Nightmare Assault

When everyone reunited next, it was already an hour later. An Xuan and Zuo Qing were the last to return. When Qin Jian saw the two walking back, something strange flashed in his eyes. It was the same for the others, but they hid it better.

“Why did you return so late?” You Qi demanded. He looked at Zuo Qing and then at An Xuan. He asked, “Did you discover anything?”

“Not yet.” An Xuan answered calmly. “There were too many alleys. We got lost and got delayed.”

“Lost?” Shi Liaozhi turned to Zuo Qing as if trying to get her to verify what he said. However, he failed because he realised Zuo Qing was purposely avoiding his gaze. Even though she was still calm… she wasn’t like this before she left. When she sensed the other travellers’ gazes on her, she raised her head and said officially, “We indeed got lost. When we found Young Master Huang’s place, we didn’t have much time left.”

“So… you didn’t check out the place at all?” Shi Liaozhi frowned.

“Yes.” Zuo Qing’s hand dangled by her side. It looked fine but her fingers kept tightening and loosening subconsciously.

“Alright.” An Xuan smiled, “We didn’t find anything, but what about you?” He turned to Qin Jian, and the latter trembled. “Elder Qin,” An Xuan asked, “Did you find something?”

“Yes…” An Xuan’s gaze felt like a venomous snake’s gaze. Qin Jian didn’t want to work with someone like this, and he didn’t want to offend him either.

“We found some strange prints in the abandoned yard.” Qin Jian’s face darkened as he thought about their discovery. “They were tapered at the front and wider at the back. They started at the spot where the sedan chair was yesterday night and disappeared into the lake.”

“They were embroidered shoe prints from women who had their feet bound.” Shi Liaozhi said, “You Qi… said… the female paper doll we carried back wore shoes like that.”

“Embroidered shoes?”

“Yes.” Shi Liaozhi continued, “I used my hands to gauge the sizes. It was…” He used his hands to show the size, “About this big.”

“The prints were incredibly deep,” You Qi added, “I stomped on the ground next to them, but the depth of my print was barely half of theirs.”

“Do you mean… the paper doll came out of the sedan chair and walked into the lake after we left?” Fatty swallowed. His voice shook. He could already see the images in his mind. It was absurd. Young Master Huang used the paper doll to trade for Tang Shirou, and the paper doll… came alive?!

No one spoke. This meant that they thought this hypothesis was plausible because no one questioned it.

“Anyone else saw the pair of embroidered shoes?” Jiang Cheng asked weakly.

“No.”

“I wasn’t paying attention.”

“No…”

“Brother You,” An Xuan picked up the threads of conversation, “What did the pair of embroidered shoes look like?”

“They were red.” You Qi answered. He paused before something dawned on him. “They… appeared to be embroidered with two birds!”

“You should be talking about mandarin ducks…” Chen Qiang, who had been silent, suddenly offered.

“It looks like Young Master Huang’s illness is related to this woman he married,” Qin Jian suggested, “She might be his wife.” Based on the current clues, that was valid.

“And this woman is most likely dead. It is why Young Master Huang comes out to the lake to sing at night.” Shi Liaozhi scratched his chin.

“Something was probably suspicious about this woman’s death.” Qin Jian nodded. He glanced at the lake. The lake was pretty in the morning. The surface was dappled with sunlight. It was completely different from how it was at night, “She might be killed and then… thrown into this lake.”

“But one thing can’t be explained,” Xia Meng asked, “Since Young Master Huang loves her that much and knows that she was killed, why didn’t he take revenge for his lover?” Everyone believed that Young Master Huang was a ghost. Plus, based on the plot of the song he sang, the pair of lovers died in the end. That song should be talking about Young Master Huang and his love.

“Could it be…” Jiang Cheng blinked innocently, “That Young Master Huang is not a ghost but a human? He is just a bit abnormal.” An Xuan and the others turned to him. They all knew that Jiang Cheng was acting. He was not a newbie.

“Did Mr. Hao discover something?” An Xuan asked.

“No. No.” Jiang Cheng quickly waved his hands. “I was just guessing.” He licked his lips and used his pair of innocent and frightened eyes to look at every one. Then, he whispered, “After all, as you all know, I’m just a newbie who doesn’t know anything.” ȐΆNỘ฿Εṧ

Everyone else narrowed their eyes. This statement… sounded so strange.

This feeling continued until lunch. This time, the middle-aged woman didn’t show up, but everyone moved to the pavilion, sat down and started to have lunch. After lunch, they returned to their rooms to rest.

Some of them finally looked away after Jiang Cheng disappeared. This man’s way of thinking was different from the others. He gave off a weird feeling. It was more than his reliance on disguises. It felt… like he was doing this on purpose.

Everyone agreed that his words were worth mulling over.

…

“What are you trying to do?”

Once the door closed, Xia Meng interrogated Jiang Cheng. She looked at him like he was crazy, “Do you have to grab everyone’s attention like that?”

“Of course not.” Jiang Cheng shrugged, “I have my reasons. I don’t need to explain it to you.”

Xia Meng was taken aback. She expected him to use some crappy reason to blow her off. She didn’t expect him to be so direct. She suddenly had a bad feeling.

“What the fuck!” Fatty yelled, “What is going on here?”

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