Chapter 116: A Descent into the Unknown

Action moved with remarkable speed.

Twenty minutes later, the six captured survivors from the Settlement were taken directly to the Riverbank.

Meanwhile, Chen Yong hurriedly sent a message to Yenir:

“Brother Ye Lin, the list shows seven people, but we’ve only found six.”

“We just can’t locate the remaining one, and none of these folks noticed he disappeared!”

“Now let’s go see the little girl!”

Standing outside the courtyard and carefully scouting, Yenir nodded upon reading the message, seemingly unsurprised.

“Don’t worry—the missing one was likely killed by a ghost earlier.”

“That tongue fragment must belong to the dead. It seems the girl is indeed bent on revenge—just as she said before.”

Arriving at the Riverbank and seeing Yenir’s calm update, Wang Zheng heaved a sigh of relief.

They’d already suspected as much; their nerves had simply gotten the best of them.

Half a minute later, as the group dragged the survivors to the river, the girl squatting by the bank instantly noticed the crowd behind her.

Her eyes sharp and alert, the girl, with her hands clasped behind her back, fixed a steely glare on them.

Seeing her tension, Chen Yong took a deep breath and stepped forward:

“Little Sister, our investigation shows that all these people are highly suspicious.”

“But they claim no involvement in your mother’s death. Can you testify?”

“Take a look—are these the ones? If they are, do as you please.”

He didn’t reveal the list.

Chen Yong adopted the tone of someone from the Military Region’s security department, disregarding any concern about his justification. All they cared about was resolving the case swiftly—even if it meant killing these people at the girl’s behest. After all, in a paranormal incident, who’s there to follow procedures?

The captured survivors, upon hearing Chen Yong’s words, immediately realized their lives were in grave danger.

To have a little girl condemn them?! Considering the depth of her resentment, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were all doomed!

“No, we didn’t cause her mother’s death!”

“It was Zhang Xuemei who chose to end her life; it has nothing to do with us!”

“Uncle was wrong! I shouldn’t have insulted your mother. Please forgive me!”

The six bound individuals screamed hoarsely.

However, as the girl listened to their shouts, her eyes instantly filled with tears.

“It’s them!”

“They drove my mother to her death!”

“They called her a whore and even accused her of stealing! My mother couldn’t bear it and ended her life!”

“Kill them! I’m going to kill them!”

She looked crazed.

No longer hiding what she held, the girl, fuelled by bitter hatred, brandished the scissors and glared fiercely at the Middle-Aged Man.

“I want them dead! I want to cut out their tongues!”

A chill ran through his entire body.

The people Chen Yong had brought exchanged looks, their hearts skipping a beat at the sight of the twisted-faced little girl. Her youthful features clashed jarringly with her vicious words.

Revenge, yet with demands to cut out tongues?

Logically, even if these survivors had insulted the girl’s mother, they didn’t deserve death. No wonder they protested their innocence.

But none of that mattered now; no one intended to debate. Since the girl’s mother had become part of a paranormal incident, they weren’t about to persuade a ghost to forgo revenge.

In these apocalyptic times, taking a life is trivial—if misfortune favors them, so be it. Forcing someone to the edge, especially one who turns into a paranormal case, is just bad luck.

After a few brief glances, Wang Zheng signaled his subordinates to bring the captives forward so the girl could act, while someone quickly updated Yenir on the situation.

“Lord Ye Lin, the list is correct.”

“The girl is about to kill these people. Once we’ve helped her avenge her mother, can we consider the matter closed?”

Though something felt off, they couldn’t think of any other option.

On the other end, after a moment of rapid thought, Yenir replied hastily:

“Let’s kill one first and see if there’s any abnormal reaction.”

“If anything changes, then we know we’re on the right track.”

“In theory, if we kill everyone on the list and then recover the bodies, this incident should be over. The real challenge might be retrieving the bodies.”

Ending the private conversation, Yenir gazed at the courtyard before him, resolute.

‘Enter from underground!’

He had scanned the entire courtyard with his mental powers over a dozen times. Though a cold, sinister energy limited his detection to just a few meters and revealed nothing unusual above, if nothing was wrong on the surface, then the problem might lie underground!

……

‘Dig the space!’

Activating the Necklace Skill unleashed by the Sand Worm, Yenir instantly dove underground, burrowing straight into the soil.

“This soil is so wet…”

In an instant, after his body was enveloped in a yellowish glow, he plunged underground as if diving into water.

The surrounding earth, having absorbed a great deal of moisture, had become soft and mushy like sludge.

As he inched closer to the inner courtyard, Yenir felt a mysterious chill intensify.

Within a few meters, a streak of deathly white suddenly emerged in his sight.

What is that?

His heart skipped a beat.

Yenir hurriedly brushed aside the mud, striving to see clearer. Staring at that ghastly, flesh-like pallor, an ominous premonition surged within him.

A few seconds later, as the mud was slowly cleared away, a vast expanse of deathly white emerged before his eyes.

Is that… a corpse!?

Hastily pushing aside mud in another direction, a massive finger came into view the very next second.

In an instant, as Yenir observed the finger—nearly half the size of his body—a wave of bone-chilling cold surged from behind him.

All I saw was white! Absolutely white!

Buried underground lay a colossal female corpse!

Before he could process what was happening, the buried corpse jerked suddenly.

Mud churned as if a river were disturbed, drawing a tremendous suction. The deathly white female corpse twisted its body like a snake in an instant.

In a flash, a ghastly face, as large as a house, rotated its neck a full 360 degrees and appeared abruptly before Yenir.

Its jet-black, bead-like eyes seemed ready to swallow one’s soul.