Investigation

Gerry's home was located on the west side of town, not far from an Abandoned Factory.

Because of the factory's early environmental pollution, the surrounding neighbors had moved away long ago. Only Gerry's family home remained standing alone in this area, making the place feel empty and desolate.

Pete led everyone to the outside of Gerry's house:

"This is Gerry's house."

Jino stood where he was and studied the house.

It was a small two-story house with white-painted walls. The wooden front door was shut, and the windows were tightly closed, making it impossible to see inside.

Lana looked extremely agitated. The girl strode forward and raised her hand to knock on the door.

"Mrs. Ted, are you home?"

"Mrs. Ted?"

No one answered. Only Lana's voice echoed around them.

Lana's little face was filled with anxiety. She desperately wanted to know whether Gerry had been the one secretly filming her.

Bang, bang, bang.

The door shook under the pounding, and a little dust drifted down from the eaves.

Chloe folded her arms and said with a sigh, "I heard Gerry's father died in a mining accident. No one has cleaned up their house in a long time."

Lana's calls still received no response.

The house was utterly silent. It seemed the owner had gone out and was not home.

"Move." Jino calmly pushed Lana aside and stepped up to the door.

Smack!

Jino threw out his arm, his fist becoming an afterimage with its incredible speed.

The several-centimeter-thick wooden door was like paper, easily smashed apart by a single punch from Jino.

"Oh my God!"

Lana stared in shock at the new hole in the door. She covered her mouth unconsciously, then looked worriedly at Jino's arm. "That must have hurt, right?"

Lana instinctively reached for Jino's arm to check it.

"I'm fine."

Jino cast Lana an indifferent glance, stopping her.

The girl awkwardly withdrew her hand. Watching Jino seemingly unfazed by the pain, she felt around inside the door with his right hand for the lock.

Soon, his index finger touched something small and cold.

"Found it."

Jino gripped the latch. The door appeared to have been bolted from the inside.

Click.

He hooked two fingers around the inner bolt and gave it a light pull.

Creak—

The old door opened slowly with a teeth-grating sound, exposing the scene inside to everyone.

Sunlight streamed into the house from behind them, revealing countless dust motes floating in the air.

A stale, rotten stench hung in the air inside. It drifted out through the open door, making several of them cover their noses unconsciously.

Everyone walked into the house together.

"How long has it been since this place was cleaned?" Little Black Pete stared at the chaotic living room.

The shattered shade of a table lamp was scattered messily across the floor.

The overturned sofa and broken shards of glass seemed to silently tell of something unpleasant that had happened here.

And Jino could even smell a faint trace of blood in the air.

Jino and Clark exchanged glances, each seeing the other's thoughts.

Something about this was wrong.

"What's that on the table?"

Chloe was observant enough to notice a stack of videotapes on top of the TV box.

"Put one in and see."

Jino glanced at the television as Chloe inserted a videotape into the DVD player.

As the image flickered to life, footage of Lana and Whitney chatting and laughing during a picnic soon appeared on the television.

Whoosh!

Lana's face instantly turned deathly pale. The scenes of her picnic with her boyfriend had been clearly recorded. Gerry was undoubtedly the one who had been secretly filming her!

Watching the two of them laugh and talk on the screen, Clark's expression darkened. He pressed his lips together, stepped forward, and took out the tape. "Stop watching. We need to figure out what happened here."

"Come on, I haven't finished watching." Chloe pursed her lips, displeased by Clark's behavior of simping for his goddess.

Still, she knew they needed to investigate Gerry's whereabouts now. She shrugged and said nothing more.

"Let's check the kitchen."

Jino's blue eyes fixed on the kitchen around the corner.

That pungent smell of blood was coming from there.

Tap, tap—

Sneakers struck the floor with crisp footsteps.

As he drew closer, a pair of women's high heels entered Jino's sight first, followed by a pair of short legs.

Jino sighed inwardly, already forming a vague guess.

He quickly took several steps forward. Above those legs was a floral dress, and then a woman with wide-open eyes and a bluish face, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling.

It was not because her eyes were dry. Her slightly swollen face and the enormous wound in her abdomen proved that she had been dead for quite some time.

Other than the expressionless Jino, everyone was horrified by the corpse lying in the kitchen.

They could even see the bloody internal organs inside her torn-open chest.

Blood had stained the floor and the woman's clothes red.

A faint but unmistakable smell of decay assaulted their nostrils.

Fear spread. Fear permeated the air!

Little Black Pete was the first to break.

The fear etched into his genes made Little Black Pete scream first. The boy rolled his eyes back, his body convulsing as though he had suffered a stroke. His arms and legs flailed wildly, as if he were being whipped by a farmer's lash. His eyes rolled upward, and he promptly fainted and crashed onto the floor with a dull thud.

Chloe was not doing much better. It was her first time seeing a corpse, and the dead woman's unclosed eyes made Chloe's face turn pale as her stomach churned violently.

"Bleurgh!"

Chloe covered her mouth and burst out of the kitchen at incredible speed. She had no intention of offending the dead; she was very superstitious about such things.

Soon, the sounds of painful vomiting and crying came from outside.

Not everyone could stay calm in the face of a corpse. Lana, standing behind Jino, was equally terrified and instinctively wanted to find someone's embrace to lean on.

Then, Lana's gaze unconsciously fell on Jino.

For some reason, Lana took a step forward, intending to hug Jino.

However, Jino stepped forward as well, avoiding her embrace. He slowly walked toward the corpse and even crouched down to carefully examine the wound.

It was as though it were not a corpse at all, but some fascinating textbook.

Left with no other choice, the pale-faced Lana turned and threw herself into Clark's arms.

"Clark, I'm scared."

Although he was just as afraid, Clark puffed out his chest and forced himself to endure it, unwilling to embarrass himself in front of his goddess.

"J-Jino, how about we leave?"

Clark swallowed, his heart in turmoil. He felt as though Mrs. Ted's eyes were secretly watching him and constantly wriggling.

"Why leave? Because of a corpse?"

Jino snorted and snapped off a piece of wood, holding it in his hand.

These young people were still too fragile. If they witnessed him blow Jeremy's head apart, would they be scared to death?

"But if you're afraid, you can wait in the living room."