No Trace

"Can't talk? Then I'll ask someone else."

Seeing that Old Li had lost the ability to speak, Ning Zhe disengaged the safety on the pistol and tucked it into his pocket, then crouched down and pulled a baton from behind Old Li.

Ning Zhe pressed one hand against Old Li's ankle and used his knee to pin down his torso, then gripped the baton with his other hand and swung it down with a heavy blow, the immense force shattering his fragile ankle joint instantly.

After the left foot came the right, then the elbows and shoulder blades. Ning Zhe's movements were crisp and efficient, his expression calm and rippleless, as if he were facing not a living person but livestock waiting to be slaughtered. He quickly dismantled all of Old Li's limb joints and dragged him up like a dead dog.

While he did this, the Ghost stood right beside them, watching quietly.

But it made no move, because it could not see.

Dragging the limp Old Li, whose joints had all been broken, Ning Zhe bent down to pick up the parasol that had fallen to the ground and strolled forward.

"Aunt, are you sure the circuit breaker is just ahead?" Ning Zhe asked as he walked.

"...Ah! Yes, yes, that's right, the circuit breaker is just ahead. Keep walking forward, stop after you pass the second or third Pixiu statue, and find the triangular area between the two walls." Feng Yushu said hurriedly.

Ning Zhe noticed the fear and tension in her voice, along with a hint of fawning. Clearly, his act of violence just now had been transmitted to her through the monitoring screen, and the shock to the Aunt was truly not light.

Even if one were to strip away the rules Ning Zhe had mastered, the knowledge he possessed, and his logical thinking abilities, he remained a powerful adult male human. In primitive interpersonal interactions stripped of social constraints, violence is always the underlying logic.

Feng Yushu's eyes were glued to the flickering screen, watching as Ning Zhe held the parasol in one hand and dragged the dead-dog-like Old Li with the other, walking straight out of the frame.

She hurriedly switched the monitoring angle. The camera mounted on the corner of the outer wall followed Ning Zhe's footsteps, slowly rotating to keep his figure in the center of the screen at all times.

The Pixiu statue by the roadside squatted on the ground, head tilted in a posture of begging for money. From the design of this small statue, one could tell that the investors of Bishuiwan Manor had high hopes for its profitability.

A Pixiu is a Gold-eating Beast that takes in but never gives out. People in ancient times liked to place the image of a Pixiu in storehouses where wealth was accumulated; it is a classic mythical beast representing the protection of gold and silver assets.

Following the path Feng Yushu pointed out, Ning Zhe soon found the hidden triangular area near the third Pixiu statue. The small, cramped compartment was embedded into the wall, its entrance quite concealed; if one weren't looking for it, it would be impossible to spot.

Ning Zhe tossed the panting Old Li into the compartment and stepped up to the circuit breaker.

"Indoor Power Grid master valve... If I turn this off, the power to the entire castle will be cut. The monitoring network on your end will shut down too, right, Aunt?" Ning Zhe said softly.

"Yes, if you pull the master valve, all power inside the castle will be cut, leaving only the outdoor fountains and street lamps with power," Feng Yushu confirmed.

"OK... then no rush to pull the switch yet. I have something to ask you." Ning Zhe leaned in toward the large Circuit Integration Master Valve in front of him and asked, "Earlier, when the street lamp was still on, the Ghost was standing under the lamp and I was crouching on the ground holding the umbrella—did you see that scene on the monitor?"

"Yes, I did." Feng Yushu nodded repeatedly, even though Ning Zhe couldn't see her: "I had already entered the monitoring room at that time, and I saw you crouching on the ground to avoid the Ghost."

"Very good. At that time, did the corpse possessed by the Ghost have a shadow?"

"Eh...?" Feng Yushu was stunned: "A shadow?"

"I asked you if it did." Ning Zhe reiterated.

"I'm not sure, it seemed like it did, but it also seemed like it didn't." Feng Yushu's voice sounded a bit weak: "Wait a moment, let me see if I can rewind and check the surveillance footage from that time. It might take a few minutes."

Bishuiwan Manor was positioned as a high-end venue, and the monitoring network here was of a completely different standard than that of ordinary commercial centers. Both the security level and the clarity of the footage were much higher. Plus, since this was Feng Yushu's first time dealing with such equipment, it would take some time to find the correct way to operate it.

Taking advantage of this time, Ning Zhe searched Old Li's security uniform and found his mobile phone, unlocking it with his fingerprint.

As soon as the screen lit up, a series of missed calls appeared. The callers were mainly two people: Xiao Liu and Xiao Xie.

"He really does have companions." Ning Zhe didn't know who Old Li was or why he had attacked him, but regardless of the reason, Old Li had already fired a gun at him.

Once a move was made, there was no turning back. It was either you die or I die; there would be no third outcome.

Ning Zhe steadied his breathing, tapped on the missed call from "Xiao Xie," and called back.

After two rings, the call connected.

Ning Zhe held the phone without speaking immediately. Then, he heard a cautious voice come through the phone's speaker: "Li Ge?"

As the words fell, the shirt on Ning Zhe's body transformed into a crisp, ironed security uniform, and the youthful face with a scholarly air changed into that of a middle-aged man with faint stubble around his mouth.

--When Xiao Xie on the other end of the line thought the Ning Zhe calling him was Old Li, he truly became Old Li.

The identity of the "Li Ge known to Xie Ya'an," along with a string of not-so-distant memories, was sent into Ning Zhe's mind by Taiyi. A moment later, he understood the identity of the security captain who had fired at him.

"So you're here to turn off the circuit breaker too... and there are other survivors." Ning Zhe glanced at Old Li, who had been tortured into a wreck, feeling not a shred of guilt.

From the moment Old Li fired at him, he was already a dead man. The only reason he was still alive was that Ning Zhe needed him to maintain his status as a living person.

Ning Zhe brought the phone to his lips, and a deep, masculine voice came from his mouth: "Xiao Xie, I've reached the master valve. I'm about to pull the switch, so get ready."

"O-okay, Li Ge." Xie Ya'an's voice sounded a bit scared: "Are you coming back after you pull the switch?"

"I might not be able to come back to you immediately," Ning Zhe answered truthfully: "I'll wait for Tian Chengyun to turn off the outdoor circuit breaker, meet up with him, and then we'll come find you together."

"Why wait for him!" Xie Ya'an's tone immediately turned dissatisfied: "Tian Chengyun isn't a man at all, he has no sympathy, he even scolded me just now... Li Ge, let's just leave together after we turn off the lights, don't worry about him."

How did this woman manage to be this stupid... Ning Zhe was somewhat puzzled.

Given his personality, he would have hung up the phone and let this woman fend for herself, but Old Li was a simp... well, a "warm man," the kind that ranks right after a dog.

So, Ning Zhe had no choice but to patiently coax Xie Ya'an, following Old Li's consistent personality, patiently telling her that he would take her out, not to be agitated, that there was strength in numbers... After dragging it out for a long time, he finally hung up the phone.

"Are you done?" Feng Yushu's voice came faintly through the Bluetooth headset.

"Done." Ning Zhe's voice returned to his own tone.

Feng Yushu let out a sigh of relief and continued: "I just checked the playback of the surveillance. Earlier, when that street lamp was still on, the corpse possessed by the Ghost did have a shadow."

But after the Ghost left, it didn't.