No one in the rental house noticed that after Chen Ge's shadow absorbed the blood on the clay sculpture, it began to slowly change shape, just like a sleeping woman gently turning over in her dream.

"Go to bed early, see you tomorrow." Chen Ge glanced at the clock on the wall. It was two o'clock in the morning.

He came out of the rental house and did not go back to New Century Park. Instead, he took a taxi directly to the old town.

The dim light from the street lamps shone through the car window onto Chen Ge. He gazed at the quiet city and tightened his collar.

The old town late at night is very different from the daytime. You can't see any lights and hear any sounds. As Hanjiang continues to develop, fewer and fewer people live here, and most of them have moved to the new district.

Crossing the dark streets, Chen Ge found the place where Wu Jinpeng had rented before in just over ten minutes.

The rental house is two streets away from Fan Yu's home. The environment here is worse and the smell in the air is stronger.

"How have they been living here all this time? Am I the only one who can smell this stench?" Chen Ge recalled that when he came to visit Jiang Ming's mother during the day, the neighborhood committee lady and Jiang Ming's mother didn't know whether they were used to it or what, they seemed not to be able to smell the strange stench in the air at all.

Walking out of the alley, Chen Ge held onto the rusty railing and came to the second floor of an old house. He looked into the distance and realized that this was not the most remote and dilapidated place in the old city.

"204... I found it, this is the room." Chen Ge stopped. In front of him was a red-painted wooden door with a rusty chain tied to the door handle. "Hasn't this room been rented out since Wu Jinpeng moved out?"

Opening the comic book, Chen Ge called out Men Nan: "Brother Nan, please help me. Go into this room and take a look. Be careful not to go to the room next door."

Room 205 at the very back of the second floor is the room that Wu Kun once said was haunted. It was also the tenant of that room who gave Wu Jinpeng the shrine and the clay sculpture. To be on the safe side, Chen Ge only let Men Nan enter Room 204 first. If there was no gain, he would summon a few more people in red to enter Room 205 together.

Blood dripped down the crack of the door. Men Nan disappeared for less than a minute before reappearing: "Everything is normal in the room, and I can't see any problems, but I always feel a little uncomfortable staying in here."

"Take Xu Yin and these red high heels with you and go to Room 205 next door."

The three men in red entered room 205. After a few seconds, a strange noise suddenly came from the room, as if a knife had pierced a balloon filled with water. Then Chen Ge heard the sound of bones being dislocated and torn.

"what happened?"

Blood was spreading on the door panel, and the strong smell of blood was drifting around uncontrollably. Chen Ge knew what Men Nan and the others had encountered, and decisively flipped through the comic book to release Xiaobu and Red Raincoat as well.

This place was like hell on earth, but the lights on the other side of the corridor five or six meters away were on, and a man's dissatisfied shouting and footsteps could be heard.

Just as the family was about to come out, the door of the rental house No. 205 in front of Chen Ge was suddenly opened from the inside.

"Chen Ge, come and see!"

Chen Ge slipped into the house and instinctively covered his mouth and nose. The room was filled with a strong stench.

Gently closing the door, Chen Ge used his Yin pupil to look around the rental house.

The hut is not big, only about 30 square meters. The walls are covered with yellowed newspapers and there is dust everywhere. It seems that no one has lived here for a long time.

"What were you fighting with just now?" Chen Ge was a little curious.

"It's not a thing, it's a curse." Men Nan tore off the newspaper pasted on the wall. The back of the newspaper and the wall of the rental house were all covered with tiny hairs and small pieces of black bloodstains, which looked very creepy.

"These are curses?"

"Well, the broken hair and bloodstains come from different people. When we came in just now, we saw those cursed black lines entangled together, covering the entire room. Anyone who comes in carelessly will be affected and cursed without knowing it." Men Nan signaled Chen Ge to step back and not get too close to the wall.

"Is the curse in this room the same as the curse in Liwan Town?"

"It's different." Men Nan, who was only as tall as Chen Ge's knees, held up her red high heels and said seriously, "According to this sister, the curse in the rental house is just the negative emotions that escaped when another curse was completed."

"So someone has completed a very horrible curse in this rental house?"

"That's understandable. After all, the negative emotions that escaped are only a tiny part." Men Nan nodded. He himself was a strict and rigid person.

"A tiny amount of negative emotion can turn the room into this state. How vicious and terrifying is the curse itself?"

"I can't imagine it. At least this sister has never seen such a terrible curse." Men Nan held up the red high-heeled shoes: "Can you help me hold them? To be honest, I am definitely not afraid of her, but I just feel that it is not convenient to hold her shoes."

"Based on the remaining objects in this room, can you tell what the curse is related to? Or can you tell who the curse is aimed at?" Chen Ge ignored Men Nan's request.

"We don't know who this curse is directed at, but we saw some information on the wall. This curse consists of nine parts." Men Nan tore off all the newspapers on the innermost wall of the rental house.

There was a picture of a little man on the wall which was covered with broken hair and blood, and there were many crooked words written on the man's body.

"What is a human being?"

“How does one make up a person?”

"Eyes to see the world, ears to hear sounds, a mouth to communicate, a body to contain the soul..."

“People also need memories, layers upon layers of the past.”

"What is light?"

"Warmth, yes, people have temperature."

"They say people should also have love. What is love?"

"It seems that there is still something very important missing. Think about it carefully. What else does he have that I don't have?"

Lines of text cut the little man's body into nine parts, each with a different color.

"Is this painting a curse?" Chen Ge was puzzled.

"Rather than calling it a curse, it's more like the owner's mumbling in his sleep. These are probably what he was thinking about the most when he cast the curse." Men Nan added after a moment, "This curse gives us a very special feeling, as if a growing seedling is hidden in the thick smell of death."

"Nine parts correspond to nine children. The one who left this curse is most likely a ghost fetus. Did he also live in the old city?"

There were no other clues in the house, so Chen Ge called back the men in red and walked out of the rental house.

"It would be bad if someone accidentally gets in." Chen Ge locked the house. He planned to "clean up" the hut when he had time.

"It seems like someone in this room was about to come out. Since he is still awake, I can ask him something." Chen Ge walked to the other side of the second floor. This small room was different from the house. It had an anti-theft door on the outside and a wooden door on the inside. It seemed that the tenant living in the room was not an ordinary tenant.

"Anyone there?"

Chen Ge knocked on the door gently. After a moment, a middle-aged man's very irritable voice came from the room: "Stop knocking!"

The wooden door inside the rental house was opened, and a slovenly middle-aged man with a sweaty body stood at the door: "Were you the one who made such a big noise outside just now? Did you just move in? What time is it and you're still not asleep? If you do this again, I'll call the police!"

"There's no need to bother the police with such a small matter. I want to ask you a few questions." Chen Ge smiled politely, "It's not in vain. If you answer them well, I'll give you 100 yuan for each question."

"Are you sleepwalking? Why are you standing at my door asking questions at two or three in the morning?" The middle-aged man seemed to realize something and looked around: "Are you guys recording a prank show?"

“The first question is, who is the landlord of this building?”

"I'm the landlord, what's the matter? Are you here to rent a house? Go away now, I won't rent to someone like you." The middle-aged man was very sloppy himself, and he looked at Chen Ge with disgust.

"Second question, has room 205 at the end of the corridor been rented out recently?" Chen Ge was too lazy to talk nonsense. If he wasn't more magnanimous, he would have closed the room and put the red clothes away by now.

"Room 205 was rented out five or six years ago. The tenant pays me every year. He doesn't live here often, but he just wanted me to keep the house for him." The middle-aged man scratched his stuck hair.

"You didn't rent it to anyone else?"

"No, they always pay me six months in advance, and they always give me more."

"What does that tenant look like? Do you know what his occupation is?" Chen Ge had a feeling that this tenant was a ghost.

"Why should I tell you? Do you think tenant information can be leaked at will?" The middle-aged man curled his lips.

"Tell me the person's appearance, characteristics and occupation, and I'll give you another 500."

"He's a student. He first moved here five years ago. It seems he had a quarrel with his family and ran away from home. At that time, he seemed to have just entered junior high school and didn't have much money." The middle-aged man revealed the information of the tenant of room 205 in great detail: "He looks very ordinary, has long hair, is not in good health, often coughs, and likes to talk in his sleep."

"Is that all? You are being too general. There are kids like this everywhere on the streets. How can I find them?" Chen Ge himself didn't hold out much hope.

"You want to go find him?" The middle-aged man stared at Chen Ge from head to toe for a long time, then held up a finger and said, "Give me one thousand and I'll tell you a way to find him."

"no problem."

"After he ran away from home for a while, his mother came to my place to look for him. He was not in the rental house at that time. His mother told me that if he came back, he should go to the Huai'ai Hospital in the East Suburbs to find her. His mother seemed to be the head nurse of the Huai'ai Hospital." The middle-aged man was no longer so sleepy. Although it was almost three o'clock in the morning, his eyes were shining when he thought that he could earn nearly two thousand yuan by answering a few questions.

"This information is crucial, provided you don't lie to me." Chen Ge unzipped his backpack.

"How could I lie to you? Hurry up and give me the money. Let me count it. It's two thousand yuan!" When the middle-aged man saw Chen Ge open his backpack, his greedy eyes unconsciously glanced into the backpack and found a living human spine inserted diagonally in the bulging backpack.

"?"

Rubbing his eyes, the middle-aged man looked into the backpack again. In addition to the spine of the living person, there was also a pair of bloody women's high-heeled shoes in the backpack!

Madman? Pervert? Murderer? Fetishist?

Cold sweat streamed down the middle-aged man's face and he took a small step back.

"My phone is out of battery. Open the door and I'll give you cash." Chen Ge leaned against the iron door outside, his mouth corners rising slowly: "Just open a small gap."

"No, it's not necessary. It's just a few questions. Why do you want money?" The middle-aged man took another step back. "I have answered all the questions I should answer. I don't know the rest. The guy hasn't been back for a long time. I guess he won't come back here in the future, so it's better for you to find him somewhere else."

"Okay." Chen Ge nodded. In a responsible manner, he asked the landlord again: "Do you really not want the money?"

"No, no, really no!" The middle-aged man waved his hands repeatedly and closed the wooden door inside.

"It seems that there are still many good people in the world." Chen Ge walked downstairs with his backpack. "I have never heard of Huai Ai Hospital. It should be a private hospital. I can go there tomorrow to take a look."

After stretching, Chen Ge ran out of the old city without looking back.

"By the time daybreak comes, there will only be five nights left."

When Chen Ge returned to the employee lounge of his haunted house, it was almost dawn. He was lying on the bed and had just charged his phone when he saw the message from Li Zheng.

"Urgent! Reply as soon as you see the message!"

"Chen Ge, reply immediately after seeing this message!"

There were many similar messages. Chen Ge knew the matter was urgent and immediately called Li Zheng.

The phone rang once before being connected. Li Zheng's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Chen Ge, are you okay?"

"How could something happen to me?" Chen Ge was confused.

"Yesterday we locked down the location of Jia Ming and his group and carried out the arrest late at night. The boy's father Zhen Gang was killed by the suspect Bei Ye, and the boy's mother Yu Wangqing was seriously injured and was being rescued. The suspect Bei Ye was shot dead, but Jia Ming and the boy were not at the scene. We blocked all roads and did not see them."

"How could Jia Ming escape with a child?"

"Jia Ming used Kitano and the child's parents as bait from the beginning. He deliberately exposed himself and took the opportunity to move away, using his companions' lives to buy time for himself. This guy is so vicious that he doesn't even look like a human being."

"He is indeed not a human being, but why are you suddenly telling me this, Captain Li?" Li Zheng usually would not tell Chen Ge these inside information. Since he chose to tell Chen Ge, it means that what happened later may be related to Chen Ge.

"Jia Ming and his men didn't leave Hanjiang because they were looking for something. We don't know what they are looking for yet, but we found a lot of information about you in his hiding place. Their next target is likely to be you!"

"Looking for me? That's really... too scary." Chen Ge almost said the words "I've been wanting so much".