“Is it over?”
“It’s over.”
Lu Li holstered the Spirit Gun, the increasingly oppressive cold and unwilling malice dissipating from around him.
For now, everything had come to a temporary resolution.
He opened the chamber and loaded a fresh silver-plated bullet into the barrel.
Still lost in her thoughts, Anna murmured to herself, “When people die, they turn into ghosts. When ghosts die, where do they go?”
“Good question,” Lu Li replied as he secured the Spirit Gun.
It was a question he could take to Hades.
“What now?” Anna asked curiously, then suddenly seemed to grow nervous, floating backward slightly.
“Oh.” Anna nodded obediently, her tension easing.
“Hold this for me.”
Lu Li handed the oil lamp to Anna, then turned and lifted the statue, placing it back on its pedestal. Taking the oil lamp back, he walked deeper into the gallery, making one final round of inspection.
“Do you remember anything from when you were alive?” Lu Li asked.
Floating behind him, Anna scratched her silky hair, looking a bit dazed. “Some things, but there are gaps… um, most of it is kind of fuzzy.”
“What do you still remember?”
Finding the light from the lamp slightly dim, Lu Li raised it and noticed some dust on the glass cover. He wiped it clean with a swipe.
“How am I supposed to answer that…?” Anna seemed troubled, unsure where to begin.
“For example, the phrase ‘Stay in the light after dark.’”
“Huh? Why stay in the light after dark?”
Anna’s expression showed even more confusion than Lu Li’s.
When she had died of illness, the Allen Peninsula hadn’t yet experienced the Nightly Calamity. After her awakening, she had remained confined to the painting, with no one to explain the outside world to her. Ṛ
It was fair to say she knew nothing about the current state of things.
“…Something happened not long ago. Maybe it was just Belfast, or the Allen Peninsula, or perhaps the entire world.” Lu Li shared what he knew about the Nightly Calamity.
“It’s gotten that terrifying?” Anna shivered, instinctively drifting closer to Lu Li and the oil lamp, as if wishing she could hide inside him.
“Can’t you sense any of it? After all, you spend most of your time in the dark once night falls.”
“Um… I’ve always stayed in the painting. Sometimes I saw the night guards walking by outside, but whenever I tried to talk to them, they ran away. It wasn’t until yesterday that I suddenly felt like I could leave the painting, so I just…”
And so she did, almost getting stuck in the process.
In Lu Li’s eyes, ghosts were beings that could exist in darkness, like Athena and Ruth. Whether they were affected by it was another matter entirely.
“Wait… If staying in the light is so important after dark, why did you take me outside to find the infant ghost earlier?” Anna belatedly exclaimed in shock.
“But we stayed in the light the whole time,” Lu Li answered.
The night was dangerous, but only in places shrouded in darkness. Belfast’s taverns still filled with patrons every night. Night-shift workers carried kerosene lamps or torches on their way home. Crowds of homeless people gathered under the electric lights near government buildings and noble estates.
People were surviving, clinging desperately to the status quo in the face of the night’s dangers.
Ahead, the oil lamp’s light revealed the stairs leading to the second floor.
Lu Li ascended the stairs, his gaze falling on a painting on the wall titled Count Dracula.
It was a portrait of a middle-aged man depicted from the waist up, dressed in ornate, medieval-style attire that Lu Li couldn’t quite identify. His face was sharply chiseled, as if carved from stone.
Lacking an appreciation for art, Lu Li found nothing in the painting other than an eerie aura.
“Where are we going?” Anna asked curiously.
“Making a round of the gallery to check for other supernatural presences.”
As Lu Li ascended to the second landing, both he and Anna turned their backs to the painting. At the same moment, the Count Dracula painting came to life. Its eyes slowly shifted, becoming blood-red and three-dimensional.
The figure’s teeth sharpened, its nails began to grow, and the surface of the painting bulged outward, as if the figure were attempting to break free.
“If we find anything, will you exorcise it?”
“Yes.”
Lu Li rested his hand on the gun grip. The Spirit Gun, which grew stronger by harming ghosts, had subtly changed his combat mindset.
Previously, Lu Li would avoid fights whenever possible, favoring peaceful resolutions. Now, though he still preferred peaceful solutions, he was prepared to eliminate threats if they showed no intention of cooperating.
Hearing their conversation, the ghost in the painting hesitated and began retreating back inside.
Lu Li sensed something and turned his deep, dark eyes toward the painting on the stairwell.
The ghost, now safely within the painting, pretended to look away nonchalantly.
Lifting the oil lamp, Lu Li saw the figure’s eyes subtly shift, as if alive.
Lowering his gaze again, he continued up to the second floor.
“How long have you been here?” he asked Anna as they walked down the hallway.
“About a few months, I think…”
Every night, Anna would wake up to face the darkness inside and outside the frame, occasionally encountering wandering ghosts, the moving statue, and patrolling night guards.
The boredom and loneliness blurred the passage of time for her.
“Besides Athena and the others, do you know of any other supernatural occurrences?”
“I don’t think so…”
After briefly inspecting the office and break room doors, Lu Li focused on the last two rooms: the studio and the storage room.
The studio contained nothing but a few unfinished canvases on easels, while the storage room housed kerosene, picture frames, and other miscellaneous supplies.
Finding no additional phenomena, the man and ghost returned to the desk by the front door on the first floor.
It was just 9:00 PM. The rest of the night promised to be uneventful.
The flame flickered as the wick in the oil lamp burned low.
The kerosene was almost gone, but Lu Li didn’t bother to refill it. Dawn was nearing.
“Will I see you again tomorrow…?” Anna murmured softly, standing in front of the empty frame that served as her home.
Lu Li remained silent, offering no reply.
Feeling downcast, Anna thought of the monotonous days ahead, of once again facing frightened, screaming night guards. She hesitated, then cautiously raised her head to peek at Lu Li. “Will you come visit me often?”
“Probably not.”
“Hey—”
Lu Li’s blunt refusal made Anna draw out a long whine. Puffing out her cheeks in frustration, she inflated her face like a steamed bun. “Fine, don’t come then! Just leave me bored and lonely forever!”
She spun around and flung herself into the painting, returning to her seat within the frame and transforming back into an aristocratic young lady.
“Achoo!”
She suddenly sneezed, giggled awkwardly, then remembered she was supposed to be upset with Lu Li. With a soft huff, she resumed her dignified sitting pose.
The figure in the painting slowly froze in place.
A faint, hazy light filtered through the windows and into the hallway, casting the gallery in a soft, grayish glow.