She didn't see Wu Gang return.
Nan Yue decided to go back and sleep. She didn't use a flashlight, navigating through the darkness up the fire escape to the second floor and entering the dilapidated building.
The building was very quiet. Uncle Zhong had long since closed his doors and gone to sleep. Nan Yue walked up the internal staircase.
As she turned the corner from the third floor to the fourth, the hallway was pitch black, save for the steady sound of her footsteps.
Suddenly, she stopped.
"Thump, thump, thump."
She heard a rhythmic banging sound coming from behind her.
It sounded a bit like... a bouncing ball?
Not quite. A ball would have a crisper sound. This sound was muffled and had a sticky quality to it.
Nan Yue had a small flashlight with her, something she carried in her backpack, likely a common tool for reporting news.
The sound was right behind her. It didn't sound far, yet it wasn't getting any closer.
"Thump, thump, thump, thump..."
Nan Yue clicked on the flashlight, a beam of white light cutting through the darkness behind her.
At the corner behind her, a woman stood before a wall of peeling gray paint. She was facing sideways to Nan Yue, her long hair veiling her face.
She was rhythmically slamming her head against the wall, over and over.
"Thump... thump... thump..."
Sticky blood splattered from her forehead, staining the wall. She didn't stop, continuing the rhythmic impact.
Suddenly, as if belatedly sensing the flashlight's beam, she slowly turned her head.
Through the blood-stained black hair, Nan Yue saw her face.
It was a face so mangled and slashed that its original features were completely unrecognizable.
...
Su Xiaoxi and her companion returned exhausted. They took turns showering. The mirror was clouded with steam, but Su Xiaoxi, currently washing up, didn't notice a dark shadow lurking in the corner of the mirror's reflection.
As she was rinsing the foam from her hair, she suddenly felt a chill down her back. Her eyes were clouded with soap, preventing her from seeing, but when she reached back to feel, there was nothing there.
Strange. In this sweltering, furnace-like weather, how could it be cold?
Su Xiaoxi didn't think much of it and continued washing her hair. She didn't see the blurry black shadow in the mirror slowly crawling onto her back.
It was as if two silhouettes had merged into one.
...
Nan Yue had returned late. By the time she woke up in the morning, Zhu Xi Ning was already awake. Hearing her coughing, Nan Yue got out of bed to check on her.
Zhu Xi Ning waved her off. "I think I caught a bit of a cold."
The weather here was too hot and humid; the slightest movement left one drenched in sweat, making it easy to fall ill.
Nan Yue remained silent for a moment. "Did you dream last night?"
Zhu Xi Ning frowned, searching her memory. "...I think... it was the same dream. A vast expanse of white mist."
Nan Yue sat down beside Zhu Xi Ning. "I'll have Jiang Siyan come over."
Jiang Siyan arrived quickly. "It does look like a bit of a cold."
He used his ability to treat Zhu Xi Ning. "Xi Ning's constitution is naturally yin-leaning, and she frequently uses empathy and premonition. Her physical state is naturally a bit more fragile than ours."
This fragility wasn't in the literal sense; in terms of raw constitution, Zhu Xi Ning was certainly stronger than Yin Qian or Jiang Haoyu.
It was just that if there were any objects or evil energy present, Zhu Xi Ning would perceive them faster than others.
"Is there something in the room?"
Zhu Xi Ning was uncertain. "I didn't feel anything."
Nan Yue lowered her gaze. "It might be something I brought back with me."
"I encountered something in the stairwell yesterday."
Jiang Siyan looked over. Since Nan Yue called it a "thing," it was different from what he had encountered.
"It was a woman, likely another victim of that serial killer. Her face was destroyed, and she was banging her head against the wall."
Nan Yue exhaled. "Looking at it this way, either the killer is in this building, or that woman was a tenant here before."
Zhu Xi Ning thought for a moment. "I'll take a walk to the stairwell tonight. I should be able to sense more there."
A minor physical discomfort wasn't a major issue for a scavenger, so the matter was settled.
During the day, Zhu Xi Ning visited Wu's Clinic. Old Wu's diagnosis was that cold qi had entered her body and evil energy was invading the righteous.
This matched Zhu Xi Ning's situation perfectly.
"I'll prescribe some medicine for you. A few doses should clear it up."
Old Wu looked up and asked, "Do you want it brewed or in instant granules? The granules are more expensive."
Zhu Xi Ning thought of the packaging she had swept up in the room earlier. "I'll take the instant granules."
While the others scoured the area for more information, Chi Yu came to find Nan Yue.
"That Xie Hui."
She started hesitantly. "The way she looks at Yin Qian is a bit off."
Chi Yu continued as she thought, "At first, I didn't think it was a big deal, but every clue is important now. She told you before that she hosts an emotional advice program, so she likes couples?"
Nan Yue nodded. Chi Yu's expression grew even stranger. "But when we went to eat yesterday, she spent almost the entire time talking to Yin Qian."
Chi Yu and Yin Qian were only a fake couple, so she didn't care about jealousy, but Yin Qian had mentioned it to her afterward.
"That young lady has quite a lot on her mind."
Although Yin Qian was a key member of Sharp Blade, he had always been on the Beauty Rankings. Those who didn't know his background only saw him as a pretty face.
He spent much of his time in the circles of hedonistic luxury and could see through Xie Hui's crude and amateurish tactics at a glance.
"She's trying to lure me."
Chi Yu didn't understand much about romantic affairs. "But we're a couple. If she wanted to lure you, she shouldn't do it right in front of me, right?"
Yin Qian smiled. "It's a personal fetish. Seducing someone right in front of their partner gives a great sense of psychological achievement."
Yin Qian pondered for a moment. "But from what I can see, she seems to be observing as well."
According to Yin Qian, while Xie Hui spoke to him, her eyes were mostly monitoring Chi Yu's reactions.
"Since you didn't react at all, she's probably a bit confused."
Chi Yu didn't understand these schemes, but she knew none of the tenants in this dilapidated building were simple, so she came to report the situation to Nan Yue.
A young girl who hadn't gone to university and lived in this demolition building with her foster father might reasonably have a pathological obsession with breaking up couples.
Nan Yue glanced at Jiang Siyan. "We'll go take a look tonight."
Jiang Siyan was more than willing.
"By the way," Chi Yu added, "last night, when Yang Xufeng across the hall came back from deliveries, I heard movement outside. Through the peephole, I saw Xie Hui bringing him some washed fruit."
"Later, when Yang Xufeng returned the plate, he stayed in Xie Hui's place for over ten minutes."
Ten minutes wasn't long enough for much to happen, but Nan Yue was curious—could she really act like this without anything going wrong?
If Xie Hui's intentions were truly what they suspected, such malicious behavior wasn't just directed at one household.
If someone fell for it, someone else would eventually snap. There was a good chance this was the reason some of the previous tenants had moved out.
Chi Yu understood Nan Yue's thoughts; the direction of her investigation would now focus more specifically on this aspect.
Rate on N.U.
