Ji Li's sense that something was wrong grew stronger. Something about the funeral procession felt off, but he couldn't say what.
Then he heard a bloodcurdling scream from the drunks!
Without hesitation, he ran toward them. As he approached, he saw that only two of the three drunks remained. The fat man who had drunk the most was gone without a trace!
Ji Li's eyelid twitched. The first person had died!
The Tall Thin Man and Blondie were beside themselves. They looked from Ji Li to the blurred funeral procession, unable to say a word.
Ji Li grabbed the dazed Tall Thin Man and asked in a low voice, "What just happened?"
Bewildered and terrified, the Tall Thin Man pointed toward the stone wall where Liu Zi had been. "Liu Zi... Liu Zi, he..."
Ji Li shoved him aside impatiently and turned to Blondie.
Blondie was the most clearheaded of the three. He let out a long breath, glanced warily at the funeral procession as it faded from sight, and said quietly, "We hid here and waited for those people to leave. I turned my head for just a second, and Liu Zi vanished right where he stood. We still don't know what happened..."
Vanished without warning...
Ji Li's heart tightened. "That's all?"
Blondie was still shaken and plainly baffled. He stammered, "Before he disappeared, I only heard him say three words."
"'How could I...'"
"That's all?"
"That's all!"
Ji Li's face darkened. He watched the funeral procession recede, trying to make sense of it.
Liu Zi's death must have triggered a deadly trap.
Perhaps whatever Liu Zi had seen before he died, and those last words that were hardly last words at all, held a clue.
But it was all too vague to piece together.
It won't end here. Those people will come back and kill every one of us!
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the funeral procession, which had already vanished into the alley, appeared again and rapidly closed in on Ji Li and the others!
The Tall Thin Man looked as though he had seen a ghost. He was about to flee when Ji Li seized his wrist and forced him to stay.
"We can't outrun them. Stay here and figure out its rule for killing, and we might still have a chance!" Ji Li said, enunciating every word as he watched the procession draw closer.
"What is 'it'?"
"A ghost."
The Tall Thin Man and Blondie exchanged a glance and each took a step back. They looked at Ji Li as though he were insane.
But neither fled. Perhaps, deep down, they both sensed that something supernatural lurked among the white-robed figures!
"When the funeral procession approached the first time, I watched every one of them closely.
"Up until Liu Zi died, I'm certain none of the white-robed figures had a chance to strike.
"So perhaps the real anomaly is that coffin!"
This was the second time the living had come face-to-face with the funeral procession.
Now Ji Li's attention was fixed entirely on the coffin.
Even as it drew closer, he still saw nothing unusual.
At least, not from the outside. The coffin looked heavy, and there was clearly a body inside.
"Hm? Doesn't the coffin seem heavier?" As Ji Li struggled to understand, the Third Personality's cool voice sounded in his mind, tinged with puzzlement.
Wait...
"The ropes across the pallbearers' shoulders are sagging lower than before!"
Ji Li's eyes lit up, and he looked where the Third Personality had directed him.
Sure enough, as they passed him this time, the ropes dug into the four pallbearers' shoulders, and their steps were much heavier than before.
Where did Liu Zi's body go? The question sprang into Ji Li's mind, and his thoughts raced.
As a rule, ghosts did nothing without a reason. Every detail could mean life or death!
Liu Zi was dead, but why had his body vanished too?
Given the coffin's increased weight, was it possible that it now held two bodies—the ghost's and Liu Zi's?!
Ji Li watched the coffin draw closer. He could feel a chilling presence that made his blood run cold.
Liu Zi had clearly died because he saw something. Judging by where he had been standing at the time...
He must have been very close to the coffin!
Ji Li drew a sharp breath. Every strange detail pointed back to the coffin...
Then the coffin holds the deepest secret. To find a clue, I'll have to expose it!
Ji Li's gaze flickered. The coffin would pass him in moments, and he had few chances left.
But he had no idea whether opening it led to survival or death. Having died several times already, he had to tread carefully.
He slowly turned toward the two men beside him, both too frightened to speak. If he wanted to achieve his goal at the lowest cost, the simplest way was to use them...
"You two, I'll tell you plainly: the vicious ghost inside that coffin killed Liu Zi!"
The Tall Thin Man shrank back, looking at Ji Li with mounting panic.
Blondie was much steadier. After a few moments of hesitation, he asked, "What do you mean...?"
Ji Li let out a long breath and said grimly, "It's marked everyone in this alley. Only by figuring out its rule for killing might we have a chance to survive!"
Then his tone shifted. Watching Blondie and the Tall Thin Man, he pulled two sharp knives from his bag and tossed them in front of them.
"I'm giving you a choice. If you believe me, pick up the knives. We'll approach the coffin from different sides and lift the lid at the same time!"
Silence...
Ji Li's words brought everything to a brief standstill. Bewilderment and fear hung in the air.
"No... No way!
"Even if you're right and there's a ghost inside, opening that coffin is suicide!" The Tall Thin Man pressed himself against the wall and growled his objection.
Ji Li narrowed his eyes but said nothing. Blondie, however, picked up a knife first.
"He's right. Liu Zi had no reason to suddenly drop dead. Something supernatural caused this!
"When he died, Liu Zi was the closest to the coffin. Whatever's behind this must be there."
Blondie's composure and clear head had, in a way, allowed him to keep pace with Ji Li, the "professional."
Sweat covered his face as he gripped the knife and looked at Ji Li. "Are you sure... that opening the coffin will let us discover the ghost's rule for killing?"
Ji Li nodded firmly. His own hand reached behind his waist and tightened around a knife hilt.
His gaze settled on the approaching coffin. Unlike the last time it had passed, he was now close enough to smell something strange...
The smell of death!
He had encountered that smell more than once before, and every time, it had come from himself!
He looked again at the coffin, swaying up and down under its obvious weight. He was nearly eighty percent sure Liu Zi's body was inside!
In answer to Blondie's question, he spoke softly, but with unmistakable confidence:
"The ghost is hidden in that coffin, and so is its rule for killing.
"If we overcome our fear and uncover that hidden rule, we can win this round!"
Ji Li gripped his knife. Without looking to see where Blondie and the Tall Thin Man had gone, he walked straight to a corner of the wall. From there, he would face the coffin's southeast corner.
After hesitating several times, Blondie took a position level with Ji Li on his left, facing the coffin's northeast corner.
The Tall Thin Man chose to stand beside Blondie. He had never found his nerve, and when he looked at the expressionless white-robed figures, his legs trembled uncontrollably.
Ji Li caught all of this from the corner of his eye. An unreadable smile touched his lips.
He said nothing, but the Third Personality sighed faintly in his mind.
"What you're doing is sending those two to their deaths...
"It's a good plan. Opening the coffin is certainly a way to take the initiative, but the risk is just as high.
"To uncover its hidden rule for killing, you first need to see it kill.
"You used 'courage' and 'survival' to pressure them into joining you, just to spread the risk of being killed.
"You've cut your own odds from one hundred percent to thirty..."
The Third Personality had said enough. He was sharp enough to see through Ji Li's intentions almost instantly.
All sound faded. The living and the ghost alike waited for an opening.
Just then, the coffin arrived.
Ji Li held his knife in his right hand, but he watched the coffin pass without striking.
Only when the length of the coffin had reached the three living men did he suddenly shout, "Now!"
The shout struck Blondie and the Tall Thin Man like a thunderclap. Instinctively, they thrust their knives toward the coffin lid!
Ji Li alone did not move.
He had ordered the other two to act while keeping himself out of it.
The Third Personality had guessed wrong. Ji Li had never intended to take part in the plan!
He wanted those two to open the coffin. If that triggered a deadly trap, they would be the ones to suffer. His own chance of being attacked was zero!
But before Blondie's and the Tall Thin Man's knives could reach the coffin lid, Ji Li heard a muffled creak!
He had not yet realized what the sound was.
A sudden glare flashed into his eyes. He squeezed them shut on instinct, losing his sight for an instant.
Ji Li's heart seized. He realized something was wrong and tried to flee.
But an ice-cold hand clamped around his left arm. His whole body went numb, as though a venomous snake had bitten him, and he could not resist!
A tremendous force came from that hand and yanked him forward!
Helpless, Ji Li pitched toward the coffin!
The attack on him came too suddenly for him to react, but the Tall Thin Man and Blondie, both alert to their surroundings, saw what happened at once.
The Tall Thin Man was scared senseless. He watched the coffin pass Ji Li, and its lid was pushed open from inside!
Something flashed. Then a bloodless arm reached out and seized Ji Li, dragging him toward the coffin.
He stumbled back two steps until he hit the wall, yet he could not stop himself from looking into the open coffin...
His pupils abruptly contracted. He seemed to have seen something horrifying inside—something that should never have been there.
On the other side, Blondie had no idea what was happening to the Tall Thin Man.
He was closest to Ji Li. When he saw the attack, he instinctively grabbed Ji Li around the body, trying to keep him from being dragged to his death.
It all happened in less than half a second.
But with Blondie pulling him back, Ji Li finally had a moment to react. He raised the knife he had prepared and drove it toward his own left wrist!
In a daze, by the light of the streetlamp, he saw the open coffin. Its interior was too dark to make out.
Only a hand reached out from it, clamped around his wrist like iron tongs!
Just as the knife was about to fall, with every hair on Ji Li's body standing on end, a terrible scream came from the Tall Thin Man!
Then came... a warning whose meaning was unclear.
"Whatever you do... don't look at it!"
The Tall Thin Man was taken.
Ji Li should have been the one dragged into the coffin, yet by a bizarre "coincidence," the Tall Thin Man had become his replacement.
Ji Li saw the Tall Thin Man turn into a dark blur and get hauled into the coffin. A dull thud followed.
The ghost stopped attacking him, and the coffin lid slammed shut. Agony tore through the joints of his left hand, and he gritted his teeth as he looked down.
The heavy lid had closed on his left hand.
Pain surged through him like a tide, and the wildness in his eyes only grew!
At that moment, no one spared a thought for the Tall Thin Man's death or his warning.
The coffin kept moving with tremendous force, dragging Ji Li by his trapped left hand, with Blondie still clinging to him!
Bloody streaks appeared on the skin below Ji Li's left wrist as the ground tore it away.
His eyes went bloodshot. At last, the knife he held aloft came down with all his strength!
It sank into his left wrist, already crushed beneath the coffin lid, and he sawed again and again through the hard bone!
He cut off his hand to survive!
That bone-grinding sound was the only disturbance in the entire alley, making the horror of the scene all the more brutal!
The only two living men collapsed by the roadside, utterly spent. They watched the life-devouring coffin recede with the white-robed figures.
Ji Li had been the second person attacked, but he had survived.
The price was his left hand—and the Tall Thin Man, who had inexplicably "died in his place"—both sealed inside the coffin!
Before you continue