Park Soojin couldn"t accept this fact. She hadn"t been willing to give up easily. She followed the team to explore and ended up coming to the land of death in the prophecy. If she had chosen to wait for her death, wouldn"t she have broken the prophecy?
She was going to die here…
Park Soojin looked around for a while before pulling out a small bottle from the small bag she had been carrying. This was her life-saving item. There was a lingering spirit of resentment in it and it could protect her from attacks for a period of time. However, the bottle had no way to act if it faced a superior rank. Was she going to die?
AK47 also clenched his gun. If he saw a ghost appear then he would really fire his gun. He didn"t have good intentions behind it. It was just that if he could really save Park Soojin to break the prophecy, there would be a way to fight against the silence as well as destroy his death prophecy.
Xiao Li stood in place, watching Park Soojin"s every move. It was near noon and the sun shone on the street. The doors and windows of the roadside stores closed and smoke billowed in the distance. It gave off considerable heat but the people present only felt cold.
Xiao Li raised his pen and wrote in the little yellow book: [I don"t believe in prophecy.]
There was nothing that couldn"t be broken.
Park Soojin"s fingers were holding her throat. There was a type of uncertainty in her heart. She wanted to make a sound to see if her voice had been taken away but her remaining sense of reason prevented her from doing so.
Shimizu asked with concern: [Is there anything wrong?]
Park Soojin shook her head but her eyes soon focused on a certain point. She mouthed, "It noticed me…"
Thai"s muscles were tense. [It? Who?]
[How do you feel?] Shimizu held up the paper and walked to Park Soojin.
Park Soojin"s eyes were a bit confused. Her eyes staring at a corner and she wanted to take a step forward when the bottle she was holding burst. An invisible mucous film wrapped around Park Soojin and she was rescued from her brief confused sate.
Park Soojin took a step back. She took a deep breath and trembled as she wrote in her own task book: [It isn"t finished yet. It is only temporary. I feel… there"s a force on me.]
The smoke in the distance was getting thicker and thicker. It seemed that the fire was becoming bigger and more intense.
Shimizu"s brow furrowed but he didn"t find any clues. He looked back hesitantly at Xiao Li. The senior reincarnator"s life-saving item was enough to delay the prediction but no one knew how the prophecy would be achieved. Perhaps after they left, they would wind up back here. At that time, Park Soojin would no longer have the item to protect her life.
Xiao Li was looking at the place where Park Soojin had originally been looking. He had just retracted his gaze when he suddenly saw on the corner side, the old man living opposite to the hotel. The old man was wearing a robe and he was staring at the reincarnators. It was him again…
Xiao Li didn"t ask any questions. He first focused on Park Soojin because the moment she lost the protection of the bottle, she was in a trance again. Unexpectedly, a shadow appeared in the group"s vision. There was a white shadow with long sleeves standing on the roof of a building along the road, overlooking them.
It was the white shadow from the study However, it felt different from last time. Was it the face…?
It was clarity.
An idea flashed through Xiao Li"s mind like a thunderbolt. In the study, the white shadow was transparent and the face quite fuzzy. Now it was white and the face was clear. It was painted with dramatic makeup. The rouge at the corner of the eyes was pink and the long sleeves dragged in the wind.
Shimizu raised his pen at this time. [T-This face is the skin mask that I found while exploring the old house!]
Once the ghost appeared, the look in Park Soojin"s eyes disappeared and she slowly stepped towards the other side. Xiao Li silently made a "tut" sound. He came to AK47"s side and wrote: [Can you hit people? The type of blow to the neck that makes them unconscious.]
AK47, "……"
He could but… wasn"t this too simple and crude?
AK47 hesitated as he looked at the teenager. He instantly understood Xiao Li"s meaning and put away his gun, striding to Park Soojin"s side. He chopped at the back of the girl"s neck at a tricky angle. Park Soojin fell in response. Once she fell to the ground, AK47 reached for her.
Xiao Li held up a sign: [Go.]
Park Soojin wasn"t fat. She was pliable but strong. AK47 carried her easily. He avoided the sight of the ghost on the roof and trotted to catch up with Xiao Li, who was walking in front. Unexpectedly, the ghost didn"t stop them. Its sleeves blew in the wind as it turned its head to watch them leave.
The old man was gone when they pa.s.sed the corner. Xiao Li looked at the corner before going to the place where the black smoke was burning.
Shimizu picked up the pace and caught up with him. [Sherlock, do you have any ideas.]
Xiao Li: [Yes, quite a lot. What do you mean?]
Shimizu: [Park Soojin, what are you going to do?]
Xiao Li: [Wait, I"ll tie her up and made her unconscious. Then we"ll talk about it later.]
It was a bit rough but since the previous dead scratched off their own faces, Sherlock"s solution… was quite effective in a way.
Shimizu wrote: […During the time I studied abroad, I studied the traditional culture of China. This ghost was dressed up as an opera actor. Does this have something to do with the truth of the town? For example, she was a singer but lost her voice and appearance. Afterwards, she had to take away other people"s voices and faces.
Xiao Li: [Good idea.]
There was no further follow-up.
Shimizu: [……]
They wrote as they walked. They had walked a few blocked when they saw the burning point of the black smoke. Coincidentally, it was a place that they knew. It was the backyard of the hotel where the reincarnators wanted to stay initially.
The fire was so large that the heat could be felt from some distance away. The hotel owner stood on the door. There was a strange smile on her face like relief and sadness. The fire was getting bigger and bigger. Most of the houses in the village were made of wood. According to this trend, it would probably affect the residential area.
Just as this worry was rising in Shimuzu"s heart, the originally bright sky gradually darkened. Thick dark clouds rolled in from the sea and rain soon fell to the ground. The rain was so heavy that the fire couldn"t stand up to the storm. The flames were completely extinguished.
Shimizu looked at the heavy rain and then back at Xiao Li to discuss the next plans. As a result, the turned around and saw that the other person had entered the hotel lobby with his nose and mouth covered.
Xiao Li held up the little yellow book to the hotel owner and greeted her. [h.e.l.lo.]
The hotel owner glanced at him. She was sitting dejectedly at the hotel door, wrinkles crowded together. She didn"t speak and Xiao Li didn"t push. He moved to the small stool of the hotel"s front office that hadn"t been touched by the fire and sat watching the rain on the streets.
The rain fell to the ground and water splashed. After a long time, the hotel owner wiped the rain off her face and turned to mouth at Xiao Li: [Outsider, what do you want to ask?]
Xiao Li looked at the black hole that was the hotel owner"s mouth and he wrote: [Have you seen people like us before?]
The hotel owner took Xiao Li"s paper and pen and wrote: [I don"t know how long I"ve let this fire burn but it is useless. The building here can"t be damaged. Similarly, as long as people enter the town, they will never go out.]
Xiao Li: [Can you tell your story?]
A sneer appeared on the hotel owner"s face. She bowed her head and wrote: [My story? I"m just a ghost wandering around. I lost my daughter and my husband but I"m afraid to accompany them. In order to not speak, I cut off my tongue and lingered until now. If you want to survive then it is better to get rid of it earlier.]
Xiao Li reached out and patted her on the shoulder. [Do you know anything about the uninhabited old house?]
This time, the hotel owner shook her head hesitantly. "it used to be the richest house but once the silence started to spread in our town, the gap between rich and poor has become less important. That family died even earlier than ordinary people.]
It seemed the hotel owner didn"t know the secret of the old house owner"s legacy from his grandfather.
Xiao Li asked the other side some simple questions. Then the hotel owner wiped her face and she was going to greet her daughter and husband. She lifted the curtain and walked into the backyard.
Shimizu came over. Before he opened his mouth, Xiao Li handed over the paper containing the communication between him and the hotel owner. Once he finished reading, Shimizu wrote: [It seems that the clues are in the old house. We have to go back."
Xiao Li sat in front of the hotel and looked at the door of the old man"s house. [There is no hurry.]
Just as they were talking, Lance came towards them in a hurry and wrote: [I just looked in the backyard and there was a coffin.]
Shimizu: [The coffin. Did the hotel owner prepare it herself?]
[No no no, it"s like… the coffin we saw in the old house"s memorial hall.] Lance wrote quickly. [Is it… coming for Park Soojin? In order to fulfil the prophecy?]
Xiao Li got up, patted the ground and walked towards the backyard.