Chapter 121: Pumpkin Seed Addiction

For the next several mornings, Su Yao remained in her residence. Each day, she reached for the steadily diminishing stockpile of pumpkin seeds and began eating. The rhythm of cracking shells filled the silent rooms.

Su Yao ate until her fingers were stained with salt, then slept. She woke and repeated the process. Empty plastic bags accumulated in a small pile by the door.

On the fourth day, her phone buzzed on the floor. She ignored it. It buzzed again and again until she picked it up. Zhang Wei was calling.

“Xiao Ling? Your biometrics are showing zero activity beyond essential functions for seventy-two hours. Are you hibernating?”

She looked at the half-empty bag of pumpkin seeds in her other hand. “I’m occupied,” she said.

“Occupied with what? The Empress is asking for an update. The archives want their scroll back. What’s your status?”

Status. She looked at the pile of empty bags. My status is that I’m addicted to pumpkin seeds.

Su Yao dropped the bag she was holding. “The status is that I require a different brand of seeds,” she said. “Sunflower seeds. I need you to send someone to buy them from a reliable source.”

A long silence followed on the other end of the line. “You want me to send an agent to buy you sunflower seeds.”

“Correct. It’s a priority logistical matter.” Su Yao ended the call and stood, kicking the pile of empty bags aside.

She looked at the demonic scroll still rolled on her table. What felt like a harmless craving for pumpkin seeds had been a spiritual trap. She would not make that mistake again.

Her phone buzzed.

“The seeds have been acquired,” Zhang Wei said. “A junior agent delivered them to your doorstep. They are verified sunflower seeds.”

“Good.” She ended the call and retrieved the bag from outside her door. It was full, and the packaging was intact. She placed it on the table next to the scroll. Her payment was ready.

With her thoughts settled, she unrolled the scroll once more. Her attention went to the list of Count, specifically the three connected to Beijing. Translator’s notes were checked against the official text, altered characters cross-referenced.

The names resolved themselves: Halphas, the White Countess, and the other two, Furcas and Bifrons.

Her next step was to summon Halphas again and negotiate for more concrete information on Sargatanas, with the correct payment in hand. Now it was time to work.

Su Yao placed the bag of verified sunflower seeds on the table. She focused her will and spoke the name. “Halphas.”

The White Countess materialized before her, once again in the form of a woman. She opened the bag and sampled a few seeds. “Adequate. Payment accepted.”

“Now,” Su Yao said. “What is Sargatanas’s weakness?”

Halphas smiled. “The terms for such specific intelligence require reciprocity. Tell me something embarrassing about yourself.”

A trivial price for strategic advantage. Su Yao recalled a recent memory. “I became addicted to pumpkin seeds for three days, neglecting my duties and consuming an entire stockpile. It was a meaningless compulsion.”

Halphas laughed. “How delightfully mundane, very well. Sargatanas’s weakness is inherent to his nature. As a moth, he is a being drawn to light and flame.”

She tilted her head. “He can’t resist it. His mind-reading and brainwashing abilities falter in the presence of overwhelming brilliance. He is also vulnerable to certain frequencies of sound that disrupt his flight patterns. And like any moth, he is prone to circling traps set with the right lure.”

So his power has an instinctual flaw. “Is that all?”

“For now.” Halphas tucked the bag of sunflower seeds into the folds of her dress. “Should you require further consultation, the price will be higher.” She dissolved into a swirl of grey mist and vanished.

Su Yao considered the weakness she had just acquired. Light and sound, weaknesses I could work with. But then another thought followed. If this is true, why hasn’t the Church used it? They contained Sargatanas once. Shouldn’t they have similar intelligence?

The scroll lay forgotten on the table as she paced the room. The Church has exorcists and scholars. They should have uncovered this. Unless they don’t know. Or they do know, but dismiss it because it came from a demonic source.

Their doctrine forbids deals with infernal entities. They would never lower themselves to interrogate a Countess for information, relying instead on faith and their own scriptures.

Either they never learned of the weakness, or they dismissed it as a trick. If they did attempt it and failed, they likely judged the source tainted. The Church’s inaction was her opportunity. I have no such limitations. 

Her phone buzzed with a notification from the FFF chat group.

Kayo: Hey. You alive? Everything okay?

She typed a reply.

Su Yao: I was occupied with identifying the entity in Chaonei No. 81. It was a Gehenna Officer named Sargatanas. I have been negotiating with one of its former wardens for intelligence.

Kayo: Ooooh, fun! What’s the intel?

Su Yao: Its weakness is that it’s a moth. It’s drawn to light and vulnerable to specific sonic frequencies.

There was a pause before Kayo’s response came through, this time as a voice message.

Kayo: Wait! That reminds me of this anime I saw! There was this band called Brave Force that exorcised ghosts by holding a concert! The lights and the music together purified them!

Kayo: It was awesome! So you just need to throw a rave in that creepy house! Blast some sick beats and hit it with a laser light show! Problem solved with rock and roll!

Su Yao stared at the message. A concert is an amalgamation of light and sound on a massive scale.

Su Yao: The concept has merit. I’ll consider the logistics.

Kayo: YES! Let me know if you need a playlist! I know all the good curse-breaking bangers!

Su Yao set her phone down. A concert to exorcise a demonic officer. An undignified solution, but itcould work.

She began researching high-output concert lighting and acoustic weaponry. Her phone buzzed again with another message in the FFF chat.

Osakabehime: Kayo’s idea has a flaw. Just holding a concert with lights and sound isn’t sufficient. The audience must be present and the venue must be full.

Osakabehime: The collective emotional energy of a crowd amplifies the effect. It’s the synergy between the performance and the spectators that creates the necessary spiritual pressure. Without a packed house, it might just annoy him.

Su Yao read the message. Her brow furrowed. A full audience? I need to attract a crowd to a haunted mansion without causing panic or revealing the supernatural truth.

She typed a reply.

Su Yao: How many people constitute a ‘full’ audience? And does the type of music matter?

Osakabehime: For an entity of that caliber, you need at least a few hundred, fully engaged. The music should be intense enough to hold their attention, something with a strong beat. But the key is their shared experience. It fuels the purification.

Kayo: See! I told you! We need a real concert! I can help promote it! We can bill it as an exclusive underground event at a ‘historic venue.’ People love that mysterious stuff!

Organizing a public event at Chaonei No. 81 would require dealing with the Church and the government, along with the potential security risks. But if it worked, it could resolve the situation without direct confrontation.

Su Yao stood up, grabbing her phone and the demonic scroll. First, I need to confirm this with Halphas. Then, I’ll have to coordinate with Zhang Wei to arrange a cover story and secure the location.

She focused her will and spoke the name. “Halphas.”

The White Countess materialized. “No. Absolutely not. I’ll not pose as some mortal idol and hold a live concert in that house. The indignity is beyond comprehension.”

Su Yao raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t said anything yet.”

Halphas waved a hand. “Forget what I just said. The thought was so appalling it forced itself to the forefront.”

A smile spread across Su Yao’s lips. “Is that what happened the last time someone tried this? A concert?”

“It never happened,” Halphas snapped. “The idea is absurd. It’s beneath discussion.” She pointed a slender finger at the bag of sunflower seeds on the table. “Is that my payment? Give it to me. This conversation is over.”

Su Yao nudged the bag forward with her foot. “So the Church, or someone else, did try a ritual of mass gathering and focused energy. But it failed. Or it worked too well, and you don’t like to remember it.”

Halphas snatched the bag of seeds. Her form began to flicker. “I have no memory of such an event. And if you pursue this foolishness, you’ll fail. Spectacularly.” She vanished.

So it has been tried. Su Yao stood in the sudden silence. And it left a mark on them.

This made the strategy more appealing. She needed to find out why it failed before.

Her first stop was the Beijing Municipal Archives. If a large-scale event had taken place at or near Chaonei No. 81, there would be a public record.

Appearing in a quiet alley a few blocks from the archives, Su Yao phased to Beijing. She entered the archives and located the department for periodical collections. The clerk looked up as Su Yao approached the counter.

“I need to see all public records, news reports, and permit applications for events held near Chaonei No. 81,” Su Yao said. “From the 1980s to the present. Now.”

“Of course. Right this way.” The clerk led Su Yao to a terminal and brought up the digital index.

“Focus on musical performances and concerts.”

The clerk typed and the results appeared. One entry stood out.

Permit Application: 1989.

Event: “Spring Scream” Underground Music Festival.

Proposed Location: Courtyard adjacent to (and including portions of) the structure at Chaonei No. 81.

Status: APPROVED.

Subsequent Action: Event held. License for venue permanently revoked following the event. All associated organizers fined. No future applications accepted.

Approved, then permanently banned. Su Yao leaned closer. “Find the news reports about the aftermath.”

A few keystrokes later, a scanned article from a 1989 Beijing evening paper appeared on the screen. The headline was vague: ‘Unruly Concert Ends in Mass Hysteria.’

It described a night of ‘unprecedented audio-visual stimulation’ that culminated in dozens of attendees suffering from temporary amnesia and claims of ‘shared hallucinations.’ The event was shut down by police, the location blacklisted soon after. In the article, a city official described it as a ‘public safety disaster.’

Mass hysteria? Amnesia? Shared hallucinations?

The concert had worked. It had agitated the entity enough that it lashed out and the resulting psychic shockwave traumatized the crowd. The Church’s seal had likely contained the fallout, reinforcing the house as a prison rather than a battleground. They would have seen the event as a catastrophic failure.

Su Yao saw it as a blueprint. The previous attempt was disorganized, with inferior equipment and no understanding of the forces they were unleashing.

She needed a controlled high-fidelity attack with precision lights and sound, a carefully selected crowd, and a musical composition designed to disrupt and purify.

Su Yao phased back to her Luoyang residence, the scanned article imprinted in her mind. She opened the FFF chat.

Su Yao: The concert strategy has precedent. An attempt in 1989 caused mass psychic trauma and resulted in the venue’s permanent blacklisting. The method works, but requires precision.

Kayo: OMG I KNEW IT! We’re gonna make concert history! Let me see the deets!

She forwarded the article summary.

Kayo: Pfft. Amateurs. They probably used garbage equipment. You need a proper producer. ME! I know all the best sound engineers and lighting techs.

Kayo: We can get subwoofers that make souls vibrate and lasers that can cut through spiritual residue! We’ll make that moth wish he’d never been hatched!

Su Yao: You’ll act as a consultant. We require a specific acoustic frequency range, likely between 18-22 kHz, and high-lumen full-spectrum lighting. The musical composition must sustain intense rhythmic patterns to hold crowd engagement and generate synergistic spiritual pressure.

Kayo: Translation: we need sick beats and a killer light show. Got it. Leave the creative direction to me! I’ll start drafting the setlist. We’ll call it... ‘Rave Against the Dying of the Light!’

Su Yao ignored the name. Resolving the logistics would require the Empress’s influence. She drafted a concise report for her new employer, laying out the precedent and a revised plan along with what would be needed at the municipal level in Beijing.

The response from the Empress’ office was quicker than expected.

We will lift the ban. Proceed. Don’t embarrass the throne.

This time, there would be no mass hysteria. She contacted Zhang Wei.

“Prepare a security detail for a technical survey of Chaonei No. 81. We are hosting an event.”

“An event?” Zhang Wei asked. “At that house? Xiao Ling, the place is a designated supernatural hazard zone. The paperwork to reclassify it for a public gathering would be—”

“The Empress has already handled the bureaucratic obstruction,” Su Yao interrupted. “The ban is lifted. You’re to provide security and logistical support for a technical survey. We’ll be assessing the venue for audio and visual installations.”

A long silence followed. “Understood. I’ll assemble a team. What is the nature of this ‘event’?”

“A concert.”

“...A concert.”

“A purification ritual utilizing amplified sonic and photonic frequencies with the collective emotional resonance of a live audience.”

Zhang Wei sighed. “I’ll have the non-disclosure agreements ready for the tech crew. When do we move?”

“Now.” Su Yao ended the call.

She phased to the front of Chaonei No. 81. The rusted iron gate now had a temporary placard attached to it, bearing the seal of the Luoyang imperial precinct and the words, “Site Approved for Cultural Event - By Order of the Throne.”

Zhang Wei arrived twenty minutes later with a van and a small team of grim-faced Stabilization agents. Kayo was with them, clutching a tablet covered in glowing schematics.

“Okay!” Kayo announced, marching up to the gate. “First, we need to map the acoustic profile of the main hall. We’ll use a series of calibrated tones to find the resonant frequencies of the spiritual residue!” She shoved the tablet at an agent. “You! Start setting up the speakers!”

Su Yao pushed the gate open. The team moved into the foyer. Kayo directed agents with speakers and microphones while Su Yao stood in the center.

“Initial frequency sweep, starting at ten hertz!” Kayo called out.

A low hum filled the air, making the dust on the chandelier vibrate. Nothing else happened.

“Boring! Crank it up! Hit eighteen kilohertz!” Kayo commanded.

A high-pitched whine pierced the silence. The faded silk wallpaper rippled as if touched by an unseen wind. A whisper hissed from the walls, too distorted to understand.

It’s sensitive to the higher range.

“Now for the main course! Deploy the sub-bass test tone! Forty hertz!” Kayo yelled. Her eyes gleamed.

A vibration shook the floorboards. The grand staircase groaned. From the wall, a painting fell from the wall with a crash. A roar erupted from the depth of the house, shaking the very foundations.

The sound was followed by a wave of psychic pressure that made the agents stagger. One clutched his head, his nose bleeding.

Kayo checked the readings on her tablet. “The bass really pisses it off. We can work with that!”

Su Yao fixed her gaze on the hallway leading deeper into the house. They had just confirmed they had the tools to torment the entity.

“The survey is concluded,” Su Yao said. “We have our parameters. Now we prepare the main event.”