Chapter 22 Clues

Jiang Cheng had also thought of this. More accurately, he had thought of it the moment he heard that Gao Yan was still alive.

Based on what had happened before, this ghost would never allow anyone to take the notes away.

As for the ghost's purpose, it was easy to guess: it didn't want them to gradually uncover the truth through these clues.

Now, another question was before them.

The identity of this stalking ghost.

Who exactly was it?

Why was it so obsessed with hunting down the "missing" girls, unwilling to let them go even when they hid in the Weird Tales?

For the time being, it didn't seem like the ghost intended to attack them, as it still needed to use them to find the girls hidden in the other Weird Tales.

But one thing Jiang Cheng was sure of: if they let this stalking ghost continue killing, the mission would definitely fail.

"You guys think..." Fatty lowered his voice, asking strangely, "Is the old grandma's granddaughter really hidden inside a Weird Tale?"

Wang Qi looked at him. After a moment, his gaze became intrigued, and he asked, "Why do you say that?"

Seeing that the doctor didn't object, Fatty's courage gradually grew. He sorted out his thoughts and continued, "I just find it strange. The old grandma on the bus told us to find her granddaughter, saying that her granddaughter went missing at Jiangtan University and hoping that we could bring her back to her."

"Since we can bring her back to her, I think her granddaughter should be a person, someone who actually existed, at least someone we can interact with, someone we can touch."

"But the Xiao Lin and Xiao Ting we found later don't seem to fit."

Fatty rubbed his chin and looked at everyone. "I have a feeling that even if Xiao Ting and Xiao Lin survive, we won't be able to bring them out of the Weird Tale."

"They're different from us. What I mean is, they're different from everyone else in this world. They're more like..."

Fatty suddenly stopped, his expression as if he was searching for the right word to describe it.

"Like a phantom," Jiang Cheng said.

Hearing this, Fatty's eyes lit up. "Yes, yes... exactly, a phantom, something you can see but can't touch." At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh. As expected, the doctor understood him best.

Gao Yan slowly sat up straight, the movement tugging at his injuries, causing his mouth to twitch from time to time. But his attention seemed to be focused on what Fatty had said. "What you're saying makes some sense, but if none of the missing girls are the ones we're looking for, then where is the person we're supposed to find?"

Currently, they had limited information, and much of it was fragmented and couldn't be effectively integrated. They were clearly powerless to answer such a question.

The discussion of this question ended there.

But it wasn't entirely meaningless, as it at least provided a new line of thinking.

"What a pity," Huai Yi said, looking out the window. "If we could get our hands on that notebook, perhaps we'd have the answer to our question."

Hearing this, Shen Mengyun shook her head. "It's not that simple. We opened that notebook once, but the contents were completely unreadable, as if they had been soaked in water."

Hearing the two of them say this, Gao Yan, who was leaning against the headboard on the hospital bed, spoke up, his expression becoming somewhat strange, his voice low. "Although I didn't take out the notebook, I did find this."

Seeing him reach into his clothes, fumbling around for a few moments, his clothes revealed a hidden pocket. After a moment, he pulled out a slip of paper.

The slip of paper wasn't large, only about a third the size of a cigarette pack. Written on it in pen was a line of numbers mixed with a few letters.

The numbers and letters were arranged in a mixed order, connected by short lines. At first glance, it looked like some kind of code.

"This fell out of that notebook," Gao Yan said mysteriously.

Fatty leaned in, not daring to touch it directly. He just stood by the bed, craning his neck to look, and asked in confusion, "What is this?"

Shen Mengyun looked at it for a long time before hesitantly saying, "It seems to be a library book code, but I'm not too sure."

Huai Yi seemed to have thought of something and quickly said, "So that means we can find a book corresponding to this code in the library."

"That should be the case," Shen Mengyun nodded.

The situation was now relatively clear: the contents of that notebook should be related to a certain book in the library.

"The library..." Fatty immediately thought that there seemed to be a Weird Tale related to the library.

"Do you guys remember? That... that notebook had a signature," Shen Mengyun said, a light flashing in her eyes. She turned around and said excitedly, "It was Xiao Hui." Wang Qi suddenly opened his mouth, "The Weird Tale she's associated with is in the library."

Everything was connecting...

The clues were gradually converging and pointing to Xiao Hui, one of the five missing girls.

"Looks like we have to go to the library and find this book," Jiang Cheng said to Gao Yan. He didn't trust this old guy at all.

He was definitely going to take Gao Yan with him to the library. He would carry him there if he had to, so they could share the good fortune together.

Gao Yan seemed to have read Jiang Cheng's eyes and said helplessly, "My injuries are nothing. If you want to go, I'll be there at any time."

Jiang Cheng let out a long breath and grabbed Gao Yan's hand that wasn't receiving an IV, saying with emotion, "Mr. Gao, what are you saying? If that's the case, then we'll leave it at that."

"By the way," Shen Mengyun said, looking at Gao Yan, interrupting, "Do you remember that bag of things? We left in a hurry and didn't have time to clean it up. Did the security notice it?"

Hearing about that bag of things, Gao Yan's face turned ashen, and his voice changed, becoming very soft, as if he were telling a secret. "This school is not simple. These people in the school security department also have problems." He stared at the door, as if afraid someone would eavesdrop.

"I really passed out when the ghost was chasing me, but when they found me, I was actually vaguely awake," Gao Yan's breathing became somewhat erratic. "But I wasn't clear about the situation at the time, and I didn't know who they were, so I didn't show it. I continued to pretend to be unconscious, and they didn't notice."

"I vaguely remember them putting me by the wall, with my back against the wall. Then a few people in security guard uniforms gathered together and were talking very intensely."

"They... they were standing next to that bag of things!" Gao Yan emphasized.

"One of them, who looked like the leader, received a phone call in the middle. After answering the phone, he first apologized and then explained a lot, but I didn't hear the specifics."

"At the time, I had just woken up, and my head wasn't very clear, but after that person hung up the phone, I saw him immediately tell people to clean up the things on the ground, put them back in the bag, and then, standing on a chair, put the bag back on the shelf."

"After doing all this, they carried me to the clinic," Gao Yan said, looking at everyone with a strange expression.