Chapter 55: The Seance

“...What should we do?”

Walking out of the dining hall, Inspector Lestrade came up beside Levi and asked in a low voice.

By logic, they should have been finding an excuse to leave right now, then sneak around to investigate.

After all, everyone in this inn was going to attend that so-called seance, which meant the other places would definitely be empty.

But the problem was...

this group of people really looked like they were about to summon a BOSS to unleash an ultimate skill.

Even Inspector Lestrade felt a little uneasy.

In the past, he never believed in such things.

But now… that was another story.

“Let’s see what trick they’re playing.”

Levi did not think this was a good chance to investigate.

He was more concerned about this so-called seance.

As for searching, that could wait until late at night when everyone was asleep.

After all, the house was here and would not run away.

If it came to it, Levi already had a plan: let Inspector Lestrade return and report to the Tax Bureau.

They would surely be more than happy to come and “negotiate” with this group of tax evaders.

At that point, they could just slap a seal on the place and close it for ten days or half a month.

Then wouldn’t they be able to investigate however they liked?

After all, the monk might run, but the temple couldn’t.

Levi didn’t believe this house could grow legs and escape.

But if something happened during the seance, then it would be trouble.

Levi would rather rely on the Tax Bureau to seal the house than let a murder case occur.

Unfortunately, this world still didn’t have silencers.

Levi had actually asked Benjamin about it before.

He preferred silent killing tools.

Revolvers certainly looked intimidating, but when it came to actually pulling the trigger, Levi really didn’t want to expose himself.

If he could silently deal with his opponent, wasn’t that better than going head-to-head in a gunfight?

Benjamin found Levi’s requests and ideas quite interesting, but Levi couldn’t explain the details.

He wasn’t a weapons enthusiast.

Sure, he had held a few guns before, and during trips abroad he had shot some for fun.

But that was only for fun—he had no plans to make guns.

Who knew the technical principles behind them?

So Levi just described a few things he remembered from the internet, half-guessing, and let Benjamin figure it out.

He had already noticed—Benjamin was the type who feared peace and quiet, probably dedicating his whole life to researching and building stronger, deadlier weapons.

Who knew, maybe one day he would even stumble his way into making an atomic bomb.

After making his decision, Levi and Inspector Lestrade followed the others into the recreation room.

At this time, all the windows had been shut and curtains drawn.

In the center was a round table, probably used for playing cards normally, but right now a spirit board had been placed upon it.

Seeing this, Levi raised his eyebrows.

A spirit board was just a rectangular wooden board carved with letters and numbers, plus a “Yes” and “No.”

This was basically the predecessor of the “Pen Fairy” game in horror films—or rather, the “Pen Fairy” was derived from this.

The process was the same: everyone gathered around, placed their fingers on the planchette, and invited spirits to answer their questions.

There was a reason why this became so popular.

Everyone thought they weren’t moving their fingers, but the planchette still slid around on its own.

That made people curious, excited, and thrilled.

Of course, scientific research suggested it was closer to mass hypnosis.

You thought you weren’t moving, but in fact you were unconsciously applying pressure with your finger.

Of course, this was just a scientific hypothesis.

No one could say for sure.

But this thing… in China, it would be difficult to pull off.

That seances originated in the West wasn’t without reason.

With just 26 letters, the digits 1–0, plus “Yes” and “No,” the space required was minimal.

Japan had modified it, replacing the alphabet with the 50 kana.

But if Levi tried this here? How would it work?

With pinyin and tones? What if the spirit messed around with homophones?

With Wubi input? Nowadays hardly anyone knew Wubi, let alone ghosts.

Directly with characters? Thousands of them.

How big would the board have to be to fit them? Even if you carved them all, the thing would be as big as a banquet table.

Movies sometimes cheated by letting the ghost write characters directly—but if a ghost could already write, then why did you need the board? Wouldn’t using a phone be more convenient?

So really, it would be easier if the ghost just came in a dream.

This foreign invention simply didn’t fit the “national conditions” of China.

These things depended on cultural context.

Psychologists were the same.

If you had trouble at work, a psychologist would only tell you to be tolerant, adjust your mentality, treat people kindly, or maybe change jobs.

In the end, you spent money, wasted time, and still felt miserable.

What was the point?

Better to spend fifty yuan on a fortune-teller.

They would praise you as a “dragon among men,” say that you were only suffering from petty villains for now, but if you endured you would soon soar like a carp leaping the dragon gate.

As for those villains? They would die miserable deaths.

Now wasn’t that much more satisfying to hear?

Psychology, from a certain perspective, was just another form of metaphysics—not much different from fortune-telling.

If anything, fortune-tellers provided better customer service.

Why else had so many emperors and officials in ancient times liked fortune-telling, or gone to temples and monasteries to chant scriptures? In truth, it was to treat their psychological issues.

If you talked about psychology, those abbots and Taoist priests of the past might well have been considered top psychologists today.

After all, they had honed their skills through life-and-death practice.

Modern experts couldn’t match that.

While Levi’s thoughts wandered, the people at the table had already begun.

Under the manager’s instructions, the newlywed couple, the middle-aged man, and two maids sat around the table, along with the old lady medium and the manager himself.

Levi and Inspector Lestrade, however, stayed on the sidelines—if something went wrong, they could intervene.

The manager didn’t seem to mind.

The others looked somewhat uneasy, but said nothing.

Levi sat on the sofa by the window, while Inspector Lestrade, with tacit understanding, stood guard at the door.

Outside, it had begun to rain.

Even through the windows, they could hear the gusting wind, the “pitter-patter” of raindrops against the glass, and occasional low rumbles of thunder.

Hmm… if nothing else, this scene practically screamed “ghost story.”

The atmosphere was set—if nothing supernatural happened, it would feel like a waste of all this effort.

“All right. Turn off the lights.”

At the manager’s command, the maid turned off the lamps.

Only a single candle in the center of the round table remained, its dim flame flickering unsteadily.

This was why many people thought seances were just hypnosis.

In a dark room with only a single flame, everyone’s attention would fixate on it.

Add in the chanting of spirit-summoning incantations, and with just a little trickery, it was easy to create a hypnotic effect.

But to Levi, the simplest method was to push the planchette yourself and deny it.

While pushing hard, you could shout in surprise, “Hey! I didn’t move! Why is it moving on its own?” … The easiest and hardest to expose.

After all, it wasn’t like anyone would hook you up to a lie detector for a ghost game.

At this moment, the old lady medium told everyone to extend one finger onto the round planchette—a bowl-sized wooden piece with a hole in the middle.

Then she closed her eyes and began chanting gibberish in some unknown language.

Levi had nothing better to do, so he leaned back on the sofa and activated 【Soul Sight】.

He wanted to see whether this seance was real or fake.

If it was fake, fine.

But if it was real… that would be trouble.

The room was pitch-black.

In Levi’s eyes, the only lights were the white souls of the people around the table—and Inspector Lestrade leaning by the door.

Levi paid special attention to the manager; his soul also glowed white.

At least on the surface, nothing seemed amiss.

“Jibber-jabber… jibber-jabber… jibber-jabber!”

The medium’s chanting grew louder, like a wailing cry.

At the same time, Levi suddenly noticed changes in the surroundings.

Through 【Soul Sight】, the dark objects around began faintly glowing with light.

It wasn’t bright, but enough to notice.

Then, Levi felt the air growing colder, and even heard the howl of icy wind.

“Wooooooo…”

A chill wind drifted from afar.

The people at the table noticed something too, looking around nervously.

Then, the old lady medium spoke again.

“O soul slumbering here, heed my call! Grant us your wisdom…”

The moment she spoke, a strange thing happened.

Levi’s eyes widened in shock.

From the direction of the door, a white human figure “floated” in! It passed right by Inspector Lestrade—yet he showed no reaction at all!

Was there really a ghost?!

Levi was stunned.

He had seen many monsters before, but this was his first time seeing a ghost.

Under the gaze of 【Soul Sight】, the white figure drifted toward the table.

Was this real? Did ghosts truly exist in this world?

Levi was dumbfounded.

He was even considering whether he should draw his gun and shoot the thing when—

“RUMMMMBLE———!”

With an explosive thunderclap, blinding white light burst forth, piercing through the black curtains and flooding the entire room in dazzling brilliance.

And then, a bloodcurdling scream split the air!

“AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!”

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