Chapter 134: Haunted by Specters

"May I come in?" I asked.

"Come on in," the little girl said, stepping aside.

I entered the room and scanned it with a gaze tinged with a faint white light, but I found nothing unusual. The girl then poured me a glass of water. It was an old-fashioned enamel mug with two chips on the rim.

I didn't mind. I thanked her and drank it all in one go.

The look in the little girl's eyes softened considerably. After news of her father and brother disappearing at sea spread, several self-proclaimed important social figures had come to offer their condolences, accompanied by reporters. Yet, when she served them water, they would smile while clearly showing disgust in their eyes. They only held the mugs long enough to have their photos taken before setting them aside without taking a single sip.

"Little sister, what is your name?" I reached out to pat her head.

"My name is Sea Girl," she replied.

"Sea Girl?" I paused, surprised.

"Yes. Since I could swim the moment I was born, my father said I was destined to make a living from the sea, so he named me Sea Girl. Nobody in our village has a surname," she explained.

I suppose every baby can swim at birth; it's just that no one dares to put a newborn into the water. Seeing the pride on her face, I naturally wouldn't say anything to dampen her spirits. I asked, "I heard that your uncle came to visit before your father and brother went out to sea. Is that true?"

Sea Girl nodded. "Uncle earned some money that day and brought over some food."

"What did he buy?" I pressed.

"Just some braised meat and things like that. It was delicious," she said.

"Did you notice anything unusual about your uncle?" I continued.

Sea Girl shook her head, but then suddenly remembered something. "He brought a bowl of strange medicine and said it could ward off evil. Both my father and brother drank it."

"And you didn't?" A flash of insight hit me; my intuition told me that this medicine was the key.

Sea Girl shook her head again. "The medicine smelled of alcohol, and I couldn't bring myself to drink it."

I pondered for a moment before asking, "Was your uncle usually close to your family?"

"Not really. My uncle farms pearls in Pearl Town and is quite wealthy; he has always looked down on us. After my mother passed away, he never came back, so my father was very happy when he visited that day," she said.

I was now nearly certain that there was something wrong with the uncle. But if Sea Girl hadn't drunk the medicine, why was there still a faint trace of evil energy lingering on her?

I glanced toward the bedroom and asked, "May I go in and take a look?"

"Sure," she nodded.

I entered the bedroom. It was very simple, with two beds separated by a cloth curtain. "The big bed is for my father and brother, and the small one is mine," she said.

Just then, my gaze fixed on a crystal-clear bottle sitting on the small bed. Under my Yin-Yang vision, I could see it emitting a faint, malevolent aura. I walked over, picked up the bottle, and sniffed it. I caught a strange, alcohol-tinged odor. There was evil energy inside—the kind that seemed to carry the scent of the netherworld.

"That's the bottle my uncle used to bring the medicine. I thought it was pretty, so I kept it," Sea Girl explained.

So that was it! I understood why she had a faint trace of evil energy on her; she had been contaminated by the residue from the bottle every day.

"Can you give this bottle to me?" I asked.

Sea Girl looked clearly reluctant, but she nodded. "If you like it, you can have it."

I laughed. "I won't take it for free. I'll trade you something for it."

I took out a string of colorful jade beads and handed them to her, saying with a mysterious smile, "Keep this on and don't take it off. It will protect you."

The little girl took it with delight; she was mesmerized by the colorful stones.

...

Late that night, in a luxury villa in Qinglin City, a woman and a short, stout man with a large dragon tattooed on his body had just finished their "three-hundred-round" ordeal and fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep. The man was none other than the notorious Tian Erlong of Qinglin City.

Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew through the open window, and the lights in the hallway outside