Translator: CinderTL
No wonder. At the start of the mission, it had infiltrated as a player, something unimaginable in previous missions.
But before he could grab the bat, his body froze.
Then, both hands slowly reached toward his face, his mouth opening wide until it reached its limit. One hand gripped his upper jaw while the other clutched his lower jaw.
His entire body trembled uncontrollably, his complexion shifting from pale to blood-red, with frothy blood continuously spilling from the corners of his mouth.
From his eyes, it was clear this wasn't his own doing—he was being controlled by an irresistible force.
After a series of bone-chilling creaks, a sharp crack echoed, and bright red blood droplets rolled down the computer screen.
His body went limp, and a lifeless corpse fell from the chair, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling above.
His mouth had been brutally torn open, and in one hand, he still tightly gripped his detached lower jaw, the area where his chin should have been now a bloody mess.
Without waiting for the people from Building 3 to return, Jiang Cheng and the others, after a brief discussion, decided to hold their ground for now.
Before nightfall, Banana Wolf and the others returned to their rooms in Building 2.
Although Banana Wolf repeatedly assured Chu Jiu that Weng Qing wouldn't harm her, Chu Jiu still seemed uneasy.
"Why don't you sleep in my room tonight?" Fatty suggested, standing at the door after escorting Chu Jiu back to her room. The more he looked at her, the more he pitied her. If the little beggar hadn't died, he might have grown as tall as Chu Jiu by now.
It was clear that Chu Jiu was tempted by the offer, but in the end, she shook her head and refused.
She didn't want to burden others.
After what happened to Chen Yi, she had been plagued by guilt. If Sister Chen Yi hadn't left the room because of her, maybe the tragedy could have been avoided.
"Be careful tonight," Chu Jiu said, looking at Jiang Cheng and Fatty. "There's not much time left."
As the mission neared its end, the ghosts in the instance would become increasingly frenzied.
After seeing Chu Jiu off, Jiang Cheng returned to Fatty's room, where Fatty quickly whipped up a bowl of noodles using ingredients from the fridge.
Time was tight, so he only managed to toss in two eggs.
As he brought the noodles over, he noticed the Doctor emerging from the bedroom, his expression grave.
Fatty, rubbing his reddened fingers from the heat, leaned in and whispered, "Doctor, what's wrong?"
Jiang Cheng, sitting on the sofa, exhaled and said, "Liu Guo and Wei Jinting aren't in their rooms."
After a few seconds of thought, Fatty asked, "Did you call them? No answer?"
"Yeah."
"Doctor, even though things aren't great right now, we've already found a lot of clues," Fatty said, trying to comfort Jiang Cheng. "Don't get too anxious. Panicking will only make things worse."
"Could it be that they've returned but are too scared to answer?" Fatty speculated. "Maybe they're afraid the call is from a ghost."
Jiang Cheng shook his head. "I'm not sure about Wei Jinting, but Liu Guo definitely would. If he's alive, he'd answer the phone."
To be honest, Fatty had a good impression of Liu Guo. At least, after witnessing so much deceit among teammates, someone like Liu Guo was especially valuable.
Knowing he had no chance of escaping, Liu Guo chose to use his final moments to pass on as much information as possible, creating a last glimmer of hope for his teammates trapped in the nightmare.
As if struck by a thought, Fatty's expression turned serious. "If Wei Jinting and Liu Guo are both dead," he said, pursing his lips, "then Wu, who was with them, must be involved."
"Honestly, I've always felt something was off about Wu. He just gives me an uncomfortable feeling," Fatty said, frowning.
Jiang Cheng picked up the bowl of noodles, took a few sips of the broth, then cradled it in his hands as if drawing warmth from it. "I feel the same way."
Only after seeing the Doctor finish the entire bowl of noodles did Fatty seem to relax. "Doctor," he asked, "what do you think about those urban legends?"
It was unexpected that Lin Chen had turned his personal experiences into a comic, especially the missing urban legend.
From the tone of the letter, the sender seemed to be the person in charge of reviewing the drafts, and the missing urban legend had been outright rejected for being too dark.
"Tomorrow, we'll find a way to locate Hezong Cultural Group," Jiang Cheng said. "We need to find that missing urban legend."
After saying this, Jiang Cheng turned to look at Fatty beside him. "Don't trust others too much," he warned. "Our teammates this time are anything but simple."
"Don't worry, Doctor. I know what I'm doing," Fatty nodded repeatedly.
During their time together, Banana Wolf and the others had indeed left a deep impression on Fatty. Hua Luo's intelligence-gathering skills, Wan Yuanning's calm judgment, and Banana Wolf's ability to slip through Weng Qing's fingers—not only that, but it seemed he had even won her over.
He had even assured Chu Jiu that Weng Qing wouldn't harm her.
For now, Fatty found Chu Jiu quite endearing, but Jiang Cheng reminded him to think about the loli they had encountered in a previous mission—cut her open, and she was rotten inside.
Fatty thought about it, and his mood suddenly soured.
After a few more words of advice, Jiang Cheng left the room. Fatty managed to eat a bit, and for some reason, he even washed the bowl.
Back in his own room, Jiang Cheng leaned against the bed, sorting through the clues in his mind. He tried to piece together the shadow of a person from the information he had.
To be fair, they had quite a few clues, but they were too scattered, requiring careful sorting.
It was like finding a single thread in a tangled ball of yarn.
Jiang Cheng decided to organize the clues in chronological order.
If the information Liu Guo had passed on was accurate, then the timeline he was in was July 7th. According to the letter, Lin Chen had already completed the initial drafts of these urban legends by then.
Based on Li Maoshen's diary, he had started preparing for all this before May 17th, with the actual filming beginning after June 10th.
On July 19th, the women received the terrifying videos from Li Maoshen.
The next day, July 20th, the women reported it to the police.
The news reported that Lin Chen had fallen to his death on July 21st, the same night the police came to investigate.
However, according to the autopsy report Hua Luo provided, Lin Chen had already been dead before the fall, and his time of death was no less than half a month prior.
This was a joint autopsy report from several forensic experts, so its authority was beyond doubt.
Therefore, Lin Chen's actual time of death must have been in early July, or even earlier.
Jiang Cheng's eyes narrowed. Could it be that an accident had occurred during one of the filming sessions?
And that accident was the true cause of Lin Chen's death!
(End of the Chapter)
---
Read (NS) on Pa.treon@CinderTL - c512. [+4]
Early Access at $1.
Translated (5) Series, (2.6K+) Chapters, (3.5M+) Words.