After Ave left, Ethan dragged a small chair into the living room, sat in front of the pile of miscellaneous items, and began sorting through Luoxang's relics. Miss Keroy, on the other hand, found a corner, curled her body up, and buried her head into her wings' feathers for a nap.
The pile mainly consisted of old furniture. Ethan placed the detector beside his feet and, after half an hour of rummaging, yielded nothing.
Unable to find anything, he dragged a hardboard bed back into the bedroom, lay flat on it, aimlessly staring at the ceiling beams, with the detector beside his head, and gradually fell into a drowsy sleep.
His nap lasted until midnight when he was awakened by Miss Keroy.
A faint "cooing" sound came from the living room. Ethan listened carefully from his bed, the sound was soft, much like someone talking to another.
His eyes moved to the detector beside his bed, its needle pointing to yellow, occasionally emitting static like a television snow screen.
Before dawn, the haunted house finally had a faint field wave, which meant Mr. Luoxang might have come home.
As Ethan walked out of his bedroom, he spotted Miss Keroy tilting her head curiously, standing behind a translucent figure. She tried to garner the figure's attention with her "cooing," yet the man sitting in the void seemed completely unaware of her presence.
Miss Keroy tiptoed and attempted to nudge the man's back with her head, yet went straight through his body instead.
She was even more puzzled.
Though the man wore a clown headpiece and a circus uniform, she still recognized him because Mr. Luoxang was a kind person who occasionally fed her breadcrumbs and candies at the coop, placing him second only to Ethan on her list of favorable individuals.
"Please don't disturb Mr. Luoxang; he's busy," Ethan called out, prompting Miss Keroy to naively nod, retreating towards the corner of the room step by step.
Mr. Luoxang seemed strange today, making her uneasy.
Ethan sighed, fearing Miss Keroy might not grasp the scene before them: why do people return home even after death?
"100 Types of Dark Creatures" documented such occurrences. When Demon Hunter August passed through a small village, he accidentally encountered a similar ghostly presence. The clients were an elderly couple whose daughter left home days ago and never returned since, subsequent peculiarities began occurring in their home.
August termed the phenomena "Reflections," stating these entities aren't ghosts but supernatural images lacking self-awareness and incapable of communication—nor do they attack the living. Their sole action is repeating certain behaviors from their past lives.
Reflections do not last long, dissipating usually within three to five days, marking the deceased's final traces in the world.
August believed the appearance of reflections signaled that the deceased had unfinished business when they died.
Ethan retrieved a table from the pile, pushing it in front of the reflection, followed by a chair for it to sit on, enabling him to approximately gauge Mr. Luoxang's behaviors.
Luoxang was reviewing some object, occasionally taking a pen to jot down words. Despite the clown mask obscuring his face, his actions of reading and writing indicated his growing anxiety.
This signifies he does this daily.
Exhaustedly returning home at night, without removing the mask or circus attire, immediately sitting at the desk, reviewing something.
After ten minutes, Luoxang closed the object heavily, threw the pen aside carelessly, slumped into the chair, gazing at the apartment ceiling for a while, before eventually gathering himself up, patting his face hard, seemingly muttering something.
He then took the object from the table, entering the bedroom.
He placed the object directly opposite the hardboard bed, just two steps from where Marshall contracted the laughing disease.
Ethan was sure the item Luoxang stored wasn't in the pile; nothing resembling a book was present inside.
This left only one possibility.
When the Imperial Reserve sorted Luoxang's apartment, they took away the book and its container, which might directly be the cause of Marshall's laughing disease.
Marshall was untrustworthy.
Despite being affected by the cursed item, sending a distress letter to Gear City's Reception Bureau, he didn't truthfully mention Luoxang's apartment book in the letter. Ethan suddenly recalled Ave's stated objective — her coming to the desolate frontier town of Ximu Town was solely to seek a magic book.
Could it be Luoxang unwittingly acquired this magic book?
Ethan stopped pondering; he chose not to waste brain cells on idle thoughts. As long as Marshall was confirmed to have hidden something from the Reception Bureau, the rest could be handled by Ave. He believed that even if Marshall remained uncooperative, Ave would find a way to make him speak.
Ave collected many magic scrolls and potions. Ethan heard of one potion called the Truth Serum, capable of revealing Marshall's darkest secrets with just a drop in the water, being far more effective than 21st-century polygraphs.
"Miss Keroy, let's go report to our superior!"
Upon receiving orders, Miss Keroy glanced towards the bedroom once more, witnessing Luoxang's shadow growing fainter until it vanished before her eyes.
She watched in surprise, her eyes widening in astonishment as she took hesitant steps towards the door.
Miss Keroy with her keen sense of smell and great strength could run fast even while carrying someone, but this time she wasn't headed straight for Ave's luxurious apartment, but towards a bar on this block. Although a closed sign hung outside, faint lighting emanated from within.
Ethan pushed the door open, but the bar's interior prevented him from saying another word.
He found Ave inside, albeit not at an ideal time.
Currently, Ave held a gun pointed at the bar owner, who raised his hands in terror. Ethan's entrance disrupted the standoff, drawing both their gazes simultaneously towards him.
Ethan solemnly whispered an order, "Stand guard at the entrance; don't let anyone in."
Miss Keroy took position, standing spiritedly at the doorway like a sentinel.
Ethan strode briskly to the bar counter, donning leather gloves under their watchful eyes, ensuring no fingerprint traces were left. Then, he opened the cash cabinet, took out the golden lions and silver antelopes, scattering them across the bar top.
"...What are you doing?"
Ave's eyelids twitched extensively.
"Setting up a scene," Ethan pulled on his gloves like a true professional, "Making it appear like a robbery and murder occurred here."
"You stand over there too."
The gun's barrel swung towards Ethan, and Ave bit her lower lip until it bled, "Raise your hands above your head!"