Nightmare Apostle

"There really isn’t, I can guarantee that, and Guo Tiejun slept for at most two or three minutes. Not long ago, I was talking to him," Feng Xiaoyan explained.

Seeing that he couldn’t get more information, Yang Xiao decided to take the two of them back.

Before going back, he specifically reminded Feng Xiaoyan not to speak carelessly and to keep the questions he asked today to herself.

Late at night, after returning to the storeroom, there were few people left in the Cultural Palace. After comforting everyone with a few words, Yang Xiao asked them to leave in groups.

As for him and Ye Zheng, they had to stay. It was just past ten o’clock at night, and soon people from the factory’s security department would come looking for them.

This was decided earlier. Tonight, they were going to follow the security department people to stake out the mysterious person offering incense near the abandoned house.

Finding the mysterious person, confirming their identity, and uncovering the secrets behind them was crucial to Yang Xiao’s task; it could very well be a breakthrough.

At eleven o’clock at night, Yang Xiao awaited the security department personnel’s arrival, led by Chief Zhou himself this time.

The security department wasn’t large; including Chief Zhou, there were only six people, and each wore a black rubber raincoat with hats, bulging on the inside, clearly carrying equipment.

Yang Xiao noticed that the sides of these people’s shoes had obvious mud stains. In the factory area, the roads were either asphalt or gravel; there were no muddy places. They seemed to have trekked somewhere.

"We came a bit late; it’s raining outside," Chief Zhou said, removing the raincoat hat, introducing the situation, "We’ve had people patrolling the factory all night, and no bodies were found."

"No bodies at the Cultural Palace either," Yang Xiao replied.

They were, of course, referring to Wang Yong’s body; according to the timeline, Wang Yong’s corpse should have appeared tonight.

"Old Ding, take two people and search each room upstairs. Ma Jiefang, Chen Qiaoyun, you two follow me; the rest guard the gate," Chief Zhou ordered.

Chief Zhou’s purpose was clear: to search the Cultural Palace again, trying to find traces of enemy agents’ activities or confirm Wang Yong’s corpse.

A middle-aged man named Old Ding gestured to the others and led two people upstairs. During the run, one of them exposed a dark gun muzzle under his raincoat, their footsteps pounding with muffled thuds on the terrazzo stairs.

Under Yang Xiao’s suggestion, the three of them started searching from the locked auditorium.

Initially, Yang Xiao suggested searching with lights, but Chief Zhou refused, explaining that it would expose their target.

Because they planned to capture the mysterious person near the abandoned house later tonight, he worried about alerting them.

"Do you have anyone staking out near there now?" Ye Zheng asked.

"No," Chief Zhou opened the auditorium door with a key and pushed it open.

"No? What if enemy agents make contact now?" Ye Zheng retorted.

"They won’t; it’s the time for night-shift workers to change shifts. With employees moving in the factory, they’re unlikely to take the risk. Only after one in the morning will they act."

Chief Zhou’s analysis precisely mirrored what Zhao Xuejun and Hu Weimin had witnessed last night. Hu Weimin observed the mysterious figure at about 1 or 2 in the morning.

The auditorium door was pushed open slowly, with dry friction from the door hinge, not entirely dark inside, more like chaotic darkness.

As the flashlight illuminated, the dimness dispersed, revealing rows of empty seats.

Moments ago, the bustling auditorium was now empty and silent, creating discomfort from the stark contrast. Ye Zheng instinctively stroked his arm, feeling goosebumps.

Chief Zhou seemed unfazed, holding up the flashlight as he walked in first, followed closely by Ye Zheng.

Yang Xiao graciously offered the middle position to the team’s only female member, walking behind himself.

The auditorium’s acoustic effects were surprisingly good, evidently designed to function as a cinema initially.

But it troubled Yang Xiao and his companions, as their footsteps echoed inside, making it seem like there was something else apart from them in there.

And that something seemed to mimic them from behind, footsteps stiffening, drawing nearer.

For a moment, Yang Xiao’s strong imagination turned into a hindrance; within minutes, he conjured three possible ways a ghost might appear and seven corresponding methods of murder.

As they reached an inconspicuous corner, Chief Zhou suddenly stopped, casting the flashlight around more carefully.

Seeing this, Yang Xiao immediately realized this was where the technician Old Zhang’s body had appeared last time.

In about ten minutes, they thoroughly checked the entire auditorium, searching every corner that could hide a person, but found no bodies or anything suspicious.

In this way, they soon searched the entire first floor of the Cultural Palace, including the offices not open at night, yet still found nothing.

Then footsteps sounded from the corridor side; it was those who went upstairs returning. Seeing the gray face of the man first called Old Ding indicated they similarly found nothing.

"Seems Wang Yong’s body isn’t here; could it be...on the lake?" Chief Zhou asked, looking outside through the Cultural Palace’s main entrance.

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