When Caroline and Jason opened their eyes, Robert and Stephanie were already gone and the dishes in front of them had been cleaned and put away. What was placed in front of them was the incense burner with three incense sticks still standing but no longer burning. Two sticks on the side were almost burned to the butt entirely, and the one in the middle was barely burnt and stood tall. The two copper coins that were buried inside the burner were now placed on the table with incense ashes sprinkled over them. And Jianmen was making two wooden miniature human figures using a small carving knife and some expensive looking red wood.
"Where's Stehapnie? And Robert?" Jason asked.
"I sent them home. Don't worry, they won't remember much of tonight, besides that you bravely resolved the paranormal presence at their set." Jianmen blew on one of the miniature human figures to clear the dust, "You guys, tell me what you encountered tonight, as detailed as possible."
"We pretty much told you already." Jason scratched his head, "Beside the woman in the security camera footage..."
"Dr. Nguyen's body might be decomposing. " Caroline was reminded of a detail they did not mention before going into meditation: "According to Robert and Stephanie, some woman attacked a staff named Bruno and sprayed him with blood and rotten meat. But they said on the security camera footage the woman just bumped the guy out of her way. They also said that the woman was Asian. So we figured, that woman might be the missing Dr. Nguyen. She was clearly possessed, the teeth and hair we found in her apartment? They were just symptoms of an early stage."
Jianmen put down his carving knife and wooden figure and looked at both Caroline and Jason with a serious and piercing look: "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Pretty sure."
"The incense sticks, they're one long and two short." Jason suddenly said: "This is bad, isn't it?"
"What do you mean? One long and two short?" Caroline was not sure at first.
"It's an omen." Jianmen pushed the two red wood miniature human figures forward: "Take these with you. I want you to be careful and put a pause on the investigation for a while. At least don't go anywhere unsafe before I am able to leave the inn."
"Wait, what? What does this mean?" Caroline asked again: "Please, Boss, can you be clearer in your answers?!"
"I can tell you this." Jianmen sighed and said: "First of all, these incense sticks were for one divination, and these coins? Another. "
"One long incense stick and two short, classic omen of bad luck." Jason provided Caroline with a simpler answer, "At least… that's what I heard."
"You heard right." Jianmen continued: "You did not encounter the trail of one ghost tonight. I think you met one face to face and ran into the footsteps of another - which I think is whatever possessed Dr. Nguyen. So the divination with the incense, I did for a hypothetical run-in between you and that thing."
"That's… unsettling." Jason's voice trembled a little, which Caroline remained silent with her brows clenched: "Is it right to say it's a good thing no one has found Dr. Nguyen yet?"
"That's right. And the coins, I used them for your sudden tribulation." Jianmen pointed at the coins and the ashes from the incense burner: "Turns out, I was right. Tribulation wouldn't happen at your stage, at least not under normal circumstances."
"And... What are our circumstances?" Jason saw that Caroline was still deep in her thought, so he asked what he thought Caroline would ask.
"It's ... a gift." Jianmen's facial expression showed indications of a wide range of emotions: pride, concern, worry, sadness and… almost uncontrollable anger. It was the first time Jason saw his boss with an expression like this.
"I… I don't understand."
"You don't have to. You shouldn't have to." Jianmen waved his left hand and said: "Just know that it's good for you. And you two need to make good use of it to improve your skills. I'll tell you what, get a good night's sleep. I'll have someone cover your shifts tomorrow. And for the rest of the week. You'll need some intense training. "
Both Caroline and Jason stared at Jianmen with a confused look, they couldn't understand what the cause for this sudden decision was.
"Don't worry, you'll still get paid. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to what I was doing." Jianmen cleaned up the incense burner and the copper coins, then walked out of the diner and back into the basement.
"Bang!" Jianmen closed the basement door much harder than usual, which startled Caroline and Jason quite a bit.
"What has gotten into Boss today?" Jason looked at Caroline, and saw that Caroline was also looking at him, confused.
"I don't know." Caroline stood up, "Looks like he's more pissed about the tribulation than us."
"So, you're gonna stop the investigation?"
"No. But we just need to be careful about it." Caroline thought for a while, "I felt like we are on the verge of some important discovery."
"Hmmm, really? I am just lost. What do you think the discovery is?"
"Don't know yet, just a gut feeling." Caroline stared at the basement door for a while, "I think Boss is not telling us everything about this 'gift'."
"Has he ever?" Jason chuckled and took a sip from his flask, then realized Caroline was looking at him: "What? My birthday's in a few months!"