In this dilapidated Walled City, newspapers once laid on the ground by the homeless now flutter and drift through the air.
Wisps of incense smoke spiral upward, shrouding the darkness in a haze of gray.
A forgotten corner of the city—a sunken area referred to by the elders as a forbidden zone. To enter it is to invite every vice in the world into your heart and condemn yourself to a wretched purgatory of your own creation.
At least that's what the elders and the TV say.
Kong: Alright, get her bag first, and let's see what's inside. Take the cash and her pens and books and stuff.
An-an Lee: ...
Kong: Let go, you little punk!
The boy kicks her hard, sending her crashing to the floor.
Her backpack is ripped from her grasp and thrown to the ground.
Kong: Yo, Chunk, hold her by the shoulders, real tight like. This city girl's guarding her bag like it's made of gold or something.
Chunk: If there's food in there, I got dibs on half of it.
Chunk leans forward and clamps her wrists.
Kong picks up the backpack and tips out its contents onto the ground.
He flings the empty backpack into the bushes.
Kong: Heh, what do we have here? Cling film, cleaning stuff, some talisman paper, a wooden sword, and a lousy book.
Kong: Tch, what a load of worthless crap.
He gives her possessions a few uninterested glances before finally dropping them to the ground.
Kong: Gah, not even a single penny.
Chunk: Tch, I thought she'd have something, easy. Guess she's just playing dress-up, huh?
The grip on An-an's wrists loosens.
She holds her head high, unfazed by the threat looming over her.
An-an Lee: Hey, big guy. This ghost you said you'd take me to see, it's somewhere around here, right?
Kong: Huh? The hell she talking about?! Her brain's gotta be fried.
Chunk: ...
He neither denies nor confirms it.
An-an Lee drops to the ground, narrowing her eyes as she scans the dilapidated buildings around her.
Kong: Hey, what's up with you? You tripping or something?
She turns her attention from the door of the building to the narrow space between the two adjacent skyscrapers.
She takes a step back, then another, until she can see the whole scene clearly.
An-an Lee: This is ...!
She drops to her knees, the dirt pressing into her skin, and frantically opens the book lying on the ground.
She turns page after page.
An-an Lee: "Tian Zhan Sha"?
An-an Lee: No worries, still got time. Let me check.
The sky darkens as a mass of black clouds rushes in, choking the moonlight.
The lights hanging in the hallway begin to flicker.
The eerie contraption flashes with a vivid red warning.
An-an Lee: Hmm, that's not right. The book didn't say it would happen this fast.
An-an Lee: Hey! Dumbasses! Get over to the light, quick! "They" are coming for us!
Chunk: What are you talking ab—
A hand drops onto his shoulder.
???: Wooooo ...
???: I will &*$# ... all of you.
An-an Lee: Run!
She levies a swift and brutal kick to his back.
Kong & Chunk: Ahhhhhhhh!
The youngsters scramble into a corner, desperate for somewhere to hide.
The young, self-taught exorcist crouches down, clutching her peach-wood sword.
An-an Lee: panting
COMBAT
He runs a hand through his messy hair and pulls at the yellow collar of his grubby shirt. He oozes the foul scent of booze from the previous night.
???: This is ...
His toes, which are hanging past the edge of his flip-flops, brush against the book lying on the floor.
Strange Man: Tsk, that baldy really just went ahead and sold this thing at some street stall.
Strange Man: The nerve of that guy. Totally shameless. One day he's gonna find himself in more trouble than he can handle, and there'll be no way out of it.
He brushes the dirt off the book and stuffs it into his pocket.
An-an Lee: Hey, old man! What's the big idea, huh? That 13 Holy Exorcism Techniques is mine, you hear me!
Strange Man: ...
He pulls the book from his ragged coat and dangles it by two fingers like bait.
An-an Lee: Hey. Hey! Gimme that back ah!
She leaps up, her hands outstretched, yet the book remains just beyond her grasp.
Strange Man: Your little ghost-hunting game's over, girlie.
*rrrrip*
He tears the book in two and then into four. White scraps of paper spiral down into the darkness of the lower levels beneath them.
An-an Lee: N-No!
She charges forward without a second thought, only to be firmly restrained.
An-an Lee: What's your deal, huh? Let me go! That book's mine!
Strange Man: What's my deal? That book's filled with a bunch of made-up crap. You'll get yourself into some real trouble if you believe even a word of it! I should know. I'm the one who wrote the damn thing! Almost lost my mind doing it!
An-an Lee: Huh?
Strange Man: "... In the end, ghosts are just the product of collective imagination and mass hysteria."
Strange Man: "They're nothing but a form of energy, shaped by what you imagine them to be, like wind, radiation, or even bad gas, just a kind of energy you can't see."
Strange Man: "That's why ghosts in different parts of the world are so distinct."
Strange Man: Got it?
His words match those in the book exactly.
An-an Lee: What?! No way! You're Demi-Divine Chen, the guy who could see spirits at five and started exorcizing evil at eight?! Didn't all those arcanists say you were pushing up daisies already?
An-an Lee: Hey, your eyes work just fine, don't they?
An-an Lee: Hey, hey, Sifu! Where you running off to?!
Chen quickens his pace, trying to escape before he draws any more attention.
An-an Lee: Hey, Sifu, how about it? You gonna take me on as your apprentice or not?! I've been dreaming of learning from you for ages! I got cash saved up! I can pay tuition!!
As she tugs on his clothing, the man stops.
Strange Man: It's the middle of the night, kiddo. Keep it down. Look, I don't do apprentices, so you should just head home.
Strange Man: Exorcism ain't child's play. You're just a kid. You looking to shorten your lifespan? Ever seen a dead body before? You think it's all just fun and games?
Strange Man: This racket'll kill ya!
The girl cocks her head.
An-an Lee: Eh? Of course, I know all that. I'm not scared! Not one bit! That's exactly why I should be doing this stuff!
A brief flash of surprise flickers in his eyes, but only for a moment.
He wrenches himself free from the small hand clinging to his clothes and slips into a narrow alley.
Strange Man: Go get your head checked at the department of neurology!
An-an Lee: Wait!