Chapter 1 Nightmare

Seeing Luohe being taken away surrounded by a group of people, his hands still in iron handcuffs like a prisoner, making a clanging sound as he moved, "Whoosh—" Pi Ruan looked at his back, and for a moment, sorrow arose in his heart.

"Why are you making that face?" Fu Fu frowned and asked, "He's just being taken away, not dead."

"He wouldn't die even if you died." Seemingly still not appeased, Fu Fu put her hands on her hips and said angrily.

Pi Ruan rarely refuted Fu Fu's attitude. He watched Luohe's figure disappear around the corner of the corridor before withdrawing his gaze.

About a few minutes later, a burst of footsteps came from outside the door. The person seemed to be very careful, but the hurried footsteps betrayed the tension in his heart.

A face flashed in front of the door, "You really are here!" Zhao Xingguo showed no surprise on his face when he saw everyone.

After all, not long ago, he watched Luohe being taken away by the police, not only wearing handcuffs but also being arranged in a prison van.

"Why are you here?" Huai Yi habitually looked behind Zhao Xingguo, but it seemed that he was alone.

To this, Zhao Xingguo explained, "We were nearby and saw such a big commotion, so we came over to see what was happening. Brother Jiang said the police were after you, and it turned out to be true."

"Where are they?" Lin Wan'er asked.

Zhao Xingguo was also a little wary of this beautiful woman. It was stressful to meet her eyes, so he avoided her gaze and replied, "Brother Jiang and the others are downstairs. We were hiding in the alleyway before."

Now the situation was very obvious. Jiang Cheng was worried that Lin Wan'er and the others were in danger, so he sent Zhao Xingguo to scout the way and see what was happening.

And he was hiding with Fatty in a safe place.

If the situation looked bad, they could run away at any time.

"This is not the place to talk, let's leave first."

With Zhao Xingguo leading the way, they quickly found the alleyway where they had been hiding before. The alleyway was very hidden and easily overlooked.

But to Zhao Xingguo's surprise, when he walked into the alleyway, there was no sign of Jiang Cheng and the others. "Where are they?" Zhao Xingguo looked around. They had clearly agreed to meet here.

"Hey." Zhao Xingguo looked at a beggar squatting in the corner of the wall, "Did you see where two people went? They were just here."

Unexpectedly, the beggar rolled his eyes and ignored him.

Pi Ruan was more sensible and took out some change from his pocket, dropping it into the beggar's broken bowl with a "ding."

This time, without them even speaking, the beggar glanced at Zhao Xingguo with disdain, "They left a long time ago. As soon as you left, they left."

Zhao Xingguo: "???"

Lin Wan'er's lips curled up as if she realized something.

The sun was very bright now. She squinted her eyes and looked around, finding an angle where the sunlight was the most dazzling. There, she vaguely saw an old stilt house.

The building had three floors and looked very old, covered with green ivy. At the window on the third floor, she saw a familiar figure.

Behind the window, Jiang Cheng turned around and said to Fatty, "It seems that except for Luohe, the others are temporarily safe."

Fatty swallowed. He sat by the table. Jiang Cheng wouldn't let him get close to the window, saying he was too big and easily exposed.

Ten minutes later, everyone gathered under the stilt house. Zhao Xingguo's face didn't look good, and his eyes revealed a strange look as he looked at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng didn't explain. He didn't think it was necessary.

Ensuring one's own safety was the most important thing in a mission. Once something happened in the building, it was hard to say whether Zhao Xingguo would betray them.

"Luohe was taken away by them," Chen Qiang said, looking at Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng knew all this. He was more interested in why.

Chen Qiang carefully recounted their encounter, and Huai Yi supplemented some details.

"This must be the work of ghosts. There's something wrong with the person who reported Luohe," Jiang Cheng quickly judged. "The murder of the photo studio owner was also part of the plan."

"What clues do you have?" Fu Fu asked, narrowing her eyes. It didn't seem like Luohe being taken away had any impact on her.

As for whether her relationship with her teammates wasn't as close as everyone thought, or whether she had enough confidence in Luohe, everyone didn't know.

As agreed, Jiang Cheng and his group went to investigate Yoko.

Everyone had a strange expectation for this woman. She was like an NPC who could reveal clues at any time.

Straw men, ballads, and the hometown's shrine...

Many clues were intertwined, and Yoko was the intersection of these clues.

"Remember what that woman said?" Jiang Cheng looked at everyone, prompting, "The one who almost fought with us at the steamed bun shop."

Huai Yi reacted quickly and immediately understood Jiang Cheng's meaning, "She said that besides us, someone else was secretly giving Yoko and her friends food, someone from the Feng Manor!"

"It's Cripple Liu," Jiang Cheng suddenly said.

"It's him?!"

This result wasn't too surprising. After all, they also felt that this Cripple Liu was not simple. From the first time they saw him, everyone had an unspeakable strangeness in their hearts.

But one was a gatekeeper of the Feng Manor, and the other was a homeless Easterner. No matter how you looked at it, the two didn't seem like they could have any connection.

Recalling Cripple Liu's miserable appearance, Zhao Xingguo's eyes paused. He raised his head, his lips trembling, as if he wanted to say something.

But unexpectedly, Fu Fu stared at him and spoke first, "Do you think his body became like that because of the encroachment of the Door?"

"You think so too?" Zhao Xingguo asked in surprise.

Hearing this, Jiang Cheng's expression changed. He only knew that disciples who overused the power of the Door would be eroded by the curse behind the Door and gradually lose consciousness.

But he didn't expect that the body would also undergo changes.

At the same time, he immediately thought of something that had happened not long ago.

Pi Ruan...

The child from before had said that Pi Ruan's face had rotted and fallen to the ground.

At the time, Jiang Cheng guessed that a ghost had killed Pi Ruan and replaced him, but now that he thought about it, there might be another possibility.

Pi Ruan was also a disciple, and based on his performance, he had been severely eroded by the Door in his body, and he couldn't even maintain his appearance.

This guess rarely made him feel a chill down his spine.

He had known Pi Ruan for a long time and hadn't noticed anything in the process.

A long time ago, he vaguely felt a pair of eyes staring at him, and the first person he suspected was Fatty, who had appeared with the Nightmare.

But now that he thought about it, there were also suspicious things about Pi Ruan, but the two had known each other for a long time, and the Nightmare hadn't appeared at that time, so he deliberately ignored some doubts.

If Pi Ruan was really a disciple, then this scheme against him had begun a long time ago, and the scale of the planning, the breadth of the layout, and the subtlety of the methods were all shocking.

And among the people he knew, the only ones most likely to do such a thing were those lunatics from the Crimson Society.