Curses from evil spirits were always among the most deviously powerful and dangerous, but the federal agency had its ways of handling them.
As long as they could determine what triggered the curse of such a spirit, they could conduct targeted research and containment.
If it was triggered by receiving a specific phone call or, like this haunted house, only by entering it, the federal agents often chose to barricade the area, preventing the curse from being triggered and thereby containing it.
However, if hearing a specific word could spread the curse, or if entering a bathroom with the left foot first every day could cause a curse, then the federal agency would deploy a special unit to deal with the evil spirit.
The threat level between these two scenarios differed—the former was safe as long as one did not act recklessly, whereas the latter involved completely unpredictable curses with extremely high risks.
This haunted house, in the eyes of the federal agents, was destined to be isolated and monitored; its threat wasn't very high, simply preventing fools from entering would suffice. However, the world evidently could not achieve this.
"What a hassle..." Chen Yu sighed. The weather in Tokyo was fine today, the sun shone on Chen Yu, but he felt no warmth, only a chilling sensation.
"Next, you two must stay close behind me, got it?" Chen Yu said sternly to Jack and Solano, who were behind him.
Jack and Solano immediately nodded in agreement. Seeing this, Chen Yu said nothing further, but gripped his M29 and then cautiously grabbed the door handle in front of him, slowly opening the door before him.
The door opened silently, revealing stairs leading to the second floor, while the furniture in the room looked quite normal, with no sign of dust accumulation.
Without hesitation, Chen Yu stepped inside.
Jack swallowed hard, but still steadfastly followed Chen Yu. Jack was well aware that during dangerous missions, the key was not to separate from the main group; acting individually could easily lead to accidents.
The NYPD had previously received a report about a serial killer. The police officers dispatched had split up and were killed one by one by the killer. It was only with the deployment of a special operations squad that the killer was finally riddled with bullets.
Remembering this, Jack quickly pulled Solano along to catch up with Chen Yu, but then he was horrified to discover that, upon stepping into the house, Chen Yu and Solano, who he was holding, had instantly disappeared.
Jack instinctively wanted to retreat, but the door behind him was firmly shut, impossible to open.
"Chen?!" Without hesitation, Jack drew his service gun, but all around was deadly silence.
"Hmm?" Chen Yu turned to look, the door behind him was closed, and Jack and Solano, whose footsteps were just audible, had also vanished.
Chen Yu tried the door handle, but it indeed wouldn't open.
"Interesting..." Chen Yu narrowed his eyes, realizing he had hit the jackpot this time, encountering an evil spirit with a certain degree of spatial manipulation abilities, though it could also be an illusion.
It was now a matter of reacting to the moves as they came.
Chen Yu checked his tracker and saw that its signal had completely expanded. Seeing this, he put down the now useless device; the entire haunted house was the dwelling place of the evil spirit.
"What a pity." Chen Yu shook his head. The five-hundred energy points tracker was a disposable item. If it had not been for Jack's status, Chen Yu initially wouldn't have considered using it immediately. If he had a thermal pressure grenade instead, it would offer more options against enemies.
However, thermal pressure grenades wouldn't be very effective in this place, considering the variety of spirits. To use a thermal pressure grenade effectively against this entity, one would need to ensure that the target had a physical form or a residence, otherwise throwing it would just be a futile scare.
Moreover, although called a grenade, a thermal pressure grenade is actually a miniature bomb made using a thermal pressure explosive method; if it were to explode here...
Chen Yu felt he would instantly become the world's number one terrorist.
"According to what Solano had said before, and considering the evil spirit I saw, it seems like this guy mainly haunts the second floor? Why does this feel increasingly like something straight out of 'Ju-On'?" Chen Yu was a little puzzled, as the house in front of him also looked quite like the house in 'Ju-On'.
If the name of the woman who lives here happened to be Kawamata Kayako, it would definitely be a rendition of 'Ju-On.'
However, Chen Yu hadn't seen Junxiong or a black cat, so he couldn't be sure yet.
With this thought, Chen Yu proceeded to the second floor, armed with an M29, so even if he did encounter the evil spirit, he wouldn't end up like those horror movie protagonists who could only collapse on the ground, waiting to die.
The room was very quiet.
Normally, in a residential area house like this one, unless it had exceptionally good soundproofing, one would still be able to hear some traffic noises or the wind outside, but this house was different—it was utterly silent inside.
Dead silence.
Chen Yu could even hear the sound of his own heartbeat.
"Radiance, help me watch out for any details I might miss," Chen Yu communicated with Radiance.
Although Radiance had lost nearly all its functional templates, it was, after all, a superbrain, and could still assist Chen Yu.
[Command received.]
The voice of Radiance reassured Chen Yu a bit, as at any time, the superbrain Radiance was a demon hunter's most reliable companion.
Chen Yu ascended to the second floor, where there was nothing but two closed doors. Without hesitation, he grasped one doorknob and pushed the door open to take a quick look inside.
The room appeared to be a study, with a computer still placed on the desk. What surprised Chen Yu was that the computer seemed quite modern, not an outdated model.
The bookshelf held several books, all literary.
'No Longer Human,' 'I Am a Cat,' and 'Brothers' among others. It seemed the owner of the room was somewhat of a literary youth, and apparently had a preference for Natsume Soseki's works.
[Captain Chen Yu, there is a book without a cover on the third row inside on the shelf,] Radiance intoned.
Chen Yu raised his eyebrows, a book without a cover?
Chen Yu walked in, then approached the bookshelf. He scanned it and quickly found the specific book Radiance had pointed out.
It was a dark red book, with a somewhat unusual texture.
Chen Yu reached out, took hold of the book, and pulled it out.
As he did, Chen Yu saw a mouth in the gap created by the removed book; thin lips that seemed to smile, but were completely pale, almost purple.
Was that cyanosis?