Chinatown used to be the most secluded place in San Francisco, even the local Americans wouldn't live here.

Later it was occupied by Chinese workers coming to San Francisco, gradually evolving into the current small district.

The whole district is densely packed with various apartment buildings, restaurants, in a style exactly like Hong Kong Island in the seventies and eighties.

Youma Community is the standout among them.

Looking at the street signs for pineapple buns, shark fin porridge, Typhoon Shelter fried crab, roasted goose, char siu, and curry fish balls.

Sun Yan truly felt as if he had come to tour Youma District in Hong Kong Island.

Parking the car by the roadside, Sun Yan carried his travel bag and got out of the car with Sosia.

The entire street was covered with scattered paper money, and under some of the electric poles at the street corners were iron basins for burning paper money, with rice that had incense sticks burnt down stuck in them.

Incense ash was scattered over the surface of the rice, creating a grayish scene.

Seeing this scene, Sun Yan couldn't help but frown: "This place is not simple."

"Why do you say that?" Sosia asked curiously.

"For us Chinese, paper money is only burned during Qingming Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are certain customs to it; it's impossible to scatter money this way on the street or burn money by the roadside,

see those rice bowls with incense sticks, aren't there traces of being scratched? Such actions can only mean one thing: they are appeasing lonely spirits and wandering ghosts."

Sun Yan opened the Celestial Eye to scan the surroundings: "Judging by the amount of offerings in this district, there are surely quite a few lonely spirits and wandering ghosts."

"It shouldn't be an issue for us, right? If any evil spirits appear, we just need to destroy them," Sosia said nonchalantly.

In the face of absolute strength, any demon or ghost is like a thin sheet of paper; a little poke will pierce it.

Sun Yan's track record includes defeating two Demon Gods, one of whom's head is still placed in the graveyard, continually dreaming that its Hell Legion will come to rescue it.

After witnessing the grand scenes, ordinary evil spirits and hauntings no longer capture Sun Yan's attention.

What he needs is incense, plenty of incense.

Following the address given by the Card Master, Sun Yan and Sosia navigated through several streets and finally found the Fucheng Card Room.

It was an unassuming storefront, with a half-lowered roller shutter next to a folded sliding door.

A rotating and glowing sign was conspicuously installed on the wall outside the store.

The sign with the words "Fucheng" looked just like a 90s hair salon, exceptionally retro.

"Pong! Hey-oh, blooming on a Kong!"

The card room was filled with smoke, even though the lights were switched on, it remained exceptionally dim even during broad daylight.

The three Mahjong tables were crowded with players, mostly Asians, but also some white and black people.

Everyone was intently focused on the Mahjong at the tables; not a single person turned to look as outsiders entered, demonstrating extreme concentration.

As Chinese arrived in the West, Mahjong undoubtedly became the vanguard, directly capturing the entertainment fortress for Westerners.

Many foreigners started learning, even obsessing over this somewhat gambling-related activity, becoming completely engrossed and unable to extricate themselves.

Previously in Saint Anna City's Chinatown, Sun Yan saw black men with large gold chains and white tank tops come over asking to join a game.

Sometimes, when one of them was missing at their home game, they'd call him over, but Sun Yan never dared to go, one reason being the fear of not being able to return after winning.

Another was the fear of encountering gay guys, turning his behind into a puff pastry.

Such things are not just scare talk.

"Who's the Card Master?" Sun Yan knocked on the roller shutter door and shouted loudly.

Though this was their territory and there were many people, Sun Yan felt not the slightest fear in his heart.

After all, Sosia the super bodyguard stood by his side; even ten grown men wouldn't be opponents for Sosia.

"Who are you? Jackson?"

A bald, chubby guy with a cigarette butt in his mouth raised his head, confused at first but quickly understood.

Because he saw Sosia's appearance matched exactly with that female host from the live stream that night.

"So you're Jackson then?"

The bald chubby guy stood up and walked over in flip-flops, step by step.

His face full of fat, sweating profusely, he reached into his crotch to scratch.

Only then did he extend his hand to Sun Yan: "Nice to meet you, I was wondering how a woman could have this name; turns out you're the man behind her. I'm Guo Ronglao, you can just call me the Card Master."

Sun Yan's eyes seriously met the Card Master's sticky fat hand, no less than a biochemical weapon.

"Nice to meet you, do you have time now? Could you take us to see that thing in the photo?" Sun Yan asked.

"Outside," the Card Master immediately made a shushing gesture, gave Sun Yan a look, and then walked towards the door.

Seeing this, Sun Yan quickly followed; it seemed this person also had some concerns about the Flower Vase Girl in the photo.

Once outside the card room, Sun Yan offered the Card Master a cigarette.

The Card Master spat out the cigarette butt he was holding and immediately lit up a new one.

Taking a deep puff, he exhaled a dense trail of smoke before slowly speaking: "Actually, normally I shouldn't tell anyone about this, but my cousin who doesn't understand the situation was possessed by those dirty things last night; I can't swallow this anger,

Youma Community's issues need to be resolved; keeping the Feng Shui like this and those things for years is not a solution, damn it, a bunch of people accepting benefits yet doing nothing."

"Possessed?" Sun Yan was confused.

"Follow me, it's a long story; we'll talk as we walk."

The Card Master, smoking, headed to the stairs leading to the second floor; Youma Community was similar to the Kowloon Walled City style of building within a building.

To access the community's apartments, entering upstairs to the second floor revealed a hidden small plaza within the building.

Standing there and looking up, you could see a small patch of sky, making you feel like you're at the bottom of a well.

In a courtyard, such a layout is called a skywell; if surrounded by low houses, it wouldn't feel oppressive.

But Youma Community's skywell was surrounded by eight or nine-story high buildings, even sunlight couldn't shine in, making it exceptionally stifling, oppressive, and gloomy.

The small plaza had a communal faucet and washing pool, where many middle-aged and elderly women washed clothes and vegetables.

Though Youma Community appeared old both inside and out, a considerable number of Asians still resided here.

"What do you think of this place's Feng Shui?" the Card Master walked ahead and pointed to the surroundings to ask Sun Yan.

Sun Yan said, "Lonely Yin doesn't thrive, dampness prevails."

"In the last century, this place was a black neighborhood, with daily gunfights and untold deaths; later, rumors of hauntings emerged, no one dared to live here, us Asians scavenging survival like sifting through garbage bins allowed us to reside here, shaping the current Chinatown districts.

Youma District is the most cursed area where hauntings were the worst, seeing shadows in mirrors, seeing shadows in bathrooms, looking out windows seeing shadows were normal occurrences,

Later, someone apparently invited help from Wild Grass Mountain, aid said that as long as we held the Rebirth Festival annually, providing offerings to those dirty things, they wouldn't disturb the residents in the community."

Sun Yan studied the entrance dwellings near the plaza, noticing mirrors or scissors hanging above every door frame.

Some were professional, hanging Eight Trigrams Mirrors, or Red Gourds or Purple Gourds with Daoist Talismans visible on the surface.

Just by looking, one could tell that the Feng Shui of this place was extremely sinister; otherwise, such measures wouldn't be employed.

"So those paper money on the street were scattered for the Rebirth Festival? What's it got to do with that photo?" Sun Yan asked in confusion.

The Card Master suddenly turned his head and revealed a mysterious expression: "It's because this place is chaotic that many people purposely come here to do shady things; that photo is just a mild drizzle among them."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.