All Chapters of Amateur Detective Files On Paranormal Encounters: Chapter 41
- Chapter 50
105 chapters
Curse Birth
“Mr. Goodfellow, please, I sincerely advise that you continue your treatment in the hospital at this time—at least just for a few more days while we continue running tests on you to find out the cause of all your symptoms. We don’t know when another episode might occur and you end up falling unconscious again. If that happens and you cannot get treatment in time, I fear that you might not be able to survive.”Duncan stood at the reception of the hospital processing the documents for checking out, while beside him, a man in a long and neat doctor's robe also stood and was talking to him, trying to dissuade Duncan from leaving the hospital.Yet Duncan turned a deaf ear to the doctor's advice, hellbent on leaving the hospital that moment without spending a single moment longer than necessary.It had already been a day since Duncan had collapsed in the hospital again, making it roughly two and a half days since he’d stumbled into the ghost realm.Time in the ghost realm flowed differently
Cursed Shirt
In his mind, Duncan could feel four distinct spots on his body that bore a very deep connection to himself. Like brightly glowing red dots on a map, Duncan could track these connections to the exact locations on his body they occupied.Three of these spots Duncan was very familiar with, as they corresponded to the cursed objects he wore on his hands, feet, and inside his pocket. As for the final connection, it was completely new, having only appeared after he had woken up for the second time in the hospital.There was no doubt—this new connection represented an entirely new cursed object that had suddenly appeared on Duncan’s body, binding to him.“Sigh! My curse has grown again!”Regarding this situation, Duncan was completely helpless about it because that was just how his curse worked.Duncan’s curse wasn’t about bearing the consequences of having multiple cursed objects in his possession. It didn’t come from the objects themselves, but rather, it was actually the other way around.
Cursed Shirt
“This is not a problem, though. I’ll just have to start wearing a coat every time I go out from now on to cover up the stain on this shirt so I don’t end up being embarrassed out in public,” Duncan said, coming up with a solution for him to preserve his dignity.With that out of the way, Duncan focused on the new cursed object again. This time, the information he was searching for entered his mind, and he learned what the new cursed object was about.“So that’s how it is,” Duncan thought to himself.“This ability… what can I say—it seems… not bad?”A weird expression appeared on Duncan’s face as he thought about the ability of the cursed object.From its description, it seemed like a very practical and useful ability, very unlike the ability of the boots that allowed him to randomly step into places that he didn’t want to go.Yet at the same time, the ability seemed a bit useless too…“No, it’s not exactly useless, just that the opportunity to trigger this ability might be very scarce
A New Cost
“Indeed, under certain circumstances, this ability is very useful and could even be considered to be overpowered,” Duncan thought after analyzing the cursed shirt’s abilities very carefully.“Although the conditions needed to trigger this ability are very specific, it still doesn’t change how useful the ability is.”“Besides, the supernatural world is highly unpredictable. This time I stumbled into a ghost realm and was almost possessed and turned into a living dead. Who’s to say that there aren’t other strange places with similar situations or that I would stumble into another circumstance just like this one?”“With an ability like this, at least I have some confidence to protect myself no matter what I run into.”Duncan was very clear on how unpredictable things related to the supernatural could be.Take what happened in the ghost realm for instance—although three people were trapped in that place, why was it that only Duncan managed to survive while Simon and Grant died in there?I
Past Glory
The cab steadily wove through the nighttime traffic and soon arrived at Duncan’s destination.Stopping in front of the precinct, Duncan paid with the little cash he’d borrowed from a nurse at the hospital, then got out.Finally, he turned around and looked at the entrance of the station.Sigh!A web of complicated feelings knotted around in Duncan’s chest as he recalled the waves of memories he had about this place.Once upon a time, this was where Duncan worked. He was once a public officer—a detective in the police department—and a senior inspector who was critically acclaimed and respected by colleagues and culprits alike.That was three years ago.Those days were long gone. Now, three years later, Duncan had gone private, becoming a hired hand who took on strange and bizarre requests that barely paid anything… his once glorious reputation now nothing more than a shadow of what it once was.Sigh!Forcing himself not to think of the past, Duncan shook his head and walked forward, bu
Background Investigation
Matt’s full name is Matteo Shaw, and he is 46 years old this year. Back when Duncan was still in the police force, he used to be partners with Matt, and it was Matt who had guided a young Duncan right from the beginning—when he was still a rookie officer—until he became one of the senior inspectors and detectives in the force.Matt himself was also a senior inspector, having been promoted much earlier than Duncan had. After the two men had been promoted, although they were no longer partners, they still shared a very deep bond in the force and were always helping each other with the cases they were assigned to, such that—even till now, with Duncan having left the police force and become a private investigator—Matt was still helping Duncan with his cases by providing information that Duncan couldn’t easily access.Just like right now… the reason Duncan had come over here to meet Matt instead of heading home after leaving the hospital was because he had called Matt using a nurse’s phone
Suspicious Death
“Now the kid… this is where things get interesting,” Matt started.“Full name, Simon Gaza. He is nineteen years old and lives with his grandmother, who was his only living relative until a few hours ago.”Hmm?As soon as Matt spoke about Simon’s grandmother, Duncan caught onto the words he’d just used, and a strange feeling came over him.“What do you mean by that?” Duncan asked.Sigh!“This is the part I said you wouldn’t like,” Matt said as he sighed heavily.Duncan frowned deeply as a foreboding sense of wrong settled in his heart. But Duncan didn’t say anything immediately and waited for Matt to speak first.With a begrudged look, Matt said, “A few hours ago, the body of an eighty-two-year-old woman by the name of Grace Gaza was admitted into the central district morgue just this evening around 7.”Dum!As soon as Matt’s words fell, a dull sound echoed in Duncan’s head as the bad feeling he’d had finally came true.“This… the body… is it?”Without having to guess, Duncan knew imme
Relaying The Truth
Duncan fell silent. He didn’t answer Matt immediately but instead started thinking about what the other man had told him. Towards this, Matt showed no hurry and instead reclined his body on the wall and lit another stick of cigarette while he waited for Duncan to speak.He didn’t seem concerned about Duncan not talking at all and was quite comfortable while he waited.In his head, Duncan thought, “The death of Simon’s grandmother is strange, that’s for certain. The timing is just too coincidental. First, Simon disappears, and the very next day, somebody turns up dead after they start looking for him.”“On the other hand, nobody connected to Grant has any issues, most likely because he doesn’t have anybody who would notice he had disappeared and go looking for him except his wife, who is about to divorce him. Probably, only after Grant misses a divorce hearing in court would people notice he was missing, but by then it may already be too late.”“Hmm, as unfortunate as this is, it is ac
Target
“Give me the rundown of everything,” Matt demanded after adjusting his thoughts.And so Duncan did, explaining everything that happened, from accidentally entering the ghost realm to meeting Simon and Grant inside there—including some of the other suspected missing people who’d already become zombies—up until Duncan’s final desperate attempt at escaping the ghost realm where both Simon and Grant had finally met their end.When Duncan explained how Simon and Grant had both died, Matt shook his head in regret, feeling that it was a pity they hadn’t made it.Matt also lamented the fickleness of a person’s nature and how the urge for survival forced most people to become selfish and cruel. For this, Matt silently cursed Grant because were it not for him, all of them might have escaped safely and soundly.Duncan paused for a moment and allowed everything he’d said so far to sink into Matt’s head. During this time, Matt asked, “This ghost realm you mentioned, do you think there’s any way to
The Curtain Closes
“This mastermind, what else do you know about him?” Matt asked Duncan, immediately getting into detective mode, his demeanor shifting as a result.Retrieving a notepad and pen from his inner coat, Matt was ready to start taking notes that he would use later during his search, but Duncan’s next words forced him to a halt, causing Matt to look up.With a troubled look on his face, Duncan answered, “Nothing… I don’t know anything else about this mastermind. I’ve literally told you everything I know, which amounts to almost nothing at all.”Hai!Sighing in resignation, Matt put away his notepad, feeling regretful about the lack of concrete information about the mastermind but also understanding why it was like this.Comforting Duncan, Matt said, “It’s alright—I understand where you’re coming from, and I’m not too disappointed. At least now with what you’ve said, you’ve successfully pointed me in a direction to pursue, and I can use this to first trace down similar occurrences and see what