When a Hitman Gets Haunted by a Ghost
Chapter 65: Profound Understanding

Chapter 65: Profound Understanding

Gabriel sat at his desk, the glow of his laptop screen illuminating the dim room as he sifted through the printed-out photos from his phone. To his predictable frustration, there had been a few files on Lazarus Blessing. Hale’s legacy was now fully in Sam’s hands.

Hale kept circling him like an attention-starved toddler. "You’ve seen it now. What are you waiting for? We need to gather more evidence, then expose him until he’s stripped to his underwear!"

Gabriel set down the file he’d been reading and looked up at the evil spirit. "Gather more evidence, how?"

"There’s a ledger. Sam laundered big sums of money through Lazarus Blessing. He wouldn’t dare to keep such evidence on him—I’m certain the ledger is still in the safe!"

Gabriel tilted his head, rubbing his chin. "A safe? Where?" He had explored the cult as a ghost back then, but he hadn’t seen any safes.

"In my office. It’s a built-in wall safe, well-hidden behind a painting."

"I thought that only happened in the movies," Gabriel commented.

Hale stared at him with a blank expression. "Does your father not have a hidden safe in his house?"

"He does have a safe, but it’s not hidden."

Gabriel recalled a hefty safe in William’s study. All Gabriel remembered was that it was in the corner of the room and was always cold to touch. His child self thought it would make a good refrigerator.

"Anyway, you want me to break into the cult to get the ledger?" Gabriel asked, not very happy with the thought.

"Into Lazarus Blessing," Hale corrected.

"Yeah, either way, I’m no ninja spy. How am I supposed to do that?"

Hale waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, please. You don’t need to break in, you have my guidance. I will show you the path that’s unknown by others. No one will notice your presence."

Gabriel shifted in his chair, sighing. "I don’t know, man. What if they catch me?" He laughed humorlessly. "I really don’t want to be locked up and drugged."

"Ah-ah-ah," Hale wagged his finger. "You forget—I know the place inside and out. There are hidden passages that not even Sam is aware of."

Gabriel sighed again. Frankly, he didn’t hate his uncle enough to go on a reckless mission led by the captain evil spirit. Sure, the old man paid to have him dead, but... He bit his lip. No, even if he tried to play it off, his heart still sank at the thought.

"The ledger is the key, child. We need it to restore the balance in the world!" Hale was off on his questionable spiritual tangent again.

"Alright, taking all things into account, the Sicilian expansion plan is suspicious, and if it could jeopardize Everett Holdings, so I can’t just sit by and let it all play out... Right?"

"Indeed, you cannot!"

"But then it would mean my father was right, and I..." Gabriel tousled his hair, slumping lower in his chair. "Ugh, I don’t know! All of this makes my head hurt."

"Calm yourself," the evil spirit pushed the mug of tea towards him. "None of this is complicated."

Gabriel pushed the mug back. "Yeah, easy to say that when you’re dead. For the living, it’s all complicated."

"Do you trust me?" Hale asked, clearly putting in great effort to sound patient.

Gabriel squinted, almost offended that he asked. "No!"

The irritable spirit’s shadow flared. "Why on earth not?!"

"Why on earth yes?" Gabriel countered, having a staring contest with the evil spirit from his sunken croissant pose in the chair.

After a few strained moments, Hale let out his usual "hmph" and turned to stare out the window. By the looks of it, he was reliving the melodramatic moments of his life. All that was missing was a rainy weather and a somber music playing in the background.

Gabriel wasn’t feeling any happier. Things weren’t going the way he planned. At all. He was supposed to spend Christmas with Kant, baking gingerbread cookies and doing some silly self-care stuff. Instead, he sat in a dark apartment, drinking cold tea with the evil spirit.

"Not one soul respected me in this material world," Hale started. "Only those who had experienced great grief could hear my words."

Gabriel leaned up in his seat and rested his elbows on the table, watching Hale’s expression in the window. He had wondered what was his story briefly, but now he had the chance to ask.

"What were you doing before Lazarus Blessing?"

"Before?" Hale echoed, his gaze trailing through memories. "Before... I was a theology professor."

"Then why do you think nobody respected you? People in your field should have had like-minded views, right?"

"They couldn’t grasp the true depth of it," Hale turned around with an air of self-importance. "Traditional faiths only have a fragment of the truth. No religion knows it all. Alone, it is but a branch of an ancient oak."

"So what exactly is this truth you’re talking about?"

"Life and death—both are temporary. There is a way to transcend death and control the soul beyond the grave," Hale spoke with widened eyes, caught in his own fascination. "Ancient texts speak of it. The past, the present and the future exist on the same timeline. All is alive and dead concurrently."

Gabriel blinked. He was starting to think this conversation was about to take a turn in the "let’s build a time-machine" direction.

"You wouldn’t understand, which is to be expected," Hale said, flicking his sleeve at Gabriel. "Your eyes have not been opened to the truth. Not everyone is fated to be awakened."

"Now, hold on," Gabriel raised his finger, feeling as though the evil spirit just called him dumb, but he chose to let it go. "That still doesn’t exactly explain how you ended up being a cult leader."

Hale wrung his hands, remorse flashing across his aged features. "There... might have been an attempt at a ritual of resurrection. Unsuccessful, unfortunately," he said, looking away. "For the average person, death is permanent."

Gabriel’s eyebrows climbed his forehead. "Did you kill someone to try and bring them back to life?"

"It was for the greater good! Sacrifices are inevitable before profound breakthroughs," Hale defended himself.

"Oh my God," Gabriel rested his forehead in his hand. He almost missed the days when he found out about crazy experiments only from articles online.