I'm afraid of ghosts.
That was the thought occupying Gu Luo's entire mind the next morning. He had woken up a little earlier than necessary to put his thoughts in order, but he had failed to stop thinking about it.
Hán Jǐnghóng's description of the mission had everything to make it sound like the mission of an ecclesiastic sent to exorcise a vampire, and that did not reassure him at all.
Did ghosts really exist?
Gu Luo did not believe in ghosts or supernatural manifestations. Of course, when he was younger, he had constantly been afraid of the monster under his bed or a shadow watching him from inside his closet. But those monsters always turned out to be one of his dirty clothes that, in the darkness, took on a frightening appearance.
As time went by, he had, like every child, abandoned the world of fairy tales to fully enter reality.
The monsters and ghosts had then disappeared from his life, replaced by monsters that were even more frightening and undeniably real. So much so that the monsters of his childhood paled in comparison to their malice.
But Hán Jǐnghóng's description of the mission gave him the impression that ghosts really existed, or at least something resembling them.
Even though he did not want to believe it, these things could very well be real. If the VEIL really had the operational capabilities it boasted about, it would not be surprising if ghosts existed but the VEIL took care of making them disappear.
The old memories of their existence dating back several centuries would then have been passed down from generation to generation, and despite the VEIL's precautions, that would be how the population came to know of their existence.
According to this reasoning, it would mean that the information passed down by word of mouth concerning these supernatural manifestations was probably inaccurate and therefore must have exaggerated reality.
This thought reassured Gu Luo a little.
However, the information concerning them could just as easily have been minimized and lost over the years.
Gu Luo preferred not to think about such a possibility.
"We're here."
Gu Luo was so lost in his thoughts that he had not noticed that several dozen minutes had passed.
They were in a small town whose activity seemed extremely limited and contained. There was not a soul in the streets.
Leolia had stopped the car in a narrow alley. All the shutters on the surrounding buildings were closed. In front of them, a Karaoke sign was flickering with a pale red light.
"Let me out!" Lǐ Xīnyí rushed out of the car, stepping on Shěn Yán, who was sitting to her right. He groaned as he was shoved aside. "Ahhhhhhhh..." Lǐ Xīnyí stretched for a long time.
Shěn Yán got out after her.
"Did you really have to step on me? Couldn't you have waited until I got out?"
"Humpf!" Lǐ Xīnyí did not even bother answering him.
Gu Luo opened the door to his right and got out of the vehicle. Yoeel, who was in the passenger seat, also got out, while Leolia rummaged around in the dashboard for a few moments before getting out herself and locking the car.
"Ahhhhhhhhh..." Leolia raised her arms into the air and stretched for a long time.
Lǐ Xīnyí called out to Leolia. "Why did we need to come in the same car? Can't the VEIL provide us with a designated driver..."
"I don't think the VEIL has that much money..." Leolia looked at Shěn Yán, who had just answered her with a dark look, and turned on her heel to walk toward the entrance of the karaoke.
"Let's have a little fun." Everyone followed Leolia, who pushed open the door and entered.
At the counter, Leolia collected the key to a room from an old woman. Leolia headed toward the hallway on her right, following the direction indicated by the old woman. They all followed her into the poorly lit hallways, where the carpet smelled of dust.
Once inside the room, Gu Luo's gaze wandered around him. It was the first time he had entered a karaoke room.
As a child, he had always looked at the storefronts but had never been able to enter one.
The room was illuminated by multiple colors from dozens of LEDs arranged on the ceilings and walls. Looking more closely, he realized that two of the four walls were actually giant mirrors. These reflected even more of the LED lights, giving the room a surreal atmosphere.
A large coffee table stood in front of an even larger couch. A wireless microphone lay on the table.
Around it, a few cushions were scattered carelessly across the couch, while small speakers were installed in the corners of the room. The music coming from them was loud enough to make the floor vibrate slightly, but not enough to cover their conversations.
Everyone sat down on the couch and Leolia took out the mission report again and began to read it.
Meanwhile, Lǐ Xīnyí, who was beginning to get impatient, took the tablet lying on the coffee table and scrolled through the song suggestions.
Gu Luo, Yoeel, and Shěn Yán watched her do it with a sigh.
Leolia put the mission order down with a sigh and slumped into the couch. "Well, I think we have nothing else to do..."
Lǐ Xīnyí, who was all smiles, chose a trending song and began to sing.