Chapter 31

Not long after staying in the room, Xia Meng said she was going to take a look at the painting. The task was nearing its end, and there might be new clues on it.

"Aren't you coming to take a look together?" Xia Meng sized up the group with a playful look, seemingly hinting, "Aren't you afraid I'll hoard the clues?"

Jiang Cheng was too lazy to pay her any attention. Seeing that the doctor didn't react, the already depressed Fatty didn't say anything either.

"Miss Chen, I'll go with you." Chen Qiang stepped forward.

Xia Meng glanced at him a few more times, nodded, and said, "Okay."

After the two left, Fatty turned his head and asked Jiang Cheng, "Doctor, were you serious about dealing with Steward Zhou and them...?"

"Based on the clues we have so far, it seems so," Jiang Cheng replied.

Fatty nodded, then exhaled a long breath, looked up at Jiang Cheng, and said, "Doctor, you don't have to worry about me. You should go take a look at the painting. This task is almost over. If there are any clues on the painting, I'm worried about Xia Meng and them..."

"No need to worry," Jiang Cheng said. "In any case, they'll have to deal with Steward Zhou's group in the end. They can't do it alone without the two of us."

Speaking of which, Jiang Cheng paused noticeably. He sized up Fatty a few times, then discreetly looked away.

Fatty didn't notice this. All he could think about was getting justice for the little beggar, and the face of that dark-faced brute with the stick.

"Doctor," Fatty suddenly said, then seemed to remember something. He first glanced at the door and the window, then lowered his voice and asked, "You Qi was killed by An Xuan, right?"

"Yeah," Jiang Cheng nodded. He got up, poured Fatty a glass of water, handed it to him, and said, "I saw the wounds on You Qi's body. He was tortured to death. An Xuan had splatter-like bloodstains below his earlobes. He must have worn another layer of clothing over his costume when he killed You Qi, and then washed his face."

"But there wasn't enough time, so there were still some oversights. He didn't notice the bloodstains below his ears..." Fatty took the teacup and continued along Jiang Cheng's train of thought.

But to his surprise, the doctor shook his head.

Fatty looked at him in astonishment.

"It's not that he didn't notice, but that he didn't care," Jiang Cheng said. "He didn't care if we could tell that he killed You Qi, he just wanted You Qi dead. As long as it wasn't too obvious, no one would expose him, because that would only be asking for trouble."

After thinking for a while, Fatty's expression suddenly changed. He looked up at Jiang Cheng, and just as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by the latter.

"You want to say that according to the rules, the dead You Qi will become a ghost and come back for revenge, right?" Jiang Cheng asked calmly.

Fatty swallowed. In previous instances, Fatty had seen similar scenes. Those ghosts resembling dead teammates had left a very deep impression on him.

Their desire for revenge and killing was even stronger than the original ghosts in the instance.

It was precisely the existence of this nightmare mechanism that ensured that, under normal circumstances, the intensity of direct confrontation between players in the mission would not exceed the critical value.

"And tonight, not only will You Qi come to him for revenge, but the female ghost will too." Jiang Cheng looked at Fatty and said, "When he killed You Qi, in order to avoid getting blood on his costume, he might not have just worn another layer of clothing over his costume, maybe... he took off the costume altogether."

He took a deep breath. "But regardless of which, he has triggered the taboo in the task, so tonight he will face not only You Qi, but also the female ghost."

"He's being targeted by two ghosts!" Fatty swallowed hard, just thinking about it made him think the man was crazy. He stared at Jiang Cheng and asked, "Then isn't he doomed to die tonight?"

"So, in any case, he has to end the task tonight." Jiang Cheng glanced at the sky outside the window, which was almost completely dark, poured himself a cup of tea, held it in his right hand, took a gentle sip, and said, "Let's just wait and see."

"For him, the sun will never rise again," Jiang Cheng suddenly said after a long while.

There were footsteps outside the door. Because there was a small crack left open, Fatty and Jiang Cheng tacitly closed their mouths as soon as Xia Meng reached the door.

"I suggest you go take a look," Xia Meng said to Jiang Cheng as soon as she came in.

Chen Qiang also walked in right after. "Mr. Hao," he paused, his eyes strange, and said, "On the painting..."

He glanced at Fatty, not saying the rest of his sentence.

Jiang Cheng immediately stood up. He arranged for Xia Meng to stay with Fatty, and then went to see the painting with Chen Qiang. Chen Qiang did not refuse.

But Fatty always felt that the way Chen Qiang, and even Xia Meng in the room, looked at him was vaguely strange.

Moreover, when he asked to go with the doctor, the doctor directly rejected him and left with Chen Qiang.

"What's wrong with that painting?" The more Fatty thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He turned to Xia Meng and asked.

"Nothing," Xia Meng looked away and replied indifferently, "Ask them yourself when they get back."

He waited until it was dark, and the ominous premonition in Fatty's heart grew stronger and stronger. Just when he couldn't help but go look for the doctor.

The door opened, and Jiang Cheng walked back with Chen Qiang.

"Why were you gone so long?" Fatty asked worriedly.

Jiang Cheng sat down at the table and replied, "There were a lot of clues on the painting, and we checked them one by one."

"What did you find?"

"It's about the same as we predicted before," Jiang Cheng said calmly. "We should be able to end the task tonight."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Fatty's eyes lit up. Along with the light, there was also the anger that had been accumulating in his heart for a long time. The doctor said that they would finally have to settle things with Steward Zhou and his group.

Chen Qiang glanced at Fatty, then his gaze lingered on Jiang Cheng's profile for a moment.

He didn't understand what this man, who called himself Hao Shuai, was thinking.

The painting... clearly showed Fatty.

And what was even more terrifying was that the Fatty in the painting had a livid face, and you could tell at a glance that he wasn't alive. It was gloomy, a gloominess that could be felt even through the painting.

When he went there for the first time with Xia Meng, he even thought that Fatty had been killed by a ghost, and that the one in the room... was a ghost!

Just like how they had previously disguised themselves as Shi Liaozhi.

Not only Fatty, but also a maid appeared in the painting, about the age of a young girl, with a very cute appearance.

The maid was standing next to Fatty, leaning her upper body towards him, holding a plate in her hand with something covered by a red veil on it.

Judging by her movements, it seemed... she wanted to hand this thing to him.

The thing under the veil was relatively round and quite large, about the size of a basketball. Chen Qiang took a deep breath, and he thought he had guessed what was inside.

It was a human head.