Strange

Chapter 38: Peculiar

Bai Yanliang paused for a moment, then tapped confirm.

The instant the request was accepted, Feng Xiuxue sent over a message.

"Let's meet tomorrow."

This woman certainly had a crisp and decisive temperament.

"Time, location."

Bai Yanliang replied with two words.

On the other end, Feng Xiuxue frowned slightly. It had taken Bai Yanliang nearly half a minute to reply with four characters; it seemed he was somewhat hesitant about meeting.

This was actually a misunderstanding on her part; it was purely because Bai Yanliang was so unpracticed that he typed too slowly on his phone.

"Two in the afternoon, Rongqiao Sky Street, Log Coffee Shop."

Bai Yanliang looked at the message, turned his head, and asked, "Where is Rongqiao Sky Street?"

Yang Yiyi gave him a look of deep resentment. This guy had started chatting the moment he bought his phone—had he forgotten the important business?

Thinking of this, she said irritably, "Do you even know the name of the residential complex I live in?"

"Rongyuan Residential Complex."

Bai Yanliang remembered it very clearly.

"Exactly. Rongqiao Sky Street is the pedestrian street right across from it."

Bai Yanliang nodded and laboriously typed out two characters:

"Received."

Seeing these two characters arrive after nearly a minute, Feng Xiuxue's eyelids twitched.

On the other side, Bai Yanliang stretched his somewhat stiff fingers and turned to the clearly dissatisfied Yang Yiyi. "Let's go, to the Affiliated Hospital."

In the group chat, the situation regarding Yu Hanzhou's team was basically fully understood.

All that remained were the teams of Wei Xiu and Bai Yanliang.

But... all six members of Wei Xiu's team had died in the past. Not only were they unable to bring back any useful information, but they had also left behind a terrifying conundrum for the Mist Gathering.

Hiding the moon in the mountains, dredging a coffin from the water—that point in time would descend upon everyone in the Mist Gathering in half a year.

"Mr. Xu, could you please describe the situation for the third team?"

Xu Zhi'an looked at this message, feeling quite troubled.

His arms had completely healed, as if they had never been broken, but he actually didn't know much about this mission.

In fact, even now, Xu Zhi'an didn't know how Bai Yanliang had managed to deal with so many ghosts.

One had to realize, there were three known ghosts!

It wasn't just him; Li Yuejun also knew very little. Only Jiang Li had some inkling, but she had obtained too few clues, and later she had been busy taking care of Xu Zhi'an's broken arms, so she couldn't say much either.

The three of them took turns adding their pieces, and by the time they finished, the people in the group chat were left completely bewildered.

"So... you're saying Mr. Bai helped you multiple times? And then solved all the problems by himself?"

Zhou Li summarized.

"...That's about right."

Jiang Li was the first to reply.

"Mm... that is indeed the case..."

Li Yuejun also confirmed this statement.

"Yes, Mr. Bai... has immense courage. Throughout the entire process, he didn't show a shred of fear, and even... took the initiative to seek out the ghosts."

Xu Zhi'an's reply caused the group to fall into silence once again.

The same question couldn't help but surface in everyone's minds: Was Bai Yanliang a genius, or... a madman?

Li Mu calmly finished reading all the messages and exited the group chat.

A genius?

The Mist Gathering had never lacked geniuses.

Yecheng Jiangbei Training Affiliated Hospital was a key educational institution, with a large number of students gaining admission to prestigious universities every year.

After the events of last night, a crowd of reporters suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Training Affiliated Hospital.

Security personnel blocked the reporters from entering, and they had already unified their stance: no matter what the reporters asked, they were to answer that they didn't know.

But the incident had already spread through the students who had been sent home early.

"A student suddenly went insane and pierced a teaching assistant's neck with a compass."

The hospital administration had no intention of keeping the news sealed forever, but... they wanted to delay the exposure as long as possible, at least until they could figure out exactly what had happened within the affiliated hospital.

Was it truly a sudden illness suffered by a trainee? Or had there been a long-standing grudge between the two?

To this day, the affiliated hospital had not been able to clarify the matter.

The police had not been able to uncover anything substantial either.

It was not a lack of capability, but rather that one of the parties involved was currently in emergency care, while the other, ever since being apprehended on the spot last night, had remained completely silent, sitting with a vacant gaze as if their soul had been ripped away.

When Bai Yanliang and Yang Yiyi arrived at the entrance of the training hospital, they happened to see a crowd of media personnel with their cameras and microphones set up, looking ready to fight for an exclusive scoop.

The entrance was packed so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through, with security guards holding the line.

Yang Yiyi, however, had anticipated this, and to Bai Yanliang's surprise, she led him through a secluded corner to slip inside.

"Don't you go telling anyone about this place; it's a secret for the trainees!" Yang Yiyi instructed repeatedly.

Bai Yanliang glanced at this secret passage, thinking that it seemed... every affiliated hospital had a corner where one could sneak out.

The training hospital was not small, and Bai Yanliang followed Yang Yiyi toward the scene of last night's conflict.

"I heard it happened in the assistant instructor's office, follow me!"

By the time the two reached the scene, the area around the office had been cordoned off with police tape, and an officer was speaking with a stern expression to someone who appeared to be a leader.

"Uncle Wang!"

Yang Yiyi called out sweetly.

The officer turned around, and a smile appeared on his stern, square face: "Yiyi? What are you doing here?"

"I study here!"

It was clear that Officer Wang knew Yang Yiyi, or perhaps he knew Yang Wanlong, and the relationship between the two was quite good.

Immediately, Officer Wang noticed Bai Yanliang, who was looking at the scene in deep thought, and asked with a frown: "Who are you? Unauthorized personnel are not allowed to enter a crime scene."

"Please leave immediately!"

Officer Wang's voice turned stern, and it looked as though he was about to chase both Yang Yiyi and Bai Yanliang away.

At this moment, Yang Yiyi suddenly raised her phone and handed it to Officer Wang: "Uncle Wang, my dad wants to talk to you!"

Officer Wang took the phone and held it to his ear.

Whatever Yang Wanlong said to him, Officer Wang's gaze kept drifting toward Bai Yanliang, and in the end, he actually allowed him to stay.

"Strange, isn't it?"

Officer Wang's voice suddenly sounded beside Bai Yanliang.

Bai Yanliang was half-crouched on the ground, touching something, and upon hearing this, he nodded instinctively: "Yes, there are no signs of a struggle at the scene, not even signs of the assistant instructor struggling after being injured; it's as if... he was already dead to begin with."

Bai Yanliang's strange statement startled Officer Wang, who then signaled to the surrounding officers to lead away the hospital leadership that had come over to inquire about the news.

"You're right. In fact, we received a strange emergency call last night."

"An emergency call?" Bai Yanliang turned his head to look at Officer Wang.

"Yes, the caller said that someone would rush in and stab him through the neck with a compass." Officer Wang's voice was calm, but his expression was anything but.

Because... this was simply too bizarre.

The caller was the assistant instructor himself; he had actually... predicted his own murder?