Chapter 53: Li Mingjuan’s Home
Zhang Hui stared blankly at the thick fog in front of him, completely confused.
What’s going on? He had just separated from his cousin a few minutes ago, how did Li Mu and the others suddenly get surrounded by fog?
He didn’t know anything about ghosts or strange things, but he could still feel something wasn’t right.
“Li Mu didn’t get into trouble, did he?” he muttered, wanting to walk into the fog. But as soon as he stepped in, a cold chill rushed over his body, scaring him enough to quickly step back.
He was worried about Li Mu. If something happened to him, their grandfather would definitely blame Zhang Hui.
He tried calling Li Mu several times, but the phone kept saying it was out of service. Feeling anxious, he paced around outside the fog for a few minutes. In the end, he stepped into the mist anyway.
Since this was a city area, even though the fog was so thick he could only see a few meters ahead, he could still follow the road and not get lost. If he were in the countryside or mountains, he probably would’ve gotten turned around in no time.
The cold inside the fog made his whole body shake. He checked his phone and saw that it had lost signal too.
It really seemed like his cousin was stuck somewhere in this fog.
“Why is it so cold?”
Zhang Hui looked around nervously, but in the thick fog, he couldn’t see anything clearly. He could only hear some people shouting in the distance in panic.
After walking a few hundred meters, the fog finally started to clear.
He stepped out of the thick mist and arrived at an intersection. When he looked up, he saw two people fighting with weapons. Then, turning his head, he saw Li Mu quickly getting into a car.
“Cousin!” he shouted and ran after the car, but it slowly drove back into the fog and disappeared.
Now Zhang Hui was even more confused.
He felt two sharp stares aimed at him. When he turned to look, he saw the two people who were fighting had stopped and were now staring directly at him.
“......”
Zhang Hui slowly raised his hands. “Are you filming something? Like one of those short videos Li Mu mentioned?”
A girl wearing a red jacket took a step toward him with a big knife in her hand. A strong, chilling air rushed at him, making his legs go weak from fear.
He swallowed hard and raised his fists like a soldier, trying to scare her. “I’m super strong, okay?!”
“They can’t really be two drunk crazies, right?”
Still talking to himself, Zhang Hui threw a few more fake punches and shouted again, “Come at me if you dare!”
And then… the girl ran straight at him.
“Crap!”
Zhang Hui turned around and ran straight into the fog.
It wasn’t because he was scared. He was just worried that with her thin arms and legs, he might hurt her badly if he actually hit her.
Besides, whether she was drunk or just mentally unstable, fighting her wouldn’t end well for him. Even if he won, he might still have to pay for it.
……………………………………………
Back at Li Mingjuan’s home, Chen Yi quietly opened the front door.
He took off his shoes and tiptoed inside, careful not to wake up Li Mingjuan’s parents.
Li Mu and Yu Fan followed his lead, sneaking in like thieves.
“The wallet should be in Li Mingjuan’s bedroom,” Chen Yi whispered. “I’ll check her room. You two search the drawers in the living room.”
Not fully trusting them, he added, “Don’t get greedy and take stuff that doesn’t belong to you.”
“Do I look like that kind of person?” Yu Fan said, just as he and Chen Yi both turned to look at Li Mu.
Li Mu rolled his eyes at them. “I’m not like that either!”
Sure, he was pretty broke right now, but not so poor he couldn’t afford food. Even if things got that bad, he could still work with his own hands. No way he’d steal someone’s things.
Hopefully, the raincoat ghost could stall for more time.
With that hope in mind, the three of them turned on their phone flashlights and quietly started searching for the wallet Li Mingjuan had mentioned.
It kind of made sense that the Dismembered Ghost had a handmade wallet as her core.
That wallet was most likely made either by her or by her mother or younger brother. She probably had strong feelings for it.
At first, Li Mu thought it would be good to get rid of a ghost like that as soon as possible. But on the stairs, after hearing what Yu Fan said, he started to feel a little sympathy.
It wasn’t just that ghost. Many people on death row also had sad or touching stories that led them to make mistakes.
Still, that small bit of sympathy didn’t slow Li Mu down even for a second.
After all, forgiving the ghost was the job of the underworld. Their job was just to send her there.
She wasn’t like Lin Xi, a harmless ghost.
In less than ten minutes, Yu Fan called out, “Found it! A wallet made of yarn!”
The other two quickly gathered around and saw it placed inside a drawer in the TV cabinet.
“That’s it!” Chen Yi let out a sigh of relief and reached for the wallet.
“Eeeyaa”
A small but clear rusty scraping sound echoed in the room.
All three of them turned their heads in surprise, and saw a middle-aged couple staring at them with confused looks.
The five people just stood there, all equally puzzled.
“Are they ghosts?!” Yu Fan jumped in shock and grabbed a broom nearby.
“They’re not,” Chen Yi slowly stood up, took out his police ID from his pocket, and said calmly, “I’m a police officer. We’re investigating a theft case.”
Yeah right... even a ghost wouldn’t believe that.
Li Mu silently complained in his mind as he quickly grabbed the yarn wallet. He tried to rip it open with both hands, but to his surprise, it was much tougher than he thought.
“Honey, call the police,” the man ignored Chen Yi and rushed into the main bedroom. A moment later, the sound of an engine starting came from inside.
Yu Fan mumbled, “That sound... sounds like the electric saw in my storage room…”
Before he even finished speaking, the man came back out into the living room holding a small electric chainsaw.
The three of them freaked out and ran to the door. But when they got there, they found the front door, which had been left open earlier, was now mysteriously shut.
Yu Fan quickly rushed to open it. He turned the handle several times, but finally said helplessly, “It won’t open.”
“Damn it, something’s wrong here,” Chen Yi said with a dark face, watching as the man with the chainsaw got closer. “The whole house might be under the ghost’s control.”
“Don’t hurt him. He’s just been tricked by the ghost.”
Seriously? Shouldn’t we be praying that he doesn’t hurt us?
Li Mu was completely confused now. He looked at the man, unsure what to do, and tried to explain, “We’re friends of Li Mingjuan. She invited us over.”
“Even a ghost wouldn’t believe that,” Yu Fan commented.
Huh, that’s exactly what I was thinking earlier.
The thought flashed through Li Mu’s head, and then he quickly picked up a nearby metal shoe rack and threw it at the man.
The chainsaw came down, hitting the rack hard and knocking it to the ground. Sparks flew as the shoe rack was cut clean in half.
At the same time, Chen Yi leaped forward and tackled the man to the floor.
“Doesn’t look like the brightest guy...”
Li Mu and Yu Fan quickly joined in, one grabbed the chainsaw, the other helped hold the man down.
After a short struggle, the man was finally pinned to the ground by Yu Fan and Chen Yi. His hands were locked with shiny metal handcuffs.
“All done...” Chen Yi let out a long breath.
“All done?” a cold and slightly crazy voice suddenly echoed.
A flash of lightning lit up the window. A pale face appeared just outside the living room window. Its round, bloodshot eyes were staring at them carefully.