Nightmare Apostle

"How many first-class meal tickets do you actually have?" Yang Xiao pressed.

"Just... just this one." Liu Hongwei looked at the meal ticket in Yang Xiao’s hand and replied softly.

Yang Xia slipped the only first-class meal ticket into her pocket, then the three used second-class meal tickets to get their meals.

During the meal, Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng meticulously questioned the paths she and Wang Yong took last night, especially the part at the Cultural Palace.

But no matter how they asked, they couldn’t get much; Liu Hongwei only stated that both of them followed Yang Xiao’s arrangement and were on patrol inside the dance hall.

They didn’t sit idle and tried to mingle with the workers there to gather clues. Wang Yong even joined in and danced two dances, and his ballroom dancing skills were quite good.

Dancing inside the dance hall was a normal act, and it would have been strange if they didn’t dance. Liu Hongwei also mentioned someone invited her for a dance, but she wasn’t interested and politely declined.

"Hey, do you think it’s so dark in the dance hall that Wang Yong might have been fooled by the Ghost and danced a whole piece with the Ghost last night?" Ye Zheng whispered, looking at Yang Xiao.

Honestly, Yang Xiao had considered Ye Zheng’s suspicion, but he found it illogical.

Just dancing a random dance and dying would be too rash, and besides... Yang Xiao felt that the arrival of that first-class meal ticket was peculiar.

Yang Xiao decided to ask Chief Zhou about it tonight to see if it was something biased from the living quarters team.

If the first-class meal ticket wasn’t given to Wang Yong by the team members from the living quarters, then it was very likely given by the Ghost.

This could be an invitation.

A death invitation.

Once you take something from the Ghost, you must repay it, and their only stake is their life.

For now, there were no leads, so Yang Xiao didn’t linger on the issue since it was already dark. After they quickly finished dinner, the three of them immediately headed to the Cultural Palace.

By now, some workers had arrived early at the Cultural Palace. There was a film screening tonight, and the name of the film was displayed on the bulletin outside the Cultural Palace entrance:

"Acacia on the Riverbank"

It seemed like a romance film, which usually attracted a large group of young men and women to watch.

Returning to the secret base on the third floor, everyone was there, but the moment Yang Xiao walked in, he sensed something was off with the atmosphere.

With an unobtrusive glance around, he quickly noticed the bruise on Zhao Xuejun’s face, as if he’d been beaten.

"What happened?" Yang Xiao’s face immediately turned cold as he questioned.

"It’s nothing, just a little misunderstanding." Hu Weimin stepped forward to mediate, "Zhao Xuejun and Guo Tiejun had a bit of a conflict. Now... now everything’s fine."

"What was it about?" Yang Xiao wasn’t about to let it slide.

Everyone fell silent upon hearing his question, so Yang Xiao asked again with a cold face, "I’m asking you all, what was the fight about?!"

"Captain Ma, please don’t be angry. It was just that Tie Jun wanted to switch positions with Zhao Xuejun’s group. We... we also wanted to join the night patrol tonight rather than just stay in the cinema." Feng Xiaoyan, who was in Guo Tiejun’s group, said.

Hearing this, Yang Xiao turned to Guo Tiejun and said coldly, "The plan last night was made by me. Do you have a problem with it?"

Already feeling guilty, Guo Tiejun felt even more so under Yang Xiao’s gaze and quickly shook his head, "No... no."

"I’ll repeat it once more; we are a whole. To survive, we must unite."

"And I have my reasons for such an arrangement, not favoring anyone. It’s based on our identities."

"Chen Qiaoyun, Zhao Xuehua, Hu Weimin, and I—we all belong to the factory’s security section, so us patrolling around the Cultural Palace makes sense, won’t be too abrupt."

"It’s not our personal desire; it’s the background assigned to us for this mission, understand?" Yang Xiao’s tone was slightly stern.

Under Yang Xiao’s intimidation, everyone promised to strictly follow his plan without any objections.

"Hey, you should wise up, all of you. You’re all adults, even if you lack task experience, you should at least know better, right?"

Ye Zheng began to scold, "Stop trying to gain advantages without taking risks. Ask yourselves sincerely, if Captain Ma were gone, do you think any of you would have a chance to survive?"

The words hit home. Those present knew their own capabilities; without Yang Xiao, they were just a scattered mess. There was no second person who could take charge.

Initially, they didn’t know much when Wang Yong disappeared, but meeting Liu Hongwei led to a flurry of inquiry, and Yang Xiao took over the narrative by simply recounting last night’s events.

Yet, he didn’t clarify that Wang Yong’s death was related to Liu Hongwei, nor did he reveal that Liu Hongwei had lied to them.

He left enough dignity for Liu Hongwei, which was also safeguarding her life.

Liu Hongwei cast a grateful glance at Yang Xiao, realizing that if the truth were exposed, she wouldn’t know how to face her teammates.

Even more terrifying, later, she might be collectively targeted by her teammates, putting her at risk.

"Since you’re all listening to me, I’ll assign tonight’s tasks." Yang Xiao surveyed the crowd, exuding leadership.

"With Wang Yong gone, we’ll consolidate into four teams for tonight."

"Chen Qiaoyun and I will continue our task, patrolling the entire Cultural Palace. The remaining three groups will draw lots to decide which floor to guard. Is this fair enough?"

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