Guess

Chapter 24: Speculation

Jiang Li took off her shoes and stepped onto Bai Yanliang's shoulders as carefully as she could, yet... she had clearly underestimated his strength.

Although Bai Yanliang appeared to have a normal build, his body was honed to perfection; if he were to take off his shirt, Jiang Li would certainly have no further unnecessary concerns.

"Ah..."

With a soft cry from Jiang Li, the shoulders beneath her feet suddenly rose; without any apparent effort, Bai Yanliang had straightened his body in an instant.

He is so strong...

A strange thought suddenly flashed through Jiang Li's mind.

"Can you reach it, Miss Jiang?"

Bai Yanliang's call brought Jiang Li back to her senses. She hurriedly grabbed the top edge of the water tank, stood on her tiptoes, and pushed up with both arms.

Fortunately, Jiang Li was no longer a newcomer to the Mist Gathering. To survive, everyone in the Mist Gathering trained their bodies relentlessly after their first experience; after all, sometimes the difference between life and death was just a slightly faster pace.

Thus, Jiang Li's physical condition was not bad at all.

Her body rose slowly, and she applied increasing force to the lid at the top of the water tank with her right hand.

The lid was not locked, and with a bit of effort, it gradually revealed a narrow gap.

Jiang Li swallowed hard, cautiously poked her head out, and looked into the tank.

It was a bit cold...

It was a bit dark...

Other than that, there seemed to be nothing unusual.

However, just as Jiang Li was thinking this, the water inside the tank began to churn!

Almost in an instant, a ghastly pale corpse floated up from the bottom of the tank!

Jiang Li's eyes widened, and she forced herself to look, suppressing her fear and nausea.

It was a woman.

A massive woman!

To be precise, it was a massive corpse!

A wave of nausea surged up immediately. Jiang Li had only taken a fleeting glance, yet her stomach was already churning violently with acidic bile.

The female corpse inside the tank was highly decomposed, her lips soaked white.

Her chest and abdomen looked as if they had been pumped full of water, now bloated into a spherical shape, and her limbs were soaked until they were fat and thick.

But strangely, for such a disgusting, rotting corpse, there was not a hint of a foul odor?

"Put me down!" Jiang Li shouted hurriedly.

Bai Yanliang did not know what she had seen, but hearing the urgency in her voice, he quickly lowered her.

Jiang Li immediately stepped off Bai Yanliang's shoulders and rushed to the side, not even having time to put her shoes back on. Bai Yanliang and Xu Zhi'an looked toward her.

She was hunched over, retching continuously.

Because she hadn't eaten much, she only brought up some acidic fluid.

Once she finally managed to catch her breath, she said with a pale face, "It's a female corpse. I can't tell who it is; she's completely bloated from the water."

Upon hearing Jiang Li's words, Bai Yanliang didn't react much, but Xu Zhi'an let out a "wa" and began to vomit as well.

He had just remembered his breakfast this morning.

Could this damned hotel be using water from these tanks?

"Miss Jiang, is there only one corpse?" Bai Yanliang asked her seriously.

Jiang Li nodded in confirmation.

Seeing this, Bai Yanliang looked at the other two tanks standing together and said, "Then... I'll have to trouble you two more times."

Jiang Li shook her head slightly; it was Bai Yanliang who was being troubled.

She forced down the discomfort in her stomach, stepped onto Bai Yanliang's shoulders once more, and looked into the second tank.

Unlike before, the corpse didn't float up suddenly; as soon as Jiang Li looked, he was already drifting in the tank.

"Brother Xu! It's him! The unrecognizable ghost you mentioned earlier!" Jiang Li endured the nausea to look closely at the male corpse, and upon scanning his face, she immediately cried out.

Earlier, Xu Zhi'an had said he was blocked by two ghosts, one of which had disguised itself as Bai Yanliang, but "his" true appearance was that of a man whose face was a bloody mess, with all his features smashed in.

After lowering Jiang Li again, she was doing much better this time; although she was still retching, at least she wasn't vomiting anymore.

There was only one tank left. If there was another female corpse inside, the situation would be clear.

Jiang Li was already proficient; she stepped onto Bai Yanliang's shoulders and pushed open the tank with practiced ease.

This time, even though she had prepared herself, the sight before her rendered her mental preparations useless.

"Huh? There's nothing in this tank!"

As Jiang Li said this, she checked it one more time to be sure.

But... there was truly nothing there.

The dim water tank was filled to the brim; let alone a corpse, not even a speck of floating debris could be seen.

This is bad.

Bai Yanliang's brain raced; there was a flaw in his deduction somewhere.

Things... did not seem to be that simple.

Bai Yanliang set Jiang Li down. After she put on her shoes, she and Xu Zhi'an exchanged glances.

The two of them did not know why Bai Yanliang's expression had suddenly shifted; such a degree of emotional change was already inconceivable for someone like him.

One had to remember, he was the type of person who could still force a smile even when staring a ghost in the face.

"Mr. Bai, is there a problem?"

After some thought, Xu Zhi'an finally asked.

Upon hearing this, Bai Yanliang pulled back his thoughts and nodded.

He looked at the two of them and said, "There are three ghosts, but only two corpses. One is missing."

Jiang Li and Xu Zhi'an looked at each other again, both seeing the confusion in the other's eyes. It was indeed missing one, but what did that signify?

Seeing their bewilderment, Bai Yanliang explained, "The fundamental purpose of our investigation into the ghosts is to find their only weakness, to clarify the cause of death and the murder weapon; they will fear the thing that killed them. But now, two corpses have been found hidden in the water tank. This suggests that both deaths were likely the work of one person, or perhaps, after one person was killed and dumped in the tank, another person discovered it and committed a copycat crime, dumping the second corpse in as well."

As Bai Yanliang said this, both of them understood what he meant.

The third corpse, the female corpse, had yet to be found!

Who exactly killed her?

And how did she die?

Even if they followed Bai Yanliang's second hypothesis, there was still one killer missing!

Watching as Jiang Li and the slightly weakened Xu Zhi'an fell into deep thought, Bai Yanliang stopped speaking.

However, he had one more conjecture he had not voiced.

And that was: why?

Why did all three deceased people turn into ghosts?

Was there something wrong with this place, or were the rules of the Mist Gathering inherently like this?

If there was something wrong with this place, then the number of people who had died on the grounds of the Ruyi Inn since ancient times would certainly be more than just three!

Therefore... it wasn't that the Ruyi Inn was inherently problematic, but that some change had occurred later, causing those who died here to transform into vengeful spirits?

Bai Yanliang's brows furrowed slightly. If his thoughts were known by others in the Mist Gathering, he would surely be branded a madman.

Because... he was actually investigating the origin of ghosts!

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