Nightmare Apostle

"Can you tell me your reason?" Ye Zheng asked curiously.

"You’ve seen it too, during the day there are people at the Cultural Palace, but have you ever heard of someone being killed here during the day?" Yang Xiao asked.

"But..."

"There’s no ’but’, the three who died never came to the Cultural Palace during the day. During the day, they were either at work or catching up on sleep. When would they have had the time to come here and wander around? So, there’s no problem with coming to the Cultural Palace during the day."

"If you’re scared, you can leave, don’t disturb me." Yang Xiao was a bit disappointed with this woman.

"Sorry, you’re right." Ye Zheng admitted her mistake and fell silent.

She had a great advantage—obedience, especially to those stronger than her. She was certain Yang Xiao was stronger than her.

She noticed Yang Xiao’s gaze was fixed on the ground, the flashlight continuously sweeping the dance floor, as if he were searching for something.

Suddenly, Yang Xiao stopped, the flashlight remained on a terrazzo floor with some unidentified dark marks, like solidified latex.

"This is where the body was standing." Ye Zheng suddenly understood.

Back then, Chief Zhou showed them the deceased’s photos, particularly the one who loved dancing—Zhang Xiujuan. The photo’s background corresponded to this spot, the body eerily maintained its final dancing pose.

Yang Xiao crouched down, carefully inspected the floor, then stood up, mimicking the body’s position, slowly turning in place, silently observing the surroundings.

After about a minute, Ye Zheng could hardly bear it, whispering, "Did you find anything?"

"No," Yang Xiao replied. This was just an attempt, and not every attempt yields results.

After circling the dance floor, Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng left, planning to continue exploring the third floor via the staircase.

But before that, Yang Xiao went to the balcony on the second floor, from where they could look down into the main hall on the first floor.

He saw a few people gathered near the small shop below, including Liu Dahuan and his group, chatting animatedly about something, while the woman running the shop looked somewhat terrified.

Seeing this scene, Yang Xiao felt relieved. His biggest worry was that no one was below, an empty feeling, and that the middle-aged woman at the shop had also disappeared.

"For the time being, it seems you’re right; there’s no problem," Ye Zheng naturally understood Yang Xiao’s intention of looking down.

"Hmm, let’s go upstairs." Yang Xiao turned and stepped onto the stairs.

They had been to the third floor before, where there were conference rooms, employee classrooms, art rehearsal rooms, and archives, along with several unused rooms.

Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng checked room by room, focusing on the employee classrooms since it was where workers attended night school, and Pan Xiaoxiao had been there before her disappearance.

But similar to the situation in the cinema dance hall, they didn’t find any valuable clues; everything seemed normal.

Ye Zheng sat next to Yang Xiao, helping analyze, "The three deceased varied in age, experience, and social circles, and they didn’t know each other. From this, I think it’s not a case of Fierce Ghost taking revenge and killing. The deaths of these three are likely unrelated to Fierce Ghost’s cause of death."

"I agree with your point. This is precisely what makes this case troublesome."

Yang Xiao frowned; the clues they had were too few. They needed some "hints," hints from the Fierce Ghost, waiting for the Fierce Ghost to make a move.

After resting for a while, the two came to the corner of the right corridor, where there were several small rooms, all serving as storage. Among them was one room left for them by Chief Zhou as their temporary contact point.

This area was originally rather secluded. After confirming no one was around, Yang Xiao tiptoed up, fished out a key hidden above the door frame, and unlocked the door.

He didn’t enter immediately. Instead, he stood at the doorway for a moment, confirming safety before entering.

As Chief Zhou had said, it was indeed a storage room, with about a dozen iron racks holding discarded old machines. Among them, Yang Xiao saw some rusty speakers and a projector covered with a black cloth.

Besides that, there were dismantled electronic components, bundles of wires and iron wires, large screws and nuts in baskets, and some tools for repairs, all giving a sense of age.

At the end, behind the last shelf, was a wooden table with a few broken chairs nearby. On the table was a dark cloth draped over something with a distinct bulge beneath it.

Lifting the cloth, an old-style telephone was revealed.

Due to some past incidents that left an impression, Yang Xiao immediately checked the connection line behind the telephone and, confirming it was intact, felt slightly relieved.

Then he made his first call using the telephone, to the factory’s security department. Soon, the call connected, and the familiar voice of Chief Zhou came through.

"Chief Zhou, this is Ma Jiefang. Have there been any major incidents at our factory’s Cultural Palace since its establishment? Especially fires, the kind that results in deaths." Yang Xiao’s question was specific.

Although Chief Zhou didn’t understand why Yang Xiao asked this, he told him, "No."

"Are you certain?" Yang Xiao furrowed his brow.

"Absolutely," Chief Zhou’s voice was firm.

"Why are you asking this?" Chief Zhou’s tone was somewhat strange, instinctively lowering his voice, "Little Ma, have you found something? Do you suspect that the next step for those lurking enemy operatives is to set fire to the Cultural Palace?"

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