Hide Leaf in Forest

The two were clearly very close, but Little Xu Yuan had to shout every word he spoke for Gao Tian on the other side to hear. Gao Tian knew that the spacetime they were in was about to return to normal. They weren't separated by two meters of space, but by over twenty years of time.

Gao Tian also raised his voice, shouting to Xu Yuan opposite him:

"What method?"

Xu Yuan's voice, faint and indistinct, drifted over:

"Hide Leaf in Forest!

"If you want to hide a leaf, the best method is to hide it in a forest!"

The little boy said something else afterward, but Gao Tian couldn't hear it. As the owner of the leather shoes approached, all the supernatural powers within a radius centered on him were suppressed, including the little boy's Ghost Eye that could see through time and space.

The mist gradually dissipated, and so did the little boy and the joystick in his hands.

The place where he had been standing was now empty, with only a dusty game console, not connected to any power, remaining.

The connection between the two timelines was broken. Little Xu Yuan returned to over twenty years ago, and Gao Tian remained in this world.

Asking Little Xu Yuan to find his own corpse from over twenty years later might indeed be asking too much.

However, his words before the connection broke still lingered in Gao Tian's mind.

The best way to hide a leaf is to hide it in a forest. What did that mean?

Gao Tian began to turn and walk out of the arcade. At the same time, he opened his phone to check the chat group's conversation history.

If, because of this spacetime travel, Gao Tian's words had affected the Little Xu Yuan of over twenty years ago, would it in turn affect the structure of the current timeline?

The grown-up Xu Yuan should not have become a ghost, and the Jialan Society chat group likely wouldn't exist.

Perhaps Xu Yuan knew the location of his death and effectively avoided the Sapphire Mall, thus not dying. He would still be alive as an excellent Ghost Hunter.

But to Gao Tian's disappointment, the chat history on his phone was exactly the same, with no difference from before.

A Ghost Cave released a Black Packet, and the Living Person Apartment was looking for someone in the group to deal with their corpse...

This worldline had not changed.

That made sense. Spacetime was a giant cycle. The Gao Tian of the previous timeline had probably also met Little Xu Yuan at the Sapphire Mall. But Xu Yuan still died in the same way after growing up, becoming a Vengeful Ghost. Then, the Little Xu Yuan of this timeline wouldn't change his fate because of a few words from Gao Tian.

He had stayed in the dilapidated arcade for about an hour, finding almost no clues. As Gao Tian walked out of the arcade, he didn't forget to communicate with the others scattered on different floors via walkie-talkie:

"Have you found any body parts?"

From the other end of the walkie-talkie came Shata's voice:

"We've searched the entire mall and haven't found a single piece of corpse yet.

"Gao Tian, what were you doing up ahead? Why did you suddenly go silent.

"We thought something happened to you over there."

Jiangyang's voice cut in:

"If we keep searching like this, we'll definitely not find the corpse pieces before the mall closes. If that thing can hide in a crowded mall without being discovered, it must be hidden somewhere normal people wouldn't think of."

Several newcomers chimed in, their voices filled with despair.

Gao Tian ignored them and first answered Shata's question:

"Just some minor things, I handled them myself. I'll tell you more when we get back.

"By the way, Shata, I have a question for you."

Shata:

"Go ahead, Gao Tian."

Gao Tian:

"If you want to hide a single leaf, what's the best way to do it? Hide it in a forest.

"Do you think this sentence has anything to do with the second Green Text Mission?"

Shata:

"Where did you hear this strange sentence?"

Gao Tian:

"It just occurred to me."

Fortunately, Shata didn't dwell on the source of the sentence.

The walkie-talkie fell silent for a moment, then Shata's voice rang out again:

"The place to hide a leaf is a forest, where the number of leaves is the greatest. Hiding one leaf among tens of thousands of leaves would indeed make it difficult for the searcher to distinguish.

"So, according to this logic, the place to hide a piece of corpse would be among tens of thousands of corpse pieces.

"Are you implying that the corpse is hidden among tens of thousands of other corpses?"

This was clearly incorrect.

Without anyone else needing to say it, Shata negated his own idea:

"This is a mall, not a cemetery. Where did all these bodies come from?"

Suddenly, Jiangyang, standing to the side, interjected:

"Since you mentioned the relationship between trees and leaves.

'What is most abundant in Sapphire Mall?'"

Boss Jin, standing nearby, chimed in:

"The most merchandise?

The most shops?"

Su Jiu's voice timidly sounded:

"The most money."

This was clearly wrong.

Shata and Gao Tian said in unison:

"The most people."

Hide Leaf in Forest.

Hide Leaf in Forest.

Now it was correct.

Gao Tian suddenly understood the true meaning of the words Little Xu Yuan had desperately tried to convey to him before the spacetime rift.

It seemed he had underestimated Little Xu Yuan. The person who knew him best was himself. Without Little Xu Yuan's hint, he truly didn't know how long it would take for them, these few fools, to find it in Sapphire Mall.

If their speculation was correct, then Xu Yuan's imagination after he became an adult was truly boundless. When he saw this Green Text Mission, Gao Tian would never have dreamed that Xu Yuan would hide his own corpse in such a place after death.

Indeed, it was no wonder that despite the mall's daily high foot traffic, no one had discovered a corpse that had been there for years. Xu Yuan had performed a small piece of magic. He had placed the corpse right in front of everyone from the start, yet the diverse crowd that passed through the mall daily seemed to be under a spell, completely ignoring it.

"The corpse is hidden in..."

Gao Tian put down the Walkie-Talkie in his hand.

Because from outside the corridor, a clear set of footsteps could be heard approaching Gao Tian's direction from within the mall.

Gao Tian stood his ground, waiting for the silhouette to cast its shadow from around the corner.

"My old classmate, why are you in such a hurry to get to the third-floor arcade? Won't you have a drink with me?"

It was that persistent Old Security Guard.

He had only used the Memory Ghost to hypnotize the old security guard, implanting a false memory that they were old classmates. He hadn't expected the old security guard to be so obsessed with Gao Tian, chasing him all the way here, insisting on treating Gao Tian to a drink before letting him go.

Gao Tian smiled:

"I'm sorry, I lied to you. I was never your classmate.

"The reason you have this false memory is because I've discovered a killing pattern of ghosts, which allows me to implant memories that don't exist into your mind through language and psychological suggestion."

Abruptly, Gao Tian revealed his biggest secret to a complete stranger without reservation.

The old security guard's face showed confusion, as if he couldn't understand what Gao Tian was saying:

"A ghost's killing pattern?

"What is that?

"Do ghosts really exist in this world?"

Gao Tian continued unhurriedly:

"However, I don't need to apologize to you too much. Because you also deceived me.

"You're not human at all, are you?

"For Xu Yuan to hide his corpse in Sapphire Mall for so long without being discovered...

"The biggest secret is that his corpse was divided into countless pieces, and each piece was sewn onto a person.

"This way, every day when Sapphire Mall opens, these six 'people' each carry a piece of a corpse that doesn't belong to them, walking around the different floors of the mall. No customer would notice that a security guard they brushed past had a part of a dead person on them."

Gao Tian's gaze fell on the old security guard's left hand, which was covered by a black glove. That hand seemed to be beyond his control, constantly seeping black liquid onto the ground, emitting a strong stench.

There was no doubt, the old security guard's left hand was Xu Yuan's severed arm!

This was the biggest secret of the Green Text Mission, the truth behind Little Xu Yuan's words "hidden in the forest."

The old security guard looked at his left hand, but instead of finding any answers, his confusion deepened:

"What you're saying... it seems to remind me of something, I don't know why...

"Speaking of which, it was about three years ago.

"While on night patrol at the mall, I heard a strange laugh coming from a distant corner. The mall had already been cleared out, so I went over, intending to scold whoever was there to leave.

"Unexpectedly, as I rounded a corner, I saw something extremely terrifying... I still can't recall what it was. I just fainted the moment I saw it.

"The next day, I woke up in the early morning. The mall was bustling with customers again, as if nothing had happened the night before. I started my day's patrol.

"Since that day, I feel like I can't leave the mall. I don't need to eat, and I don't need any rest. Every day after the mall closes, my memories are automatically erased, until the next morning when I uncontrollably start my body for a new day's patrol..."

Gao Tian naturally knew the reason for the old security guard's memory confusion.

The strange laughter he heard that day, the terrifying scene he saw, was Xu Yuan being killed by a vengeful ghost in a corner of the mall.

Before Xu Yuan died, he didn't know what supernatural item he used. He divided his corpse into five parts, each placed on a mall staff member.

As the carriers of a part of the corpse, they had to be five regular shoppers of the mall. This way, they would appear in the mall every day without arousing anyone's suspicion.

These five staff members were no longer considered human or ghost. They were just five vessels carrying Xu Yuan's corpse parts, patrolling the mall day and night. The only meaning of their bodies was to hide Xu Yuan's corpse. They had even forgotten their own existence.

I have to say, Xu Yuan's imagination was truly vast, the supernatural item was magical enough, and his thoughts were vicious enough.

"So, how exactly should I take the corpse part from your body?"

Gao Tian's gaze fell on the old security guard's rotting hand, from which corpse water was constantly seeping.

The next moment, he directly drew the tip of the Ghost Transformation Spear in his hand.

The spearhead was unimaginably sharp. With a single strike, it cleanly severed the old security guard's wrist, as smoothly as slicing through a piece of tofu.