Chapter 184 The Truth?

Quietly circling around to the back of the activity center, Jiang Cheng narrowed his eyes outside that familiar glass window, peering inside. After confirming nothing was amiss, he turned his head and whispered to Shen Mengyun, "Miss Shen, don't be afraid. I'll guard your rear."

Shen Mengyun was taken aback upon hearing this, but after meeting Jiang Cheng's reliable gaze, she did as he said.

After Shen Mengyun went in, Jiang Cheng remained hidden outside the window, calmly observing for 30 seconds. After confirming that there were no ambushes in the women's restroom, he carefully slipped inside.

Landing silently, he tiptoed to Shen Mengyun's side, leaned close to her ear, and breathed, "Miss Shen, rest assured." He paused, his eyes resolute, and said, "I'm here."

"We... we should hurry and save them," Shen Mengyun said a little shyly, slightly avoiding Jiang Cheng's approaching face.

"Miss Shen, you have such a good heart."

With their previous experience, the two moved quickly this time. They took the same old staircase they had used before, passed through a narrow corridor, and arrived at the warehouse door.

The wooden door was ajar. The white paper they had torn off earlier was still stuck on the door, obscuring the knife marks beneath.

But along the way, the cold, prying sensation of being watched had disappeared. It seemed Shen Mengyun was right; that tracking ghost... had found Wang Qi and Gao Yan.

Gently pushing the door open, the two cautiously stepped inside. Two beams of flashlight light swept across the warehouse, not even missing the ceiling.

"Mr. Jiang," Shen Mengyun stopped suddenly and said, "Look there!"

Following the direction Shen Mengyun pointed, beneath a metal rack, there was an open bag, with several items scattered beside it.

Next to the metal rack was an old wooden chair.

Walking over, they discovered that the bag was the one they had found earlier. Now it seemed someone had retrieved the bag from the top of the rack.

Because they couldn't reach, they had used a chair to stand on.

"It's Wang Qi and Gao Yan," Shen Mengyun said softly. It wasn't hard to guess.

"Looks like they ran into trouble." Jiang Cheng looked at the shoes and lab coat on the ground, and his voice became wary as he surveyed the surrounding darkness. "Otherwise, they would have packed everything up before leaving. It wouldn't be like this."

"What do we do now?" Shen Mengyun asked.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Cheng said in a troubled voice, "We didn't encounter them on the way here, and we didn't hear anything. I'm afraid they're trapped like last time. If we go looking for them now, we won't find them, and we'll put Miss Shen in danger as well."

As he spoke, Jiang Cheng squatted down and naturally began examining the items on the ground. "Let's look for clues first. Maybe we can break this ghost wall."

Shen Mengyun turned to look at the dark door. At this point, all she could do was pray they were alright.

Jiang Cheng quickly found the running shoes. He picked them up, looked at the size, and his eyes flickered. As expected, they were size 38. He hadn't remembered wrong.

According to their previous guess, these running shoes belonged to the missing Xiao Lin.

The same body they had discovered early this morning.

Jiang Cheng slowly stood up, his eyes heavy with a strange glint. The aura around him changed, and Shen Mengyun beside him could clearly sense it.

"What's wrong, Mr. Jiang?" Shen Mengyun asked quietly. "Is there something wrong with these shoes?"

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Cheng's first words stunned Shen Mengyun. "These shoes don't belong to Xiao Lin at all."

Jiang Cheng raised his head, his gaze directed towards the innermost part of the warehouse. "Now I understand why no one in the entire Jiangtan University, except Yuan Xiaoyi, recognizes or has even heard of those missing girls. It's because they never existed in the first place."

"Look closely at the size of these shoes." Jiang Cheng handed the shoes to Shen Mengyun.

"Size 38." Shen Mengyun looked dazed. This shoe size was common among girls, and she didn't think there was anything special about it.

"Do you remember what Xiao Lin looked like?" Jiang Cheng continued, "When I saw her body, I felt something was strange, but I only noticed later that she was much taller than the average girl."

"My first thought was that, based on her height and build, she couldn't be the owner of these size 38 running shoes found in the warehouse."

"Sure enough, I checked the running shoes on the corpse's feet, and they were size 40."

"These size 38 running shoes should belong to a girl with a more petite build." At this point, Jiang Cheng looked at Shen Mengyun, seemingly hinting at something.

Shen Mengyun's expression changed, and she blurted out, "It's... Yuan Xiaoyi!"

"Yes." Jiang Cheng breathed out, "I think it should be."

"But... but we did find the bodies of Xiao Lin and Xiao Ting. Mr. Jiang, you saw them with your own eyes," Shen Mengyun said, seeking confirmation.

"I did see them, but that was all in the haunted tale. When the haunted tale world disappears and we return to the real world, their bodies disappear again," Jiang Cheng replied smoothly, as if he had figured out the connection long ago.

The influx of too much information made Shen Mengyun feel lost and confused.

Her subconscious told her that this man was right, but she couldn't sort out the details, which made her feel agitated.

"So... Wang Qi and Gao Yan came here to verify this?" Shen Mengyun asked.

"Wang Qi did. He also checked Xiao Lin's shoes, and I think he noticed the problem too." Jiang Cheng said calmly, "As for Gao Yan... you don't need to overestimate him."

"I think Wang Qi brought him along just as an insurance policy for himself."

Shen Mengyun wasn't a novice, so she naturally understood Jiang Cheng's implication, and she also believed that Wang Qi was capable of such a thing.

"This is..." Shen Mengyun suddenly noticed something reflecting light in her peripheral vision. Although it was just a little bit, she still caught it.

She quickly walked to the chair, moved it aside, and found a cell phone underneath.

Black, with a matte finish. The phone case and screen were both shattered.

"This is Gao Yan's cell phone," Shen Mengyun recognized it immediately.

"It seems they encountered an emergency while examining these items," Jiang Cheng said.

Shen Mengyun nodded. In fact, she understood that Jiang Cheng had already put it delicately. Judging from this cell phone, Gao Yan was likely in grave danger.

"Hmm?" Jiang Cheng lowered his head and walked back and forth, as if looking for something.

Shen Mengyun frowned and asked, "What are you looking for?"

Jiang Cheng stopped. "The notebook is gone."

Five items corresponded to the five missing girls, but now the running shoes, lab coat, swimming goggles, and other items were all there, except for the notebook.

"Could it be... taken by Wang Qi and the others?" Shen Mengyun suddenly had a premonition that the attack on Gao Yan and the others might be related to this notebook.