Chapter 127: The Shadows of Childhood Memories

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I frowned slightly and looked in the direction where something had felt wrong.

My gaze slowly lifted, and I noticed what seemed to be a person standing inside one of the windows.

The building was quite tall, and I could not see clearly, but I had the distinct feeling that he was looking straight at me.

It was still early, and I was in no hurry to go to the client’s home, so I stood where I was and counted the floors.

The fourteenth floor. I looked at the building entrance again.

Damn it. Wasn’t this the same floor and building entrance as the client’s home?

It seemed Song Zhong had miscalculated this time. There might truly be something going on.

I lit a Red Seal cigarette and walked toward the client’s apartment.

This client was named Wang Song, a small-time construction contractor who had made a bit of money.

He had a wife and two children. Two years earlier, however, his younger son had accidentally fallen from a building and died.

His elder son had just started middle school. Everything had been fine until two nights ago, when the boy suddenly awoke screaming in the middle of the night.

He had even wet the bed. Crying, he said he had seen his younger brother, who wanted to take him away. When he refused to go, his brother had scratched him with his fingernails.

Wang Song thought it was merely a nightmare, but when his elder son held out his arm, there really were several bloody marks on it.

The boy had cried out for help, saying that his younger brother was lonely down below and wanted him to go down and keep him company.

Although Wang Song did not entirely believe him, the bloody marks were real.

As it happened, a friend of his had once sought our help, so he recommended us.

“Ding-dong!”

I pressed the doorbell, and a tall, broad-shouldered man with tattoos covering both arms appeared before me, his face filled with anxiety.

“Are you Mr. Jiang?” Judging by the voice, this had to be Wang Song.

His voice was refined and polite, but judging by his appearance, I might have thought he was a bad man if I had not known better.

“That’s me.” I smiled and nodded.

Wang Song examined me with bewilderment written across his face.

“You… are you even an adult?”

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I did not know when it had begun, but age seemed to have become the standard by which people judged one another.

Still, I did look rather young, so I did not take offense.

I merely explained, with some resignation, “Didn’t the person who referred you to our shop tell you?”

Wang Song smiled awkwardly. “He did, but I’m still rather surprised.”

Following Wang Song into the apartment, I walked over to the balcony and looked outside. Clearly, the person who had been watching me from above was inside this home.

After surveying the surroundings, I roughly determined which room he had been in.

My eyes shifted, and I pointed at the room. “Is that your son’s room?”

“Yes. How… how did you know?”

I smiled. “I’ve already met him.”

At my words, Wang Song’s expression grew even more unnatural.

“You… you went to the school to see Wang Lei?”

“The school?” I looked at Wang Song in confusion, then turned toward the door. “Isn’t he at home? He was just watching me through the window.”

The moment my voice fell silent, Wang Song’s face turned deathly pale.

He pointed at the door, stammering as he looked at me. “My… my son is at school… There’s no one inside…”

Could I have been mistaken? Was this not the room?

I frowned slightly and reached out, preparing to push the door open. But the instant my fingers touched the doorknob, a bone-chilling cold made me instinctively pull my hand back.

Under Wang Song’s astonished gaze, I took a Breaking-Evil Talisman from my pocket.

I held the talisman between my fingertips and gave it a slight shake. Talisman fire flared in my palm.

When I grasped the doorknob again, blue smoke began to rise from it the instant I touched it.

“Mr. Jiang… what is this?”

I raised my index finger to my lips and gestured for Wang Song to keep quiet.

Then I shoved the door open and rushed inside.

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All I saw was an open window, its curtains billowing wildly in the cool breeze. There was not a single trace of a ghost in the room.

I hurried to the window and looked down. This was exactly where I had seen the person moments earlier.

“Mr. Jiang… look…”

Wang Song, his face as pale as death, pointed toward the northwest corner of the room.

I quickly turned to look. On the spotless floor lay a clump of black ash.

Frowning slightly, I walked over and crouched down. I pinched up a little with my fingers and smelled it.

Wasn’t this exactly what burned spirit money looked and smelled like?

“This…” Wang Song panicked and paced helplessly back and forth across the room.

“It must be my younger son. It has to be my younger son! He’s come back to take his brother away!”

As he said this, tears began streaming from Wang Song’s eyes. He collapsed onto the floor and began sobbing bitterly.

“Mr. Wang, you should stop crying.”

“Crying won’t solve anything. If you don’t want anything terrible to happen, you’d better tell me the whole story. What exactly happened to your younger son?”

Wang Song wiped away his tears, invited me to sit on the sofa, and began telling me about the younger son who had died in an accident several years earlier.

His younger son had been the darling of the entire family. As the youngest child, he was loved and indulged by everyone.

Whatever Wang Song could give him, he gave. By comparison, he showed his elder son considerably less affection.

But the elder boy had never complained. He was sensible enough to say that the other was his younger brother, after all.

Yet the younger brother seemed to hold some grudge against him. Whenever he saw his elder brother, he would punch him in front of everyone.

Wang Song had repeatedly tried to reason with his younger son over the matter.

But his elder son, Wang Lei, had never taken it to heart. He always said that the boy was his younger brother and was still young.

Then, a few days ago, Wang Song had been busy preparing a meal in the kitchen when he suddenly heard a terrible scream. By the time he reached the scene, he discovered that his younger son had fallen from the balcony.

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