Servant...

Even Fatty and the others felt that word jarring.

Everyone was baffled. Why did Jiang Cheng suddenly turn his attention to Liu the Cripple after they had been chatting so amicably? Although they also sensed that something was off about Liu the Cripple.

Sure enough, upon hearing the word "servant," Liu the Cripple, who had been hobbling along in front to lead the way, abruptly stopped.

Then, his neck mechanically swiveled around. His one eye stared at Jiang Cheng, narrowed, as if concealing something inexplicable.

Seeing this, Fatty's heart leaped into his throat. Although he didn't think a cripple could be much of a fighter, this was, after all, the Feng Mansion.

One call from Liu the Cripple, and who knew what kind of trouble they might stir up?

But Jiang Cheng seemed unfazed. He also stared at Liu the Cripple. Unlike Liu the Cripple's gaze, Jiang Cheng's eyes held no aggression. They conveyed the attitude of: I'm just stating a fact, what's the problem?

Besides, it looked like two eyes versus one. He had the advantage no matter what.

"Mr. Jiang, you're right." Liu the Cripple's hoarse voice sounded like iron scraping against stone. "We have been impolite."

"The people in the house are very busy today. I'll arrange for you to meet them as soon as possible." Liu the Cripple lowered his voice and repeated, "You'll see them soon."

As he finished the last sentence, Fatty suddenly detected a chilling emotion in Liu the Cripple's eyes.

After leading them back to their rooms, Liu the Cripple limped away.

Watching Liu the Cripple's figure disappear around the corner, Huai Yi immediately stepped forward and closed the door. Everyone gathered in the living room.

"There's something wrong with this Liu the Cripple." Linghu Yong couldn't help but speak first. His voice was very low, as if afraid of being overheard.

"That's obvious. Anyone can see there's something wrong." Pi Ruan said dismissively, then looked at Jiang Cheng with admiration. "But if Dr. Jiang hadn't put himself at risk to test Liu the Cripple and find out that something was wrong, would you have known?"

Choked by Pi Ruan's words, Linghu Yong couldn't help but shut his mouth.

Earlier, to save Pan Du, he and his boss Zhao Xingguo had repeatedly demanded that they use Director Qiao's connections to thoroughly investigate the Feng family.

Now it seemed that they had been blinded by the situation.

"Now it seems that there are many suspicious points about this Liu the Cripple." As Lin Wan'er spoke, she took control of the situation. "First, Liu the Cripple confirmed the number of people we had when we entered, but after Pan Du disappeared, he didn't react at all. It's as if he had expected someone to disappear."

"Second, we're here to investigate the case, and Liu the Cripple is the person who's supposed to be working with us, but he doesn't ask about the progress of the case. Does he want all the Feng family members to die?"

"Third, we've been in the Feng residence for so long, and we haven't seen a single Feng family member, or even a servant. Until now, there's only Liu the Cripple."

Lin Wan'er raised her chin, her eyes slowly sweeping over everyone. "Where have the rest of the people in the Feng residence gone? Have you thought about it?"

"Haunted houses can't hide things like this. Could it be... that they all ran away because they were scared?" Huai Yi offered an explanation.

"Then why didn't Liu the Cripple run?" Zhao Xingguo asked. "What I mean is, if he stayed just to receive the investigators or the Jianghu (martial world) exorcists, then he could have lived outside the Feng residence. When people arrived, he could have opened the door and let them in. He didn't have to stay in the haunted mansion all the time, right?"

"It's simple. If he's not stupid or doesn't value his life, then he must be sure that the ghost won't hurt him, or he has some special reliance." Chen Qiang narrowed his eyes slightly and said.

The ghost would definitely continue to commit murder, and from what they could see now, they had also become the ghost's target, so simply running away was not advisable.

The only way was to determine the identity of the ghost, the ins and outs of the matter, and then solve it as soon as possible.

"We can't hide in our rooms tonight." Luo He said. Pan Du's matter told them very directly that hiding in the room was useless. If it was their time to die, they would still die.

According to the nursery rhyme provided by Yangzi and the background story, this ghost was likely from the island country of Dongyang, Yangzi's hometown.

It was related to that strange shrine.

The straw man might be the way to trigger the ghost's killing, or it might even be a medium for the ghost to connect with the real world. All of this was possible.

But the top priority now was to determine whether there were still people in the Feng residence. Jiang Cheng had a very terrible guess in his mind.

That was, the people in the Feng residence might not have run away because they were scared, but... had all died, slaughtered by the ghost.

"I agree. We have to take action tonight. Hiding in the room will only extend our survival time. When the time limit is up, we will still die." Jiang Cheng looked at Luo He.

In this mission, what could take their lives was not only the ghost, but also Director Qiao with a gun in his hand. Once the 7-day time limit was up, if the case didn't have a result, they would all be dragged out and shot.

Everyone present was basically smart. They naturally understood how to weigh the pros and cons. Now that they had decided to take action, the next step was to arrange the details.

"There are two main goals for tonight's action. First, investigate the situation inside the Feng Mansion, and it would be best to find other people besides Liu the Cripple."

"Second, is this Liu the Cripple." When Jiang Cheng mentioned Liu the Cripple, his eyes changed slightly. "We need to find where he lives and see if there are any clues."

"Okay, I agree."

Hearing the action, Zhao Xingguo and Linghu Yong were the first to express their approval. If they dragged on any longer, even if they could wait, Pan Du wouldn't be able to.

Just now, they had gone to check Pan Du's body. The lividity on the parts of his body that were in contact with the bed was especially obvious, and there were already signs of ulceration.

They could smell a stench from a distance.

Huai Yi nodded when he heard this. He looked curiously at Jiang Cheng. Some time ago, Jiang Cheng stopped talking and was writing and drawing on the back of a piece of paper with a pen in his hand.

"This is..." Linghu Yong leaned over.

Jiang Cheng put away his pen and turned the paper in a direction, aiming it at the others. Some people couldn't help but blink their eyes. What was in front of them was a map.

The strokes were clean and sharp, one horizontal and one vertical, bold but not rough. It could be seen that the person who drew it had a strong foundation in painting.

"This is what I drew based on my memory. There will be some discrepancies with reality. Just bear with it." Jiang Cheng pointed to a position slightly in the middle of the map with his pen. It was a square frame, as if representing something. "This is where we are now."

"This is the altar, and this is the canteen we used to go to." Jiang Cheng pointed out the locations one by one with his pen and marked them. "This is the Western-style building where the Feng family lives. One team of us must sneak in here to check the situation."

"Another team will take advantage of the night to search in this direction, probably within this range, and the difference will not be too big." Jiang Cheng drew a circle on the paper with his pen. "Liu the Cripple's residence should be nearby. He always comes from this direction."

"Be careful when you search. This Liu the Cripple..." Jiang Cheng paused. "I'm afraid he's not simple."