Chapter 2 They Knew Before We Arrived

Seemingly terrified by Liu the Cripple's gaze, Pi Ruan's complexion only improved after they exited the Feng mansion. He rubbed his arms incessantly. "Did you guys see that just now? There's definitely something wrong with Liu the Cripple. The way he looked at me was just...off."

Anyone could tell there was something wrong with Liu the Cripple, but some people relied only on feelings, while others were good at finding evidence.

"Did you guys notice the tableware?" Chen Qiang asked, his voice low, as if afraid of being overheard by something behind them.

"There were 11 of us, but he only provided 10 sets of bowls and chopsticks," Lin Wan'er said, glancing back. "He didn't count Pan Du's portion."

The tableware was already on the dining table before they arrived, so Liu the Cripple knew they were missing someone even before they showed up.

Eleven people became ten.

"Could it be a coincidence?" someone asked. After all, missing a set of tableware wasn't a big deal; it could just be a mistake.

But Jiang Cheng stopped and silenced him with a single sentence. "Do you remember what they said when we first entered the Feng mansion?"

"They" naturally referred to Wu Ergou and Liu the Cripple.

Liu the Cripple asked Wu Ergou if these people were sent by Bureau Chief Qiao, and then specifically asked about the number of people.

Wu Ergou clearly replied, "Eleven."

Even more surprisingly, after they entered, Liu the Cripple, who was leading the way, suddenly turned around and stared at everyone with his one eye, his gaze sweeping over each of them.

Jiang Cheng noticed that Liu the Cripple's lips were moving at the time, clearly counting the number of people.

Similar experiences couldn't help but remind him of the scene when they first arrived in Little Stone Creek Village, where they were invited for similar reasons and became scapegoats for the villagers.

Could this time...be the same?

But the ghost this time didn't feel like simple revenge to Jiang Cheng. Although there were few clues at the moment, and they all pointed to the Feng family, Jiang Cheng had a very strange premonition.

Unlike the others, who focused on the Feng family, he believed that the first priority was to investigate that train.

The Mayflower.

That was the source of the haunting.

The town was neither big nor small, but the streets were fairly well-organized. They left the Feng mansion early, and the vendors had already set up their stalls, lining both sides of the street, their cries never-ending.

Some breakfast shops simply set up two tables and placed steamers with steamed buns and mantou on them, and that was it.

The misty steam filled the air, adding a lot of life to the whole street.

After leaving the Feng mansion, everyone felt much more relaxed. Strangely, after crossing the threshold of the Feng mansion, even the sunlight felt cold.

The inside and outside of the door were like two different worlds.

Passing by a building, Jiang Cheng glanced at it casually. The building had been divided into many shops, and because it faced the street, business was good.

One of them had a grid-like glass window, which was quite eye-catching among the merchants.

It was a photo studio, and many photos were hung on the transparent glass window.

From today's perspective, they were all very old black and white photos, and the pixels were not very good. Perhaps because of the posing, the people in them always gave people a stiff and dull feeling.

After looking at a few, Jiang Cheng was about to look away when he suddenly noticed a few different photos.

The photos were hung in a strange position, in the lower middle, which was generally not easy to notice. It felt like the boss wanted to display them, but didn't want to make it too obvious.

The people in the photos were wearing wooden clogs and loose clothes with exaggeratedly drooping sleeves. The men stood in the middle, mostly wearing knives.

Perhaps because of their height, it felt like their waist knives, if stood upright, were almost as tall as them.

The women in the photos were clearly of much lower status than the men. They were arranged on both sides, their heads bowed, showing extreme obedience.

High hair buns, pale faces, even in the black and white photos, their lips were still as red as if they had just been stained with blood.

"Japanese?" Huai Yi, who had also noticed this, suddenly said.

Logically speaking, the war had just ended, and it was indeed inappropriate to hang photos of invaders now, but judging solely from the photography skills, these photos were indeed the best of all the photos.

"Damn, this boss is a real piece of work!" Fatty said angrily, staring at the photos. "He takes such good photos of the Japanese, and then just fools around with us."

"If he didn't take good photos of the Japanese, his whole family might not have been able to keep their lives," Chen Qiang said, stroking his chin. "But hanging these photos even after the war has ended is a problem."

Just as everyone was discussing going in and giving the boss a paid patriotic education lesson, the glass door of the photo studio was suddenly pushed open from the inside, and then a person walked out.

"It's you!" Wu Dali, with a black bag under his arm, was stunned when he saw Jiang Cheng and the others.

"Brother Wu," Jiang Cheng nodded. "What a coincidence. We just came out of the Feng mansion. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Isn't it? Perfect timing. I was just about to look for you guys, so now I don't have to make a special trip to the Feng mansion." Wu Dali said, opening the black leather bag. "Didn't you want to find information about the May...that train? I actually found some."

There were many people around, so they found a secluded spot in an alley and took the things Wu Dali handed over.

They were some photos, and some clipped newspapers.

The footers of the newspapers were yellowed, as if they were very old. Following Wu Dali's guidance, they found a report in an inconspicuous location on it.

"The Mayflower train stopped for no reason late at night, and the station was completely sealed off...Is it the work of ghosts and gods, or the haunting of underworld soldiers?"

Below were some specific reports. It could be seen that the person who wrote this report only knew a general idea, and didn't even know as much information as they did. The whole article was full of guesses and conjectures, with the aim of attracting people's curiosity and leading them to superstitions.

Although that was indeed the case.

But what really piqued Jiang Cheng's interest was a photo mixed in the report. The photo was not very clear, but it could be seen that it should have been taken after the train arrived at the station.

Due to the angle, only the rear half of the train could be seen, about 5 or 6 cars.

As his gaze gradually fixed, Jiang Cheng stared at the rear of the train. If he remembered correctly, the mutation was in the last car.

There were dead old people and children, their backs to the car door, and their faces were extremely strange.

"Give me the photo." Jiang Cheng reached out, but his attention was still focused on the newspaper.

Soon, after comparing it with the other photos, a light suddenly flashed in Jiang Cheng's eyes.