Chapter 629: Trust

The ghost girl's behavior puzzled me. Logically, to orchestrate a kidnapping and plant a cursed note, her intellect had to be fully awakened, on par with any normal person. How could she be incapable of even the most basic communication?

I watched her closely. She wasn't acting—she genuinely didn't understand a word I said.

The only reason she was lying so meekly on the floor was that I had a grip on her main body. If it were destroyed, her soul would likely scatter. Under that threat, her instincts forced her to submit.

"I was overthinking it. Cases like Wang Shi's are just too rare." Having the Desire Ghost and Filthy Ghost stand on either side of me, I kept my grip on the mummified corpse's neck, took out the Peachwood Box, and slowly approached the girl.

I crouched down, opened the wooden box, and placed the pledge letter in front of her. Patiently, I pointed to the beneficiary column.

"Are you Gu Tongtong?"

The girl still gave no response, only showing her desperate desire for the pledge letter. She stared at it and reached out a withered hand, wanting to touch it but not daring to, her nails digging into her own flesh.

Ghosts usually linger in the mortal world because of an unresolved obsession, and Gu Tongtong's obsession had to be this pledge letter.

She should have lived to be ten. But because Gu Bei's mother had gone back on her word, she had to endure endless chemotherapy, ultimately dying in agony and despair.

Her short life had been filled with pain, tormented from the moment she was born without ever experiencing a single shred of happiness or warmth.

I looked down at the frail girl lying on the floor. Even as a ghost, she retained her appearance from life—nothing but skin and bones. It was a heartbreaking sight.

"Heaven has never been fair, which is why I've never believed in it."

I didn't put the pledge letter away. Instead, I pulled Gu Tongtong's death certificate from my pocket and laid the two yellowing pages side by side.

This time, she seemed to understand. She reached out a trembling hand, tapped the death certificate, and then pointed at herself.

"Right, it seems you really are Gu Tongtong." The tension finally left my chest. At this point in tonight's livestream, I had finally seized the initiative. "I've found the key figure behind the cursed notes, but her intellect hasn't awakened. Communicating with her is going to be too difficult."

I didn't touch the pledge letter on the ground. I took a few steps back and maintained a safe distance before taking out the Live Show Phone.

"Daoist master Wan, are you there?" I relayed the girl's situation to the livestream room. The livestream viewers had divided opinions. Some urged me to kill the girl immediately, arguing that keeping her around would only be a disaster, while other livestream viewers pitied her, suggesting I help her fulfill her obsession, purify her, and send her into reincarnation.

Amidst the conflicting opinions, a minute or two passed before I saw Daoist master Wan's bullet comment: "This is a proxy ghost. Whether to kill or spare her, you must decide for yourself."

"A proxy ghost? Can you elaborate, Daoist master?" I took another few steps back, keeping a wary eye on the girl lying on the floor.

Daoist master Wan: "You've surely heard the idiom acting as a proxy for a tiger, right? When someone is eaten by a tiger, they turn into a proxy ghost in death, becoming the tiger's wicked servant. They specialize in luring passersby, family, and friends to feed the tiger. This kind of ghost is called a proxy ghost."

"The malice of a proxy ghost doesn't lie in the ghost itself, but in its methods. Even a fierce tiger does not eat its own cubs, yet a proxy ghost can lure its own children and parents to feed the tiger."

Reading Daoist master Wan's bullet comments and looking at the girl lying on the floor, I still couldn't bring myself to do it. "Daoist master, this girl is extremely important. It would be a pity to just kill her. Are you sure she's a proxy ghost? There are no tigers in this hospital, only white fiends and Earth Corpses."

Daoist master Wan: "This master wouldn't be mistaken. A proxy ghost is intentionally raised by a corpse controller. Refining corpses requires the blood of the living, but where would one find living people in this desolate wilderness? So, they can only rely on proxy ghosts to lure the living in under various pretexts."

Thinking about it carefully, Daoist master Wan made sense. This was exactly Gu Tongtong's situation. If it weren't for her, Gu Bei and his wife would never have come to this hellhole.

Daoist master Wan: "Proxy ghosts generally commit atrocities out of resentment. This place is a hospital, and most of the people who died here did not pass away naturally. Some among them were tortured by illness, struggling bitterly until their dying breaths.

"Others lost all hope upon learning they had a terminal illness, becoming like the walking dead, living only to wait for death. But when death is truly upon them, people greedily cling to everything in the mortal world. They relentlessly pursue what they cannot have, even though the outcome is already sealed. All of their obsessions transform into unwillingness and resentment, buried deep into this soil. This kind of place is the easiest breeding ground for a proxy ghost. Their very nature changes, making them capable of murdering even their closest loved ones."

The phone screen cast a cold glow. My hand gripping the girl's main body slowly began to tighten.

Daoist master Wan: "Whoever is refining corpses here is extremely cunning. They know all the habits of a proxy ghost, which is why they raised one to prepare for their corpse refining."

After reading the bullet comments, I nodded, my eyes cold. My fingers clamped down on the neck of the girl's main body. It was incredibly thin, with no flesh to be felt. Aside from the prickly spine, there was nothing left but terrifying White Fur.

"What the hell are you hesitating for? You bleeding heart! I'm unsubscribing and unfollowing if you don't kill her!"

"Have some decency, the guy above me. Streamer, if you can actually bring yourself to do it today, I'm never watching your livestream again. She's so pitiful."

The livestream room was flooded with every opinion imaginable. Everyone viewed the problem from a different angle, making analytical differences inevitable.

The one making the actual decision was me. The Desire Ghost and Filthy Ghost had the girl firmly pinned down; her life and death rested entirely on a single thought of mine.

To be honest, after listening to Daoist master Wan, I really did harbor murderous intent toward the girl.

But thinking about it carefully, Gu Tongtong's situation still had some minor differences from a proxy ghost. She was harming Gu Bei's family out of resentment.

Gu Bei's mother hadn't kept her promise, leading Gu Tongtong to be tormented by illness until she died in the hospital at three years old. That was the cause. And now, Gu Bei's daughter was three. Gu Tongtong had possessed his daughter, using her to lure the family to the Jianghu Cancer Research Hospital. That was the effect.

With cause and effect at play, I wouldn't favor Gu Bei just because he was a living human, nor would I despise Gu Tongtong just because she was suspected of being a proxy ghost. Only by thinking about this fairly could I make a choice that didn't go against my conscience.

I looked through my mask at the girl lying on the floor. She had probably never experienced happiness.

The force in my fingertips weakened. I walked over and crouched down in front of her.

"I won't kill you, but you have to help me." I stuffed the death certificate and the pledge letter together into the pocket of her ragged, foul-smelling top, but my hand gripping her main body's neck didn't loosen. "I can give you what you want. I only ask that you do me a favor. Take me to whoever is forcing you to do these things."

I had to repeat these words four or five times before the girl gave a half-understanding nod. Her movements were very pure, just like those of a normal child.

The sunken eyes on her main body swiveled for a moment, and then she turned and walked toward the mortuary exit.

"You made a deal? Are you seriously going to cooperate with a proxy ghost?" Daoist master Wan was still sending bullet comments in the livestream room, baffled by my decision. "This doesn't match the impression you gave me before. Kid, I have a new understanding of you."

I just smiled faintly, not saying much as I followed behind the girl.

After leaving Mortuary No. 2, the girl didn't lead me toward the emergency stairs. Instead, she turned into an incredibly inconspicuous storage room.

A large, rusty padlock hung on the door. I had actually been here before, but seeing the lock, I had simply walked away.

The girl pointed at the lock. Understanding her meaning, I jiggled the lock with one hand, and with a slight tug, the seemingly sturdy iron lock popped open effortlessly.

The door swung open, and the girl and I stepped inside.

This storage room was piled high with clutter. Compared to the other rooms, the only difference was a wooden board on the floor.

Without needing the girl to prompt me, I lifted the wooden board to reveal a hidden passageway.

The pitch-black tunnel likely led down to Basement Level 4. I didn't know if there would be any danger waiting for me below. Even using my phone for illumination, I still couldn't see very clearly.

"Let's take a gamble." I let the Desire Ghost and the girl go down first, waiting a moment before following them down.

The wooden staircase was very narrow and emanated a rotting stench. I had only made it halfway down when I heard a glug, glug sound.

'Does this tunnel lead to a water tank? Is Gu Tongtong trying to trick me right into a water tank where a monster lives?' Having already made it halfway down, a sudden feeling of unease washed over my heart.