Tong Han was the first to walk over, and with her fingers, she pinched a corner of the Red Bridal Veil and flipped it open violently. The next second, even though she was ntally prepared, she couldn’t help stepping back in shock.
The last sliver of hope was shattered; it was... it really was Liu Haiping’s head.
Her head was placed upright in the center of the dressing table, facing them. Liu Haiping’s eyes were wide open, her expression distorted, her mouth slightly agape, as if she had seen sothing extrely terrifying.
The blood on the table had not yet fully coagulated. The Pear Blossom Mirror in front of the dressing table was sared with fresh blood—this scene was even more brutal than when the chieftain’s daughter was found dead in the prayer hall.
From the traces left at the scene, it was clear that Liu Haiping had died right in front of this dressing table. Yang Xiao stared at Liu Haiping’s unseeing eyes and felt that her gaze contained not just fear, but also a sense of disbelief.
It seed that up until the very last second before her death, Liu Haiping couldn’t understand why she would be the one to die.
"Make way," said Sui Chengguo as he stepped forward. Without any hesitation, he directly picked up Liu Haiping’s head and examined it from side to side.
Perhaps noticing sothing, Sui Chengguo’s brow furrowed. He gripped Liu Haiping’s long hair with his right hand, lifting the head higher, and turned it so that its back faced him, closely inspecting the terrible wound where her neck had been severed.
Yang Xiao’s gaze accidentally t with Tong Han’s for a mont, before sliding away the next second without leaving any trace. Both of them detected a trace of wariness in the other’s eyes—Sui Chengguo’s actions were too practiced, hardly those of soone doing this for the first ti.
Cheng Cha seed as if he hadn’t noticed anything, maintaining his polite deanor, "Brother Sui, did you find anything?"
Cheng Cha’s words disrupted Sui Chengguo’s train of thought. He slowly lowered the head, pensively saying, "She was sitting here when she was killed. This ghost’s strength is formidable; it decapitated her neck two-thirds of the way through with a single stroke, severing the spine as well."
"Since she died in one fell swoop, there was absolutely no chance for her to struggle. I think Liu Haiping probably didn’t expect to die, right up until the end, she hadn’t moved."
"How do you know she didn’t move, that she was sitting here the whole ti?" asked Lu Youcheng.
Sui Chengguo lifted the head again, facing it towards Lu Youcheng and the others. Startled by the grueso sight, Lu Youcheng and Quan Doufeng involuntarily took two steps back. Sui Chengguo, however, seed unaffected and pointed seriously at the jagged cut under the head, "Look here, the slash breaking the spine is angled downward. This suggests that the ghost’s arm was higher than Liu Haiping’s height; the cut was made in a downward angle."
Using his left hand, Sui Chengguo demonstrated beside the head, simulating the scene, "Left-handed sword... This ghost favors its left hand. The Ominous Instrunt is a broad, long blade, quite heavy—probably similar to a Mountain Splitter Blade or a hunting knife."
"Moreover, the blade wasn’t very sharp. After the ghost killed Liu Haiping with one stroke, the head was still sowhat attached by flesh, so the ghost had to use the blade to sever the remaining fragnts of flesh to take Liu Haiping’s body."
"Due to the dull blade, it took several cuts," Sui Chengguo explained, pointing to the rough cuts on the neck of the head.
Next, Sui Chengguo reconstructed the scene for everyone, including Liu Haiping’s sitting posture, the direction in which the blood sprayed, and the position where the body fell—systematically detailing each aspect. If it weren’t for the fact that Sui Chengguo had been with them the night before, Yang Xiao might even suspect that he was the murderer.
Tong Han feigned a look of both surprise and admiration, unable to restrain her praise, "Brother Sui, you’re really amazing. How do you know so much?"
Sui Chengguo sighed, giving a bitter smile. He clearly had his explanation prepared, "I used to work for the criminal investigation departnt in the police force. I ran into so trouble after that; those are all things of the past, let’s not talk about it."
Watching Sui Chengguo handle the head with the sa ease as one would carry a basket of vegetables, Yang Xiao had an inappropriate thought, recalling an online joke, "We brothers who often kill people know..."
This Sui Chengguo was clearly no ordinary person, but Yang Xiao didn’t care. What his teammates were like in reality didn’t matter—whether they were good people, bad people, or even the most heinous criminals, it had nothing to do with him. Yang Xiao only hoped that in the Nightmare World, he would be a person of value.
And this Sui Chengguo appeared to be qualified enough.
Unconsciously, everyone’s reference to Sui Chengguo had changed, now calling him with the affectionate and respectful nickna, Brother Sui.
They had roughly figured out how the person had died. Next was why Liu Haiping had been killed by the ghost, and everyone imdiately thought of the screen that Tong Han had ntioned.
The group gathered around the screen and indeed, it was painted with countless peach blossoms that dazzled the eyes. "I specifically reminded Liu Haiping before I left yesterday to stay away from here," recalled Tong Han.
After Tong Han’s inspection, there was no sign that the screen had been moved. Cheng Cha leaned into the gap between the screen and the wall to look inside, and there stood a large black wardrobe in the corner. The wardrobe was wide enough to fit three people side by side, and there was also a large copper lock hanging on its doors.
With just one look, Cheng Cha was certain that there was sothing off about this wardrobe. He turned around and quickly returned to the dressing table, rummaging through a pile of rouge and jewelry boxes, until he pulled open a hidden small drawer, and found what he was looking for.
It was an exquisitely crafted small copper mirror.
With the copper mirror in hand, Cheng Cha hurried back to the screen. It looked as though he intended to slide the copper mirror into the gap between the screen and the wall, but as if suddenly struck by a thought, he stopped and turned around, advising as he spoke, "Don’t stay too far from —"
Before he could finish the word "far," Cheng Cha froze for a mont, because Yang Xiao and the others had already backed off to a distance of about four or five ters, observing from afar.
Clearly, he was concerned that he might cause trouble and involve them.
"You don’t need to keep such a distance from ," Cheng Cha tried to comfort everyone, knowing full well what he was doing.
"Don’t be afraid," Yang Xiao spoke up to reassure him, "We are all here."
Yang Xiao might have been better off not speaking, as his words only made Cheng Cha feel more awkward. He turned around, his back to the others, wanting to continue what he was doing but felt a chill down his spine as soon as he did, as if sothing was watching him.
Putting down the copper mirror, Cheng Cha turned back around and swept his gaze over each person, finding nothing unusual until his eyes inadvertently swept over the dressing table.
Even soone as ntally stable as Cheng Cha shuddered bitterly when he saw that the head of Liu Haiping on the dressing table was staring straight this way, as if it had been watching for who knows how long.
"Who... who moved that head?" Cheng Cha’s cheeks were instantly drenched in cold sweat as the head gazed at him, like a warning.
Noticing this, Yang Xiao and the others looked over, and Sui Chengguo quickly stepped forward to turn the head in another direction, so it faced away.
However, after this incident, Cheng Cha hesitated, even though Sui Chengguo and the others confird that the head had been facing this way all along and it was rely a coincidence.
After a mont of indecision, Cheng Cha took a deep breath and asked Sui Chengguo to take Liu Haiping’s head out of the room, then called for Tong Han to help him.
Sui Chengguo complied, and Cheng Cha continued his work, sliding the copper mirror a bit further into the gap and adjusting the angle until he finally saw the back of the protective screen, confirming his guess.
After retrieving the copper mirror, Cheng Cha took a few steps back, with Tong Han feeling puzzled yet tense by the atmosphere Cheng Cha had created.
"What’s wrong?" Tong Han caught up and asked, "What did you see?"
"There’s sothing inside the cabinet, this is not a wardrobe, it’s a tomb," Cheng Cha whispered.
"A tomb?"
"Yes."
"How... how can you be so sure?" Hu Yanming was already on edge from a series of events, not wanting to scare himself further.
After a mont’s silence, Cheng Cha explained quietly, "I saw two paintings behind the screen: one was of an elderly couple, likely husband and wife, and the other a child. None of these people had faces."
"What do you an ’no faces’?" Lu Youcheng asked, not understanding.
"No faces ans their faces weren’t drawn, just a blank space."
At this, Yang Xiao seed to have thought of sothing and quickly asked, "Do all these people have a big tree above their heads, with many branches hanging down?"
Cheng Cha turned to look at Yang Xiao, with rare admiration in his eyes, "Correct, it’s a large willow tree. All these are faceless people."
Without waiting for further questions, Cheng Cha took the initiative to explain, "There should be two more paintinigs behind the screen, one of a man and one of a woman, likewise faceless."
"These faceless people are uniquely painted by a painter who deals with the dead. They are quite ominous, the canvas and the pignts used are very special, belonging to the forbidden secrets of the nether rituals. It is said that after each faceless person painting is finished, a part of the painter’s life is folded into it."
"So people have a lot of resentnt after death that can’t be resolved. The resentful spirit needs to cause trouble every now and then. A screen surrounded by faceless people can block it. When the ghost sees the faceless people on the screen, it is drawn to them, bringing the faces of its enemies into the painting. Thus, believing it has ’killed’ its enemy, the spirit can rest for so ti."
"If it can soothe spirits, then indeed it’s a precious item!" Wuma Haoming, who was typically frail, suddenly perked up.
But Cheng Cha glanced at him, shaking his head, "But it’s a temporary solution, not addressing the root cause. The restless spirit will soon realize it has been deceived, as it can sense that the enemy’s presence is still there and will co out to seek revenge again. It will be fooled by the faceless people again and again, and the spirit’s resentnt will grow stronger."
"Then... how long can this thing trap a restless ghost?" Quan Doufeng asked quietly, which was the most pressing concern for them at the mont.
"I don’t know, I only understand a little bit about these matters." Cheng Cha looked up at Yang Xiao, "Brother Chu, do you have any insights?"
Yang Xiao shook his head, "I have no insights to speak of, but I think whatever is trapped inside the wardrobe has nothing to do with Liu Haiping’s death."
"The thing that killed her ca from the outside."
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