A rare trace of a smile appeared in her eyes.

Although he carried the items given to him by Ji Ningzhao, which had dispelled all the strange phenomena surrounding Chen Yiming, Xie Qingfa had still warned them that they needed to resolve the matter quickly. After all, those items could not protect Chen Yiming forever.

Chen Yiming was his family's only son. After hearing Xie Qingfa's words, Chen's father dispatched his most trusted special assistant. With the Chen family’s vast business empire, the fact that Special Assistant Wei held such a position at Chen’s father’s side meant he was certainly capable.

Wei not only took a midnight flight to Shu but, upon landing, immediately found a car and headed into the mountains. By dawn, he had arrived at the small town.

The parents of the girl involved in the incident had already bought a house in town with the compensation money. With his financial resources, Wei easily found their new address.

Though the family no longer wished to speak of their daughter—whose death had brought them a considerable sum, but whose cause was hardly “honorable”—they allowed Wei inside for the sake of the money.

At first, the parents insisted their daughter’s birthday was the same as recorded previously, but Wei was not satisfied with this answer. Before Wei’s departure, Chen’s father had instructed him to spare no expense in pursuit of the truth, and the Chen family was never short on funds.

With each new promise of money, the mother finally recalled she could ask the girl’s grandmother, who had assisted at the birth. The elderly woman confirmed that the girl’s birthday was actually three days earlier than what her parents remembered; the error lay only in the household registration.

Wei had barely stepped out of their home when the news reached Chen’s father.

Upon hearing this, Chen’s father felt even greater awe toward Ji Ningzhao. After all, they had previously consulted numerous experts, none of whom suspected anything amiss with the girl’s birthday. Yet Ji Ningzhao, at their first meeting, immediately discerned that the date they had researched was incorrect.

Unable to contact Ji Ningzhao directly and unwilling to disturb her, Chen’s father once again entrusted the matter to Xie Qingfa.

When Ji Ningzhao received Xie Qingfa’s call, she was sitting in her courtyard, sipping tea.

The mistake in the date was within Ji Ningzhao’s expectations; it was Xie Qingfa who felt troubled. The girl’s birth date was unremarkable. Even if resentment lingered after death, it should have dissipated after avenging herself on Kong Xi. Why, then, did something sinister still haunt Chen Yiming?

Xie Qingfa pondered anxiously, but Ji Ningzhao responded calmly, “Don’t rush, Xiao Xie. Just as one must eat bite by bite, so must things be resolved step by step.”

Ji Ningzhao then mentioned she had obtained a pass from the Special Division, instructing Xie Qingfa to arrange a time with the Chen family so they could take Chen Yiming to the apartment where Kong Xi’s incident had occurred.

Upon hearing he had to return to the scene of Kong Xi’s misfortune, Chen Yiming was anything but willing. After finally enjoying a few days free from fear and worry, he dreaded entering that apartment, concerned that something else might latch onto him.

Yet, with Chen’s father and mother now treating Ji Ningzhao’s words as law, there was no question: if she insisted on Chen Yiming’s presence, there must be a compelling reason.

Thus, despite his reluctance, Chen Yiming obediently appeared with Xie Qingfa outside Kong Xi’s building on the appointed day.

Kong Xi’s residence had been taken over by the Special Division, with yellow talismans plastered downstairs. Before Ji Ningzhao arrived, Xie Qingfa and Chen Yiming could only wait patiently outside.

Fortunately, Ji Ningzhao was punctual, and the two had not waited long before she appeared.

As soon as Ji Ningzhao arrived, a figure unexpectedly emerged downstairs, startling the unprepared Chen Yiming nearly out of his wits.

Xie Qingfa, however, had grown accustomed to such things; those who worked in the Special Division often possessed their own mysterious arts and tended to appear out of nowhere.

“Ningzhao, Xiao Xie.”

By coincidence, the person guarding the premises that day was acquainted with Xie Qingfa’s sect. After a brief conversation, he removed the talisman from the door, allowing them entry.

Kong Xi’s apartment was a single-unit, hotel-style suite on the twelfth floor. The ground floor was a spacious lobby, though now staffed by members of the Special Division instead.

Chen Yiming wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but upon entering the lobby, he felt a chill in the air. Outside, the sun shone brightly through the glass, yet a cold breath seemed to brush the nape of his neck.

The thought gave him goosebumps, but seeing Ji Ningzhao and Xie Qingfa so calm, he managed to steady himself.

Still, he clutched the small bottle Ji Ningzhao had given him, hanging from his neck, its faint warmth a comfort in this unnerving place.

Most residents here were affluent or influential. After such an incident, people became superstitious, and with the Special Division tightly sealing the building and access restricted, many had gradually moved away.

The lack of inhabitants only made the atmosphere more desolate.

But in truth, both Ji Ningzhao and Xie Qingfa sensed that the building was free of lingering spirits—indeed, it was almost unnaturally clean.

Ji Ningzhao surveyed the lobby, forming some guesses in her mind.

Kong Xi’s apartment was on the twelfth floor. Ji Ningzhao, with her delicate constitution, would never consider taking the stairs.

But the thought of the elevator unsettled Chen Yiming.

Xie Qingfa, not much older than Chen Yiming and occasionally mischievous, noticed his apprehension and teased, “Hey, Yiming, if you’re scared of the elevator, I’ll walk the stairs with you. Of course, if we run into something on the stairs, and we end up separated, I’ll be fine, but you…”

Before he could finish, Chen Yiming shivered and replied, “Let’s take the elevator, brother, the elevator.”

He realized that, though the elevator was a confined space, if anything happened, he’d have Ji Ningzhao on one side and Xie Qingfa on the other—someone would protect him.

If he climbed the stairs and they got separated, left alone… Chen Yiming couldn’t bear to imagine it.

While the two bantered, Ji Ningzhao watched them, her expression as calm as ever, but with a rare hint of a smile in her eyes.

The elevator ascended smoothly to the twelfth floor, though Chen Yiming’s nerves were taut throughout.

As soon as the doors opened, a faint, metallic odor wafted toward them, and the door opposite bore deep brown, dried stains.

Ji Ningzhao and Xie Qingfa took it in stride, but the young master Chen, who had never even witnessed a chicken being slaughtered, turned pale in an instant.

Piecing together the fragments he’d heard about the incident, Chen Yiming was ready to turn back.

But the arrow had left the bow; to refuse now would make him seem cowardly. Moreover, he dared not remain alone outside.

Summoning his courage, he stepped out of the elevator.