Chapter 656: Chapter 524: Source_5
A number suddenly flashed through his mind: Prisoner No. 3. Before entering, Yang Cha had warned him that this mission involved a particularly tricky individual, who was the sole survivor of the two previous incidents. Well, not the only one, but the other had gone insane.
"I’m reporting someone!" Yang Xiao immediately said, "I don’t know his name, but he’s wearing a mask with Prisoner No. 3 on it."
But the moment Yang Xiao spoke those words, he regretted them. After all, he too was wearing a mask. However, the trio of silver-haired men seemed indifferent to the mask. When the girl heard this, she took out a notebook and began writing something in it. Due to his position, he couldn’t see what she was recording.
After a few routine questions, the silver-haired man gave the girl a look, and she unlocked the handcuffs. The silver-haired man advised, "Go back to your room and don’t come out. This isn’t a place for you to be. We from the Patrol Defense Office have taken over. However... if you want to help, there will be a reward for you once this is all over."
"Willing to serve." Yang Xiao didn’t forget about Lu Wencheng, glanced at him, then back at the silver-haired man, probing, "What about him and his..."
The silver-haired man pulled out a pistol. The girl flipped the foaming Lu Wencheng over, face up, and the pistol aimed at Lu Wencheng’s brow was fired again. This time, Lu Wencheng’s eyes instantly returned to normal, and he stopped blowing bubbles.
Lu Wencheng was very honest when he woke up, not daring to even breathe heavily. Along with Yang Xiao, he sat with his back against the wall, squatting in the corner.
Yang Xiao and Lu Wencheng both agreed to cooperate with the silver-haired man. Everyone exchanged room numbers, and through conversation, they learned about the clues held by the trio. They found out that the identity of the Source Ghost was a meat-seller, killed by her own "husband" in collusion with another man from a brothel. Her death was gruesome; she was dissected at the waist with her own bone-chopping knife.
Yang Xiao voiced his speculation. He suspected that the missing lower half was seeking its upper half, thinking of the black hole that appeared, coupled with an awful stench akin to the sewer. It was very possible that the murderer had thrown the body’s missing half into the sewer.
This hypothesis also gained the silver-haired man’s approval. After investigation, they confirmed it, but the problem now was that they couldn’t pinpoint the exact location of the lower half.
"Can’t the Patrol Defense Office bring in someone who knows how to handle this?" Lu Wencheng asked.
The silver-haired man did not respond. A younger member shook his head first and sighed, "It’s too late. The range of influence of this ghost has already encompassed the whole area. People outside can’t get in, and we can’t get out."
After a pause, Lu Wencheng spoke again, "Even if we can find the exact location of the corpse, we still need its upper half. What do we do about that?"
"That’s easy to handle. We’ve already found the upper half of the body, and it’s now frozen in a refrigerator in the apartment," the young member replied.
Only by finding the missing lower half and reuniting it with the upper body could they completely solve the paranormal event here and seal the ghost.
After leaving their contact information, the silver-haired man let Yang Xiao and Lu Wencheng go. The two hurried down the stairs, fearing they might change their minds.
Walking back, Yang Xiao still felt shaken. "These three are too powerful. They don’t seem like people from the Patrol Defense Office. To be candid, Brother, I’m employed at the Patrol Defense Office myself, and I’m also a captain. Generally speaking, it’s quite good for an investigation captain to reach Fierce Grade, but I’ve never seen such powerful captains or such a strong team composition."
"They aren’t an ordinary investigation team. They must belong to a special division. I’ve heard that the Patrol Defense Office has such a department, directly under the Patrol General Bureau, with several teams underneath, each with an independent code. The personnel there are the elite of the elite, capable of taking on a hundred by themselves. They are only dispatched for very tricky matters. Seeing them today, their reputation is indeed well-deserved," Lu Wencheng exclaimed. "The guy who fought with me today is definitely of Ghost Level, and even among those, he is no weakling. I have sparred with someone who had just entered Ghost Level, and I would never be beaten up like this."
Once out of the range of Building No. 1, Lu Wencheng quietly reminded Yang Xiao, "Brother Yang, when you get the chance, try shining your lantern on these three people from behind, but not on their faces."
"What are you planning to do?" Yang Xiao asked.
"Um... right now, it’s just a guess. Let’s talk about it after you’ve shone the light. These three fellows might be more complicated than we think," Lu Wencheng said.
Next, Lu Wencheng led Yang Xiao through secluded paths until they reached the side of a flower bed. Not far opposite was a rockery. Lu Wencheng measured his steps mysteriously, and after about half a minute, he stood still and whispered, "This is the place!"
"What about here?" Yang Xiao curiously asked.
"Don’t ask so many questions for now. Just come and help me, I need you to find five tree branches. Not the dry ones fallen under the tree, but the tender shoots plucked from the tip of a sprouting branch."
While Yang Xiao went off to find tender shoots nearby, Lu Wencheng squatted on the ground and began digging with his hands. When Yang Xiao returned with five tender shoots, Lu Wencheng had everything set up. He used the moist dirt he had dug up to create an irregular circle.
Placing the tender shoots Yang Xiao had brought back in a certain pattern around the circle’s edge, one by one, until Yang Xiao realized at the fourth shoot – it was a map of East Asia Mansion. The circle represented the park plaza where they were, and the five tender shoots represented the five apartment buildings. Once everything was arranged, Lu Wencheng took out a small, fine, silver-colored cone with a wooden handle from his pocket. Close up, you could catch a faint whiff of corpse odor, and the wood handle was stained dark brown.
Yang Xiao was taken aback. He recognized the object; it appeared to be an old-fashioned corpse cone used by forensic doctors for examining bodies.
"Brother Yang, pardon my performance!"
In the next second, an astonishing scene unfolded before Yang Xiao. Lu Wencheng took a deep breath and sharply stabbed his own left hand with the corpse cone. However, no blood flowed out. Instead, marks of lividity started appearing on Lu Wencheng’s hand, spreading rapidly. In a matter of a few breaths, they covered the entire hand, which now exhibited a bluish-purple hue.
If it weren’t for Lu Wencheng standing right before him, Yang Xiao would have mistaken his hand for that of a ghost without any hesitation.
