Vol 4: Chapter 1-2.

Zheng replied immediately, “Is it Xuan? Where are you? What was that creepy noise from last night? Hello?”

“… If you hear this message, that means I am dead. This message will be sent twelve hours after I die. As my final message… being able to meet all of you… thank you.”

“Then let me verify my last conjecture…”

“Immune to physical damage? Illusion? Or perhaps… Arnold, attack!”

“As expected… no rewards. And it takes a large amount of magical bullets to eliminate a ghost…”

Xuan’s voice was sent through the device and along with it, the sound of gunshots. Zheng put the device on the coffee table.

“Arnold, be cautious of your back, the ghost is likely to attack the one that damaged her.”

“… Physical contact causes you to lose control of the body?”

“Must attack every part of the body…”

Another round of gunshots and the sound of a large object falling onto the ground.

“Still no reward, does the number seven hint at…”

“The ghost becomes stronger after every wave… I’ve killed it three times so this is the fourth wave?”

“The fourth wave!”

“No! Still no reward, no notification. It will continue…”

After a period of silence, they heard a quarrel between a man and woman. Then the woman screamed and shortly after followed by the sound of a knife slashing into meat.

“Illusion? Or…”

“The attacked part disappears then goes into my intestines. How did he do it? Not physical and not a mental attack… A spirit-type attack that’s unexplainable by science.”

“It can’t not exist. In other words, attacks are normally ineffective. Only the moment he attacks you…”

“… Feels so bloated. I still prefer delicious looking food…”

“The fifth wave is… over!”

Then came the creepy kakaka sounds, as if the ghost making the sounds right into the device.

“Invisible? Or is it… inside my body?”

“So this is the sixth wave? Attacking organs from inside…”

After a few more shots was the sound of another object falling onto the ground.

“Zheng, this is my last hint… Thank you…”

That was the end of the message.

“Xuan…”

Zheng sighed. He took a deep breath then said to Lan, “Lan, can you deduce what happened during this message? I can remember every word, can you try to analyze it?”

Lan gave him a strange look, then nodded lightly. “It began with Xuan encountering the Ju-On, probably quite far away from him. That was why he could still talk while shooting. He used normal bullets in the first round, which was why he said ghosts are immune to physical damage. Then he had Arnold attack it, this time with magical bullets…”

“Then?” Zheng sat down and thought for a moment. “Did Arnold kill the ghost? No, if he did then what attacked him afterward? The other ghost?”

Lan also thought for a bit. “Maybe it was eliminated temporarily. Then it comes back even stronger. That’s what he probably meant… He warned Arnold to be careful of his back. Probably because the ghost had already reached Arnold. So he said don’t get in contact with it. Then…”

“Then Xuan killed Arnold along with the ghost.” Zheng sighed.

Lan nodded. “Xuan didn’t say a word after that. There were only gunshots and creepy noises. He was shooting nonstop during this period. I think he probably encountered many ghosts, so many that he couldn’t get a chance to talk. This is the fourth wave of attack.”

“Then the fifth wave, the quarrel between a man and woman. This scene is also in the movie. It depicted the formation of the Ju-On. The husband suspected his wife was cheating on him. So he killed her and hid her body in the attic. I think Xuan saw an illusion of this scene then got attacked by either Kayako or her husband.”

“He shot at it but found that the magical bullets were ineffective. So he waited for the ghost to approach him. After he was attacked he found the part of him that got attacked disappeared then went inside his intestines… Uh, such a disgusting method. But since the ghost can attack us, we should also be able to attack it the moment it attacks. That was probably how Xuan killed the ghost once more…”

Zheng mumbled. “Then the sixth wave was the ghost entering his internal organs? Then… he’s…”

Lan touched her forehead. “Yes, Xuan is probably already…”

Zheng sighed deeply. He suddenly felt a little empty, just like a friend that he was on bad terms with passed away. That calm and intelligent Xuan…

‘Farewell, Xuan… I should be the one to thank you.’

Ten seconds later, Zheng’s mind came back to the present. “Let’s organize this information. Xuan kept mentioning the number seven. He said God wouldn’t assign us a number randomly. This seven is probably the number of times we have to defeat the Ju-On. I have some thoughts about this. Lan, do you get what I am thinking?”

Lan nodded and smiled. “It’s you that thought about what I was thinking… Ahem, anyway, it seems like from Xuan’s message, the Ju-On’s ghost comes back stronger every time it gets defeated. Especially the sixth time. It’s almost unavoidable death… So, that seven hints at the number of times it will come back. The seventh time…”

Zheng continued. “When the ghost appears for the seventh time, it will probably be its main body. We just have to kill the last ghost then we can defeat the Ju-On!”

No matter what Xuan’s goal was, this message was as valuable as the scriptures. It verified that the ghosts could be defeated and also gave them hope… The Ju-On isn’t something they have to keep running away from. Sometimes horror wasn’t scary, what was worse was when you didn’t even have the courage to resist. Perhaps when you raise your weapon against it, it was just a slightly stronger monster. You could also defeat it!

The rest of the afternoon was spent discussing how to defeat the Ju-On. They could guess that the first wave would start from afar then slowly approach you. At this point you just had to attack it with magical bullets. These ghosts might be horrifying for a normal person, but for them, as long as they could damage the ghosts, the rest was easy.

The second and third waves probably appear from behind. They would have to attack both the ghost and person.

“Bulletproof vest, we need five bulletproof vests. We also need six helmets to guard against stray bullets. Zero, can you get them from the yakuza?” Zheng asked.

Yinkong suddenly said, “If it’s only bulletproof vests and helmets, I think I can get them from the police network. But we will have to wait til noon tomorrow…”

Zero also said, “That’s about the same time I can get those.”

Zheng nodded. “Good, then I’ll leave it to you two. Please get them by tomorrow noon. For the fourth wave, if we are going to get attacked by a lot of ghosts, I think we need a large open area. Being in a room or a hallway would be disadvantageous for us. I suggest that starting tonight, we will camp outside a park. It would be best to pick one that’s over a hundred meters wide. Any opinions?”

Aside from Lan, everyone else nodded. Jie suddenly asked, “What about the fifth wave? How should we deal with the ghost? We can only counterattack the moment it starts attacking. And the part that gets attacked will go into your intestine…”

“And?” Zheng smiled. “So during the fifth wave, I will be the bait! I am very sensitive to danger when I am in unlocked mode. I will evade its attack and don’t forget I have a weapon that counters ghosts, the Na ring. It’s a good opportunity to use the Na ring to attack when the ghost closes in.

“So let me be the bait for the fifth wave. That is the best plan for the whole team’s safety!”