PD -Chapter 2 A Corpse Infant Causing Trouble?

Tang Shanshan seemed to notice the strange look in my eyes. Her expression turned even more frightened as she asked, “What are you looking at me like that for? Don’t tell me I really ran into a ghost?”

“Well… not necessarily. But I need to ask you a question, and you have to answer honestly. And you can’t get mad.”

I knew exactly what kind of temper this young lady had. Asking this question would almost certainly get me chased around and beaten. But with someone’s life potentially at stake, I had no choice.

“Then stop stalling and spit it out already! Don’t stand there hemming and hawing and scaring people!”

I scratched my head awkwardly, unsure how to phrase it tactfully. After thinking for a while, I finally asked in a low voice, “We’re all young and reckless sometimes, right? Things happen. Have you ever… after getting a little too passionate with your boyfriend… had an accident and gone to the hospital to…”

As I spoke, I patted my stomach.

Tang Shanshan immediately understood what I was implying. Her pale face instantly turned iron-green, and her eyebrows twitched as she struggled to suppress her fury.

“You bastard Daoist Qiu! How dare you! I’m still a virgin! How could I possibly have had an abortion? Besides, what does that have to do with what’s happening to me?”

Seeing that she was on the verge of exploding—and that a slap might land on my face at any second—I quickly raised my hands in surrender.

I explained the legend of the corpse infant and how it might be connected to the countless tiny handprints covering her chest. Only after hearing my reasoning did Tang Shanshan calm down somewhat. She sat back in her chair, looking embarrassed.

Once I was sure she was no longer angry, I continued, “Tell me exactly what that shadow looked like.”

Tang Shanshan’s tired eyes darted around as she searched her memory.

Frowning deeply, she tried her best to recall the image before finally sighing.

“The room lights were off. It was really dark, and I was terrified… so I didn’t get a clear look at it. I only saw a rough outline. It looked like a strong, well-built man. By the time I sat up, it had already disappeared behind the blanket.”

The more I listened, the stranger it seemed.

Judging from the countless handprints on her chest, there was no way those could have been left by a grown man.

But the figure she saw didn’t sound like a corpse infant either.

So what exactly was this thing? And why had it become attached to Tang Shanshan?

“Do you even know what I ran into or not?” Tang Shanshan finally snapped when I remained silent for too long. She stood up from her chair and demanded loudly.

“The information you’ve given me is too limited. I’ll need to visit your apartment and see if I can find any clues.”

She seemed to think my suggestion made sense. Gradually calming down, she agreed to take me there.

Just then, the office door suddenly opened from outside.

I glanced at the wall clock and realized it was nearly nine o’clock—the start of the workday.

The person entering was our draftsman, Liu Xiaopeng.

As soon as he walked in and saw Tang Shanshan sitting in my seat, he greeted her before heading toward his computer.

However, he quickly noticed how terrible she looked and frowned.

“Sister Shanshan, what’s wrong today? You look awful.”

Before Tang Shanshan could answer, I spoke first.

“Perfect timing. Grab your gear. We’ve got a job.”

Without further explanation, I led Liu Xiaopeng into the office storeroom and gathered my DSLR camera, video camera, and a handheld EMF detector.

After collecting our equipment, we came back out and asked Tang Shanshan to take us upstairs.

The moment she saw us carrying nothing but photography equipment, she frowned.

“Hey, Qiu. Are you going to help me catch a ghost or take glamour shots? Shouldn’t ghost hunters be carrying peachwood swords and black dog blood or something? What’s with all the camera gear?”

I glanced at her with a look of disdain.

“Miss, do you think this is some Hong Kong ghost movie? If we want to catch whatever shadow you saw, we first need to capture its image and identify its characteristics. Only then can we figure out how to deal with it. High-speed cameras and video equipment are far more useful than human eyes. Enough talking—take us upstairs.”

As I spoke, I nudged her toward the door.

Tang Shanshan led the way to the fourth floor. She unlocked the apartment and let us inside.

I set down my equipment and began walking through the apartment, examining the furnishings.

The place was roughly twelve to thirteen hundred square feet. The layout was ordinary and practical, and nothing about the furniture or decorations stood out as unusual.

Tang Shanshan had mentioned that food kept mysteriously disappearing from her refrigerator.

So I headed into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

To my surprise, it was completely empty.

There wasn’t even an empty milk carton left behind.

What caught my attention, however, were several black stains in one corner of the refrigerator.

Frowning, I reached inside and touched one of them with my finger.

The black substance immediately adhered to my skin.

Pulling my hand back out, I rubbed the material between two fingers.

It felt like ash—the kind left behind after something had been burned.

Yet when I brought it to my nose, there was no burnt smell whatsoever.

I pulled the EMF detector from my pocket and held it near the black residue.

Immediately, the readings on the device began fluctuating abnormally.

My heart stirred.

It seemed that this black ash was a trace left behind by the shadow Tang Shanshan had seen.

Unfortunately, the ash alone wasn’t enough to identify what the thing actually was.

I flicked the residue off my fingers and continued wandering through the apartment with the detector.

Suddenly, I noticed that the device reacted most strongly whenever it pointed toward the master bedroom door.

My eyebrows furrowed.

“Open the bedroom.”

Tang Shanshan did as I asked.

The moment I stepped inside, the detector in my hand erupted into a series of sharp, rapid warning beeps.

The sounds became so continuous that they almost merged into a single shrill tone.

It was painfully piercing.

Tang Shanshan immediately covered her ears, unable to endure the noise.