Demons Beside You

“Laurent, can we be a bit more normal? Where do you see ghosts?” Chen Zhao grabbed Laurent’s shoulder. “Can’t you just stay at home and enjoy your peaceful life?”

“Fine, you don’t have to go. I’ll go by myself.”

…

“You said that so loudly earlier just so Fali would hear.” Chen Zhao drove with a dark expression.

Laurent hadn’t said that for him; he’d said it for Fali.

Fali was worried about Laurent going out to go find some ghosts, so Chen Zhao had to accompany him.

Laurent was very proud. Chen Zhao had the urge to flatten him.

Everyone said that it was a treasure to have an elder in the family, but Chen Zhao thought this old man was just sh*t.

He was like a bad luck star.

“Laurent, did you forget how scared you were yesterday?”

“I wasn’t mentally prepared.”

“Then, are you prepared now?”

“It’s okay. You’re with me if we run into ghosts.”

Chen Zhao’s expression darkened. He wasn’t afraid, but Laurent’s thoughts disgusted him.

“Then, do you want to see ghosts or do you not?”

“I do… I want to see her.”

“Tell me the truth. Did you have a relationship with her before?” Chen Zhao turned gossipy again.

“Are you thinking about reporting to Winnip?”

When they reached the rural neighborhood, Laurent started shrinking into himself again.

“So cowardly.” Chen Zhao rolled his eyes.

“You didn’t see the ghosts!” Laurent immediately refuted loudly. “That’s why you have the courage to say that. If you saw them, you’d probably be more scared than me.”

Chen Zhao looked around casually. The neighborhood was barren during the day, but this was normal.

When they reached the small house, Laurent got scared again.

“Didn’t you say you’re not scared? Why did you stop?”

Laurent was hesitant, but he still opened the door.

Chen Zhao touched his nose. It smelled like rotting wood.

After entering, he looked around.

He saw a book on the table and picked it up.

Suddenly, his eyebrow arched.

A lot of the content in the book was recorded in demon language.

Laurent saw Chen Zhao holding the book. “Can you read that? The words are so weird. I’ve never seen them before.”

Chen Zhao flipped through the book. It carried a faint aura of magic.

The past owner should have been a spiritualist.

However, no one had read it in a long time, so the aura was very faint.

Chen Zhao’s hand paused. He’d flipped to the page with 13 keys.

On the bottom of the page, there was a passage written in the demon language.

Every civilization has a final goal: to strive for eternity.

Each key points to a door. Try and open the door. It will have the answer that you wish to know.

It may be right; it may be wrong.

You may be enlightened in the wrong.

You may lose everything in the right.

This passage was very difficult to understand. At least, Chen Zhao couldn’t figure it out.

He really hated things that were purposely deep and pretentious.

Couldn’t they just say what they wanted to?

Why did they have to act so mysterious?

Were they making fun of him for being uncultured?

“Hey, where did you put the book?”

Laurent had seen the book earlier, but when he turned around, Chen Zhao’s hands were empty.

“I put it back on the shelf,” Chen Zhao said. “You’re done, right? We should go.”

“Chen, I saw there’s a basement. Let’s go down to look.”

Chen Zhao touched his forehead. “You’re not afraid of dying?”

The man was such a scaredy-cat, but he insisted on doing stupid things.

“If you’re afraid, you can go back. I’ll go down by myself.”

“Okay, go down by yourself.”

“Wait… Chen, I’m giving you the chance to change my impression of you.”

“No, don’t change,” Chen Zhao interrupted. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t be you. In my heart, you’re a crabby old man. Just like how you don’t like me, I don’t like you either. Don’t make any changes on your own.”

Laurent’s face reddened in anger. If he was able to defeat Chen Zhao, he would definitely punch now.

He stood at the basement door and hesitated for a while. Finally, he made his decision. He took a brave step toward the darkness.

Slam!

“Ah!” Laurent turned around and saw Chen Zhao. “You want to scare me to death?”

“Unfortunately, you didn’t die.”

With Chen Zhao as his companion, Laurent gathered his courage.

The basement was long covered in cobwebs and had random things piled around.

“Ah!” Laurent suddenly screamed.

Chen Zhao turned around and saw a skeleton behind a block that Laurent had pushed aside.

“Is this Pamela?”

“That’s not your Pamela.”

“Why not?”

“Judging from the bone structure, it should be a man’s skeleton. It’s at least 1.85 meters tall.”

Chen Zhao was a doctor, after all. He could still tell some things.

“Does this mean Pamela killed someone here?”

Chen Zhao couldn’t answer. But as of now, he still hadn’t seen Pamela’s spirit.

Usually, ghosts only came out at night.

But from Laurent’s earlier descriptions, Chen Zhao guessed that Pamela had been a witch.

If a witch’s soul remained in the human world after death, she may become even stronger than when she’d been alive.

So, it wouldn’t be strange if she could appear in the daytime.

But Chen Zhao didn’t really care.

That witch didn’t hurt Laurent. It meant that she didn’t have the intention.

Chen Zhao cared more about the 13 keys.

The passage turned in his mind.

If there really were 13 keys, then he should have four now.

Did he have to collect all 13 to unravel the mystery?

But where could he find the other keys?

There wasn’t a single clue. It was so headache-inducing.

For some reason, he also felt like he should go find the other keys.

But he didn’t even know the use of these keys, let alone have any clues.

Why should he go find them?

But why did he want to?

He felt really conflicted between his logic and impulse.

Suddenly, Chen Zhao whipped his head around.

A figure flashed past the entrance of the basement.

It was a woman!

Was she Pamela?

Chen Zhao didn’t see clearly. He’d never seen Pamela before either, so he didn’t know if he saw her.

“Let’s go,” Laurent said with disappointment. “It seems like Pamela isn’t willing to see me. Or, she’s already left.”

When Chen Zhao left the basement, he turned around again, looking into the darkness.

She’d appeared in the darkness again.