but eventually he became just like any other kid.
Back then, aside from soccer, basketball, and ping-pong, there wasn't much entertainment at school. Chief Stone said that when he first joined the Ghost Burial Squad, he and another team member visited the county town.
At some point, a game called 'I Know Where You Are' became popular at school.
Many kids played it after dark, but nothing strange happened—until a boy named Felix Zhou disappeared. He was Frank Niu's childhood friend; they grew up together.
The situation back then was complicated. Frank Niu wouldn't say a word, just kept muttering, 'It's my fault. It's my fault.'
After the Ghost Burial Squad's investigation turned up nothing, Chief Stone refused to leave. He stayed behind and kept investigating on his own for three whole months.
Finally, Frank Niu opened up and told us everything he knew.