Nightmare Apostle

Yang Xiao quickly noticed a strange phenomenon here; unlike the nearby shabby rooms, the doors and windows of this house on the far side were evidently much newer.

The wooden window frames and door frames showed no severe signs of rotting, and many of them still had patches of green moisture-proof paint.

The window glass was still intact, but unfortunately, the inside of the windows was lined with old newspapers, preventing them from seeing the room’s interior.

"Come over and look!" Suddenly, Ye Zheng seemed to have found something and called out unexpectedly.

When everyone hurried over, they found Ye Zheng kneeling on one knee, his head lowered, staring at the gaps between a few broken bricks at his feet.

"This is..." Yang Xiao slowly furrowed his brow, noticing several incense sticks not yet burned completely in the cracks between the bricks.

Meanwhile, they picked up an empty matchbox less than half a meter away.

Yang Xiao took hold of the matchbox, gently squeezed it, and immediately had a sense—"This matchbox is still dry; it must have been left just last night. I heard Chief Zhou mention that the night before we arrived in this world, it had rained here."

Now the situation was clear; Zhao Xuejun and Hu Weimin indeed didn’t missee anything last night—someone had definitely been here, and after being sneaky, they had offered three incense sticks.

Standing before the incense, Yang Xiao discovered the direct front was the side of the second bungalow, which was the room with the newspaper-covered window.

Yang Xiao immediately realized something was happening inside this house; someone might have died here.

He pulled out the thin wire from his pocket, which he had found behind the room door last night.

Unlocking was quite practical in the Nightmare World; in order to master this craft, he had specially sought out someone for training.

That was Xi Menxiu from the Rongcheng Public Office’s investigation team, the guy was a master at breaking and entering, lock picking, surveillance, and spying, earning him the nickname West Gate Dog Eye in the martial arts world; those eyes were like measuring tape.

But this time Yang Xiao miscalculated because the wire couldn’t even enter the keyhole—the keyhole was indeed blocked.

This further confirmed to Yang Xiao that something was odd about this place; why else seal the keyhole, unless someone didn’t want others coming in?

Looking at that window, not only had the wooden window frame been painted with waterproof varnish, but even the spot near the window and door frame was covered with gray cement, and this was the only one like it.

As if he thought of something, Yang Xiao pried out a broken brick from the ground, instructing Hu Weimin and Zhao Xuehua to disperse and keep watch for him.

After confirming no one was nearby, Yang Xiao approached the door, grabbed the stone brick, and smashed the door frame edge repeatedly.

Before long, the outer layer of gray cement was shattered; Yang Xiao immediately cleared it away with his hands, pulling away the debris and cement residue. Seeing inside, his pupils slightly contracted, and he inhaled sharply.

At this moment, Ye Zheng also came over, only to see the brick under the gray cement entirely black, like it had been smoked.

Yang Xiao took out the wire and fiercely scraped the blackened brick, indeed revealing its original reddish-brown color—this had originally been a red brick.

Now Yang Xiao could confirm it, there had been a fire here before, burning the whole house.

The doors and windows, alongside the later-applied gray cement, were all to cover up the traces left by the fire.

Yang Xiao had carefully reviewed the three fire fatality cases; none of them occurred here, which meant... regarding this matter, Chief Zhou had lied to them!

They were hiding something, and this is what truly horrified Yang Xiao upon reflection.

What Yang Xiao thought of, Ye Zheng also considered; her expression was even worse than Yang Xiao’s. "Damn... could this matter be related to some high-ranking leader at the factory, or directly involve the factory’s security department? Otherwise, why would they go to such lengths to conceal this from us?"

This isn’t the outside; she’s not the daughter of the Provincial Chamber of Commerce president, and Yang Xiao isn’t a high-ranking Specialist from the Patrol Defense Office—they don’t even have the Resentful Eye ability.

If... if they conflict with the factory’s security department, they’d stand no chance—opponents equipped with handguns, semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, all sorts of firearms, including grenades!

Of course, they were sent from above, so it wouldn’t end with them being completely wiped out, but even if they were expelled from the factory, their investigation rights revoked, their mission would be over.

Once time’s up and they can’t uncover the truth, they’d be left here permanently.

"What should we do?" Ye Zheng looked at Yang Xiao, expecting him to make a decision.

"Don’t panic," Yang Xiao said. "Things haven’t reached that point yet; we shouldn’t scare ourselves."

"However, this matter needs addressing; we can’t ask directly, nor can we delay further."

"Here’s my plan—today, I’ll find a chance to subtly probe Chief Zhou, maybe... things aren’t as we imagine." Yang Xiao was stabilizing the team’s morale.

What’s truly terrifying now isn’t how difficult the mission is, but how to unite this group of scattered soldiers.

Actually, Yang Xiao himself had little confidence in his plan, but he couldn’t back down, nor could he show panic or fear. If he faltered, the rest would be even more disorganized, the team would be unmanageable, and morale would crumble.

Once morale collapses, no one listens to orders, then it’s all over.

After witnessing the teammates’ abilities, Yang Xiao knew—with his life on the line, he could only rely on himself.

Ye Zheng was a good assistant, but she couldn’t carry the weight. The main role still had to be played by himself.

The experiences of the past few years greatly honed Yang Xiao’s mental resilience; thanks to his good sister, he never played low-tier games.

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