The next second, Yang Xiao’s mind was instantly filled with hatred, and his body uncontrollably lunged toward a figure to his right, grappling with the person.
To be precise, it was a one-sided assault from Yang Xiao. The figure did not fight back, instead curling up and tightly protecting their head with their arms.
"Quick, pull them apart!"
In the chaos, Yang Xiao couldn’t make out who shouted, but the other five people all ran over to help, pinning down Yang Xiao and dragging away the beaten figure.
As the beaten figure was pulled farther away from him, the muddled feeling in Yang Xiao’s mind gradually subsided, and the scene before his eyes slowly beca clearer. He could vaguely make out that the person being dragged away was Yu Shu, yes, it was her!
"I’ve done it!" Yang Xiao didn’t care that he was being held down by three people, he turned his head and shouted loudly, "It’s Yu Shu, I saw her clearly!"
However, Yang Xiao could only recognize Yu Shu, who was connected to him; everyone else still appeared the sa, unrecognizable.
Struggling to get up, Yang Xiao walked briskly toward Yu Shu, who was sitting to the side resting. On the delicate face of the girl was a bruise and a few scrapes, but fortunately, they were not serious.
Seeing Yang Xiao’s thod work, the remaining five swiftly ford a circle. This ti it was Xi nxiu who lost control. After a strange twisting sensation, Yang Xiao opened his eyes to see Xi nxiu lying on the ground, his head clamped between two long legs, one arm twisted back, his body contorted in an odd position.
"Ouch, ouch, my arm! My arm’s going to break!" Xi nxiu grimaced in agony, desperately slapping the floor with the only hand he could move.
The one to capture him was, of course, Beibei. In fact, a mont Yang Xiao hadn’t seen occurred when the two made contact. The hapless Xi nxiu was taken down by a well-prepared Beibei with a backdrop throw, followed by a rciless scissor leg lock.
Xi nxiu and Beibei were separated as well.
There were three left: Da Xiong, Zhuge Zhijie, and the ghost.
"Zhijie, I’ve always treated you like a brother, but today...I’m sorry!" Da Xiong spread his arms and lunged at Zhuge Zhijie.
"Thud!"
The two n tumbled to the ground. Fortunately, everyone was experienced this ti, and they imdiately separated the two before Da Xiong’s massive fists could land on Zhuge Zhijie’s face.
Now, all six mbers of the investigation team were clear, and the only remaining "person" was standing alone in place.
Although they could not see this person’s face, it didn’t matter anymore. He was the ghost!
The next second, the ghost’s figure began to blur, gradually retreating from them toward the depth of the corridor. Terrifyingly, Yang Xiao was unable to tell whether it was simply moving backward on the spot or had turned around and was walking step by step. Its limbs exhibited an indescribably eerie discomfort.
Without needing a reminder, a recovered Da Xiong quickly set aside the black case, swiftly assembled the tripod, and aid the cara in the direction the ghost was leaving. He adjusted the equipnt and pressed the shutter quickly, while the ghost had already reached the end of the corridor and vanished around the corner the next second.
"How about it? Did you get it?" Xi nxiu asked anxiously, tilting his head because his neck had been hurt by that scissor leg, forcing him to maintain this position.
"Don’t know, let’s wait and see." Da Xiong was clearly also nervous.
The wait lasted about a minute. Suddenly, the cara lit up with a small green light, and with a rustling sound, a photo was slowly ejected from the bottom.
The photo had the texture reminiscent of a Polaroid, with imaging not very clear, perated with a strange, indescribable atmosphere, like being overlaid with a filter of so bygone era.
The image was the very corridor they faced, and at the end of the corridor, at the corner, there remained a partial view of a woman’s back, with the hem of a white dress fluttering and a striking red high heel visible.
"Fuck!" Xi nxiu cursed through clenched teeth, "Missed by just a little!"
Carrying the equipnt, the group hurried in the direction where the woman in the white dress had disappeared. Along the way, Da Xiong explained to Yang Xiao that the ghost couldn’t be seen just using the cara lens. It was only through the photos that one could confirm the existence of a ghost.
When the team reached the corner, the woman’s silhouette had already disappeared.
Yang Xiao curiously looked toward Yu Shu, or accurately, the gun at her waist. Noticing his glance, Yu Shu shook her head and wrote on her clip: Guns are useless.
"Ah, the gun is for dealing with ergencies, like that out-of-control woman just now, but it’s no use against ghosts." Xi nxiu’s face was full of misery; he was just thinking about ending the mission quickly so he could get his neck treated.
Putting his headset back on, Da Xiong reconnected the detector and held his breath. Monts later, his expression turned excited, "The complex interference is gone, that ghost is asleep again."
At these words, the team’s tense atmosphere finally cald down. After they packed up the detector, they headed toward No. 5 Collection Room where the Resentful Eye was found.
According to what Beibei said earlier, the ghost in its unawakened state was near the Resentful Eye. As long as you took a picture towards the Resentful Eye, you could capture the ghost.
Now the pressure was on Captain Xu outside. Beibei sent several ssages in quick succession, urging him to find the clue to the painting as soon as possible.
All that was left was to wait. Da Xiong set up the cara again inside No. 5 Collection Room, adjusted it, and aid the lens at the paintings on the right wall.
About 20 minutes later, Captain Xu didn’t disappoint us and finally sent a ssage, After the investigation, a total of 8 paintings were recorded in the No. 5 Collection Room during the suspicious ti fra, Among them, the three that fit the condition of being hung on the right wall were, "The Youth of Sevia," "The Shepherd," and "Evening Bells."
The ssage also ca with photos of the three paintings, which were distinct in style. Yang Xiao and the others quickly confird the location of the three paintings, neatly arranged on the left, center, and right of the wall.
Beibei took a deep breath, "Brothers, it’s ti for a three-choice-one. Who has good luck today, pick one."
Zhuge Zhijie’s stifled voice rang out, pointing to the right, "This one."
It was ’Evening Bells,’ depicting an erect black and gray ancient castle, which, both compositionally and color-wise, was very oppressive.
"Spread out." Da Xiong bent down behind the tripod, adjusted the lens, and pressed the shutter button aid at ’Evening Bells.’
But when the photo ca out, the painting was still the sa painting, with no changes on it.
Zhuge Zhijie’s face began to show embarrassnt, and he imdiately pointed to the painting on the far left, "You’re the one, I’ve had an issue with you for a long ti!"
It was ’The Youth of Sevia,’ depicting a blonde youth sitting cross-legged on the ground, with an endless wheat field in the distance.
"All right, that’s the one!" Beibei personally took charge of adjusting the Ghost Cara, aiming the lens at the one in the middle, ’The Shepherd.’
"Click!"
The shutter was pressed.
When the photo ca out, Zhuge Zhijie’s expression turned uglier than if he’d eaten a fly, as there stood a hazy white figure in front of the painting in the photo.
It was a very young woman with a delicate face and long hair draping her shoulders. She wore a long white dress and stood on a pair of red high heels.
Although the woman’s eyes were open, they overflowed with a not-quite-human blankness and indifference, like a conscious-less statue standing there motionless, with a dark and ghastly strangulation mark on her pale neck.
Beibei exhaled deeply, "We found it," and then looked at Zhuge Zhijie, "Thanks for the process of elimination."
Zhuge Zhijie said nothing.
"I knew we should’ve just let Mr. Zhuge pick the least likely one right from the start," Xi nxiu said, tilting her head, enjoying the chaos.
Zhuge Zhijie: "...that’s too much!"
"OK, I’ve contacted the tech departnt, and they’re on their way. Once they’ve contained and processed it, our task will be completely finished."
Beibei put down her phone, visibly in a better mood, and looked at Yang Xiao with different eyes than before, "Captain, you deserve the most credit for this mission!"
"That’s too much credit, everyone worked hard." Yang Xiao wasn’t one to take all the credit for himself.
Yu Shu wrote swiftly and then lifted her clipboard, where her graceful writing seed much gentler, "You saved us all, thank you."
"Captain, your performance didn’t seem like a newbie at all." Da Xiong shouldered his black case, revealing an approving look towards Yang Xiao, "You possess an extrely high crisis managent ability, remaining calm and composed in danger and able to maintain clear thinking to make accurate judgnts, which is quite rare."
"Brother Xiao, we owe you big ti this ti." Xi nxiu said with a downcast face, "Otherwise, these heartless guys may have sacrificed to break the curse."
"Stop talking nonsense!" Zhuge Zhijie stood up solemnly, "It hasn’t co to that yet, we generally wouldn’t." He finally found his chance to fire back at Xi nxiu.
With the mission nearly complete, everyone relaxed, so standing, so sitting, and starting to chat idly. Yang Xiao asked about so information regarding the Resentful Eye, "Since the ghost has been restrained, then the Resentful Eye is also safe, so why don’t we just take it and wait for the tech departnt to do what?"
"This kind of unowned wild Resentful Eye needs to be sealed using a special thod. Each profession has its expertise, and we don’t have that capability," Beibei explained simply and clearly.
"Plus, all of this must be done before the restraint period ends because if the Resentful Eye feels threatened, it might trigger a new round of paranormal events."
At this point, Beibei couldn’t help but sigh, "About a year ago, an experienced investigation team in Ling’an City made a fatal mistake due to their complacency. They triggered a high-level paranormal event during the process of recovering a Resentful Eye, resulting in the deaths of 5 people including the captain on the spot, with 3 others seriously injured, almost completely wiped out."
Yang Xiao took a deep breath, thinking that this job was really not for everyone; a slight misstep could cost lives, so it was no surprise the pay was high.
Shortly afterward, Beibei suddenly laughed, winking at Yang Xiao, "But under your wise leadership, Captain, we surely won’t have such an incident."
Yang Xiao slowly straightened up, knowing this was his ti to establish his image, gesturing with his hands, "Ahem, rest assured, my friends. As the proper team captain, I must take responsibility for everyone’s safety—that’s my duty!"
Xi nxiu inhaled sharply, clapping her hands askew, "Wow, I have to say, you really do have the air of a bureau chief!"
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