Liu Shang

After the intersection, there were no more surprises.

Perhaps the system also felt that throwing more jump-scare mini-games at him on the road would be a bit excessive, so Zhou You did not encounter any ghosts until he reached his next destination.

As for Chang Song Slope... calling it a slope was generous; it was barely even a depression in the ground. It was essentially a large mound of dirt, barren and devoid of vegetation, looking exceptionally desolate under the moonlight.

Construction seemed to be underway at the foot of the slope, with plenty of building materials and tools scattered about. However, there wasn't a single worker in sight, nor was there a night-shift security guard—the owners didn't seem worried about theft at all, leaving everything piled up haphazardly.

Of course, they were right.

After all, Zhou You couldn't imagine any thief braving this hellish environment just to steal construction supplies.

After walking out of the construction site, he followed a small path along the base of the mountain and turned into a villa district.

This area seemed to have been developed alongside the construction site. Most of the buildings were unfinished, save for one magnificent mansion sitting at the very end of the road—judging by the situation, it seemed the company had given it special treatment and finished it ahead of schedule.

"But the question is, who would go out of their way to build a villa in this godforsaken place, putting up with the construction noise and the barren surroundings, just to finish it early? That's just a total sucker move..."

However, Zhou You's question was answered quickly.

It was a gold-plated doorplate, exquisitely carved with a unique design; one look told him it had been custom-made at great expense.

And engraved on that plate were two very conspicuous characters.

"Liu Shang."

—The man who was likely the richest person in the city, and also the mastermind behind everything.

"...Alright, I know who the sucker is, and I also suspect this place is likely the end of the patrol route..."

Zhou You took a deep breath, looked up, and examined the villa once more.

An air of opulence radiated from it, but at this moment, there were no lights on in the building, and not even a single security guard was visible.

"Is there no one here?"

Zhou You gently pushed the outermost iron gate.

...It wasn't locked.

Likewise, the inner door wasn't locked either.

The entire house seemed completely undefended, welcoming all guests without discrimination.

"No way, it's so conspicuous—could there be a trap?"

Zhou You took a step back and observed the villa again.

—Yet, there were no issues.

Unlike the residential buildings, there was no eerie, ghostly aura around this house, nor could he see any ghostly faces or shadows.

Everything was as mundane as could be, just like an ordinary mansion.

In the end, Zhou You could only shrug and push the door open to enter.

The interior of the villa was just as luxuriously decorated. The foyer alone was at least a hundred square meters, and every detail in the house exuded unparalleled extravagance. Just standing there made one feel as if they were in a palace built entirely of money.

But Zhou You didn't look at the decorations.

He lowered his head and looked at his feet.

A layer of fresh blood was evenly smeared across the expensive, jade-like stone floor.

And it wasn't just in one spot; the blood covered all the floors in the hall. At a glance, it looked like a legendary sea of blood from purgatory—

However, for Zhou You, this kind of scene was more or less something he was accustomed to. The shock it provided wasn't even as bad as the stench of the canned herring in the Gui Po Shop—so he simply crouched down and gently wiped some of the blood.

But then, he froze.

"This blood... why is it such a thin layer?"

Zhou You didn't want to believe it and tried a few more times. He discovered two things: first, the blood was ice-cold—very cold—clearly having been out of a human body for some time, though he didn't know why it hadn't coagulated. Second, it was extremely thin. While the visual effect of it covering the entire hall was exaggerated, if one were to actually calculate the volume...

It was probably only the amount from one person.

Zhou You frowned, feeling he couldn't find any clues, so he decided to ignore it for now and head to the second floor to take a look.

—But the moment he stepped onto the stairs, his foot slipped, and he nearly fell backward!

Fortunately, his balance had always been good. After an abrupt, breakdance-like maneuver, he finally managed to grab the railing and steady himself. Then, he looked at the culprit...

His eyes suddenly went blank.

It was a piece of intestine.

A very long piece of intestine.

Starting from behind Zhou You and ending at the top of the stairs, the intestines were laid out there, covered in mucus, fresh... as if they still held a trace of warmth.

Zhou You estimated the distance; it was about six or seven meters.

Because he liked reading medical books in his spare time, he knew very well that the intestines of a normal adult totaled about six or seven meters in length.

Zhou You fell silent for a moment, then carefully stepped around the intestines and walked to the second floor.

And the first thing he saw was two kidneys.

Pushing the door open again, what he saw was a spleen.

Next came the stomach, lungs, liver, gallbladder...

It was as if a person had been torn apart alive and laid out to form a path, specifically designed to lead someone to a certain place.

By the time he reached the location of the heart, Zhou You had arrived before a pair of gilded doors.

At this point, based on what he had seen, aside from the bones, flesh, and head, he could have completely pieced together a human being.

And judging by the state of the organs, it must have been an elderly yet extremely obese person.

...He already had a guess as to the other party's identity.

So, after raising his hand to aim the bell at the door and seeing that no sound emerged, Zhou You pushed the door open and walked straight in.

The room was even more unbearable than the outside.

Red and white colors coated every corner within his field of vision—the red was flesh, drained of blood and specifically minced, while the white was fat, deliberately spread and scattered all around by someone.

Aside from these things, there were no other decorations in the room, not even a bed; the only thing standing in the very center was a hideous Bodhisattva Statue.

Zhou You recognized that statue.

It was the very thing he had seen in the orphanage, the one the system called the Jixiang Jimiao Guimu Bodhisattva.

"It seems... everything can be connected now."

Zhou You carefully avoided the fat and chunks of meat scattered all over the floor and circled behind the statue, where, just as he had expected, he saw something.

It was an incredibly aged, sickly face, yet one that clearly belonged to someone who had lived a life of luxury, a face that was sinister and vicious.

At that moment, Zhou You happened to lock eyes with that face.

The pupils were still moving.

--This guy was alive.

Moreover, even though they had never met before, Zhou You recognized the person's identity in an instant.

Liu Shang.

Boss Liu.

The same man who was heartless despite his wealth, who withheld the wages of poor sanitation workers, who sacrificed numerous children from the orphanage, and who was the city's biggest...

The culprit behind it all.