Qi Yang and Zou Qing had not seen what the girl looked like, so naturally, they did not believe Yang Chaoyu and the others.
But Yang Chaoyu had eyes and feelings. She merely liked game novels; she did not like watching horror films or seek out that kind of frightening stimulation. She was certain that her own eyes had seen a blood-covered girl—not some performer or prop.
Besides, even if she had been mistaken, could Ke Xingyun have made the same mistake as Yang Chaoyu?
And had he not been scared out of his wits?
Ke Xingyun sobbed pitifully as he pressed close to Yang Chaoyu and said, “big shot, you’re so calm. Your younger brother will follow you from now on.”
“Call me Daddy, and I’ll keep loving you.”
“Daddy!”
Yang Chaoyu looked at him helplessly, then took a deep breath. “Let’s find the baseball cap. He clearly knows something.”
He glanced at Yang Chaoyu, clearly wanting to complain, but since he had to rely on her, what came out instead was, “Daddy, the code name ‘baseball cap’ is truly vivid.”
Yang Chaoyu: …There’s really no need to force such exaggerated flattery.
She was just about to follow the baseball cap inside when the elevator chimed, indicating that it had arrived at their floor.
“Aaah!”
Along with the sound of the elevator doors opening came a man’s roar and a woman’s scream.
Yang Chaoyu turned to look and saw an extremely fast shadow flash past. Zou Qing screamed and ran to their side, while Qi Yang fell to the ground and could not get up for a long while.
Beneath him was a pool of bright-red bloodstains.
Yang Chaoyu’s heart lurched, and she called to Ke Xingyun as they went over together.
Zou Qing screamed, “Don’t go over there! There’s a ghost, there really is a ghost! He broke Qi Yang’s leg! Aaah, there’s so much blood, so much blood…”
Yang Chaoyu’s footsteps faltered, and she exchanged a glance with Ke Xingyun.
Ke Xingyun had steadied himself somewhat and said, “Generally speaking, a killer will flee after striking once, regardless of whether the attack hit.”
“But that applies to a human killer.”
What if the attacker was not human?
“Daddy, please stop.” Ke Xingyun’s tears were once again on the verge of falling.
Yang Chaoyu inexplicably found it amusing. Earlier, in the elevator, this kid had still been able to calmly analyze the situation like a detective. Now… he was probably genuinely so frightened that he was nearly an idiot.
Qi Yang’s blood continued to flow, and after steadying herself, she reached his side.
Just as Zou Qing had said, Qi Yang’s leg had been broken. He howled in agony, his eyes webbed with red veins and opened as wide as possible. He was nearly in a pain-induced coma, yet he stubbornly dragged his broken leg, trying to move away from the elevator doors.
At that moment, the cold metallic texture of the elevator doors, seen suddenly, made them seem like the chilling freezer doors of a morgue.
Qi Yang’s severed leg had crossed through those doors earlier.
“Help… help me, there really is a ghost! Help me… save me!”
He looked toward Yang Chaoyu, suddenly grabbed her arm, and shouted while twisting about wildly.
His lower leg bent outright, and the broken bones pierced through flesh. Great streams of blood poured out like a fountain. Bone fragments and mangled flesh were mashed together, clearly indicating a comminuted fracture. His own twisting brought out even more blood, and the pain gradually left him unable to speak. He could only lie on the ground and groan continuously.
To prevent him from struggling and worsening the injury, Ke Xingyun made him lie flat.
Ke Xingyun tightly clasped both of Qi Yang’s hands and pressed down on his chest, keeping him conscious.
Yang Chaoyu pressed above the break with one hand and took out her phone with the other to dial 120, but the call indicated that there was no signal.
Impossible. They were still within A City; there was no way there could be no signal coverage! Yet Yang Chaoyu tried several times, and every attempt showed no signal!
Then…
How had MN sent them messages?
And how had the livestream been started?
An indescribable fear rose in her heart. Yang Chaoyu’s vision went black, and she could barely remain standing.
Ke Xingyun called out to Yang Chaoyu and asked, “Did you make the call?”
“My phone has no signal.”
“How can this be? Keep pressing on him for now.” As he spoke, Ke Xingyun took out his own phone and tapped it several times. He stared in disbelief. “My phone has no signal either… This is impossible. Just now, that ghost or whatever from that trash company even sent us a text message, and the phone downloaded an application by itself.”
“Put that aside for now. He’s lost too much blood. We need to stop the bleeding as soon as possible.”
Yang Chaoyu calmed down somewhat and had him remove his belt, then used it to tie around the base of Qi Yang’s thigh to stop the bleeding. Otherwise, he would lose too much blood and fall unconscious before the ambulance arrived.
Without another word, he removed his belt.
His waist was very slender, and when he undid the belt, his pants nearly fell to the floor. Yang Chaoyu subconsciously lowered her head, then felt that acting so coy would be excessive, and helped Ke Xingyun tie the belt around the middle of Qi Yang’s thigh.
The flow of blood slowed noticeably, and the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.
As a girl, Yang Chaoyu was not suited to pressing down on a man’s thigh. After fixing his pants, Ke Xingyun took over for her.
They could not move Qi Yang, and leaving him alone was unsafe. He seemed to understand this himself. Releasing Yang Chaoyu, he tightly grabbed Ke Xingyun and begged them not to abandon him.
He had never believed in ghosts or gods before. He had even played ghost-summoning games during his livestreams, but he had never encountered anything strange, so he simply did not believe in such things.
But what he had experienced today was truly frightening him to death.
“Please, don’t abandon me. Don’t leave me alone…”
He could not stay by himself.
Otherwise, that thing would certainly come and take his life!
Yang Chaoyu said nothing and looked toward Ke Xingyun.
In the other man’s dark eyes, her tiny reflection was difficult to make out. But she knew that her face must be very pale, with panic still lingering on it. Ke Xingyun was no better; his lips were trembling, and his whole body was swaying as though he might collapse at any moment.
If he had not been holding Qi Yang down, he probably would have fainted already.
Yang Chaoyu said, “This is too strange.”
He nodded and stared intently at Yang Chaoyu, as if he truly regarded her as a big shot.
Yang Chaoyu had never been valued so highly before, and an unexpected sense of responsibility began to emerge within her.
She forced herself to regain her composure and analyzed the situation. “That girl… is probably still here. Then there’s also the person who broke Qi Yang’s leg. So there are at least two threats.”
Ke Xingyun shuddered and interjected, “Why couldn’t that ghost… that kid have broken it?”
He had wanted to say “ghost child,” but he was afraid that thing would hear him, so he changed his wording.
Yang Chaoyu paused at his question and said, “That’s possible too. But judging from the figure of that shadow, it did not look like the girl from before.”
Ke Xingyun was terrified, but still said, “We don’t even know what evidence MN wants us to find, or what will happen if we can’t find it.”
He cast a sidelong glance at Yang Chaoyu, and she understood what he meant.
If they wanted to preserve Qi Yang’s life, someone had to guard him until the countdown ended and an ambulance came. But at least two dangerous things were still roaming outside. Whoever stayed behind had to possess enough combat strength to protect themselves, and even Qi Yang.
The only person who could stay behind was Ke Xingyun.
He was a man, so compared with Yang Chaoyu, his odds were better.
As for the baseball cap and the old man?
There was no need to mention the old man. With his gaunt appearance, he seemed even less capable than Ke Xingyun. As for the baseball cap, he did not seem like someone who would help. Although he had said something when Qi Yang left, it had only been a single remark. If he had truly wanted to help, he would at least have tried to stop him physically, right?
He had not.
Moreover, MN was the greatest known black hands behind everything. It wanted them to complete the so-called clue search; otherwise, they would face elimination. They did not know what this so-called elimination entailed. But judging from Qi Yang’s miserable condition, Yang Chaoyu used the greatest possible malice to speculate about MN: elimination might mean death.
Qi Yang and Ke Xingyun, who could not search for clues, would certainly be subjected to elimination—in other words, they had the highest probability of dying.
Unless they cooperated: Yang Chaoyu searched for clues while he guarded Qi Yang.
But would MN approve of such cooperation?