Shrouded in Mystery

She remained silent for a long time.

Clouds briefly obscured the moonlight, casting an immense shadow over Fu City.

Then she looked at Qin Manjiang and said:

"I do."

Yes, she should believe in ghosts.

Her strong reaction to the Ghost Story Game icon was already telling enough. Qin Manjiang had not asked that question to reveal anything to her. In fact, he did not even understand what the game really was himself. He only wanted to test Xi Wutong's sincerity.

Thinking back, although the app was unusual, many aspects of its design clearly showed human involvement, including the interface and its so-called missions.

How did it guide people into ghost stories?

Did those ghost stories already exist in this world, waiting for it to discover them and guide players into playing through them? Or... did gods, ghosts, and ghost stories not exist at all, with all those ghost stories being created by the game?

Getting to the bottom of those two possibilities was crucial.

Yet even after completing a solo beginner mission, he still had no clue. A game that clearly bore the marks of human design genuinely had the power to cast people into a world of ghost stories.

It could even... affect the real world.

It was utterly inconceivable.

Qin Manjiang believed everything had a purpose, and whoever had created this game surely had intentions of their own. But for now, he truly had no idea what the person or organization behind the Ghost Story Game wanted.

And Doctor Xi, who had appeared before him, was an excellent source of information.

"Did you see this icon on the phone of someone you know?" Qin Manjiang asked.

Xi Wutong hesitated, seemingly unsure about something.

"Mr. Qin, if you're willing to tell me what this icon means, I'll tell you something very important about yourself."

She seemed to have finally made up her mind, yet it also felt as though she was putting on an act for Qin Manjiang.

More importantly, Qin Manjiang noticed that she had avoided his question by introducing a new topic.

Qin Manjiang was not one to force people into things. Since Xi Wutong did not want to discuss her own affairs, he would stop asking. But information about him?

That did pique Qin Manjiang's curiosity.

He was just an utterly ordinary college student. Soon, he would not even be that.

Could someone like me really have any secrets?

Just as Qin Manjiang was debating whether to reveal a little of the Ghost Story Game's secrets to Xi Wutong, something bizarre happened. A sharp, intense pain erupted deep inside his head, as though someone had driven a long needle through the back of his skull and churned his brain to pieces.

It hurt so much!

Qin Manjiang was extraordinarily resilient, but even he could not bear this pain. His face turned deathly pale in an instant, and large beads of sweat poured out.

"Mr. Qin?"

Xi Wutong was startled, but she was a doctor herself. Rather than panic, she immediately moved forward to help him.

But Qin Manjiang raised a hand to stop her and shook his head with difficulty. "Please... step away from me."

"Quickly..."

Although Xi Wutong did not understand what he meant, she immediately complied when she saw his agony, rather than taking it upon herself to help.

She picked up her handbag and hurried away from the bench.

Once she had left, Qin Manjiang immediately pulled his phone from his pocket.

The unbearable pain came with a terrifying sense of foreboding. He looked at the screen and tapped the Ghost Story Game icon...

When the screen went dark and lit up again, a line of blood-red text appeared before Qin Manjiang's eyes.

[Warning: players must not disclose the game's existence.]

[Violators will be eliminated.]

So this pain was a warning?

Qin Manjiang understood now.

Xi Wutong had seen the Ghost Story Game icon on his phone, and the game had not reacted at all then. Yet now, the moment he considered revealing its details to her, he had received a warning this severe.

In barely ten seconds, his shirt had become a thin layer plastered against his body, completely soaked with sweat. He never wanted to experience that pain again.

Apparently, it was fine for someone to discover the game on his phone, but explaining it was absolutely forbidden.

"Mr. Qin? Are you feeling better?"

Xi Wutong was very polite. She had even turned her back so she would not look at him.

After composing himself, Qin Manjiang said, "I'm fine now. Please come back."

Only then did Xi Wutong turn around. She studied Qin Manjiang for a moment, and after confirming that his complexion had improved considerably, she returned to sit beside him on the bench. "You could book a medical examination, Mr. Qin. If that was a bout of heart palpitations, I recommend a twenty-four-hour ambulatory ECG and coronary angiography."

Qin Manjiang shook his head and thanked her for her concern. "It's all right. I know what caused the pain. It has little to do with anything physiological."

"To return to what we were discussing, I'm sorry, Doctor Xi. I can't explain where the icon came from or reveal what it means. But... since you believe in ghosts, I'm sure you can work some things out yourself."

Qin Manjiang offered those words tentatively. This time, his phone did not react, allowing him to breathe a little easier.

Xi Wutong seemed to have realized something. There was Qin Manjiang's agonized expression just now, his sudden change in attitude, and her own suspicions about the Ghost Story Game icon.

In truth, the answer was already quite clear.

"Thank you, Mr. Qin."

"I didn't say anything," Qin Manjiang said.

Xi Wutong fell silent.

Suddenly, Xi Wutong sat up straight and looked at him intently.

Although the light was poor, Qin Manjiang could still sense the complexity in her gaze.

"Mr. Qin, the truth is, you're..."

"A child Old Qin adopted, right?"

Qin Manjiang cut Xi Wutong off.

This time, Xi Wutong was genuinely surprised, but Qin Manjiang's expression did not change at all. He said, "It's no secret. Old Qin said the old village chief gave me my name, but I later learned that the old chief had died two years before I was born. The new chief was in his thirties and didn't match Old Qin's description."

He even smiled. "Besides, you can tell just by looking at us. Qin Manyi and Old Qin both have round faces and dimples, while I've grown to look less and less like them."

"We really aren't related by blood, but that makes no difference," Qin Manjiang told Xi Wutong.

Xi Wutong listened quietly. After a moment, she smiled. "That's right."

"But there's something I need to tell you, Mr. Qin." Xi Wutong's expression grew serious.

"You should know that Lower River Village, where you grew up, has had one murder case every year for the past twenty years. This year, the person who committed the murder was even your own younger sister."

"But all those cases are too bizarre. Including your sister's case, not one of them can be brought out into the open for discussion. The deaths of your father, Qin Linghan, and your adoptive mother, Chen Xiuzhi, were the same."

Xi Wutong had revealed something shocking to Qin Manjiang.

"My adoptive mother? Didn't she die from severe bleeding while giving birth to Qin Manyi?" Qin Manjiang asked. He had asked Old Qin about it when he was little, and that was the answer Old Qin had given him.

"Your adoptive mother was just like your adoptive father." Xi Wutong paused, her voice unconsciously dropping. "No... it's the whole of Lower River Village. Over the past twenty years, aside from natural deaths, an average of one person a year has died by suicide. The cause of death was identical for all of them-they walked into the river themselves and drowned alive."

Xi Wutong let out a long breath. "Although your sister confessed herself, she won't be prosecuted. Besides having a solid alibi, there's another reason: this victim also walked into the river on his own. It's just that a witness claimed to have seen someone else by the river-your sister."

(End of chapter)