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Yet, no matter how much Evan stared at the ruins, he couldn’t locate a single residual of resentment on the property. Other than an unusual heaviness in the air, nothing in particular stood out. He turned to observe Xen’s reaction, hoping to catch any shifts in his demeanor, but those expressionless dark eyes were staring straight ahead at the forest. He looked like he’d spaced out.

A vein throbbed in Evan’s temple.

Why are you here if you’re just gonna be useless?He barked in his head at Xen.

Evan turned back to Choi, missing the way Xen’s eyes fluttered in his direction. “What about the wife? Where is she?”

Choi pushed the hat off his head, scratching at his receding hairline. “She is…well, still around.”

Still around? Was she in a coma? Evan opened his mouth to question when Choi suddenly sighed. It was so unusual to see the ever-blossoming bud of a man just wilt so easily that Evan couldn’t help but place a hand on Choi’s shoulder.

“Victor and Mila. I knew them since they’d been married thirty-five years ago and moved here,” Choi said, dejected. “When a couple is together that long, togetherandhappy, you know it must be true love. But when Victor died,” he sighed. “Mila couldn’t take it. Drove her out of her mind.”

Evan paused. “Mila…”

Mila, as in old Mila?

Right. Old Mila.

No wonder the incident sounded familiar.

A few weeks ago, Evan had overheard some men at the bakery talking about “old Mila cursing the workers who dropped a tree on her house.” He'd chalked it up to old men exaggerating town gossip, but clearly, that wasn’t the case.

They had literally dropped a tree on Mila’s house. Her husband had lost his life during the accident. And the shock had driven her mad.

Evan could sympathize with the case, but again, anyone could. Why was he called here for this?

“You’re not saying Mila is possessed, are you?” Evan pocketed his hands as a breeze blew across the trio.

Victor could’ve possessed Mila. Since he loved his wife so much in life, maybe he’d wish to stick by her side after death too.

“No, I don’t think so,” Choi dismissed the possibility with a laugh. “It’s not Mila. It’s this house that is possessed. At least that’s what people are saying.”

Evan turned his attention back to the destroyed house and walked closer, inspecting it carefully. “Why are they saying that?”

“The other day someone passing by heard screams coming from the house, something like a woman wailing. Someone else said they saw Victor standing at the window of this house a few days after the accident.”

“And what do you say?” Evan grazed his fingertips against the cracked wall. “You’re not the one to believe rumors.”

Indeed, he wasn’t. Choi was the man who’d dig into those rumors and flesh out the truth. If the matter involved his forest territory, he could get pretty intense. If he’d called Evan to this place for inspection, it had to be because he thought there was some truth in those rumors.

“I’d say karma takes no prisoners,” Choi tucked the hat back in its place on his head with a smile. “Two nights ago, seven loggers disappeared from their tents without a trace. Just…gone. Their belongings and tools were left behind, but other than that, there was no sign of a living human.”

“They could’ve run away,” As Evan traced the cracked walls with his fingertips, a hand suddenly clasped his wrist and tugged him away. He stumbled towards Xen, then scowled. “What—”

A piece of debris tumbled off the cracked wall and crashed to the ground, creating a huge crater right where Evan stood a few moments ago.

Evan blinked at the hole in the ground, then at Xen, who stared down at him with a slight furrow between his brows. “Careful."

“They could have,” Choi stared at the pair curiously, “if I hadn’t found the tents zipped from the inside after they’d disappeared and then discoveredthis.”

Choi took out a phone from his pocket, handing it to Evan.

It was a brand-new phone by the looks of it, but the screen was cracked at a corner. A small, roughly carved wooden animal dangled from the cover, splashed in mud.

Evan’s face twitched.

Is that a…raccoon?