Nonexistent Skull

"Living Person Apartment, has this kind of situation happened before?"

"No. Since I entered Living Person Apartment and became an apartment manager, Green Text Missions cannot add people temporarily. This is the first time I've seen this."

Gao Tian understood that he and Boss Jin and the others had to fight together now.

The good news was that only one of the six corpse pieces remained unfound. Moreover, he could receive the Green Text Mission's reward after finding the corpse piece.

Although he didn't understand the principle of entering the Green Text Mission, it wasn't entirely a bad thing, right?

However, it was clear that what followed proved his estimation had been too optimistic.

For the next two hours, Shata and the others split into three groups, meticulously checking every corner of the mall (they couldn't get out either), every staff member, and even the ordinary travelers stranded in the mall. They checked them one by one, but still couldn't find the last head.

Logically speaking, the head should have been the easiest to find. Unlike legs or a body, it couldn't be hidden by clothes.

As time ticked by, no one, not even the fastest Shata, reported any progress over the walkie-talkie.

Two hours passed, and it was completely dark. Only one hour remained before the mall closed.

"Sister Ta, how are things on your end?"

"Not good. Everyone is normal. We can't even find a single suspicious person."

Shata's voice sounded a bit haggard. He hadn't expected his second Green Text Mission to get stuck on the last corpse piece. He had initially thought that with two apartment managers on the job, this beginner mission would be a piece of cake.

At this moment, Boss Jin's voice rang out:

"Could it be that someone is wearing a Human Skin Mask or something similar, changing their face and head shape?"

Jiangyang said:

"Unlikely.

"Even if they wore a mask, the smell would still give them away. Our dogs should be able to smell it."

Another female voice timidly sounded over the walkie-talkie. Gao Tian remembered her; she was one of the two newcomers to the mission, named Su Jiu:

"Could... the staff member carrying the head corpse piece have snuck out while the White Mist sealed the entire mall?"

Shata's voice also chimed in, answering Su Jiu's question:

"The Green Text Mission explicitly stated that all six corpse pieces must be found within the mall.

"The corpse pieces must still be in the mall, right under our noses, but we've overlooked them so far.

"If the head had left the mall, it would mean the Green Text Mission violated its own rules, and there would be no point in continuing the mission."

So, where was the last head?

Gao Tian watched the last hour on the clock face tick away, a sense of anxiety growing within him.

Just then, Shata's voice rang out again:

"The last head must be hidden in a very special place. If we keep searching blindly like this, we'll never find it.

"Everyone, go to the first floor of the mall first. Let's gather and exchange information."

Gao Tian knew Shata was right.

They hadn't found a single Corpse Piece in two hours; their thinking must have hit a blind spot.

He immediately took the nearest elevator down to the first floor. On the Plaza, Shata's figure was already waiting in the center, standing as calmly as an iceberg, a stark contrast to the anxious, chaotic crowd around them.

Before long, Jiangyang, Su Jiu, and the others all arrived. The six members of the Living Person Apartment were assembled.

"Now we have hands, feet, and a body, all gathered. We're just missing the easiest part to find, the head, and we just can't locate it."

The young office worker named Li Jin, at his limit, let out a frustrated curse. He kicked a nearby Trash Can heavily, drawing glances from several Bystanders.

However, the others didn't pay it much mind. Everyone had been trapped in the mall for over two hours, and he wasn't the only one losing control of his emotions. The other customers assumed Li Jin was just eager to leave the mall.

Boss Jin continuously wiped the sweat from his face, his large face covered in a thick layer of oil that glistened under the streetlights:

"For this kind of thing, you young folks are the ones who have to handle it. I, a middle-aged man, can't figure it out at all, so don't rely on me."

His tone held a hint of dissatisfaction. He had spent a lot of money to hire two administrators who had completed five Green Text Missions to assist, and he hadn't expected a rookie mission to be so complicated, with no easy victory in sight.

There was no satisfying feeling of being carried by a powerful player and winning effortlessly through Pay to Win.

Jiangyang was completely out of ideas and turned to Shata:

"Sister Ta, can you think of any breakthrough?"

Shata's expression didn't change much:

"Calm down. With your impatient attitude, how do you plan to pass the sixth mission?

"The head must have already appeared before us, but none of us noticed it. This isn't a problem that can be solved by finding it in a few more hours; we've fallen into some kind of misconception.

"This is the second mission; it won't be too difficult. Think carefully, the answer is right in front of you."

As an veteran who had completed five missions, she must have at least five Supernatural Items on hand.

In this situation, she definitely had trump cards she hadn't played yet.

It was just that they hadn't reached a desperate point where she needed to use them. After all, if she had to use a Supernatural Item for a mission of this level, it would clearly be a loss for her.

Hearing Shata's words, a strange thought suddenly surfaced in Gao Tian's mind.

This thought was so wild that Gao Tian himself was startled. He was afraid that if he spoke it aloud, he would be treated as a lunatic.

Shata noticed the change in Gao Tian's expression for the first time. Her gem-like eyes fell on Gao Tian's face:

"Classmate Gao Tian, have you found anything?

"Any seemingly insignificant detail can be mentioned. We need a breakthrough."

Gao Tian swallowed.

He was silent for a moment, then slowly said:

"Perhaps, this head never existed in the first place."

Hearing this, even at such a tense moment, the newcomer Su Jiu couldn't help but laugh.

Jiangyang couldn't help but say:

"How is that possible?

"If this head never existed, how could we have found it within the time limit? Unless the Living Person Apartment intended to kill us from the start.

"But there's no need for that. If the apartment wanted to execute us, they could have just let the ghosts from the Fourth Floor down. Why go through such a roundabout way and give us a mission with a guaranteed death?"

Gao Tian's inner thoughts were simple.

If the corpse the Green Text Mission was looking for was Xu Yuan's corpse, then don't forget how Xu Yuan died in the Sapphire Mall.

Before the Old Security Guard disappeared, he described what he saw: Xu Yuan was killed by a Vengeful Ghost with four faces growing on its body.

This was the crux of the problem.

Vengeful Ghosts were formed after death. How could an ordinary person die with four faces?

This meant that the reason the Vengeful Ghost had so many faces—Gao Tian boldly speculated—was its habit of collecting faces and heads after killing people.

Every person it killed, it would take their head and make it a part of its own body. That Vengeful Ghost had killed three to four people before killing Xu Yuan, hence the extra faces on its body.

Therefore, Xu Yuan, who died under its hands, likely met the same fate. Although his Corpse Pieces were scattered, his most important part, his head, was taken by the Vengeful Ghost. That's why Shata and the others couldn't find it no matter how hard they tried.

Listening to Gao Tian's absurd words, the only ones who didn't laugh were Shata and Jiangyang.

Jiangyang slowly said:

"If... you are truly right.

"Then this is a headless corpse, but the Green Text Mission must have left a way out.

"What we truly need to do is find something to replace the original head of the corpse, to complete the full human form."

"After all, the Green Text Mission never stated that the six Corpse Pieces had to be from the same person. As long as 'a complete human form is pieced together,' the mission automatically completes.

'The reason we need to find the first six Corpse Pieces is that if they aren't found by nine o'clock, they will undergo Corpse Transformation.

'But since the sixth head is confirmed to be nonexistent, we don't need to keep searching for it. We can just find something to replace it.'

Jiangyang's logic was simple, and chilling.

Even if the corpse was missing a piece, it wouldn't affect the mission's completion.

Because another person's head could be found to substitute for the sixth head!

It just had to be a Corpse Piece, not necessarily from the same deceased individual.

The reason the first five Corpse Pieces had to be found was to prevent their Corpse Transformation; since the sixth head wasn't in the mall, any living person could be used as a substitute.

Hearing his words, a chill ran down everyone's spines. The two newcomers even shrunk their necks, terrified that the big shots might choose their heads as the final piece to complete the corpse.

Boss Jin asked, panting heavily:

'Then... are we just going to randomly kill someone here and hand over their head to complete the task?'

Although Boss Jin was decisive in business, killing someone with his own hands was something he had never done before, and he found it difficult to overcome psychologically.

Shata said:

'It hasn't come to that.

'Classmate Jiangyang, Classmate Gao Tian, you two go bring all the collected Corpse Pieces to the first floor and lay them out.

'There's no need to worry about other people's gazes now, as the mall has already been sealed off.

'I'll figure out the matter of the last head.'

(She) looked up at the giant electronic screen at the mall entrance. The giant face of the female star on the screen was still mechanically repeating the action of wiping a certain brand of cosmetics. Her skin was so white it seemed to glow, something even someone who had died just three days ago couldn't achieve.

'No.'

Shata suddenly changed (his) mind, 'Why have all the GG and Neon Lights of so many shops gone dark, yet this giant GG screen is still lit?'

At (his) prompt, Gao Tian noticed that it was indeed the case.

Due to the sudden incident in the mall, many people had gathered on each floor, waiting at the exits to leave and demand explanations. The scene was chaotic.

Under these circumstances, many floors and shops had experienced power outages for various reasons. However, the entrance electronic screen, which consumed the most power, was still shining brightly, completely unaffected. It stood in stark contrast to the dim mall.