Wan Jie Hospice Care Company

"This is the commercial center. Look, it's closed now, and nobody comes here."

After Ji Zhuo got out of the car, he led the group to the entrance.

The building stood in the middle of the street, dusty and gray, with its roller shutter pulled all the way down and a "Closed for Rectification" seal affixed to the metal sheet, stamped neatly in red.

Ji Zhuo wanted to say, "This place is inaccessible right now," but he swallowed the words back.

Because the windows upstairs are lit, the lights are on even in broad daylight.

"...Is someone inside?" Ji Zhuo was taken aback. He looked the commercial center building up and down, thinking that there shouldn't be anyone inside.

"Is there any way to get in?" Xiang Yu asked.

"There definitely is one. The fire exit can't be closed; you can go in through there if you want..." Ji Zhuo said thoughtfully, "But why would there be someone inside?"

Another gust of wind rose, and in that gust, a greeting drifted from afar—

"Oh, is that the master? You've finally arrived!"

A chubby middle-aged man was seen jogging towards them, shouting and panting.

The smile faded from his face inch by inch, replaced by an instinctive wariness. He stopped a few steps away, sizing them up, his voice suddenly changing: "Who, who are you? What are you doing here?"

"we are……"

An Ling was about to speak when she was impatiently interrupted by the fat middle-aged man.

"Get out of here! No one is allowed in here right now. Don't bother us, little brats... It's all your fault, you bunch of kids. Your parents didn't keep a close eye on you. You've embarrassed yourselves and now you're causing trouble for our mall."

Instead of retreating, Xiang Yu and the others all took a step forward and walked straight up to him.

The fat man was taken aback, then angrily said, "What are you doing? Are you crazy? Do you know how much money I spent hiring this master? One hundred thousand! One hundred thousand yuan! Just so our mall can open smoothly, can you afford to delay it?!"

Ji Zhuo took the lead and walked up to the group, taking out his identification.

"Come on, explain why you haven't closed down yet?" Ji Zhuo's face was serious, a stark contrast to when he was dealing with Xiang Yu. "Didn't we just send you a document ordering you to suspend operations for rectification and to investigate potential hazards?"

"Ah!" The fat man shuddered as if his tail had been stepped on, then a fawning smile spread across his chubby face. "Comrade, we're not even open for business... The reason the lights are on is for another reason."

"What's the reason? Tell me quickly."

"..." The fat boss hesitated for a moment, then sighed and said, "It's like this, we have a lot of people missing, and there are rumors of ghosts outside. So even if we reopen after the investigation is completed, it will inevitably affect the flow of customers."

"So I thought I'd find a powerful master to perform a ritual, to exorcise evil spirits from our mall, and then set up a wealth-attracting array to drive out the evil spirits and let money flow in... This isn't illegal, comrade!"

"Then why did you turn on the lights? Just for the sake of performing the ritual?" Xiang Yu asked from the side.

"Here's the thing," the fat shopkeeper explained, rubbing his hands together. "The master said that a group of ghosts have settled in this building, so he asked me to set up a ghost business, which means exchanging the goods sold in various shops for incense and paper money, and letting those little ghosts inside buy the goods. Once they've bought enough, they'll leave on their own."

"Uh..." Ji Zhuo turned to look at the corner, unsure if there was any explanation for this.

Xiang Yu raised an eyebrow. To be honest, he didn't know much about this either, but based on the strange encounters he had experienced before, the "ghosts" that appeared in this world were quite different from the "ghosts" in the traditional sense.

"Can we go in and check it out?" Xiang Yu then asked.

"Ah... sure, no problem, the master and I are going in too." The fat boss's eyes lit up as he spotted two figures slowly approaching from a distance. "Wife, master! Over here!"

"How come your wife is with the master?" Xiang Yu complained.

"This master was found by my wife. It's said that he has profound magical powers and has changed the fortunes of many big bosses. He's really amazing," the fat boss said confidently.

The two figures approached, one of whom was a master wearing a traditional Chinese jacket and small round sunglasses, who looked mysterious and eccentric.

There was also a beautiful woman in her early thirties, with bright red lipstick, very fashionable clothes, a slim waist, long legs, and a big bottom.

"It really does fit the stereotype..." Xiang Yu thought to himself, then turned to the master and asked, "You're the master?"

The master remained silent, his hands in his pockets, seemingly ignoring Xiang Yu's words completely.

Seeing this, the fat boss was a little afraid of offending people, so he quickly went to his wife and the master to explain the identities of Xiang Yu and the others.

The pretty woman curled her lip upon hearing this, pulled out five hundred from her pocket, and stuffed it into Xiang Yu's hand: "Alright, alright, this is our private matter. Can you be a little lenient?"

"..."

After taking the money, Xiang Yu squinted and asked, "What do you mean by this?"

"I'm just begging you not to pursue this too much." The fat boss was clearly much nicer than his wife, his chubby face bulging with a smile.

"Okay, but there's a problem," Xiang Yu said, clutching the money.

"What's the problem? Please tell me."

"not enough."

"..." The pretty woman next to her was clearly displeased. She was about to say something when the fat boss quickly shut her up.

"Here you go." The fat boss stuffed another thousand into Xiang Yu's hand, bringing the total to one thousand five hundred.

"Pretty much, but we still need to go in and take a look."

"We've already paid, are you ever going to stop?!" The pretty woman couldn't hold back any longer and yelled, "I'm going to report you!"

"Whatever you want," Xiang Yu said. "Remember to report it to Bureau 404."

Ji Zhuo, standing to the side, felt somewhat embarrassed and then quietly said, "This isn't a good idea."

"I'm not like you, what do I have to be afraid of?" Xiang Yu waved his hand. "You two don't need to come in, just stay outside and keep watch."

"Ah... okay." Li Yiheng breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that the two of them wouldn't have to take any risks.

Ji Zhuo nodded, then took out a walkie-talkie and handed it to Xiang Yu: "Be careful. If anything happens inside, contact me via walkie-talkie."

Xiang Yu glanced at the bulky communication device that looked like it had a long history, and then clipped it to his waist.

Xiang Yu then beckoned to An Ling and asked her to come inside with him.

Since it was something that appeared in the diary, Anling had to go in with him. After all, as long as she followed the diary, Anling would be in no danger.

Leaving her outside could actually lead to some unexpected problems.

After giving his instructions, Xiang Yu followed the fat boss, the beautiful woman, and the eccentric master along the fire escape on the side of the building into the commercial center.

As soon as I entered the mall, a strange feeling washed over me.

On the first floor of the mall, near the entrance, there should have been jewelry counters. The glass counters were still there, polished to a shine, but there wasn't a single piece of jewelry inside. In their place were strings of stacked white paper necklaces.

The joss paper was folded into flowers and beads, strung together, and neatly arranged on the velvet lining.

Moreover, the mall was not lit at all. The reason it looked brightly lit from the outside was because there were countless large red lanterns inside the mall.

They hung in the air, one after another, swaying very slowly even without wind. Red light flowed from each lantern, dyeing everything in sight a thick, vibrant red.

The floor tiles were red, the countertop was red, and even the breath we exhaled turned a faint pink as it floated into the air.

"..." This eerie scene made An Ling feel a little scared, and she unconsciously grabbed Xiang Yu's clothes.

The fat man started sweating, and the red light shone on his oily forehead, making each bead of sweat appear blood-red.

He hurriedly went to the master's side and said, "Master, I'll listen to you. Everything is arranged. Do you think we can start the ritual now?"

The master looked up and around, then spoke in a deep voice: "Something's still missing."

"...What's missing?" The boss was taken aback.

"We're short of customers." The master raised a hand, his withered fingers reaching across the crowd to point to the pile of white paper necklaces. "Having goods is useless without customers."