There were eight people, four n and four won, seated scattered around the room. So were on the sofa while others sat by the bed, all of them now looking towards Yang Xiao.
The man peered outside before promptly closing the door and, turning around, he patted Yang Xiao’s arm, "Find a place to sit. There’s no outsider here."
Four n and four won, including Yang Xiao himself, made a total of nine people—these must be the teammates for this task.
Just as Yang Xiao had sat down, the man who had opened the door spoke again, his voice as unpleasant as ever, "Everyone, since we are all here, let’s introduce ourselves."
Without waiting for anyone to respond, the man continued on his own, "I’m Yu Dagui, a magician. This is my fourth task."
"Zhang Man, yoga instructor, It’s my third ti." A girl in a red leather jacket spoke up confidently, her long hair cascading freely, fiery and flamboyant.
"Wen Chongxian, I’m a truck driver, my... my second ti." The man with ssy hair clutched his arms, his voice filled with unease.
"Che Xuechun, actress, this is also my second ti." The girl, gentle-looking and dressed in a white dress, said softly.
"No wonder, I thought you looked familiar." Another man, wearing a floral shirt that exposed a tattoo on his open neckline, suddenly realized.
"Oh, it’s you... The recently popular ’Southern Country Light Language’ is played by you, right?" a young girl in jeans and a plain T-shirt, looking like a student, said excitedly, "You are the second lead, the first lead is the capitalist’s ugly child."
By this point, Yang Xiao seed to vaguely rember her. He didn’t follow dramas, but his officemate Yu Shu was a drama fanatic, and he would catch glimpses of them in passing. He knew "Southern Country Light Language," a historical drama with a decent script, but the actors were like puppets, and the male and female leads were exceptionally ugly—the first female lead was mocked online as the capitalist’s ugly child, and the first male lead fared even worse, being outperford by the second, third, and eighth male leads in both acting skills and appearance.
Seeing that she was recognized, Che Xuechun didn’t show much joy; Yang Xiao only saw intense fear in her eyes.
"I’m A Qiang, a rapper who only does hardcore underground stuff, yo yo, pussies better drop dead." The man in the floral shirt made an arrogant gesture, his mouth twisted as he said, "You bunch of failures, all evil steer clear, this is my third ti."
The next second, Yu Dagui quickly stepped forward and slapped A Qiang’s twisted mouth back into position, grabbing his collar and lifting him up like picking up a small chick, "Act like a normal person, and if you talk dirty again, I’m going to cut off your little worm and stuff it in your mouth!"
Seeing this, soone stepped forward to break up the fight, and from the conversation, Yang Xiao could tell that these two had so unresolved issues, likely stemming from before he arrived, when A Qiang had annoyed Yu Dagui who had been holding back without erupting.
"It’s not worth it, why get mad at a kid, cool it down." Under everyone’s calming influence, Yu Dagui finally let go, still glaring fiercely at A Qiang.
After receiving the slap, A Qiang imdiately beca deflated, sitting by the bed without speaking anymore.
"Now, it’s my turn, I’m Lian Jinsun, I work in a state-owned enterprise, please look after , this is my fifth ti." An older man in an outdated suit and worn shoes, sowhat balding, said with a friendly smile, his deanor very amiable.
Five tis... Yang Xiao couldn’t help but take this middle-aged man, who looked like a small leader in a state-owned company, seriously. Surviving one or two tis might have involved luck, but having passed four tis definitely wasn’t simple; counting the Ghost Envoy tasks, Yang Xiao had only done it four tis himself.
"Five tis?" Yu Dagui also paused for a mont before laughing, "I never would have guessed, Brother Lian is truly a dark horse."
Lian Jinsun smiled and waved his hand modestly, "Not at all, it’s all thanks to everyone’s support. This ti will be the sa, as long as we cooperate, we can surely overco this difficulty."
The introductions continued, this ti a middle-aged woman with a sowhat haggard appearance and heavy dark circles under her eyes spoke up, "Ju Juan, accountant, this is my second ti here."
"Chu Xi, short video editor and part-ti novelist, just getting by," Yang Xiao introduced himself, "This is my third ti."
Soon, everyone’s gaze fell on the last person, a man about the sa age as Yang Xiao, with attractive almond-shaped eyes and an ethereal deanor. Even dressed in plain clothes, he couldn’t conceal the distinguished air about him, but unfortunately, he was a bald-headed monk.
The monk stood up, clasped his hands together, "I am Monk Wukong, greetings to all."
The group waited but no more ca after that, and Yu Dagui impatiently asked, "Little monk, how many tasks have you passed?"
"I do not rember," Wukong shook his head.
Upon hearing this, Yu Dagui suddenly laughed, "Is it that you can’t rember or you don’t wish to tell?"
Seeing the monk unable to descend from his position, Yang Xiao stood up and perford a Buddhist greeting towards Wukong, politely asked, "May I inquire the esteed na of your temple?"
The monk reciprocated calmly, bowed slightly to Yang Xiao, "This humble monk wanders; with scant blessings and shallow karma, I do not belong to any grand temple to nurture my Buddhist heart."
Yang Xiao was shocked by these words. They were arrogant enough; even if the other party didn’t want to disclose the details, they could have brushed him off with an excuse such as his practice not being sufficient, not daring to enter the Buddhist Temple, but instead, this guy boldly claid that no temple could accommodate his Buddhist heart.
If it had been an old monk with white hair, it might have been fine, but how old was this person? He was about the sa age as Yang Xiao himself, at most having studied Buddhism for a decade or so, which made such a tone excessively arrogant.
However, in the Nightmare World, all sorts of people existed—those with ntal illnesses and delusions, those who pretended to be weak to deceive, and those who pretended to be strong to trick others. Before figuring out this person’s background, Yang Xiao did not want to get involved with him.
After the introductions had concluded, Lian Jinsun suggested that everyone compare the contents of the Ghost Script they had received, focusing on the letter.
Upon comparison, everyone realized their situations were strikingly the sa—each was a fugitive guilty of serious cris: five for murder, two for rape, one for arson, and one for drug trafficking—the kind that would get them the death penalty if caught.
The only way to save themselves was to flee the country, which the writer of the letter had promised them, provided they did sothing for this person first.
Unfortunately, at present, nobody had any idea what this task entailed.
"Tap."
"Tap."
"Tap."
Footsteps resounded in the corridor outside the door. Hearing this sound, Yang Xiao’s expression instinctively changed; it triggered very unpleasant mories for him.
Soon, the footsteps stopped outside the door, followed by the sound of a key being inserted into the lock, and with a "click," the door opened.
The door was opened by a woman. She was tall and slender, with subtle makeup on her face, her long hair swept up behind her head, wearing a luxurious beige double-breasted trench coat and black over-the-knee boots, slinging a brown leather bag on her shoulder.
Upon entering, the woman imdiately turned around to close the door and then walked towards them. Che Xuechun, sitting on the sofa, very perceptively vacated a space. The woman, without hesitation, sat down, smoothly adjusted the hem of her coat, and casually placed the bag on the table.
The atmosphere in the room beca incredibly tense; no one spoke, as everyone’s eyes were fixed on the woman, waiting for her to speak first.
The woman swept her gaze around the room, nodded her head and said, "It seems everyone is here, so let’s get straight to the point. I’m the one who summoned you. You all have cases pending against you, and I can help you leave this place, but first, you need to do sothing for ."
"Speak directly," Yu Dagui said in a low voice.
"I need you all to help investigate a case, the cri took place 14 years ago, involving three victims. Here are the details," the woman said, opening her bag and pulling out two brown paper bags, handing one to Yu Dagui.
Upon opening it, there were nine files inside, all stapled together. Yu Dagui quickly distributed them; each person in the room got one.
Yang Xiao quickly scanned through and realized these were three separate cases. The victims were one man and two won, all young, and their deaths occurred at different tis and places: the man in the bedroom on the second floor of his villa, one woman in her rental house, and the last woman in a luxury suite of a hotel open to the public.
Seeing the last one, Yang Xiao suddenly recalled sothing—they were currently in a hotel open to the public, and their room 8018 was also a suite.
The last woman had died in this room!
Just as Yang Xiao thought of this, so did everyone else. The group looked at the woman with puzzled expressions, but she shook her head, raising a finger pointing upwards, "Not this room; the one where the person died is above us, room 9018."
From the provided information, it was clear that all three victims knew each other as they were students from the sa vocational school, not in the sa class but studying the sa specialty.
The information wasn’t very detailed and lacked photos from the cri scenes. Many questions could only be directed at the woman, "Did these three have any enemies?"
"Not that I know of in their personal lives. They probably offended soone unintentionally, and that’s why they were silenced," the woman replied, taking the other brown bag.
Upon opening it, she pulled out a thick stack of newspapers. Emblazoned across the header in bold exaggerated letters was "Midnight Surprise". Yang Xiao took one and noticed the poor quality of the newspaper; the paper and ink used were both substandard, typical of sensational tabloids populated with trivial or sensational news from a newsstand 20 years ago.
However, each newspaper had a portion specifically marked in red by the margin. The title on the piece he held read: Fierce Ghost Taxi.
Beneath the title was a blurry photo, vaguely showing a taxi stopping at the roadside at a bizarre angle, a body lying not far from the front of the car, covered from the torso up with a white cloth, revealing only two naked feet—one with the toe pointed upwards, the other downwards.
Yang Xiao continued reading downward; due to the age of the paper, many letters were blurred and he had to get very close to decipher them. The writer described in an enigmatic manner that the taxi was empty and at midnight it sped wildly through the streets, not only hitting a drunken pedestrian but also repeatedly running them over until they were unrecognizable.
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