Internal complaints aside, the doctor still walked over. The wall in front of him had cracked open a finger-wide, arm-length fissure, pitch black as if cold wind was blowing out from inside. Looking more carefully, he found the wooden box on the ground had been opened, and that red phone line had somehow wrapped around the bronze tiger, with the whole thing embedded in the wall’s crack.

It was like… like that red line was alive, trying to drag the bronze tiger into the wall, being blocked by the wall and causing it to crack…

The doctor shuddered, feeling his imagination was running too wild. He forced himself to consider things practically: “What should I do about this cracked wall? Do I have to compensate the landlord? I’ve only lived here a short time. Should I find a cement worker to patch it up… But I wonder if the neighbors are affected. I should find time to ask next door tomorrow.”

“No need to go next door,” the Tang-suited man interrupted his rambling.

“Huh? Why?” the doctor asked curiously.

“Because the other side of this wall isn’t another unit at all,” the Tang-suited man’s voice was grave, but he didn’t explain further.

The doctor was about to press for details when he heard his phone ringing from the bedroom. Without thinking further, he went directly to the bedroom and picked up the phone from the nightstand. The screen showed an incoming call from Chun Ge, so the doctor pressed the answer button.

“Finally got through! What were you doing just now? Why were you out of service the whole time?!” Chun Ge’s loud voice blasted from the phone speaker, making the doctor immediately hold the phone farther away.

“I don’t know why either. I’ve been home the whole time!” the doctor said weakly.

“That’s exactly why I’m worried!” Chun Ge suddenly lowered his voice: “Do you know what’s wrong with the house you’re living in?”

“Huh? What’s wrong?” The doctor put the phone back to his ear.

“I asked someone to look up the name ‘Li Hua,’ and unexpectedly discovered she was the perpetrator of a horrific case from over ten years ago!” Chun Ge’s voice carried a chill: “This Li Hua was our senior student. Because her boyfriend betrayed her, she used a surgical knife to slice off his flesh piece by piece. According to the forensic examination, that poor man was still alive when only a skeleton remained!”

The doctor was so frightened he almost dropped the phone.

“Of course, that man eventually died, and Li Hua turned herself in. This means the room you’re living in was the crime scene! Move out quickly!” Chun Ge urged anxiously.

“But… a haunted house isn’t that bad, right?” The doctor was still reluctant to give up such cheap rent. Though he’d experienced sleep paralysis, nothing had actually happened to him!

“Not that bad?! I also checked the floor plan of your building—the room you’re living in is completely wrong! It should originally be a two-bedroom, one-living room unit! That means behind that wall in the living room, they sealed off a room with cement!” Chun Ge roared in frustration.

The doctor’s hair stood on end as he suddenly recalled what the Tang-suited man had said—the other side of the wall wasn’t another unit at all… So that’s what he meant?!

“And what’s more terrifying is that supposedly not all the flesh carved from that man was found. Who knows what horrible things are sealed in that room! Hello? Hello! Are you listening to me… hello…”

The phone suddenly cut off. The doctor stared at the “No Service” message on the screen, cold dread creeping up his spine. He moved toward the exit almost mechanically, and when passing through the living room, he glimpsed the Tang-suited man still crouched there studying the crack in the wall. But the more the doctor thought about it, the more terrified he became. He rushed to the door in a few steps, wanting to escape this eerie house.

However, the door was sealed tight and completely unopenable.

The doctor used all his strength, sweating profusely from exhaustion, but the door that used to open easily now seemed to weigh a hundred thousand pounds and wouldn’t budge.

“You can’t get out until that thing is dealt with.”

The doctor was scared out of his wits by the sudden voice, taking a beat to realize he’d just heard this voice before. He quickly turned around to find the Tang-suited man standing not far behind him. Perhaps the other’s calm demeanor helped the doctor settle down slightly. He mustered courage and asked tremblingly: “That… that thing… what do you mean?”

“The wronged soul that died here,” the Tang-suited man stated calmly. “Generally speaking, souls can only remain in the world for seven days. Only wronged souls with deep obsessions can linger long-term.”

As the Tang-suited man spoke, he walked back to the living room, and the doctor quickly followed. Hearing this, he deeply agreed—that unfortunate man had been tortured to death alive; anyone would find it unbearable.

“Actually, without someone feeding it, this wronged soul wouldn’t be trapped here for long,” the Tang-suited man pointed at the cracked wall and said flatly: “This room’s layout has been altered. What’s sealed behind that wall is probably that wronged soul.”

“So… the previous tenants who moved out after just a few days, and what my friend experienced when he stayed over—were all caused by this wronged soul?” The doctor thought of Chun Ge’s description and suddenly felt something was off: “But I didn’t sense anything unusual before. Why did something happen specifically tonight?”

“You have a protective amulet on you, so ordinary demons and ghosts can’t get close. Tonight’s incident was because of this thing.” The Tang-suited man opened his palm.

In the light of the revolving lantern, the doctor saw the bronze tiger that Chun Ge had brought lying in his palm.

“This is a Bo Ya Zhen,” the Tang-suited man explained, knowing the doctor wouldn’t understand. “Simply put, this is a paperweight. Zhen means to suppress. In ancient times before paper was invented, these were called stone weights, used to hold down mats or bed curtains, so a set had four pieces. Later they became chess weights for Liubo chess, placed at the four corners of the board. In ancient tombs, Bo Ya Zhen were popular burial goods for suppressing graves and warding off evil.”

“If that’s the case, this should be a treasure for suppressing evil! How did it backfire instead?” The doctor knew Chun Ge definitely meant well and sent this to save him.

“The person your friend consulted probably had only half-knowledge. A Bo Ya Zhen set of four must appear together to combine spiritual power, form a complete system, and guard an area. If I’m not mistaken, this set should be the Four Divine Beasts Bo Ya Zhen. According to Five Elements theory, this White Tiger Bo Ya Zhen should be placed in the true west direction. With wrong positioning and standing alone, isn’t it just a delivered tonic?” Before the Tang-suited man finished speaking, that red line writhed like a living venomous snake toward the White Tiger Bo Ya Zhen in his hand.

The doctor cried out in alarm but was quickly pulled out of the living room by the Tang-suited man. Watching that red line grow longer and longer before his eyes, pursuing them relentlessly like a bone-deep poison.

Just as the red line was about to lash his face, a jade-white hand unhesitatingly grabbed the red line while throwing him toward the bedroom.

The bedroom door slammed shut, and a low shout came from outside: “Stay put and don’t come out.” Then followed sounds of heart-stopping combat.

How could the doctor let a stranger risk life and death for him? He turned the bedroom door handle, but like when he tried to open the front door earlier, it wouldn’t budge. He had no idea what mysterious methods the other had used.

The doctor could only press against the door in fear, listening to the sounds outside, his imagination running wild in sheer torment.

Perhaps it was a long time, perhaps just minutes—the doctor could no longer judge the passage of time. When the bedroom door handle turned, he instinctively stepped back two paces.

The door slowly opened, and accompanied by the warm, soft light of the revolving lantern, the Tang-suited man stood in the doorway. He looked somewhat disheveled—his originally neat hairstyle had become messy, and his already pale complexion appeared even paler. Perhaps it was the doctor’s imagination, but the red dragon on his clothing seemed to have deepened in color, like the color of blood.

“It’s all settled now,” the Tang-suited man said matter-of-factly.

The doctor boldly went out to look around and found the crack in the living room wall was still there, but the red line had vanished.

“Find a cement worker tomorrow to seal it up,” the Tang-suited man said lightly. Though the wronged soul was eliminated, this room had been altered to harbor resentful spirits and occupied by them for years, making it full of yin energy that would likely attract strange things. The doctor was so big-hearted that he probably wouldn’t notice if not told. Besides, with the longevity lock protecting him, the doctor wouldn’t sense anything unusual. If not for the sudden appearance of the Bo Ya Zhen, nothing would have happened this time. The sealed room only contained the deceased’s belongings, nothing serious. After thinking it over, the Tang-suited man didn’t say more.

The doctor wanted to ask more questions when his phone rang thunderously. This was more effective than any test—the wronged soul was definitely collected, the magnetic field had returned to normal, and his phone had signal again. The doctor didn’t rush to answer Chun Ge’s call but focused on the Bo Ya Zhen in the Tang-suited man’s hand. Whether or not this thing could suppress evil, the doctor felt he couldn’t handle it. What if it attracted something else? So after thinking, he asked: “Could I trouble the Heavenly Master to keep that Bo Ya Zhen?”

“Heavenly Master?” The Tang-suited man was startled, then smiled: “Heavenly Masters catch demons.”

This Tang-suited man had maintained a stern expression since they met, but this smile was like ice and snow melting, as if the temperature around them instantly rose several degrees. The doctor was dazed for a moment before quickly apologizing: “Sorry, sorry, so those who catch ghosts are… Taoists? Definitely not monks, right?” The doctor glanced several times at the Tang-suited man’s short hair.

“Answer your phone. I’ll keep this Bo Ya Zhen as… payment for ‘ghost catching.'” The Tang-suited man’s smile deepened, containing some indulgence and helplessness.

The doctor quickly answered the phone, pretending to be sleepy, and with a few words calmed the frantic Chun Ge on the other end, while confirming that the Bo Ya Zhen was indeed sent by him. He wanted to say more but saw the Tang-suited man turning to leave, so he hastily hung up and chased after him.

“Wait! Your hand is injured! Let me get a bandage!” The doctor had already noticed the other’s right palm had scratches, probably from grabbing the red line earlier.

Hearing this, the Tang-suited man paused but didn’t insist on leaving. Instead, he found a sofa in the living room to sit on.

The doctor brought out his medical kit, which contained various emergency medicines, some high-grade supplies only available in hospitals. This was also a benefit for medical students. The doctor found iodine for disinfection and bandages, kneeling on one knee in front of the sofa to carefully treat the other’s wound.

The Tang-suited man’s gaze fell on the doctor’s neck. The longevity lock he wore had fallen outside his pajamas due to running, gleaming with lustrous, delicate jade light under the revolving lantern’s yellow glow. The Tang-suited man’s gaze was focused, not noticing that the wound on his hand was quickly being treated.

“Ah! The paper picture on the revolving lantern has changed! Does this mean I’ve escaped my misfortune?”

The doctor’s joyful words brought the Tang-suited man back to his senses. He looked up just in time to see the paper picture in the revolving lantern on the coffee table slowly turning. What was depicted was Sai Weng and his son, on the verge of starvation during famine, rescuing a man who had collapsed. Unexpectedly, that man was actually a prince traveling incognito. Grateful for their life-saving kindness, the prince brought them to the capital and granted them fine clothing and food for their remaining years.

“This is… meeting a benefactor? Haha, maybe tonight I’ve already encountered the best thing!” The doctor packed up his medical kit, laughing with obvious meaning.

The Tang-suited man smiled bitterly, murmuring: “Knowing me isn’t necessarily a good thing…”

“Huh? What did you say? Oh right, I still don’t know your name!”

“…My shop will open soon, not far from here. You’re welcome to visit.”

“Huh? What shop? Can ghost catching be a business now?”

“…An antique shop.”

…

The doctor awakened from his memories, looking down at the black jade sphere in his palm that had returned to normal, shocked and angry.

These were his memories?

Why did he have no recollection of them at all?