IWBL: Chapter 156

The moment that the door to Abel’s room was kicked in, Xiao Li rushed to the source of the sound. He had been waiting at the staircase for a long time but never heard any sound from the staircase until the sound of this door being kicked in was heard.

The corridor was very dark and there wasn’t any light. Xiao Li wrote in the little yellow book and the light ghost emerged from inside. It shook and floated in the air, illuminating the surrounding area.

By the time he caught up, the room was already empty. Only Abel’s body was lying inside with wide eyes. The evil spirit didn’t have time to deal with his face and there was a look of shock on it.

Xiao Li’s eyes skimmed over the body. Then he closed the door and looked down the corridor. The darkness was deep but there was a shadow that drifted quickly by him.

Xiao Li saw it with the corner of his eyes and he turned his head quickly. At this time, the back of the evil spirit’s avatar had already turned halfway around the corner and disappeared from his sight. However, the light ghost still illuminated the lower left half of its back.

The ghost’s hair was long and tied up in a ponytail. The shadow of the ponytail flickered on the wall like a corpse hanging from the beam of a house. It was really a woman…

Perhaps it was due to the angle but the shadow wasn’t pulled high. It only reached the middle of the wall. Xiao Li chased to the place where the evil spirit had disappeared. There was a staircase and the evil spirit was descending it.

He ran so fast that on several occasions, he nearly fell down due to stepping on empty stairs. However, he still couldn’t keep up with the speed of the evil spirit. By the time he jumped down the last stair, the lobby was empty. The door of the hallway leading to the toilet was pushed open and was shaking back and forth.

Xiao Li rushed forward. Then Tan Li’s hair stretched out from his pocket and wrapped around something. He ran through the door and bumped into a person unexpectedly. At the same time, Tan Li also withdrew her hair. The figure was very light and her collision with Xiao Li caused her to stagger. She fell to the ground and was caught by Xiao Li.

Xiao Li opened his mouth. “…Xiao Tu.”

The little girl was walking in front with a smile on her face like Peng Yue’s strange smile. Then once Xiao Li called her, the smile disappeared and she suddenly groaned. She rubbed the shoulder that was hit and turned around. “Brother Hercule.”

Xiao Li raised an eyebrow. “Why are you here?”

There was only Xiao Tu and Zhen Ziqiang wasn’t present. A dazed expression appeared on the little girl’s face. “I… how did I come outside? I, Brother Hercule, I don’t know. I don’t remember…”

She covered her ears and lowered her head as she shook violently.

Xiao Li placed a hand on her shoulder. “Have you ever been to the third floor?”

A cold wind blew through the corridor and Xiao’s eyes filled with tears. “No, I don’t remember. It isn’t me, isn’t me…”

She grabbed Xiao Li’s sleeve and wiped away her tears. Then she stuffed her fingers in her mouth and started licking them again.

Xiao Li straightened his upper body, let go of his hand and opened a path in the corridor. “Go back to your room.”

Xiao Tu hadn’t expected him to let her go so easily. She blew her nose and was surprised. “I can go back?”

Xiao Li didn’t speak. He leaned against the door to the lobby, head toward the stairs as he motioned for her to move.

Xiao Tu remained still.

Xiao Li asked, “Do you want me to escort you back?”

“No, Brother Hercule.” Xiao Tu shrank back. She looked a bit scared as she whispered her reply.

Xiao Tu rubbed her eyes while looking at Xiao Li’s shoulder. Finally, she didn’t say anything and passed him to walk toward the stairs.

The light ghost was resting on Xiao Li’s shoulder. It turned in a circle and asked in a low voice, “Just let her go?”

The light ghost was the only light source in this dark lobby. Xiao Li’s back was against a hard and cold door. He glanced at the light ghost before suddenly reaching out and stuffing it in his pocket. The light ghost complained. “Wait, I can’t breathe. Do it lighter, you—”

Wasn’t this person too fast to get rid of it once it ceased to be useful? Xiao Li held it with one index finger and closed his eyes.

His other four senses became sharper without his sight. In  darkness, in addition to the rain falling against the windows, there was the sound of footsteps. If his eyes were open, it was flexible, brisk and so soft that he couldn’t hear any sound at all.

However, once his eyes were closed, the footsteps became dull, sharp and noisy. The weight of these footsteps didn’t belong to a little girl. Compared to her white shoes on small feet, the footsteps were more like leather shoes carrying the weight of an adult man.

Step, step, step.

Every time it descended, the hell of the leather shoe would drop a heavy sound on the ground. Was this why the evil spirit walked on tiptoe? In this hotel, there were only two people wearing leather shoes.

Jiang Linwen and President Hu.

Xiao Li also closed his eyes briefly when Xiao Tu passed by him. At that moment, the body odor coming from the little girl wasn’t heavy but it existed. This smell shouldn’t belong to a young girl. It was more like an adult man’s body odor.

President Hu socialized all year round. Even if he didn’t smoke, there should be the smell of smoke on him. This smell was more like…

Jiang Linwen.

The footsteps belonging to the leather shoes went further and further and disappeared upstairs. In the dark hall, Xiao Li let go of the light ghost, opened his eyes and closed the lobby door.

***

The next day.

Abel’s death was discovered very early.

Since the duo often broke away from the group and gave others a gloomy feeling, his death didn’t make people feel sad. They were just afraid their turn would be next. Only Abbott felt sad and he took care of the body himself.

The reincarnators gathered at the door of Abel’s room and watched Abbott move his body.

Xiao Tu was hiding behind Zhen Ziqiang but her mind wasn’t on Abel. She was looking at Xiao Li with a heavy heart. Then once Xiao Li glanced at her, Xiao Tu looked away again. It was as if she was afraid he would pursue her inexplicable appearance in the corridor last night.

Zheng Yi watched the two of them and then carefully dragged Xiao Li out to ask.

Xiao Li stared at Jiang Linwen in the distance. The man was standing in the front and carefully observing Abel’s body while thinking of something. Xiao Li grabbed Zheng Yi’s hand and wrote a name on the other person’s palm with his finger.

Zheng Yi raised the palm of his hand. “…This person is ‘it’?”

“Maybe.”

Zheng Yi wondered, “Then what are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to identify it?”

Xiao Li replied, “Before identifying it, we can try to test it.”

Zheng Yi stared into his eyes and couldn’t help shuddering.

He didn’t want to ask Xiao Li about how this person intended to test the evil spirit. He just wanted to mourn for the evil spirit while also thinking about how to blow up this matter on the forum. He had to properly use exaggerated and artificial rhetoric. This was what he should do as a Sherlock fan.

Abbott left the room to lock Abel’s body up in the backyard. He might not want to talk to others but at this time, he had to lay down his pride and follow Jiang Linwen’s arrangements.

As Jiang Linwen walked past, Xiao Li stopped him. “Jiang Linwen, who do you think the evil spirit is?”

Jiang Linwen found it a bit strange but he still answered. “The evidence isn’t strong enough currently but I am partial to Peng Yue, Xiao Tu or Zhen Ziqiang. The three of them are very suspicious.”

Xiao Li released him. “Okay.”

Jiang Linwen wanted to ask a few more words but Abbott had already gone downstairs and was calling his name. He had to give up this opportunity for the moment to go to the backyard. In the backyard, Wei Ning and Luo Ni each occupied two rooms. Now Abel was added but they couldn’t find any extra locks. The old door handles didn’t have their own locks. If the door wasn’t locked then the corpse would be resurrected. No one could take this risk.

Jiang Linwen concluded with a stutter. “H-How about we throw him down the mountain? The other two bodies can also be thrown away like this!”

“However, they will come back to life!” Ye Zeqing protested. “If they aren’t locked up and climb up from the mountain, we won’t know when and where they will approach us.”

President Hu imagined such a scene and his eyes rolled as he almost died on the spot.

Lin Ruo suggested, “What about burning them? Cremate the corpses to ashes and sprinkle the ashes into the mountains. This way, they won’t be resurrected.”

President Hu’s eyes lit up and he strongly agreed. “Yes, we can do this! Xiao Lin is so clever. Why didn’t you think of this way before?”

Previously, the door of the rooms were locked. Once they could continue to walk down a road, it was easy for humans to stay in the same mindset. It was only when there was no other way that potential would be inspired.

Ye Zeqing thought about it for a moment but didn’t find any flaws in Lin Ruo’s suggestion. They had already checked the three corpses and there weren’t any clues on their bodies. The resurrected corpses would just be the minions of the evil spirit…

Burning them was feasible. He glanced at Xiao Li and Xiao Li nodded. Then Ye Zeqing declared, “Then burn them. This way, we will be more at ease.”

Jiang Linwen also thought it was possible. “However, be careful. Don’t burn the place.”

“I have a lighter.” President Hu took a lighter out of his pocket and Xiao Li grabbed it.

“Dry burning them might be a bit difficult. The air is very humid now. I don’t know if there is any oil to fuel the flames…” Lin Ruo started to search. “It is impossible for the kitchen to not have cooking oil.”

This was about everyone’s life so the recinarnators and characters both acted. Xiao Li was left alone at this time.

Just as Lin Ruo and Ye Zeqing were daring to enter the kitchen to look for cooking oil, someone upstairs screamed. “F*k, it’s serious. The upper floor is one fire!”

Hearing this, everyone hadn’t responded when the man called out once again. “It’s upstairs. Come and extinguish the fire! I don’t know why it is on fire! The fire isn’t big. It is coming from a certain room!”

There was black smoke and a burning smell spread from somewhere. They couldn’t lose this hotel or there would be no place to stay. Sleeping in the forest in the rain wasn’t something they could accept. It would be too late if they hesitated. The rest of the people fetched water and rushed upstairs with their buckets.

The evil spirit hid among this group of people. It hid its facial features carefully and anxiously waited for the fire to extinguish. At the same time, she sneered at the human who caused the fire. She didn’t need to do anything to them. Humans were really stupid and funny creatures.

However, once they came to the room that was burning, the evil spirit froze with disbelief. Why was this room so familiar… to it?

The evil spirit looked up and confirmed the room number covered in smoke. This was indeed its room.

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The author has something to say:

Evil spirit: There are ups and downs. It is hard to be a ghost.