Human Martial Arts Group Tower.
Underground Floor Fifteen.
Qian Rushan looked grim as he casually tore off his surgical gown and tossed his disposable surgical gloves behind him.
"The autopsy is complete. This fellow had seven weapons concealed on him. He was an expert in the art of killing."
"What a pity. He died too quickly for us to pry any useful information out of him."
"I'm sorry. I failed to stop him from killing himself in time," Wenna said, ashamed.
"That wasn't your fault. His Human Skin Technique was so advanced that even the group's security system failed to detect his true identity," Qian Rushan said.
He turned to Shen Ye.
"There's just one thing I'm rather puzzled about," Shen Ye said.
"Go on," Qian Rushan said.
Shen Ye looked at the body on the floor and asked, "Why did he have to get me alone before making his move?"
Qian Rushan's gaze suddenly deepened, and he said softly:
"They didn't want to bring any of this out into the open. After all, you're a member of the Shen Family. If you were killed in public, the Shen Family would investigate to the very end, if only to save face."
"If you died quietly and your death was disguised as an accident, everything could pass without issue."
"So even though our family has broken away from the Shen Family, it's still the Shen Family they're wary of," Shen Ye said in a self-mocking tone.
"Let's go. This body is of no further value," Qian Rushan said.
"Go on ahead. I'll stay a little longer," Shen Ye said, looking at the body.
Qian Rushan sighed and patted his shoulder. "Stay a little longer, then come find me on the top floor."
This child could sense death.
Since he had a talent related to death, perhaps he could sense something.
Such strange things were all too common among professionals.
"All right," Shen Ye said.
Qian Rushan left with the others.
Only Shen Ye and the body remained in the Operating Room.
A few minutes passed.
Big Skeleton's voice sounded quietly. "No one's around."
Shen Ye nodded and said:
"I seem to remember someone saying I wouldn't learn anything."
-Dark Whisper activated!
"With the corpse as your medium, the dead must answer your call, climb out of Hell, and truthfully tell you what they know. Only then can their souls find rest."
The corpse's eyes snapped open.
"This is..." he murmured in surprise, then let out a short laugh. "You can actually speak to dead souls? But it's no use. I won't tell you anything!"
Shen Ye was slightly surprised.
Earlier, Luo Feichuan had taken the initiative to speak with him because he genuinely wanted to protect him.
But when faced with someone hostile like this, how could Dark Whisper make him "truthfully" divulge
information to him?
"What do I do if he won't talk?" Shen Ye asked Big Skeleton.
Big Skeleton said uncertainly:
"I don't know what will happen either-precious few ever receive the Three Great Inheritances, and who would choose Dark Whisper, which only lets you talk? At least, I've never seen anyone do it."
"But this inheritance talent comes from the very source of the undead. There ought to be a way to make him talk."
Before he finished speaking, something suddenly changed-
Shen Ye felt as though the entire world had abruptly vanished.
He floated in darkness.
Black metal walls surrounded him, their height and depth impossible to discern.
Countless sobs and wails of agony came from within the walls.
Before Shen Ye, a corpse was embedded in one of the black metal walls.
-It was the assassin.
Endless dark flames rose from the wall, burning the metal red-hot and making the corpse sizzle.
The corpse let out piercing screams of unbearable pain.
He was swiftly burned down to white bones, and even those bones were incinerated to ash.
Yet the next instant, he became a corpse again and continued to suffer the scorching dark flames.
The cycle repeated, the endless burning continuing for an unknown length of time.
Long ages passed.
Shen Ye even felt that several hundred years had gone by.
One day, seven or eight skeletons in dark cloaks suddenly emerged from the pitch-black wall.
Dragging all manner of torture devices, they slowly approached from the depths of the darkness, then gathered around the corpse and laid out their implements one by one.
"Reporting to the Art Master: the formal torture is about to begin."
One skeleton addressed Shen Ye solemnly.
-So those centuries of burning were only a prelude?
"Yes," the skeleton explained, seemingly knowing what Shen Ye was thinking. "Each punishment lasts a hundred million years and is repeated a hundred million times a hundred million years before we change implements."
"What if he still refuses to talk?" Shen Ye asked.
"We will summon more powerful evil spirits. I believe those evil spirits will take a great interest in such an obstinate soul. They adore tormenting souls like these, and each is skilled enough to keep a soul lucid and intact throughout its suffering."
The skeleton spoke.
Just as they were about to use those unheard-of torture devices-
"I'll talk!"
The corpse broke down, sobbing loudly.
In an instant.
Every strange sight vanished.
Shen Ye found himself still standing in the Autopsy Room.
The second hand on the wall had only just ticked once.
The corpse was already speaking at a frantic pace:
"We're killers from the Assassin Alliance. Not long ago, we accepted a joint mission."
"The objective was to kill you, but make your death look like the result of an accident."
"Wait." Shen Ye interrupted him, took out his phone, and dialed Xiao Mengyu's number.
"Hello? Any new information?"
Xiao Mengyu's voice came through.
"I caught a killer here. I'm interrogating him, and he's already confessed," Shen Ye said.
"What did he say?" Xiao Mengyu asked.
Shen Ye glanced at the corpse.
The corpse immediately continued:
"First, I killed Chen Haoyu, disguised myself as him, and told you I was in the hospital."
"We set up a scene at the hospital that looked like a suspected 'calamity,' with my accomplice responsible for carrying it out."
"It really was strange-"
"Once that thing activated, you should have died in the hospital."
"But you didn't die, and there was even a witness at the scene."
"So we continued our operation until today, when I was to kill you myself and then stage the scene."
"You have no idea who the client is?" Shen Ye asked.
"Only the mission's overall leader knows all the details. He controls every part of the operation," the corpse said.
"Who is the overall leader?" Shen Ye asked.
"He's called 'Skinner,' a highly renowned killer in the underworld. He was the one who used the Human Skin Technique on me," the corpse said.
"Where is he?" Xiao Mengyu asked.
The corpse looked at Shen Ye.
"Tell her," Shen Ye said.
"He went to kill the witness," the corpse said.
Shen Ye asked, "Why kill the witness?"
"Because that nurse saw the Ten Thousand Ghosts Curse take effect. If the Shen Family investigated, they would discover that none of it was an accident," the corpse said.
"Where is the witness?" Shen Ye asked.
"She fled to the area near the Western Suburbs of the City and hid in a five-star hotel called Maple Grove, preparing to leave the city."
The corpse thought for a moment, then added, "But Skinner has already made his move. That nurse will die very soon-perhaps she's already dead."
"What kind of killer is Skinner? What weaknesses does he have?" Shen Ye asked.
The corpse said, "I wouldn't dare defy his orders, and I can't see any weaknesses in him at all."
"If he's so strong, why didn't he come kill me himself?" Shen Ye asked.
"He never intended to act himself."
"Why?"
"To be honest, given his standing and position in the assassination world, personally killing a junior high school student would be a stain on his career. His peers would mock him for it afterward."
Shen Ye said, "So he's just controlling the entire assassination plan from the shadows?"
"He thinks merely coming here to oversee things is already showing the mastermind behind this mission a great deal of respect," the corpse said.
"Doesn't he have any distinguishing traits at all?" Shen Ye asked again.
"If I had to name one, he has a peculiar taste-"
"Eating people."
Having told them everything, the corpse's soul departed.
Xiao Mengyu's voice came from the phone. "I'll go meet this Skinner."
The call ended.