Yuan Feng ran his hand along the spring knife and came to my side. "That girl has never really stood out. Everyone's busy deciding whether to stay or leave, looking out for themselves—who has time to care about others?"
"Exactly, better to focus on ourselves first. Don't worry so much," Wang Chunfu chimed in from the side. They all thought I was some kind of real cultivator and wanted to walk with me.
The Route 14 bus driver was urging again, "Hurry up and get on! One minute left, or I'm leaving without you!"
Everyone's eyes turned to me at once. "You're the cop, we'll listen to you. Give us some direction!"
I didn't answer right away but looked each of them in the face. Even if the driver and the missing little girl were ghosts, among the six before me only two were human.
Before confirming their identities, I dared not speak recklessly. If ghosts stayed behind, I'd be in greater danger.
"I think you may misunderstand me. I'm not a Daoist with magic. A week ago, I didn't even believe in demons or ghosts. So you don't have to make the same choices as me." Holding Liu Yiyi's hand, I stepped aside with her, staying out of the others' discussion.
"I choose to stay."
"Jianye, let's stay too. That bro probably still has some tricks up his sleeve."
Two minutes later, the Route 14 bus drove off. Except for the man in the hospital gown, the others stayed behind.
Watching the bus disappear, all I could do now was gamble on luck—hoping the hospital-gown guy and the driver were ghosts.
"No choice left. Where do we go now?" Yuan Feng called everyone around me.
"I'm not going with you." I rejected them decisively and took Yiyi aside.
They panicked when they saw my attitude. "Come on, we're all grasshoppers on the same rope; being together means we can watch out for each other."
"That makes sense. Two or three hours till dawn, we gather and keep our yang energy strong."
"Do what you want, but I'm not traveling with you—and you better not follow." I spoke firmly, leaving no room for argument. "Take care of yourselves. One last piece of advice: don't trust anyone around you."
I turned and led Yiyi away.
"Uncle, do we really have to leave everyone? I think it's safer if we stay together." Yiyi was scared, her backpack on her back, her hand tightly held by me, obediently following.
"I won't hurt you. None of those people are good!" I glanced back. The three men frowned, unaware Zhang Rong was on the ground convulsing, her eyes rolling back like she was having a seizure.
We circled the crematorium, finding nothing but joss paper scattered on the ground and eerie tree shadows.
"Could she have run inside the crematorium?" At the back gate, I looked at the creaky iron gate swaying in the wind.
"Though I want to find out the truth, is entering a crematorium in the middle of the night going too far?" The Netherworld Live Show's commission involved a girl, but there were two kids on the bus. That meant one child was human, the other a ghost.
I had been protecting Liu Yiyi all along but had almost ignored the other child, about whom I knew almost nothing.
"Should we go in to look for her?" If Yiyi was the girl from the commission, I'd be at ease. But I feared the opposite.
"Yiyi, you said you came looking for your mom. We've reached the last stop—why haven't you seen her yet?"
"I don't know. The call just told me to take Route 14 to the last stop, and I'd meet mom there."
"Call?" Suddenly, a thought struck me. The perm-haired woman boarded at night because of a call—one from a fierce ghost.
"Who called you?"
"My mom."
"Are you sure? Could it be an impersonation? Differences in tone, phrases, or sentence breaks from before?"
"It's definitely mom!" Yiyi was certain. I pinched her stubborn little cheek, speechless.
From my rational analysis, all possible answers were harsh for the little girl.
"Fine. Then we'll wait here for your mom to show up." Just as I resolved not to enter the crematorium, shouting came from a distance.
"Run! Damn, that crazy woman is coming after us!"
"Cop, save me! Help!"
Frowning, I saw Jianye, Yuan Feng, and Wang Chunfu sprinting ahead. They seemed to be chased by some weird creature crawling on all fours.
"No, that's not an animal." My eyes widened. The hysterical pursuer was Zhang Rong!
"Run!"
Outside the crematorium was open wasteland, no cover anywhere. Gritting my teeth, I picked up Yiyi and climbed the back gate. "Damn it, we ended up entering this ghost place after all."
The three men saw me scaling the wall and copied me.
Yuan Feng, agile, leapt over by grabbing the wall's edge.
Jianye stepped on the chain locking the gate and pushed himself in, the two moving fluidly. Poor Wang Chunfu was last.
Fat and older, he grabbed the iron gate's edge, kicking several times but couldn't climb over.
"Help me! Help!" He struggled, and Jianye and I quickly grabbed his hands, but in that brief delay, Zhang Rong caught up.
If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't believe humans could tear prey apart like wild beasts. Wang Chunfu's lower body was bloody from the bites; he eventually lost strength and was dragged into the darkness by Zhang Rong.
"That was too close."
I looked at the two leaning against the wall, sweating profusely. "What happened?"
"Honestly, it's that fat guy's fault. Seeing no one around, he tried to take advantage of Zhang Rong, but that crazy woman just snapped and started biting anyone she saw." Yuan Feng grinned lecherously, looking at me holding the little girl. "Sorry to intrude on your little duo."
"Watch your mouth, don't bring trouble on yourself." I glanced at them. Zhang Rong had somehow returned, but staying outside was too dangerous.
"Since we're in, let's try to find that missing little girl. You two listen—each takes a different path. Don't interfere with each other."
Yuan Feng's hand stayed in his pocket, probably clutching his spring knife. "Why are you so intent on finding that girl? Is she someone you're protecting?"
The murderer had already sensed something odd about the girl. I didn't hide it. "She might be the key to whether we survive the night."
Yuan Feng stopped, thoughtful. I set Yiyi down and held her hand as we entered the crematorium.
Though I'd seen many dead in recent years, this was my first time inside a crematorium.
"Office, warehouse, ceremonial hall, ash storage, morgue, cremation room." Most doors were locked, but some rooms could be accessed from other passages.
To avoid any sudden dangers, I held my phone in front of me, moving carefully while monitoring the livestream chat.
Inside the crematorium, there were usually two kinds of paths: pedestrian passages and corpse transport paths.
The corpse paths were chained off after work hours; pedestrian paths had wooden signs reading "No Entry."
The path Yiyi and I took should be pedestrian, but the big red sign had been flipped over by someone.
Deeper into the building, behind the disinfection room, a door opened outward—like a sign someone had just come through.
"Was it Yuan Feng and Jianye?" Curious, I walked to the disinfection room door and looked up. Above the doorframe hung a Bagua mirror, its convex surface protruding outward oddly.
"This room feels strange. Should I go in or not?" I asked my viewers on the phone.
Liu Banxian from Qingcheng Mountain replied: "Bagua mirrors come in two types by mirror surface—convex and concave. Concave mirrors are used for attracting wealth; convex mirrors are for 'warding off evil.' The convex mirror in front of you looks like a turtle shell, bulging out in a curved shape. It's supposed to deflect harmful energy when something evil approaches. But look closely—it's cracked. Obviously, evil spirits have been here for years!"
"So, Banxian, do you think I should enter or not?"
"Little bro, there's a limit to courting death. Haven't I made myself clear enough?"