This group of people didn’t say a word, ca up and tied up, then changed clothes, and were about to go through the marriage ceremony, insisting that I be responsible for Jiang Qingluan.
Just as they were forcing Yang Xiao to bow with his "bride," the bride’s veil inexplicably slipped off, revealing the face of his dear sister.
Dear Sister, dressed in a bright red bridal gown, had a sinister smile at the corner of her mouth and stared at him intently.
Yang Xiao shuddered, waking up from the nightmare in an instant, startling Zhou Mingxiao, who was watching over him.
"What’s wrong?" Zhou Mingxiao jumped up nervously and looked around, asking in haste, "What’s happening, what’s going on?!"
"Hoo—"
"Hoo—"
Yang Xiao held himself up with his hands, cold sweat streaming down his forehead. The scene was too terrifying, as dear sister always appeared at just the right mont.
"It’s nothing, I just had a dream." Yang Xiao explained, trying to reassure Zhou Mingxiao, while outside the window the sky was already light.
Seeing this, Zhou Mingxiao breathed a sigh of relief. After sitting back down, he told Yang Xiao that it was still early, ntioning he had planned to call him later to let him sleep a bit more, as he was exhausted last night.
Yang Xiao thanked Zhou Mingxiao for his kindness. The ti on his phone showed it was already 6:10, and presumably, those teammates would arrive soon.
Although the office hours posted on the door started at 9:30 in the morning and ended at 6:30 in the evening, those teammates would certainly co early to confirm whether they were dead or alive.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Yang Xiao and Zhou Mingxiao were chatting, probably soti after 7, not quite 7:30, when Zhou Mingxiao’s phone suddenly vibrated. It was a call from Munan.
Zhou Mingxiao glanced at Yang Xiao, and after receiving a nod, he decided to answer.
When the call connected, neither side spoke. Finally, Zhou Mingxiao broke the silence, "I am Zhou Mingxiao, Chu Xi and I are alive, Wu Zhuo is dead."
Soon, Munan’s voice ca from the other end, with less of a nonchalant attitude and more seriousness, "I know, we have already found Wu Zhuo’s body."
Hearing this, both Zhou Mingxiao and Yang Xiao were shocked.
Munan did not keep them in suspense and continued, "The body is downstairs, it fell to death with the head smashed into the torso, he’s dead beyond dead, we’re all nearby."
Wu Zhuo’s falling death made Yang Xiao imdiately think of last night’s event. Shortly after he and Zhou Mingxiao left the office and reached the 18th floor, he heard a muffled sound coming from downstairs.
At the ti, he had asked Zhou Mingxiao, but the latter said he didn’t hear it. Now it seems that sound was made by Wu Zhuo’s fall, and his ti of death was earlier than he had imagined.
"We are guarding the scene, sending a few people up to replace you. Do you two want to co down and take a look?" Munan inquired.
"Okay, we’ll wait for you." Of course, they would go down to see, Zhou Mingxiao agreed.
About 20 minutes later, a few people ca up the stairs, led by Liu Yang, along with Shu Shuang, Yang Yan, and newcor Zhou Hai.
In this group, besides Liu Yang and Zhang Jianjun being decent, the other three were considered newcors to the team, with core forces stationed around the scene downstairs.
Without wasting words, Yang Xiao and Zhou Mingxiao imdiately set off, and Liu Yang eagerly went along with them.
The three went down the stairs, not yet out of the building’s main door, they saw a bloody scene through the glass, at an angle 20 ters away from the main entrance. Jiang Qingluan and two others gathered around, with a dead body lying on the ground and a large pool of dark red blood nearby.
Yet, besides Jiang Qingluan and her two companions, other people ca and went, unaffected by the body and bloodstains, as if they couldn’t see them at all.
It seed this was the Nightmare World’s restriction on "Natives"; when he first joined the Patrol Defense Office, Nalan Shuo had warned him not to bring personal emotions and morality into the Nightmare World.
That world is real, yet also illusory. Do not see the people there as living beings; treat them as fleshless, virtual NPCs.
In that world, prioritize your own survival, disregard the fate of those "Natives," do not feel for them, abandon the urge to help others, respect others’ destinies, and rember that your own survival is the only thing that matters.
The two walked out the translucent glass doors and found that it was indeed Wu Zhuo’s body. However, the corpse was severely damaged, its head smashed into its torso, limbs fractured, so parts detached from the body.
His internal organs had spilled out, making him resemble a heap of broken flesh lying on the ground.
"There’s no way, the body’s smashed beyond recognition, even if there are clues, we can’t find them." Munan took off gloves stained with blood, clearly having examined the corpse not long before.
What surprised Yang Xiao was why she carried gloves with her.
Munan was unreserved about this, nodded and said, "I brought them for you. Actually, I brought two pairs, one we haven’t used yet."
Yang Xiao was indifferent, but Zhou Mingxiao’s expression turned sour. This girl, despite her height, really said so unpleasant things.
What did she an by saying they haven’t been used yet, was it implying they would be needed soon?
Then, who would die? Going by yesterday’s experience, if not him, it would be Yang Xiao—almost like a fifty-fifty chance.
"Since there are no clues, let’s not loiter. We’ll have breakfast first, and after that, Mr. Zhou will contact the prop company, claiming we are clients wanting to order film props from their company to extract information." Yang Xiao set today’s plan.
"You stay in the company to handle the remaining business and search for clues." Zhou Mingxiao directed Munan. She was strong enough, and he didn’t want to see her right now.
Moreover, Munan also had a mobile phone, facilitating communication among them.
Everyone would avoid using the red old-style phone in the office if they could.
"Don’t wander around alone, Nan girl, I’ll go back with you." Zhang Jianjun, who lived with Munan, patted his chest, showing great loyalty.
Thus, today’s task allocation took shape. Munan, Zhang Jianjun, while Shu Shuang, Zhou Hai, Yang Yan remained in the office as one group to guard it.
Yang Xiao, Jiang Qingluan, and the other five ford another group responsible for external investigation, heading to the Pioneer Film and Television Prop Rental Company to probe leads related to Chen’s Strange Film Industry.
Their move had to be swift since nobody knew when that Source Ghost might co looking for them.
Another point was that Chen Moting had died in the office before, which was why Yang Xiao and Zhou Mingxiao deliberately avoided it this ti, hoping it would have an effect.
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