Chapter 19 Fog

Looking in the direction of Lin Muyun's gaze, in a remote corner, the color of the ground was darker than other places. With Jiang Cheng's breathing, a strong, sweet, fishy smell began to float in the air.

On the ground... was blood!

And in that location, Jiang Cheng concentrated his attention. It was the place where Yuan Xiaotian's body was discovered during the day.

"It's Xiaotian," Xia Qiang said softly, after a long silence.

Jiang Cheng guessed that he had probably already gone to see it.

Since Yuan Xiaotian's body was still here, Li Mengyao's body should also be in front of the outside safety passage.

Jiang Cheng suddenly had a strange feeling. According to his understanding of the mission, corpses should have a refresh mechanism, like in a game. Each time a new group of people came in, the bodies of those who had died would be cleared by an irresistible force.

That was how it had been in previous missions, and they had gotten used to it, but this time, it seemed that something had changed.

Outside the French windows, raindrops began to fall. The rain wasn't heavy, at least not yet, but for Jiang Cheng and the others, it represented that the real horror... was beginning.

The rain night killer would naturally appear after it rained.

"I just went near Xiaotian's body," Xia Qiang said quickly, looking at Jiang Cheng. "Based on my understanding of Xiaotian, he chose that place, learning from Mengyao's death after running away, planning to hide in this office area to buy time."

"This can be seen from the location he chose. His position is indeed relatively hidden, but his field of vision is limited."

Jiang Cheng listened for a while, then became slightly impatient. "What exactly do you want to say?"

Time was of the essence. The killer could appear at any time. He didn't have time to listen to Xia Qiang explain the whole story.

"Xiaotian was approached from behind and then killed," Xia Qiang said bluntly, "just like Li Mengyao."

Hearing these words, Jiang Cheng's eyes paused. He suddenly remembered that in room 19, according to the description of the people waiting outside, a figure had been following them all along. And taking advantage of the gaps when they stopped, it would stand behind one of them, until the two shadows completely overlapped, looking like one person from behind.

Now everyone understood that the person who was overlapped should be the shop owner.

After all, not long after they left, that strange oil painting appeared in the shop owner's room and killed him.

"This is related to the killer's method of killing," Jiang Cheng said, looking at Xia Qiang. "It can only kill from behind, or it needs to fulfill the condition of appearing behind."

"This is just my guess, but I think there's at least a fifty percent chance," Xia Qiang said.

Jiang Cheng thought for a moment and continued, "There's also one more thing: the killer doesn't make any footsteps when moving. We didn't hear anything in room 19."

No footsteps, watch your back—those were the only two points they could summarize for the time being.

Unbeknownst to them, as the rain outside the window grew heavier, a faint mist began to appear in the entire office area.

The mist was a dark gray color, making it look strange. It gradually enveloped them.

The visibility around them became very poor, only about 3 or 4 meters. Larger objects farther away were just blurry outlines.

"We can't stay together," Xia Qiang said. Even though he knew that in this kind of environment, separating meant eternal separation in a sense, he had his reasons. He had no choice.

Hearing the word "separate," Lin Muwan immediately grabbed Lin Muyun's arm, using her actions to tell everyone that she didn't want to be separated from her brother.

Lin Muyun, however, understood clearly. He reached out and gently stroked his sister Lin Muwan's head, saying softly, "Muwan, be good. We'll both be fine."

Xia Qiang withdrew his gaze from the mist. Now was not the time to worry about what the Lin siblings were thinking. He quickly explained to Jiang Cheng, "No matter what, at least one of you, Mr. Lin and Miss Lin, must survive. This was decided before the operation even started."

"Mr. Jiang, you and I will split up. We'll each take one person. As for whether we can break through..." He pursed his lips, not finishing his sentence.

"Miss Lin," Jiang Cheng said, looking at Lin Muwan, his voice firm, "You come with me."

"Please, Mr. Jiang," Lin Muyun said. He also seemed reluctant to part with his sister, but reason told him that Captain Xia's arrangement was correct.

Lin Muwan released her brother's arm and took out her notebook, quickly writing a line on it.

Jiang Cheng saw that it said, "We will definitely get out!"

But Jiang Cheng and Xia Qiang had a disagreement on how to break the situation.

Jiang Cheng advocated finding a way to leave Yourun Building, while Xia Qiang advocated stalling for time inside the building, waiting for the rain to stop, at which point the situation would naturally be resolved.

Neither of them could convince the other. After all, there were too few clues to support more detailed reasoning. They were facing the unknown, and they could only use their lives to test things out.

Xia Qiang took Lin Muyun and left first. Their figures quickly disappeared into the mist.

The only good news was that their phones still worked, and the two groups could communicate via phone.

Jiang Cheng didn't act rashly. He signaled Lin Muwan to follow him, and the two of them first went to the vicinity of Yuan Xiaotian's body.

Through simple observation, it was indeed as Xia Qiang had said. Yuan Xiaotian was huddled under the desk, and even if he turned around, he couldn't see behind him through the panel under the desk.

That was the most terrifying blind spot.

According to team leader Zhang's simulation of the death scene for them, Yuan Xiaotian had been quietly approached, the killer stood on the desk where he was hiding, and then swung an ax down with force, splitting Yuan Xiaotian's head in half.

Just as Jiang Cheng was planning to leave with Lin Muwan, suddenly, Lin Muwan squeezed Jiang Cheng's arm tightly. Through the contact, he could feel Lin Muwan trembling severely.

Jiang Cheng immediately crouched down, held his breath, and looked in the direction of Lin Muwan's gaze.

It seemed that something was moving through the gray mist.

The ground was trembling slightly, and even the frequency had a stiff, rigid feel.

But he didn't hear any strange noises, at least definitely no footsteps.

Jiang Cheng's gaze swept through the mist, and after more than 10 seconds, he suddenly stopped. He noticed that in front of him on the left, behind the mist, a tall, large outline had vaguely appeared.

It was the guy he saw last night!

Jiang Cheng's pupils suddenly constricted.

It was only 6 or 7 meters away from him. Based on the density of the fog, he shouldn't have been able to see it, but he did.

Even more terrifying, this time, the man and the ghost were almost face to face.

There weren't many things to block in front of him. Even if he wanted to run now, it was too late.

But the next second, something unexpected happened. The killer turned around stiffly and disappeared into the mist with rigid steps.