“How - how are you, officer?” The man asked Marcus with a wry smile: “You had a long day? You look tired.”

  “Yeah, not that bad, just held up by some - some extra stuff.” Marodded at the man, who actually appeared way more tired than he was. “You seem - not that good. What happened? ”

  “Oh - oh - it’s okay. I just - did not get much sleep retly.” The man sighed and put the pstic bag down: “I - I wao say thank you. For me and for my sisters - after what happened, we’ve been having nightmares almost every night. No matter how many talismans and blessed items we p our apartment, none of them could help. At least - not until we got that crimson - got that talisman from you.” The man lowered his voice, as if he was worried that the neighbors would hear him.

  “Oh? You did not really mention nightmares the other day.” Marodded.

  “It’s not really something I’d want t up. Without knowing…” The man shook his head, then raised his pstic bag: “ I - I catch up with you after I get rid of these? I’m going to burn it, as the master suggested.”

  “Burn it? These are your father’s?” Marodded: “Okay - let me walk down with you. You have something to tell me?”

  “Yes, actually.” The man sighed and walked dowairs along with Marcus: “And I want to say thank you, again. Because of you my sisters could finally get some sleep. ”

  “But you didn’t?”

  “I mean - ever since what happened, all of us were scared shitless.” The man yawned and then sighed again: “So - I stayed up all night. But looks like things are gettier soon.”

  “Well, I’m gd I could help. And - excuse me for asking, which master did you go to?” Marcus asked.

  “Well, Master Shi - the famous fortueller.” The man rubbed his temples: “He told me that it’s a good sign the nightmares have stopped. He even took a look at the talisman - ”

  “Wait - you showed this Master Shi the talisman I gave you?” Marcus had to cut the man off.

  “Yeah - kinda - because I was not sure if it was going to st - and you and your father are not home .” The man shook his head again: “I had to go ask someone. And I checked, the Temple of Fetfulness was quite far away, I ’t leave my sisters home for too long, so…”

  “Okay, don’t do that ime. I guess I don’t have to remind you how precious that talisman is.” Marodded, frowning: “If that ‘Master Shi’ does not have your best i at heart - ”

  “I uand, officer, really. I just o find someoh experiend expertise.” The man opened up the pstic bag as they reached the bottom of the building and headed toward ara rge metal trash with ashes and other unburems inside. “And - I asked around, Master Shi has a det reputation ireets. He did not try to take this talisman for himself, and his charge is reasonable. ”

  “That’s - good.”

  “He just told me it should be pced firmly at the South-East er of the apartment. And we should p inse burner beside our door to help se whatever foul energy that might seep into our pce.”

  Marcus shrugged, per his knowledge and experiehe instru on the pt of the talisman is correct, he just did not know what the inse burner by the door was about.

  “And - I guess thanks to the little insurance policy my father got some time back, my sisters and I finally gather enough moo leave.” The man put the clothes into the trash then took out a small piece of solid alcohol ed in paper tissues from the pstic bag and threw it in as well. He lit the liquid alcohol up with a small match, then waited by the side: “It’s not easy. We will miss this pce. But there’s basically nothing for us here.”

  “Well, gratutions.” Marcus smiled: “It’s not an easy choiake. Must have taken you a lot of sideration and effort.”

  “Thank you, hehehe. It’s not that hard a choice, after everything. ” The man chuckled and stretched: “Our home is the only thing keeping us here. And right now our father’s gone, and none of us has any deep attat to the city. So - we just sell our apartment to pay for the tax a up food life elsewhere.”

  “I wish you a bright future away from here. And be safe.” Marodded as old man’s clothes were gradually swallowed by the fmes.

  “There’s something I o tell you, officer. And I hope it could help. Now that we have a clear way forward, I hope to offer at least a little help to someone here.”

  “Okay, shoot.”

  “My father was found by THE dumpster. Well - not really by it, but he was found near it.” The man took a deep breath and said. The fmes irash went low and jumped up at the mention of “THE dumpster”, as if it was something utterly taboo.

  “What do you mean?”

  “THE dumpster.” The man leaned in with his voice lowered: “The cursed dumpster ? The one where they found pieces of a woman that many years ago?”

  Mararrowed his eyes: “Wait, which cursed dumpster? I - I don’t actually remember - ”

  “The Dumpster of Big Sister Yi. Yixiang Zhuge.”