At this moment, Luo Luo, having changed her clothes, came downstairs and walked over to Chu Tian.
Ye Ling was also sleeping on the table.
"Brother, why is Senior Sister so exhausted?"
Chu Tian didn't speak, staring blankly at the ground.
"Brother?"
Luo Luo tilted her head to look at his face, then followed his gaze.
At first, Luo Luo didn't notice.
Two seconds later, she suddenly grabbed Chu Tian with one hand and pointed at the ground with the other.
Chu Tian quickly covered her mouth.
Under Luo Luo's terrified gaze, Chu Tian pulled her out of the villa.
Outside, Chu Tian let go of her.
"Brother, Senior Sister's shadow..."
"I saw it!" Chu Tian frowned deeply.
Just then, Gao Kai happened to come out of the villa opposite.
Seeing the expressions on Chu Tian and Luo Luo's faces, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Chu Tian recounted the scene to him.
Gao Kai was also surprised, even finding it chilling.
As ordinary people, they had heard too many folk tales of ghosts and myths.
Could it be that Ye Ling inside the house was no longer human?
The three of them fell silent for a moment.
This lasted until Zhao Lei and Jing Kaiyu arrived from the gym.
Seeing the three of them standing at the villa entrance, they also found it strange.
Gao Kai repeated what Chu Tian had told him to the other two.
"Holy crap..." Zhao Lei, after hearing it, ran towards the villa.
Upon reaching the entrance, he suddenly stopped. He remembered he couldn't open the door.
"Brother Tian, hurry and open the door!"
Chu Tian glanced at Gao Kai at this moment.
Gao Kai raised his eyebrows, as if to say, "See, I told you so."
Chu Tian gave a wry smile and shook his head. He naturally understood Gao Kai's meaning.
Looking at Zhao Lei's anxious state at the villa entrance, it seemed Gao Kai was indeed right.
Opening the door, Zhao Lei was the first to rush in.
Just as Chu Tian had predicted, when he saw the scene, he froze as if under a spell.
Everyone gathered in the dining room. Gao Kai and Jing Kaiyu also stood with their mouths agape, their eyes full of shock.
The five of them stood there, three or four meters away from Ye Ling, in complete silence.
Time slowly passed. The shadow of the dining table gradually shifted. After about two hours, Ye Ling moved. Then, she slowly sat up.
At this moment, everyone discovered an even more horrifying sight.
Her shadow, from nothing, slowly appeared in a faint gray, and finally became fully visible.
This took no more than five seconds.
It coincided with Ye Ling's movement from lying down to sitting up and stretching.
The five of them felt their hair stand on end.
Ye Ling, with her arms raised high, tilted her head and saw the five of them standing in a row, staring at her.
Her body also paused. She slowly lowered her arms, her expression unnatural. "You saw it?"
"Mmm-hmm... No!" The five of them nodded in unison, but then instantly shook their heads again.
Ye Ling smiled faintly and looked down at her shadow. "Did it fade just now, or disappear completely?"
The five exchanged glances. Finally, Zhao Lei stammered, "Dis... dis... disappeared!"
Upon hearing this, Ye Ling showed a wry smile. "It seems... my time is also running out."
"You... you're not... a ghost?" Zhao Lei asked the question on everyone's mind.
Ye Ling slowly shook her head.
She stood up, unbuttoned her collar, parted her long hair, and pulled it from both shoulders to the front.
Everyone didn't know what she was going to do.
She turned around, her back to them, and slowly pulled down her shirt, revealing her entire shoulder.
"Luo Luo, help me!" Ye Ling said, looking back.
Luo Luo walked behind her in a daze.
"Help me unhook it!"
Luo Luo was stunned for a moment, then reached out and unhooked Ye Ling's bra clasp from the back.
"Ah..." Luo Luo gasped softly.
Ye Ling moved aside without hesitation.
Just now, Luo Luo had blocked everyone's view.
As she moved, she perfectly positioned herself so that Luo Luo was no longer blocking the sightline, and her entire back was exposed to everyone.
"This..."
On Ye Ling's back, a monstrous ghost head, the size of a coin, appeared before everyone's eyes.
The entire ferocious, crimson ghost head was extremely conspicuous on her smooth, white back.
Seeing that everyone had seen it, Ye Ling signaled Luo Luo to help her fasten the strap.
The strap perfectly covered the ghost head.
She tidied her clothes and said, "This thing is related to our mission."
"What is this thing?" Gao Kai asked.
"We call it the Shadow Devouring Ghost Worm!" Ye Ling explained.
"Does this thing just eat shadows? What are its specific harms, and how did you get involved with it?" Zhao Lei asked, though an unnatural look of concern appeared on his face.
Ye Ling glanced at him and continued, "We don't know the specifics. We only know that for people infected by it, their shadows gradually fade while they sleep.
Until it disappears, and this ghost head mark initially appears at the ankle.
When it first appears, it's just a small red dot, which everyone ignores.
But it will continue to grow and move up the leg, eventually reaching the crown of the head."
"What happens when it reaches the crown of the head?" Zhao Lei asked again.
Ye Ling glanced at him again. "You're interrupting me. Believe it or not, I'll tear your tongue out!"
"Uh..." Zhao Lei was taken aback.
Everyone chuckled.
Ye Ling continued, "When it reaches the crown of the head, you die. And you die miserably. Your flesh and blood will dry up, and your brain will be hollow.
Our mission this time is to resolve this matter. Here is the relevant information."
She took a file bag from her bag and placed it on the dining table.
Chu Tian stepped forward and opened the manila envelope. Inside was a thick stack of documents.
The Shadow Devouring Ghost Worm was the name given by the Ninth Bureau.
It was first discovered a year ago, with eleven people dying consecutively.
And among this group, the only one who did not die was Ye Ling, who was standing before them.
The second batch was six months later, also twelve people, all of whom died.
The third batch was just a month ago, also twelve people. They were found to have the ghost head mark on their bodies, which had already reached their waistline.
All three batches of people were ability users.
After reading the documents, Chu Tian discovered that these thirty-six people shared several commonalities.
First: All were ability users of the Ninth Bureau.
Second: They had all received secret orders from the Ninth Bureau.
Third: After their return, they did not remember the content of the secret orders, where they had been, or even their companions.
"Senior Sister, you were on the first batch list? How..."
Chu Tian felt awkward saying it.
However, Ye Ling herself said, "You mean why I'm not dead yet, right? It's because I suffer from long-term insomnia!"
Chu Tian suddenly realized. He had seen in the documents that the ghost head mark of the Shadow Devouring Ghost Worm only moved upward slowly when a person was sleeping.