IWBL: Chapter 175

Ye Zeqing was only one metre away from the dark shadow on the door. He choked and chose to simply stop in place. No matter how many battles he had been through, this was a normal human response to an unknown fear.

However, Xiao Li seemed to have no such fear. He paused for only one-tenth of a second out of surprise by the black shadow’s sudden appearance. Then he immediately opened the door in front of him and walked out the door with no hesitation.

Ye Zeqing followed him closely while the door wasn’t completely closed. Xiao Li’s speed was already fast but the dark shadow was even faster. In the blink of an eye, it floated out the door of the office building and into the darkness. The scene described was a very mysterious thing but Ye Zeqing something got the impression that the back was showing faint panic.

Xiao Li stood in place and chose not to chase the shadow.

“The direction it is running in… seems to be Hall R?” Fu Guangbo spoke hesitantly as he analyzed the direction of the black shadow. They had completed the patrol mission of the office building and it wasn’t too late. It was half an hour before midnight. This was the best time if they wanted to go to the exhibition hall.

Chen Jinghan glanced at Xiao Li and asked his opinion. “Will you go?”

Fu Guangbo had also given up on the idea of leaving Hercule and decided to put his life first. He would follow the bigshot even if it meant entering the tiger’s lair.

Under the reincarnators’ scorching gaze, Xiao Li struggled for three seconds before shaking his head. “…I’m not going.”

“You’re really not going?” Ye Zeqing and Zheng Yi asked in unison. They realized this, glanced at each other and looked away with disgust. Then Zheng Yi asked again, “Why?”

Xiao Li’s eyes shifted to the corner again. He pondered on it for a moment before replying slowly, “The sound of water flowing…is continuing.”

“The sound of water, is it a secret sign?” Zheng Yi asked without understanding.

Fu Guangbo also showed a curious look beside Zheng Yi. He didn’t understand either but he was too embarrassed to ask because he didn’t know Hercule.

Xiao Li didn’t want to explain too much. It was because the explanation was long and he was lazy. Even so, it was Zheng Yi who asked this question. Xiao Li thought about the way Zheng Yi had come to look for him and opened his mouth to explain as briefly as possible, “In a general office building, the water pipes won’t keep making noises at night and there won’t be any mixed knocking on the walls of the pipes.”

The sound, though faint, persisted. This wasn’t common sense.

“The office’s power is cut off but the elevator is left. This can be seen as a convenience for employees.” Xiao Li kept talking while listening to the movements of the water pipes and heading in the direction of the logistics office. “However, if we think about it another way, perhaps it deliberately let us take this elevator so we would ignore the stairs and ignore these sounds.”

The stairwell was very, very quiet without any electrical appliances that made noise. The walls of the building were also thin, making it easier to hear the sound of the water in the stairwell than the office.

Zhang Kaixue heard this and she couldn’t help asking, “However, how did they know we would take the elevator? Most people would take the staircase at this time… maybe the elevator is just always on here.”

She soon realized that her words seemed to be implying something and defended herself. “I didn’t mean that you aren’t an ordinary person.”’

…Why did it seem that she made things worse? Zhang Kaixue opened her mouth to excuse herself but found that Xiao Li didn’t care. He directly continued speaking, “If it was just this thing then perhaps it is an illusion but combined with what that person said to me this afternoon…”

“Who? The one sitting opposite President Sun?” Zheng Yi thought for a moment and immediately followed the bigshot’s thinking. “You mean how he told you not to go to the exhibition halls?”

Xiao Li hummed in agreement and explained as concisely as possible. “If he knows me well then he knows my personality. He told me not to go but it is actually to make me go. This would explain everything.”

“He cut off the power and left the elevator because he knew I would go up the elevator and avoid those clues.”

“However, how could he know you so well? President Sun didn’t even know you tortured the exhibition hall ghosts.” Fu Guangbo finally couldn’t help trying to get to the bottom of the matter.

Xiao Li stopped walking and calmly dropped a bomb on the group. “President Sun didn’t know it was me because he is from this world.”

Zheng Yi opened his mouth. “…I think you’re implying something.”

“That friend should be the same as us.” Xiao Li glanced at Zheng Yi. “He is a reincarnator. He used some type of item or has been in contact with President Sun for a long time. He has permission to see the forum.”

“He doesn’t need to know who I am. He just needs to see the exhibition halls, make speculations and roughly know my personality.”

Sherlock, Moriarty and Hercule. There were also the top-ranking reincarnators on the global rankings such as Wang Huai, Moss, DoctorX…

Apart from a few strange ones—such as a steady man known as the ‘walking defensive tower’— which of these bigshots weren’t the same type of character? Once you knew the personality of these people and simulated how they reacted to a crisis, it wouldn’t be hard to understand their actions.

Fu Guangbo incredulously recalled the actions of the man opposite President Sun. He was a reincarnator? It shouldn’t be the case. Some time passed before he found his voice. “Then why did President Sun want us to patrol the office building? Why not let us go to the exhibition hall or sleep at home?”

“It is very simple.” Xiao Li sighed in his heart while feeling bleak for the IQ of his teammates. He stared silently at the ceiling while continuing to walk forward. “They don’t have the night exhibition halls anymore. Even if the halls can be repaired, the ghosts inside are hard to find.

“Even if they add a few small ghosts in the exhibition halls, it is only a matter of time before I discover it. Once I lose the exhibition halls as the goal, it will be easy to think that the way of life is in the office building.”

Zhang Kaixue listened to his explanation and inexplicably thought of some words.

Daoist immortal coming to blows!

More words:

Separating empty air and crossing swords!

One more time:

You predicted me and I predicted your prediction.

You thought I was on the first floor but I was on the fifth floor!

“Rather than being so active, it is better to take the initiative. Moreover, the top floor is the place where the noise of the water pipe was the smallest. This means there won’t be anything higher falling down.” Xiao Li cocked his head like he was listening to the sound of the running water more clearly. “Thinking this way, he is a smart person.”

The other person could form a friendship with President Sun in this type of place and it seemed like he had been here more than once or twice. He could design such a huge layout and shouldn’t be low in the rankings.

Fu Guangbo who had been asking questions, “……”

He always thought that Hercule was implying something about him.

At this time, Xiao Li looked at him. “I want to correct a point. I didn’t torture those ghosts. I just…”

He paused before continuing. “Made friends with them.”

This had to be corrected. Xiao Li wasn’t a devil and he didn’t have the hobby of torturing ghosts.

Fu Guangbo, “………”

Yes yes, he was teaching them the way to be ghosts, right?

Zheng Yi didn’t have as many thoughts as Fu Guangbo or he was used to it. He nodded and quickly accepted the setting. “He did all that to hide the sound of the water pipes here? What are they transporting?’

At this point in the discussion, everyone had approached the wall in order to hear the sound of the water pipes. Zheng Yi even formed a trumpet shape with his hand and placed it next to his ear to amplify his hearing.

Xiao Li replied, “I don’t know but it needs to be transported by a water pipe late at night… there probably aren’t many things.”

“A body?” Ye Zeqing used his imagination but soon corrected himself. “Or corpses…”

The security guards who died in the exhibition halls over the years might’ve been transferred to the roof of the office building, processed into corpses and then transported to a certain place through the water pipes.

Xiao Li spoke to himself in a relaxed tone. “I probably know who is involved here.”

This scene was quite familiar.

Ye Zeqing tried to follow his thoughts but wasn’t sure. “Who?”

Xiao Li didn’t answer him and once again leaned against the wall.

***

In Future Theme Park, the office building was divided into two large areas and was more like a building complex.

Among them, President Sun’s office was located in the high-rise building. It was the core building and the spacious passage on the first floor led to another arched three-story building. The reincarnators were no strangers to this building since it contained the logistics office and the security guards’ dormitory.

The deeper areas were the cafeteria and the basement. They had explored this in the daytime but since the reincarnators were focused on the exhibition halls, they didn’t enter too deeply. Now they followed the sound of running water in the pipes to this place.

Originally, Fu Guangbo was holding the flashlight but Xiao Li told him to turn off the light source. It wasn’t because he was afraid of attracting monsters. It was because cutting off his vision would sharpen his other four senses.

The hearing of a blind person was usually better than ordinary people but most people didn’t have the determination to break their wrists. Fu Guangbo might’ve done it right away but there was worry in his heart. After all, darkness in the instance world was always dangerous.

However, it was soon like Xiao Li said. They deliberately concentrated and the sound really seemed to be amplified. It flowed into the ears of the reincarnators.

“Drip, drip, drip, bang, drip, bang…”

Fu Guangbo had no time to think if there were any ghosts in front of him. He listened intently to the sound of the water pipes while following Xiao Li deeper.

Half a quarter of an hour later, the sound in everyone’s ears turned into:

Boom, boom, boom.

It was no longer the sound of a pipe but some type of larger, full container.

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The author has something to say:

President Sun’s friend: Hercule, I’ve already predicted you.

Xiao Li: I don’t know who you are but I’ve predicted your prediction.

President Sun’s friend: I want to predict that you have predicted my prediction.

Xiao Li: …….