Starting with dissecting ghost stories

Shen Xing went to sleep about an hour earlier last night, but still woke up at roughly the same time as yesterday.

When he woke up, Shen Xing felt as if his throat was on fire. He got up, took the water that had been placed on the bedside table, unscrewed the cap, and slowly drank it until he finished the whole bottle.

He licked his lips, feeling the dead skin on them.

Sleep time increased by 15%, but the feeling of fatigue upon waking was actually worse.

【0111】What indicators of your body are being depleted? Glycogen? ATP? Fat?

It can't possibly be something as difficult to define as "spiritual power."

There are too many possibilities, but Shen Xing currently has no way to obtain so much professional equipment to examine and analyze his body.

After washing up in the master bedroom bathroom, Shen Xing changed into a more casual-looking short-sleeved shirt and shorts.

When I walked out of the living room, I saw Shen Yuan, who had woken up at some point, already doing her homework.

Perhaps because she rarely saw Shen Xing dressed like this, Shen Yuan was stunned for a moment when she first saw him, but she didn't say anything.

After making breakfast for himself and Shen Yuan, Shen Xing picked up his DV camera, put on a more convenient shoulder bag containing some first-aid supplies for bandaging and suturing, left Shen Yuan fifteen yuan for food, and then went out.

Grandma Zhang's little shop sells breakfast items like steamed buns and soy milk in the morning. Shen Xing didn't go directly there, but instead took a detour to the residential area across the street.

Shen Xing found a building near the street and went inside. He went up to the sixth floor, pushed open the rusty iron door on the roof, held the DV camera, looked around for a bit, turned on the screen of the DV camera, and pressed record.

The shop is open as usual, which means that at least Grandma Zhang is alright and the doll did not attack her.

However, Shen Xing's view was largely blocked by the roadside trees, so he moved around a bit and changed his position so that he could have a full view of the shop.

Shen Xing had already seen the thing without even looking at the DV camera.

The doll leaned crookedly against the wall at the shop entrance, as if someone had left it there.

Compared to the night, it doesn't seem to get much sunlight during the day, and its restless black and white speckles clash with its surroundings.

Shen Xing held the DV camera in his right hand, pointed it at the screen, and looked at it.

Zoom in, zoom in.

When Shen Xing zoomed in, the noise around the DV camera made the screen image even more cluttered.

However, amidst this chaos, red static began to appear, moving within Shen Xing's DV camera. The red noise seemed to outline a blurry human figure.

The screen of the DV camera was very small, so Shen Xing could see the real situation and the situation on the DV camera almost at the same time.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Granny Zhang walk out of the shop for some reason and bend down next to the doll. On the screen that Shen Xing was watching, the human figure outlined by red snowflakes slowly raised its hand and pointed in the direction of the screen.

And below, Granny Zhang seemed to raise her head in the direction of the finger.

Shen Xing leaned back slightly, took a few steps back, and casually stopped recording, without being seen by Grandma Zhang who looked up.

On the rooftop, Shen Xing leaned against the wall next to the stairwell door, operating the DV camera to review the recording from earlier.

After waiting a while for the tape to rewind, Shen Xing pressed play, and the recorded footage appeared on the screen.

It spotted me.

Are the human figures outlined by those red snowflakes the movements of a puppet in the eyes of others?

Judging from Grandma Zhang's reaction, my guess was probably correct.

They seem to be able to hear its voice... or perhaps they can hear the recorded voice themselves?

His DV camera has sound recording and playback functions, but the sound quality is not very good.

After a while, Shen Xing walked back to the edge of the rooftop and looked across.

It still seemed to be leaning against the door, showing no intention of coming over.

It seems... that it really isn't aggressive?

What Shen Xing really wanted to know was, what was it doing over there?

What purpose does it serve? What is the point of staying there?

Shen Xing was also curious about what all those paintings conceived in the school clinic were ultimately going to do... just keep breeding flesh chunks, and then what?

Is it aimless breeding?

However, Shen Xing still managed to glean some answers from studying the walls of the infirmary.

That is, although their purpose is unknown, their behavior patterns appear to follow certain regularities.

Close contact is best avoided for now, unless you can find a way to subdue the other party or observe its patterns.

Now, Shen Xing has decided to find a key figure.

Li Xiaohua's biological father, Uncle Li, is Li Ya.

Shen Xing's adoptive father knew Zhang Apo's family before they moved here.

At the time, Shen Jingwei was just a poor boy, while his mother's father was a retired military doctor who was assigned to work in a factory in the city. After graduating from high school, Shen's mother also entered the factory and was assigned to a small house near the factory.

Shen Jingwei was penniless at the time, so he chose to stay with his mother. His father, an old military doctor, did not object. Seeing that Shen Jingwei was a good person and had a high school education, he let him join the army. After he was discharged from the army, his father used his connections to arrange for him to work as a policeman in the local police station.

Shen Jingwei did not disappoint his father-in-law's cultivation. He was upright and hardworking, and solved many important cases. At that time, Granny Zhang lived in another bungalow in the same alley, and they had contact with each other.

After her son got married, Grandma Zhang moved out of the bungalow, leaving the house to her son, and rented a place to live outside.

Shen Xing still had memories of living in that area when he was a child, so finding the place wasn't difficult.

He went downstairs back to his residential compound, rode his bicycle out, and headed towards the factory area.

When Shen Xing arrived at the factory area, he found that the bungalow where Uncle Li used to live had been sold a few years ago. After searching in vain, Shen Xing prepared to leave, but before leaving, looking at this familiar dilapidated bungalow area, he remembered some things.

Not far from here, there is a restaurant that has been abandoned for who knows how many years—at least when Shen Xing was a child, the local kids already treated that abandoned restaurant as a haunted house to explore.

And there is another use there.

A group of gamblers were gathered over there, using this old restaurant to play cards and drink.

Perhaps hoping to try his luck, Shen Xing went to the abandoned old restaurant. The wooden door of the restaurant was already dilapidated. Before Shen Xing even went in, he could already hear shouts from inside.

This place is still there.

Amidst the shouts, Shen Xing heard a familiar voice.

"Go! I knew it! My luck has turned around! Hahahaha!!! Money! Give me the money!"

That was Li Ya's voice, Li Xiaohua's biological father.

Shen Xing followed the sound and found Li Ya, her face flushed, in a smoke-filled hotel room. She was grabbing the loose change from other people on the table and shouting.

"Not enough! You bunch of bastards, you're not trying to renege on your debt, are you?!"

Li Ya sat in the main seat facing the door, and he saw Shen Xing the moment he arrived.

To everyone's surprise, the moment Li Ya saw Shen Xing, a look of panic appeared on his face. He abandoned the rest of his money, stuffed the change into his pocket, turned around, climbed out of the window, and ran away as fast as he could.

"What's wrong with him?" A gambler, legs crossed, glanced at Shen Xing, who was dressed casually and carrying a DV camera, looking like he was on a picnic. "What, are you here to collect a debt?"

"No, I was just passing by. I heard there's a haunted house here, so I came to check it out." Shen Xing put on an innocent expression and said with a smile, "Sorry to bother you, I'll be going now."

Why did Li Ya run away?

Shen Xing was somewhat disappointed.

He didn't intend to do anything to Li Ya. Shen Xing was just thinking that if the doll really was made by Li Ya, he wanted to exchange experiences and share information with him.

but......

Li Ya's act of running away upon seeing him actually revealed some information.

He knows something.

Well... first we need to find out where he is currently located.