The next sign came at 5:12 AM. Precise. Unmistakable. His phone buzzed. A message from Ruan Qing.
Are you awake?
Chen Lu looked at the screen. Then—another message.
Something's wrong.
He stood immediately. No hesitation. No delay.
"What happened?" he typed.
The reply came instantly.
Where are you.
I'm sending you the location. Come now.
A pin dropped.
Chen Lu grabbed his jacket. Didn't think. Didn't hesitate.
---
The place was small. A convenience store. Open 24 hours. Bright lights. Normal. Completely normal. That was the problem.
Ruan Qing stood outside. Leaning against a pole. Her expression—tight. Controlled. But not calm.
"Can you feel it?" she said as he approached.
Chen Lu nodded once. "…It's inside."
"Yes."
She hesitated slightly. Then—"…I can't see anything."
"That doesn't mean it's not there."
"I know."
They stood there for a second. Neither moving. Then—Chen Lu walked in.
---
The bell above the door rang. Sharp. Clear. Normal. The cashier glanced up. Bored. Unaware. A customer in the back. Scrolling on his phone. Nothing strange. Nothing wrong.
But everything was slightly off.
Chen Lu stepped forward. Slow. Careful.
The presence reacted immediately.
"…It's here," he said quietly.
Ruan Qing stayed near the entrance. Watching him. Watching everything. Even if she couldn't see it.
The air flickered. Subtle. Quick. Then—a sound. From the back of the store. A bottle falling. Shattering.
The customer flinched. Looked down. Confused. "I didn't touch that," he said.
The cashier sighed. "Then who did?"
Chen Lu was already moving. Toward the back. The pressure increased with each step. Heavy. Crushing. Just present. Closer.
"…Stay here," he said to Ruan Qing.
---
The back aisle was narrow. Dimmer. Quieter.
The broken bottle lay on the floor. Liquid spreading. Glass scattered. The customer stood nearby. Uneasy.
"…It just fell," he said again.
Chen Lu nodded slightly. "I know."
He stepped closer. The presence tightened. Focused on him.
"…What are you doing here?" Chen Lu said quietly.
No response. But the air shifted. Recognition. Again. The same as before. The same as the building.
Chen Lu crouched slightly. Observing the broken glass.
The liquid on the floor was wrong. It didn't spread naturally. It paused. Stopped. Then moved again.
Chen Lu's eyes narrowed slightly. "…What do you want?" he said.
The air flickered. Sharper this time. More unstable. The lights above buzzed. Flickered once. Twice. Then steadied.
The customer stepped back. "…I don't like this," he muttered.
Chen Lu stood slowly. "…Neither do I."
But he didn't leave. Because now—he understood something.
This wasn't random. It was testing him. Like it reacted to him. It was doing the same thing here. Learning. Probing. Seeing what it could affect.
Chen Lu stepped forward again. Closer to the spill. The pressure increased. Not pushing him away. Just watching. Waiting.
"…Then let's try something else," he said quietly.
He reached out. Not to the glass. Not to the liquid. To the space above it.
The air reacted instantly. Sharper. Tighter. More focused. The lights flickered again—harder this time.
The cashier looked up. "Hey—what's going on with the lights?"
No one answered.
Chen Lu's hand moved closer—the same resistance. The same thin barrier. But weaker. Less stable.
"…You're thinner here," he murmured.
The presence reacted. Not violently. But defensively. The air compressed slightly. The liquid on the floor stopped moving. Completely. Like something froze it in place.
Chen Lu didn't stop. His hand moved closer—closer—then contact.
This time—different. Not as strong. Not as controlled.
The moment it happened—the lights went out. Total darkness.
The customer shouted. "What the—?!"
The cashier cursed. "What happened?!"
Ruan Qing's voice cut through the dark. "Chen Lu!"
He didn't answer.
Because in that darkness—he saw it clearly.
A shape. Thin. Stretched. Connected. Not to the store—but beyond it. Like a thread pulled too far. Linking back. Somewhere else. Somewhere deeper.
The building. The seventeen. The source.
"…So that's it," he whispered.
The thing reacted. Sharp. Immediate. The pressure surged—but unstable.
Chen Lu pushed. The thread shuddered. Flickered—then snapped back. Violently.
The lights came back on. Instant. Bright. Blinding for a second.
Everything was normal. The liquid spread naturally. The glass lay still. No movement. No distortion. No presence.
Gone.
The customer blinked. "…Did the power just cut?"
The cashier frowned. "Must've."
Ruan Qing was already at Chen Lu's side. "…What happened?"
Chen Lu didn't answer immediately. He was staring at the floor. At the place where the distortion had been.
"…It's reaching," he said quietly.
Ruan Qing's expression tightened. "Reaching for what?"
He looked up. Calm. Certain. Silence. That word settled heavier than anything else.
"…From the building?" she asked.
Chen Lu nodded once. "Yes."
"And you just—what—cut it?"
"No." He shook his head slightly. "…I interrupted it."
That was worse.
Ruan Qing exhaled slowly. "…So it can do this anywhere now?"
Chen Lu didn't answer right away. Because he wasn't sure.
But then—"…Not anywhere," he said.
She looked at him. "Then where?"
He glanced at his hand. Then at her.
"…Where it's already touched."
Silence. That answer was worse than the question.
Ruan Qing's voice lowered slightly. "…Including you."
Chen Lu didn't deny it. Because that was already obvious.
He turned toward the exit. "…This isn't spreading randomly," he said. "It's choosing."
They walked out together. The morning light was starting to rise. Normal. Calm.
But now—they knew.
This wasn't contained. Not anymore. Not completely. And whatever was inside that building was no longer staying there.
It was reaching out. Testing the world. And it would go out every time Chen Lu fell asleep.
Worst of all, it had already found its first anchor.
Chen Lu.
---
Chen Lu didn't sleep that night.
Not because he couldn't. Because the presence was still there. Inside him. At the edge of his perception. Constant. Quiet. Watching.
He sat by the window. City lights flickering outside. Time passing without meaning.
Every now and then, that flicker would come back. That thin overlap. That residue. Each time clearer. Closer. More stable.
"…Are you enjoying this?" he muttered.
---
At 3:00 AM, the air shifted. Immediately.
The temperature dropped. The lights dimmed. The reflection in the window changed.
The woman in grey appeared out of nowhere.
"You have become part of it," she said.
Chen Lu didn't turn around. "I know."
"You carry it now."
"I know."
"The seal is weakening because of you."
He finally turned. The reflection didn't change. She was still there. Standing where his shadow should have been.
"Then help me fix it," he said.
"We cannot."
"You said that before."
"It remains true."
Chen Lu stood. Walked toward the window. Toward her reflection.
"Then what can you do?"
She was silent for a moment. Then—"We can offer a choice."
---
The room shifted. The space around him changed. The walls faded. The floor dissolved. He was no longer in his apartment.
He was in the hall. The endless hall. The court. The Hell Court.
But different this time. Not empty. The woman in grey stood before him. And behind her—the other judges. Figures in grey. Same stillness. Same unreadable eyes. Nine judges.
The court had gathered.
"You have broken the quarantine," one of them said. "You have become the anchor."
Chen Lu didn't deny it.
"The presence is no longer contained," another said. "It is reaching through you."
"Then cut it."
"We cannot."
"Then why are you here?"
The woman in grey stepped forward. Closer than before.
"To offer you a choice," she said. "The same choice we offered the seventeen."
Chen Lu's eyes narrowed. "Containment."
"Yes."
"You want to seal me away."
"We want to stop the spread."
"Same thing."
She didn't deny it.
---
The hall was silent. The judges watched. Waiting.
Chen Lu looked at his hands. At the residue he could feel but not see. At the thing that had touched him and wouldn't let go.
"What happens if I refuse?" he asked.
"Then the presence continues to spread," the woman in grey said. "Through you. Beyond you. Until nothing is left."
He looked up. "And if I agree to be sealed, will I become like the seventeen?"
Everything and everyone was quiet for a long moment.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Chen Lu smirked.
Then—"No."
The judges shifted. The woman in grey didn't.
"You refuse," she said.
"I refuse containment. For me. For them."
"Then you condemn yourself and everyone on Earth."
"Maybe." He stepped forward. "But I'm not them. I'm not empty. I'm not preserved. I'm still here. And I'm not going to let you lock me away because you're afraid of what I might become."
The woman in grey looked at him for a long time.
Then—"So be it."
The court faded. The hall dissolved. The apartment returned.
Chen Lu was alone.
But the presence was still there.
And now—it was closer.
---
The reflection moved.
Chen Lu's face in the glass was not his own. Not entirely. The expression was wrong. The eyes were wrong. They were watching him. Not with him.
Then—it spoke.
Not aloud. Inside his head. That same thought. That same presence.
"You are different."
Chen Lu didn't flinch.
"You do not break."
"I've been dead for years," he said. "Nothing left to break."
"You refused them."
"They wanted to lock me away."
"They are afraid."
"I know."
"Of you. Of what you are becoming."
Chen Lu looked at the reflection. At the thing wearing his face.
"Then you're afraid too."
The reflection paused. Just for a second.
"…Yes."
That was the first time it admitted anything.
---
Chen Lu stepped closer to the glass. The reflection didn't step back.
"Why are you here?" he asked. "Why the seventeen? Why the building? Why me?"
Silence. Then—"I am forgotten."
The words pressed into his mind. Heavy. Old.
"I existed before the court. Before judgment. Before consequence. I was not meant to be seen nor to be touched. I was meant to fade."
"But you didn't."
"No. I was contained."
"By the court."
"By fear."
Chen Lu let that sit.
"You're not a ghost. Not a demon. Not a spirit. What are you?"
The reflection shifted. The eyes—his eyes—darkened.
"I am what remains when everything else is taken. Memory. Self. The line between living and dead. I do not kill. I do not judge. I erode."
"Until nothing is left."
"Yes."
"Like the seventeen."
"They touched me. I did not choose them. They found me."
Chen Lu's voice lowered. "And me?"
The reflection was silent for a moment.
Then—"You found me."
---
Something shifted in the room. The pressure changed. Different.
"You want something?" Chen Lu said.
"I want to understand."
"Understand what?"
"You."
The word hung there. Strange. Almost vulnerable.
"You were dead. But remained. You defended the dead. You judged the living. You touched me and did not break. You carry me and do not fade."
A pause.
"Why?"
Chen Lu thought about it. About Lin Yue. About Li Na. About Chen Hao. About the seventeen. About all the ones who had come and gone.
"Because someone has to," he said.
The reflection was still.
"That is not the answer I seek."
"It's the only one I have. Take it or leave it."
---
The room returned to normal.
The reflection matched his face again. His expression. His eyes.
But the presence was still there. Still inside him.
Chen Lu stepped back from the window.
"Now what?" he asked.
No answer. The thing didn't speak. Didn't press. Didn't retreat.
It just stayed.
Watching.
Waiting.
Learning.
Chen Lu exhaled slowly.
"…I'll be damned."
---
The morning light began to rise. Chen Lu stood by the window. The city waking up outside. Normal. Ordinary.
They didn't know about the seventeen. About the presence. About the quarantine. About the thing inside him now.
They didn't need to.
That was the point. Someone else carries it for them.
---
Somewhere far away, outside this realm, outside the river of time, a 5-year-old boy.
The three coffins floated around him. Inside them, his family slept. He looked at them for a long time. Then he looked past them. Through the void. Through the layers of time and space.
A small smile was pasted on his face.
"Interesting," he said. "Very interesting."
He leaned back. His eyes never left the image of the dead lawyer standing by the window.
End of Ghost Lawyer (Book 2)