"If you’re scared, you don’t have to follow us."
Scarlett Jennings was uncharacteristically "considerate," which made Ashton Todd widen his eyes immediately,
"Who said I’m scared?! It’s locked in the Ghost Bottle, why would I be scared of it?"
After a pause, he added,
"The academy competition prize is three million, don’t think you can leave me behind and take my share!"
Stella Gibson couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing that.
Typical Ashton Todd.
Meanwhile, the audience watching the live broadcast were speechless.
Although Sea City currently seems to have the best chance to win, can’t you not talk like the prize money is already yours?
We’re still watching!
The six people were talking while walking towards the building and reached the room where the resentful aura was the strongest. They pressed the doorbell, and shortly, hurried footsteps could be heard from inside the door.
The door opened to reveal a middle-aged man looking a bit haggard.
The middle-aged man was stunned when he saw the six of them, then quickly understood when he saw their school uniforms.
"Are you... Benson’s classmates?"
Gregory Xander immediately knew he was mistaken and started to explain, "We are not..."
"Yes, uncle, we’re all Benson’s classmates." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
Ashton Todd stepped forward quickly, interrupting Gregory Xander, with a solemn and sad expression as he looked at the middle-aged man in front of him,
"We heard about him... We wanted to visit, is that okay?"
Ashton Todd deliberately spoke ambiguously, as they were still learning about the life of the ghostly youth, and had just found out his name.
The middle-aged man saw Ashton’s expression and did not doubt it.
Though some of the kids seemed a bit old to be his son’s classmates, he couldn’t care to investigate further.
It no longer mattered.
He let them in, and the six people changed their shoes at the entrance, only to find a ceremony arranged in the living room.
A middle-aged man in a yellow Taoist robe and two young disciples were setting up the altar table, clearly not having started the ritual yet.
The six people had slightly complex expressions upon entering.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man explained,
"I have someone here to perform a ritual today, if you’re uncomfortable..."
"We don’t mind, we really don’t mind."
A joke, this was their area of expertise.
The middle-aged man said, disheartened,
"Benson passed away suddenly, and the family hopes to help him find peace in the afterlife so he can pass on more comfortably. He would be happy that you came to see him off."
"..."
Scarlett and the others remained silent, subconsciously glancing at the Ghost Bottle held by Nathan White.
From the middle-aged man’s perspective, it was just an ordinary glass bottle.
But to Scarlett and the others, the resenting energy from the youth within the Ghost Bottle was overwhelming, hardly showing any sign of being "happy."
Ashton seized the opportunity to inquire about the cause of the youth’s death.
Knowing the cause would reveal why the youth harbored such heavy resentment after death.
The middle-aged man heard their question, and a hint of hatred flashed in his eyes.
"Benson was murdered by the property manager of this building! We previously thought he was missing. Who would have thought he was killed right outside his own door!...
I don’t even know why he would harm my son... My son, he was only sixteen..."
The man spoke painfully and couldn’t help but cry in front of the kids.
Ashton patted the man’s back, comforting him for a while, and upon seeing his emotions settle, started asking indirectly about the property manager.
They heard the man say,
"He’s dead! Perhaps it was karma, but recently he was found dead in his own home."
It was only because he died that the police, while investigating his cause of death, accidentally discovered Benson’s body.
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