Chapter 102: Shadow Appearance

The next morning, I woke up.
As expected, after changing bedrooms, I no longer had that irritable feeling upon waking up, and my skin was no longer itchy.
The effect of changing bedrooms was so immediate.
It seems the Gate of Death is indeed not suitable for a bedroom.

It’s just that last night, I seemed to have heard some noises again, but this time it wasn’t the sound of doors opening or walking, but rather, it seemed like someone was fighting?
I didn’t pay attention because I was sleeping too soundly.

As I was walking out of the residential complex, I saw a missing person notice posted on the bulletin board at the bottom of a certain building.
It seemed to be a rather gloomy-looking man, and I vaguely felt that he looked a bit familiar.

But I had only been living in Willow Cypress Garden for about three days.
If I had seen him, it should have been when we passed each other these past few days, leaving a slight impression.

I took a closer look at the contents of the missing person notice.
He had indeed gone missing yesterday.
Because he had been missing for less than twenty-four hours, the police had not yet started searching, and the family could only post missing person notices.

Sudden disappearances are also very common these days, for example, getting lost outside, hiding from debt, or running off to another place to work.
It’s also very common for many people to suddenly reappear after being missing for several years.
The police couldn’t possibly waste police resources to start searching in such a short time.

I just took a few glances and casually confirmed the person’s appearance.
If I saw him, I could still provide some information.
It also said on the notice that there was a handsome reward.
Then I went to school.

There was more free time in class today.
We arrived at the Supernatural Events Department very early, and I also got to know the two peripheral members, a boy and a girl.
They were both completely devoid of supernatural affinity, unable to see ghosts and monsters or sense auras.

The boy was named Zhuang Liangcai, a second-year student.
He was a fervent enthusiast, who loved collecting supernatural events from all over the country and conducting research and analysis on them.
But unfortunately, he had never actually seen a ghost.
The person I saw cutting out news clippings in the Supernatural Events Department last time was him.

The girl was named Bai Shi, from Year 1, Class A.
She had a baby face and a voluptuous figure, with regular features.
A very cute little girl who loved ghost stories, both telling and listening to them, which was why she joined the Supernatural Events Department.
She was very good at copywriting, and the school newspaper articles from the club were all written by her.

Mo Qingyan told me that these two were not simple either.
She had tested them through the Bixian and other supernatural means.
Zhuang Liangcai had a High Yang Physique, and he was also a virgin.
His yang energy was abundant, so ghosts and monsters couldn’t easily get close to him, which was why he couldn’t see ghosts.

From my perspective, it was the same.
Zhuang Liangcai’s blood qi was very vigorous.
Even when he walked through places with ominous aura, the ominous aura would be dissipated.
His body was also healthier than the average person’s, and he was a regular player on the school basketball team, not just active in the Supernatural Events Department.

As for Bai Shi, her luck was very good.
Things usually went smoothly for her, and she could always turn misfortune into good fortune at critical moments.
Mo Qingyan speculated that her family’s ancestral grave had been guided by a master and was buried in a place with good Feng Shui, which could ensure their family’s luck and fortune for several generations.

So even though these two were not core members of the Supernatural Events Department, Mo Qingyan was happy to have them join.
After all, they wouldn’t be at risk because of ghosts and monsters, and they were both talented in certain aspects.

I also got to know them and participated in the regular club activities for a while.
Simply put, it was about finding rumors of supernatural events from all over, trying to explain them in a scientific way, or collecting folklore and traditions and writing articles to be published in the school newspaper.
This was the Supernatural Events Department’s public club activity.

The real club activities only began after those two had left.
Jia Cheng developed a photo from Xiao Qing’s phone.
It was the spirit photo that Xiao Qing and I had taken at the central fountain when we went to the Fukang Commercial Center.

Jia Cheng printed out the photo, then placed it in a specially prepared developing solution and continuously cleaned it with a brush.
Soon, some blurry shadows were brushed out from the photo.

Vaguely, I could see a group of lifeless people.
They were standing in the fountain pool, coldly staring at the camera, as if they would walk out of the photo to claim lives at any moment.
I still had an impression of a few of them, for example, the old grandmother who had previously warned me and Xiao Qing to leave quickly.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Student Ou Zhiqin, you are truly lucky.”
“To be able to take a real spirit photo.”
“So many photographers have tried and failed,” Jia Cheng said excitedly, holding the photo.

“Isn’t that an exaggeration?”
“Isn’t it just a spirit photo?”
“There’s a whole wall of them here,” I said, pointing to the wall of the Supernatural Events Department, which was filled with various terrifying images.

“You don’t know, many of these photos are fake, not real spirit photos at all.”
“Some are staged, some are just purely bloody.”
“Even if they are real, they are just copies.”
“But this one taken by Ou Zhiqin is a firsthand spirit photo,” Jia Cheng said excitedly, holding up the photo.

“Moreover, ghosts won’t let themselves be photographed casually, unless they have already targeted this person.”
“Therefore, for real spirit photos, the photographer is often on the verge of death.”
“Many spirit photos are left behind by the deceased.”

After hearing Jia Cheng’s explanation, I asked nervously, “Is that true?”
“Then isn’t Xiao Qing in great danger?”

“Don’t listen to Jia Cheng’s nonsense.”
“It’s true that only people who have interacted with ghosts can take spirit photos, but ghosts don’t necessarily have to kill people.”
“It’s also possible that they just want to play a prank and scare people or absorb some evil qi.”
“That old grandmother was clearly well-intentioned towards us.”
“The reason they let me take the photo was probably just to warn us,” Xiao Qing said in an annoyed tone.

“That’s true,” I nodded.
I really didn’t feel any malice from those ghosts.
They were just cursing the commercial center.
The old grandmother had also just advised us to leave quickly.

“Hehe, the main reason Jia Cheng is so excited is probably because he thinks this is a firsthand photo.”
“He’s been collecting these photos,” Xu Shan laughed.

“Hmm? Why?” I asked.
Before Xu Shan could answer, Mo Qingyan raised a finger and said, “Xia Yubing, in the Supernatural Events Department, don’t casually inquire about other people’s abilities.”
“It’s not very polite.”

“This, I didn’t know before.”
“I’m sorry,” I quickly apologized to Jia Cheng.
But Jia Cheng waved his hand and said, “It’s okay, of course I can tell the school beauty if she asks.”
“Besides, this crappy ability of mine is no secret.”

“I have an innate talent called Shadow Appearance.”
“I can see some scenes related to the photo through spirit photos that carry resentful energy.”
“And I can also condense the resentful energy in the photo into a physical form and release it,” Jia Cheng said.

“The heavier the resentful energy on an object, the more real the things he can manifest from it.”
“So firsthand spirit photos are very precious to Jia Cheng.”
“If you guys take any spirit photos, you can extort a sum from him,” Xu Shan laughed again.