“Welcome.”
Su Fan gathered his thoughts and greeted the visitor.
“Here for an antique appraisal, or to buy something?”
He looked up and saw a somewhat familiar face.
“So they were telling the truth—you really did take over your grandfather’s antique shop.”
The visitor sounded a bit emotional.
“You still remember me, Su?”
“Luke?”
Of course, Su Fan remembered him.
This guy was the one with his arm around Su Fan’s neck in that graduation photo.
“What brings you here?”
It had been nearly five years since they graduated high school.
His sudden visit probably meant something was up.
“To be honest with you, I’ve got this…”
Ron, who had been reading, was drawn in by their conversation and looked up.
Luke, walking closer, started talking while reaching into his pocket. But the moment he saw Ron’s face, he froze on the spot.
“Um… who’s this…?”
Faced with those ice-blue eyes, Luke couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Ron’s looks were in no way inferior to the movie stars who often appeared on TV, and then there were those rare, captivating eyes.
In real life, where would he ever come across a woman as gorgeous as her?
“Ron Mayfair, Su’s friend.”
Ron introduced herself simply.
“Am I interrupting your conversation?”
“Not at all… make yourself at home.”
Luke waved his hand and then walked over to Su Fan.
“A while back, I found some old things at home. Since I was passing by here, I remembered your family’s antique shop and thought I’d drop by and ask you to take a look.”
As he spoke, Luke pulled the item out of his pocket.
It was a triangular wooden piece with a lens.
Su Fan glanced at it and immediately recognized it as a tool used in the Ouija board game.
“It’s not that old—maybe twenty or thirty years ago at most.”
“Even if it’s vintage, stuff like this has low collector’s value… And what made you think it was old in the first place?”
Su Fan didn’t return the wooden piece to Luke right away.
“Just a feeling.”
“Lately, I’ve suddenly started taking an interest in things with a sense of age.”
“I found this while cleaning—it was in the basement of my old family house, stored with a bunch of other old stuff.”
“I was hoping you could tell me what era it’s from.”
With that, Luke reached out to take the item back.
As he looked up, his gaze happened to meet Su Fan’s calm, dark eyes.
“Is that so?”
The flat tone of the question made Luke’s heart skip a beat.
He opened his mouth, wanting to confess, but the words just wouldn’t come out.
In the end, he could only force a bitter smile and pull his hand back.
“You’re still as sharp as ever.”
“But even if I told you the real reason, you probably wouldn’t believe me.”
After a brief pause, Luke began to recount what had happened.
It all started a few days ago.
Luke’s girlfriend had a very close best friend.
The two had grown up together and were deeply attached to each other.
But for some unknown reason, the police found the best friend hanging herself at home using a light strip.
His girlfriend felt strongly that her friend’s death wasn’t that simple, so she decided to try using a Ouija board to talk to her departed friend’s spirit.
Ouija games usually shouldn’t be played alone.
As her boyfriend, Luke was naturally the first person she dragged into it.
Besides him, there were also her younger sister and the best friend’s ex-boyfriend.
The four of them chose to play the Ouija board game in the house where Luke currently lived.
During the process, the Ouija board dutifully answered their questions.
But Luke kept feeling like something was off.
“I happen to be college buddies with the girl’s ex-boyfriend, so I signaled him with a look to verify something.”
“Verify what?”
“Whether the spirit we’d summoned was really her best friend’s soul.”
As he spoke, Luke’s expression grew more serious.
“That guy casually asked about a memory that never existed, and yet the board responded as if it were real, giving an answer.”
“Once we realized it wasn’t the spirit we were looking for, we decisively ended the Ouija board session.”
“And then, the strange things started…”
Everyone who had participated in the Ouija game began experiencing paranormal events.
And in the end, they all received the same message.
Hello, friend.
That very sentence was the first thing the Ouija board had spelled out during the séance.
They were terrified that some ghost was haunting them, living in constant fear.
And because of this, Luke had started drifting apart from his girlfriend, Debbie.
He didn’t want it to be this way, but the eerie scene he’d witnessed that night kept replaying in his mind.
“We should have had a bright future together, but because of this, we’re on the verge of going our separate ways…”
Luke sadly recounted his experience, only to notice that Su Fan seemed rather uninterested.
“Just as I thought…”
He let out another bitter laugh.
“You don’t believe me…”
“I believe you. Of course, I believe you.”
Su Fan cut Luke off.
“Every word you said is true. I can tell.”
Luke studied Su Fan’s expression carefully and saw that he didn’t seem to be faking it.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“But your reaction…”
Luke pointed at Su Fan’s face.
The meaning was obvious.
When a normal person hears a genuine supernatural story, they might not be utterly terrified, but they’d at least look grave.
Yet Su Fan’s expression hadn’t changed at all from start to finish.
Hearing this, Su Fan didn’t quite know what to say.
“Maybe it’s just that I have strong mental fortitude.”
I pretend not to see the performance you want me to play along with.
Sorry about that.
But what you folks are going through is just way too classic.
It’s even more textbook than that group who came by earlier with the tarot cards.
In short, the living go out of their way to disturb the peace of the dead.
Then they end up attracting some wandering ghost from who-knows-where, and boom—they get wiped out.
“How much do you know about Ouija games?”
“Not a lot, but Debbie told us three key rules before we started.”
“First, don’t play alone.
Second, never play in a cemetery.
Third, always say goodbye to the spirit you’ve contacted before ending the session.
And you can see the summoned spirits through the lens on the board.”
Luke answered honestly, then suddenly shivered.
“Did you follow all three rules?”
Su Fan asked casually.
“We did! I even made sure to remind Debbie to say goodbye to the spirit.”
Luke’s tone was confused.
“Then the problem is with the second rule. Go check the previous owner of your house, along with any other relevant records.”
Su Fan let out a breath and said casually.
He was fully prepared for Luke to take several days to investigate.
But to his surprise, Luke pulled a stack of documents from his coat.
“I’ve already looked into that.”
