Time flies, years pass by like the weaving of a shuttle.
In the blink of an eye, eighteen years had gone by.
A vehicle bearing the logo of a moving company stopped in front of a residential building.
"Alright, move everything up to the 12th floor. Be careful, there’s porcelain inside!"
"Master, please handle these with care."
"These go into the bedroom, these are kitchen utensils."
A gentle-looking housewife directed the movers, glancing around before frowning and calling out, "Xiao Shan? Shan-zi? Where on earth did you go?"
In the midst of the sound of a basketball hitting the ground, a teenager slowly popped his head out from nearby. He was probably about sixteen or seventeen, dressed in a white T-shirt, with a short buzz cut, looking bright and energetic.
He was holding a basketball and was going through a rebellious phase, waving his hand and saying, "Mom, you go ahead... I’m gonna play some ball!"
"I’m so angry, I’m going to die from anger."
The housewife was so angry her fingers trembled.
However, no one noticed that she kept using her left hand, while her right hand dangled inside her sleeve, its color slightly different from normal skin. It seemed to be... a prosthetic.
"And there’s Old Han, that old ghost... So busy going to his new company, doesn’t even think about helping me."
The housewife huffed and puffed for a while before continuing with the task of moving.
On the community square.
Han Shan dribbled the basketball while attempting shots.
His family wasn’t originally from here, but from City A.
His father was a coder, always working for a large company in City A.
Like all children, he was born and grew up in City A... And for some special reasons, he had developed a sensitive and suspicious personality.
Then came this year when his father’s boss suddenly offered him a promotion with a raise, on the condition that he come to this new market and take on more responsibilities.
Old Han, nearing middle age, pondered for a long time and finally agreed, moving the whole family here.
With a large sum of money provided by the company for moving, plus his parents’ life savings, they bought an apartment that was less than sixty square meters.
Everything was new...
Added to a teenager in his rebellious phase...
At this moment, all Han Shan wanted was to play ball, to vent the frustration in his heart and use sweat to wash away everything.
Under the sunset, the youth exuded sweat like rain.
Unconsciously, darkness had fallen.
However, in such a community, street lamps were customary along the roads, with their orange light illuminating the entire square, which was well-lit.
Han Shan didn’t feel hungry and just kept dribbling and shooting...
What puzzled him was that in G City, where every inch of land was precious, such small squares were always a sacred place for young people to hang out and exercise.
Even if it was regularly occupied by hooligans, it wouldn’t matter.
But during the day, there were few people here; come night, the square was completely deserted.
And the nearby street lamps were especially numerous, as if to leave not a shred of darkness.
"How can people here be so afraid of the dark..."
Han Shan slapped the basketball and suddenly felt something was off in his grip, encountering a protruding object with lots of hair.
He looked at his palm and saw that what he was holding was...
The teenager’s scream echoed back and forth across the square.
In the new home, inside their "pigeonhole."
Han Shan didn’t like the design of this place one bit. It utilized space to the extreme, and stuff was piled everywhere.
In the cramped living room stood a small folding table.
His mother, Yue Qin, had already placed a dish of stir-fried bamboo shoots and pork on the table: "Shan-zi, you finally decided to come back, huh?"
She took a deep breath and finally calmed the anger inside her, "Your dad is working overtime tonight, hurry up and eat!"
With a blank expression on his face and pale as a ghost, Han Shan kept staring at his own palm.
This thought surfaced in his mind.
After the scream, when he looked at the head again, he found it had turned back into an ordinary basketball.
This almost made Han Shan think he was overreacting.
But the touch he felt at that moment, that fear, he couldn’t forget, it was deeply impressed upon him.
It scared him so much that he ran back to the house without even taking the basketball with him.
"You unlucky kid, where’s your ball?"
Yue Qin felt something was off and asked again.
Usually, her son wouldn’t be silent after being scolded.
And the basketball was nowhere to be seen.
Could it be... he faced bullying?
Han Shan shook his head and sat down at the dining table.
In his view, his mom was just an ordinary housewife, his dad was just a software engineer, with no connections or clout, knowing about this would only put them in more danger.
It would be better to... bear it alone!
Every teenager who is going through a phase has fantasies about saving the world.
"Forget it, let’s eat."
After years as a housewife, Yue Qin had become somewhat desensitized. She took a few bites of her food and, looking at her son who had lost his appetite, continued, "By the way, G City is more superstitious than our previous place. Be aware of some taboos and don’t provoke any, okay? Places that everyone avoids, you should too..."
Han Shan rolled his eyes at this.
He had been quite impatient with this stuff since he was a kid. Other parents were so lenient and broad-minded, but here he was, a boy scolded for coming home late. Was he expected to be afraid of getting lost or meeting a ghost or something?
But what he encountered today had somewhat changed his narrow view of the world.
After hesitating for a moment, Han Shan asked, "Mom... do you believe... that there are ghosts in this world?"
Yue Qin reacted as if she had been pricked, quickly firing back, "Why are you asking this? What do you know?"
Seeing her reaction, Han Shan immediately put down his bowl and dashed into his room, closing the door behind him.
He stepped out of his room to wait for the elevator.
A middle-aged man, dressed sharply in a suit and polished shoes, was also waiting and smiled when he saw him, "You must be Han Sheng’s boy, Shan, huh? Looking good!"
"Good morning, Uncle Song!"
Han Shan recognized this man, named Song Zhong, who was the general manager of a real estate company, with a lot of properties under his control. It was said that he had made a killing selling preconstruction homes alone.
His boss had even gifted him an entire apartment building as a year-end bonus.
In this era, at this place, his story was definitely one that could be passed down as an inspirational one.
Thinking of how his parents’ hard-earned life savings had been swindled by him, in exchange for a cramped apartment, Han Shan couldn’t help but feel bitter.
But at this time, he wasn’t particularly concerned about these things.
Because last night, he dreamed again of that basketball court and the sound of that basketball getting closer.
Han Shan shuddered and, slinging his schoolbag over his shoulder, decided to use the infallible student tactic—skipping class!
Once on the subway, he took out his phone and quickly searched:
’What to do if you encounter a ghost?’
’How many famous ghost-catching masters are there in G City?’
’Introduction to the secret technique of feng shui...’
A few minutes later, a name that kept popping up caught Han Shan’s eye.
It was called — Abnormal Detective Agency!