Translator: CinderTL
They had previously synchronized their phones' time with the world's time, but now the time display had vanished, as if erased by an unseen force.
Undoubtedly, the Multi-headed ghoul was responsible.
But at this moment, Jiang Cheng turned to Huai Yi and asked, "What did you mean earlier when you said it wants the Gate within us?"
Huai Yi retracted his gaze and stared at Jiang Cheng with a strange expression. "You don't know?"
"If I knew, would I be asking you?"
"You don't even know this and you dared to take on this job?" Huai Yi exclaimed, "Brother Jiang, I have to say, you've probably been played."
He hadn't noticed before, but Huai Yi had a bit of a chatterbox streak.
Perhaps it was just nerves. Some people babble nonsense to relieve stress when they're overly anxious.
After speaking, Huai Yi exhaled and his gaze turned fierce as he looked out the window. "Damn it, forget about you. I've been played too." He spat out the words venomously. "When we came here, we only knew a Gate was malfunctioning. The Guild assessed that a Disciple of the Door's mental state had deteriorated, possibly to the point of being corrupted."
"You know, people like us aren't in the best mental state. We carry a curse, and we never know when the thing behind the Gate will take everything from us."
"That's what I thought at first. I figured some disciple, driven to the brink of madness, was causing trouble."
"But who knew Xiang Nan's Gate had been completely corrupted? The curse erupted, and it's beyond our control now. It's swallowed countless people like us."
"It's become a walking curse."
"It did this on purpose, to lure people like us in and devour our Gates!" Huai Yi's eyes were filled with terror. "This is a trap it set for us!"
"It's hunting us!"
Based on his previous speculations about the Gate and the information he'd obtained from the middle-aged man, Jiang Cheng had no trouble understanding Huai Yi's words.
But he was more interested in the Guild Huai Yi had mentioned.
What kind of organization was this?
It sounded like it had ties to the government.
"What's this about a Guild?" Jiang Cheng wouldn't let this opportunity pass. It seemed Huai Yi knew quite a bit.
Huai Yi was taken aback. "You don't know about the Guild? Then you took this job privately?"
Suddenly, Huai Yi seemed to remember something terrifying. The way he looked at Jiang Cheng changed completely. "You... you're not Crimson, are you?"
Considering the creature behind the Gate within Jiang Cheng, Huai Yi felt his guess was likely correct.
"My life can't be this miserable!" Huai Yi thought, his pupils trembling. "I finally land a job, only to be screwed over by the Guild and now run into Crimson and these other death-seeking ghosts."
"Brother Crimson!" Huai Yi's knees buckled. If the space hadn't been so cramped, he would have knelt directly. "Please, sir, forgive my past transgressions. Spare me! I won't take a single cent of my payment for this job. I'll give it all to you!"
"I'll do anything you say! Just... please don't kill me!" Huai Yi's eyes reddened as he spoke. "I have an eighty-year-old mother to care for, and eighty-year-old children waiting to be fed. Most importantly, I just hired a few young ladies—lolitas and mature women alike. My sea-view villa was just renovated a few days ago. I haven't lived enough! I don't want to die!"
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng's gaze sharpened. The way he looked at Huai Yi changed again. "So you figured it out," he said coldly.
"But you're lucky," Jiang Cheng said, narrowing his eyes and raising an eyebrow. "Is that villa you mentioned real? Does it really house an older woman, a lolita, and a beautiful young woman?"
"Of course it's real."
"I'll take care of them for you from now on," Jiang Cheng declared righteously. "Our world isn't safe anymore. You wouldn't want them constantly in danger, would you?"
"Alright, it's settled then. I'm leaving now," Jiang Cheng said. "Stick close to me."
He still needed Huai Yi to fill him in on the Gate, so he certainly didn't want him dead.
"Leaving now?" Huai Yi's back went cold. "Isn't that too rash? That ghost might still be lurking somewhere, waiting to ambush us."
"Or it might have gone after Director Qi to swallow his head and complete the final step of the ritual," Jiang Cheng said, glancing at him. "If that's the case, you can just wait for death."
Huai Yi's expression darkened at Jiang Cheng's words. He knew Jiang Cheng was right, but leaving meant facing the Multi-headed ghoul head-on.
To be honest, just thinking about the ghoul's shoulders covered in writhing human heads made him shudder.
According to his information, at least two people had already gone missing while investigating this case.
If it weren't for the Guild's guarantee and the recent renovation of his sea-view villa, coupled with his girlfriends' demands for new handbags, leaving him a bit short on funds, he wouldn't have taken this gamble.
Now, it seemed those two had definitely been devoured by the Multi-headed ghoul.
He was referring to the Gates within their bodies.
Huai Yi glanced furtively at Jiang Cheng. He might be helpless, but that didn't mean Jiang Cheng was. After all, as a member of Crimson, he surely had some hidden trump cards. Otherwise, the Night Watcher would have eliminated him long ago.
"Brother Crimson," Huai Yi said, standing up obediently, "I'll do whatever you say."
Jiang Cheng turned his head, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he sized Huai Yi up and down. "I want the young lady beside you, not you. Show some respect!"
"Understood."
Jiang Cheng slowly opened the door a crack and glanced left and right. The corridor was dimly lit, but otherwise normal.
As they climbed the stairs in the stairwell, Huai Yi whispered, "Where are we going?"
"Ward 624," Jiang Cheng replied casually.
Yu Yu had mentioned earlier that Zhao Ru's body had been dumped there, though her head was missing. Jiang Cheng suspected that Ward 624 held some significance for the Multi-headed ghoul.
Director Qi might also be hidden there.
The entire journey was eerily silent, yet this silence concealed a profound danger, an unsettling atmosphere clinging to them like a shroud.
Huai Yi meticulously examined every door along the corridor, as if expecting one to burst open at any moment, unleashing a horde of ghouls.
"Hmm?" Jiang Cheng, leading the way, paused.
They had reached the sixth floor and turned the corner, entering the corridor leading to Ward 624. In the depths of the dimly lit corridor, a splash of crimson stood out starkly.
Bloodstains marked the floor.
The door to Ward 624 stood ajar, and the blood was concentrated near the entrance, appearing to have seeped out from the crack beneath the door, pooling into a small puddle in front.
Fresh claw marks marred the wooden doorframe. Jiang Cheng even found a fragment of a broken fingernail embedded in the wood nearby.
The nail was lodged crookedly in the frame, one side snapped off. It was easy to imagine the desperate struggle for survival of the person dragged into Ward 624 by the ghoul.
(End of the Chapter)
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