Borrowing the vision of a ghost is basically like turning on night vision.
Jangxia Tongzhi walked through a row of weird-looking sculptures, heading deeper into the exhibition hall. The smell of blood was getting stronger.
At the far end of the room, to the left, there was a giant oil painting. In it, a demon was being nailed to a cliff by a knight.
And to the right of the painting—in real life this time—a fat middle-aged man had been nailed to the wall in exactly the same pose as the demon. Blood splattered the wall, and a pool of it had gathered at his feet.
Jangxia glanced over the body, then quickly focused on the man's leg.
There was a flat soul clinging to it.
About palm-sized, it looked like a paper shikigami.
Jangxia had seen something similar earlier this morning, but didn't expect another one to pop up so soon.
In psychic terms, when people die, some souls disperse entirely, and those with spiritual talent can become ghosts.
But there's something else. Something in-between.
—Like this paper shikigami.
Ghost fetuses usually have a strong sense of self and retain memories from their lives. They're annoying, but useful.
This kind of shikigami, on the other hand, doesn't have much self-awareness—just a heavy, lingering obsession.
Most of the time, they act on instinct.
Some cling to their own corpses for security.
If the corpse is gone, or their resentment toward the killer is too strong, they'll latch onto the murderer instead.
Even though Jangxia was borrowing the ghost baby's vision, he could still feel its other senses kicking in.
It sensed the shikigami's presence and leaned in, eager to drag it down and bring it to Jangxia.
Jangxia watched as the ghost baby reached out, and the shikigami trembled but clung on tightly.
The ghost baby pulled a little too hard and accidentally tore it slightly.
It paused, then let go, and awkwardly patted down the wrinkle it made.
Jangxia sighed.
...As expected, brute force wasn't going to work.
He'd have to go through the process—identify the murderer, get rid of them, and help the soul let go of its obsession.
As a "prophet," Jangxia remembered this case from the art pavilion.
After the financial crisis, the previous owner went bankrupt and sold the pavilion to Mr. Zhenchuu—the unfortunate uncle now nailed to the wall.
Zhenchuu thought the entire pavilion was junk and planned to convert it into a hotel.
Curator Ochiai, who worked here, was furious. He'd planned to kill the new boss. Wearing a faceless knight's armor, he lured Zhenchuu into this hell-themed exhibition and nailed him to the wall.
Jangxia looked around at the blood-streaked hall and figured the case wasn't too hard to solve.
But first things first—call the police.
He took out his phone and was about to dial when he heard footsteps in the corridor.
—A group was chatting as they approached the hall.
Judging by the voices, it was two of his classmates: Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki.
Jangxia stopped mid-dial, glanced at the gruesome corpse next to him, and the sword sticking out of it.
Then he realized—if he didn't want to hear a duet of high-pitched screaming, he'd better not let them in just yet...
…
Ran paused in the corridor.
She looked at the hallway leading to the "Hell Exhibition Hall," frowning slightly. "Didn't there used to be a 'Do Not Enter' sign here?"
Sonoko nodded. "Maybe they were fixing an exhibit earlier and it's done now."
They both stared into the dim hall and remembered the reason they came.
There was a rumor going around lately—something about the knight's armor in this place moving on its own at night.
So they came to check it out.
Also, they brought Conan.
As backup courage.
They'd been walking around all afternoon and hadn't run into anything weird.
Now, only the "Hell Exhibition Hall" was left unexplored.
Noticing the sign was gone, Sonoko got excited. "Come on, let's take a look. Maybe that armor is hiding in there!"
Conan, looking dead-eyed, muttered wearily, "Can we not? We've been walking forever. Aren't you tired?"
His protest was, of course, completely ignored.
The two girls exchanged determined nods and, full of courage, dragged him in.
Conan sighed like a man burdened by life and tried to stand tall.
But suddenly, the pulling stopped.
Ran and Sonoko had frozen. Not only that—they took a step back and started trembling, clutching each other.
Startled, Conan looked ahead.
In the dim lighting, a shadowy figure slowly emerged from the darkness.
…But then he realized—it only looked spooky because of the lighting.
The figure was walking perfectly normally. In fact, the posture and silhouette looked kind of familiar…
…Wait.
Familiar?
…
Jangxia leaned on the doorway, watching Ran and Sonoko huddle together in fear.
"…Are you cold?" he asked.
"No, no…" Ran breathed a mix of relief and disappointment.
Relieved they hadn't run into a ghost.
Disappointed they hadn't run into a ghost.
Sonoko, meanwhile, skipped the disappointment entirely and went straight to delighted fangirl mode. "You're here to see the moving armor too?"
She pointed behind Jangxia into the dark exhibit. "Is it in this hall?"
Sonoko had basically accepted that Jangxia's romance difficulty level was SSS-tier—translation: impossible.
But that didn't stop her from enjoying the view.
For a seasoned Yangou, just having Jangxia around was a mood-booster.
And hey, staring at his face regularly helped her keep her flirting standards high. Very practical.
Sonoko was about to pull Ran into the exhibit with her.
With Jangxia around, the courage buff would be way more effective than Conan's presence.
But just as she took a step forward, something blocked her leg.
They looked down to see a very grumpy-looking Conan.
Conan stared at Jangxia and asked, "Why is there blood on your shoes?"
Everyone looked down at Jangxia's feet.
Including Jangxia himself.
He was wearing black sneakers, clean except for some new dust near the soles.
Ran and Sonoko sighed in relief, assuming this was just another prank from a bear child.
But then Jangxia glanced at the floor, frowned, and took half a step back.
The moment he moved his foot, a half-clear, blood-red footprint appeared where he'd been standing.
"Ah." Jangxia looked a bit awkward. He stepped back onto the carpeted section of the exhibit and apologized. "Wasn't paying attention. I stepped in it."
As he spoke, he took out a handkerchief.
Conan watched in horror as he crouched down, looking like he was about to wipe the blood off the floor.
Conan: "…"
He rushed over and slapped Jangxia's hand away like a furious auntie stopping someone from touching a cake before a birthday song.
His expression turned serious. "Where did the blood come from?!"
Conan had sharp eyes and a short height advantage.
He noticed the subtle color difference in the carpet where Jangxia had walked.
At first, he wondered if Jangxia had been self-harming again—he'd seen that before.
But Jangxia seemed totally fine. Normal movement, good complexion, and no suspicious dampness on the black wristband he always wore on his left hand.
Still, the bloody footprints clearly came from him...
This wasn't a little paper cut. This might've cost someone their life.
Ran and Sonoko, meanwhile, stayed calm.
Mainly because Jangxia looked calm.
They assumed he'd just stepped in some red paint left by staff—after all, there had been a "Do Not Enter" sign up before, maybe for repairs.
When they saw Conan blocking Jangxia, they came over to help, taking out handkerchiefs to clean the footprint too.
But when they got closer, they noticed the color…
That really did look like blood.
Well. This was the "Hell Exhibit." Maybe the paint was just that realistic?
Sonoko asked curiously, "What did you step in? Paint? Pigment?"
Jangxia replied apologetically, "A pool of blood."
"Oh, blood…" Sonoko repeated, then abruptly shouted, "BLOOD POOL?!"
She snapped her head up, eyes wide.
Jangxia, still squatting by the carpet with his handkerchief, raised his hand and pointed into the exhibit. "Someone died. Got nailed to the wall. You guys—"
He was about to say, You probably shouldn't go in. It's a little scary.
But before he could finish, Conan darted past him, rushing into the exhibit.
At the same time, he tapped his wrist, switching on the flashlight built into his universal watch.
—Looked like the doctor had finished making him a fresh set of gear.
!!Requesting POWER STONES if you like the story. Comment/Review with thoughts and improvements please. Thank you 😊!!
Glossary
Yangou: A slang term for someone who's especially attracted to good-looking people (especially foreign-looking or anime-type pretty boys).
Prophet: Refers to Jangxia's meta-awareness—he remembers cases from watching Detective Conan.
Shikigami: In this context, paper-like spirits with limited awareness but strong attachment or obsession.
Ghost fetus: A spirit in ghost baby form, often tied to Jangxia, possibly one of his "ghost squad."