One Piece Left

The moment Gao Tian cut off Old Security Guard's wrist, two things happened at once.

The severed hand hit the ground and began to rot rapidly, giving off a stench. The thick stink of corpses and putrid fluids, festering for three years, could no longer be contained. It burst out in an instant, nearly making Gao Tian unable to open his eyes.

At the same time, Old Security Guard had lost the severed hand. As a puppet carrying a Corpse Piece, he no longer had any reason to exist. His body began to rot at a visible speed, chunks of flesh falling off one after another and turning into a pool of pus. All that remained was a skeleton with a little flesh still clinging to it, standing in place and struggling to hold on. But soon even the skeleton could no longer stay upright.

"I... remember now...

"I... remember... everything... The scene I saw that day...

"That thing... was a monster... with the faces of four people, men and women, young and old... piled on top of each other...

"And a man... in a Trench Coat... being stabbed to death..."

The skeleton stood motionless, as if he still couldn't accept the fate of his own death. Its jaw opened and closed as it struggled to speak.

"The man in the Trench Coat... left his severed hand... on me...

"From that day on... I was already dead..."

The truth was exactly as Gao Tian had expected.

The man in the Trench Coat had naturally been Xu Yuan.

The Vengeful Ghost that killed him was a deformed creature with four faces piled on top of one another.

Before Xu Yuan died, he saw Old Security Guard. Since the old man had witnessed a Vengeful Ghost killing someone, he was doomed to die anyway. So, before his own death, Xu Yuan turned him into a temporary human vessel for the Corpse Piece, leaving him to live on in a daze and repeat the actions he'd performed in life.

After speaking his last words, Old Security Guard recalled what had happened to him as if watching scenes from a life flashing before his eyes. The last of his skeleton crumbled into ash in an instant. A living person had vanished right before Gao Tian's eyes.

Holding the lone rotten left arm, Gao Tian didn't know what to say.

Although the real Old Security Guard had died three years ago, it felt as if Gao Tian had just killed the old man himself.

There was no time to waste here. The minutes kept ticking by. They had found only one of the six Corpse Pieces. If they hadn't found the remaining five before the mall closed, the Green Text Mission's penalty would soon arrive.

Gao Tian hid the arm beneath one of the arcade machines, planning to retrieve it after they found all the Corpse Pieces. Then he shut the arcade's doors, followed the corridor around, and returned to the mall.

The huge glass canopy overhead showed that the sky outside was beginning to darken. Time waited for no one. What puzzled Gao Tian was that the White Mist hadn't disappeared. It had only grown thinner, still swirling through every floor of the mall.

At first, he'd thought it was caused by the distortion of time and space. But Little Xu Yuan had already returned to his original timeline, and their connection had been severed. Not only had the White Mist not vanished with him, it had spread farther.

Ahead, a crowd of visitors who had entered the mall were gathered together. A few people at the front, visibly agitated, were arguing heatedly with the mall staff about something.

Gao Tian turned his Walkie-Talkie back on and joined Shata and the others' channel.

"I've solved the mystery of where the bodies were hidden, and I've found one Corpse Piece.

"The real mystery of the Green Text Mission is that the six Corpse Pieces are hidden on six people. Those six people must all be mall employees. That way, they can show up at the mall every day without raising anyone's suspicions..."

He explained where he'd found the first Corpse Piece as simply as he could.

"Gao, you're a fucking genius."

Jiangyang's unreserved praise rang in his ear.

Boss Jin and the two other newcomers also showered Gao Tian with praise. As time went on and they still hadn't found a single Corpse Piece, they'd grown anxious. Everyone was relieved that Gao Tian had found a breakthrough.

Just then, Shata's calm voice came through again.

"I've found two Corpse Pieces here, too.

"But things don't look good.

"Be careful. It seems the entire Sapphire Mall is surrounded by a strange White Mist. No one inside the mall can get out, and no one outside can get in. More and more people are panicking."

No wonder Shata was so capable. She worked at an astonishing speed.

The Corpse Pieces she had were a left leg and a right arm. Adding the one Gao Tian had hidden in the arcade, they had three. They still hadn't found the head, torso, or right leg.

The news Shata had brought was certainly not good. The mall's lockdown meant that the customers inside were growing more frightened. Fear would lead to crowds and chaos, making it even harder to find the remaining Corpse Pieces disguised as people.

As Gao Tian passed the gathered crowd, he heard an agitated middle-aged man at the front say, "My father's having heart trouble. We're trying to leave the mall, so what gives your staff the right to keep us here?

"If we get to the hospital too late and something happens, I'll hold you legally responsible!"

Two mall employees were sweating with worry as they tried to explain.

"Sir, it's not that we won't let you leave. We don't know why, but a strange White Mist has risen at every exit and blocked them all. No matter how far ordinary people walk into the mist, they end up right back where they started. We've tested it countless times.

"We've already called the police and are waiting for outside rescue workers to come in. Please calm down. Staying here is for your own good..."

Gao Tian's gaze moved from one mall supervisor to another.

He couldn't find any trace of a Corpse Piece on them. Their bodies were whole and their minds clear, so they probably weren't the ones.

He searched the entire Third Floor, including the restrooms and emergency stairwells. The visitors trapped on the floor were growing more and more agitated. People kept making calls and complaining to someone outside.

The sky continued to darken. Before they knew it, it was six in the evening. Time had passed so quickly. Less than three hours remained before the mall closed.

"Found one!

"I found a Corpse Piece here, too...

"Hey, you bastard, why are you running? Let's see where you can go now!"

Jiangyang's excited voice suddenly came through the Walkie-Talkie, accompanied by the sound of the two newcomers panting. Clearly, after spotting the employee, they'd chased him for a while. In the end, Jiangyang's group had managed to subdue him with their numbers.

Just then, Shata's ever-calm voice came through the Walkie-Talkie.

"I found one here, too.

"Part of a body."

In the background, Boss Jin laughed heartily. "Ten thousand yuan to everyone who finds a Corpse Piece!"

He had every reason to be in a good mood. Gao Tian had one, Jiangyang had one, and Shata had three. That made five in all. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they found the last one.

They had found the left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, and torso. Only the head remained.

The two newcomers sounded optimistic, too. They had three hours left, more than enough time to find the final head.

This was only their second Green Text Mission. It couldn't be that difficult. And with two administrators who'd completed five missions joining them, dealing with a Green Text Mission of this level should be a piece of cake.

The only one among them who remained basically calm was Shata. There was no hint of joy in her voice over the Walkie-Talkie. Instead, she coolly warned them, "Don't let your guard down yet. Until we find the last Corpse Piece, the game isn't over.

"And the last piece is a head, so it won't be easy to find. The other Corpse Pieces were hidden beneath employees' clothes and trousers. But where could anyone hide a rotting head? Something about this doesn't add up. Think it through."

Gao Tian considered the matter. The last head was probably hidden on a mall employee who needed to wear a mask or face covering. Otherwise, with a severely decomposed head on display, mall visitors would have noticed it long ago.

And the employee's masked appearance had to seem perfectly ordinary, without attracting anyone's attention or suspicion. That was why, despite spending so long in Sapphire Mall and collecting five other Corpse Pieces, Shata and the others had completely "overlooked" an entirely plausible presence.

Who could it be?

Just as Gao Tian was about to share his thoughts over the Walkie-Talkie and ask what the others thought, Shata's voice came through again. But this time, her usually calm voice carried a rare note of urgency.

"Something's wrong.

"There's something wrong with this Green Text Mission!"

Jiangyang's lazy voice followed. "What's wrong, Sister Ta?

"Did you notice some kind of wordplay in the mission?"

Shata said, "Look at the list of participants in the Green Text Mission again. There were only three people at first...

"While we were looking for the Corpse Pieces, another name was added. Now there are four.

"I'm certain there were only three when I got the mission. The fourth person was added later. My memory hasn't been affected by a Supernatural Event, has it? You can check, too, so we can make sure."

A sense of foreboding welled up in Gao Tian.

It was true. The first time he saw this Green Text Mission, the participants listed were Boss Jin and the two newcomers.

Shata, Jiangyang, and Gao Tian had joined in as bystanders.

Who was the person whose name had just appeared on the mission?

Shata and Jiangyang had both completed five Green Text Missions. Their names couldn't appear on the lists of two missions at once.

That left only one possibility.

The name that had been added...

Gao Tian pulled out his phone and opened the photo Shata had sent him on WeChat, showing the writing on the wall—

Gao Tian.

The fourth name, written in green on the wall, was unmistakably his own.

"Gao Tian, your name has been added to the Green Text Mission.

"You're no longer just a bystander. You're now a participant in this mission, a teammate whose life is tied to everyone else's."