IWBL: Chapter 145
“Ah—!”
The late night at the hotel that was supposed to be peaceful was broken by a shrill scream.
“Is anyone there? A person here is dead!”
It was a woman who screamed. If the reincarnators were present, they would’ve found that she was Lin Ruo from the plot CG. She had just taken a bath and her body was still hot. She was wrapped in a bathrobe but she was collapsed on the corridor of the floor, not saying anything.
“What’s going on? It’s late and we have to get up early tomorrow for the hike.”
Lin Ruo’s scream caused several plot characters on the first floor to come out. President Hu was yawning and muttering in a dissatisfied manner in his silk pyjamas. Then the next second, his eyes widened and his drowsiness disappeared. A scream emerged from his throat, “Ah—! Come here! Report to the police!”
The panic of these plot characters caused the reincarnators on the second and third floors to appear one by one.
However, there were some people who were reluctant to come out. It was because no one knew if the evil spirit would continue after killing the first person. Still, most of the reincarnators chose to come out to check the clues.
The first young man to arrive at the scene was closest to the staircase on the second floor. His name was Jiang Linwen. He took a deep breath after seeing the scene in the corridor along with the people who came afterwards.
There was a body thrown into the centre of the corridor. It was Luo Ni and he had a look of shock on his face. It seemed that he was killed by someone he hadn’t expected. His entire body was stiff. Blood splattered from where the head hit the ground, darkening the hotel floor. There was only a bloody hole left of Luo Ni’s nose, as if there was something hidden inside peeping out at everyone.
“His body was thrown down the stairs.” Jiang Linwen spoke first, his eyes sweeping over the group as he kept everyone’s expression in mind. “This lady, you were the first to find him?”
Facing his gaze, Lin Ruo gulped and resisted the urge to vomit. “Y-Yes… I couldn’t sleep and wanted to go out for some air. I was going out to wait for the sunrise when I passed by and saw this scene.”
“So…” Jiang Linwen asked, “Did you hear anything?”
The last part was for everyone. However, most people chose to stay silent. Only a few people answered his question.
“I just heard a slight footstep. It stopped around a quarter of an hour ago. It got to the door of a certain room and there was no more noise.”
“I didn’t hear anything. I didn’t dare to look. I just heard the sound passing by my door.”
Jiang Linwen asked, “What type of footsteps? Tall, fat, thin? Any clues?”
The people who answered the question glanced at him and collectively shook their heads. “No.”
Even if there was a clue, they wouldn’t say it. If an evil spirit was hidden among these people, wouldn’t it be walking right into their trap?
There was just one girl. She was thin, small and looked very inconspicuous. She shrunk back while saying, “I heard it. I was like… a person walking on tiptoe.”
“I usually practice ballet and that is the sound I make when I walk.’
“Xiao Tu!” The man beside the girl immediately covered her mouth and apologized hastily. “I’m sorry, my sister spoke nonsense. She is young and ignorant.”
The corridor at night, an evil spirit walking on tiptoe… The people present had different expressions. Jiang Linwen imagined the scene at that time and his throat felt dry.
President Hu immediately took out his mobile phone. “It isn’t our business to catch the murderer. We should directly report it to the police. Then I will find the driver and we will leave…”
Lin Ruo lowered her head and said nothing. Jiang Linwen also didn’t stop him. He watched President Hu press the call button and put his phone to his ear, only to lower it again. “F*k, there is no signal on this mountain!”
It wasn’t surprising. Although the plot character’s mobile phones could make calls in this world, an instance would often choose to close all contact methods when necessary. In other words, no matter how much President Hu wanted to leave, he wouldn’t be able to connect to the outside world until the reincarnators completed the task.
“President Hu, what about our driver? Why don’t we just drive away?” Peng Yue suggested with the support of the bald man.
President Hu shook his head. “I already let him go back. I told him to pick us up three days later and now there is no car.”
The mountain road was rugged and there was no car. If they walked on their own two legs then they might not necessarily be able to go down in a few days.
“Boss, how come such a big thing happened but the owner of this hotel hasn’t come? Peng Yue whispered. “He should have a way to contact the outside world.”
The group looked around the circle but there were no signs of the hotel owner. They didn’t know where he lived and he seemed to be missing after dinner.
It was obviously weird. There should be other secrets in this hotel but Jiang Linwen didn’t think the boss was the evil spirit. It was because he was too obvious.
Just then, there was the sound of footsteps from the entrance of the hotel and it was gradually approaching. It was clearly late at night and the sky outside the hotel was dark. In the past, the stars on this type of mountain would be particularly clear. However, Lingxi Mountain was different. It was dark like a piece of velvet enveloping the entire world. No one could tell who was coming in from such a dark outside world.
Jiang Linwen stepped back quietly, keeping President Hu and others in front of him. The footsteps got closer and closer. Then a teenager in a trench coat entered the vision. Coincidentally, due to the conversation between this man and President Hu during dinner time, most of the people present knew him.
Xiao Li pushed open the door and saw a large group staring intently at him. He gripped the purple umbrella that was about to fall and blinked. “…So many people.”
Zheng Yi was mixed in with the crowd. “…Hercule, what are you doing out so late?”
He asked the question everyone wanted to ask.
Xiao Li’s eyes fell on the umbrella in his own hand.
He couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night and there was no movement from the evil spirit, so he went out the window and headed east, ready to do the side task. He didn’t know how far he had gone when he got lost. He was lost on Lingxi Mountain in the dark night, unable to distinguish between southeast and northwest. Finally, the little black cat took the function of a dog and led him back.
However, if he told the truth then he would have to spend a lot of time explaining about the side task. Xiao Li finally chose an excuse. “I wanted to go to the east to see the sunrise, but I couldn’t find a good place and turned back in the middle.”
Zheng Yi immediately shifted his attention to Lin Ruo. This person also said she wanted to go out and see the sunrise.
Just then, Jiang Linwen asked in a deep voice, “Why go out when an umbrella? It isn’t raining now.”
“I guessed that there would be rain tomorrow. Just in case, I took it with me.”
Jiang Linwen opposite him frowned. It made sense if a plot character wanted to go out to watch the sunrise. After all, they didn’t know the existence of ghosts and the scenery of Lingxi Mountain was good. It was just that Hercule was a reincarnator. How could he go out so late at night?
Was he the evil spirit?
Jiang Linwen’s eyes flicked but he chose to suppress this topic, wanting more clues before making inferences.
Zheng Yi walked to Xiao Li’s side and elbowed him. “Look, the first victim.”
Xiao Li glanced at the body of Luo Ni on the ground and listened to Zheng Yi retelling what happened. Once he heard the little girl’s words, he looked slightly surprised but didn’t say anything. He just glanced at the crowd. Shen Chenzhi wasn’t present.
Ye Zeqing walked to the corpse, squatted down and formed a seal with his hands.
“What are you doing?” President Hu asked.
Ye Zeqing explained, “My family has some understanding of the supernatural. I am trying to summon her soul to ask for some clues.”
President Hu sneered. “What messy thing are you doing? Are you making a movie? This isn’t funny.”
He had just finished speaking when Jiang Linwen’s eyes brightened and he whispered, “The Ye family…?’
Among the reincarnators in China, the fame of the Ye family was considered first-class. There were those who wanted to learn the art of controlling ghosts but the Ye family walked the furthest along this road due to their constitution.
Currently, the most famous in the Ye family, apart from the Ye eldest brother, was Yanluo. According to the forum, he often teamed up with Moriarty and was a good friend of the other person.
Ye Zeqing used Luo Ni’s blood on the ground to draw a small version of the magic circle. Then he chanted, “The soul of the dead, return—”
An invisible wind blew through the hotel lobby. The strange wind combined with the body on the ground made President Hu feel uneasy and he sat down on the chair next to him. Just as the gust of wind was about to gather onto Luo Ni, it seemed to be stopped by some spiritual force.
“It failed.” Ye Zeqing clapped his hands. “His soul was swallowed by an evil spirit and there is no way to summon it.”
“This is inevitable.”
Jiang Linwen comforted him.
President Hu sensed something different from their words. “You, who are you? You don’t seem to be tourists? I’m warning you—”
Jiang Linwen interrupted him. “We are special personnel who received news that there will be a supernatural event here. We came here to solve it. You just had the bad luck to encounter this matter. I hope you can cooperate with us to solve it. This way, we can all be happy.”
President Hu was dumbfounded. “What is this? Are you lying to a three year old?”
Jiang Linwen frowned and was trying to get President Hu to accept the truth when he heard a noise that made him freeze on the spot. It was an airy, fluttering laughter that hit everyone’s ears like a thunderbolt.
“Hehehehe.”
“Someone came here… died, hehehe.”
The author has something to say:
A ghost has come to give their head.