Chapter 4: Rituals, Ghosts, and the Five Elements

As soon as I started, people began sending gifts. The chat was a blur of hearts, rockets, and usernames.

Before I could ask what the person wanted, they sent me a DM.

“Thank you, Ma'am, for helping me find my poor daughter.”

I suddenly recalled Carter saying in the car that he wouldn’t return what he stole.

With his greedy nature, Jamie’s fate would never satisfy him.

No doubt about it. Carter had taken her life.

A thought flashed through my mind.

I immediately replied to the DM.

“When your daughter was found, was she missing any organs?”

Soon, the woman replied.

“Ma'am, how did you know?”

I asked again, “Was it the liver?”

That little girl was a wood sign.

In the five elements, wood corresponds to the liver among the five organs.

And the little girl was buried under a tree.

Comparing point by point, my expression turned extremely ugly.

Could Carter be attempting that extremely sinister Five Elements Luck-Stealing Ritual?

While waiting for the woman’s reply, I looked up at the livestream. My heart was pounding so hard I could barely breathe.

Someone was frantically sending me rockets and requesting to connect.

After I agreed, a red-eyed man appeared on screen. He looked frantic, voice trembling.

“Ma'am, please help me. My eighty-year-old mother is missing!”

Before I could speak, the man immediately gave his mother’s birth date and time.

Fire sign. My stomach dropped.

The man wept bitterly. “I work out of town, came home for Thanksgiving, but my mom was gone. Asked everyone around, no one saw her. Reported it, but the police couldn’t find her.”

As he spoke, I calculated. My cards felt heavy in my hands.

“Ma'am, please, you must…”

My eyes turned sharp, interrupting him.

“Go to the nearest crematorium, quickly! Or you won’t even see her one last time!”

While the man was stunned, a sudden urgent knock came at the door.

“Ma'am, help!”

It was Carter’s voice.

“Damn, who is that?”

“Why does that voice sound like a certain top-tier…”

“+1 above, I think so too.”

Ignoring the heated discussion in the stream, I immediately ended it and opened the door.

Carter’s face was terrifyingly pale, almost corpse-gray.

He was foaming at the mouth, struggling to shout at me: “Ma'am, save…”

Clinging to Carter’s back was a little ghost exuding black energy.

Her hands—tiny, pale—were locked tight around Carter’s throat.

Just as I was about to act, she looked up and smiled at me.

The instant I saw the little ghost’s face, my eyes sharpened and I immediately pressed a crucifix to Carter’s neck.

The burning cross made the little ghost instantly let go, and Carter fainted.

Amid the ghost’s shrill screams, I pressed another cross to her forehead.

After dragging Carter back to his room, the ghost left in my room finally quieted down.

Looking at the bloody hole on her, I sighed.

She started crying blood. Her voice was a broken whisper.

“Why did you stop me?”

I patted her head.

“It’s not time yet. Besides, if you really killed him, you’d become a vengeful spirit.”

The little ghost stubbornly stared at me.

I had no choice but to whisper a few words in her ear.

After she nodded, she disappeared before my eyes.

After she left, my phone screen suddenly lit up.

It was a DM from the woman.

“Ma'am, my daughter’s liver was indeed missing.”

“Do you know anything else?”

“Can we meet and talk in detail?”

“I want to catch my daughter’s killer and bring him to justice!”

For a moment, I didn’t know how to reply.

At the same time, another DM popped up.

“Ma'am, I really found my mom at the nearest crematorium.”

I frowned and replied immediately.

“Is the body still there?”

“Is your mother’s heart missing?”

I sent two questions, but there was no reply for a long time.

Looking again at the woman’s messages, I really didn’t know how to answer.

First, Carter’s methods were extremely clever, and I hadn’t found any solid evidence around him to prove he was the killer.

Without evidence, he couldn’t be accused.

Second, even if the woman believed me, thinking Carter was the killer, the police wouldn’t believe it.

Without evidence, the police would suspect me instead.

I hated it, but I left her on read.

Seeing midnight approaching, I couldn’t calm down to stream and do readings again.

For some reason, my heart started beating rapidly.

It felt like a warning. Something was coming.

I took out six old pennies from my bag and tossed them up.

The coins clattered to the floor.

Just as I was about to check the reading, a sharp pain suddenly shot through my eyes.

Biting my tongue hard to stay calm, I realized I had just made a taboo.

You can’t divine life and death.

I quickly closed my eyes and, with trembling hands, messed up the coin pattern on the floor.

The pain in my eyes gradually faded, and I finally recovered.

After tidying up the coins and crosses, it was about time.

Opening the door, I saw Carter standing there.

He gave me a weak smile.

“Ma'am, let’s go.”

Looking at his face, I felt a bit dazed.