“How - how are you, officer?” The man asked Marcus with a wry smile: “You had a long day? You look tired.”

“Yeah, not that bad, just held up by some - some extra stuff.” Marcus nodded at the man, who actually appeared way more tired than he was. “You seem - not that good. What happened? ”

“Oh - oh - it’s okay. I just - did not get much sleep recently.” The man sighed and put the plastic bag down: “I - I wanted to say thank you. For me and for my sisters - after what happened, we’ve been having nightmares almost every night. No matter how many talismans and blessed items we place in our apartment, none of them could help. At least - not until we got that crimson - got that talisman from you.” The man lowered his voice, as if he was worried that the neighbors would hear him.

“Oh? You did not really mention nightmares the other day.” Marcus nodded.

“It’s not really something I’d want to bring up. Without knowing…” The man shook his head, then raised his plastic bag: “Can I - can I catch up with you after I get rid of these? I’m going to burn it, as the master suggested.”

“Burn it? These are your father’s?” Marcus nodded: “Okay - let me walk down with you. You have something to tell me?”

“Yes, actually.” The man sighed and walked down the stairs along with Marcus: “And I want to say thank you, again. Because of you my sisters could finally get some sleep. ”

“But you didn’t?”

“I mean - ever since what happened, all of us were scared shitless.” The man yawned and then sighed again: “So - I stayed up all night. But looks like things are getting better soon.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help. And - excuse me for asking, which master did you go to?” Marcus asked.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Well, Master Shi - the famous fortune teller.” The man rubbed his temples: “He told me that it’s a good sign the nightmares have stopped. He even took a look at the talisman - ”

“Wait - you showed this Master Shi the talisman I gave you?” Marcus had to cut the man off.

“Yeah - kinda - because I was not sure if it was going to last - and you and your father are not home .” The man shook his head again: “I had to go ask someone. And I checked, the Temple of Forgetfulness was quite far away, I can’t leave my sisters home for too long, so…”

“Okay, don’t do that next time. I guess I don’t have to remind you how precious that talisman is.” Marcus nodded, frowning: “If that ‘Master Shi’ does not have your best interest at heart - ”

“I understand, officer, really. I just need to find someone with experience and expertise.” The man opened up the plastic bag as they reached the bottom of the building and headed toward an extra large metal trash can with ashes and other unburned items inside. “And - I asked around, Master Shi has a decent reputation in the streets. He did not try to take this talisman for himself, and his charge is reasonable. ”

“That’s - good.”

“He just told me it should be placed firmly at the South-East corner of the apartment. And we should place an incense burner beside our door to help cleanse whatever foul energy that might seep into our place.”

Marcus shrugged, per his knowledge and experience, the instruction on the placement of the talisman is correct, he just did not know what the incense burner by the door was about.

“And - I guess thanks to the little insurance policy my father got some time back, my sisters and I can finally gather enough money to leave.” The man put the clothes into the trash can then took out a small piece of solid alcohol wrapped in paper tissues from the plastic bag and threw it in as well. He lit the liquid alcohol up with a small match, then waited by the side: “It’s not easy. We will miss this place. But there’s basically nothing for us here.”

“Well, congratulations.” Marcus smiled: “It’s not an easy choice to make. Must have taken you a lot of consideration and effort.”

“Thank you, hehehe. It’s not that hard a choice, after everything. ” The man chuckled and stretched: “Our home is the only thing keeping us here. And right now our father’s gone, and none of us has any deep attachment to the city. So - we can just sell our apartment to pay for the tax and set up for a good life elsewhere.”

“I wish you a bright future away from here. And be safe.” Marcus nodded as old man’s clothes were gradually swallowed by the flames.

“There’s something I needed to tell you, officer. And I hope it could help. Now that we have a clear way forward, I hope to offer at least a little help to someone here.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“My father was found by THE dumpster. Well - not really by it, but he was found near it.” The man took a deep breath and said. The flames in the trash can went low and jumped up at the mention of “THE dumpster”, as if it was something utterly taboo.

“What do you mean?”

“THE dumpster.” The man leaned in with his voice lowered: “The cursed dumpster ? The one where they found pieces of a woman that many years ago?”

Marcus narrowed his eyes: “Wait, which cursed dumpster? I - I don’t actually remember - ”

“The Dumpster of Big Sister Yi. Yixiang Zhuge.”