Chapter 20 It's… Fatty!

Although he had suspected it before, seeing this scene in the picture still made Jiang Cheng feel cold all over, as if his blood vessels were filled with ice. It would be one thing if Luo Yunshan and the others were ghosts, but the fact that Fatty, who had been by his side all along, also had a problem meant that he was completely isolated this time.

Subconsciously turning his head to look at Fatty, he was still fast asleep, as if he was unaware that he had been exposed. After a few seconds, Jiang Cheng seemed to suddenly remember something, immediately averted his gaze, and pretended to be preoccupied and unable to sleep while fiddling with his phone. In reality, he couldn't stop the lingering fear in his heart.

He forgot, forgot that the Fatty beside him wasn't human. Even if he looked sound asleep now, in reality… in reality, he might be…

Opening the phone's camera function, Jiang Cheng pretended to casually move his arm, secretly aiming the camera in Fatty's direction. During this time, Fatty hadn't shown any abnormalities, still acting carefree, his mouth slightly open, his chest rising and falling continuously, sleeping soundly.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Cheng's heart, which had been in his throat, relaxed slightly, but when he opened the video he had just recorded, everything came to an abrupt end.

Fatty in the video looked completely different, his face was livid, and a pair of resentful white eyes were staring fixedly at his bed, as if worried that the prey he had in hand would run away.

God knows how much courage Jiang Cheng used to suppress the fear in his heart, his face remaining natural as he fiddled with his phone, as if nothing had happened.

Jiang Cheng knew in his heart that although the other party hadn't harmed him yet, it definitely didn't mean they didn't intend to. They just wanted to lure him into the trap they had set, but if he were to see through it in the process, would they become angry and kill him? Jiang Cheng wasn't sure.

After calming down, Jiang Cheng turned off his phone to reassure Fatty, lay down on the bed, pulled the quilt up to his chin, closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep.

This was the right thing to do now. What Jiang Cheng was thinking about now wasn't just how to survive, but also how to break the situation. He was certain that the key to breaking the situation was related to the mysterious black shadow.

And there was one more thing Jiang Cheng needed to confirm: when exactly did he enter the game?

To be more precise, when was Fatty, and the others around him, replaced? And where were the real Fatty and the others now?

The first thing Jiang Cheng thought of was the phone call from Li Bai. She said that the mission wasn't over, and assuming she was telling the truth, then the fact that it wasn't over could mean two things.

First, they were still in the mission world, and everything around them was just an illusion created by the Newspaper Man.

Second, they had indeed left the mission world dominated by the Newspaper Man and returned to the real world. The situation they were facing now was a completely new paranormal event.

After thinking about it, Jiang Cheng was more inclined towards the second option: this was a completely new paranormal event, unrelated to the Newspaper Man.

His reasons were as follows.

First of all, if they were still in the Newspaper Man's world, then judging from their current environment, the four survivors were separated, each in a relatively independent world, like the state they were in during the first level, the Mirror of the Underworld.

If that were the case, they definitely wouldn't be able to communicate with each other, and Li Bai would have no reason to call and tell him that the mission wasn't over.

And most importantly, that bus appeared. They returned to the real world on that bus. No matter how powerful the Newspaper Man was, he was just an enforcer on the bus, essentially similar to other prisoners, subject to the bus's jurisdiction. He absolutely couldn't have the ability to control the bus.

As long as they boarded that bus, it meant the mission was over, and it also meant they were absolutely safe.

Jiang Cheng also wondered if the so-called bus was fake, just an illusion created by the Newspaper Man, but he quickly dismissed the idea. The aura on that bus was very special. Jiang Cheng had never felt a similar aura on any ghost or disciple. He could be sure that the bus they boarded was real.

Then the problem entered the next stage: they did leave the Newspaper Man's world and were caught up in a completely new paranormal event.

Others aside, when exactly was Fatty, who had always been by his side, replaced?

Jiang Cheng first ruled out the two days they spent in the studio after leaving the mission, because it was too peaceful. The beginning of all this should have been after 2 and 13 came looking for him that night.

It was also from there that they truly came into contact with the mysterious disappearance case of Xieming Mountain, and then drove all the way to the small town at the foot of Xieming Mountain and checked into the Hengtong Inn late at night.

Suddenly, Jiang Cheng shivered. The Hengtong Inn!

It was this Hengtong Inn again!

His mind seemed to be torn apart, and scene after scene played back like a slide show. The mysterious man in his dream appeared in the Hengtong Inn, standing on the second floor of the inn. The same bed sheets from the inn also appeared in Yao Shunyu's photo, and… and the morning he woke up in the inn, the inn was empty, and he carefully groped his way downstairs, while Luo Yunshan, Fatty, and the others explained that they were testing him, and even told him that Wu had already been tricked and almost kidnapped him…

Slowly, gathering all the information, all the clues pointed to this unremarkable Hengtong Inn. As time passed, a bold guess formed in Jiang Cheng's mind. He suspected that he hadn't woken up at all, and everything he was experiencing now was a dream, and the real him was lying on that bed with the orchid pattern, in the Hengtong Inn!

That was what the mysterious man wanted to remind him!

Jiang Cheng had once heard that dreams were divided into different layers, and the deeper the dream, the more real it was, and the harder it was to wake up. He even suspected that if he died in such a dream, then the real him would also die, just like Yao Shunyu.

Cold sweat broke out on his back. The mysterious man appeared several times, always before danger came. Although Jiang Cheng wasn't sure of the other party's identity, they were undoubtedly on his side.

Having figured this out, Jiang Cheng felt much more at ease. In this world, he had a trustworthy companion. Now there was only one problem left: what did the three marks the mysterious man drew represent?

The other party definitely wanted to tell him something, and it was very important. Jiang Cheng was sure that this was the key to breaking the situation.

He thought about it, but couldn't come up with any clues. While thinking, Jiang Cheng fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Jiang Cheng was awakened by a burst of dull knocking on the door. Jiang Cheng was really awakened, and Fatty's acting was also quite skilled. If Jiang Cheng hadn't already seen through his identity, he wouldn't have suspected him at all based on his reaction alone.

After opening the door, 2 and 13 rushed in, their urgent expressions giving Jiang Cheng a bad feeling. "Just received news, something happened in town. Mr. Luo is taking people to deal with it. He told us not to go anywhere. He'll come find us soon."

Fatty looked a little frightened and couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Do you know what happened?"

"Not sure yet, but it should be related to us." 13 looked at the corridor outside the door from time to time, looking very nervous.

His long experience made Jiang Cheng very clear about how he should behave now so as not to arouse suspicion, but he was already certain that Fatty, 2, and 13 were all problematic. They were all impostor ghosts, and the so-called "something happened" was just a cover. The real purpose must be related to him.

Having recognized this, the overall mission plot became much clearer. He was trying his best to cooperate with their acting to see what these guys were up to.

He was looking for an opportunity, an opportunity to get rid of these people in a reasonable way, and then he planned to go back to the Hengtong Inn to take a look. He was sure there would be clues there.

The waiting time was quite agonizing. Finally, half an hour later, a burst of rapid footsteps sounded in the corridor. Luo Yunshan appeared, but at this moment, his entire body was tense and his eyes were full of vigilance. "Where are the people I sent to protect you last night?"

This attitude made 13 very unhappy. "Mr. Luo, what are you talking about? You sent them, and then you're asking us?"

In order to show his sincerity, Jiang Cheng took the initiative to tell Luo Yunshan about the knocking on the door last night. At the same time, he also gave his guess, saying that he felt there might be something wrong with the people outside, so he didn't open the door.

Hearing this, Luo Yunshan took a deep breath and nodded affirmatively to Jiang Cheng. "Very good, you're lucky you didn't open the door. Your feeling was right. There was indeed something wrong with those people, because… because the people who were supposed to come are already dead."

"Dead?"

"Yes." Luo Yunshan's face looked even worse. "I only received the news this morning. Someone found their bodies. They died in the rooms, lying on the bed, just like… just like Yao Shunyu's state of death. The people who replied to my messages last night weren't them at all."

"This is my negligence. I didn't expect something like this to happen. They were the strongest of my men, how… how could they die so muddleheadedly?"

"Where were they killed?" Jiang Cheng asked.

Luo Yunshan looked up. "In the inn you stayed in on the first day."

The Hengtong Inn…

Worried that the other party was testing him, Jiang Cheng didn't show too much emotional fluctuation on his face, just nodded pretentiously. "It's there… I want to go to the scene to take a look, maybe I'll find something."

But this time, Luo Yunshan shook his head helplessly. "Not now. The higher-ups are very concerned about what's happening in the mountains, and they've arranged another team to investigate. Now that inn has been sealed off, and even I can't get in."

"Our mission is to enter West Xieming Mountain again and find those missing people. You guys come with me to replenish your equipment first. After everything is ready, we'll set off." Luo Yunshan said in an unquestionable tone, "This time, besides us, there's another team. They were the second team that was originally prepared. I didn't expect they would really come in handy."

Under Luo Yunshan's leadership, everyone went to eat something casually first, and then they were brought to a few SUVs. The people around were carefully checking their equipment, and white oil drums were placed on the ground.

There were several tents scattered around the SUVs, of different sizes. Some could accommodate people, and some could only store things. Jiang Cheng lifted the flap of a smaller tent and saw several large black tote bags inside. One of the zippers wasn't fastened, and the dark muzzle of a gun was facing outwards. The others were probably the matching ammunition.

Jiang Cheng, who was worried about not being able to get rid of them, now had an idea. Although it was a bit risky, compared to entering the mountains, he could only take a gamble. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was busy sorting out their equipment, he quietly carried a bucket of gasoline, poured it on the tote bags inside a small tent, and then lit it with a lighter.

With the gasoline helping to fuel the flames, the fire broke out instantly, engulfing the entire tent, and at the same time, with the help of the wind, it became uncontrollable, threatening to ignite all the nearby tents.

Besides food and medicine, everything else inside was dangerous goods such as guns, ammunition, and fuel. Once the fire spread, the consequences would be disastrous.

The increasingly fierce fire attracted everyone's attention. Smoke billowed everywhere. After Jiang Cheng shouted a few times to put out the fire, just like everyone else, he seized the opportunity and slipped away secretly.

This place wasn't big. He remembered the way he came, and ran all the way towards the inn. He didn't believe what Luo Yunshan said. The way to expose their lies was simple: he just needed to go to the inn himself to take a look.

The journey wasn't far, but to his surprise, the Hengtong Inn was actually cordoned off. He didn't expect these things to put on such a complete show, as if it were a real thing.

He bypassed the cordon and entered the inn. At this time, it was empty. On the first floor, he saw the cordon again. Several rooms were sealed off, and a chair was placed outside, apparently for the officer on duty to use, but there was no one to be seen at this time.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Cheng still decided to take a look.

But when he entered the room, he was suddenly stunned. There were only two beds in the room, but at this moment, there were people on both beds. To be precise, what he could see directly were two human-shaped bulges, because both of these people were covered with a layer of white cloth, covering their faces as well.

Are people really… dead?

Jiang Cheng couldn't help but feel a little dazed. He walked forward and lifted the white cloth. Under the white cloth was a man's face. The man's eyes were closed, and his expression was unusually peaceful, as if he was asleep.

But his body was already cold. He was definitely dead.

Jiang Cheng checked the other rooms as well, and the results were the same. There were a total of 8 corpses, and they all matched what Luo Yunshan said.

At this moment, Jiang Cheng wavered, but this wasn't his destination. What was more important was on the second floor, the room he had once lived in.

According to his guess, the moment he pushed open the door to his room, he would be able to see himself lying in bed, and even… even Fatty, 2, and 13, they would all be there!

This was a dream.

As long as… as long as he found himself asleep, he could wake up from the dream!

Hopefully… that's the case.