Strange Person

Chapter 23: The Strange One

Hua Xiaoxiao's desire to live was so intense; she wasn't dead yet! She still had a breath of life left!

But... the thing that truly drove Hua Xiaoxiao to despair happened.

The eye at the crack of the door... vanished.

He had given up on her... he had given up on her...

Unimaginable unwillingness and resentment crawled into every corner of her heart in an instant. She hadn't... originally been like this.

Lively, beautiful, the school belle, surrounded by stars... these were the words that had always accompanied Hua Xiaoxiao as she grew up.

But... it was all that day's fault, the day she opened the door.

Everything had changed.

Lu Guo stepped away from the door crack on tiptoe and shook his head slightly at Qi Nian.

Although Hua Xiaoxiao's intense desire to survive had shocked him greatly, he... did not believe he had the ability to save her.

Everyone in the Mist Gathering knew what the monster dragging her was.

It was a ghost.

An unsolvable ghost!

Taoist priests, monks, temples, immortals, and Buddhas—none of them were of any use!

Newcomers who refused to believe in evil had tried before; some brought talismans, some hid in Buddhist halls, but... this world seemed to have no gods, demons, immortals, or Buddhas at all. There were only terrifying, vicious ghosts formed from the purest malice! Their goal was singular: to drag everything living before them down into the same hell they inhabited!

Perhaps, from the first day they inadvertently stepped into the Mist Gathering, everyone had already been living in hell.

Lu Guo gave an ironic smile. Deep in his heart, he also harbored thick despair and unwillingness.

No one knew how long the Mist Gathering had existed, nor how many heaven-sent geniuses or peerless beauties had died silently in the past.

One more Hua Xiaoxiao didn't make a difference, and one less wouldn't change anything either.

In the face of death, everyone was equal.

Therefore, although Lu Guo felt a ripple in his heart, it was more the sorrow of a rabbit mourning the death of a fox, rather than any guilt or unease.

Lu Guo looked out the pitch-black window, his gaze calm.

He knew that he might be slightly smarter than the average person, but he was definitely not some kind of genius.

He also didn't know at what moment he would be found by a ghost and then die here...

Ruyi Inn.

Xu Zhi'an's face was pale, his hair plastered to his forehead by sweat, and he glanced at Bai Yanliang beside him from time to time.

From Jiang Li, he had learned the sequence of events.

This included Bai Yanliang hearing the dripping sound, returning to pry his hands away, and finally choosing to break his arm to save his life.

Although his life had been saved by Bai Yanliang, Xu Zhi'an awkwardly discovered that now, whenever he saw Bai Yanliang's calm expression, his heart couldn't help but turn cold.

"That's how it is. Those two waiters seem to have witnessed the murder scene. According to them, the bodies should be hidden in the water tanks ahead."

Xu Zhi'an also explained everything he had learned.

The three of them were standing on the rooftop. The door had been opened by Jiang Li; she seemed very skilled at opening locked doors she wasn't familiar with.

In front of them sat three large blue water tanks in a row, four meters high, with sealed lids on top.

Bai Yanliang's gaze wandered back and forth between the three tanks, saying nothing.

In fact, he had been bowing his head in silence the entire way from the sixth floor to the rooftop. While Jiang Li talked to Xu Zhi'an, he had simply listened quietly.

It wasn't that he wasn't interested, but that he had discovered something very strange.

That was... the ghost's method of killing.

Strange, isn't it?

Would a ghost actually care about a "method" of killing?

Bizarre, grotesque, terrifying, and unknown—that was the proper way for a ghost to kill.

But... the scene Xu Zhi'an had witnessed earlier gave Bai Yanliang a bold conjecture.

Choking one's own neck, acting with the madness of someone possessed, combined with what Xu Zhi'an had said himself.

He had seen a woman lying in the water and a man with a mangled face, which meant... there were at least three victims in this inn, likely one man and two women.

The people currently missing were... Ding Lei's wife Li Yuhua, Ding Lei's younger brother Ding Peng, and... Ding Peng's wife, Ding Lei's sister-in-law Zhang Qiao.

Now... the three of them seemed to have all appeared as ghosts...

"What a wonderful place. Everyone turns into a ghost after they die..."

Bai Yanliang narrowed his eyes, saying thoughtfully.

Xu Zhi'an felt a bit uneasy, and Jiang Li also cast a surprised glance at Bai Yanliang.

Bai Yanliang was too strange... Although he acted perfectly normal, he was far too normal for the Mist Gathering. So normal that... he didn't seem like a normal person at all.

Would a normal person actively seek out ghosts? Would a normal person walk toward a ghost while confronting it? Would a normal person return without hesitation to investigate upon hearing a sound resembling a ghost?

Even when he snapped Xu Zhi'an's arm, his expression hadn't flickered in the slightest.

The more Jiang Li thought about it, the stranger it felt. Not only did Bai Yanliang show no signs of fear, but even when he smiled, Jiang Li couldn't sense a shred of genuine mirth.

Bai Yanliang finally sensed that the atmosphere had become somewhat peculiar due to his behavior, but he felt quite helpless about it.

He considered himself a decent person; it was just that... the four basic human emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, and fear—were things he found truly difficult to feel.

As for the subtle nuances beneath these four basic emotions—satisfaction, gratification, pleasure, delight, ecstasy, annoyance, indignation, rage, disappointment, regret, sadness, grief, sorrow, surprise, fright, panic, terror, and the like—he found them even harder to perceive.

It seems I will have to be more diligent with my acting in the future.

Bai Yanliang said to himself. This was a necessary measure to dispel everyone's concerns.

Although disguise was not difficult for Bai Yanliang, he had never wanted to waste his time on such things.

However, a face devoid of emotion was indeed unsettling, and Bai Yanliang could certainly understand why everyone felt that way.

"Miss Jiang, please step on my shoulders to climb up." Bai Yanliang observed the three water tanks.

The tanks were four meters high; without a ladder, this was the only way to climb them. Bai Yanliang wanted to go up and take a look himself, but he couldn't very well have a woman step on him. As for Xu Zhi'an, he was in too much pain to even stand steadily, let alone anything else.

Upon hearing Bai Yanliang's voice, Jiang Li felt a weight lift from her heart, as if she had finally let go of something.

Regardless of whether Bai Yanliang was somewhat abnormal, it was enough for her to know that he had saved her, and he had saved Xu Zhi'an as well.

Even if he were a madman, a madman capable of saving others in a moment of crisis was far more noble than any saint who only paid lip service.

Xu Zhi'an also regained his composure, his gaze toward Bai Yanliang growing more complex, yet he trusted him from the bottom of his heart.

"I'll stand by the door and listen for movement below," Xu Zhi'an volunteered.

Bai Yanliang looked at him and nodded.

Jiang Li took a deep breath, walked over to Bai Yanliang, who had already crouched down, and asked, "I weigh ninety-five jin. Will you be alright?"

Bai Yanliang nodded again and patted his shoulder. "No problem."