Chi Chi’s eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe what was happening right in front of her. Lan Linh looked just as stunned.
Once everyone had taken their seats, their faces a jumble of expressions, Tần Tuyên glanced around and asked, “Dad, is Nhất Vũ still upstairs?”
Lan’s father looked impatient. “There’s nobody up there!”
Tần Tuyên frowned. “I just saw him go up. Maybe you missed him. Chi Chi, go check for me.”
Still reeling from the shock, Chi Chi didn’t answer.
Lan Linh smiled. “Nhất Vũ came down ages ago. He’s in the kitchen making a cake.”
Tần Tuyên frowned. “But I saw him with my own eyes…”
He trailed off, staring straight ahead, his expression turning strange.
I followed his gaze. Diệp Nhất Vũ was coming out of the kitchen with a cake in his hands, his eyes lowered, his manner subdued.
The kitchen was tucked well inside the dining area, behind the long table; there was no way he could have passed the entrance. In other words, one Nhất Vũ had just gone upstairs, and now another Nhất Vũ had appeared here.
Tần Tuyên stiffly turned to look at me. His voice came out strained. “Chúc… Miss Chúc!”
I blinked, tilted my head, and smiled. “Good. Better something happens than sitting around waiting forever.”
Just then, Lan’s mother asked, “Nhất Vũ, whose birthday is it?”
Diệp Nhất Vũ’s expression was cold and distant. He set the cake gently on the table, lit the candles, and said softly, “Ý Như once said that the first day one of her posts succeeded was her second birthday. She and I used to secretly celebrate it together. From now on, I’ll make a cake for this day every year, forever.”
When he finished, silence fell over the room. Everyone looked sad; even the four elders had tears in their eyes.
Lan Linh murmured, “If Ý Như knew you felt this way, I’m sure she’d be very comforted.”
As she spoke, she stood up and reached for the knife in Nhất Vũ’s hand so they could cut the cake together. But he pressed his lips together and stepped away, unmistakable disgust on his face. “I don’t need you.”
Lan Linh awkwardly sat back down, her eyes red-rimmed, and quietly picked at her food.
Tần Tuyên couldn’t take his eyes off Nhất Vũ. His jaw was clenched as he looked over at me, his gaze full of doubt, as if asking, “Is it him? Is it really him?”
I looked around this vast dining room. Eight people of all ages sat around the table, each with a different status and personality, their relationships tangled like a maze. They had all gathered here because of one person: Giang Ý Như, a literary genius.
And her death had turned everything upside down. Right now, one of these people was very likely her killer. Or perhaps Ý Như herself… was here.
“Lan, what’s wrong?” Chi Chi suddenly asked, startled.
Everyone immediately turned toward Lan Linh, then collectively gasped. At some point, the five or six plates of food in front of her, once piled high, had been completely emptied.
Lan Linh owned a dance studio and was very thin, so she must have been extremely careful about what she ate. But now she was hunched over, cheeks bulging, still stuffing food into her mouth without pause.
“Linh Nhi, are you very hungry?” Giang’s mother asked, puzzled.
Lan Linh suddenly raised her head. She didn’t answer, just stared at the middle of the table. Then she lunged forward like a starving wolf pouncing on its prey, snatched up a steamed crab, and stuffed it into her mouth without even removing the shell. The shell shattered with a series of crunches. Its sharp edges split the corners of her mouth, and two bright-red streams of blood ran down. She paid no attention, continuing to gnaw ravenously.
The elders cried out in horror. Chi Chi and Nhất Vũ were frozen by the sight.
Tần Tuyên rushed over and pulled Lan Linh away from the table, calling as he dragged her, “Miss Chúc! Please, you have to help!”
I closed my eyes and regulated my breathing. My spiritual sense began to spread, threads gathering around Lan Linh one by one…
I was about to open my eyes and chant a spell when I suddenly remembered and hurriedly added, “By the power of the law, obey!”
The chandelier flickered a few times, then went out. The entire dining room sank into darkness. A few seconds later, the lights came back on. Every eye turned toward Lan Linh.
She was quiet now, staring down at herself in a daze. Then she touched her mouth and asked in alarm, “I… what just happened to me?”
“Linh Nhi, you were possessed! Thank goodness Master Chúc acted in time and drove the evil spirit out of you. You need to thank her properly!”
Giang’s mother hurriedly called out. Heh, good thing I remembered to add the spell in time. Otherwise, I could’ve done the job and nobody would’ve known it was me. That’s workplace experience for you!
The four elders crowded around Lan Linh, worried and flustered. Giang’s father stood across from her, then suddenly looked up at the ceiling. Fear was plain in his eyes, and his voice trembled. “How did that girl… get up there…?”
His expression alarmed everyone in the room. One by one, they followed his gaze toward the upper-left corner of the ceiling. Their eyes widened, and they froze as if turned to stone. In the corner where the ceiling met the walls, Chi Chi was pressed against the wall, her body twisted into a horrifying pose.
I quietly lowered my gaze, then froze when I saw the girl. This couldn’t be!
Lan Linh’s deranged behavior could be explained by a spirit using its will to influence her brain. But even so, everything she’d done was still within the bounds of what a human could do. But a child like Chi Chi… there was no way she could have climbed more than ten meters up to the ceiling in the blink of an eye, let alone hang in the corner in such a bizarre pose, completely defying Earth’s gravity. Unless… unless Chi Chi wasn’t human! She was an illusion created by a spirit in this house! Chi Chi was the extra one!
At that thought, I sighed softly.
I really didn’t have much experience with missions yet. I’d nearly scared myself half to death. Just then, a piercing scream rang through the house, mingling with the thunder and lightning outside the windows, as if the gates of a despairing hell had opened.
I stared at Chi Chi and shouted, “Who are you?”
Chi Chi didn’t answer. Her eyes darted wildly over everyone in the room.
I tilted my head and tried, “Giang Ý Như?”
Chi Chi’s eyes immediately stopped moving. She stared straight at me.
At that very moment, the screams abruptly stopped, and the room sankThe room fell into a bone-chilling silence.
Diệp Nhất Vũ’s trembling voice rang out: “W-Who did you just say?!”
I paid them no mind. I just smiled at Chi Chi—a smile I thought was friendly—and said gently, “Miss Giang, I’m Chúc Linh. If you’re holding a deep grudge that you haven’t been able to let go of, or if someone here is your enemy, you can tell me. Maybe I can help…”
Before I could finish, Chi Chi suddenly let out a roar. It sounded as if dozens of people were screaming all at once. Then she plummeted straight to the floor…
Thud!
“Chi Chi!” Tần Tuyên rushed to the girl’s side, his eyes bloodshot.
I looked at the blood spreading across the floor and shook my head helplessly. The other party had refused to communicate.
Tần Tuyên shakily pulled out his phone and tried to call 120, but the screen showed “No Service.”
He clutched Chi Chi in a panic. “Chi Chi, don’t be scared. I’m taking you to the hospital!”
I stopped him. “Mr. Tần, that girl isn’t your sister… She’s the extra one.”
Tần Tuyên froze, eyes wide as he shouted, “That’s impossible! Chi Chi is my biological sister. We grew up together, and she’s always lived here! You can ask anyone! She absolutely isn’t some kind of illusion!”
I sighed. “Even if she used to be your sister, she isn’t anymore. Besides, the roads are blocked and there’s no signal. You can’t get to the hospital, either.”
Suddenly, the phone Tần Tuyên had tossed aside chimed with a new message.
He hurriedly picked it up and cried, “I’ve got a signal!”
Then he immediately opened the message.
A man’s voice came through: “Mr. Tần, this is Architect Trần. While reviewing the security footage around the villa, I found a strange clip. It seems to show your sister, so I’m sending it to you to take a look.”
Tần Tuyên’s hands trembled as he tapped to open the video. I leaned in to watch, too.
The timestamp showed it was two months ago.
Location: the gate of this villa.