Immediately after Kaahn finished speaking, she climbed up to the ceiling like a gecko, then contorted herself into an extremely bizarre position to squeeze into a ceiling crevice, disappearing in that strange manner.
Sure enough, this loli Kaahn is a ghost. What Fat Kaahn lacks, Loli Kaahn possesses!
Stein said this fat Kaahn must have only recently become a spirit entity. Her frantic pursuit of Gennaro for that kind of activity was likely to enhance her cultivation - similar to how ghosts absorb life essence. As for why she specifically targeted Gennaro, he didn't know.
As for this Loli Kaahn, she's probably a malevolent spirit. Though she shares the same body as the pig demon, logically she shouldn't be able to enter Gennaro's room - unlike fat Kaahn. Stein noticed Loli Kaahn's expression and eyes were brimming with malignant energy; she's capable of killing.
These are all unanswered questions leaving us bewildered. Indeed, the Erebus profiteer profession requires experience - why else are all the masters elderly? Even Stein, who followed my grandfather for years, doesn't understand this situation.
Enough speculation. Gennaro fled earlier and we don't know where he went. We need to find him quickly - if anything happens, we're responsible since we're the ones who asked him to bring Kaahn here.
I told Stein to contact him, but countless WeChat messages went unanswered - calls too. Stein doesn't have his phone number, so we split up to search the neighborhood but found nothing all night.
At midnight, we returned to his place to wait. Two hours passed with no sign of him. I checked the clock - already 2 AM.
Yawning, I said "Fuck this waiting" and suggested returning to the tattoo parlor to continue tomorrow.
Exhausted, the three of us took a cab back. After showering, I immediately burrowed under the blankets, passing out the moment my eyes closed - completely drained.
But in my groggy half-sleep, I suddenly awoke to a "da da da da" sound - like marbles bouncing repeatedly on the floor.
My tattoo parlor has no children - where would marbles come from? And who'd play with marbles in the middle of the night? Especially under my bed?
"Antonio! Stein!" I couldn't even process this!
I bolted upright, realizing the marble sounds continued... coming from beneath my bed.
Da... da... da...
The marbles kept rattling in bursts, so eerily that the sound made me shiver uncontrollably.
I gulped, unable to suppress my nervousness. I checked the time—already past three in the morning—but the eerie atmosphere sent chills down my spine. To confirm I wasn't dreaming, I pinched my thigh hard, the sharp pain making me suck in a breath.
No, this wasn't a dream!
Finally gathering my courage, I got out of bed, turned on the light, and bent down to look underneath it.
What I saw left me even more unnerved. The space under the bed was clean—nothing but a little dust. No marbles, no objects.
So where was that marble sound coming from? I scratched my head in frustration as the noise persisted, needling my eardrums like sharp pins.
Then, suddenly, the da-da-da stopped.
But a single marble rolled through the doorway, click-clacking across the floor before coming to rest at my feet.
I stared at the dark doorway. Something felt off—like it was a strange black hole ready to swallow me whole.
Still, this was my home. Maybe it was just my nerves. I brushed it off, focusing instead on the marble. Why had it rolled in? And whose was it?
I picked it up, examining it closely. The glass surface was smooth, crystal-clear, mirror-like.
For a moment, I felt an odd urge to play with it—but then, an overwhelming fear gripped me. My hand trembled, and the marble slipped from my fingers.
Da… da… da…
I froze in terror.
Because… in the marble's reflection, I saw a child perched on my shoulder.
Its face was ghastly, mouth smeared with blood. It lay against me, grinning eerily.
What the—? Since when was there a child on my shoulder? Was this some kind of haunting?
Then I remembered Antonio's warning—he'd seen a child at the window. A ghost.
Now I was certain. The tattoo parlor was haunted. And the ghost on my shoulder… was laughing. A low, creeping "heh… heh… heh…" grew louder.
I didn't dare move. Slowly, inch by inch, I turned my head—until I met the ghost's hollow gaze.
I saw it clearly now. It stared back with a single eye—the other socket empty, a rotting worm crawling out.
"Uncle… can you pick up my eye?" the little ghost whispered, then pointed at the marble on the floor.
My blood ran cold.
That thing I'd been holding… was its eyeball?
But… wasn't that a marble?
I recoiled in horror from the eyeball at my feet, quickly backing away several steps. But as I moved, the eyeball rolled after me - moving even faster than I could retreat. My foot lifted...
A sickening squelch - that sensation...
Beyond just nausea, it was a visceral, oozing feeling - even more revolting than stepping in shit.
I had crushed the eyeball beneath my foot, its juices spraying out in all directions, leaving sticky splatters everywhere.
Shit... I'd stepped on his eyeball...
"Uncle... you crushed my eye..." the child whispered. "Why don't you give me yours...?"
Suddenly, the child raised two fingers and thrust them straight toward my eyes.
I barely dodged in time, then desperately threw the child off me while scrambling out of the room.
The commotion woke Antonio and Stein, who came rushing over asking what happened.
"There's a ghost!" I panted. "A ghost was on my shoulder!"
But Antonio and Stein just stared blankly as I kept shouting about ghosts while frantically brushing at my shoulder. They exchanged confused glances, looking at me like I'd lost my mind.
"Little Boss, you're still half-asleep, aren't you?" Stein said carefully. "That's not a ghost on your shoulder - it's just a rag doll."
His words made me freeze. When I finally calmed down enough to look, I realized what was on my shoulder really was a rag doll - not a ghost at all. Though the doll's craftsmanship was unnervingly lifelike - a little boy figure with its eyes gouged out, giving it a creepy appearance.
Impossible. There was no such rag doll in my room!