Arrival

Whee whoo! Whee whoo! The sound of sirens blared from outside the apartment window as flashes of blue and red light lit up the bedroom.

Pro glanced at the window as he hugged Alice on the bed, "Guess they are finally here. Dang, it took more than 30 minutes for the response team to get here. Can't blame them as I chose to live in this remote place, but if I had any accidents while I was alive, I would probably be dead ... oh wait, I did die."

Getting off the bed and slipping on his clothes, Pro glanced at the motionless Alice laying on the bed. After the 'experiment', Pro understood that Alice can only understand simple instructions like walk over there, stay in place, or look over there. As for more complicated instructions like taking off your clothes or getting into a certain pose, she had no response. The only reason she knew how to go to the toilet earlier was probably due to instinct and maybe due to his ability.

After helping Alice up and putting on her clothes, Pro cleaned up the bed and gently laid Alice back on it. He light kissed her forehead as he whispered, "Be obedient and wait here. I am going to go check outside."

Staring at Alice who did not respond, Pro can only sigh sadly, "Perhaps if I can figure out how to upgrade her level, maybe there is a chance ... too bad my system can't be used to upgrade her. I will need to find out how to raise spirits, but I'll decide on that in the future."

Pro walked to the window to see multiple police cars with flashing lights all parked outside the apartment building. There was also two ambulances on call, and the paramedics can't wait to rush into the building to save the patients, but they were held back by the barricade of policemen, who were fencing off the apartment building outside, but never stepped in.

More police cars arrived along with a SWAT vehicle, and it seemed that a small army was formed. The light from the many cars lit up the dark street.

Pro watched some familiar officers step out of a newly arrived police car. If Pro's guess was right, that would be the squad captain of a small police force and also the father of Gu Hao. Pro watched the man command multiple officers to suit up as the SWAT team stepped out and prepared to enter.

"Such a big fanfare ... is it really necessary?" Pro muttered, "Then again, his son is in here. It's surprising that he can still keep calm and command like that, and yet he is still stuck as a small squad captain."

Pro then watched as the police force gather into a formation. Then, with a signal from the leader, the SWAT team swiftly broke into the building with the police officers filing behind them after they clear a floor. Suddenly, a system message distracted Pro.

[Ding~ An unknown outside force is acting on host's domain. No harm is detected, but the force will restrict all spirits from entering and leaving the domain. All spirits also gets 100% boost to hiding capabilities, but all offensive effects will be suppressed.]

"Huh? The building has an automatic defense mechanism? Did it trigger due to the large amount of living humans entering the building?" Pro pondered as he felt his body weaken and fade away until it was invisible, "Is this to prevent the spirits from hurting the humans coming in? Is this to protect the humans? No, this isn't right. Could this be a way to hide the spirits from the humans? But why?"

Pro frowned in thought as he tried to stick his hand out through the wall, but failed to do so, "It seems I will be a trapped ghost if the black hand decides to hunt me. I will need to expand my domain so I can have more places operation area or I may be caught easily. I'm afraid all of the spirits in this building are trapped here, but why did the black hand arrange all of this?"

As Pro got lost in thought, the elevator to the fourth floor opened as SWAT members filed out. A SWAT member carried a ram and knocked down the doors by the elevator, after which a SWAT member went in to check.

"Room 440 clear!"

"Room 441 clear!"

With a wave of his hands, the SWAT with a ram took the elevator back down. Not long after, the elevator came back up packed with officers who filed out. The apartment room doors were then opened one by one and checked.

On the other end of the hallway, the door to the stairs opened as SWAT members also filed out from there with officers following them. They also started checking rooms beginning from that side.

It wasn't long until they reached apartment room 444.

"Target found! One male, two females!" a SWAT member hollered and cautiously stepped into the room.

Hearing the sound, Lena who was sleeping in Gu Hao's embrace was startled awake. She saw the police coming in and she breathed as sigh of relief as she began to cry in happiness, "Over here! Help! Gu Hao needs help!"

After seeing no danger, the police quickly filed in as they reported the situation, "Leader, we found Gu Hao. There are also two ladies here with him, but one of them is ... dead."

"Mmm, get the paramedics to bring him down, I will come over once we find the missing one," the leader replied over the radio with a grim tone.

Not long later, the paramedics came to the fourth floor with a stretcher. Gu Hao was gently placed on the stretcher and carried out of the apartment building as Lena followed sobbing.

The body of Alice was collected by some forensic scientists after they had photographed the scene. Meanwhile, the SWAT members had already left the floor and began to search for the final victim in the floors above.

It wasn't long until there were results. The final male victim was found in a room on the 7th floor. The room was decorated for a funeral, and a coffin was placed in the center of the room. There was a picture at the head of the coffin, and strangely, it was a picture of the victim. The victim was then found inside the coffin, dead with wide-opened, shocked eyes.

Although the situation was weird, the police had encountered enough criminals to know that some had weird fetishes. Since nothing else was found about the situation, they retrieved the corpse and left under the orders of their superiors. As for the rest of the floor, they were warned not to explore further unless absolutely necessary.

"Leader!" Xiao Pan saluted as he saw Gu Hao's father step out of the apartment building with a frown.

The leader calmly walked over, but if one looked closely, one would notice that his hands were trembling weakly. The leader stared at Xiao Pan for a while before he asked in a hoarse voice, "How is he?"

Xiao Pan reported, "He has passed out from blood loss, but he should be fine with the prepared blood infusions. Part of his rib cage was fractured, and it may have punctured one of his lungs as he seemed to be having some pain while breathing. The paramedics said that it doesn't seem too serious, but they will still need to check with proper equipment when they go back."

The leader nodded before looking back at the building with a frown. He then gave some commands and warnings to the nearby officers before he headed over to where the cars are parked.

Trotting beside him, Xiao Pan glanced at him before whispering, "Leader, d-did you find anything?"

The leader was silent for a while as if deep in thought before he said in a solemn tone, "No. Not even a single clue."

Xiao Pan breathed a sigh of relief, "Phew, I guess we thought too much. How could those things exist?"

The leader gritted his teeth as he replied grimly, "No, Xiao Pan. Not finding anything makes me even more sure they exist."

"Huh?" Xiao Pan tiled his head in confusion.

"Don't worry about that for now. I originally didn't plan to get involved, but since they dare to involve my son, I will eventually figure everything out, even if it might put my life in danger," the leader responded coldly as he walked towards the police car, "Xiao Pan, let's go to see my son. Perhaps we can get some clues from them before they are forced to sign a confidential agreement."

"Ah? L-Leader, wait! What do you mean?" Xiao Pan asked even more confused than before.

The leader sank into silence with his eyes closed in the police car as he put his mind to work. The police car then drove off towards the hospital, leaving the bustling police cars behind.

A couple hours later, the police cars eventually cleared out, returning the street to silence. Unlike previously, the building was left completely unguarded this time. It seems that the orders from above were for all police to pull out.

Not long later, a man dressed in a black robe walked out of the shadows of the quiet street, revealing a middle aged man with shaggy hair and beard, as if he was a beggar on a street. However, the man's straight posture of confidence revealed that the man wasn't normal.

The man's eyes glowed as he stared at the old apartment building. He couldn't help but sneer proudly, "Heh! Merely mortals trying to uphold a fake justice under the guise of the corrupted government. Useless mortals like you will never find anything that my lord wants to hide. All of you mortals will one day bow before the majesty of my lord!"

The man then looked upwards toward the moon, "A full moon, a perfect night for my promotion."

He tapped his chest at three points, forming a triangle. Closing his eyes while facing the moon, he piously prayed, "May the Moon Goddess bless me."

The man then opened his eyes and a fierce light flashed through them. He then hung a mysterious metal pin in the shape of an eye on his robe before strolling into the building.

As he walked in, the pin on his robe flashed and glowed with a faint, red light. Taking the elevator to the fourth floor, the man sneered as he walked out of the elevator and glanced at the door of room 440 which was slowly creaking open on its own, "Heh, a mere trashy spirit raised by my lord dares to covet my life force?"

Facing the door, the man tapped lightly on his pin. A red light beamed out of the pin and landed on the door. A screech resounded from within as the door immediately slammed shut.

"That ought to teach you a lesson. Just be obedient like the slave you are and wait for the Black Death Society member that will use you for promotion. My target is not trash like you," the man growled as he continued down the hallway.

It wasn't long before he reached apartment room 444 where he stopped in front of its closed door. The man pulled out a rusted key from his robe and aimed it at the closed door. Surprisingly, the key passed right through the door as if it was dipped in water.

The man turned the key. Click! The sound of the door unlocking was heard in the hallway. The man pulled the key back out as he watched the door swing open on its own.

"No spirit can hide in their room when their time has come. I heard that a special spirit has formed here, and I have redeemed enough contribution to use it as my sacrifice for my promotion to the level one mystic, Spirit Medium," the man said with a grin as he stepped into apartment room 444.

The time has come for Pro to come into contact with the black hands behind the scene.