Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 278: Chapter 239: Identity

Seeing the 5 yuan bill, the old man suddenly perked up, his face all smiles and his eyes crinkling up, "Not much, just as long as you spend a total of 10 yuan today, that’ll be enough."

"Is that so," Yang Xiao nodded, "then that’s easy, but you need to answer a few questions for me first."

After a pause, Yang Xiao organized his thoughts, "Previously, you mentioned that a couple, notorious murderers known as the male and female demons, went missing inside Dongzhou Apartment. What exactly happened? What did those two do when they were alive?"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, the old man’s expression turned somewhat embarrassed, "I’m really sorry, right after I mentioned it yesterday, I felt something was off. I asked a friend later on, and they told me no, that pair of desperados were caught long ago."

"Caught?" Fu Changxue furrowed his brow.

"Yes, caught. The man was so vile that, after he was captured, he was executed on the spot, and the woman is still in prison to this day," the old man said confidently.

Moments later, the old man, looking rather wary, looked towards the deserted Dongzhou Apartment, then lowered his voice, "Do you know how the police caught that male and female duo?"

Seeing the old man’s secretive expression, Li Qingxuan couldn’t help but urge, "How were they caught?"

Out of nowhere, the old man squinted his eyes and clutched his head in agony, "Oh, my head suddenly hurts so much, it’s all a mess in there..."

Li Qingxuan: "..."

Yang Xiao pulled a two yuan bill out of his pocket and waved it in front of the old man, "Feeling better now?"

"Oh... oh... I remember now!" the old man snatched the bill, his eyes lighting up, "Those two were screaming as they fled out of the apartment in the middle of the night. They just happened to run straight into the police who were on guard outside and were caught red-handed."

The old man smacked his lips, looking at everyone before him with a teasing tone, "At that time, the police had the apartment completely surrounded, but they never actually sent anyone in to search. You get what I’m saying, right?"

"They were screaming as they fled, did they encounter something?" Tong Han pressed eagerly.

"That... that..." The old man pretended to casually rub his fingers together, then showed a pained expression, "As you know, this headache of mine is a chronic issue. Once it acts up, it totally loses control."

Without a word, Yang Xiao stretched out his hand and stuffed several coins into the old man’s cloth pocket, "Take your time to think, trust in yourself."

With Yang Xiao’s encouragement, the old man’s condition suddenly improved greatly. According to him, this pair of ruthless murderers were scared witless, almost offering no resistance when they were arrested, just shouting and yelling non-stop.

"What were they shouting?" Yang Xiao lowered his voice, keenly aware the question was critical.

"Ghosts! They said there were ghosts in the apartment!" the old man’s face turned fearful, "Big ghosts!"

The term "big ghosts" instantly triggered Yang Xiao’s memory. He was the one who had been slapped into the Nightmare World by a huge, pitch-black ghost.

Among all the ghosts Yang Xiao had encountered so far, as well as those his teammates had told him about, not a single ghost could be described with the word "big."

It seemed then, that this pair of heartless murderers must have encountered the Source Ghost that sparked all the horrific events inside Dongzhou Apartment.

After saying all this, the old man turned to leave. He seemed to harbor an inexplicable fear towards Dongzhou Apartment, and no matter how much Yang Xiao and the others questioned him further, the old man refused to answer anymore.

Convinced that the old man was of no more use today, Yang Xiao stopped pretending and directly blocked the bicycle, forcing the beat-up old bike to a halt.

"What do you want?" The old man stopped his bike, staring at Yang Xiao with anger in his eyes, and a trace of panic.

Yang Xiao sneered, "Elder, you’re not playing by the rules. We agreed on a purchase of 10 yuan, but why did you only take my money without giving me anything in return?"

Upon hearing this, the old man relaxed and squinted his eyes, pretending to be nonchalant, "What’s the big deal? Just wait, young man, I’ll get you a few more hawthorn candies."

But when the old man handed over a bag containing 10 hawthorn candies to Yang Xiao, he saw that Yang Xiao didn’t move an inch, obviously having no intention of taking it.

The old man realized something was wrong, and Li Qingxuan and Fu Changxue also blocked the old man’s escape on the other side.

The old man is human, while those creatures trapped in Dongzhou Apartment are ghosts.

"Elder, I remember telling you yesterday that I don’t eat sweets," Yang Xiao said with a smirk. "Please give me a hawthorn candy without any sugar coating, or just return the deposit I gave you earlier."

"A hawthorn candy without any sugar coating?" The old man looked confused.

"Yes." Yang Xiao crouched down, picked up a red brick from the ground, weighed it in his hand, and found it just right.

But the next second, a scene that surprised Yang Xiao and the others took place. The old man, trembling, reached into a cloth bag hanging on the handle of the cart, and after a moment, to everyone’s astonishment, took out a string of very clean... um... bright red hawthorns with not a speck of sugar coating.

Yang Xiao: "??!"

The old man laughed innocently, showing a row of big yellow teeth missing two front ones, "Young man, how’s this string for you?"

After a short while, under Yang Xiao and the others’ frustrated gazes, the old man pedaled away, humming a cheerful tune. freewёbnoνel.com

Mo Daidai turned to look at Yang Xiao, her tone not exactly reveling in schadenfreude but definitely teasing, "That sugarless hawthorn candy string was specially prepared for you."

What Yang Xiao couldn’t accept the most was that the old fox had swindled his money, a total of 5 yuan and 50 fen, which was a huge loss.

After sending the old man off, everyone dispersed as usual to scam food and drink, with Li Qingxuan firmly cooperating with Yang Xiao, acting as each other’s wingman.

After eating, Yang Xiao checked to make sure no one was watching nearby, ready to talk to Li Qingxuan about the key intelligence he obtained last night.

But before that, he needed to make sure Li Qingxuan’s identity was not compromised.

He wanted to test how much this Li Qingxuan truly knew about him, whether he was an Evil Cultivator hastily attempting to pose as an ally or indeed one of his own people.

Yang Xiao unscrewed a bottle of mineral water gifted by the store and handed it to Li Qingxuan, "Brother Li, how long have you been looking at my scripts?"

Li Qingxuan, who was picking his teeth, praised without a hint of acting, "It’s been a few years now. I’ve especially liked Teacher Yang’s scripts from the beginning. The characters in your scripts are crafty; the main and supporting roles all have brains, which makes them engaging to play. The most crucial part is there are many sly old foxes, and everyone in the group says it’s just like you, Teacher Yang. You truly write scripts that match your own nature."

Yang Xiao felt like he had been insulted yet couldn’t find a reason to object; he could only smile ruefully and changed the subject, "So which of my scripts do you like the most?"

After pondering for a moment, Li Qingxuan replied with practiced ease, "Huang Family Old Mansion, Anping Apartment, Rainy Night Murderer, Great River Goddess, Lord Wanton."

Yang Xiao stared at Li Qingxuan with a smile, "Good. Now, please tell me your three least favorite scripts and your reasons for them."

Li Qingxuan’s tooth-picking hand paused, clearly taken aback for a moment.