Chapter 365: Chapter 313: Ghost Shadow
"What?!"
After a brief pause, Yang Xiao immediately realized that this matter was not so simple. He remembered that the stele that had tripped Yan Shiyi was just outside the eerie village in the dream, indicating that the village was indeed Zhuwang Village.
However, there was also a strange building in the forest outside the village. According to Yan Shiyi’s description, it somewhat resembled a temple but was not entirely like one, filled with an ominous aura, and that was the last place Yan Shiyi disappeared in the dream.
Yang Xiao immediately inquired if the police had any clues about this, but unfortunately, they did not.
"Chief, could I use the Patrol Defense Office’s database to look up this Zhuwang Village?" Yang Xiao was originally from the Patrol Defense Bureau, so such a request was quite normal. An important reason he decided to join the Patrol Defense Office was because of its resources.
Nalan Shuo agreed forthrightly, "I’ll arrange for someone to look into it and notify you as soon as we find something."
Staring at Yang Xiao for a moment, Nalan Shuo suddenly sighed, "It hasn’t been long, and you’re forced to enter the Nightmare World again. This is not a good sign."
Yang Xiao had not revealed anything about the Mysterious Stone Statue to Nalan Shuo, which was also part of his promise to Mo Daidai, to keep it absolutely confidential. So, in Nalan Shuo’s view, this was merely the consequence of Yang Xiao’s repeated intense use of Resentful Eye.
Yang Xiao squeezed out a slight smile, "Don’t worry, Chief. Once I get back from this time, I will definitely lead a peaceful life."
Unexpectedly, Nalan Shuo shook his head repeatedly, then stepped forward and patted Yang Xiao’s shoulder, "Don’t say that. Don’t you watch movies? In movies, those who bid farewell before battle rarely make it back alive. Yang Xiao, I have high hopes for you. Don’t let me down."
"Thank you, Chief!" From Nalan Shuo’s eyes, Yang Xiao perceived a hint of worry, which moved him greatly.
"You don’t need to come to work if you don’t feel like it recently. Adjust yourself; you’ve been too tense lately," Nalan Shuo said.
Without further pleasantries, Yang Xiao turned around and left. His office wasn’t far from there, and it was still early. Beibei and the others should be there, but just as Yang Xiao was walking through the corridor, planning to go back and check on everyone, suddenly, he felt a very bad premonition. A subtle change seemed to have occurred in this familiar corridor.
He looked up; the light fixture overhead cast a bright light, but this light felt chilling on his skin.
Before he could contemplate further, the next second, a severe pain shot through his back, as if his flesh was being torn apart – it was from the part where the Drama Robe had been replaced. Yang Xiao did not dare to delay and immediately turned and fled until he was out of the Patrol Defense Office building.
Once he made it back to his apartment, he took off his shirt, and his back was already bloody. The piece of the Drama Robe seemed to have been torn by some mysterious force, and the wound kept bleeding.
Yang Xiao was in a foul mood; even at this point, the Drama Robe was still causing trouble. Did it want him dead sooner?
Fortunately, the wound did not worsen further, and the fragments of the Drama Robe stopped moving. Yang Xiao quickly treated his wound and then lay down on the bed to rest, while also sending a text message to Mo Daidai about his situation.
Sunlight filtered through the window and warmed Yang Xiao’s body. Unknowingly, he drifted off to sleep, enveloped by the warmth.
After an indeterminate amount of time, he was woken by a ringing sound. His phone was ringing. The screen displayed Nalan Shuo’s name, and Yang Xiao instantly became alert and picked up the call. Nalan Shuo’s voice on the other side sounded uneasy, "Where are you?"
"In my apartment. I was just sleeping," Yang Xiao answered truthfully.
The words "sleeping" seemed to touch Nalan Shuo’s worries, and even his speech sped up, "Did you dream? Dream about Zhuwang Village and the temple?"
"No, I didn’t dream about anything," Yang Xiao also realized something must have happened, "Chief, what exactly happened?"
"Last night, the people you had a conflict with also disappeared. I just received a message from the police," Nalan Shuo said gravely.
"What?!" Yang Xiao was shocked and sat up straight from the bed, "How many people disappeared, and who were they?"
"A manager surnamed Liu and two security guards. I’ve confirmed with the police; they are the same ones who had a conflict with you last night," Nalan Shuo confirmed.
Yang Xiao immediately remembered; after the misunderstanding occurred, he was locked in a private room waiting for the police. Including him, there were five people in the room: himself, Yan Shiyi, Manager Liu, and the two security guards. Now, except for himself, the other four had all disappeared.
"When did this happen?" Yang Xiao asked.
"Manager Liu disappeared an hour ago. The disappearance of the two security guards spans a larger timeframe, somewhere between 7 and 10 this morning," Nalan Shuo explained, "Manager Liu told his family he had a headache and wanted to sleep a bit longer, asking them to wake him up in an hour. But when his mother pushed open the bedroom door an hour later, she discovered he was gone, though his clothes and cellphone were still beside the bed. The police have checked the scene; there are no signs of him going out, and the doors and windows are intact. The nearby surveillance didn’t show any anomalies either."
"The situation of the two security guards is a bit more complicated. They were off duty today and lived in a rental house; they rarely interacted with nearby people. It was only when the police wanted to find them to understand the situation that they discovered both of them had also disappeared," Nalan Shuo continued.
From this analysis, Yang Xiao felt a horrifying realization that the nightmares about Zhuwang Village seemed to be contagious. He had never thought such a thing could happen.
