Cheng Shuang's clothes were prepared by Akasaka's mother, who told Cheng Shuang that she had already informed Ryusuke.

Cheng Shuang quickly sent a text message to Du Jun's phone to prevent him from making a wasted trip.

Du Jun took a taxi directly. After receiving the text message, he didn't plan to go back. He had some new information to discuss, and he wouldn't feel at ease until he saw the girl safe and sound with his own eyes.

The two didn't talk much in the text messages; it would be more prudent to discuss the specifics in person.

After a thorough cleaning and examination, fortunately, the three children did not have any serious injuries, only some minor bruises. Adults are not as easily fooled as children, so Cheng Shuang did not take out any treatment spray and left the bruises there, since they did not hurt if she did not touch them.

Qianli, as their representative, briefly recounted what had happened to them. Of course, he did not reveal Cheng Shuang's talisman. The two sets of parents were naturally unfamiliar with Taoist culture, and after listening, they looked at each other in disbelief, unable to imagine that their children had experienced such a perilous situation.

After calling Maki's mother to confirm that she was safe, the two families learned another version of the story from her.

When Maki's mother learned that her three children were missing, she was naturally anxious. She first searched the area around the hospital and, after questioning the security personnel, confirmed that she had not seen the three children leave the hospital. Then she went to the monitoring room and retrieved the surveillance footage.

The surveillance video shows the three children entering the elevator together and pressing the button for the third basement level. When they arrived, they got off the elevator without hesitation and headed towards the morgue.

Because the morgue is not a very important area, there are not many surveillance devices, and there are blind spots everywhere. Not much can be revealed from the video. The last scene shows the three people breaking into the morgue without permission and forcefully closing the iron door, thus locking it.

Maki's mother followed the security guards to open the morgue, only to find a floor littered with corpses, like a chaotic dance of demons.

“You can sleep here tonight.” After confirming that the three children were calm, Akasaka’s father spoke up. “Tomorrow morning, we’re going to the Metropolitan Police Department to explain the situation to the police.” After all, several bodies were badly damaged, and they needed to give the families of the deceased an explanation.

Chisato and Yumi immediately felt uneasy, and Cheng Shuang asked, "Tell the truth?"

Akasaka's father nodded. "To tell you the truth."

The two children each took Cheng Shuang's hand, and You Mei looked up and said, "Mom and Dad, we're hungry."

While eating the two bento boxes made by their mothers in their room, the three whispered and agreed on their story. They absolutely couldn't talk about the talismans. Qianli expressed his deep sorrow, saying that the police might unanimously think they were mischievous little devils and punish them.

Yumi said, "Fine, I'll be punished. Going to jail is nothing compared to encountering a ghost."

Cheng Shuang suppressed her worries. She was thinking about the fire extinguisher she had used as a trigger and the bullet that hit the fire extinguisher. If nothing unexpected happened, these would be evidence for the police to question them.

She wasn't afraid of the police, but rather the other protectors lurking around them.

The little girl rubbed her head. Spending so much time in this death trap had almost made her forget many basic social rules. Leaving traces of wrongdoing... tsk...

I'm starting to dislike myself!

Seeing their friend's worried face, Chisato and Yumi couldn't help but offer a few words of comfort and made up their minds that they would take over protecting Yuko the next day.

After dinner, Du Jun arrived at the hotel. On the way, he bought some late-night snacks, and the adults sat together, eating and discussing the events of the day.

The Akasaka couple naturally believed their son's account, while Yumi's parents were completely bewildered. They didn't think their child would lie, but they also didn't really believe that ghosts existed.

Yumi's older sister, however, remained silent for a long while before speaking up, "What Yumi said is true!" She pursed her lips, "There are ghosts and monsters in this world!"

The Akasaka couple exchanged a glance. If it weren't for that, they wouldn't have moved away from the city where they used to live with the Kawakami family.

Yumi's older sister recounted an incident she had experienced. It turned out that during her university dormitory, she had also encountered a ritual to appease spirits. At that time, her classmate was temporarily chosen to be a ritual goddess and, after performing a ritual dance for spirits, disappeared in the middle of the night.

Someone saw her, dressed in a wedding gown, getting into a sedan chair and stepping into the nearest river.

The teachers didn't believe it at the time and asked rescuers to search everywhere and even went into the river to retrieve the items, but they found nothing.

"This was on the news." Yumi gripped the small bowl of oden tightly; even now, just thinking about it makes her break out in a cold sweat.

“Perhaps, just being missing doesn’t mean that a ghost took her away.” Her father still didn’t quite understand.

“No!” Yumi’s older sister said resolutely. “That night, all of us in the class had the same dream. We dreamt that she was dressed up as a white kimono bride by a group of ghosts and walked out of the hotel where we were staying, crying.”

The group fell silent. Yumi's father loosened his collar with difficulty. "Is it possible that bad people used drugs to induce hallucinations in you? For example, they forced her to make you 'see' her leaving in a dazed state?"

Yumi shook her head. "That day, two classmates had to leave early because of something urgent. One of them took the train that night. He wasn't sleepy, but he fell asleep almost instantly and had this dream."

Yumi's father was speechless, and the air fell silent for a moment, which only made the three children huddled in the corner chatter noisily.

The adults looked in the direction of the children and sighed inexplicably, thinking how fearless the young were! In just a short while, all three involved had fully recovered and were no longer a cause for concern.

Du Jun booked a room for Cheng Shuang and took her there. Because of the limited time, the two quickly exchanged information: "Xiao Ye's police colleague has been transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department in the city. There is a high chance that he will appear tomorrow."

Cheng Shuang didn't have time to clean up the mess, and there were quite a few loopholes. While the other items (guns and fire extinguishers) weren't particularly special, the use of talismans meant it was impossible to leave no trace.

Given the mystery and rarity of Onmyoji, the chances of them appearing temporarily to rescue the three children are extremely small. Any discerning protector would likely suspect that the children are connected to a certain protector.

“Chisato and Yumi will definitely let the cat out of the bag under pressure.” Du Jun rubbed the little girl’s head. “Don’t worry, just push all the blame onto me. You can say that the thing that saved your life was given to you by me.”

Cheng Shuang suddenly looked up. "What do you mean?"

"Use their strength against them." Du Jun said in Chinese, a slight smile playing on his lips, his eyes gleaming, and his fingertips forming a three out of sight.

Cheng Shuang's face tightened. "I disagree!" He wanted to use another group of maintainers to resolve the hidden danger of the three souls being one. This was not impossible, but at the same time, he would be subject to great risks.

"You'll be in the open while they're in the shadows. What if they have special methods of torture? What if you lose the bet?"

The little girl ruffled her hair in frustration and said arrogantly, "I don't care, you stay put and wait until this is over, then we'll go home together!"

Du Jun smiled. He did not refute, but Cheng Shuang could tell from his expression that he had made up his mind.

He came here to help, not to hold them back. Now that Sihai and Liu Juan are both tied up, only he can protect the little girl. Even if there's only a 50% chance, he doesn't want to give up.