Chapter 114: Shadows of Vengeance

Lying on the cold wooden board, Yenir stared up at the cobwebbed beams overhead, constantly rehashing the clues he knew.

Although he had calculated the true difficulty of this case once it took shape, it was only natural that the challenge before then had been milder.

Yet something just didn’t add up.

Forced death… find… revenge…

All the clues and details clicked into place: solving this case meant finding Zhang Xuemei’s corpse and avenging the Little Girl.

Avenging her was simple—in fact, if not for the risk of unforeseen mishaps, they could have easily skipped the list and killed every villager.

So the real problem was… locating the corpse?

A flicker crossed his eyes.

Yenir recalled that Fang He had left the task of finding the corpse solely to him, and he instinctively realized this might be the toughest part yet.

On the day of death, there was a torrential downpour that washed everything away…

Was the body swept so far off that it would be nearly impossible to recover in time?

Could any delay prove fatal?

Exhaling deeply, Yenir reviewed all the information over and over, desperate to pinpoint anything he might have missed.

The details that Fang He had hidden weren’t critical; they were more like a bonus—something to give him a false sense of security.

For if key clues were hidden, it would be nothing short of a death sentence.

Not to mention, if Chen Yong or Wang Zheng got into trouble, he wouldn’t even receive the promised reward.

…….

It was midnight, and all was eerily silent.

In the small settlement, everyone had long since fallen asleep. In that extreme silence, Chen Fang, lying on his board, felt as though he were trapped in a coffin.

As Fang He had ordered, apart from Chen Yong and Wang Zheng who slept together, everyone else was isolated in separate rooms.

The reason was simple: they were to serve as ‘bait’.

According to Fang He’s plan, even though an attack by vicious ghosts was likely to claim lives and come with immense risks, it was the surest way to uncover critical clues!

Once a vicious ghost appeared, they would at least know the general cause of death—maybe even the exact identity of the victim.

Even though the situation was already clear, to prevent any miscalculations they had no choice but to follow Fang He’s risky method.

Thanks to their awakened physique, Chen Fang clung nervously to his board as if its rigid surface was his only shield.

He understood all too well that they had been brought here merely as disposable pawns.

If a vicious ghost struck, being the weakest, he and Chen Yong would bear the brunt of the first assault.

Yet, as powerless awakened individuals hired for grim tasks, they could only eke out their living by earning Credit Points.

“Don’t come looking for me…”

“Really, don’t come looking for me…”

Muttering under his breath, Chen Fang’s eyes widened as he lay awake, straining to catch any sound beyond his own pounding heartbeat.

His dilapidated room held nothing more than a solitary board and a wooden cabinet by his feet.

A damp, moldy stench crept into his nostrils like the chill of a forgotten well.

“Drip—drip”

Just as his mind began to wander into dark imaginings, a sudden drip of water echoed from outside his door. In a burst of panic, Chen Fang’s pupils constricted, every nerve on edge.

What was that!?

The persistent drip, drip, reminiscent of a lone drop leaking from a cracked bowl, filled the silence.

He bolted upright, his eyes rapidly darting to the nearby wooden door.

Through the narrow gap, a slow stream of water was seeping in.

With his heart pounding and muscles tensed, he couldn’t tell if it was merely water from outside or something else entirely. The next moment, as he leaned in for a closer look, clear footprints suddenly emerged in the room.

The damp prints looked as if left by a corpse, as if a waterlogged body had imprinted itself onto paper.

Someone’s come in!?

Something had entered!

In an instant, Chen Fang’s mind went blank as sheer terror surged through him. Instinctively, he snatched the combat knife from beside him and gripped it tightly, regardless of its utility.

One second… two seconds…

He panted heavily.

The footprints quickened, trailing right up to the edge of his bed.

With eyes wide in terror, Chen Fang trembled as he fixated on the shut wooden door. He could see nothing else!

Where? She’s right here in front of me! That ghost is here!?

In his heightened state, his throat felt choked as if by seaweed, making each breath a struggle.

Sweat prickled all over his skin.

Just as he prepared to dash out, the water trails on the floor evaporated rapidly—as if blown dry by the wind—retreating back outside.

It was… gone!?

Relief washed over Chen Fang as he exhaled deeply, his tense muscles slowly relaxing as if he had narrowly escaped death. His chest heaved in rapid drafts.

Those brief seconds of terror nearly shattered his nerves.

Yet, unseen above his head, a trail of footprints began rapidly appearing, covering the entire ceiling.

It was as if someone were walking on the ceiling.

Watching the prints vanish at the doorway, Chen Fang forced himself to calm his frantic heartbeat, ready to lie back down.

In that instant, a deathly pale ghostly face suddenly materialized before him.

It was a woman, her pale, water-soaked hair and her feet inexplicably attached to the ceiling; her form stretched thin like a white sheet, hanging upside down right in front of him.

Her mouth gaped open, expanding to the size of a board before, in one swift motion, she swallowed him whole.

……

“Don’t provoke…”

“Zhang Xuemei’s corpse isn’t in the yard… there’s an orb inside, and there’s a strange fluctuation with the prop…”

Silently, Fang He leaped agilely over the wall and landed cautiously, his eyes scanning the scattered water tanks.

He hadn’t hidden any vital information—he had merely concealed the truth about the prop.

The moment he came into contact with the Little Girl, his own abilities had alerted him that she had touched some kind of system prop, hidden in the yard they hadn’t yet searched.

Once the hint became unmistakable, he decided to grab it along with the list.

He knew full well that Wang Zheng’s deal with Yenir promised a 70% profit share. Once the case was solved, everything in this place would belong to Yenir, leaving him with only the basic Credit Points. After finally encountering the embryonic stage of the instance, how could he be content with so little?

As an experienced veteran well-versed in paranormal routines, he wasn’t worried about any danger.

If all went well, that orb would serve as the reward once the instance fully materialized.

In his estimation, Zhang Xuemei had transformed into a vicious ghost in the river—that’s why he had sent Yenir to find the corpse. This yard lacked a body and was also the dwelling of the Little Girl. Hence, the vicious ghost wouldn’t dare to approach here, for her frail constitution couldn’t bear it.

In that sense, this place was the safest of all—even safe from prowling vicious ghosts.

“The list…”

“The orb…”

Moving silently on tiptoe, Fang He crept around, searching every nook. Bypassing several water tanks as a precaution, he soon found a room resembling a kitchen and began rummaging. Moments later, he discovered several lines of names inscribed on the wall in charcoal.

Hmm?

A surge of joy rose in his heart. Though he hadn’t found the prop, he immediately realized that those haphazard scrawls could only be the work of the Little Girl.

Hurriedly, he jotted down the names and sent them to Wang Zheng. Then his eyes shifted, noticing disturbed soil marks on the ground.

A faint but damp chill started to pervade the air.

Something… underground?

After a brief hesitation, he fetched a shovel and began digging rapidly. Soon enough, an orb-like object started to emerge from the earth.

Embedded in the moist, dark soil, the black, glossy orb looked as if it were set in stone.

Overjoyed and without hesitation, Fang He tried to extract the orb. But the moment his fingers made contact, an expression of utter disbelief flashed across his face.

This is!?

No!!

…..