Nightmare Apostle

"That’s impossible, we just came from the lakeside, nothing was on the lake." Old Ding rolled up his black raincoat, revealing an assault rifle hanging from its hem.

Now Yang Xiao understood. No wonder there was mud on the edges of their shoes. They had been to the lakeside, and considering how muddy it gets on rainy days, they had gone there to look for a corpse.

Chief Zhou had someone fetch two black raincoats from the gatehouse and distributed them to Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng.

These old-style black raincoats seemed to be made of rubber material, thick and cumbersome, uncomfortable to wear, and had a strong pungent odor.

Shaking his wrist, Chief Zhou glanced at his watch, then gave the order for everyone to set off, to stake out the abandoned bungalow area.

He specifically emphasized that everyone should take the small path, wear their raincoats properly, and that he would lead the way with Old Ding bringing up the rear. No one was allowed to use flashlights or speak loudly, sneaking over under the cover of night.

Just as the group was about to leave, Chief Zhou, who was leading, suddenly stopped as if something had crossed his mind.

"Old Ding, have you checked that old toilet on the far right of the second floor?" Chief Zhou looked towards the middle-aged man for confirmation.

The middle-aged man referred to as Old Ding paused for a moment, then nodded, muttering, "I’ve checked it."

"I remember there’s a small compartment inside the toilet, did you see it?" Chief Zhou asked again.

"This..." Old Ding was clearly hesitant, his expression becoming strange.

Then the man from the security section who was in the same group as Old Ding interjected to explain, "Chief, you know, that toilet has long been abandoned, not to mention the compartment..."

At this point, the man stopped talking because Chief Zhou’s expression had turned unpleasant.

Seeing this, Old Ding immediately led his team back without another word, with the same two members, the three of them quickly running up the stairs, their figures disappearing at the stairwell corner.

After this period of interaction, Yang Xiao had deeply sensed the authority Chief Zhou held in the hearts of the security team members, almost unchallenged.

In less than a minute, there was a sudden cry from upstairs and the sound of footsteps running.

Sensing that something was amiss, Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng quickly ran upstairs, while Chief Zhou ordered two teammates to guard the main entrance before drawing his handgun and dashing to the second floor.

This time, they arrived at the end of the right-side corridor on the second floor, where there was a corner with a door behind it.

During his investigation of the entire Cultural Palace, Yang Xiao had been here before. Because the overhead light was broken, this place was relatively dark at night, attracting young couples to whisper to each other.

At this moment, the door behind the corner had already been opened. It was a restroom, but it appeared abandoned, with some old tables and chairs piled inside, and two cracked wooden blackboards standing in the corner.

In the innermost part of the restroom, there was a small wooden door, and before Yang Xiao even got close, he could already smell a faint scent of blood.

Approaching the wooden door, even though he was mentally prepared, Yang Xiao still gasped.

Behind the wooden door was a very small compartment, about one and a half square meters. A corpse was kneeling facing away from them, its upper body curled up, as if desperately trying to burrow into the wall.

From the back, Yang Xiao recognized the identity of the person—it was their teammate Wang Yong, who had disappeared the night before.

Chief Zhou immediately began organizing the inspection of the scene, but the results yielded nothing, as they were accustomed to experiencing.

It was the same at the previous body dumping sites; the perpetrator left no clues, and the bodies... the bodies seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Old Ding called for someone to move the corpse out, and this time Yang Xiao finally saw the face of the corpse.

Wang Yong’s skin had been completely peeled off, exposing the horrifying skull beneath. Part of the blood and flesh remained on the skull, presenting a ghastly sight.

Wang Yong’s eyes were wide open, as if he had seen something terrifying before he died; his muscles were tensed, maintaining the posture of his last moment.

This scene reminded Yang Xiao of a photograph he had seen earlier, of a corpse appearing in the dance hall, still maintaining the dancing posture of Pan Xiaoxiao.

The photograph of Pan Xiaoxiao gave Yang Xiao the same eerie feeling, though not as impactful as the reality of the corpse before him.

Yang Xiao squatted next to the corpse, carefully observing Wang Yong’s face. He noted that the perpetrator’s technique in peeling the face was unskilled and even very crude.

He speculated that the Ominous Instrument must have been a dull knife, as the edges where the skin was cut were jagged, with many tears left by the ripping, making Yang Xiao gasp again.

Wang Yong wasn’t skinned after death; he was still alive during the skinning. These disorderly scars were caused by his desperate struggles in pain.

Now, Yang Xiao had faced numerous nightmarish tasks, but ghosts as cruel as this were rare.

Most ghosts would kill and leave, but the ghost they encountered this time was different; it seemed resented.

It inflicted immense fear and torment on its victims, allowing them to die in extreme agony, a long process rendering the victims’ life worse than death.

This murderous method was downright perverted, harboring extreme malice and anger, terrifying to behold.

"No one is allowed to leak what happened here today. Arrange for the body to be removed and clean up the scene." Chief Zhou, already accustomed to such scenes, gave orders with practiced precision.

While they were examining the scene, the team member stationed downstairs had already used the phone on the gatehouse desk to call the security section for reinforcement.

Compared to Wang Yong’s tragic death, what concerned Yang Xiao more was the location where he died. It was remote, almost deserted, distinctly different from the dumping sites of previous cases.

If this Ghost was dumping bodies randomly, there would be nothing more to say. But if not, could these dumping sites be tied to some habit retained from the Ghost’s life, or some unique method of killing?

The thoughts were too chaotic, and the clues were scarce, rendering Yang Xiao unable to form effective reasoning. He needed more clues.

At that moment, Yang Xiao reached into his pocket and pulled out a meal ticket.

A top-grade meal ticket.

This item was handed over by Liu Hongwei, who said that Wang Yong gave it to her. As for its origin, no one knew.

Yang Xiao had previously thought this meal ticket should be presented after Wang Yong’s body was found, as that would be the most effective.

"Chief Zhou, does this meal ticket look familiar to you?" Yang Xiao handed over the meal ticket.

Chief Zhou took the meal ticket, subconsciously furrowing his brow, "A top-grade meal ticket, where did you get this?"

"We didn’t get it; he did. We also want to find out what exactly is going on." Yang Xiao indicated the corpse still in a curled-up state, speaking in a low voice, "I suspect Wang Yong’s death is related to this meal ticket."

"Did you find any similar meal tickets on or around the other bodies?" Yang Xiao voiced his thoughts.

"No, this is the first time." Chief Zhou stared at the meal ticket, falling into deep thought. After a long silence, he put away the meal ticket, answering solemnly, "These types of meal tickets aren’t named, but most people in the factory don’t have them. Only the leadership or those named as advanced workers for the year qualify for them. The issuance is very limited. I should be able to find the original owner of this meal ticket."

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