Building 300

As soon as she entered the building, Alexis felt a chill down her spine, and immediately clung to Ryu's arm.

"What are we here for?"- Alexis

"Our mission is to find out the mystery behind the rumored haunting of this building. This building has had many people come here and nothing has happened, but the trustee kept sending requests, so the Council had to accept it."- Ryu

"So do you believe there are any ghosts in here?"- Alexis

"Who knows, we have to go and investigate first"- Ryu

Looking around, this place seemed to have been built a long time ago, the yellow paint on the walls had peeled off over time, the empty rooms were filled with cold, gloomy air, and sometimes there were items and books thrown around.

The space was dark, with only the flashlights from the phones in their hands being the only light to illuminate. Slowly opening each door, each room was the same, empty and quiet, occasionally there were a few rats running by, making both of them startled.

Feeling the quiet atmosphere, Ryu just let out a disappointed sigh.

"There really is nothing to care about here, it seems like there are just rumors to attract viewers" - Ryu

Hearing that, Alexis gradually let go of Ryu's arm and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then we can get out of here, right? Anyway, since you didn't feel anything, this place is safe" - Alexis

"But I feel like something is missing, we should continue searching" - Ryu

Hearing that, Alexis really wanted to say leave here, but a part of her was also curious to explore more about this building. So the two of them continued into a room, there was nothing but old newspapers scattered everywhere, the two of them picked up each newspaper to see if there was any information in it.

Glancing over each line of text on the old newspaper, Ryu saw a photo of three men facing the camera, an Asian man was holding a foreign man tightly, the most notable point was that the person standing in the middle, although he had a smile on his face, hid something profound.

Alexis picked up one newspaper after another, there was one that was covered in black ink, she picked it up to see what was in it, there were a few words circled a lot.

"It seems that the person who wrote over this paper must be someone who is either mentally disturbed or has a deep hatred."- Ryu

"Why do you think so?"- Alexis

"First, look at these circled areas, they are circled quite a lot and with so much force that they are about to tear, and they all circle someone's name."- Ryu

"Oh, so that's how it is."- Alexis

"This building was originally built by the Bulgarian government to serve as the embassy headquarters and the ambassador's private residence. But for some reason, this building was abandoned."- Ryu

"Brother Ryu, do you have any architectural or land plans? As far as I know, some abandoned houses are built in quite "prime" locations. But there are some lands that cannot be built on arbitrarily."- Alexis

Ryu thought for a while, then she took out a small jar, inside was salt, Ryu spread it in a large circle around the two of them then sat down on the ground and took out the tarot deck, swapped the deck and started to spread the cards. Alexis curiously sat down opposite Ryu to watch.

"What kind of spread is this?"- Alexis

"This is called Terra Spread, it will connect with mother earth Gaia, the source of life. That way we will know what this building and land are like, in order: roots, soil, trunk, canopy and finally sky"- Ryu

One by one the cards were laid out, the first card was the Two of Wand which is the root of origin, the second card was the Six of Cups, the third card was the Four of Cups, the fourth card was the Nine of Sword, the last card was The Tower.

When the spread was finished, a light wind blew past making Alexis shiver, Wiro raised his hands and ileen realized something and immediately looked behind him growling. Seeing the wolf like that, Alexis turned her head to look behind her.

"Don't turn your head back, when performing a spiritual ritual, never look behind yourself, only look at the back of the person in front of you" - Ryu

"I see"- Alexis

Almost turning her head, Alexis watched Ryu intently as he concentrated on explaining the meaning of the deck. Ryu closed his eyes to focus his energy on the deck, the cards began to move, then she opened her eyes that glowed slightly purple.

Everything around him began to change, the walls and furniture gradually rearranged, turning this abandoned place into a neat and clean room.

"This is...?"- Alexis

"Historical reenactment, when you spread the cards, it will reenact what happened in the past so it will be easier to read. This is a skill that only those at the CTC level can do"- Ryu

The door to the room gently opened, and the person who entered was a very formally dressed man, he looked very happy as he looked at the paper in his hand. Suddenly the landline rang, attracting his attention.

The man put down the paper in his hand and took the phone call, not knowing what was being said, the man's face turned from shock to fear. Dropping the phone, he immediately ran out of the room.

The scene changed at this time, the room became messy, all the furniture was thrown on the ground, and the man walked into the room, his face exuded a pitiful tiredness. His eyes turned to the paper on the desk, slowly walked over and immediately tore the paper into pieces.

Then the man had an extreme action that could not be stopped, which was to hang himself in this room.

Everything around returned to the abandoned room, Ryu's eyes returned to normal, her face expressionlessly looked at the cards spread on the ground.

"Alexis, can you tell me your opinion?"- Ryu

"My opinion..."- Alexis

The girl hesitated, not knowing how to explain, because she was afraid that what she said would be wrong. Looking at Ryu's eyes, it seemed like he really wanted to hear her opinion.

"Okay, but you won't like what I say"- Alexis

"Just say it, your opinion"- Ryu

"First of all, that man dressed properly seemed to be someone of quite a high rank, because based on the architecture of this place, this was an embassy. When he was happy from the paper in his hand, it seemed like he had achieved something. But then the phone call came, it seemed like something had happened that made him look very worried, no, more like uneasy..."- Alexis

After saying that, she looked at the expression of the person opposite, it seemed like nothing had changed.

"Continue"- Ryu

"The next scene seems to be the man who seemed to have collapsed, he tore up that paper and ended his life"- Alexis

After hearing the girl's opinion, Ryu nodded slightly.

"You're almost right, this man does have a significant position but it seems like there's a problem with the foreign embassy. Not only that, the important point is the phone call just now, he seems to have heard something so his expression changed like that."- Ryu

Then something flashed slightly on the bookshelf, Alexis wanted to step out but remembered that she was still in the salt circle.

"Just step over, don't damage the circle"- Ryu

"Oh, like this?"- Alexis

Taking a step past the salt circle, Alexis walked closer to what caught her eye, the cabinet was quite tall so she had to climb up the steps of the cabinet to get it. When she got it, it was covered in dust, gently wiping it, what appeared was a photo. It was that man but he looked quite young, next to him was a middle-aged woman.

Seemingly realizing something, Alexis brought the photo to Ryu.

"Brother Ryu, look at this! I think this might be the reason, it was taken quite a while ago"- Alexis

Taking the photo from the girl, Ryu looked at it for a while then removed the frame, on the back of the photo was written "12/14" without the year.

"Could it be that this photo is the reason. That phone call wasn't work-related but was another factor...?"- Alexis

"Maybe so, we need to find out the deeper reason...."- Ryu

While explaining, she didn't know that a black patch appeared under Alexis's feet.

"Watch out!!!"- Ryu shouted

Ryu's scream startled Alexis, but before she could react, a black shadow grabbed Alexis and pulled her to the floor and disappeared in a flash. Ryu jumped out of the salt circle when a chilling feeling made her stop, something was walking in the hallway, Ryu immediately closed the door and used the shelf to block the door.

"Damn, I was careless. Let that girl get into danger. Hopefully she can defend herself while I come looking for her"- Ryu