Chapter 49 The Footprint

A cold feeling crept up his back. Jiang Cheng hadn't expected the ghost to pinpoint his location through a few text messages.

No wonder Wang Qi had lost his phone.

Damn it, he shouldn't have replied to its texts.

Judging from the photos, Jiang Cheng could roughly determine the ghost's location. It was less than 20 meters away, near the 4th bookshelf from the end.

A message popped up on the screen, this time from Shen Mengyun.

"The intersection ahead of you, on the ground."

Shen Mengyun's message was concise and clear.

Jiang Cheng held his breath, searching the area Shen Mengyun mentioned. It was a space between two bookshelves, sprinkled with a layer of flour.

On the flour, a footprint appeared.

It hadn't been there a few minutes ago.

The footprint was exaggerated, one and a half times his size, and the toe was pointed directly at his hiding place.

"You're not here."

Another message arrived on Jiang Cheng's phone, accompanied by a photo of a bookshelf. Very close to it was a half-person-high cyan vase.

Judging from the angle of the photo, the person taking it was standing in front of the bookshelf.

Shifting his gaze, Jiang Cheng could clearly see the vase through the gap in the bookshelf he was hiding behind. It was only 10 meters away.

But near the vase... there was nothing.

A moment later, another photo, getting closer and closer to Jiang Cheng. "Not here either... I'll find you."

Now, the weakness of Jiang Cheng's chosen hiding spot was revealed. Although it was concealed, once the ghost noticed it, he would lose any chance of escape.

Judging by the ghost's speed, it would definitely find him in less than a minute.

Jiang Cheng hesitated for a long time, wanting to send the ghost an apology text. He had already thought of the wording, but a sudden phone ring interrupted his thoughts.

"Ring ring ring..."

It was an old-fashioned alarm sound, the kind built into every phone.

The sound was coming from... Jiang Cheng realized it was from Shen Mengyun's hiding place.

Jiang Cheng understood. Shen Mengyun must have realized that he was being targeted by the ghost, so she used her phone's ringtone to attract it, trying to save him.

A few seconds later, Jiang Cheng heard the sound of something being crushed, and at the same time, the phone ringtone stopped abruptly.

Without hesitation, Jiang Cheng took the opportunity to slip away on tiptoe.

He chose the history section where Wang Qi had hidden before.

The charred ghost had just left there.

Jiang Cheng was betting it wouldn't be back anytime soon.

"How's it going on your end?" Jiang Cheng sent a message to Huai Yi. Just as he was about to send one to Fatty, Huai Yi's message arrived.

But the other party's tone gradually eased Jiang Cheng's tense brow.

"Mr. Jiang, this is Shen Mengyun. I'm with Mr. Huai Yi now. How are you?"

Jiang Cheng typed, "I'm fine, I've escaped and found a new place to hide." After a pause, he added another line, "Thank you, Miss Shen."

Jiang Cheng could roughly guess that Shen Mengyun had set a delayed alarm on her phone, and then after she ran far away, the alarm rang, which saved him.

"This rescue wasn't a waste," Jiang Cheng thought. "Including this time, Shen Mengyun has saved me twice."

"Can you two pinpoint the charred ghost's location now?" Jiang Cheng typed a little later.

The response was a little slower this time, as if she was still a little embarrassed. "My foot is injured, I can't run fast. The ghost noticed my footsteps. I ran into Gao Yan halfway and passed by his hiding place, and then I felt... I felt like the ghost disappeared. It seemed to have shifted its attention."

Shen Mengyun didn't say the rest, but Jiang Cheng had already guessed. It seemed that Shen Mengyun had run to Gao Yan's hiding place and then used Gao Yan to shake off the ghost behind her.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Cheng replied, "Miss Shen, you don't need to blame yourself. You didn't do it on purpose."

"Jiang-ge, has Fugui contacted you?" The text message suddenly changed its tone. It seemed that this time it was Huai Yi.

"No." Jiang Cheng suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Fugui's hiding place isn't far from Gao Yan's. I'm worried something happened to him," Huai Yi quickly replied. "And I just sent him two messages, but he hasn't replied."

Damn it... Jiang Cheng frowned. He had been thinking about Shen Mengyun just now and had completely forgotten about Fatty.

...

Shrunk to the side of the bookshelf, Fatty's face was turning purple. Just now, just now, that bastard Gao Yan had rushed over in a panic, and then...

Fatty swallowed. He saw, less than 5 meters away from him, in front of the bookshelf, where the flour was scattered, a footprint suddenly appeared.

The footprint was large, exaggerated, and it was chasing Gao Yan.

And the most infuriating thing was that Gao Yan had noticed him here before running over.

Diverting the disaster eastward...

Gao Yan had used this trick to trick Shen Mengyun on the 3rd floor, he had heard the doctor say.

But Gao Yan didn't escape either. The two of them were now being blocked by the ghost near these bookshelves.

Besides a few large bookshelves, there were no other places to hide in this area. It was impossible for them to run. The only way was to deal with the ghost and buy time until the mission ended.

When he passed a hourglass just now, he took a careful glance. There wasn't much sand left on top, at most a few more minutes.

"Crash—"

Before he could think of a solution, he heard a few books fall to the ground, on a bookshelf not far from him.

A gap appeared on the bookshelf.

The ghost was looking for them, trying to pinpoint their location.

Fatty carefully retreated, away from the ghost. So did Gao Yan. The two of them and the ghost were circling around a few bookshelves in a very strange way.

The ghost occasionally knocked down a few books, making noise. It looked like it was looking for people, but even Fatty could see that it was more like an old hunter playing with cornered prey.

It seemed that the charred ghost also knew very well that finding them was only a matter of time.

Because they couldn't see, hear, or smell, their judgment of the charred ghost's location could only rely on the flour on the ground and the occasionally falling books.

Gao Yan became more and more uneasy. He had a feeling that he was the target the ghost wanted to hunt the most.

If he wanted to survive, just delaying wasn't enough, unless... Gao Yan looked in Fatty's direction, and something crazy surged in his eyes.

Unless he let this fatty die in his place.

Gao Yan was very confident in dealing with this fatty who could only see 2 lines. Now that the goal was clear, it was time to plan.

He not only wanted Fatty to die, but most importantly, he wanted him to die naturally, seemingly unrelated to him.

After all, he was still wary of that Jiang Cheng who could see 47 lines.

Moreover, Gao Yan had his own views on the current situation. The charred ghost had an absolute advantage, but it didn't immediately act, find them, and kill them, but was playing a circling game with them. This might not be a hint.

Perhaps... it just wanted to see them kill each other.