Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 1925: Chapter 1092: The Source

"Could it be that they discovered some clue and left in a hurry?" Yamamoto Chunai peered outside in confusion.

"Doesn’t seem like it." Xiao Lin Zhengyan directly rejected her guess. "Even if they had to leave suddenly, they’d at least leave one person behind. Besides, this door..."

This open door hung over everyone’s hearts like a pall of gloom, a vague sense of foreboding silently spreading through the crowd.

Yang Xiao, Takagi Reina, and Yandeta Chiyoda said nothing, nor did they rush into the room. Instead, they calmed down and carefully observed.

There were no water stains outside the door or in the corridor, so they could basically rule out the Water Ghost. Besides, among the ones left behind, both Kato Shinjiro and Watanabe Gou were experts; saying the two of them got wiped out by a Water Ghost in one go simply wasn’t realistic.

Staring at the empty room, the fear in Ogawa Haruka’s heart surged up again. Her voice was trembling. "Could it... could it be that guy? The... the Ghost that killed Mr. Suzuki is here!"

"Don’t talk nonsense." Takagi Reina cut her off immediately. It wasn’t that she meant to target anyone, but with the situation so unclear, spreading panic rashly would only make things more complicated.

She didn’t believe that after killing Suzuki Takashi at the train station, that Ghost would go to all the trouble of coming to the Detective Agency to kill again. It made no sense and wasn’t logical.

Kato Shinjiro and Watanabe Gou were both very smart. They would never leave the Detective Agency on impulse. Even if, taking a step back, they had found some important clue and absolutely had to leave, they would definitely tell them first, and would never vanish without a word.

So there was only one possibility: they must have run into trouble and had no choice but to leave—and the trouble came so suddenly they didn’t even have time to say anything to them.

"Could they... could they be in the restroom?" Yamamoto Chunai looked toward the dim depths of the corridor. Her fear of that Water Ghost was etched into her bones.

"Don’t disturb Mr. Chu’s train of thought. Please be quiet." Xiao Lin Zhengyan soothed Yamamoto Chunai’s nerves, his tone fairly gentle.

No water stains, no contact information left behind, and no sign of mess or struggle inside the Detective Agency—this felt like three living, breathing people had, in an instant, vanished without the slightest warning.

This inexplicable disappearance was more unsettling than seeing a corpse. The danger was clearly lurking all around them, yet they remained entirely unaware.

"Should we give them a call?" Ogawa Haruka suggested. At this moment they were still standing outside the door, which was obviously not a long-term plan—after all, a Fierce Ghost could appear at any time in that dilapidated restroom deep in the corridor.

Frankly, calling them now wasn’t the safest option, but they had no other choice. The sky was visibly darkening, and the pressure of losing three teammates at once was suffocating.

"I’ll make the call." Xiao Lin Zhengyan stepped forward. He owed Yang Xiao a favor; this was the time to pay it back.

Yang Xiao didn’t refuse, only reminded him, "Call Watanabe Gou." freewebnovel.cσ๓

This call carried risk for both the one dialing and the one answering. If one of the two—Kato Shinjiro or Watanabe Gou—had to die, then naturally it was better for it to be Watanabe Gou.

Xiao Lin Zhengyan used his own phone to call Watanabe Gou, but soon his brows knit together—Watanabe Gou’s phone was actually turned off.

As a newcomer, Sakai Misaki naturally wasn’t qualified to have a phone; the phone for their group was in Kato Shinjiro’s hands.

With Yang Xiao’s tacit approval, Xiao Lin Zhengyan called Kato Shinjiro again.

This call would definitely not be a good thing for Kato Shinjiro, given the unclear situation, but it meant a great deal to them. So Xiao Lin Zhengyan had already decided: if Kato Shinjiro questioned it later, he would push all the blame onto Yandeta Chiyoda.

At worst, he’d shoulder it himself—anything, so long as it didn’t drag Yang Xiao down.

This time, before he even had time to think through the consequences, the call connected.

An old-fashioned ringtone chimed, and in an instant everyone’s attention focused on the inside of the Detective Agency, because that ringtone was coming from the room.

It was in the direction of the sofa—the sofa where Yang Xiao and Takagi Reina had slept last night!

"Who’s there?" Takagi Reina barked threateningly. "Come out! We see you!"

But the only response she got was the hollow ringing of the phone—nothing else.

Unable to hold back any longer, Yandeta Chiyoda was the first to step into the Detective Agency. Yang Xiao and the others followed closely behind, and soon, in the gap beneath the armrest of the sofa, they found Kato Shinjiro’s phone.

The phone was here, but the man was gone, and Watanabe Gou’s phone was switched off. This proved that something had gone very wrong with the other team.

"Chu Xi, doesn’t it look like something’s missing in this room?" Yandeta Chiyoda’s eyes swept around suspiciously, carrying a hint of scrutiny.

"Yandeta Chiyoda, how come I don’t see it." Takagi Reina’s gaze roamed over every corner of the room. "Yandeta Chiyoda, Yandeta Chiyoda, what do you think?" freёwebnoѵel.com

Hearing Takagi Reina call her name several times, Yandeta Chiyoda’s face turned green. Of course she understood—this was Reina guarding against her.

Just now she had called Chu Xi by name; who knew if that might trigger a Ghost killing? And now this woman had called her name three times in one breath.

But Yandeta Chiyoda swore she really hadn’t intended to get Chu Xi killed—at least, not this time.

She genuinely felt that the Detective Agency was a bit different from before, like... something was missing.

Yang Xiao ignored the clash between the two women; he had no mind for it right now. Because just before Yandeta Chiyoda raised the question, he had also realized the same thing. As his gaze swept over the surface of an old-fashioned desk, the next second his brows suddenly furrowed. "Where’s that recorder?"