A Broken Promise

At 2:30, Yu Xing arrived at the agreed meeting place right on time.

Hua Subai and Nightmare had already arrived. Zhang Yu appeared almost at the same time as Yu Xing, while Yan Li was the only one running late again.

"Captain!" Zhang Yu's eyes lit up. He quickly scanned Yu Xing from head to toe and, seeing that he didn't seem to be hurt, let out a long sigh of relief.

Yu Xing nodded at him, then walked into the alley. After sensing the area, he turned to Hua Subai. "You have the scent of a ghostly object on you."

The ghostly objects in Nanshui Town were hidden beneath a false façade. If someone carried a ghostly scent that others could sense, it meant they had just encountered a ghostly object in a real scene.

"So do you." Hua Subai leaned against the wall, toying with a little wildflower he'd picked somewhere. It was a delicate yellow flower, yet it had survived in this freezing weather. That was a rare sight.

Yu Xing had just killed a woman who'd charged at him with a knife, and he'd also met the doctor at the hospital. It was no surprise that he carried the scent. He couldn't be bothered to explain, so he turned to Nightmare instead.

Before splitting up, they'd agreed on their assignments: he and Zhang Yu would go to the hospital; Hua Subai would investigate the strange child people had mentioned; Nightmare would look into preparations for the Snow Festival; and Yan Li would investigate the Fang family.

Nightmare was in the worst shape of them all. She didn't seem to have any external injuries, but her face was deathly pale, and even her lips had lost their color. Her eyes, her most important feature, were dull and