Chapter 1 I've Finally Found You, Hehehe!

"Amitabha, this humble Taoist has finally found you, hehehe!"

When this sentence was played from the phone,

Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang both turned their gazes toward the old Taoist beside them.

The expression on the old Taoist's face was quite rich and varied, with shock, horror, bewilderment, and helplessness.

Yes,

Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang had said before that this voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Now it was proven that it was indeed the old Taoist's voice.

However, because the human voice transmitted from the phone inevitably had some distortion and changes, and Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang had never thought that the old Taoist's voice would appear inside, they were caught off guard, right under their noses.

But the "Amitabha" followed by "this humble Taoist" was the old Taoist's common habit, especially the "hehehe" afterward, which vividly portrayed the old Taoist's "shameless" appearance.

The old Taoist was a Taoist priest, his real name might sometimes be forgotten even by himself. He was called Lu Fangweng; the ancient Lu You was also known as "Fangweng," so he was called Lu Fangweng. However, although he had the same name as the ancient great poet, the old Taoist's style of doing things was much more unreliable.

He dabbled in shady dealings, roamed the martial world, and had done almost everything in his decades of ups and downs. He always thought of himself as a Taoist priest, but he didn't have the slightest bit of a Taoist priest's duty. Except for the ancestral talisman paper that was always hidden in his crotch and could be used endlessly, it was almost impossible to find a second characteristic of a Taoist on him.

Even his usual catchphrase "Boundless Heavenly Lord" was often said as "Amitabha" by him.

Seeing that the boss and Xu Qinglang were both looking at him,

the old Taoist smiled sheepishly,

pointed at his face, and said:

"You can't possibly think that I, this humble Taoist, am the mastermind behind the scenes, right?"

Well,

generally speaking,

in a suspense drama, the character with the least presence and the least possibility at the beginning often steps onto the stage at the end, tearing off their mask to give everyone a surprise: they are actually the murderer, while those who jump around happily and are suspected from the beginning are often innocent.

But with the old Taoist here,

he was the mastermind behind the scenes?

He was orchestrating all of this from behind?

Xu Qinglang and Zhou Ze shook their heads together slightly. "Let's go out first."

"Yes, right."

The two turned around and walked out of the restaurant.

The old Taoist was a little nervous at first, afraid that the boss and the others had misunderstood something, but seeing that the boss and Lao Xu had directly given up on suspecting him, the old Taoist suddenly felt a little lost.

This feeling of being "trusted" didn't seem so pleasing.

"Boss, why don't you reconsider it a little bit…"

Zhou Ze and Xu Qinglang continued to walk forward without looking back.

"Putting on an act would be good too…"

The old Taoist was a little helpless and could only follow along.

From leaving the restaurant to returning to the rented villa, they didn't see any pedestrians along the way. The three returned to the hot spring pool.

Zhou Ze first stepped into the hot spring, buried his face in it, and when he raised his head again, he reached out and wiped away the water droplets on his face. The dark clouds in the sky and the oppressive atmosphere from before had disappeared.

It seemed he was right; the entrance was actually this hot spring.

The old Taoist and Xu Qinglang also came back. Everyone's clothes were wet, obviously, the space they were in before wasn't a completely independent place but a supernatural "environment" relying on the real world.

For example, when they were lying in the hot spring before, Zhou Ze and the others weren't wearing clothes. It was only after the old Taoist fished out a thigh from the pool that they ran out of the pool, put on their clothes, and left the room.

And now, the clothes were still on the three of them; the old Taoist was still wrapped in a bathrobe.

The hot spring pool was a bit like a hypnotist's pendulum, allowing you to see more things, but in reality, you might just be seeing "illusions." You yourself were still walking and acting in reality.

Sometimes, Zhou Ze couldn't help but wonder if there were many madmen in this world who liked to say some wild words and were regarded by those around them as typical examples of "having a mental illness, being mentally unstable." Did that mean that they could actually see a "world" that relied on reality but was invisible to ordinary people?

Of course, it was like how among the many natural deaths and accidental deaths reported every year in various countries, there were actually many homicides hidden that were never discovered and investigated. The specific situation was really unknown.

Xu Qinglang took off his wet clothes, changed into a bathrobe, and then walked to Zhou Ze, signaling Zhou Ze to take off his wet clothes as well. Then, he hung the two's clothes together on a hanger outside to dry.

Zhou Ze sat on the sofa in the living room, playing with his phone in his hand.

The old Taoist sat next to him, brewing tea with boiling water from an electric kettle, and took the initiative to hand Zhou Ze a cup.

Zhou Ze took the teacup, shook it, and said: "Lao Xu, have you seen a movie called *The Shining*?"

"That horror movie?" Xu Qinglang asked.

"Yeah, I think the situation we are encountering now is somewhat similar to *The Shining*. The reality and illusion that are indistinguishable from each other, plus the scene where the former residents who died here and nearby are all dining together, is very much like that photo in *The Shining*."

"So, what do you mean?" Xu Qinglang took a sip of tea. "Such a big appetite?"

Zhou Ze shook his head. "I don't want to bother with the secrets of this place for now. Anyway, it's here, and there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. To be honest, I've even forgotten what we came here for.

Forget it, let's find the murderer who killed that family of three first before talking about anything else. The key is that ghost call; we have to figure it out, otherwise, I always feel uncomfortable."

Speaking of the ghost call, Zhou Ze looked at the old Taoist again. How could the old Taoist's voice appear in the phone call?

Could it be that the person on the phone was a ventriloquist? Did they know how to imitate the old Taoist's voice and way of speaking?

"Ding-dong… ding-dong…"

Someone was ringing the doorbell outside.

The old Taoist got up to open the door. A waiter was standing outside, and he asked with some concern: "Hello, I'm here to ask if you need any help?"

"Help?" The old Taoist was a little confused.

"It's like this. I saw the three of you wandering around and talking in the restaurant before. I called out to you, but you didn't respond, so I came over specifically to ask. If you are hungry and want to eat, we can start a little earlier. After all, there aren't many guests checking in now."

"No need, thank you," the old Taoist refused.

"Alright, then I won't disturb your rest." The waiter nodded with a smile.

The old Taoist closed the door and then shouted to Zhou Ze and the others inside: "Boss, the hotel waiter came to see if we were all sleepwalking, haha."

"Next time, don't all go in together; at least one or two people have to stay outside and watch," Zhou Ze said.

Xu Qinglang nodded. "My complexion is terrible right now. I'm going to wash my face and do some skincare first. We'll make further plans in the evening."

"Okay, let's rest first," Zhou Ze agreed.

Immediately, Zhou Ze got up from the living room and walked to the hot spring pool, pointing at the hot spring pool. "Old Taoist, you found a human leg here at first, right?"

"Yes, a woman's leg, I guess. If it was a man's, I would have…" The old Taoist said, and secretly glanced at the room.

You know, he really mistook it at first, thinking that Lao Xu was teasing him.

"Drain the water from the pool," Zhou Ze said.

The old Taoist nodded. At this time, the hot spring pool had already cooled down. The water was still warm, but there was no longer any mist. The old Taoist went down barefoot and pulled out the plug, and the water began to slowly drain down.

"The human leg should be real."

Zhou Ze lit a cigarette and said silently:

"This matter seems to be a bit big. That family of three seems to be just an introduction. The heads of that family of three were cut off, and as a result, there used to be a leg in this hot spring pool."

Exhaling a smoke ring,

"After the case of that family of three occurred, the reason why this hot spring hotel could continue to operate was because that family of three died on the way down the mountain after checking out, and the accident didn't happen in the hotel.

But the fact doesn't seem to be like this. Lao Xu said before that the family of three was groping for their lost heads in the hotel room. Now, someone seems to have dismembered a body here a long time ago and left a leg behind. Although the leg can't be seen now, the fact that we could see it in that state means that it once appeared."

"Boss, do you suspect that the murderer is an internal member of this hotel?"

"It's not just that," Zhou Ze flicked the ash. "I'm even starting to wonder if this is a hot spring resort hotel or a slaughterhouse."

As he said that, Zhou Ze tried to grow out his left fingernails. A cloud of black mist immediately condensed in his palm, and then, Zhou Ze inserted his fingernails upside down into the edge of the hot spring pool.

This was the method Zhou Ze used to find nearby spirits in the past, and now he was just trying it out, anyway, he didn't have any other clues.

Who knew that it would have been better not to try it,

but when he tried it, he found that there were actually black footprints here,

This string of footprints extended from the hot spring pool all the way to the living room.

There really were?

Zhou Ze raised his head and followed the string of footprints.

The footprints turned a corner in the living room and went straight into the bathroom.

At this time, Xu Qinglang was washing his face with facial cleanser in the bathroom. He was currently applying skincare products to his face in front of the mirror, carefully smoothing them out on his face.

And the footprints,

after extending to the sink in the bathroom, began to develop upward. The thing should have climbed onto the sink.

After climbing onto the sink,

where did it go?

Zhou Ze reached out and patted Xu Qinglang on the shoulder.

"What?" Xu Qinglang asked while continuing to pat his face in front of the mirror.

Zhou Ze gently rubbed the mirror surface with his fingernails.

Xu Qinglang stopped the movement of patting his hands,

but the reflection of himself in the mirror,

was still continuing to pat his face earnestly and carefully,

without the slightest intention of stopping.

"Pa pa pa…"