CH 6

“Why are you so close to me?” Su Rong asked warily and took a few steps back.

Huang Tao didn’t try to get closer, standing still with an innocent expression. “I wanted to read the note again.”

Su Rong couldn’t find fault with this. She licked her lips, “Sorry. I’m just a little startled now because I found a clue. Let’s go back first, shall we?”

The daily necessities area was relatively safer, and with Min Jingyi there, she also felt a little more secure. If Su Rong stayed alone with Huang Tao, who knew what she might do?

“Okay.” To Su Rong’s surprise, Huang Tao agreed directly and walked back with her obediently.

**

The daily living area.

After sitting for a while, Min Jingyi felt that her spirit had eased up quite a bit. She also felt a little embarrassed when she remembered how badly she was crying just now.

The empty daily living area was very quiet. Everyone else had left to find clues and Min Jingyi felt pretty bored staying alone for a few hours. She climbed out of bed and counted the supplies idly.

Lighters, pillows, plastic cups, toothbrushes…… posters……

Huh? Since when was there a half-covered poster here?

Min Jingyi instinctively glanced at it.

It was a very ordinary promotional poster of the Anle Supermarket with an empty lobby in the background.

What exactly was the word that was covered up? Min Jingyi didn’t realize that she was gradually approaching the poster, so focused she was unable to look away.

Getting closer, and closer……

She was so curious. What was it?

“Sister Min! What are you doing!?” A voice suddenly screamed.

Su Rong rushed forward in a flash, ignoring everything else and pushing Min Jingyi hard.

With a bang, Min Jingi was shoved to the ground, stunned.

Moments later, she seemed to come back to her senses, blinking slowly and puzzled. “What happened just now? I remember…… I think I saw…… a poster?!”

Her eyes widened as she suddenly recalled the rules of the “Daily Living Area” — “If you see a poster, please ignore it. Do not open it.”

Su Rong had just stepped into the daily living area when she saw Min Jingyi looking possessed, her right hand just a step away from a rolled-up poster. Frightened, she rushed directly to push her away, thus avoiding a tragedy.

The one most afraid was obviously Min Jingyi. She covered her heart with one hand and breathed heavily, her chest palpitating with lingering fear. After a while, she thanked Su Rong gratefully. “Thank you, Su Rong. If it weren’t for you, I would have already……”

She clearly remembered that she was out of control at the time, fully focused on the poster. If Su Rong hadn’t pushed her away in time, she would have been contaminated by “Him” now.

Su Rong shook her head. “You were terrified by what happened to Aunt Li, and you were the only one here. “He” chose such a time to seduce you, it’s so insidious and cunning.”

Min Jingyi’s face was pale. The repeated shocks she faced today made her spirits even worse, so she reluctantly asked, “Why have you returned now?”

“I found a clue.” Su Rong took out the note and showed it to her. “Take a look.”

After reading the note, Min Jingyi’s good-looking eyebrows frowned slightly. “Customer? Is there anything special about being a customer?”

This was also what Su Rong wanted to know. The word customer, how could it become the key to their escape?

Huang Tao seemed to have given up on thinking, holding an open bag of potato chips and munching as she offered some to them. “It’s easier to use your brain when you eat something.”

Probably because she was comforted by Huang Tao before, Min Jingyi subconsciously took out a chip and put it in her mouth. “Thank you.”

“I won’t eat for now.” Su Rong was still ruminating over the note, not paying much attention to them.

There were footsteps outside and Wang Jianguo and Zhao Peng walked back quickly with a rare look of joy on their faces. “We’ve found a clue!”

Su Rong smiled and waved the slip of paper in her hand. “We found one too.”

“Great!” Wang Jianguo immediately took out their note. “This is our clue.”

——“Since one person will always have to be sacrificed, why not choose someone who is not destined to survive?”

Compared with Su Rong’s note, the content of this note was decidedly less pleasant.

“One person will always have to be sacrificed? Why would anyone have to be sacrificed?” She had a vaguely negative premonition in her heart.

The word used was “sacrifice,” which proved this person was not simply killed by “Him,” but died for the sake of the others who survived.

And who was the person “destined not to survive”? Were they the ones tainted by “Him”?

“I think we should be able to get more answers from the seafood area and the warehouse.” After reading Su Rong’s note, Wang Jianguo concluded, “There is no place in ghost talks that are useless, especially in a small area like this.”

Since the time he was lucky enough to escape from his first ghost talk, he had been searching for related knowledge to enrich himself, but he didn’t expect it to come in handy again in his lifetime.

Zhao Peng bristled, his expression disgusted. “Then go tomorrow! I hate puzzles!”

“By the way, Su Rong. What you told me before……” Wang Jianguo originally wanted to say something, but he was suddenly interrupted by a scream.

Min Jingyi fell to the ground, wailing in pain. There was a big hole in her clothes at some point, exposing her bloody stomach. There was a hole in her abdomen, still expanding little by little. Inside, blood and intestines were spilling all over the floor.

“Sister Min! What’s wrong!?” Su Rong ran over in a panic, trying to help Min Jingyi cover her stomach. The white intestines were soaked in blood, still writhing slightly. When she went to block them, they felt wet and hot, the steaming feeling rushing straight into her palms.

But even this was useless. Her breath of life was gradually drained as the hole in her tummy grew in size.

“Help me! Help me! It hurts so much!” Min Jingyi sobbed, her forehead drenched in sweat. Her expression was fierce because of the severe pain, but her voice shrank smaller and smaller.

The others also rushed over and stood next to Min Jingyi, unable to do anything.

Wang Jianguo made a sudden discovery. “Look at her stomach. It seems to have been bitten open by something.”

Su Rong took a closer look. Sure enough, there were teeth marks around the edges of her abdomen, as if something bit her stomach open bit by bit. Just, the teeth marks were not human. More similar to animals with sharp fangs.

Wait? Sharp fangs?

Su Rong suddenly recalled something, turning her head sharply to look at Huang Tao. “Did you just feed Sister Min expired food?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Huang Tao looked anxious and seemed to be heartbroken for Min Jingyi, but still replied, “Wasn’t it you who gave those potato chips to Sister Min?”

She didn’t expect Huang Tao would retaliate. Su Rong immediately looked toward Min Jingyi, hoping she could prove her innocence.

However, unknown if it was fate, Min Jingyi happened to pass out at this time.

Looking at the wound that was impossible to treat, everyone knew that Min Jingyi would never wake up again after falling asleep.

But no one had time to grieve for her. Everyone’s eyes were on Su Rong and Huang Tao.

It was obvious one of them told a lie. And the one who lied was the murderer who killed Min Jingyi!

“Rong Rong, why are you framing me?” Huang Tao’s face was desperate with grief, her eyes red and bursting into tears. “I thought we were friends.”

The truth was, even if Su Rong didn’t know the truth, she would not be tricked by her. Her expression was wrong. A person’s first reaction to a false accusation should be surprise, not sadness like hers.

And the reaction was too fast. If she was really framed suddenly, she should have been taken back for a moment instead of instantly crying and refuting.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t currently a judge, but a plaintiff facing the other side in court.

“You’ve been polluted by “Him” in the clothes area already, haven’t you? The rules in the clothing section are simply wrong.” Su Rong regretted she did not directly expose Huang Tao before, though she had no evidence at the time. Though even if she did, no one would necessarily believe it.

“Sister Min and I had already discovered this problem, but we lacked the evidence to expose you. I didn’t expect you to kill Sister Min like this.”

“I didn’t! Everyone knows I have a good relationship with Sister Min, right? Don’t talk nonsense just because Sister Min is unconscious!” Huang Tao showed an angry expression, making her red eyes as cute as a rabbit which easily aroused a desire to protect in others.

Zhao Peng was the one who was hooked. “Huang Tao is so timid, I don’t think she would do that kind of thing. Su Rong, on the other hand, doesn’t behave like an 18-year-old schoolgirl at all, don’t you think?”

At that, Su Rong’s heart sank. Transmigrating into another body had really left a hidden danger for herself. Her identity as a detective was already so far from that of a good schoolgirl. She had to pay more attention to playing her role next time.

If there was a next time.

Just when she was thinking about how to survive this situation, Wang Jianguo suddenly opened his mouth.

“I trust Su Rong.”

The sound made everyone look at him.

Wang Jianguo continued to explain to Zhao Peng. “When we left, what Su Rong secretly whispered to me was not asking to find sanitary napkins, but telling me not to go to the clothing area.”

“It turned out to be like this?” Zhao Peng was not a fool. Once he thought about it, he understood. If she had said this before, then what she claimed just now was in line with what was already established. In other words, Su Rong didn’t lie. The one who lied could only be Huang Tao.

Su Rong didn’t expect her momentary kindness before would become a life-saving straw to her now.

Among all the harmony, only Huang Tao’s expression was cloudy and uncertain. Her foot moved slightly outward.

Su Rong, who had been diverting some of her energy towards Huang Tao, noticed this keenly and immediately shouted, “She’s trying to run! Catch her!”

Wang Jianguo immediately stepped forward and clutched Huang Tao’s wrist with one hand. Zhao Peng also tactfully found a thick hemp rope from the shelf. The two of them worked together to tie up the struggling Huang Tao.

Wiping off his unnecessary sweat, Zhao Peng spat, “This little girl, almost tricked me! What should we do now? Throw her outside?”

“Leave her here. Maybe she is moderately contaminated. She can still be saved.” Wang Jianguo looked at the pleading Huang Tao, sighing.

Although she had just killed a person, she should be punished by the law, not them. Wang Jianguo firmly believed in this.

Zhao Peng frowned, thinking this guy was a real “holy father” type. But he didn’t refute, just stretched his waist. “Now we should be safe for the time being……”

Before he finished speaking, the lights in the daily living area suddenly went out.