Chapter 39
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Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the Abyss
The daytime stretched out very long on this day.
The master’s spirit-calling ceremony took place at night.
Although they knew that the ghost’s message will only appear when one is separated from the rest of the group, as long as they have a good chat without irritating it, it will not be a big problem.
However, the two issues of not being alone and not carrying a phone were not so easy to implement, and conversing without offending the other party cannot be done perfectly with the emotional intelligence of most people.
So everyone still chose to stay in the villa and wait for nighttime to come.
Four people died, three people left because they didn’t seem to be entangled with the resentful spirit, and adding on the master and his two disciples, the villa now had fourteen people.
Among them, the master and his two disciples, were preparing for the evening ceremony in an upstairs room.
The president brought Yin Xiaoyu, along with Asker and two female internet celebrities, and the six people stayed in the leisure area next to the master’s room.
Ye Zun, Ye Zi, and Chen Qianqian were on the second floor’s open-air balcony. The three were still studying the files on the seven past victims.
Considering that the three people who went into hiding were likely accomplices of the ghost and watching them all from the shadows, the two staff members who were lightly injured were arranged to patrol the villa.
Ye Zun was drawing something on the white paper.
He wasn’t only thinking about the resentful spirit, but also about the players.
Currently, apart from the great master’s group of three, there were only eleven people left in the villa who had participated in the test of courage, and some things kept in the dark have gradually come to light.
Assuming that the four people who died were all players, there should be six remaining players in the instance.
That is to say, in addition to Ye Zun himself, the three unidentified people who were hiding, there should be two other players, and at least one who is the protagonist.
Who was this player acting as the protagonist?
If there were bystanders among the four dead, then there would be more surviving players.
Compared with the threat of the resentful spirit, these unstable people made Ye Zun even more vigilant.
He will not forget that among the three dead this morning, one died outside of the resentful spirit’s prediction. It was done by another human.
What will these people do?
Chen Qianqian looked at a piece of paper in a daze. “How pitiful.”
Ye Zun came back to his senses and looked at the file in Chen Qianqian’s hand.
It was last year’s case, that is, the fifth victim’s information. When he made his report before, Ye Zun did not share the specifics of the incident and the photos.
The reason why it was not mentioned is because this case was obviously not related to the peach blossom ghost, and the victim was still alive.
When the victim was in school, she was pursued by many people because of her beauty. Finally, a boy rushed into her classroom, muffled her with a plastic bag filled with alcohol in front of everyone, and lit it with a lighter.
Although the rescue was timely and the person was still alive, her face was severely burned and disfigured.
The boy fled to the top of the building after the violent act and decided to commit suicide by jumping off the building, but because of an accident, he failed to die and just fell, leaving him severely disabled.
There were people who said he did not try to commit suicide, but because he desperately wanted to escape from there.
The families of the two parties were not rich. Although there were public donations, the victim’s face could not be restored to how it was before, and they will live the rest of their lives in such pain.
Chen Qianqian looked at the photo of the girl. Even though it was only the photo for the student ID card taken when she entered school, she could see the beauty of the girl.
Ye Zun looked at the files in his hand. He was mainly researching the first case from five years ago.
“Peach blossom ghost, what exactly is it?”
There cannot be a ghost story that came out of nowhere for no reason. Everything has an origin, and the early cases were extremely important.
“From these cases, except for Ruan Yu, the second victim, the tragedy these people met are all related to love.”
Chen Qianqian nodded. “The peach blossom spirit is the same. It is haunting us because of love.”
On the surface, it looked like the ghost texts that everyone received were not scary at first glance. The resentful spirit was very polite, with nothing but sweet words, and their purpose was only to court.
“However, these resentful spirits are just like the irrational young people in these documents. As long as they are a little frustrated, they will put away their affection and raise the butcher’s knife to those they admire. It’s super scary ah.”
Ye Zun paused slightly and looked at Chen Qianqian, having her repeat what she just said.
——The resentful spirits have the same logic as the murderers in the documents. Could it be that behind these resentful spirits is the murderer in one of these cases after they died?
He immediately began to re-read the files.
In the first case, five years ago, the boy fell out of love and threw himself into the lake. Apart from killing himself, he did not harm anyone else. Moreover, the lake water and the peach blossom forest were not completely connected.
In the second case, although Ruan Yu was beautiful, she was determined to study and did not return to her previous appearance. She had no record of a love life at all. She was unaccounted for, and there were also no perpetrators to be suspected.
In the third case, the victim was a female student. She disappeared after her extramarital affair with the teacher was exposed, but according to the clues found in the investigation, she had most likely been threatened and deceived by the teacher. This incident was revealed by the teacher’s original partner. As of now, the original partner and the teacher were living well, and there was no divorce. Only the girl’s life was ruined, and she has disappeared since then.
In the fourth case, only the fourth case had the most tragic outcome. Both people, a man and a woman, died.
Ye Zun’s finger stopped on the fourth report. “The ghost story about the peach blossom spirit doesn’t seem to have been circulating for a while.”
The first time he came across the tale was at the Paranormal Office, when he heard the recording of Miss Zhuang and the senior investigators. In the preliminary investigation of Miss Zhuang and Jiang Shao’s roommate, they first mentioned the claims about the seven victims. Going off that, he had theorised that things started five years ago.
But, maybe it wasn’t too long ago.
“Right ah, there have only been two batches of the Ghost Stories Club. Jiang Shao and Cao Yunmo were in the first batch, and our group is the second batch. Although it sounds like the group has been around for a long time, in fact, the two batches of the Ghost Stories Club were established this year.”
——So, when exactly did that ghost story first emerge?
If they could lock onto the specific time, could they be able to find the true form of the peach blossom ghost?
Ye Zun stood up. “There’s something I need to find someone for. You two, don’t go off alone. Be careful.”
Ye Zi nodded obediently.
However, as soon as Ye Zun’s figure left his sight, Ye Zi got up and silently followed after .
When Chen Qianqian, who still stayed in the same place, raised her head, she wanted to cry without tears. “Wei, don’t leave me by myself ah.”
Ye Zi looked back, his innocent and quiet face completely undisturbed. “Don’t worry ba, nothing will happen to you.”
Chen Qianqian stayed there, and only after the other party had disappeared for a long time did she miserably and indignantly say. “What the heck? Are you saying I am not as good-looking as you guys, so the ghost won’t bother with me? Is that what you mean?”
Annoyance kept building up, but she was still very afraid. Before the ghost’s notification rang, she hurriedly ran indoors to the room where the two influencer sisters stayed to take refuge.
……
Ye Zun originally wanted to go to the president and ask him about the origin of the peach blossom ghost’s tale.
But he couldn’t find the other person.
Ye Zun thought about it for a while. Even if he found him, with the level of grievance between the two of them, the president may not necessarily tell him the truth.
He remembered what the president said when he asked them for a meeting last night, that the ghost in the stories would be particularly threatening to the six of them, and that when he said these words, there were many familiar devices in the small room behind him.
It seemed that every time they had a test of courage meeting, these devices were present. The president asked everyone to record the whole process while live streaming. The footage must still be preserved and have not been cleared yet.
That’s right ah, how could he forget that some things that people can’t see with their eyes may have been captured on those devices.
“I should carefully replay them and watch it a few times.”
At such a time, it was impossible to ask the president to ask for consent, let alone whether the other party would cooperate or not. With that person’s attitude of concealing things all the time, it was clear he was not trustworthy.
Fortunately, the villa was not small. There were only fourteen people in the building. The two inspection staff were usually downstairs, the master and his disciples stayed in the room, and the few internet celebrities were also heavily protected. Except for the elusive president, Ye Zun didn’t have to worry about running into anyone.
He quickly detoured to the small living room where the meeting was held last night.
There was no one in the living room. Ye Zun walked with light steps to the small room holding much of the equipment. He first stood at the door and listened, and when he heard no sounds he then looked in through the window to make sure that there was no one inside.
Only then did he try to put his hand on the doorknob and twisted it slightly.
Fortunately, the door was not locked.
Ye Zun walked in quietly and carefully closed the door with the back of his hand.
He was originally not good at operating these high-tech equipment, but fortunately, he had attended the two live test-of-courage broadcast and was instructed on how to use these devices.
He didn’t turn on the computer and instead found the camera that was set off to the side, checked that the memory card was still inside with sufficient power, then he found a hidden corner and opened it carefully.
The corner was between the sofa and the cupboard, with a fluffy blanket on the floor. Sitting there under the light shadow, he was unable to be spotted directly from the window. Even if someone suddenly opened the door and walked in, they wouldn’t notice him in the corner the first time they looked.
Because it was still daytime, the natural light outside the window was soft.
Ye Zun began to focus on replaying the recorded process of the previous test of courage, moving down the timeline and slowing down the number of frames when needed.
He had gotten hold of a video of the first night’s test. At that time, everyone was very relaxed. Ye Zun’s focus was watching the parts recorded in the peach blossom forest.
Because of the advanced equipment, the scenes captured using the night vision feature were still relatively clear.
He watched four rounds in a row, and nothing was out of the ordinary.
Ye Zun blinked and started to play the fifth one.
He remembered that the fifth person to try their courage was a girl, who came back and said in a panic that she saw a white shadow.
The girl also reminded Ye Zun to be careful, and he suspected her to be a player.
Tragically, she was one of the three found dead this morning.
Ye Zun took a deep breath, calmed down and continued to look seriously.
The camera flickered, and it suddenly began to shake violently, as if the handler was running.
But Ye Zun didn’t see anything unusual no matter how slow he replayed.
——The white shadow she saw at that time might’ve been Ye Zi ba.
After that, Ye Zun finished everything in one go, and until the end of the broadcast, there was nothing suspicious about the entire test of courage.
All his ideas came to a roadblock. Ye Zun leaned against the wall lightly, a little burnt out.
The video played to the end. The president came back from the forest, arranged for everyone to go to bed, or organised for others to play games freely.
With nothing worth seeing in the back, Ye Zun raised his hand to turn the camera off, but when he glanced at the storage, he suddenly stopped.
He sat up slightly and pulled along the timeline a little faster. Sure enough, he found that there was still a clip in the back.
The test of courage meeting had obviously ended. The time displayed was 3:15AM. At this time, except for the members who were camping by the lake, everyone else should have left the school, having either gone to a hotel in the city, or lived in a hotel near the campus like Ye Zun. However, someone was holding the live broadcast device and walking cautiously towards the lake.
——After everyone left, there was still someone who did the test of courage?!
Ye Zun was worried about attracting attention and had kept the sound of the camera off since the beginning. At this time, he couldn’t help but carefully increase the sound by one bar.
The light footstep noises were a little heavy, like they belonged to a man.
No people were shown in the footage, but one could feel the vigilance and alertness of the recorder from the video.
That person didn’t make any extra movements. As if they were familiar with the route, they walked straight into the peach blossom forest and retrieved the number plate without much searching.
Then came the return trip.
He did not return to the camp across the lake, but went to the side of the camp, where a tall figure was waiting.
As the person approached, the face of the person waiting for him was fully captured.
Ye Zun sat up in surprise and looked at the person in the camera without blinking.
“It’s your turn, be careful.” The photographer passed the live broadcast equipment to the waiting person.
The other party was wearing a black T-shirt and a peaked cap belonging to the staff of the Ghost Stories Club. As he adjusted the equipment, he also captured the person who already did his test.
Two people, identical black T-shirts, identical caps.
Even if they were exactly the same, the face was still clear.
Moreover, almost everyone in this villa knew them.
After everyone finished, the two people who secretly went through with the test of courage were the staff of the Ghost Stories Club who were patrolling downstairs at that exact moment.
Ordinary staff would not deliberately do the test of courage, and even if they wanted to out of curiosity, they would not do it secretly from everyone.
There was only one answer.
——Those two staff members are players!
Ye Zun’s scalp was slightly numb. Surprised and astonished, like something was about to pop out in front of him.
The president said that the people told him that the victims in the past were beautiful men and women were the three seriously injured staff members, so everyone suspected that their car accident was the part of an escape plan.
But what if it wasn’t?
What if those three people really had an accident?
After all, of the twenty-one people that night, only the three seriously injured staff members did not do the test.
What if there were no three people hiding in the dark, but only two? Moreover, has the other party been with them, out in the open, all this time?
Last night, in the second test of courage, the two slightly injured staff members also participated in it with everyone.
But under the threat of the resentful spirit, no one felt that there was any problem.
That’s right ah, even though they had also experienced a car accident, the ones who were most suspicious must be the only two people who were slightly injured. However, because of the president’s identification of the others, the preconceptions he came up with placed the suspicion on the three seriously injured staff.
The game did not impose any requirements on himself, with no rules stating that he must stay at the crime scene as a detective, nor did it require him to attend the test of courage. However, because he wanted to solve the case, because of the ghost story’s strange killing methods, and because he wanted to hide his identity, Ye Zun subconsciously followed the people of the Ghost Stories Club. Why didn’t the other detectives choose to do the same as him?
——Could it be, that these two staff members are not only players, but also the ones giving advice to the president’s actions behind their backs and using the resentful spirits to hide themselves while killing other players, other detectives?
If they have always been in the villa, always stayed by everyone’s side, and the president has obviously spared no effort to cover them, then, will the master’s spiritual ceremony tonight really be resolved smoothly?
A chill enveloped Ye Zun’s entire body.
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Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the Abyss
The daytime stretched out very long on this day.
The master’s spirit-calling ceremony took place at night.
Although they knew that the ghost’s message will only appear when one is separated from the rest of the group, as long as they have a good chat without irritating it, it will not be a big problem.
However, the two issues of not being alone and not carrying a phone were not so easy to implement, and conversing without offending the other party cannot be done perfectly with the emotional intelligence of most people.
So everyone still chose to stay in the villa and wait for nighttime to come.
Four people died, three people left because they didn’t seem to be entangled with the resentful spirit, and adding on the master and his two disciples, the villa now had fourteen people.
Among them, the master and his two disciples, were preparing for the evening ceremony in an upstairs room.
The president brought Yin Xiaoyu, along with Asker and two female internet celebrities, and the six people stayed in the leisure area next to the master’s room.
Ye Zun, Ye Zi, and Chen Qianqian were on the second floor’s open-air balcony. The three were still studying the files on the seven past victims.
Considering that the three people who went into hiding were likely accomplices of the ghost and watching them all from the shadows, the two staff members who were lightly injured were arranged to patrol the villa.
Ye Zun was drawing something on the white paper.
He wasn’t only thinking about the resentful spirit, but also about the players.
Currently, apart from the great master’s group of three, there were only eleven people left in the villa who had participated in the test of courage, and some things kept in the dark have gradually come to light.
Assuming that the four people who died were all players, there should be six remaining players in the instance.
That is to say, in addition to Ye Zun himself, the three unidentified people who were hiding, there should be two other players, and at least one who is the protagonist.
Who was this player acting as the protagonist?
If there were bystanders among the four dead, then there would be more surviving players.
Compared with the threat of the resentful spirit, these unstable people made Ye Zun even more vigilant.
He will not forget that among the three dead this morning, one died outside of the resentful spirit’s prediction. It was done by another human.
What will these people do?
Chen Qianqian looked at a piece of paper in a daze. “How pitiful.”
Ye Zun came back to his senses and looked at the file in Chen Qianqian’s hand.
It was last year’s case, that is, the fifth victim’s information. When he made his report before, Ye Zun did not share the specifics of the incident and the photos.
The reason why it was not mentioned is because this case was obviously not related to the peach blossom ghost, and the victim was still alive.
When the victim was in school, she was pursued by many people because of her beauty. Finally, a boy rushed into her classroom, muffled her with a plastic bag filled with alcohol in front of everyone, and lit it with a lighter.
Although the rescue was timely and the person was still alive, her face was severely burned and disfigured.
The boy fled to the top of the building after the violent act and decided to commit suicide by jumping off the building, but because of an accident, he failed to die and just fell, leaving him severely disabled.
There were people who said he did not try to commit suicide, but because he desperately wanted to escape from there.
The families of the two parties were not rich. Although there were public donations, the victim’s face could not be restored to how it was before, and they will live the rest of their lives in such pain.
Chen Qianqian looked at the photo of the girl. Even though it was only the photo for the student ID card taken when she entered school, she could see the beauty of the girl.
Ye Zun looked at the files in his hand. He was mainly researching the first case from five years ago.
“Peach blossom ghost, what exactly is it?”
There cannot be a ghost story that came out of nowhere for no reason. Everything has an origin, and the early cases were extremely important.
“From these cases, except for Ruan Yu, the second victim, the tragedy these people met are all related to love.”
Chen Qianqian nodded. “The peach blossom spirit is the same. It is haunting us because of love.”
On the surface, it looked like the ghost texts that everyone received were not scary at first glance. The resentful spirit was very polite, with nothing but sweet words, and their purpose was only to court.
“However, these resentful spirits are just like the irrational young people in these documents. As long as they are a little frustrated, they will put away their affection and raise the butcher’s knife to those they admire. It’s super scary ah.”
Ye Zun paused slightly and looked at Chen Qianqian, having her repeat what she just said.
——The resentful spirits have the same logic as the murderers in the documents. Could it be that behind these resentful spirits is the murderer in one of these cases after they died?
He immediately began to re-read the files.
In the first case, five years ago, the boy fell out of love and threw himself into the lake. Apart from killing himself, he did not harm anyone else. Moreover, the lake water and the peach blossom forest were not completely connected.
In the second case, although Ruan Yu was beautiful, she was determined to study and did not return to her previous appearance. She had no record of a love life at all. She was unaccounted for, and there were also no perpetrators to be suspected.
In the third case, the victim was a female student. She disappeared after her extramarital affair with the teacher was exposed, but according to the clues found in the investigation, she had most likely been threatened and deceived by the teacher. This incident was revealed by the teacher’s original partner. As of now, the original partner and the teacher were living well, and there was no divorce. Only the girl’s life was ruined, and she has disappeared since then.
In the fourth case, only the fourth case had the most tragic outcome. Both people, a man and a woman, died.
Ye Zun’s finger stopped on the fourth report. “The ghost story about the peach blossom spirit doesn’t seem to have been circulating for a while.”
The first time he came across the tale was at the Paranormal Office, when he heard the recording of Miss Zhuang and the senior investigators. In the preliminary investigation of Miss Zhuang and Jiang Shao’s roommate, they first mentioned the claims about the seven victims. Going off that, he had theorised that things started five years ago.
But, maybe it wasn’t too long ago.
“Right ah, there have only been two batches of the Ghost Stories Club. Jiang Shao and Cao Yunmo were in the first batch, and our group is the second batch. Although it sounds like the group has been around for a long time, in fact, the two batches of the Ghost Stories Club were established this year.”
——So, when exactly did that ghost story first emerge?
If they could lock onto the specific time, could they be able to find the true form of the peach blossom ghost?
Ye Zun stood up. “There’s something I need to find someone for. You two, don’t go off alone. Be careful.”
Ye Zi nodded obediently.
However, as soon as Ye Zun’s figure left his sight, Ye Zi got up and silently followed after .
When Chen Qianqian, who still stayed in the same place, raised her head, she wanted to cry without tears. “Wei, don’t leave me by myself ah.”
Ye Zi looked back, his innocent and quiet face completely undisturbed. “Don’t worry ba, nothing will happen to you.”
Chen Qianqian stayed there, and only after the other party had disappeared for a long time did she miserably and indignantly say. “What the heck? Are you saying I am not as good-looking as you guys, so the ghost won’t bother with me? Is that what you mean?”
Annoyance kept building up, but she was still very afraid. Before the ghost’s notification rang, she hurriedly ran indoors to the room where the two influencer sisters stayed to take refuge.
……
Ye Zun originally wanted to go to the president and ask him about the origin of the peach blossom ghost’s tale.
But he couldn’t find the other person.
Ye Zun thought about it for a while. Even if he found him, with the level of grievance between the two of them, the president may not necessarily tell him the truth.
He remembered what the president said when he asked them for a meeting last night, that the ghost in the stories would be particularly threatening to the six of them, and that when he said these words, there were many familiar devices in the small room behind him.
It seemed that every time they had a test of courage meeting, these devices were present. The president asked everyone to record the whole process while live streaming. The footage must still be preserved and have not been cleared yet.
That’s right ah, how could he forget that some things that people can’t see with their eyes may have been captured on those devices.
“I should carefully replay them and watch it a few times.”
At such a time, it was impossible to ask the president to ask for consent, let alone whether the other party would cooperate or not. With that person’s attitude of concealing things all the time, it was clear he was not trustworthy.
Fortunately, the villa was not small. There were only fourteen people in the building. The two inspection staff were usually downstairs, the master and his disciples stayed in the room, and the few internet celebrities were also heavily protected. Except for the elusive president, Ye Zun didn’t have to worry about running into anyone.
He quickly detoured to the small living room where the meeting was held last night.
There was no one in the living room. Ye Zun walked with light steps to the small room holding much of the equipment. He first stood at the door and listened, and when he heard no sounds he then looked in through the window to make sure that there was no one inside.
Only then did he try to put his hand on the doorknob and twisted it slightly.
Fortunately, the door was not locked.
Ye Zun walked in quietly and carefully closed the door with the back of his hand.
He was originally not good at operating these high-tech equipment, but fortunately, he had attended the two live test-of-courage broadcast and was instructed on how to use these devices.
He didn’t turn on the computer and instead found the camera that was set off to the side, checked that the memory card was still inside with sufficient power, then he found a hidden corner and opened it carefully.
The corner was between the sofa and the cupboard, with a fluffy blanket on the floor. Sitting there under the light shadow, he was unable to be spotted directly from the window. Even if someone suddenly opened the door and walked in, they wouldn’t notice him in the corner the first time they looked.
Because it was still daytime, the natural light outside the window was soft.
Ye Zun began to focus on replaying the recorded process of the previous test of courage, moving down the timeline and slowing down the number of frames when needed.
He had gotten hold of a video of the first night’s test. At that time, everyone was very relaxed. Ye Zun’s focus was watching the parts recorded in the peach blossom forest.
Because of the advanced equipment, the scenes captured using the night vision feature were still relatively clear.
He watched four rounds in a row, and nothing was out of the ordinary.
Ye Zun blinked and started to play the fifth one.
He remembered that the fifth person to try their courage was a girl, who came back and said in a panic that she saw a white shadow.
The girl also reminded Ye Zun to be careful, and he suspected her to be a player.
Tragically, she was one of the three found dead this morning.
Ye Zun took a deep breath, calmed down and continued to look seriously.
The camera flickered, and it suddenly began to shake violently, as if the handler was running.
But Ye Zun didn’t see anything unusual no matter how slow he replayed.
——The white shadow she saw at that time might’ve been Ye Zi ba.
After that, Ye Zun finished everything in one go, and until the end of the broadcast, there was nothing suspicious about the entire test of courage.
All his ideas came to a roadblock. Ye Zun leaned against the wall lightly, a little burnt out.
The video played to the end. The president came back from the forest, arranged for everyone to go to bed, or organised for others to play games freely.
With nothing worth seeing in the back, Ye Zun raised his hand to turn the camera off, but when he glanced at the storage, he suddenly stopped.
He sat up slightly and pulled along the timeline a little faster. Sure enough, he found that there was still a clip in the back.
The test of courage meeting had obviously ended. The time displayed was 3:15AM. At this time, except for the members who were camping by the lake, everyone else should have left the school, having either gone to a hotel in the city, or lived in a hotel near the campus like Ye Zun. However, someone was holding the live broadcast device and walking cautiously towards the lake.
——After everyone left, there was still someone who did the test of courage?!
Ye Zun was worried about attracting attention and had kept the sound of the camera off since the beginning. At this time, he couldn’t help but carefully increase the sound by one bar.
The light footstep noises were a little heavy, like they belonged to a man.
No people were shown in the footage, but one could feel the vigilance and alertness of the recorder from the video.
That person didn’t make any extra movements. As if they were familiar with the route, they walked straight into the peach blossom forest and retrieved the number plate without much searching.
Then came the return trip.
He did not return to the camp across the lake, but went to the side of the camp, where a tall figure was waiting.
As the person approached, the face of the person waiting for him was fully captured.
Ye Zun sat up in surprise and looked at the person in the camera without blinking.
“It’s your turn, be careful.” The photographer passed the live broadcast equipment to the waiting person.
The other party was wearing a black T-shirt and a peaked cap belonging to the staff of the Ghost Stories Club. As he adjusted the equipment, he also captured the person who already did his test.
Two people, identical black T-shirts, identical caps.
Even if they were exactly the same, the face was still clear.
Moreover, almost everyone in this villa knew them.
After everyone finished, the two people who secretly went through with the test of courage were the staff of the Ghost Stories Club who were patrolling downstairs at that exact moment.
Ordinary staff would not deliberately do the test of courage, and even if they wanted to out of curiosity, they would not do it secretly from everyone.
There was only one answer.
——Those two staff members are players!
Ye Zun’s scalp was slightly numb. Surprised and astonished, like something was about to pop out in front of him.
The president said that the people told him that the victims in the past were beautiful men and women were the three seriously injured staff members, so everyone suspected that their car accident was the part of an escape plan.
But what if it wasn’t?
What if those three people really had an accident?
After all, of the twenty-one people that night, only the three seriously injured staff members did not do the test.
What if there were no three people hiding in the dark, but only two? Moreover, has the other party been with them, out in the open, all this time?
Last night, in the second test of courage, the two slightly injured staff members also participated in it with everyone.
But under the threat of the resentful spirit, no one felt that there was any problem.
That’s right ah, even though they had also experienced a car accident, the ones who were most suspicious must be the only two people who were slightly injured. However, because of the president’s identification of the others, the preconceptions he came up with placed the suspicion on the three seriously injured staff.
The game did not impose any requirements on himself, with no rules stating that he must stay at the crime scene as a detective, nor did it require him to attend the test of courage. However, because he wanted to solve the case, because of the ghost story’s strange killing methods, and because he wanted to hide his identity, Ye Zun subconsciously followed the people of the Ghost Stories Club. Why didn’t the other detectives choose to do the same as him?
——Could it be, that these two staff members are not only players, but also the ones giving advice to the president’s actions behind their backs and using the resentful spirits to hide themselves while killing other players, other detectives?
If they have always been in the villa, always stayed by everyone’s side, and the president has obviously spared no effort to cover them, then, will the master’s spiritual ceremony tonight really be resolved smoothly?
A chill enveloped Ye Zun’s entire body.
Having the Same Name as the Demon Lord of the AbyssThe daytime stretched out very long on this day.The master's spirit-calling ceremony took place at night.Although they knew that the ghost's message will only appear when one is separated from the rest of the group, as long as they have a good chat without irritating it, it will not be a big problem.However, the two issues of not being alone and not carrying a phone were not so easy to implement, and conversing without offending the other party cannot be done perfectly with the emotional intelligence of most people.So everyone still chose to stay in the villa and wait for nighttime to come.Four people died, three people left because they didn't seem to be entangled with the resentful spirit, and adding on the master and his two disciples, the villa now had fourteen people.Among them, the master and his two disciples, were preparing for the evening ceremony in an upstairs room.The president brought Yin Xiaoyu, along with Asker and two female internet celebrities, and the six people stayed in the leisure area next to the master's room.Ye Zun, Ye Zi, and Chen Qianqian were on the second floor's open-air balcony. The three were still studying the files on the seven past victims.Considering that the three people who went into hiding were likely accomplices of the ghost and watching them all from the shadows, the two staff members who were lightly injured were arranged to patrol the villa.Ye Zun was drawing something on the white paper.He wasn't only thinking about the resentful spirit, but also about the players.Currently, apart from the great master's group of three, there were only eleven people left in the villa who had participated in the test of courage, and some things kept in the dark have gradually come to light.Assuming that the four people who died were all players, there should be six remaining players in the instance.That is to say, in addition to Ye Zun himself, the three unidentified people who were hiding, there should be two other players, and at least one who is the protagonist.Who was this player acting as the protagonist?If there were bystanders among the four dead, then there would be more surviving players.Compared with the threat of the resentful spirit, these unstable people made Ye Zun even more vigilant.He will not forget that among the three dead this morning, one died outside of the resentful spirit's prediction. It was done by another human.What will these people do?Chen Qianqian looked at a piece of paper in a daze. How pitiful.Ye Zun came back to his senses and looked at the file in Chen Qianqian's hand.It was last year's case, that is, the fifth victim's information. When he made his report before, Ye Zun did not share the specifics of the incident and the photos.The reason why it was not mentioned is because this case was obviously not related to the peach blossom ghost, and the victim was still alive.When the victim was in school, she was pursued by many people because of her beauty. Finally, a boy rushed into her classroom, muffled her with a plastic bag filled with alcohol in front of everyone, and lit it with a lighter.Although the rescue was timely and the person was still alive, her face was severely burned and disfigured.The boy fled to the top of the building after the violent act and decided to commit suicide by jumping off the building, but because of an accident, he failed to die and just fell, leaving him severely disabled.There were people who said he did not try to commit suicide, but because he desperately wanted to escape from there.The families of the two parties were not rich. Although there were public donations, the victim's face could not be restored to how it was before, and they will live the rest of their lives in such pain.Chen Qianqian looked at the photo of the girl. Even though it was only the photo for the student ID card taken when she entered school, she could see the beauty of the girl.Ye Zun looked at the files in his hand. He was mainly researching the first case from five years ago.Peach blossom ghost, what exactly is it?There cannot be a ghost story that came out of nowhere for no reason. Everything has an origin, and the early cases were extremely important.From these cases, except for Ruan Yu, the second victim, the tragedy these people met are all related to love.Chen Qianqian nodded. The peach blossom spirit is the same. It is haunting us because of love.On the surface, it looked like the ghost texts that everyone received were not scary at first glance. The resentful spirit was very polite, with nothing but sweet words, and their purpose was only to court.However, these resentful spirits are just like the irrational young people in these documents. As long as they are a little frustrated, they will put away their affection and raise the butcher's knife to those they admire. It's super scaryah.Ye Zun paused slightly and looked at Chen Qianqian, having her repeat what she just said.The resentful spirits have the same logic as the murderers in the documents. Could it be that behind these resentful spirits is the murderer in one of these cases after they died?He immediately began to re-read the files.In the first case, five years ago, the boy fell out of love and threw himself into the lake. Apart from killing himself, he did not harm anyone else. Moreover, the lake water and the peach blossom forest were not completely connected.In the second case, although Ruan Yu was beautiful, she was determined to study and did not return to her previous appearance. She had no record of a love life at all. She was unaccounted for, and there were also no perpetrators to be suspected.In the third case, the victim was a female student. She disappeared after her extramarital affair with the teacher was exposed, but according to the clues found in the investigation, she had most likely been threatened and deceived by the teacher. This incident was revealed by the teacher's original partner. As of now, the original partner and the teacher were living well, and there was no divorce. Only the girl's life was ruined, and she has disappeared since then.In the fourth case, only the fourth case had the most tragic outcome. Both people, a man and a woman, died.Ye Zun's finger stopped on the fourth report. The ghost story about the peach blossom spirit doesn't seem to have been circulating for a while.The first time he came across the tale was at the Paranormal Office, when he heard the recording of Miss Zhuang and the senior investigators. In the preliminary investigation of Miss Zhuang and Jiang Shao's roommate, they first mentioned the claims about the seven victims. Going off that, he had theorised that things started five years ago.But, maybe it wasn't too long ago.Rightah, there have only been two batches of the Ghost Stories Club. Jiang Shao and Cao Yunmo were in the first batch, and our group is the second batch. Although it sounds like the group has been around for a long time, in fact, the two batches of the Ghost Stories Club were established this year.So, when exactly did that ghost story first emerge?If they could lock onto the specific time, could they be able to find the true form of the peach blossom ghost?Ye Zun stood up. There's something I need to find someone for. You two, don't go off alone. Be careful.Ye Zi nodded obediently.However, as soon as Ye Zun's figure left his sight, Ye Zi got up and silently followed after .When Chen Qianqian, who still stayed in the same place, raised her head, she wanted to cry without tears. Wei, don't leave me by myselfah.Ye Zi looked back, his innocent and quiet face completely undisturbed. Don't worryba, nothing will happen to you.Chen Qianqian stayed there, and only after the other party had disappeared for a long time did she miserably and indignantly say. What the heck? Are you saying I am not as good-looking as you guys, so the ghost won't bother with me? Is that what you mean?Annoyance kept building up, but she was still very afraid. Before the ghost's notification rang, she hurriedly ran indoors to the room where the two influencer sisters stayed to take refuge.Ye Zun originally wanted to go to the president and ask him about the origin of the peach blossom ghost's tale.But he couldn't find the other person.Ye Zun thought about it for a while. Even if he found him, with the level of grievance between the two of them, the president may not necessarily tell him the truth.He remembered what the president said when he asked them for a meeting last night, that the ghost in the stories would be particularly threatening to the six of them, and that when he said these words, there were many familiar devices in the small room behind him.It seemed that every time they had a test of courage meeting, these devices were present. The president asked everyone to record the whole process while live streaming. The footage must still be preserved and have not been cleared yet.That's rightah, how could he forget that some things that people can't see with their eyes may have been captured on those devices.I should carefully replay them and watch it a few times.At such a time, it was impossible to ask the president to ask for consent, let alone whether the other party would cooperate or not. With that person's attitude of concealing things all the time, it was clear he was not trustworthy.Fortunately, the villa was not small. There were only fourteen people in the building. The two inspection staff were usually downstairs, the master and his disciples stayed in the room, and the few internet celebrities were also heavily protected. Except for the elusive president, Ye Zun didn't have to worry about running into anyone.He quickly detoured to the small living room where the meeting was held last night.There was no one in the living room. Ye Zun walked with light steps to the small room holding much of the equipment. He first stood at the door and listened, and when he heard no sounds he then looked in through the window to make sure that there was no one inside.Only then did he try to put his hand on the doorknob and twisted it slightly.Fortunately, the door was not locked.Ye Zun walked in quietly and carefully closed the door with the back of his hand.He was originally not good at operating these high-tech equipment, but fortunately, he had attended the two live test-of-courage broadcast and was instructed on how to use these devices.He didn't turn on the computer and instead found the camera that was set off to the side, checked that the memory card was still inside with sufficient power, then he found a hidden corner and opened it carefully.The corner was between the sofa and the cupboard, with a fluffy blanket on the floor. Sitting there under the light shadow, he was unable to be spotted directly from the window. Even if someone suddenly opened the door and walked in, they wouldn't notice him in the corner the first time they looked.Because it was still daytime, the natural light outside the window was soft.Ye Zun began to focus on replaying the recorded process of the previous test of courage, moving down the timeline and slowing down the number of frames when needed.He had gotten hold of a video of the first night's test. At that time, everyone was very relaxed. Ye Zun's focus was watching the parts recorded in the peach blossom forest.Because of the advanced equipment, the scenes captured using the night vision feature were still relatively clear.He watched four rounds in a row, and nothing was out of the ordinary.Ye Zun blinked and started to play the fifth one.He remembered that the fifth person to try their courage was a girl, who came back and said in a panic that she saw a white shadow.The girl also reminded Ye Zun to be careful, and he suspected her to be a player.Tragically, she was one of the three found dead this morning.Ye Zun took a deep breath, calmed down and continued to look seriously.The camera flickered, and it suddenly began to shake violently, as if the handler was running.But Ye Zun didn't see anything unusual no matter how slow he replayed.The white shadow she saw at that time might've been Ye Ziba.After that, Ye Zun finished everything in one go, and until the end of the broadcast, there was nothing suspicious about the entire test of courage.All his ideas came to a roadblock. Ye Zun leaned against the wall lightly, a little burnt out.The video played to the end. The president came back from the forest, arranged for everyone to go to bed, or organised for others to play games freely.With nothing worth seeing in the back, Ye Zun raised his hand to turn the camera off, but when he glanced at the storage, he suddenly stopped.He sat up slightly and pulled along the timeline a little faster. Sure enough, he found that there was still a clip in the back.The test of courage meeting had obviously ended. The time displayed was 3:15AM. At this time, except for the members who were camping by the lake, everyone else should have left the school, having either gone to a hotel in the city, or lived in a hotel near the campus like Ye Zun. However, someone was holding the live broadcast device and walking cautiously towards the lake.After everyone left, there was still someone who did the test of courage?!Ye Zun was worried about attracting attention and had kept the sound of the camera off since the beginning. At this time, he couldn't help but carefully increase the sound by one bar.The light footstep noises were a little heavy, like they belonged to a man.No people were shown in the footage, but one could feel the vigilance and alertness of the recorder from the video.That person didn't make any extra movements. As if they were familiar with the route, they walked straight into the peach blossom forest and retrieved the number plate without much searching.Then came the return trip.He did not return to the camp across the lake, but went to the side of the camp, where a tall figure was waiting.As the person approached, the face of the person waiting for him was fully captured.Ye Zun sat up in surprise and looked at the person in the camera without blinking.It's your turn, be careful. The photographer passed the live broadcast equipment to the waiting person.The other party was wearing a black T-shirt and a peaked cap belonging to the staff of the Ghost Stories Club. As he adjusted the equipment, he also captured the person who already did his test.Two people, identical black T-shirts, identical caps.Even if they were exactly the same, the face was still clear.Moreover, almost everyone in this villa knew them.After everyone finished, the two people who secretly went through with the test of courage were the staff of the Ghost Stories Club who were patrolling downstairs at that exact moment.Ordinary staff would not deliberately do the test of courage, and even if they wanted to out of curiosity, they would not do it secretly from everyone.There was only one answer.Those two staff members are players!Ye Zun's scalp was slightly numb. Surprised and astonished, like something was about to pop out in front of him.The president said that the people told him that the victims in the past were beautiful men and women were the three seriously injured staff members, so everyone suspected that their car accident was the part of an escape plan.But what if it wasn't?What if those three people really had an accident?After all, of the twenty-one people that night, only the three seriously injured staff members did not do the test.What if there were no three people hiding in the dark, but only two? Moreover, has the other party been with them, out in the open, all this time?Last night, in the second test of courage, the two slightly injured staff members also participated in it with everyone.But under the threat of the resentful spirit, no one felt that there was any problem.That's rightah, even though they had also experienced a car accident, the ones who were most suspicious must be the only two people who were slightly injured. However, because of the president's identification of the others, the preconceptions he came up with placed the suspicion on the three seriously injured staff.The game did not impose any requirements on himself, with no rules stating that he must stay at the crime scene as a detective, nor did it require him to attend the test of courage. However, because he wanted to solve the case, because of the ghost story's strange killing methods, and because he wanted to hide his identity, Ye Zun subconsciously followed the people of the Ghost Stories Club. Why didn't the other detectives choose to do the same as him?Could it be, that these two staff members are not only players, but also the ones giving advice to the president's actions behind their backs and using the resentful spirits to hide themselves while killing other players, other detectives?If they have always been in the villa, always stayed by everyone's side, and the president has obviously spared no effort to cover them, then, will the master's spiritual ceremony tonight really be resolved smoothly?A chill enveloped Ye Zun's entire body.
