Chapter 101: Chapter 101: It is in Front of You
"Which direction?"
Da Xiong stretched out his hand to point ahead, drawing a half-circle with his hand, his voice unconsciously lowering, "It should be within this range, the signal source is very stable, and the ghost is definitely in deep slumber."
Then, Yang Xiao noticed that Da Xiong had taken off his headphones and fiddled with a few switches, after which he folded the detector in his hands.
"Why stop detecting?" Yang Xiao thought they would continue searching like this until they stuck the detector right in the face of the Resentful Eye.
Da Xiong hung the detector on a hook outside the box on his back so he could grab it at any time, "No, detection is mutual."
These words made Yang Xiao’s back feel a sudden chill, "You mean while we’re looking for it, that thing is also searching for us?"
"The basic principle of the detector is to imitate the electromagnetic signals emitted by the Resentful Eye, and Resentful Eyes are sensitive to one another; if we get too close, crossing a critical distance, there might be unknown interference between them, leading to unpredictable consequences. In other words, continuing to approach with the detector might disturb the sleeping ghost and awaken it." True to form as a technical expert, Da Xiong’s explanation was logical and well-founded.
"But without the detector, how can we determine the exact location of the Resentful Eye?" That was the most urgent matter at hand.
"That’s where experience comes in. Generally speaking, places where a Resentful Eye has been present for a long time will experience some strange events or phenomena, not just the murder cases we see."
Since they didn’t dare get too close, the area Da Xiong had marked just now was quite vague, encompassing about a dozen rooms along the corridor.
It included several offices, a VIP appraisal center, private collection rooms, the Treasure Pavilion, No. 4 Collection Room, No. 5 Collection Room, No. 6 Collection Room, and two restrooms.
Standing in front of an office with a half-open door, the chaotic blood shoe prints on the floor were sufficient to confirm the disorder of the scene at that time. Looking inside, an office desk was overturned on the floor. The corpse was gone, but the scene wasn’t cleaned thoroughly, and bloodstains remained on the ground.
They didn’t go in, just stood at the door and looked inside. Xi Menxiu complained quietly, "This is going to be troublesome; this office also contains many artworks, the range is too vast."
Yu Shu brought up the electronic map, then enlarged it. The map was marked with three red circles, which were the locations of the three cases.
Enlarging the circles to the same proportion, there was a certain range of overlap between them. Yu Shu marked the overlapping parts separately and enlarged them. Now the range was much smaller, encompassing only one private collection room, No. 4 and No. 5 Collection Rooms, and one restroom.
The restroom was immediately ruled out, and the group hurried to the nearest No. 4 Collection Room. Pushing down on the doorknob, the door opened with a push and wasn’t locked. The inside resembled a small museum. On the left were porcelain artifacts of various sizes and designs, some of which were clearly of poor quality, with obvious signs of repair.
On the right was a row of glass display cases housing various jade ornaments, densely arranged in great numbers, along with a few artifacts made from ivory, rhinoceros bone, and the like.
Deeper into the collection room was a strange stones exhibit area, divided into upper, middle, and lower tiers, with hundreds of stones in a myriad of bizarre shapes, including some shaped like human heads and faces. Combined with the dim lighting, they appeared quite eerie at first glance.
Yang Xiao involuntarily imagined a scene where, as he turned his back, all these human faces turned to look at him.
"While that thing is still asleep, let’s split up and search. Two people to a team, Captain with me," Beibei commanded decisively.
It seemed that Beibei, like him, also focused on those bizarre stone sculptures. So the two of them would check the stone sculptures, while Yu Shu and Xi Menxiu would examine the porcelain area, and Zhuge Zhijie would partner with Da Xiong to be in charge of the jade and bone area.
"Beibei, what do you mean by ’abnormalities’?" Yang Xiao didn’t want to search blindly; proper induction training was indeed crucial.
"It’s hard to explain in detail. It includes anything against common sense, like if the stone face above your head doesn’t look big but weighs a ton, or if human hair suddenly starts growing from a rock, or if a stone Buddha inexplicably sheds tears," Beibei crouched down to take a closer look at the eyes of a stone face in front of her.
While the others were away, Yang Xiao spoke in a hushed voice, "Beibei, I’m carrying a Resentful Eye item with me. Will it cause any trouble for this mission?"
"Oh?" Beibei looked up in slight surprise, "To get a Resentful Eye reward on your first mission, no wonder the director personally recruited you, impressive indeed."
"But don’t worry, it’s fine. I have one with me too. Just don’t use it unless it’s a last resort, otherwise you’ll die even faster."
It wasn’t surprising to Yang Xiao that Beibei, as a former team leader, possessed a Resentful Eye Item. What puzzled him was what Da Xiong had said earlier, "But Da Xiong mentioned that Resentful Eyes are sensitive to each other and can awaken ghosts."
"That’s for wild Resentful Eyes, which are ownerless. Ours are different; once they’ve accepted an owner, they’re much safer."
After checking in a circle, the two of them didn’t find any so-called abnormalities, nor did the other two teams. They all left the room. Beibei stood in the corridor, "We have two places left. Let’s split up to search. Captain, me, and Xiao Shu will go to the private collection room. The rest will go to No. 5 Collection Room. Remember, be very gentle in your movements; this Resentful Eye’s stability is definitely not high."
Originally, they thought that the ghost had already been disturbed, after all, the policewoman said she had been seen by the ghost. However, it now seemed that their luck was not too bad, as Da Xiong’s data indicated that the ghost was still in slumber.
Unexpectedly, they had only made it halfway through the private collection room when Yu Shu arrived, apparently having come across new information. After everyone hurried over, Da Xiong was in the midst of installing new equipment, the tripods were all set up, and Xi Menxiu was proudly pinching a lightbulb in her hand.
This collection room wasn’t too big, and it was filled with paintings, hundreds of them hanging on the walls, an assorted mix of oil paintings, ink paintings, watercolors, and prints.
"What’s going on?"
"Hehe, look." Xi Menxiu brought the lightbulb close to the west wall quite smugly. The next second, the lightbulb "poofed" to life without even touching the wall, still a good palm’s distance away.
By now, Da Xiong had set up the equipment as well, with a strangely shaped camera mounted on a tripod, its lens pointed at the west wall crowded with oil paintings.
"It seems the problem lies with one of these paintings, one of them is a Resentful Eye Item." After observing for a moment, Beibei decisively sent a message to Captain Xu, asking him to continue narrowing the investigation range and to focus on the oil paintings on the west wall of No. 5 Collection Room.
Captain Xu replied immediately, saying he would check right away.
There were about thirty or forty paintings on this wall, all oil paintings but with vastly different styles—abstract, Fauvist, Romantic, and Surrealist, with a brief introduction under each one. Among them, Yang Xiao felt a strong connection to a few paintings, instinctively wanting to take a closer look, but someone pulled him back. Turning his head, it was Yu Shu, who shook his head and wrote the word "danger" in his notebook.
Then she wrote a few more words, and with just one glance, Yang Xiao felt his scalp tingle and he quickly stepped back several steps. The notebook displayed elegantly handwritten words: "The ghost is right in front of you."
"Say, little sister Yu, don’t scare our captain like that, hehe, once Captain Xu figures out which painting it is, we’ll take a picture and then call it a day!" The triumphant Xi Menxiu couldn’t be prouder, "Let’s see who dares to call me just a logistics nobody in the future."
You could tell everyone had relaxed a bit, and Yang Xiao let out a sigh of relief, looking for Da Xiong. This honest-looking man seemed reliable, "Da Xiong, what’s this camera for?"
"It can capture ghosts. As long as it gets a frontal shot of the ghost, it can temporarily restrain it, making it easier for the tech department to deal with the Resentful Eye later," Da Xiong chuckled, patting the camera as though it were an old friend.
"Capture it and bind it? Awesome!" Yang Xiao thought joining the Patrol Defense Bureau was not in vain at all, the Ghost Detector and this Ghost Capturing Camera were definitely cool gadgets.
A delighted winner, fondly patting the little money in his pocket, Yang Xiao already had plans for where to enjoy himself tonight. "Hehe, I’ll have..."
"Bang!"
A loud noise startled several people and interrupted Yang Xiao’s daydream. The sound was not too far and seemed to come from the same floor they were on.
But Captain Xu had clearly said that the entire three floors had been emptied, so where did this noise come from?
A foreboding feeling took shape in Yang Xiao’s mind. Beibei reacted quickly, immediately instructing Da Xiong to pack up the equipment, as they cautiously moved toward the source of the sound.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
The sound, one after another, grew clearer and clearer, and the group stopped in their tracks. It was coming from an office room.
The sound was rhythmic, with a mechanical and stilted cadence, almost equal intervals between each thump. Yang Xiao’s first thought was that someone was chopping meat, but the next second, he was scared by this thought.
Yu Shu drew her gun, turned, and gestured to Beibei, who nodded, bent down to pull out a short knife, flanking the source of the noise with Yu Shu, one on each side.
Looking back, Yang Xiao saw Xi Menxiu looking frightened, and Zhuge Zhijie was no better off. He was scared too, it just wasn’t as obviously displayed due to his stiff facial expression, whereas Da Xiong, burdened by the equipment, was willing but unable to help much.
Yang Xiao decided it was time to step up for the men and not just stand back and watch. He glanced around and quietly pulled out a folding chair from under a desk, swinging it through the air a few times—it felt comfortable enough—before following the others.
All three nearly simultaneously charged to the door, Beibei pushed it open, Yu Shu pointed her gun inside, and Yang Xiao followed up with his folding chair.
As the door swung open, a strong stench of blood rushed out. Inside, a blood-soaked woman was mechanically chopping with a blunt knife, head down, thumping rhythmically. On the office desk lay a man, already lifeless.
The man’s head was a mess, but his skin color was strikingly noticeable—it was the foreigner from before!
