Half an hour later.
"Sorry for intruding."
Miko Yotsuya stepped cautiously into the living room with an awkward expression.
Seeing her like this, Ye Xing shrugged and laughed carelessly.
"Who are you apologising to? I'm the only one on this household register."
"Eh? Ye Xing, does that mean you're—"
"Stop right there."
Without even hearing her finish, Ye Xing knew what word she was about to say.
"Just make yourself at home."
"Okay."
Indeed, this was Ye Xing's home.
Caught in the sudden downpour after leaving the abandoned building, they had both been drenched.
Ye Xing lived nearby—less than a kilometre away—so he'd brought Miko back to his place. It also gave them a chance to discuss and analyse the intelligence gathered after their battle in the abandoned building.
'So this is Ye Xing's home?'
Miko surveyed the living room furnishings, her eyes revealing faint surprise as she thought to herself.
Her surprise wasn't because anything here seemed abnormal.
Quite the opposite.
For being "Ye Xing's" home, wasn't this two-storey house a bit too... ordinary?
Immaculately tidy, with furniture arranged neatly despite being sparse—a living room that didn't feel cluttered at all.
A spotless entryway adorned with wind chimes.
The excessively neat and orderly room made Miko Yotsuya feel it was completely at odds with Ye Xing's usual impression of erratic behaviour.
In her imagination, what would his home look like?
Black curtains, black sofa – everything black, presumably.
There'd probably even be a secret room with ancient-looking talismans pasted on the door, emanating an ominous and eerie aura.
Now it seemed she'd overthought things.
Miko adjusted her long hair and looked down to see her school uniform completely soaked through.
To such an extent that... it had become somewhat transparent.
"Go take a shower."
Ye Xing retrieved a set of clothes from the adjacent room and placed them on the table.
"After showering, change out of those wet clothes to dry them. Wear mine for now."
"Alright."
Drenched like a drowned rat, Miko really did need a shower. She couldn't possibly wander around the room in these soaked clothes.
She picked up the clothes from the table and was about to head towards the bathroom when she suddenly stopped, casting a wary glance at Ye Xing sitting there.
"You... won't peek, will you?"
"Tsk, what kind of question is that? I'm a gentleman."
Seeing Ye Xing's righteous expression, before Miko could even sigh in relief, his tone immediately shifted.
"A gentleman's word is his bond. If I say I'll peek, then I'll definitely peek. You can rest assured."
"You..."
Miko gritted her teeth lightly, saying resentfully.
"Then I won't shower."
"Oh? Threatening me? Suit yourself. Though..."
Ye Xing's gaze lingered on Miko for a moment before he waved his hand dismissively.
"Frankly, there's not much difference with how you look now anyway?"
Hearing this, Miko's face instantly flushed crimson.
The quality of Sobu High School's uniform was what it was.
When soaked, even the colour of her underwear could vaguely be seen.
Not to mention she was wearing a skirt.
"You're despicable."
Miko bit out the words through clenched teeth before resolutely entering the bathroom.
She removed her wet clothes and placed them on the washbasin counter, then walked over to turn on the shower.
The perfectly warm water cascading over her body brought some comfort to Miko, who had first been terrified out of her wits by evil spirits, then experienced an impromptu high-altitude bungee jump without ropes, and finally been drenched by the storm.
"Haah..."
Miko exhaled deeply, feeling much of the chill leave her body.
"What on earth happened today..."
Recalling the events in the abandoned building, her eyes filled with deep concern.
Every evil spirit that had appeared in that building would have been a formidable entity capable of wreaking havoc elsewhere.
Not to mention that python-like monster with vertical pupils.
Was all this the influence of the Gate?
Miko turned off the shower and picked up her phone from the washbasin counter. She searched online for news about the street where the abandoned building stood, using keywords about the construction crew casualties.
The first headline that appeared made her cover her mouth in shock.
"This is!?"
[Major accident at construction site: Death toll reaches 285, with 37 currently hospitalised in critical condition.]
The news article's publication date was exactly half a month ago, matching what Ye Xing had mentioned about frequent accidents at the construction site.
Below, there was a more detailed account.
The incident began when several construction workers, for unknown reasons, seemed to suffer sudden mental breakdowns and deliberately sabotaged the scaffolding. At the same time, the excavator operator also lost control.
Even though the photos were censored, Miko Yotsuya could tell the scene was a bloody mess.
"These bastards..."
Looking at the gruesome photos of the scene and the interviews with the victims' families, Miko clenched her teeth and balled both hands into fists.
Ye Xing had written in his notebook that evil spirits influenced by the Gate could, to some extent, affect—or even directly control—the actions of those they possessed.
One or two people might have been a coincidence.
But seven or eight construction workers simultaneously losing their minds and acting irrationally?
This was clearly the work of evil spirits.
Miko finally understood why that abandoned building was infested with hundreds of such powerful evil spirits.
Through the spirits' influence, humans in the surrounding area died in large numbers. Then, the vengeful spirits formed from those wrongful deaths strengthened their influence over the area.
And so, a haunted domain was born.
Could it be that the Gate was an entity capable of thought, possessing independent intelligence?
Miko shook her head, pushing those thoughts aside for now, and reached for the bottle of shampoo on the shelf.
But when she tried to apply it to her hair, her hand froze mid-air.
Washing her hair...
Meant she'd have to close her eyes.
Miko knew full well that Ye Xing was sitting in the living room outside, and it was highly unlikely any evil spirits would appear in this room.
But knowing and fearing were two different things.
After hesitating for a long time, Miko finally swallowed her embarrassment and spoke up.
"Um... Ye Xing?"
To her surprise, Ye Xing's response came immediately from outside the door.
"I'm here. What's up?"