Nightmare Apostle

Chapter 531: Chapter 459: Shoot to Kill

After finishing speaking, Fei Rou urged them once more, reminding them that it was getting late and that they should set off quickly, before she left on her own.

Of course, before she left, she had also left them an envelope full of money, stuffed to the brim. Upon opening it, there were only brand-new blue hundred-dollar bills.

With the only outsider gone, only their own people remained. Yu Dagui cautiously walked up, gently opened the door to peek out, and after confirming that Fei Rou’s figure had disappeared, he closed the door and returned to sit on the sofa.

"My friends, one thing is certain," Lian Jinsun sighed, "this is definitely not a case of a victim’s relatives seeking revenge. It has to be the work of a Fierce Ghost, otherwise we wouldn’t be meeting here today."

This was an obvious fact, and naturally, there were no objections. The most important thing now was to determine the identity of the Fierce Ghost.

Yang Xiao picked up a newspaper and was the first to speak up, "Taking photographs of the dead is a big taboo, especially those of strangers who have died unexpectedly. Their vengeful energy is strongest. I think it’s for this reason that they have brought disaster upon themselves."

Wen Chongxian eagerly agreed, "I concur, in my hometown there’s a saying that you mustn’t photograph the dead, especially not those who have just died. It is said that the souls of those who have just died are standing at the scene, looking down at their own bodies. If they are photographed at that moment, the soul will be disturbed."

Hearing this, A Qiang couldn’t help but fret, complaining, "That’s all well and good, but with so many newspapers here, how do we determine which Unjustly Deceased Ghost they’ve offended?"

Yang Xiao already had a hypothesis and suggested, "Let’s use the process of elimination. At the crime scene, the police found high heel marks, so let’s first rule out men. Then there’s the time frame. We can use the time of the first murder as a baseline and work our way back a month. The dead photographed during this month are the most suspect."

What Yang Xiao had thought of, many others had as well. With strength in numbers, everyone quickly got the jumbled newspapers in order according to publication date and sorted out all the cases from the month before the first murder.

However, to everyone’s surprise, there were only three newspapers that fit the time criteria, corresponding to three cases, and all three of the deceased were men.

"How could this be?" Ju Juan was dumbfounded.

"Could there be some newspapers missing that Fei Rou didn’t collect?" Che Xuechun murmured softly, "Only three in a month?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Man scoffed coldly, "Miss actress, open your eyes and look at the world. Do you think this is a play? Three unnatural deaths in the same city in one month, and those are just the ones captured by this group of people; that’s not a low probability, okay?"

"Broaden the timeline, within 100 days," Lian Jinsun decided after some thought.

Indeed, this time there was a discovery. Within 100 days, there were a total of eight cases, with three female victims; one fell from a building, one died in a car accident, and the last one, troubled by love, hung herself in a small grove behind the company dormitory.

The photos in the newspapers were too blurry to make out any useful information. However, if nothing unexpected happened, the Ghost would be among these three women.

Lian Jinsun distributed the three newspapers bearing photos, keeping one for himself, giving one to Yu Dagui, and the last one to Yang Xiao. These three were the individuals who were staying at the three different crime scenes that night, and in Lian Jinsun’s eyes, they were the best choices.

"For tonight, each group decides who stays and watches the haunted house. However, one thing is for certain, those staying in the haunted houses should not bring the newspapers with them," Lian Jinsun said, his face stern.

Everyone understood what he meant; those staying in the haunted houses could very likely encounter supernatural events. In simple terms, people could die, but the clues must not be lost, and the newspapers must not be discarded.

This aligned with everyone’s interests, so naturally, there was no objection.

"Also, let’s leave it for today; tomorrow, during the day, in groups, each person should carry a newspaper with them, to find information corresponding to the identity of the deceased as detailed as possible," Lian Jinsun said as he opened the envelope and divided the money within, with everyone getting a share.

There were publication dates on the newspapers, and presuming that the death of the deceased were shortly before those dates, Yang Xiao thought it should not be too difficult to investigate.

"Everyone take out your cellphones and save each other’s numbers in case we need to contact one another in a timely fashion," Lian Jinsun reminded.

People started taking their cellphones from the table, and it wasn’t until Yang Xiao got his phone that he noticed everyone was moving, except for the young Monk, who stood still, seemingly deep in thought.

After about ten seconds, just as the Monk reached out his hand, someone threw a cellphone onto the table and quickly grabbed the only other one left on it. It was A Qiang, who flashed a sycophantic smile at the Monk and put his hands together in a gesture of respect, "Master, I mistakenly took the wrong one, no offense, no offense!"

But as all the cellphones’ screens lit up, Yang Xiao saw that the screen of the phone in the young Monk’s hand stayed black. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

"Master, your phone is broken," Che Chunxue kindly pointed out.

Hearing this, A Qiang’s face soured. If not for everyone being there, he would likely have lashed out to teach this tactless Che Chunxue a lesson.

The situation became clear – the broken phone had originally been A Qiang’s choice, but after discovering the phone was faulty, he had switched it with the Monk’s.

"You can’t blame me; I didn’t know the phone was broken. Besides, this... it’s like taking your chances, right?" A Qiang said, defensively clinging to his functioning phone, his mind obviously made up not to switch.

As everyone awaited the Monk’s outburst, he behaved as if nothing was wrong, pocketed the broken phone without a word, and tucked it into his pocket.

Seeing this, Yang Xiao, who usually didn’t meddle, suddenly felt particularly uncomfortable and unusually spoke up to warn, "Monk Wukong, your cellphone is broken, and that’s not a good sign."

Before Monk Wukong could reply, A Qiang jumped in, annoyed, and threatened Yang Xiao, "I’m telling you, mind your own business!"

Yang Xiao didn’t say anything, just stared coldly at him, which was enough to unnerve A Qiang. The profanity that was on his lips didn’t dare come out.

"The kindness of the devotees is appreciated by this humble monk. Both fortune and disaster are bonds with the Buddha. It seems that this cellphone must be fated to me," Monk Wukong said, bringing his hands together in a gesture of prayer.

With things as they were, Yang Xiao couldn’t say much more. The monk didn’t seem quite right, either he was pretending to be weak or he was genuinely foolish.

However, based on the experience from several missions Yang Xiao had undertaken, one could opt not to take the spotlight, but one could not show weakness, especially not appear easy to control to your teammates.

Yu Dagui moved to the window and drew the thick curtains open to reveal the outside, where the sun was setting, indicating the arrival of evening.

"Note down each other’s numbers; if there’s nothing else, go find a place to stay. Be extra careful tonight," Yu Dagui reminded.

Yang Xiao noticed a hint of schadenfreude on Yu Dagui’s face, because he didn’t have to go anywhere – he would be staying in this hotel that night.

"Everyone, I hope that when we meet again tomorrow, there will still be nine of us," Lian Jinsun said as he packed up his belongings and was the first to leave the room.