Volume 3 Chapter 4

Volume 3 Chapter 4

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

Chapter Four

The other person was also astonished.

“So-sorry, it seemed like you were having a nightmare.” This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

The other person spoke first after staring blankly in shock for a while. He said with a slight smile and a friendly manner, “h.e.l.lo, my name is Ding Wei Han. I apologise for startling you.”

It took Yu Yin a few seconds before he regathered his thoughts after looking at the stranger in front of him blankly for a moment, and suddenly realised this wasn’t “over there”. “Sorry, I probably dreamed of something weird.”

“No worries. Would you like some water to drink?” The person asked politely.

Not long after, the service woman outside quickly ran in to first apologise to the stranger and give something like an explanation.

After calming down, Yu Yin noticed what had touched him just now. Then, the name tag of the person across from him caught his eye.

Wasn’t this the commissioner that had accepted the case of the guy who had been stepping on his stomach just now?

According to his memory, Teng Qi had said this person was out today and wouldn’t be back for a while.

He refocused his thoughts and accepted the water offered. “My apologies, Mister Ding.”

“Do not worry about it. The young miss told me just now that you’re one of the police officers that came to ask about Student Chen’s matter. It seems that the diligent police officers are getting younger and younger these days. You must also take care of yourself.”

Yu Yin’s impression of this person was pretty polite, but he was also aware that this was just their professional practice. After all, as commissioners, it was a basic courtesy. “Thank you for your concern. We originally wanted to come find Mister Ding to inquire about Student Chen’s case as well, since we heard that you were the one that received him that day.”

Ding Wei Han paused momentarily before nodding, smile still on his face. “That’s right. After all, Student Chen and I had met a few times before then too. Since people were busy that day, I said I would help take care of him for a bit. At first, he seemed extremely happy about something or another, but then he later became upset. When I turned my back to deal with some other work, I heard the news of him jumping.”

Seems to be the same as what Teng Qi said.

After some casual chat on insignificant topics, Ding Wei Han said he had to deal with a client’s problem and left.

Soon afterwards, Yu Tong and Teng Qi came out from the elevator.

“Ah Yin, how are you feeling now?” Yu Tong immediately asked in slight concern after walking straight into the resting room.

“Oh, I’m fine now. Not feeling strange in any way.” It was actually odd; after that thing left, all the dizziness and pain immediately vanished. Yu Yin suspected that his dizziness just now had been all because of that thing. “Oh also, I met Ding Wei Han just now.”

“Huh? Wasn’t he out?” Yu Tong started, and asked in a puzzled tone.

“Did he come back to grab doc.u.ments or something?” Teng Qi probably also felt it strange as he then said, “Although that’s not out of the ordinary, such things happen quite often. Where is he then?”

“He said he had matters to attend do and left again.” Yu Yin, feeling mostly recovered by now, stood up and stretched his shoulders. All that was left was some soreness from lying down for so long; all the other discomfort had faded.

Yu Tong nodded and turned around to formally face the employee that had just led him around. “Mister Teng, thank you very much for your help. We’ll be taking our leave now, my apologies for taking up your time and troubling you with all sorts of matters.”

Teng Qi smiled in return. “You’re welcome. If you need additional help, please feel free to contact me any time.”

After bidding farewell, Yu Tong politely refused the other’s offer to see them off, and he led Yu Yin onto the elevator back down to the main entrance.

After walking for a bit, they arrived at the car, and the two of them entered one after another.

It was afternoon, so the locked car was now somewhat stuffy.

After opening the windows to let in some fresh air for a few minutes, Yu Tong turned on the engine.

“Dad, did you find anything on the rooftop?” Yu Yun casually asked as he enjoyed the natural breeze coming in from the window.

“Mm...there wasn’t anything in particular up there, but that’s probably because they had evacuated all the personnel and cleaned up the place. Even if there had been something, there wouldn’t be now.” Yu Tong shrugged as he drove back towards the police station. “But there weren’t any traces of struggle outside the rooftop, so it doesn’t look any different from a suicide site. I’m sure you understand what I mean. He didn’t try to grab onto something as he was falling.”

A person that wasn’t attempting suicide typically would try to save themselves.

“What if it was unexpected, and he hadn’t reacted in time?”

“That’s also a possibility. I’ll look more closely at the evidence reported on site.”

Then, the car fell silent again.

Only after they stopped at a red light did Yu Tong turn to look at his side. “Ah Yin, although I let you know these things, I still don’t want you to go to deep into it. Just as your uncle said, you need to remember that you are only a student.”

He never particularly interfered with his son’s desire to know more, but if it was too dangerous or his son was getting too deeply involved, he would still deliberately cut off his son’s progression.

After all, he was just a student.

“I know. I will also act appropriately on my side.” Of course, Yu Yin understood the brothers’ apprehensions. He nodded, and thought of something else. “That’s right, Dad, I’ll be spending the night outside tomorrow.”

“Spending the night?”

“Yeah, I’ve made arrangements with some friends to celebrate someone’s birthday at their place, and we’ll probably play around the whole night.” Yu Yin shrugged. This wasn’t the first time he had hung around outside for over a day.

His family members typically didn’t mind such things, he just had to let them know in advance.

“Don’t go out to any improper places, or else the second your uncle catches you, it will be over.” Yu Tong obviously knew his son wouldn’t possibly go anywhere illegal, but he still had to give a warning.

“Don’t worry, I’ll remember to bring my ID card too, alright?”

“Stop joking around.”

***

The next day, Yu Yin turned down an invitation to hang out with his friends after cla.s.s ended and headed straight to Chen Yong Hao’s home.

By the time he had arrived, a lot of people had already gathered in front of the funeral hall.

Most of them were strangers, but he immediately recognised the leading Chu Jin He, who walked over as Yu Yin was parking his motorbike.

“Why did you come so early?” Chu Jin He asked in astonishment, as the sky wasn’t even dark yet. “Didn’t we agree to meet at midnight?”

“Oh, I didn’t have work today, so I figured I could come by first and see if you needed help with anything,” Yu Yin replied as he picked up the white flowers he had bought on his way here and placed them next to the funeral hall. “If coming so early is a disturbance to you guys, I can leave first and come back again at midnight.”

Originally he had come early to search around for any clues, but now that this person seemed to guard the entrance the entire time, he figured he wouldn’t be able to look around.

“It’s not really a problem, but there are still several hours before midnight. Do you want to go eat something first? There won’t be anything to eat at midnight later when we start,” Chu Jin He answered in a fairly friendly tone.

“That works too. I forgot to eat dinner after cla.s.s ended.” Yu Yin shrugged and smiled, “That’s right, could you reveal a bit on what we’re about to do? Since you just called me over without saying anything, I’m a bit suspicious.”

Chu Jin He chuckled and after gesturing at the nearby people to go off and do their work so that they had scattered off, he said, “You really dared to come here without knowing what we were doing?”

“Hmph, don’t tell me you’re all stupid enough to go loot and set fire to the home of the murderer? If that’s the case, I’ll immediately go home.” Yu Yin said this half jokingly, although he was actually a bit afraid that the other person would say they were planning an arson. Since his first impression from their interactions wasn’t very good, he subconsciously felt they were up to something weird.

“Haha, obviously not. Do you think we’re that rebellious?” Chu Jin He mocked back in a tone that hinted Yu Yin had been overthinking it. He then sat down on a nearby chair. “Have you ever heard of inviting souls?”

Yu Yin suddenly felt his eye twitch.

As expected, getting too involved was signing himself up for doom. This kind of natural law would never change.

“Calling spirits, you mean?” Yu Yin snorted back as he coldly scanned the funeral hall.

“More or less. Anyways, we want to invited Yong Hao’s ghost out to ask him how he died,” Chu Jin He very seriously said without a trace of humor in his expression.

“Isn’t that supposed to be more effective on the seventh day following the death?” Yu Yin resolved to not come on that day for sure.

“We don’t want to wait that long.” Chu Jin He immediately rejected the suggestion and shook his head, “The faster we find the cause of death, the better. That’s why we decided to do it tonight either at the funeral hall or his room. We’ve already notified Yong Hao’s mother and younger sister; everyone pitched in to pay for them to stay at a hotel tonight so there won’t be anyone interrupting here.”

They really made all the proper arrangements already.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of leaving?” Chu Jin He noticed Yu Yin’s somewhat hesitant expression and immediately said, “If you don’t want to play this, it’s fine. Still early now anyways, no need to force yourself.”

Yu Yin glanced at the people walking around the funeral hall; most of them were students. Although still uncertain, Yu Yin nodded in response, “It’s not a problem, why not play? In any case, we have plenty of people.” He wasn’t sure if any among them could see their “friend”, but it was better than nothing. At least, if a problem really did arise, he could warn the others to flee.

Yu Yin stopped their discussion and led Yu over.

He wasn’t sure if it was just because his sporadic sight wasn’t working, but he didn’t see anything unclean inside the hall.

Chu Jin He saw from far away that Yu Yin had brought a stranger over, and he hurriedly ran over to block them. “Who is this?” His tone was extremely wary.

Yu Yin turned to see that Yu had at some point already put on the gla.s.ses Yu Yin had previously gifted him, making it impossible to see the violet eyes behind the lenses and the dark lighting. “Oh, don’t worry. This is my younger brother. Because I rarely spend the night out, he was afraid something had happened, and ran over saying he wanted to wait for me to go home together.” As Yu Yin came up with a random lie, he noticed Chu Jin He’s expression calm down.

“Ah, I see. Then does your brother want to join as well?”

“Eh, nope. He doesn’t know Yong Hao at all. He purely came just to wait for me, he won’t disturb you guys.” Yu Yin smiled and diverted the questioning look he was given by lifting the plastic bag in his hand. “Someone outside caused a ruckus just now, so we still haven’t finished eating. Could you lend us a place to eat?”

Chu Jin He pointed to one side. “We borrowed the s.p.a.ce under the neighbor’s eaves to rest. You two can eat over there, but there are quite a few mosquitoes.”

“Thanks.” Yu Yin clapped a hand on Yu’s shoulder and before the other person could suspect them further, quickly pulled Yu over to the neighboring eaves.

Because there were some flowers and fresh gra.s.s under the eaves, they could feel the many mosquitoes before they had even gotten near.

Luckily, since they were using it as a resting area, they had lit quite a few mosquito repelling incenses. There were also some temporary chairs and tables set up underneath the eaves; it wasn’t too bad of a place to stay.

Since it was a funeral hall and it was getting late, all the surrounding places had already locked up their doors. They were probably all watching television or eating dinner, so n.o.body would open the door to face them.

The pair sat down one after another. Neither spoke out to chat while eating, and simply finished their meal in peace. While they were eating, others would occasionally come over to give offerings at the funeral hall and such, but those people quickly left afterwards. They were likely not partic.i.p.ating in the soul summoning.

As the night deepened, the number of people lessened.

After eating their fills, Yu Yin and Yu waited for the others in the small chairs next to the funeral hall. Yu pulled out a book from his backpack to pa.s.s the time. Yu Yin couldn’t stop yawning as he waited, nearly falling asleep.

Amidst the silence, midnight gradually approached.

***

If Yu Yin had to describe the situation that day, he would have to say that it wasn’t chilly at all.

There weren’t any cold breezes or anything of the like that television shows always described. Of course, that meant the temperature hadn’t dropped to the point where people would feel even their hearts freeze. To be more precise, nothing happened at all that night...although if that were really the case, it would’ve been great.

Chu Jin He and a few others had come up with entire spirit game involving coins...actually, Yu Yin had expected them to find a Oujia board, since those theoretically were more successful in calling random things out. But although he didn’t know the reason, he didn’t particularly ask either.

“Have you played this before?” Chu Jin He asked as he noticed Yu Yin eyeing the table while he spread out the tools.

“No.” Playing this kind of thing is the same as jumping into a boiling vat of oil and dying a certain death. Yu Yin left the table and eyed Yu standing next to the front door, also looking over at the table.

The bunch of people had decided to start playing the summoning spirit game in the room next to the funeral hall entrance.

Together with him and Chu Jin He were three other boys and girls, all university students. Some others that weren’t partic.i.p.ating were watching out from the sides.

Yu Yin walked over and patted Yu’s shoulder as he quietly said, “You had better not suddenly join in randomly.” He was a bit concerned that this expressionless guy was secretly curious and planned on abruptly leaping straight in.

Yu rolled his eyes at him.

After a short conversation, the people at the table finished all their arrangements.

Yu Yin sat down to join them at the table and looked around at the people that were still strangers to him. He then followed the others by placing his finger on top of an ancient coin that they had gotten somewhere.

From his seat, he could see the funeral hall’s white cloths constantly fluttering about.

Thus, at midnight, the game formally started.

The main person in the center was Chu Jin He. Everyone else echoed his movements as he chanted and moved the coin over Chen Yong Hao’s name.

Nearly twenty minutes pa.s.sed, but the coins did not move at all.

“It can’t be that we failed...” The people watching from the side murmured among themselves when nothing happened for a long time.

Even Yu Yin, who had never touched such things before, knew that normally, playing this kind of thing at midnight could easily invite random things over. But inviting nothing at all meant something was wrong.

Time slowly continued to pa.s.s.

Because there wasn’t any sign of movement after a long while, Chu Jin He’s expression gradually became more tense. With his eyes shut, he continued to repeat the same words, and the ones playing beside him also grew anxious.

Yu Yin wasn’t sure if it just his imagination, but once it was half past twelve, he suddenly felt the old coin jerk underneath his finger. Then, the people slowly left their places with wide eyes.

“May I ask if you are Yong Hao?” Chu Jin Hao hurriedly took hold of the chance to ask this question after they had finally invited a spirit with much difficulty.

Oddly enough, n.o.body’s coins moved to respond to the question. Instead, they moved endlessly in circles. Even after Chu Jin He asked a few more different questions, the result remained the same.

The coins spun continuously without any sort of answer.

All the people playing exchanged glances and began to panic. The girl sitting next to Chu Jin He tugged his sleeve with her free hand. “Ah He, since tonight seems to be going weird, I think it’s best if we stop playing...we’ll do it another time,” she said as she stared at the shaking coins in fright.

With the silence broken, the others immediately chimed in to agree with rescheduling for another day.

The fluorescent lights in the room seemed to dim. Although the temperature didn’t drop, several people began to sense a strange air present inside.

The people that were keeping watch went quiet. The silence made the furiously spinning coins even stranger.

They could all hear the noise of the coins sc.r.a.ping against the paper.

“Let’s just invite them to return first.” Yu Yin said as he eyed Chu Jin He in the middle.

Chu Jin He nodded and immediately began to recite something along the lines of having the spirit return.

Time dripped by. No matter how much he chanted, the coins just kept going in circles around the same spot with no signs of the spirit being recalled.

Everyone exchanged glances and continued to try their best in reciting the words to return.

The coins still spun.

Slowly, more time pa.s.sed. Just as the hour hand pa.s.sed one, a rupturing sound suddenly came from the table. Before Yu Yin could even react, he felt an abrupt jab of pain from his finger, and the girl next to him cried out sharply before retracting her hand.

“Don’t...” Before Chu Jin He could stop her, a second person also retracted their hand.

Yu Yin looked at the table and instantly knew the reason behind the sharp pain. The old coin that had been circling around had split apart into four pieces, and the jagged edges had cut everyone’s fingers.

The broken fragments lay around the circle’s perimeter, half inside and half outside.

“Does this count as them returning?” Yu Yin asked Chu Jin He, whose hand was likewise still in position.

“...I’m not sure either. This is the first time I’ve seen this kind of situation.” Chu Jin He’s gaze remained locked onto the broken coins, unsure of how to react.

“I think they probably left,” Yu Yin voiced as he looked around at the others. They all immediately nodded in agreement.

n.o.body wanted to say that it hadn’t left, since they knew what that would mean.

Yu Yin stood up and shook off the blood on his finger. Annoyingly enough, the pain from the p.r.i.c.k lingered without fading. “There probably won’t be anything going on tonight, so my brother and I will be heading back home first.” n.o.body could say much about the situation of the coins, and the ones keeping watch also hurriedly said they would take their leaves first.

“If we get any further, we’ll let you all know of the news,” Chu Jin He told the others.

“Contact by phone.” Yu Yin swung his keys as he patted Yu, who was on the verge of falling asleep at the door.

Just as they were about to leave together, Yu Yin seemingly saw the vague outline of a person crouching on the table they had been playing the summoning game on. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination or not.

It disappeared in the blink of an eye.

When he looked more closely, it didn’t seem as if a figure had ever existed, as not a trace could be seen.

“Yu, let’s go home.”

He didn’t have any good feelings regarding tonight.

He looked back at the white cloths of the funeral hall billowing through the air. The flowers placed on either side of the deceased’s picture seemed particularly eerie and sinister under the gloom of the blue-green fluorescent lights.

The night gave off an extremely unsettling feeling.