Yama Rising

The worker had no name.

He was clearly very excited, but Qin Ye could tell that he didn't appear to be in a very good mental state in the video. There were large bags under his eyes, his hair was quite disheveled, and even as he stood up to celebrate, his back was arched the entire time.

"... Your dad just took on the most lucrative job last year, and we didn't even have to do anything! All we did was show up, and we earned a massive sum of money!"

The image on the computer screen began to flicker once again, but Qin Ye remained patient and slid the progress bar slightly forward.

"All we did was show up, and we earned a massive sum of money!"

"... A massive sum of money..."

This part of the video was played five to six times while Qin Ye stared intently at the screen, and on this replay, right as the word "money" was uttered, he immediately pressed the pause button.

The screen was already filled with static, but it was still possible to see some things. It was the transition between color and black and white, as if a black and white window had been opened right in the middle of the colored world.

The worker was situated right inside this black and white window, but he wasn't speaking. Instead, he had already hung himself from the lamp hanger on the ceiling with his own belt!

His eyes were bulging, his tongue had turned a dark purple color and was protruding out of his mouth, and his eyeballs had become completely bloodshot. He seemed to have only perished recently, as evidenced by the fact that his fingers were still trembling slightly, and a series of dark veins were bulging on the backs of his hands as he looked downward with a terrifying expression.

Just a moment ago, he had been celebrating his fortune, yet in the next moment, he had committed suicide by hanging himself! This incredibly bizarre scene would most likely immediately elicit a scream out of anyone else viewing the footage.

It was also right at this moment that all of the glass in the entire car began to emit a loud cracking sound, as if something were frantically flailing against the windows from outside.

Qin Ye raised his head and swept his gaze around the car, and as soon as he did so, the commotion instantly died down. He inspected the car for a few more seconds, following which a cold smile appeared on his face. "Interesting... So there was an Infernal Judge level evil ghost involved.."

He lowered his head to cast his gaze back toward the computer screen. "The evil ghost was captured in the footage, and their powerful sense of resentment could be spread through the video, killing all those who watched it within seven days of the viewing. It's exactly the same way that Sadako Yamamura spread death through her video. Thankfully, the footage was obtained by Lee Jung-sook, who is immune to such things... Let see now, where are you hiding?"

He captured a screenshot of this exact frame, then quickly zoomed in on the image. Soon, the twisted face of the worker had taken up the entire screen, but Qin Ye still continued to zoom in even further.

In the end, the only thing that could be seen were the worker's bloodshot eyes, which remained open even in death.

Through the reflection in those eyes, he finally caught sight of the evil ghost who was the culprit behind all of this!

Below the worker was a cradle, within which laid an infant who was holding a small video recorder, using it to record everything.

The infant's entire body had already completely decomposed, and nauseating red pus was flowing out of its chunks of rotten flesh. It had no eyes, and its facial features consisted of only five black holes. As it was filming everything, it was watching the man hanging from the ceiling with a sinister smile.

From the very beginning, the infant that his wife had given birth to had never been a human!

It was an evil ghost that had killed their entire family, and it had even affected this footage, leaving its resentment within the video. As a result, all of the worker's close friends who decided to investigate by watching the footage also promptly met their demise.

Right as Qin Ye began to carefully inspect this scene, the infant in the image suddenly moved!

Through the reflection in the man's pupils, Qin Ye could see that the infant had set down the video recorder before casting its gaze toward him, then opened its mouth up to over a foot wide before letting loose a silent roar.

As a result, the car's lights and glass were instantly shattered, and the Asian man outside was given a massive fright. He immediately turned around and asked, "Are you alright?"

Amid the flurry of shattered glass, Qin Ye was watching the computer screen with a cold expression, and a faint smile suddenly appeared on his face.

In the next instant, the infant seemed to have detected something extremely terrifying, and a sharp wail instantly rang out within the entire car. Meanwhile, the body of the worker in the image fell to the ground with a dull thud before closing its eyes.

Deathly silence ensued, and after several seconds, the Asian man was already drenched in cold sweat as he asked, "Ar... Are you alright, sir?"

Qin Ye nodded in response.

Chills were running down the Asian man's spine, and he poked his head into the car before looking around as he asked in a trembling voice, "Sir, what was that just now?"

"It's nothing you should know about," Qin Ye replied as he cast his gaze toward the man. "Do you want to take a look? It'll cost you your life, though."

The man immediately pulled back out of the car and turned to conceal Qin Ye again.

Qin Ye pressed the play button, and the video began to roll again. Lee Jung-sook folded her hands together and rested her chin on the back of her hands as she said, "I'm guessing the most pressing question you have now is where exactly is this underground church? This is the biggest secret of the First Usonian Bank, and it was such a significant secret that one of the most important Master Masons of the Freemasonry sent his direct lineal descendants to try and persuade me to give up on the bank. However, Philadelphia is a very big city, how are you going to find the church?"

She smiled as she lit a cigarette, then continued, "Firstly, I have to tell you that Philadelphia is a city with a complicated history. Prior to the rise of Washington DC, Philadelphia was Usonia's capital city, so don't think that the First Usonian Bank was just randomly built there. The renowned Declaration of Independence was also released in Philadelphia. Its total area is over 3.3 million square kilometers, and it'll be virtually impossible for you to find an underground church in the city if you can't narrow down your options."

She picked up a stack of documents beside her and said, "Philadelphia is currently the city most heavily affected by supernatural disasters in Usonia. The severity of the supernatural disasters there has already exceeded the very peak of what was suffered in Cathay. Tens of thousands of witch hunters and paladins are already treating the city as the front line in the battle against supernatural disasters, and the atmosphere is incredibly tense, so there's no way you'll be able to enter the city."

She took a puff from her cigarette, then continued with a smile. "Perhaps I can offer you a lead. The child from back then isn't dead, and I've confirmed that he's also in Philadelphia."

Qin Ye's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

That evil ghost wasn't dead?

No... Perhaps the compensation it requested in exchange for killing those workers was to be able to remain in the mortal realm. If he could track down that evil ghost, then many of his questions would be answered, and his identity as a police officer was perfect for this task!

The location of that evil ghost most likely had something to do with the underground church. Even if it didn't, Qin Ye would still be able to extract some leads out of him. As such, this was an extremely valuable piece of information!

"As for the second lead... I actually have some guesses about this underground church." Lee Jung-sook's smile faded as she continued, "I don't know if you know this, but the term 'freemasonry' isn't one that's coined. Instead, it's one that actually exists, contrary to what many people in the general public think. The most renowned church in Philadelphia, which is also the current stronghold for the witch hunters and paladins, is called the Masonic Temple."

Qin Ye's gaze immediately stiffened upon hearing this.

"It has seven showrooms, and information on this church is very easy to find. In fact, it's even available on Cathayan Baidu. There, you can see the list of names of all past Freemasonry members. Of course, the list only includes the names of some unimportant members. The names of the true Master Masons wouldn't be available there, and the symbol of the Eye of Providence can be seen everywhere. I suspect there will be leads to the underground church there. I am extremely familiar with the way that the Freemasonry does things. What they show to the public definitely isn't important, while the truly important things are hidden elsewhere. Perhaps you can pay a visit to the Masonic Temple and take a look there. Alright, that's all the information I have for you. A favor from me isn't cheap, either, and you're probably the only person in this world that I would personally make a video for."

She blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke, then concluded with a cold smile, "Let's not betray one another."

The video concluded there.

Qin Ye sat on his seat in silence, and 10 minutes after the video's conclusion, the laptop began to format itself. Another 10 minutes passed, and a burst of cracking rang out from the hard disk.

"I see..." He finally emerged from the car, then stretched lazily as he murmured to himself, "Then let the search begin."

I've finally got some leads that I can use to track you down... Let me see what demons and monsters lie on the other side of these leads!

………………………………………………….

"ARRRRGH!!!!" The Cathaytown in Philadelphia was one of the oldest Cathaytowns in all of Usonia, and there was a tall middle-aged Usonian man rolling around frantically on the street, cradling his own head with his arms.

All of the diners around him immediately rose to their feet to stare at him in a stunned silence. The Cathayan boss of the restaurant rushed out and patted the middle-aged man's shoulder in a concerned manner as he asked, "Are you alright, Matthew? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No... No..." Matthew's hands were covering his face as he replied, "It's alright, it's a chronic issue I've had for a long time. I just need some rest..."

The boss sighed and asked, "Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"

"No... Please give me half a day off... I'll be fine very soon..."

Several minutes later, Matthew made his way out of the restaurant while still covering his own face. This was a Cathayan restaurant, the kind that sold dishes like "General Tso's Chicken" and "Chop Suey", which Cathayans had never even heard of. These dishes would be treated as a joke by Cathayans, but they were extremely popular in Usonia.

The middle-aged man rushed straight into the apartment beside the restaurant, then closed the door and the curtains before rushing into the bathroom, where he grabbed a towel to frantically wipe his own face.

The bathroom was very dimly lit, and by the time he raised his head, his eyeballs were already gone. There were only two black holes left in their place, and blood was flowing down his face from the holes.

However, he paid no heed to this. Instead, slumped back against the wall as if he had lost all of his strength, then slowly slid down onto the tiled floor with an anguished sob. He then wrapped his arms around his own knees and began to weep quietly on the floor.

His teeth were chattering due to excessive fear, and he murmured to himself in a trembling voice, "What was that? What was that thing just now? He saw me, I swear he saw me! I've never felt Yin energy so powerful before! How was I seen? Hold on... It must be that video! That's the only thing that I've left a trace of myself in! Has the video fallen into the hands of some terrifying being?"

He was trembling uncontrollably as he rose unsteadily to his feet, making his way over to the mirror before drawing a scarlet Yin rune on its surface with tightly gritted teeth. The surface of the mirror quickly began to ripple like water, following which a disgruntled voice rang out. "You're already a Count now, you need to learn to solve your own problems."

"Esteemed ruler of the Caribbean..." the middle-aged man said in a trembling voice. "If I could solve this problem myself, I would love to do so. Just now, someone... something came into contact with the mark I left behind! It was the mark I left behind to kill all of the people that you asked me to all those years ago! It was an extremely terrifying being! What do I do now?"

Several minutes of silence ensued, following which a line of blood text appeared on the mirror: "I don't know what you're talking about, but all you can do is wait. Our era is about to arrive soon. Our legend is currently sweeping through Northern Usonia, and as soon as our grand script of death is ready, our rise will be complete. I promise you that regardless of who it is that's caught onto your existence, we'll be sure to take care of them for you when the time comes. If you're still scared, then go to this location..."

A location appeared on the mirror, followed by one final instruction. "Hide yourself there and don't let anyone discover you. Our people are situated there, and they'll protect you."

[1] [Baidu is a popular search engine used in China.]

[2] [Derived from the term Chinatown, if that wasn't obvious enough.]