Chapter 701: Umbrella

A mother and son approached from the far end of a pitch-black alley, walking through the light drizzle.

The mother held a floral umbrella. The child looked to be only six or seven—right at the age for mischief. Wearing his backpack, he deliberately stomped in the puddles.

Mud splattered his pant legs, but the mother didn't scold him. She just held his hand and hurried toward the small restaurant.

'Is this who the middle-aged man was waiting for? They look perfectly normal.' I used my Judging Eye but didn't detect any Yin energy or unclean entities on them.

"Why are you just getting back? School ended at five. It's past eight!" The restaurant owner's heavy expression finally eased. He snuffed out his cigarette and stepped out into the rain.

"It's all because of your precious son! He got into a fight and almost poked someone's eye out. I had to beg and plead, and I finally paid them before they let us go." Stepping into the restaurant, the mother noticed my presence. She held back her temper out of embarrassment, but she still looked furious.

"You got into another fight?" The owner glared at the boy. "How many times does this make it this month? Can't you give your parents a break? Get over here!"

"I wasn't fighting! He was pushed by someone else. It was an older sister..."

"You're still lying?" The mother cut him off, refusing to give him a chance to explain. "Your teachers and classmates all said you were the only one with him! If you're going to make up a story, at least make it believable! You'd be better off saying he tripped on his own!"

Rubbing her temples, she seemed completely overwhelmed by the boy's behavior. "That branch was so sharp, just two or three centimeters away from poking his eye out! If he really went blind, we'd have to sell the house to pay them back!"

The woman grew angrier as she spoke. She yanked off the boy's backpack and tossed it aside. "Stand up straight! Look at how you're slouching! Do you not have bones?"

The middle-aged man didn't interrupt his wife's scolding. He just wiped the raindrops from his hair with a towel and asked, "How much did you end up paying them?"

"A little over three thousand."

"Three thousand?! His eye is perfectly fine and we still paid that much?" The owner's voice suddenly boomed. He grabbed the boy by the arm. "You little brat! Your parents are working themselves to the bone, and you still cause trouble for us every single day!"

"I really didn't push him! I saw a sharp branch on the ground and went over to warn him! None of you believe me..." Whether he was terrified or the owner was gripping him too hard, tears welled up in the boy's eyes as he stood on the verge of crying.

"Boss, it's natural for kids to be mischievous. The more troublesome they are when they're young, the smarter and more successful they end up being," I interjected, though my mind was stuck on what the boy had just said.

The boy claimed the victim was pushed down by an older sister, but his teachers and classmates swore he was alone with the other kid. Had the boy just made her up?

I had been observing his reactions the entire time. With my Judging Eye, I could read a person's emotional shifts through the subtlest changes in their facial expressions. This boy didn't seem to be lying.

Looking at it from another angle, if the boy wasn't lying, then this whole incident was rather terrifying.

"Kids have to be disciplined. He's way too out of hand." The owner offered me an apologetic smile, then patted the boy's head and gestured for his wife to take him into the back room.

"You can't be too harsh when teaching them. You have to reason with them," I said casually, though my mind was elsewhere.

"I can tell you don't have kids. When that little brat acts up, I'm tempted to beat him half to death." The owner lit another cigarette. He walked over to the entrance, pulled the shop door shut, and propped a wooden board against it.

"Boss, it's only a little past eight. You're closing up already?"

"Don't harbor guests on a rainy night. It's a local custom here." Seeing my confusion, he offered an explanation. "It just means we lock up early when it rains and don't let strangers spend the night. We're afraid of unclean things coming in to shelter from the rain and refusing to leave."

"What era are we in? You still believe in that?" I lowered my head and took a large bite of food, though my heart was pounding.

"If you walk the night roads often enough, it's better to believe in it."

"What other customs do you have around here? I just got to Jinghai, and I'd hate to accidentally break any of your taboos."

I sounded sincere enough that the owner didn't think much of it. "Just trivial things, really," he said casually. "Like don't ride dogs, don't leave your shoes pointing in opposite directions when you sleep... Oh, right, there is one thing you actually do need to watch out for."

His expression suddenly turned dead serious as he pointed to the black umbrella resting next to my seat. "It's best not to carry a black umbrella when you go out."

"Is there a specific reason?" I thought it was strange. Just earlier at the inn, that middle-aged woman had nearly refused me a room over my black umbrella.

"You really want to know?" Since I was the only customer left and he had already locked up, the owner lit a cigarette and sat down near my table. "The rainy season in Jinghai City is incredibly long, so every household owns an umbrella. But there's a lot of superstition surrounding them. Some believe that since Master Lu Ban invented the umbrella, it can ward off evil and drive away ghosts. But others say that umbrellas gather Yin energy, and that unclean things will hide underneath them. Do you have similar customs in your hometown? When the elders tell kids not to open an umbrella indoors because it'll stunt their growth, that's just a lie. The real reason is that opening an umbrella indoors will lure out the hidden spirits."

That was the first time I had ever heard such a thing. I rubbed my head. "What does that have to do with black umbrellas?"

"You young people sure are curious. I'll spell it out for you today, but don't go running your mouth about this once you leave." The owner exhaled a puff of smoke, watching the rings float through the air. "A few years ago, something bizarre happened in the outer district. Whenever it rained at night, a woman holding a black umbrella would wander through the alleyways. Nobody paid her much attention at first. But after a while, rumor has it that a drunkard saw her slender figure and decided to harass her. And guess what happened next?"

"I have no idea. Keep going," I said, entirely abandoning my meal as I listened in rapt attention.

"Blinded by lust, the drunkard grabbed the woman with the black umbrella from behind. Her body was freezing cold, her skin perfectly smooth, and her long black hair was tied into a thick braid. Hugging her slender waist, the drunkard thought he had scored big at first. But just as he reached his hand into her clothes, the woman slowly turned her head." The fingers clamping the owner's cigarette trembled slightly. "He witnessed the most terrifying sight of his entire life. The woman had no face! The side she turned toward him just had another thick braid of hair!"

I sucked in a breath of cold air and took a sip of the tea on the table, which had gone cold at some point. "Braids on both sides? No face at all?"

"None."

"That's completely absurd. You make it sound like you were actually there." My expression remained completely placid. There was no way for an outsider to guess what I was really thinking.

"Why don't you believe me? The drunkard's corpse was found right there in the alley the very next day. You don't have to take my word for it—you can go online and look up the case yourself. It's still unsolved to this day." The owner cast a glance out the window. "A lot of other people spotted that woman in the rain after that, too. That's why we tend to avoid going out on rainy nights."

"That sounds terrifying. Honestly, coming to Jinghai has made me realize just how comforting my hometown is," I sighed.

"You young folks need to get out and experience the world. There's plenty of opportunity in the big city." The owner chuckled, offering me another cigarette.

I lit my cigarette. As I settled the bill, I casually remarked, "Everyone says the big city is great, but the moment I arrive in Jinghai, you guys start telling stories to scare me. Earlier, a taxi driver told me that I could go anywhere in Jinghai except for a place called the Pig Cage Apartments. Isn't that ridiculous? What kind of apartment building calls itself a Pig Cage?"

As I spoke, I kept a close eye on the owner's expression. The moment I mentioned the Pig Cage Apartments, the fingers clamping his cigarette gave an unnatural, almost spasmodic twitch.

"Brother... did a taxi driver really mention the Pig Cage Apartments to you? Do you have some kind of grudge against him?" The owner's voice dropped to a low whisper. I had no idea what had him so spooked.

"No major grudge. He was driving an unlicensed cab and overcharged me by a hundred or two. I was the one who got ripped off." I pressed him for details, "From the way you're talking, does this Pig Cage Apartments actually exist in Jinghai?"

"It does. The Pig Cage Apartments are out in the outer district." The owner's voice quickly returned to normal. "Decades ago, Jinghai was a foreign concession. When the war broke out, refugees from all the surrounding areas swarmed the city, hoping to find safety inside the concession's borders. To settle the massive influx of people, the concession built the 'Pig Cage' apartments."

I frowned. "I think I'm starting to understand why they called it that."

"You still don't get it." The owner glanced at the remaining food on my table. He thought in silence for a long time before continuing, "Actually, the place's real name is the Longchang Community. You could even say it saved a lot of lives during the war. There was nothing inherently wrong with the housing itself. But with the war raging alongside natural and man-made disasters, a lot of people couldn't even scrounge up enough to eat."

"Eating?" I raised an eyebrow, my mind immediately jumping to something far more sinister.

"Yeah. That's the real reason they call it the Pig Cage Apartments." Cigarette ash crumbled to the floor without him noticing. The owner peered at the dark sky outside. "It's getting late. Hurry back to wherever you're staying. It's dark out, so don't go wandering."

I had just paid my bill and was waiting for my change when the owner's wife suddenly stepped out of the back room, a phone in her hand, and waved him over.

The two of them hurried into the kitchen before answering the call, whispering back and forth.

The couple was acting incredibly secretive, but I had no intention of prying. I stood up in silence, ready to leave. However, a casual sweep of my Judging Eye caught something highly intriguing.

The door to the back room had been left cracked open when the woman came out. From my angle, I had a clear view of the interior.

The young boy was kneeling at the base of the wall. His eyes were locked in a specific direction, and he was muttering under his breath, acting as if he were having a full-blown conversation with someone.

'Is he talking to himself?' I rubbed my Ghost Ring and walked toward the room. The owner was a decent guy. If it didn't cause me too much trouble, I wouldn't mind doing him a quick favor.

I gently pushed the door wider and followed the boy's gaze. Sitting in the corner was nothing more than an open floral umbrella.