Chapter 26: A Midnight Search

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On the night of the Double Seventh Festival—mother and child spiders, the old crone!

Teacher Wang was completely baffled. "Were Xinman and the others bitten by spiders?"

Neither Old Ma nor Xing San had time to answer her. Old Ma asked Yue Wanqi for the location where they had performed the spider silk marriage divination, then immediately got up and left. Xing San followed right behind.

I said to Teacher Wang, "It's possible. But don't worry too much. Xinman's grandfather specializes in researching spiders—with him around, nothing will go wrong."

With that, I went after them.

Su Feiyong and the other followed quickly as well.

We left the school, got into the car, and Old Ma gave the address Yue Wanqi had provided. The group drove straight there.

Old Ma instructed Xing San to call his wife at once, telling her to leave home immediately, not to return, and especially not to enter Xing Xinman's room.

He was worried about another spider lurking. I remarked, "The spider we killed last night was so big. Those girls must have had nerves of steel to dare try and catch them."

And we still didn’t know whether the one we killed last night was the “mother” or the “child.” If it was the child, wouldn’t the mother be even bigger?

"When they first caught it, it can’t possibly have looked like that. Let's check the place where they performed the ritual first and see if there are any clues," Old Ma said.

We arrived at the place Yue Wanqi had described. It wasn’t particularly remote, but there were few residents nearby. Most of the buildings were abandoned or mysterious in purpose, giving the area a desolate feel. Several of them were condemned buildings awaiting demolition. We headed toward the one she’d indicated.

Those girls really had a lot of guts—venturing out in the middle of the night to play a marriage-divining game with some strange old woman, and in a condemned building no less. They didn’t seem afraid of danger at all.

Inside, a patch of ground had been cleared, likely where they’d held their ritual that night.

We looked around, but found nothing—just emptiness.

I spotted a few drops of blood on the ground and called Old Ma over.

Xing San came as well. These few drops of blood were the only trace left here, but we couldn’t be sure if they belonged to Xing Xinman and her friends.

Xing San was filled with remorse. "If I’d paid more attention to Xinman, I’d at least have known what she was up to over here. It’s all my fault—I’m to blame as her father!"

"Enough! You’re not a child anymore—don’t start wailing. It’s normal for girls to be curious about these things. The real issue is that old woman guiding them with her ulterior motives," Old Ma said, casting a sweeping glance around. "We won’t find anything useful here. It’s getting late. Let’s go get a proper meal, and tonight we’ll hunt down the other spider."

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We returned to Xing San's neighborhood. His wife was waiting in the convenience store across the street. The moment she saw us, she hurried over to ask what was going on—why she’d been told to leave the house, and what had happened to Xinman.

Xing San explained everything to her.

Old Ma, without the slightest courtesy, told Su Feiyong and the others to find a place nearby for dinner.

In a hotel restaurant nearby, Old Ma showed no restraint with Lord Wei, freely ordering a whole table of delicacies and feasting heartily.

Xing San and his wife, worried sick about Xing Xinman, had no appetite at all.

"Old Ma, what about Xinman? What’s her situation now?" Xing San asked anxiously.

"It’s hard to say. Let’s wait until tonight when we find the other spider. Don’t worry—with me here, nothing will happen to her," Old Ma replied between mouthfuls.

Xing San trusted Old Ma's abilities, but Old Ma's carefree demeanor did little to reassure him.

After dinner, the group went to the home of an acquaintance near Xing San's house to rest for a while. Old Ma had wanted to stay in the hotel, but seeing how anxious the couple was, he couldn’t bring himself to say so.

Night fell. Old Ma was ready to search for signs of the other spider. The blood spider spun its silk at night, which would melt by day, so the creature must also be nocturnal.

Xing San insisted on going along. Old Ma said, "Who knows what that ghost spider is. If you come, I’ll be too busy watching over you to look for it properly."

He turned to Su Feiyong and the other who stuck to his side. "The two of you shouldn’t come either. If anything happens, I won’t be able to look after you. This kid will come with me."

He glanced over at me.

I was caught off guard. I’d never intended to go with him—I’d seen that thing last night and knew all too well how dangerous it was.

"Old Ma, I’d better sit this one out. I’m really not cut out for it—almost anyone else would be more useful," I protested.

"Stop whining. You’re my apprentice—if you don’t go, who will?"

He really did treat me as his apprentice.

There was nothing to be done—I needed his help, so I had no choice but to save face and play along.

The lights in the house were off, and the place was pitch black. Night wind rushed in through a half-open window, making the curtains tremble.

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Using the key Xing San had given me, I opened the door and asked, "If you don’t know what that spider really is, why do you call it a ghost spider?"

"There are countless strange things in this world that are unclear and inexplicable. If you spend all your time worrying about their names and origins, you’ll never get anywhere. Any weird thing you can’t explain is a ghostly thing. Remember this—in this line of work, things called ‘ghosts’ aren’t always wandering spirits."

"So, ‘ghost’ is just a catch-all for all manner of strange things?"

"You could say that."

"And what exactly is the ghost crone?"

Old Ma looked at me with a hint of a smile, saying nothing, clearly seeing through my attempt to fish for information.

I pushed open the main door. The house was pitch black, and who knew where the spider might be lurking. I stepped aside and, feigning deference, gestured for Old Ma to take the lead.

He entered, switched on the light, and only then did I follow.

"How do you know about the ghost crone?" Old Ma asked.

I gave a helpless, wry smile. "My reason for coming to you is more or less tied up with the ghost crone. When I heard that girl mention the old woman today, I immediately thought of her. Sir, what exactly is the ghost crone?"

Old Ma didn’t answer right away. "If you want to know about the ghost crone, I’ll tell you another time. But it’s true that she’s probably involved in this matter."

Old Ma headed straight upstairs, with me close behind. He had a clear target—Xing Xinman’s bedroom, where the ghost spider was most likely to be.

The door to Xing Xinman’s room was ajar, and the inside was shrouded in gloom. Since daylight was forbidden in her room, she always kept a dim lamp burning, day or night. But for some reason, tonight it was off. Could Xing San’s wife have turned it off when she left? There was no reason for her to do so.

Old Ma stared intently into the darkness of the room, signaling for me to hand him the backpack.

He pulled out a small square wrapped in red cloth and handed it to me, his voice low. "Take this protective talisman."

I gripped the small square. Inside was something papery—likely a talisman. Even if it worked, it would only protect me from mortal harm, not give me any means to fight back.

Looking around, I spotted a washboard nearby and picked it up.