"For me?" Fu Jiang pointed at herself, silently asking, her face filled with surprise, and that strange feeling in her heart made her subconsciously steal a glance at Kayako.
"Anyway, you don't care, right? Kayako, Hanako, I'm giving you a gift." Lin Ze deliberately put away the pendant and took out a bracelet and small earrings.
Amidst the surprised gazes of the two, Lin Ze put the shiny necklace on Kayako and handed Hanako the rabbit-shaped earrings, since he wouldn't wear them himself.
"I saw these last night and thought they were beautiful, so I bought them for you. Do you like them?"
"Mm-hmm." The smiles on their faces couldn't be contained, as they admired their little accessories, growing fonder of them with each glance.
In stark contrast to the warm scene radiating a pink aura, Lin Ze distinctly felt a strong black energy emanating from beside him, filled with murderous intent!
"I'm not joking, it's a gift for you."
"I don't want it." Fu Jiang pouted, unwilling to accept it. Lin Ze stood up and walked behind her, actively putting it on her, and Fu Jiang allowed his actions.
Does Kayako care? It's impossible to say she doesn't care at all, but Lin Ze had angered Fu Jiang, and besides—Lin Ze's gift was even more special.
"How is it?" Lin Ze held up a small mirror in front of Fu Jiang so she could see.
Qin Zi understood well; this pendant wasn't some kind of talisman but a finely crafted gold pendant with jade, intricately engraved with tiny, precise runes.
"It's so ugly." Fu Jiang scoffed, but she took the mirror and kept flipping it to admire it.
"Really? I think it's beautiful, and it suits you very well. Plus, just between us, I had someone specially get this for you. I heard it has been blessed and has protective properties, so don't take it off often. Wearing jade for a long time is good for you." Lin Ze's voice lowered to a whisper only the two of them could hear.
"Really? Hmph, well, since you put in so much thought, I guess I'll reluctantly accept it."
Does Fu Jiang care about Kayako's phone? Not really; what she cares about is the sentiment. She isn't short on money, and although it seems a bit cheap to give gifts to three girls at once, considering that each one is different and her own is the most special, she forgave him.
"Miss Qin, the victims are a family of three. The father was the first to go missing, followed by the mother. The daughter reported to the police that someone was stalking them, but we checked the surveillance and found nothing. However, they did seem to be avoiding something out of fear."
The middle-aged police officer explained the situation to Qin Zi. She looked at the house in front of her; there was no overwhelming aura emanating from it, indicating that it was either man-made or the perpetrator wasn't particularly strong.
"I'll go in and take a look. You all stay outside and keep watch."
Upon entering, the entrance was a bit messy; a vase stand had fallen over, and the vase was shattered on the floor, but there was no blood, suggesting the victims had panicked and tried to escape.
As she reached the living room door, Qin Zi keenly noticed several scratches on the wall, and further inside, there were a few drops of dried blood. She crouched down to look ahead, directly facing the bedroom door, where the wooden door frame also bore scratches.
"Dragged?" The victims struggled, grabbing the door frame in an attempt to escape but failed. At that moment, the slightly ajar bedroom door caught Qin Zi's attention. She hesitated for a moment before pushing the door open. Inside was very tidy, with no signs of a struggle; the only strange thing was that the sliding wardrobe door frame was sealed with tape.
Every gap in the house was tightly sealed with tape.
"A curse..." Qin Zi found no abnormalities outside, and there was no aura inside either, but upon touching the door and seeing the gap, she felt a sense of resentment, including in all the sealed places, which shared the same resentment.
Qin Zi took out her phone and dialed Lin Ze's number.
As her phone vibrated, Lin Ze took it out of his pocket to take a look. "Teacher Xiaochun, may I step out for a moment?"
Seeing it was Lin Ze, Teacher Xiaochun nodded. She had received a call from the education department last night, asking her to prepare relevant materials in the next couple of days, as she would be promoted soon.
Once outside the classroom, Lin Ze connected the call.
In the group chat with four people, Lin Ze sent a message, "Sister Qin is looking for me. I'm studying in her department and have made some progress, so I need to head over. The teacher knows, so I'm leaving now. I probably won't be back before noon, so you all can go to the activity room for lunch without waiting for me. Hanako, if I'm not back by the afternoon, I'll go straight to your house tonight."
When he arrived at the scene in Tsukano's car, Qin Zi was outside smoking.
"Sister Qin, I'm here. What's the situation now?" Given that someone was missing, Lin Ze's expression was slightly serious.
She extinguished her cigarette and gestured for Lin Ze to follow her as she entered the house first.
"This missing persons case is related to a curse." Once they were inside and alone, Qin Zi spoke up.
"A curse? Is it..." Lin Ze immediately thought of the curse of resentment.
"It is the source of all curses, but not all curses are it. You should know the essence of a curse, right?"
After Lin Ze nodded, Qin Zi continued, "It absorbs and mixes all negative emotions together, but most curses are born from a single type, like the one we're dealing with now."
"Have you heard of the Gap Woman, Lin Ze?"
"Gap Woman?" Lin Ze thought for a moment; he seemed to have some impression but hadn't paid much attention, only knowing that she was a woman who lived in the gaps, peering at others with half her face exposed.
"Yes, the Gap Woman, a curse born from people's fear of the unknown darkness in the gaps. This curse doesn't directly harm people at first; it hides in all the gaps, watching humans, creating a sense of being watched without being able to detect it. The prolonged mental fear is its sustenance. As more people began to feel watched, when the first victim mentally collapsed and died, it attached itself to their corpse, thus the Gap Woman was born. The Gap Woman isn't necessarily female; it changes bodies every time it kills someone, but it seems to prefer females, perhaps because they provide more fear."
"I heard about it years ago, but at that time, this curse was still weak, and we happened to be facing a bigger problem, so we didn't have the time to look for it. Just now, I sensed resentment in all the gaps, but none outside the gaps."
It sounded tricky; if it could appear in any gap, how could they catch it? There were no restrictions? "Sister Qin, how do we catch her?"
"This time, you take action. I want to see how far you and Hachishaku can go. As for how to catch her, you'll need to let her catch you first." Qin Zi called Lin Ze over to educate him on the differences in curses and to see how he and Hachishaku performed without constraints.