Chapter 113: A Prototype of Chaos

Plan finalized.

Tomorrow morning, Yenir and a few Awakened will head to the riverbank to search for corpses. Meanwhile, after a corpse is found during the day, the others will interrogate to force out the accomplice behind Zhang Xuemei’s death. At the same time, Fang He will sneak out at midnight to steal the list.

Both teams will act simultaneously to maximize efficiency.

After the assignments were made, Wang Zheng—who cared most about this case—let out a soft sigh and wiped the water off his face:

“Looks like this case won’t be too difficult.”

“I roughly pieced the situation together—it seems like the most common storyline…”

“After Zhang Xuemei, the mother of the girl Li Rou, was killed by survivors in the Settlement, her grudge transformed her into a vengeful ghost bent on revenge. With her powers still weak in the early stages, her daughter became her unwilling accomplice.”

“I figure the method of killing and the circulating rumors are linked—otherwise, the girl wouldn’t have cut off the victim’s tongue.”

“To resolve this instance, we just need to find the girl’s mother’s corpse and help her take revenge, and the case will be closed.”

As he spoke, a smile appeared on Wang Zheng’s face. Yet, with everything going so smoothly, he couldn’t help but glance over at Fang He:

“But…”

“Could it be too simple?”

“I have a nagging feeling that the difficulty of resolving this doesn’t match the hints in the instance prototype…”

Seeing Wang Zheng growing uneasy, Fang He casually replied:

“Simple? Where’s the simplicity in that?”

“Finding corpses or grabbing the list—either task could end up costing you your life.”

“Don’t forget, this is only the instance prototype! Many elements haven’t fully evolved yet; all the key clues are still out in the open. It’s like a building under construction—the bare steel and concrete are visible now, but once it’s complete, you’d have to work extra hard just to spot the crucial areas!”

“Imagine what we’ll face once this transforms into a full-fledged instance?”

“For starters, when we enter, the system will only alert us to an anomaly in the Settlement, leaving us clueless about the girl’s mother being forced to death.”

“By then, Zhang Xuemei will have already embarked on a rampage. At the outset, we won’t be able to tell who the first victim is—we’ll have to hunt for clues throughout the Settlement. Yet the locals won’t suspect that Zhang Xuemei is the killer; the clues they offer will likely be deliberate misdirections.”

“Soon, the survivors will be mixed with a few ghosts, and you won’t even be able to tell how the victims died when you’re following the clues!”

“Worse still, the few who know about the girl’s mother will be dead, leaving you no chance of pinpointing the true source from the start!”

“If you’re lucky enough to trace it back to the girl’s family, you’ll then have to hunt for the list again and slaughter the villagers.”

“I suspect that by that time, it will all be utter chaos.”

“If you help the girl by killing the villagers, even the ghosts of their kin will come after you.”

“You might even have to pacify the vengeful ghosts spawned from the survivors first—as if cracking a code, one mystery after the other.”

“In the end, how much time do you really think it’ll take? The longer you tarry, the more lives will be lost!”

The group gasped; with a bit of thought, the instance prototype indeed seemed destined to unfold exactly as Fang He had described.

Just the thought of it made their hair stand on end.

Twisting the tongue fragment in his hand, Yenir calmly added his own thoughts:

“Once the instance fully takes shape, the case might take an entirely different turn.”

“As Zhang Xuemei’s quest for vengeance unfolds, more survivors will fall, and those remaining will eventually realize that it was the girl’s mother orchestrating everything.”

“In their fury, the crowd may even direct their hatred at the girl, throwing her into the river to drown her.”

“That would sever all the clues completely.”

“With every villager being a potential murderer, the Awakened entering the instance would have no way of tracing the source. The villagers would surely cover up their crimes. The only way out would be to find the girl’s corpse in the river and work backwards through the chain of events.”

“If even a few pieces of the villagers’ misleading information delay the Awakened in finding the girl’s body…”

“…then total annihilation is almost guaranteed.”

“It’s even possible that once the girl is thrown into the river, she transforms into another ghost. The hidden danger in this mission is to uncover the truth before the girl turns into a vengeful spirit!”

“But if you’re too late and she has already become a ghost, then even retracing the events will lead to a dead end.”

A chill ran down their spines.

Chen Yong’s breath caught, and the others, after hearing Yenir’s explanation, envisioned corpses sinking to the riverbed. Compared to Fang He’s scenario, the difficulty Yenir described was simply outrageous.

“Exactly; perhaps the instance will indeed unfold that way.”

Fang He glanced at Yenir in mild surprise. Only those who had truly experienced such incidents could predict a scenario like this. His earlier disdain for Yenir diminished slightly—no longer did he see him as just a brute.

There was no way he could advance to Third Stage; he harbored intense hostility and jealousy toward the lofty Third-Stage Awakened.

On one hand, he believed his limitations were merely due to talent—despite being intelligent and hardworking, why shouldn’t he reach Third Stage? On the other hand, he despised those Third-Stagers who succeeded solely on luck and natural gifts. To him, all his strength had been honed through facing the most perilous paranormal incidents—far riskier than battling mutants by a factor of ten or a hundred!

Some paranormal cases are so devilishly difficult that they aren’t meant for simple-minded fighters!

Standing aside, Chen Yong’s anxiety completely vanished.

After listening to Yenir and Fang He’s analysis, he too realized that this paranormal case was extremely challenging—even though they were only dealing with the instance prototype, and all the clues were still in plain sight.

Patting Chen Yong on the shoulder, Wang Zheng broke into a hearty laugh:

“Chen, I told you before—the instance prototype isn’t that tough. Otherwise, why would we have expended such a huge effort?”

“We discovered this place so early, and with Fang He and Ye Lin stepping in, it wouldn’t be a ghostly affair if it were too easy!”

“We’re basically exploiting a loophole, right? Otherwise, how would the major factions have acquired all those instance techniques? Their advantage comes from entering during the prototype phase!”

As he spoke, Wang Zheng couldn’t help but glance at Yenir:

“Lord Ye Lin’s analysis earlier was quite impressive.”

“Once the instance fully forms, it might unfold just as you described. With that approach, future teams could avoid many pitfalls!”

Squatting by a water barrel, Fang He listened, clearly annoyed by Wang Zheng’s praise of Yenir. With a cold expression, he stood up, dropped a final remark, and headed back to his courtyard to prepare for sneaking into the girl’s house later that night.

“Alright, tonight is the most critical.”

“Who knows—someone might even die.”

“Let’s celebrate only after it’s all over!”