novelden Chapter 168 Moreover, there are still people I want to protect.
Chapter 168 Moreover, there are still people I want to protect.
Upon hearing this, Lin Sui glanced at the photo.
This is clearly a photo taken from some surveillance footage; the image quality is not very clear.
But she recognized the face in the photo at a glance; she had seen it not long ago.
Duan Xuchi's expression changed: "He's a guest on this episode?"
He paused, then shook his head: "No, according to the information we've gathered, this person doesn't exist at all."
"What do you mean by 'doesn't exist'?" Lu Xiang frowned. "This person wasn't disguised."
Duan Xuchi: "Are you sure?"
Lu Xiang rolled her eyes: "Believe it or not, it's up to you."
Duan Xuchi's expression was solemn.
His decision to stop participating in the show was indeed due to Lin Siyao's influence.
However, the main reason was that the police station had encountered a very difficult serial murder case.
Initially, because surveillance cameras captured the killer's face, everyone thought the case would be solved quickly.
Unexpectedly, after searching through ID cards throughout the city and even the country, no one could match the murderer's face.
They then went door-to-door along the street where the incident occurred, asking around, but no one had seen him before.
Apart from a surveillance photo, this person left no trace, as if he appeared out of thin air.
That's why he suspected the other person had disguised themselves, and that's why he decided to consult Lu Xiang, a professional.
But Lu Xiang said no?
What on earth is going on? Did we encounter a ghost?
"Not a ghost."
Upon hearing Lin Sui's voice, Duan Xuchi suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed intently on her: "What is that?"
“I’m not sure what it is yet,” Lin Sui said. “All I can say is that this person is him, yet not him.”
[Is this something people say?]
[Sui Bao is actually quite nice, forcing my stupid self to use my brain [doge emoji]]
So, is there a murderer among the guests on this episode?
That's so exciting!
[Lin Siyao was really born at the wrong time. What a pity about her deductive reasoning skills, comparable to Conan's.]
[Conan: Give me peanuts [smile]]
Given that Lin Sui said that they shouldn't alert the enemy before she's confirmed anything.
Even if Duan Xuchi was anxious, he could only hold back for now.
It was almost dusk.
The group returned the borrowed tables and chairs, while Li Ye tidied up the banner, preparing to pack it into his suitcase.
Lin Sui felt ashamed as soon as she saw the banner: "We don't need to keep this, do we?"
"Yes, we should keep it!" Tangxi was the first to disagree.
The banner was prepared for Sui Sui; she won't throw it away.
Tangxi thought to herself, then gently tugged at Lin Sui's clothes and swayed them twice, gazing at her expectantly.
Lin Sui immediately said, "...Okay, I'll stay."
She glanced at Lu Xiang again.
Although the man has been taken to the police station and will not be able to return for the time being.
But in that building, in the haunted Building No. 4, there is still someone...
If the purpose of raising the ghost is really to force Lu Xiang to kill someone, then wouldn't it be better to make her quit?
Lin Sui hesitated for a few seconds, about to speak, when Lu Xiang, who had helped her pack her backpack, said first, "Let's go."
Lin Sui gazed at her tall, slender back, his heart filled with increasing turmoil.
"Don't worry, squad leader, she's not as fragile as you think."
Upon hearing this, Lin Sui turned to look at Yu Cinian.
He gave a gentle smile and said, "People like us can't survive if we're too weak."
As he spoke, he turned his head and met Lin Sui's eyes, his light-colored pupils reflecting the brilliant sunset: "Besides, there are still people I want to protect now."
Lin Sui pursed her lips.
Building No. 4 is not far from the main gate. It has three floors and appears to be shrouded in a soaring, eerie aura from afar.
Perhaps due to the haunting, the nearby bushes and greenery are neglected and grow more lush and messy than elsewhere, with dead branches and fallen leaves scattered everywhere on the ground.
However, the irrigation pipes hidden among the greenery were still working, and the dark watermarks in the small pond were clearly visible.
When the group arrived, a staff member was waiting at the door.
Lin Sui transferred the three thousand yuan she had earned on her phone for the rent to him. He smiled and said, "This money will be used for everyone's food expenses for the next few days. If you want to eat anything, you can send a text message a day in advance. We will have a dedicated purchasing staff to deliver the fresh ingredients you need on time every morning."
Not far from the entrance of the apartment building is a narrow staircase. Due to lack of management and maintenance, the walls are peeling and the handrails are chipped.
A chilling aura swept over them, and there seemed to be a faint, lingering smell of blood.
Yu Cinian's obsessive-compulsive disorder about cleanliness flared up again; he carried disinfectant in his hand and sprayed it as he walked.
As Li Ye was the last to step into the building, the staff slammed the old iron door shut.
Clearly, Xu Haize's team had already arrived.
The lock was a key lock, so if they wanted to leave, they had to find the key inside the building first.
"The key is hidden in a combination lock box, and the combination lock box, along with clues about the code, are hidden on different floors of this building. Good luck to everyone."
After the staff finished reciting their lines according to the procedure, they left, leaving a few people behind the iron gate, as if they had been locked up in a detention center.
"Xiang...Xiangxiang?"
A slightly aged voice sounded, tinged with hesitation.
Lin Sui's heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively grabbed Lu Xiang's hand first.
Tangxi, with a tense little face, watched from the side, and imitating Lin Sui, tentatively and slowly took Lu Xiang's other hand.
Lu Xiang's tense back suddenly relaxed.
She slowly turned around and saw a familiar yet unfamiliar face, a woman's face covered with wrinkles and showing signs of old age.
He was only in his fifties, yet his hair was already completely white.
The apartment building has two units per floor, for a total of six units.
After the ghost incident, only one family on the first floor remained unmoved.
"You...you're Xiangxiang, right? You used to live upstairs, Xiangxiang from room 201?" The woman rubbed her hands on her apron, looking a little awkward.
Lu Xiang looked at her silently, without saying a word.
The narrow stairwell became even more cramped with the six people crowding in, and three of the men were pushed onto the stairs.
They looked down at the woman, and although they hadn't done anything, they made her feel oppressed and uneasy.
The woman smiled ingratiatingly, "Yes, I'm sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else... You, you're here to film a show, right? If you need anything, you can come to me anytime. I don't usually go out except to buy groceries."
She buys a week's worth of groceries at a time, so the production crew locking the apartment building's doors has no impact on her whatsoever.
Still, no one spoke to him.
Just then, a furious roar came from the open door behind the woman: "Where the hell have you been, you old hag? Trying to kill me with thirst?"
"Water! I need water! Give me water now!"
The hoarse, unpleasant voice instantly shattered the surrounding silence.
"Oh, come on, coming right away." The woman hurriedly turned back.
Whether she was in a hurry or doing it on purpose, she didn't close the door.
Lin Sui looked at the door, then at Lu Xiang.
Lu Xiang stared at the door, feeling the warmth from her hands, took a deep breath, and said, "Let's go in and take a look."
Perhaps because the trees outside were too lush, the house was not only dark and damp, but also had an unpleasant smell.
Yu Cinian decisively took out a mask and put it on.
"You damn bitch, are you trying to scald me to death by giving me water this hot?"
Accompanied by a curse, the clattering sound of the enamel cup smashing on the ground was particularly jarring.
Lin Sui and his group followed the sound and found the master bedroom.
The door was wide open, revealing the entire interior.
The woman picked up the cup as if it were a normal occurrence, then knelt down to clean up the water that had spilled all over the floor.
Her face and forehead were wet and dripping water, but there were no red marks from being burned.
The water was clearly not hot; it was at most lukewarm.
On the headboard next to the woman, sat an elderly man, thin and with sparse hair, who looked to be around sixty years old.
He was covered tightly with an old, pilling blanket, his arms hung limply at his sides, his face was gaunt and his expression was gloomy, with a hint of cruelty and terror.
They are no longer as clean and refined as before.
The old man's eyes darted around when he saw them: "You...you've come here to die?"
His gloomy and murky eyes scanned Lin Sui and the others one by one.
When he got to Lu Xiang, he paused slightly and glanced at her a couple more times.
Lin Sui stared straight at him with her dark eyes, a surge of hostility rising in her cold gaze.
With her free hand, she quietly pinched a silver needle.
If that old man dares to say anything detrimental to Lu Xiang, she wouldn't hesitate to slit his throat.
Suddenly, Lin Sui felt her hand being gently squeezed.
Then, a soft voice sounded in her ear: "Sui Sui, don't be so fierce, you scared me."
Lin Sui was taken aback and looked up to meet an innocent-looking face.
"You..." Don't you hate me anymore?
Of course I hate it.
On countless sleepless nights, Lu Xiang would dream of this face and feel immense fear, disgust, and even nausea and vomiting.
She thought that seeing it with her own eyes this time would be the same.
Surprisingly, apart from hatred, she had no other emotions.
She was unusually calm.
Is it because she is no longer alone?
Probably so.
Lu Xiang used to hate this version of herself, the one who always wanted to rely on others.
But now, she thinks, this feeling isn't so bad after all.
She loves it.
The old man's surname was Tian, and he was known as Lao Tian. The woman was his wife, who used to be a primary school teacher, but people in the neighborhood were used to calling her Sister-in-law Tian.
The couple had only one son.
It was none other than the domestic abuser who had just been taken away by the police.
Old Tian didn't recognize Lu Xiang, but squinted at Lin Sui and Tang Xi, and laughed strangely: "What a pity for three beautiful girls. Why did they have to come here to die?"
"Tch, the ghost that can kill them hasn't been born yet," Si Xingran scoffed lazily. "Even if it were, we'd kill it first."
When he heard him say that killing a human life was as easy as killing an ant, Old Tian narrowed his eyes.
After cleaning the floor, Sister Tian poured Old Tian another glass of water and fed it to him. Only then did she wipe her hands and ask hesitantly, "You, is there something you need?"
Lin Sui: "What's the story behind this building being haunted?"
Sister-in-law Tian glanced at Old Tian, and seeing that he had his eyes closed and didn't seem to be stopping her, she said, "Yes, it was three years ago. A woman who lived on the third floor, for some reason, suddenly killed her son, and then, then chopped her husband into pieces..."
"I don't know why?" Old Tian laughed mockingly. "You women just know how to make excuses for other women."
"Who doesn't know that this promiscuous woman cheated on her husband, wanted to divorce him and be with her lover, but failed to get a divorce, and in a fit of rage killed her husband and son?"
Old Tian's voice was hoarse and gloomy as he continued with a cold laugh: "Being cuckolded is bad enough, but to be childless and to be torn to pieces is just unjust. If you don't become a vengeful ghost, then God is being unfair."
"What, aren't you afraid?" Lin Sui asked.
Old Tian: "What do I have to be afraid of? The ones who should be afraid are those restless women."
This is why, while everyone else in the building, whether rich or poor, chose to move out, only their family dared to stay.
Neither he nor his son cared whether his wife lived or died.
On the contrary, it can better keep them under control and prevent them from having any disloyal thoughts.
However, their good days are coming to an end.
Lin Sui rubbed the silver needle between his fingers, smiled, and asked again, "Where is the woman?"
Old Tian didn't answer, so his wife said, "I guess she couldn't accept it herself. After killing people, she went crazy and was eventually locked up in a mental hospital."
At this point, she sighed: "It's actually quite a pity. So many people used to envy their good relationship as a couple, saying that she married a good husband."
“He is a senior executive in the company, successful in his career, and he is very obedient to her. He doesn’t get angry when people say he is a henpecked husband. He doesn’t let her do any work and only lets her stay at home to take care of the children.”
“She also raised her son well. He was smart and sensible from a young age, and his grades were excellent. He almost always got first place in every subject, and he was also very filial to her.”
"Back then, she was truly the most glamorous woman in our neighborhood."
Old Tian gave her a cold look: "From what you're saying, you're quite envious of her, aren't you?"
Aunt Tian froze, lowered her head and said, "Sigh, what do I have to envy? I'm not any worse off than her."
"This woman is unlucky."
"Who says otherwise?" Old Tian chuckled contentedly. "She's still not satisfied, she can't stand being alone, just as I expected..."
Women are all born with a cheap streak!
He didn't say it aloud, but Sister-in-law Tian still guessed what he was going to say.
She abruptly changed the subject: "Oh, right, I heard the murder scene was terrifying. There was blood and bits of flesh everywhere. As soon as the police dragged the body away, all the blood and flesh disappeared. Then the building started to be haunted, and many people died, all of them chopped into pieces. It was incredibly scary."
Hearing this, Lin Sui nodded and turned to signal that everyone could leave.
Before the door was even fully closed, Si Xingran couldn't wait to ask, "What's the deal with this old man?"
"You've done too many bad things, and now you're getting your comeuppance." Lin Sui didn't bother to lower her voice.
Quadriplegia.
Even though it only affects motor function, isn't that what makes it more interesting?
I can still feel the pain, but I can't move or fight back.
"Even with paralyzed limbs, he can still lift a cup. He's really stubborn." Si Xingran curled her lips.
The group chatted as they went up the stairs.
"Meow~"
Just as I turned the corner, a cat's meow suddenly rang out.
Lin Sui looked up and saw Li Ye, who was walking at the very front, suddenly stop in his tracks, his tall figure like a small mountain.
Lin Sui was puzzled, then suddenly remembered his ultimate fate—
He was thrown into a pack of crazed cats and bitten to death.