The man walked past 3 meters in front of him, carrying an axe. With just a slight turn of his head or a change in his step, he could have found him.

But the man didn't. He just walked past Yuan Xiaotian, his upper body straight, his steps stiff and rigid.

"What's going on?" Yuan Xiaotian wondered. "Could it be that as long as you stay in the office area and hide, you'll be safe? Is that the way out?"

While he couldn't rule out that possibility, Yuan Xiaotian felt that it was too simple, inconsistent with the overall feeling of this mission.

Unconsciously, the wind and rain outside had thinned out a lot. It looked like the rain would stop in, at most, half an hour.

If nothing unexpected happened, the crisis would be over when the rain stopped.

This strange man carrying an axe only appeared after the rain started. In other words, it was this rain that dragged him into another world.

And the strange man carrying an axe would disappear with the end of this rain.

Yuan Xiaotian had encountered similar missions before, so he had some experience.

"Just stall him for another half hour, at most half an hour! And the mission will be over," Yuan Xiaotian thought to himself.

Slowly, a woman's face surfaced in the depths of his mind – Li Mengyao, who had already been killed.

Yuan Xiaotian suddenly felt a pang of sadness. He had joined this team relatively late. As the team leader, Qiang-ge's workload was heavy, so he couldn't take care of every little detail. Li Mengyao had helped him a lot.

Over time, he developed a feeling for Li Mengyao that was somewhere between affection and respect, a complex emotion that he couldn't quite define.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, he smelled a strange, fishy odor, and his thoughts snapped.

He sniffed. The fishy smell was very close, but it wasn't quite the smell of blood. It was like it had been mixed with something else.

The man had just passed him not long ago and went in another direction. He had confirmed that he shouldn't be back anytime soon, and the other party hadn't discovered him. Otherwise, he would have been dead when he passed by.

"But where is this fishy smell coming from?" Yuan Xiaotian's heart beat faster, but he didn't lose his composure. He was hiding under a desk, which had a panel underneath, making it a good hiding place.

He didn't dare to peek out, fearing exposure, so he tried to control the range of his movements, slowly crawling out a little bit, then lying as flat as he could on the ground, looking around through the gap under the panel.

This position allowed him to see people's lower bodies, in case the man was nearby.

But he observed for a full half-minute and didn't find the man nearby. The surrounding environment became eerily quiet, not just the sound, but also the atmosphere.

"No one." Yuan Xiaotian retracted his gaze and slowly stood up, a hint of doubt in his brow. "Where did that thing go?"

"Why... why is that fishy smell still here?"

The fishy smell floated in the air around Yuan Xiaotian, like the Grim Reaper's scythe, constantly reminding him that the danger had not been lifted, only... he hadn't discovered it yet.

This sense of crisis from the unknown made him break out in a cold sweat.

His eyes glanced casually out the window. He originally intended to calculate how long it would take for the rain to stop, but the next second, he froze, his blood vessels seemingly filled with ice.

Through the reflection of the glass window, he saw a pair of legs wearing heavy boots standing on the desk he was hiding under.

Gu </span> The head, densely wrapped in tape, hung down slightly, staring down at him.

......

"Captain Xia... Xia," Wu Bin reminded in a low voice.

Xia Qiang stood in front of a desk, his face as gloomy as if he wanted to kill someone. Even Wu Bin and Team Leader Zhang, who were accompanying him to investigate the scene, could see that something was wrong.

Xia Qiang took a deep breath, forcibly softened his expression, and said in a calm voice, "Captain Wu, this case is more complicated than I thought. Frankly, it's not within your scope of work. If necessary, I'm willing to cooperate with you."

"So it really is related to those things, isn't it?" Wu Bin revealed an expression of "I knew it," and at the same time gave Team Leader Zhang a look.

The latter turned around and walked towards the officers who were collecting clues nearby, whispered something, and soon, the officers packed up and left, leaving only them here.

Jiang Cheng and the others had arrived here after receiving a call, just like yesterday.

But today they didn't spend time looking for the missing Yuan Xiaotian, and with the experience from last time, the process was very smooth this time.

"Captain Xia." Team Leader Zhang, who had returned, slowly opened his mouth, "According to our preliminary investigation, the victim's name is Wang Jie. The murder took place in the early hours of yesterday morning. The body was discovered by the building's night watchman. The reporter was so frightened at the time that it took him a long time to think of calling the police."

Wu Bin continued, "It's a coincidence. Originally, the security guard wouldn't enter the office to check. He didn't have the authority to do that. But he noticed that the door outside wasn't locked and saw the desk lamp inside was on, so he wanted to go in and remind him, but he didn't expect..." Wu Bin stared at the scene in front of him and unconsciously closed his mouth.

Jiang Cheng did not participate in their conversation. He had been observing. Under a desk, there was a curled-up corpse.

It was Yuan Xiaotian, whose identity had been changed to "Wang Jie".

Compared to the previous victim, Li Mengyao, Yuan Xiaotian's death was even more tragic. His head had been split in two, and the red and white viscous substances were mixed together, splattering everywhere.

Fatty almost threw up the tofu pudding he bought on the way.

"According to our understanding, this desk is not Wang Jie's workstation. His workstation is over there," Wu Bin turned around and pointed to a desk, about 7 or 8 meters away.

It was the desk from before, with the green lampshade that was very conspicuous.

The scene here was very different from the last time he came. Last time, Li Mengyao's murder scene was in front of the fire exit in the corridor, and the desk was very messy.

This time, Yuan Xiaotian was killed under the desk, and the things on his desk did not show any signs of disarray.

Judging from the two crime scenes, Jiang Cheng had a rough idea in his mind. Li Mengyao was the first person to enter this strange rainy night. Because she was unprepared and in a hurry, her first reaction must have been relatively nervous.

This was human nature, and the messy desk was the best proof. She might have been trying to find some clues on the desk.

But Yuan Xiaotian was different. He was the second person to enter, and he entered voluntarily, so he was relatively better prepared mentally.

Moreover, the paths they chose were also different.

Li Mengyao's first reaction in a hurry was to get away from here and escape, but she was caught up and killed from behind.

Yuan Xiaotian learned from Li Mengyao's death and chose to stay this time, hiding in this relatively large office area. His idea was right, but... Jiang Cheng looked at Yuan Xiaotian's head split in two, and the result was tragic.