“Let’s take a step back. Even if you never planned to seize Steven’s parents’ estate, how can you prove that I am Steven?”

Li Ang asked, “Spiritual realm travel can mess with a person's memories.

I could be anyone,

a poor sap hired with money to be a stepping stone, or a kidnapped roadside vagrant.”

“You misunderstand, Steven.”

The old spiritualist woman shook her head with a wry smile. “Anyone who meets the conditions can travel in the spiritual realm, that’s true.

But if you want to find a specific entity in the world of the dead,

you must have a deep connection with that dead entity.

Mavis has no other relatives in this world. You are Mavis’s husband.

Only you can enter the spiritual realm of this room and not be indiscriminately attacked by Mavis right away.

As for me,

I’m too old. My body is too frail to allow me to travel in the spiritual realm for a long time, and I don’t have the strength to deal with the instinctive attacks of a spiritual body.

You and your parents knew this, and you agreed to be the one to travel in the spiritual realm.

Besides, didn't you recognize your own voice on the recording?”

“There’s a difference between how a normal person hears their own voice and how it sounds on a recording.”

Li Ang turned his head and picked up a photo frame from the cabinet in the living room.

The photo was of Steven’s family of four. Unlike the spiritual realm, the photo showed the faces of his son, Robin, and his daughter, Lynn.

Both had blond hair, inherited from their father.

Their eyes were dark brown, inherited from their mother—Steven’s own pupils in the photo were light blue.

'In the spiritual realm, you can’t see the two children in the photo, but you can see them in this world.

What does that mean?'

Li Ang narrowed his eyes, his mind racing.

The glass covering the photo frame still only reflected Li Ang’s own appearance, not Steven’s.

Li Ang reached into his suit pocket, but there were no keys or padlocks inside.

Just as he was pondering, the lights on the living room ceiling suddenly flickered.

He heard faint footsteps upstairs: “tap, tap, tap.”

The footsteps weren’t heavy, like someone walking barefoot on a wooden floor with wet feet.

The lights flickered on and off, illuminating the four people in the room.

Steven's parents were uneasy and frightened, holding each other's hands tightly.

The old spiritualist woman's face changed drastically. She instinctively clutched the silver cross hanging around her neck.

Li Ang narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the direction of the footsteps above.

As the footsteps drew closer, a small, dark, cat-like paw print appeared on the white ceiling, facing the four of them.

The old spiritualist woman, her face pale, immediately stood up, blocking the other three. She recited a long passage from the Latin Bible.

The black cat paw print was not affected by the Bible at all.

Step by step, it stepped on the ceiling, slowly approaching.

Sizzle—sizzle—

The ceiling lights flickered more intensely. Electrical sparks flew from the appliances in the room, causing them to malfunction.

Even the streetlights outside began to flicker erratically.

Li Ang felt a chill wash over him. His whole body felt as if it had been immersed in ice water, cold to the bone.

Steven's parents turned blue at an alarming rate, as if they were suffocating.

“Lumenetegredieturetimpius.etflammanonlucere!”

The spiritualist Barbara shouted, grabbed the necklace around her neck, snapped it off, and waved the silver cross in her hand, trembling, in the direction of the paw print.

“Meow—”

A shrill meow came faintly from the ceiling.

The lights in the dining room and kitchen shattered instantly.

Darkness surged in from all directions like a tide. In an instant, the four people's visible range was compressed to the limit, and they could only vaguely see each other.

However, before the darkness completely swallowed the four of them,

the cross in Barbara's hand emitted a faint light,

blocking the deep darkness like a barrier, enveloping and protecting the four.

"Huff, huff..."

The old spiritualist woman breathed heavily, her forehead covered in sweat, and stumbled backward onto the sofa.

"Are you okay, Barbara?"

Steven's parents' complexions improved, and they immediately went to the spiritualist's side to ask with concern.

Barbara waved her hand weakly and looked around.

Except for the living room, other areas of the room were shrouded in an indescribable and ominous shadow.

Through the glass of the French window, she couldn't see the scene outside at all, but she could vaguely hear the sound of car alarms automatically going off on the street outside.

"She... she's here."

Barbara trembled and took out her cell phone from her pocket, but the screen was black. No matter how hard she pressed the buttons, it wouldn't respond. The same was true for the television and other appliances.

"She's stronger than before. She's still in the second-floor bedroom in the spiritual realm, and that black cat is an extension of her power. My power is limited, and I can't hold on for long."

Barbara looked at Li Ang with difficulty. "Steven, you must go back, go back there, find Mavis...

Otherwise, she will take you, your parents, and your children..."

"..."

Li Ang stood there, frowning in thought for a moment.

Unexpectedly, he nodded and said, "Okay, I can go back. What should I do?"

"Just like before, just lie down on the sofa."

Barbara was relieved when she saw that Li Ang had agreed.

She had Li Ang lie down on the sofa, reached out her hand, and pressed her thumb on Li Ang's forehead. "Clear your mind and imagine that you are sitting on a light cloud, free from gravity..."

Along with Barbara's words, Li Ang felt his consciousness become dizzy again.

His whole person seemed to float, gradually rising, rising, rising to a very high place,

then, falling rapidly.

Thump!

He returned to the room again, holding up the wooden puppet and using the craft knife in its hand to cut the glass of the French window.

...Bang—bang—bang.

His heart beat as violently as before, and gradually calmed down after a while.

At the same time, a burning sting came from his arm again, and a line of black tattoos appeared: [Act quickly, I can't hold on for too long]

"..."

Li Ang narrowed his eyes, looked at the line of tattoos on his arm, didn't say anything, directly picked up the wooden puppet floating in the air, shined a flashlight on it, and dragged it towards the second floor.

As soon as he ran up to the second floor,

Li Ang felt a bone-chilling chill rushing from all directions.

"Meow—"

A cat meow came from the dim corner of the second floor. Li Ang felt a chill on the back of his neck, and instinctively turned around, using the wooden puppet to block in front.

Clang!

A pitch-black cat claw swept diagonally, scratching the puppet, scattering wood chips.

Compared with the encounter in the bedroom, the black cat's size had expanded by a circle, and the black fur on its body seemed to merge into the shadows.

If it weren't for its dark green eyes shining in the darkness, it would be almost invisible.

"Meow!"

The black cat cried shrilly, scratching the wall and窜ing upward,

but Li Ang was faster, turning the flashlight in his hand towards the black cat, covering the latter with light.

Like the wooden puppet, the black cat also froze slowly under the light, fixed on the wall.

"..."

Li Ang quickly passed the black cat, his eyes lingered on the black and white fur on the black cat's surface for a second, and then rushed into the second-floor corridor.

He saw that a constant stream of black gas filled with ominous aura was pouring out of the crack in the door of the innermost bedroom on the second floor, accumulating on the corridor floor like dry ice mist.

"Is Mavis about to wake up..."

Li Ang waved the flashlight in his hand, the flashlight beam swept horizontally from side to side, melting and erasing the black gas, temporarily clearing a path.

According to the old spiritualist woman, flashlights in the spiritual realm are the conceptualization of goodness in human nature.

As the flashlight's light gradually dimmed, he could feel the heart in his chest beating rapidly and irregularly.

"The consequences of running out of soul energy might be dire.

It's not like conscience in the real world.

You can earn more money if you lose it,

if you lose your conscience, you'll earn even more."

Li Ang thought nonsensically, "That black cat is obviously stronger than the wooden puppet. The first flashlight irradiation might not be able to seal it for twenty minutes. Time is limited, quick battle, quick decision."

He took out the spare key to the study that he had found in the children's bedroom before, inserted it into the study lock, turned the key, and pushed open the wooden door.

The study was quite large, with two huge bookshelves placed against the walls.

They were filled with a wide variety of books.

In front of the bookshelves, there was a long desk with chairs placed on both sides—it seemed that the study was shared by the couple.

On the desk, there was a pile of Lego toys.

There were a considerable number of Lego bricks, including trees, houses, vehicles, and even minifigures, all put together to form a model of a neighborhood.

Judging from the shapes of the houses in the neighborhood, it was clearly the neighborhood where the house was located.

And in the center of all the green-roofed houses, there was a red-roofed house.

In front of the house stood a family of four minifigure toys, which should be Steven's family.

'Did Steven and his son and daughter build this together?'

Li Ang's eyes swept over the Lego toys and looked at the inside of the desk.

There, a piano was placed, and a blank sheet of paper was placed on the music rack of the piano.

On the wall to the left of the piano, there was a landscape painting. The style was the same as the oil painting hanging on the wall downstairs, but the frame seemed to be fixed to the wall and could not be removed.

"Where's the bedroom key..."

Li Ang glanced at all the elements in the study. In the task log, the task goal of [Find the Truth] was still not completed.

According to Barbara, he needed to enter the master bedroom on the second floor and find Mavis.

Regardless of whether Barbara was lying or not, entering the master bedroom was obviously a necessary part of the system task.

In the entire house, only the study and the master bedroom had not been explored.

If there was a bedroom key, it must be in the study.

"Huff, calm down."

Li Ang slowly exhaled a breath of stale air to calm himself down.

The wooden puppet he was holding had already passed its sealing time and was showing signs of movement again, but Li Ang directly pressed the flashlight button to keep the flashlight in strong strobe mode,

continuously shining on the wooden puppet, preventing it from moving.

"Where... would the key be..."

Li Ang quickly walked to the desk, examined the huge neighborhood brick model, and disassembled the house representing Steven's house from the neighborhood model.

Unfortunately, there was no key inside.

There were only some brick toys symbolizing furniture and appliances, and there was a Chevrolet SUV model in the garage.

There was no trace of a key on the brick minifigures symbolizing Steven's family of four.

"Could it be in the bookshelf?"

Li Ang walked to the bookshelf and examined the wooden bookshelf itself and the various books in the bookshelf.

There was nothing unusual about the books in the bookshelf. Like other places, there was only a beginning and no end.

The only strange thing was the number of books placed.

On the left bookshelf, from top to bottom, each shelf contained 16, 5, 1, 15, 4, 5, and 9 books, respectively.

On the right bookshelf, from top to bottom, each shelf contained 21, 11, 23, 20, 5, and 14 books, respectively.

"In other places in the house, the bookshelves are densely packed with various books, filling every row of the bookshelf.

Only the bookshelves in this study are not full, and the number of books in each row is different.

What does the number of books represent?"

Li Ang narrowed his eyes and thought quickly.

Judging from the titles and contents of the books on the bookshelf, there was nothing in common.

From parenting manuals to telegraphy and cryptography, there was everything, and even cookbooks.

"Could the number of books be a password?

Does the number of books in each row have to be related to the name or content of each book?"

Li Ang pulled out a few books from the bookshelf and carefully checked them, but he didn't find any problems.

If the numbers 16, 5, 1, 15, 4, 5, and 9 were to be used to select letters from the English titles of the books,

some of the books' English names were not long enough to make up 16 letters.

"There's nothing wrong with the contents of the books either... what could it be?"

Li Ang groaned and put the books in the bookshelf back in place and walked to the piano.

The piano in the study looked quite expensive, and the piano stand was open.

Li Ang casually touched the keys, and the sound of the piano itself was crisp and pleasant, sounding like it had just been tuned.

"The sheet music on the piano is blank,"

Li Ang carefully scanned and turned the blank sheet music under the flashlight light.

He found no etchings, or hidden words that only appeared under light, nor were there any interlayers.

"Blank sheet music... the books on the bookshelf...

There are no books on the bookshelf about music..."

Li Ang took a deep breath and suddenly thought of something, "The position of playing the piano is directly facing the bookshelf, could it be..."

He groaned, put the flashlight on the piano to continue illuminating the floating humanoid puppet,

then moved to the piano keys and, in the order of 16, 5, 1, 15, 4, 5, 9, 21, 11, 23, 20, 5, and 14, pressed the keys with his ten fingers,

playing a melody.

The piano made a sound. The song itself had no rhythm and sounded like random playing and didn't sound good.

But after the song, there was a creaking sound from the left wall of the room.

The landscape painting on the wall automatically opened, revealing a secret compartment hidden in the wall. In the compartment, there was a safe.