Nightmare Apostle

"It’s morning now, let’s try to use the daylight to conduct a preliminary investigation of the entire factory area. There are a few places that need focused exploration."

"First, it’s this Cultural Palace beneath our feet. According to Chief Zhou, those victims had all been here before they died. I have reason to suspect that the deaths of the three victims are inextricably linked to this Cultural Palace."

"Second, it’s the lakeside, where the body of the third victim, Pan Xiaoxiao, was found."

"Third, it’s the factory warehouse, which is where Pan Xiaoxiao disappeared."

"Fourth, it’s room 19 on the second floor of Family Building No.3, where the second victim disappeared."

"Fifth, it’s the road from the Cultural Palace to the women’s dormitory, where the first victim disappeared."

"We have five groups of people, each group is responsible for one place. You can choose first, I’m the team leader, so I’ll take the last one," Yang Xiao issued the orders based on the working style at the Patrol Defense Office.

"We’ll take Family Building No.3, we’ll handle it," Guo Tiejun replied, as his dormitory was conveniently located in the same building.

He and Feng Xiaoyan had a spousal relationship for the mission and were also assigned to the publicity department together, so naturally, they would act together.

"We’ll take the road from the Cultural Palace to the women’s dormitory. Since we’re living in the women’s dormitory, it’s convenient for us to handle," Ma Jing and Zhang Xiaomin discussed briefly and accepted the task.

"We’ll investigate the warehouse where Pan Xiaoxiao disappeared." Hu Weimin accepted on behalf of Zhao Xuehua, as they were also a team.

Seeing that only two options remained, Wang Yong couldn’t sit still, fearing Yang Xiao might retaliate by assigning him the seemingly most dangerous Cultural Palace. He quickly said, "The lakeside... leave the lakeside to us, we’ll ensure the task is completed!"

"Alright, since you’ve all made your choices, the remaining worker’s Cultural Palace will be my responsibility."

"During the day, we’ll explore freely. Come evening, we’ll meet in the storage room on the fourth floor of the Cultural Palace to compile the information collected by each group. Does everyone understand?" Yang Xiao asked.

"Understood!" everyone replied in unison.

"Good, meeting adjourned."

Following Yang Xiao’s arrangement, everyone dispersed and withdrew in groups, with Yang Xiao, as the team leader, naturally being the last one out.

Leaving the meeting room, in the first-floor hall of the Cultural Palace, they ran into the staff from the living department, which took up their entire morning registering, collecting new work clothes, and other living supplies.

It was not until midday that they were assigned their new dorm - Room 9 on the second floor of Family Building No.1.

Yang Xiao stood in front of the building with his luggage, and before even entering, a sense of oppressive atmosphere with an ancient vibe had already enveloped him.

In front of him was an old-fashioned four-story tube building, standing square at the edge of the factory courtyard wall. The building was made of red bricks, with a layer of gray-white plaster on the exterior. In shaded areas, parts of the plaster had severe dampness, warping and peeling, revealing unevenly colored red bricks beneath.

The entire building had no proper balconies; each unit had only an old-fashioned wooden grid window, and the glass panes were grimy.

Even in broad daylight, many units kept their windows shut tight with drawn curtains, presumably the night-shift workers were catching up on sleep.

The building’s exterior walls were heavily strung with thick iron wires, cluttered with fabrics, clothes, bed sheets, and covers, all swaying like the building itself was trembling with every gust of wind.

Due to the lunch hour, Yang Xiao heard the clattering of pots and pans, along with the aroma of food wafting from inside the building.

And of course, there were shouts from people. A woman in her early thirties poked her head out the window, calling down to someone below, seemingly a name.

Then, out of nowhere, a little girl in a floral blouse with pigtails, wearing pink plastic sandals, dashed past Yang Xiao so quickly that a breeze followed in her wake.

Before Yang Xiao could react, she had darted into the building, disappearing from view.

Carrying their luggage and proof letter with the official seal, Yang Xiao and Chen Qiaoyun, posing as a pair of temporary spouses, moved into this tubular building.

While obtaining the key from the building manager, Granny Wang continuously praised their good fortune, saying it was due to the recent relocation of many top-tier technicians by the higher-ups from the factory. Otherwise, such a good place would never end up with young people like them. In the past, countless senior worker couples at the factory had to queue up.

Yang Xiao and Chen Qiaoyun worked in tacit harmony, trying to elicit information from Granny Wang, but all they gathered were trivial matters of no significance, either old gossip or minor neighborhood disputes, devoid of valuable intelligence.

Seeing Yang Xiao and Chen Qiaoyun about to leave, Granny Wang urgently called them back, reminding them to remember to come down later and collect the coal, as without it, there’s no way to light a fire or cook.

The coal was piled up outside against the wall with plastic covers, but they couldn’t take it freely; they had to bring her along and also needed a coal coupon, amounting to just a month’s supply at a time.

After leaving Granny Wang, Yang Xiao and Chen Qiaoyun finally reached the second floor following the staircase, where they were confronted with a deep corridor crowded and cluttered beyond their expectations.

Being the lunch hour, every household was busy at the stoves set up at their doorways. Some stoves were built with cement, others were simply constructed with bricks, topped with a thick slab of stone, each household having a stove for cooking.

The stoves burned coal, the kind with a dozen holes in briquettes, stored in large bamboo baskets hung beside the stove, with scattered black coal cinders nearby.

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