Taboo Mage - Chapter 215 - In Your Home

The strange laughter played from the phone once again.

That laugh was so familiar to me that hearing it from Lin Huan’s phone felt like being struck by lightning, leaving me frozen in place.

“Oh my gosh! A ghost!”

In the end, it was Lin Huan who let out a howl like a ghost, and only then did I snap back to reality. I steadied myself and picked up the phone that Lin Huan had dropped on the ground, switched it to speaker mode, and slowly made my way toward Jue Chi and Zhou Qifang.

“Hello, I’m Gu Qingshu.”

“Hehehe… Mr. Gu, I’m Xu Benzhang’s mother… you’ve seen my…”

That eerie voice came through the crackling of the phone, and I struggled to suppress my fear and disgust, gripping the phone tightly in my right hand. I replied in a low voice, “Yes, I remember you.”

The little fox that had been resting on my shoulder, startled by the voice, tumbled off me. I glanced at it as it quickly darted toward Jue Chi.

I fought to control my emotions and said slowly, “Why do you keep looking for trouble with me? What do you want?”

“Mr. Gu, I’m at your home right now. Aren’t you going to come and see me? Don’t you really want to take me in…?”

“You’re in my house?” My eyes widened in shock, before I realized that this old lady was still confined in the sanatorium. How could she possibly be in my house!

“Is that so? Then tell me, what have you found in my house? Have you discovered a compass, a red string, black dog blood, or glutinous rice?”

“Hiss, hiss, hiss-”

A series of inexplicable noises came from the phone, causing my hand to tremble involuntarily. It sounded so much like fingernails scraping against glass.

The scene I couldn’t help but imagine made me nearly gag.

It was so disgustingly eerie!

Not far away, Jue Chi and Zhou Qifang had quickly approached. I raised my index finger to my lips, signaling them to keep quiet.

For a long time, there was no sound from the phone. Just when I thought the call had ended, a piercing scream suddenly echoed from the device, “Ah! Don’t hit me! I didn’t steal anything to eat! I really didn’t steal anything!”

I stared at the phone in shock. What on earth was happening?

Suddenly, Jue Chi snatched the phone from my hand, traced a rune on the earpiece, then closed his eyes and began to silently chant an incantation.

Golden light instantly enveloped the phone, and I could faintly hear sorrowful and tragic cries coming from the earpiece. It seemed to last for a minute or two before the call on the other end was abruptly ended, and the sounds vanished completely.

“What on earth is going on?” I frowned and stared at the phone in Jue Chi’s hand, asking in a low voice.

Jue Chi shook his head, pressed his palms together, and said slowly, “The wretched beast possesses a human, yet it cannot change its true nature.”

“What… what does that mean?” I was utterly confused. My mind felt like a complete mess, and I couldn’t grasp the meaning of the Buddhist chant in the least.

Zhou Qifang gave me a cool glance and explained slowly, “What Jue Chi means is that even if that dog possesses a human, it’s still a dog and can never become a human.”

“So, what you’re saying is that the reason Old Lady Xu was screaming so tragically earlier is that someone was mimicking the abuse she suffered before dying? That’s why she thought she had turned back into a dog and was about to be beaten to death?”

Jue Chi and Zhou Qifang both nodded. I raised an eyebrow; it seemed that Xu Benzhang wasn’t completely useless after all, as he managed to find a way to deal with that dead dog in such a short time.

But if that’s the case, it meant Xu Benzhang was currently simulating the process of beating the dog to death, which meant he was now essentially hitting his own mother?

This speculation clearly crossed Jue Chi and Zhou Qifang’s minds as well, as the three of us exchanged glances. Lin Huan, on the sidelines, was still trying to keep up; he held the phone, looking back and forth in confusion.

“Hey, what do you guys plan to do?” Lin Huan finally shouted, unable to hold back any longer.

Dressed in his kasaya, Jue Chi turned elegantly and said solemnly, “We’re going to save her.”

“Save her?” I opened my mouth in disbelief. Were we really unable to escape the Xu family’s affairs after all this time?

Zhou Qifang had already moved to follow him, and I looked at him in confusion. At first, hadn’t he said he would never get involved with the Xu family? Why was he now so eager to join Jue Chi?

That little brat! It seems he had been full of nonsense before!

“Boss, should we follow them?”

Lin Huan stood beside me, one hand holding the phone and the other cradling the little fox, looking utterly dazed as he glanced at me and then at Jue Chi and Zhou Qifang, who had already walked quite a distance away.

I scoffed, “Go! Why wouldn’t we go!”

By the time we arrived at the sanatorium, it was already afternoon. Lin Huan parked the car at the entrance, and I instructed him to wait there, ready to pick us up at a moment’s notice.

Since we had already familiarized ourselves with the route during our previous visit, Zhou Qifang led the way, and the three of us quickly found Old Lady Xu’s room.

When we reached the door, we paused to listen for any sounds inside. It was eerily quiet, as if there was no one living there at all.

I exchanged glances with Zhou Qifang and Jue Chi. Zhou Qifang, standing at the front, gestured for us to step back a bit, then kicked the door hard with his right leg.

Zhou Qifang had incredible strength; I had witnessed it before. The door swung open instantly, but the center of the door was left with a large dent from the kick!

I could just imagine that if that kick had connected with my body, I would probably have been disabled for life…

Once the door was kicked open, Zhou Qifang craned his neck inside to take a look, then backed out and shook his head at us.

At that moment, the loud noise from kicking the door had attracted the attention of a nurse from upstairs. Upon seeing us three sneaking around, she immediately yelled, “Thief! Someone call the police, there’s a thief!”

I rolled my eyes, tugged at Jue Chi, and ran down the stairs. By the time we reached the bottom, Lin Huan had already turned the car around. I jumped into the back seat, and the car sped off quickly.

On the road, Jue Chi and I discussed the situation. It seemed that Xu Benzhang had already moved his mother somewhere else.