Clearing Things Up

Chapter 25: Clearing Things Up

"Whatever the case, we've found two bodies. That makes things much simpler. All we have to do now is find the killer and force them to reveal their method and weapon, and we'll be most of the way there."

Xu Zhi'an let out a breath of relief. It was only the first day, and the mission had a seven-day time limit. He'd never expected them to make progress this quickly, but he also hadn't expected the danger to be this extreme!

It was incredibly rare to encounter an evil spirit on the very first day of a week-long mission and nearly lose your life.

The missions in Mist Gathering seemed to have... suddenly become much more difficult and terrifying.

This was only the third mission. The third mission was supposed to be the easiest, relatively speaking.

Yu Hanzhou's had been a survival mission, after all...

At that thought, Xu Zhi'an's expression suddenly changed.

No!

Yu Hanzhou's survival mission had been the second one!

Could it be that Mist Gathering "thought" Wei Xiu's timed mission was even more terrifying than a survival mission?

"Xu, what's wrong?" Jiang Li had happened to notice Xu Zhi'an's expression. Thinking he'd spotted something amiss, she hurriedly asked.

Xu Zhi'an shook his head, his face pale, and said nothing.

Why had Mist Gathering suddenly started making so many changes that no one could understand?

A newcomer had become a Grudge-Bound, and a survival mission had been ranked second. And then there were... the increasingly frenzied ghosts... They'd tried to kill them on the very first day...

What was going on...

Just then, Bai Yanliang suddenly spoke.

"Ms. Jiang, Mr. Xu is injured. Please look after him for a while. I just remembered something, so..." Bai Yanliang's excuse was pretty flimsy. He'd used the "I just remembered something" line several times already, but his intention was obvious.

I'm going to act alone from here on.

Jiang Li wasn't stupid. She understood what he meant and felt a little disappointed.

She knew that Bai Yanliang was right to go alone.

After everything that had happened, both Jiang Li and Xu Zhi'an understood that they absolutely couldn't treat Bai Yanliang like an ordinary newcomer.

He was perceptive, clever, decisive, and physically fit. Most importantly... he didn't seem to be afraid of ghosts at all.

Neither of them could even imagine a terrified expression on Bai Yanliang's handsome face.

"Okay. I'll take good care of Xu," Jiang Li said earnestly, looking at Bai Yanliang.

Bai Yanliang nodded, inwardly relieved.

To be honest, Jiang Li and Xu Zhi'an were getting in his way a little.

But... Bai Yanliang didn't resent the burden.

Didn't everyone live with some kind of burden?

As Bai Yanliang was leaving, he glanced back at them and suddenly said, "Be careful around water."

Jiang Li and Xu Zhi'an exchanged a look, then both turned to Bai Yanliang and nodded solemnly.

Seeing that, Bai Yanliang said nothing more and turned to head down from the rooftop.

He had a lot of questions that needed answering.

Now that they'd found two bodies, going by Jiang Li's description, there was no apparent cause of death for the female corpse. She was simply swollen all over from being soaked.

As for the male corpse, his face had been smashed beyond recognition. They couldn't even tell who he was.

There might still be questions about how the man had died, but the reason his face had been smashed was obvious.

The reason wasn't complicated. Perhaps it was emotional: the killer knew the victim and couldn't bear to face his face. Or perhaps they hated his face so much that they had to smash it even after he was dead.

Alternatively, smashing the victim's face might have earned them some kind of benefit...

If it was the first reason, things would be simple. If it was the second, then... the person who still hadn't appeared was highly suspicious.

Bai Yanliang had always thought that person was suspicious.

After all, of all the people still alive who were most deeply involved, he was the only one who hadn't shown up yet—Ding Lei.

As he thought, Bai Yanliang pressed the elevator button.

He wasn't concerned about whether the ghost would appear. In fact, he already had a rough idea of how it killed people.

And... he'd already warned Xu Zhi'an and Jiang Li.

It had to do with... water.

In every encounter, he'd noticed water was there.

Perhaps... the ghost used water as a medium to kill.

Although the theory made perfect sense, Bai Yanliang still felt that something about it was off.

He wasn't a god. Though the nagging feeling bothered him, he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

He had no better options for now. After all, in Mist Gathering, humans were always on the defensive.

After getting off the elevator, Bai Yanliang returned to the first floor.

The inn was quite large.

He wound his way through the corridors, following his memory of where he'd encountered Xu Zhi'an earlier, until he found the staff rest area.

That was also why Bai Yanliang didn't want to investigate with Xu Zhi'an and Jiang Li.

If Xu Zhi'an knew Bai Yanliang had returned to the place where he'd encountered the ghost, his expression would be priceless.

If he remembered correctly, Xu Zhi'an had said it was at the end of the corridor, beside the restroom.

As he walked, Bai Yanliang looked around.

At least Ding Lei, the boss, treated his employees well. Every one of them had a private room on the first floor.

Soon, Bai Yanliang stopped in front of the room beside the restroom.

This should be it.

It was still daytime, but little light reached this area. Dim yellow lamps cast a faint glow over the corridor. An odd smell, perhaps from the restroom or something else, had been lingering ever since Bai Yanliang first stepped inside.

Someone had scratched all sorts of meaningless lines into the snow-white walls with their fingernails.

Water from cleaning had been carelessly splashed all over the floor outside the restroom. It lay there silently, looking almost black in the dim light, like... blood seeping out of the floorboards.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

Bai Yanliang rapped on the door.

The atmosphere was strange and dangerous.

But even he had to risk his life to investigate. This was Mist Gathering... It was like a joke played by the Grim Reaper, hiding life's one chance wherever it pleased. Only the heavens knew where.

All Bai Yanliang was doing now was answering the questions troubling him.

As for safety? He couldn't guarantee it. Then again, in a place like this, who could guarantee they were completely safe?

The door opened quickly.

"You are...?"

Zhang Wen looked at Bai Yanliang with an unchanged expression, her gaze wandering over him.

"A reporter."

As he spoke, Bai Yanliang took a pen and paper from his pocket. They were left over from when he'd drawn the sketch.

"Wasn't there already a reporter here before...? Your newspaper is really strange..."

Zhang Wen looked doubtful, but Bai Yanliang seemed perfectly composed, so she appeared to believe him to some extent.

But Bai Yanliang had paid attention to her words.

A reporter had been here before...

In her mind, it had been "a" reporter.

She really did know about the ghost that could disguise itself as other people, the one with the mangled face.

Without asking permission, Bai Yanliang sat down beside Zhang Wen's desk, crossed his legs, and held the paper and pen in his hand.

"Go ahead, Ms. Zhang. What is it you want to tell us?"