Free Web NovelChapter 8: Chapter 8: Going Home
He wanted to understand why this group of people, who had spent their lives fighting ghosts, had all gathered in this chat group after death. The enigmatic name "Jialan Society" might be a major breakthrough, and it was likely the name of the organization they had founded when they were alive.
A goose leaves its cry, a person leaves their mark. As a citizen of the 21st century, Gao Tian found it hard to believe that among so many people, not one had left any trace on the internet. The only difficulty was figuring out how to unearth information about their past lives.
The search engine returned dozens of pages, most related to scripted mystery games, video games, and anime. One look told him it wasn’t what he was searching for.
Gao Tian filtered out the junk results and scrolled to the very bottom, where he found a defunct online forum. The forum was registered in 2013 and named "Jialan Society." Its signature description below was just a single short line:
We are the Ghost Hunters who silently guard the daylight for the living and battle the Inner World.
Forum Admin: Living Persons’ Apartment.
Moderators: Ghost Infant, Ghost Cave, Immolated Ghost... A list of familiar names, some of whom Gao Tian had already seen in the chat group.
Every detail matched up. ’This has to be it. This forum was founded by the very group of people who have now become ghosts.’
Ghost Hunter.
’So that’s what these people called themselves when they were alive.’
The irony was palpable. A group of people who fought ghosts their entire lives had all become ghosts after death, clinging to a wretched existence in a small chat group, like some filthy secret that couldn’t see the light of day.
Wanting to learn more about their lives, Gao Tian clicked into the forum’s main page without hesitation.
All the posts in the forum had been deleted, leaving only two. All the members who followed the forum had also deactivated their accounts, their avatars now a uniform gray.
"Once this mission is over, I’m planning to retire."
Poster: Ghost Infant.
Post Time: 2017.
Content:
This mission really comes with a huge payout.
Once it’s done, I’ll basically be financially independent. Maybe I should consider retiring.
Retiring at 25, is that a bit too early?
I won’t be a Ghost Hunter anymore, so I won’t have to worry about dealing with these filthy things every day. Living an ordinary life... will it be hard to adjust?
What should I do then? Travel the world, go back to school for a master’s degree, or open a bookstore?
Anyway, just thinking about finally doing what I truly want to do gets me so excited.
...
...
The other post.
"On the true nature of ghosts, discovered during the ’Living Persons’ Apartment’ supernatural incident."
Poster: Living Persons’ Apartment.
Post Time: 2018.
The content of this post has been deleted. Please check other posts.
...
...
The second post was locked. Only the title remained, and it was unclickable.
Gao Tian slowly lowered his phone.
’So the group owner, "Living Persons’ Apartment," got his name because he’d been to the Living Persons’ Apartment.’
’Does that mean "Ghost Infant" also handled a supernatural case called the "Ghost Infant" incident? And "Ghost Cave" a "Ghost Cave" incident? And "Immolated Ghost" an "Immolated Ghost" case?’
’Could it be that these Ghost Hunters took the names of the most difficult supernatural incidents of their careers as their titles?’
’It’s like someone so old they can’t remember their own spouse’s and children’s names, but they can still clearly recall the exact year they were admitted to a top university.’
’What a pity. The forum was too old, and all its users had already deactivated their accounts.’
’It was impossible to continue the investigation along this line.’
Gao Tian had originally planned to find a programmer to see if the post could be unlocked.
Back when he was studying at his alma mater, quite a few of his upperclassmen had gone into computer science. If he really had to find someone, several suitable candidates came to mind.
But the thought lasted only a few seconds before he abandoned it.
’It was better not to involve ordinary people in supernatural matters like this.’
’Who knew what kind of problem the locked post might contain? For example, opening it might reveal a photo that kills you if you look at it, or it might notify the ghosts in the chat group that someone had opened it.’
After all, such a trap was well within the style of Ghost Cave and the others. Ghost Infant herself had even admitted that she could kill people over the internet.
’I’ll leave this post alone for now. I’ll see if there’s a chance to deal with it later.’
’First, I need to find a place to stay. I can’t go back to my rented apartment. Where would be a suitable place to crash for now?’
Gao Tian thought for a moment. He hadn’t been home in a long time. It seemed like a good opportunity to go back.
He took a bus for about an hour, getting off in front of a residential complex in a relatively suburban area. Gao Tian stepped off the bus.
Perhaps because he hadn’t been back in almost half a year, the neighborhood he had grown up in felt somewhat unfamiliar as he walked into it again.
At the entrance to the residential building, a crooked plaque hung, bearing some words. Unfortunately, the writing was long rusted over and completely obscured by overgrown ivy.
As Gao Tian lowered his head and entered the building, three young people were sitting around a bench in the ground-floor lobby, playing some kind of card game. There was a boy with silver hair and eyes narrowed to slits, a girl dressed in a Lolita outfit, and a young, gray-robed monk with a shaved head.
As Gao Tian walked past, the girl’s shoulder twitched. Even without turning around, he could feel her gaze fixed on his back.
The gray-robed monk was focused on the cards in his hand and didn’t look up at all.
Gao Tian walked to the elevator. The elevator in this old residential building only went up to the third floor. Since he lived on the fourth, he had to walk up the last flight of stairs.
He pressed the ’up’ button, and the elevator doors slowly slid open. Gao Tian stepped inside.
’He realized it had been over half a year since he’d last been back. He’d been away from home for so long this time. He wondered how his parents would react to his sudden return.’
After getting out of the elevator on the third floor, he took the stairs up to the fourth. He stopped in front of an incredibly familiar iron apartment door.
Looking at the faint traces left on the iron door where childhood stickers had been peeled off, he finally found a sense of familiarity.
The door was ajar, not completely closed. Gao Tian gave it a light push. The iron door’s hinges let out a pained groan as it slowly swung open.
The sound of a TV show came from the living room. His father’s back was to him as he sat on the sofa.
There was also the sound of stir-frying from the kitchen; that must be his mother. She must have heard the door open, as her voice carried from the kitchen:
"Gao Tian, why are you back all of a sudden?
"You must be exhausted lately. Go rest in your bedroom for a while; we’ve kept it for you. I’ll just set another place for you at lunch."
His father’s figure remained facing the television, not turning around. His voice also drifted over:
"Tian, aren’t you supposed to be studying for your exams? Why did you suddenly run home?
"Did something happen? Are you short on cash? I just sent you this month’s living expenses yesterday."
Gao Tian didn’t know what to say. The bizarre events of that night—playing a game with a ghost and escaping with his life—were simply too incredible to explain. ƒreewebɳovel.com
He didn’t know if his parents would believe him if he told them. And even if they did, it would only make them worry for nothing. They wouldn’t be able to help anyway.
Right now, Gao Tian just wanted to find a safe place to sleep and recover some energy. Then he’d take the cardboard splint off his finger and go to the hospital to get the bone set properly.
He walked towards his bedroom, calling out a vague reply as he went:
"Yeah, some things came up. I probably can’t stay at my apartment for a while."
"I’m going to take a nap first. You and Mom don’t have to save me any food. My hand is a little injured, too. I need to go to the hospital this afternoon."
His mother’s voice came from the kitchen again:
"How did you injure your hand? I always tell you to be careful, be careful."
"I’ll put some food in the fridge for you. Your dad and I are going out this afternoon. When you wake up, just get it from the second shelf."
Gao Tian walked to the end of the hallway. The second-to-last room was his bedroom.
But when he pushed open the door to what should have been his incredibly familiar bedroom, Gao Tian was utterly stunned by the scene before him.
’This is wrong. This isn’t my bedroom at all.’
’Whose bedroom is this?’
