“Since survival points dropping to zero will constantly lead to fatal dangers, even if we save the villagers today, they might still die tomorrow. Rescuing villagers in the first three days is clearly not cost-effective,” Zhang Mingge said coldly. “It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t come in the first three days, and we only need to understand the attack patterns of the Fierce Ghost, that’s enough. If we’re lucky, we might even save a few innocent villagers.”
Cheng Xin thought about it and found it reasonable, so he let Liao Guan go. The driver, after rolling his eyes, decided to follow these two seemingly reliable young men.
The reduced team of five headed to the second person’s home, Wang Wei, but found the yard empty. A neighbor told them, “Wang Wei went to the village chief’s house early in the morning.”
They had no choice but to head to the village chief’s house. Before even entering, they could hear Wang Wei’s voice: “Village chief, you, you have to save me! I had no idea a Fierce Ghost would come for revenge. If I had known, I would never have taken that money. But even if I took the Wang family’s money and connected the wrong wires, the flour mill explosion can’t be blamed solely on me… Feng Ailing deserved to die, but I’m only in my twenties, she was already fifty, lived long enough, but I haven’t had my fill of life yet!”
His voice was so loud that everyone in the five-member team heard it clearly. Chu Tianshu and Lin Huai exchanged glances, forming a new hypothesis about the truth behind the flour mill explosion.
Despite their internal suspicions, neither of them let it show on their faces. They entered, stated their purpose, and Wang Wei immediately latched onto them, patting his thigh: “So as you say, you must protect me!”
At his invitation, the group went to his home. Compared to Feng Ailing, Wang Wei was much more cooperative. After warmly inviting them in, he ran up and down, offering cigarettes and tea. After distributing the cigarettes, he casually asked, “Why did only five of you come? Where are the two women?”
“Ruan Tian went out, Liao Guan is looking for her,” Cheng Xin explained. “As for Yan Chuchu, I don’t know what she’s doing with Ji Nanquan.”
“Oh…” Wang Wei showed a slightly distressed expression. He rolled his eyes, scanning the group.
Cheng Xin, tall. The driver, a strong middle-aged man. Chu Tianshu… although he looks lazy, he doesn’t seem easy to deal with. Zhang Mingge… his hand is wrapped in bandages, does he have some ability?
Finally, his gaze settled on the sickly-looking man sitting in the corner, looking listless.
…This person seems the easiest to handle. Wang Wei thought.
He turned his head, his smile becoming more sincere.
Meanwhile, Yan Chuchu and Ji Nanquan were on their way to the Ying family, searching for tools.
“Ruan Tian didn’t come back last night,” Yan Chuchu casually mentioned to Ji Nanquan. “No idea where she ran off to.”
“Hmm.”
Ji Nanquan answered absentmindedly, staring at Yan Chuchu’s smooth wrist, his mind filled with thoughts of the crystal bracelet from yesterday.
…Naturally, he hadn’t given the bracelet to Yan Chuchu. In fact, he had grown deeply suspicious of their collaboration.
Yan Chuchu, however, acted as if nothing had happened, even joking with him on the way. The more she laughed, the more Ji Nanquan gritted his teeth.
‘I need to keep a closer eye on her today,’ Ji Nanquan thought. ‘Can’t let her take advantage of me again!’
After deciding on this plan, they sneaked into the Ying family’s house while the five members were away. After rummaging through the house, Yan Chuchu found two unremarkable tools in the main room. Following the rules, she kept one for herself and gave the other to Ji Nanquan.
To her surprise, Ji Nanquan gave a cold smile upon seeing the tool. Yan Chuchu, having endured his sarcastic attitude all morning, couldn’t help but feel annoyed: “Don’t like yours? Want to switch?”
“Wow, acting all magnanimous now!” Ji Nanquan sneered. “Who knows how much you’ve hidden from me!”
Yan Chuchu’s face immediately turned cold. When they reached the east room, she pointed under the bed: “Go get it yourself, there’s something under there.”
“Acting all high and mighty,” Ji Nanquan snorted.
He crawled under the bed and, unsurprisingly, found a hidden compartment containing a small tool. As he opened the compartment, his head bumped into something else.
Ji Nanquan turned his face and saw a notebook taped under the bed.
His heart skipped a beat. Under the flashlight, he saw the name on the cover.
—Chen Du.
“Ji Nanquan, are you done yet?”
Hearing Yan Chuchu’s impatient voice, Ji Nanquan quickly stuffed the notebook into his waistband and crawled out from under the bed. To hide his excitement, he deliberately acted annoyed: “Found it, here you go.”
With that, he tossed the tool into Yan Chuchu’s hands. Yan Chuchu looked at him suspiciously: “So cooperative?”
“A gentleman doesn’t fight with a lady,” Ji Nanquan shrugged.
With that, and worried that Yan Chuchu might notice the bulge in his waistband, he hurried out of the room ahead of her. However, Yan Chuchu’s voice came from behind: “Your shirt isn’t tucked in.”
Ji Nanquan froze for a moment, then snorted and left directly.
Yan Chuchu stared at his back, narrowing her eyes.
She slipped her fingers into her pocket, and when she pulled them out, a small white origami crane had quietly flown out. The crane landed on Ji Nanquan’s shoulder without his knowledge, its two black eyes silently observing his every move.
The clock struck nine, and in the blink of an eye, another day in the village had quietly passed. The group took turns sleeping, and finally, Cheng Xin yawned and went to swap shifts with Lin Huai.
“Be careful,” he specifically warned Lin Huai. “If anything unusual happens, don’t confront it head-on, understand? Fierce Ghosts are not to be trifled with.”
“I know,” Lin Huai said. “I promise I usually won’t kill them, I’ll leave them alive.”
Cheng Xin: “…Keep boasting.”
He headed to the sleeping room. Lin Huai patted his legs and walked towards Wang Wei. Wang Wei, who had been waiting in the room, immediately showed a delighted expression upon seeing him: “Brother Lin, you’re finally here.”
…Lin Huai felt there was more to his words than just a welcome, but he didn’t dwell on it. He simply nodded and sat across from Wang Wei, picking up his phone to play a game.
After twenty rounds of a matching game, he finally heard Wang Wei’s trembling voice: “Brother Lin, look behind you… is there a shadow outside the window?”
“A shadow? Really?” Not sensing any ghostly presence, Lin Huai took off his headphones and turned around.
Outside the window, there was nothing but the night and streetlights. Wang Wei’s voice grew more urgent: “There really is one, there’s a ghost—you have to believe me—”
His voice was so fearful and infectious that, as if bewitched, Lin Huai turned around and leaned against the glass to look outside—
“—What exactly…”
The next moment, a metal rod swung with force towards Lin Huai’s head!
Lin Huai didn’t dodge or evade, just stood there and fell straight down. Wang Wei, having succeeded, grabbed the iron rod and panted heavily. After catching his breath, he seemed to think it wasn’t enough, muttering to himself as he leaned towards Lin Huai: “Don’t blame me, don’t blame me, I had no choice…”
With that, he reached out to check Lin Huai’s pulse, but his fingers found only silence. He then dragged the body from the main room to the backyard, looking left and right, and finally decided to bury Lin Huai in the haystack.
After throwing the pale, soft body into the hay, Wang Wei clasped his hands together and prayed to the sky: “Ghost lady, Fierce Ghost lady, I’ve killed the person as instructed on the note, Amitabha, Amitabha…”
After finishing his prayer, he calmly picked up the hay, ready to cover the body. But to his shock…
The next second, the body opened its eyes!
He was so frightened that he dropped the hay and stumbled back a few steps. The supposedly dead body rolled its eyes and finally fixed them on his face: “Why did you stop? What note, where did you put it?”
“…Ghost, ghost… there’s a ghost!”
“Honestly, as a villain, you should at least explain the whole story,” the body in the haystack slowly sat up, rubbing the back of its head, muttering, “Wasted a beating for nothing…”
Before Wang Wei could scream, the body grabbed his neck. He struggled violently from lack of oxygen, and a note fell out of his pocket. The body dropped Wang Wei, picked up the note, unfolded it, and read: “I acted for so long, and it was for this thing, tsk tsk…”
“I… I don’t know! I found the note at home, the order and timing of everyone’s deaths matched the note! If I didn’t kill you, I would be the one to die!” Wang Wei blurted out everything in a panic.
This person… this person is the ghost! Wang Wei thought in despair. He had chosen the weakest-looking person to deal with, but why did it turn out like this?
Lin Huai folded the note and put it in his pocket. Wang Wei was still lying on the ground, crawling away futilely, but a foot stepped on his hand, grinding it mercilessly, cutting off all escape routes.
Then, the demon-like man squatted down, looking at his face seriously: “You’re afraid of being killed by the Fierce Ghost?”
Under his gaze, Wang Wei nodded, then shook his head in panic.
“You… you let me go, you’re still alive, aren’t you?” In desperation, he shamelessly begged for mercy, “Please, forgive me, I promise I’ll cooperate fully, I know a lot more about the note, things you don’t know… You said you’d protect me, didn’t you? Even if you kill me, the mission won’t be completed…”
“You make a good point…” Lin Huai nodded, “And I did say I wouldn’t let you be killed by the village’s Fierce Ghost…”
Wang Wei’s eyes shone with hope. He struggled on the ground, persuading more strongly: “…Don’t worry, I’ll help you, no one knows more about the Ren family’s affairs than me, they…”
“—But I never said I wouldn’t kill you?”
The next moment, Wang Wei felt a chill on his neck, and then he heard the sound of his own head hitting the ground. Lin Huai looked at his body, disdainfully wiping the blood splattered on his face, and gently patted his head: “Sources like you, I can find as many as I want. Good night.”
He closed Wang Wei’s unblinking eyes and looked up at the sky. After a while, he took a deep breath and shouted, “Come here! Come here! Wang Wei’s been killed!”
The remaining four rushed over, and everyone’s eyes widened at the bloody scene. Chu Tianshu, seeing Lin Huai covered in blood, standing in front of Wang Wei, looking stunned, quickly ran over to check on him: “Lin Huai, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Lin Huai shook his head, “Just a bit of a headache…”
