Chapter 18 A Crucial Clue

Within the letter, the ambitious mayor also left a very important clue.

More accurately, it was a conjecture.

"That non-existent room only opens at night, and to enter, you must have the guidance of the room's owner..." Huai Yi stroked his chin, deep in thought.

The fatty stared at the words on the letter, his brow furrowed. "So, we need Haleson's permission to enter, but... how is that possible?"

Based on their previous conclusions, anyone approached by Haleson was sure to die.

After reading the letter, Jiang Cheng was silent for a moment before offering his insight, "Perhaps it's not Haleson's permission we need, but him leading the way. If we follow behind him, we can enter."

"But if Haleson appears, someone is bound to die." The fatty's face was tense. The previous videotape had a huge impact on him. The Haleson at night was practically invincible.

Huai Yi's expression turned fierce, his eyes icy. "Then we'll give him someone to kill! While Haleson is dragging the corpse away, we can follow him into that room!"

The fatty's mind immediately flashed to Bai Xiaojie's face. He opened his mouth, seemingly to say something, but thinking of the doctor and Huai Yi, he hardened his heart.

Huai Yi saw the fatty's expression. He didn't want to do this either, but there was no other way. People were dying every night. If Bai Xiaojie didn't die, they would.

"Brother Fugui, you and Brother Jiang are both good people. Don't worry about this." Huai Yi's cold tone was almost unfamiliar. "I'll be the bad guy!"

"It's not the end yet," Jiang Cheng said. "We still have time to find a solution."

Jiang Cheng's calm tone broke the current stalemate, but the fatty understood that if they didn't find a way to leave by nightfall, then Bai Xiaojie was destined to be tonight's sacrifice.

And the three of them would step over Bai Xiaojie's blood to leave this world.

Jiang Cheng glanced at Huai Yi, whose brow furrowed. Then, the fierce look on his face was suddenly replaced by his usual smile. He put his hand on the fatty's shoulder, pulled him towards the outside, and said in a light tone, "Brother Fugui, Brother Jiang is right. We still have time to find clues. We can definitely leave here before nightfall."

Jiang Cheng followed behind them, watching the fatty's slightly hunched shoulders. It was hard to imagine that such a person would be the most popular one in Crimson.

The next second, his body trembled. He suddenly had a strange feeling that the fatty wasn't really worried about Bai Xiaojie's life, but about him and Huai Yi.

He was worried that they would be affected by this strange, twisted world, until they became monsters they wouldn't even recognize.

There were no more clues to be found with the mayor, so the three of them decided to leave and return to the manor. They passed by the huge crooked-neck tree.

The Haleson in the painting was hanged here.

It had rained last night, and the muddy ground around the tree was covered with large and small puddles, filled with stagnant water. They carefully avoided them as they walked.

But as Huai Yi's eyes swept across the scene, his heart seemed to clench. Catching the reflection in the puddles, he noticed with horror that the crooked-neck tree beside him was densely covered with hanging corpses.

Jiang Cheng was the first to notice Huai Yi's strange behavior. "What's wrong?"

"Cor... corpses!" Huai Yi retreated, almost tripping over a puddle.

Hearing this, the fatty tensed up, constantly looking around. "Where are the corpses?" he asked nervously.

"On the tree!"

The fatty and Jiang Cheng looked at the crooked-neck tree, but it was already dead. Not to mention corpses, there wasn't even a single leaf or bird.

The dry branches extended weakly in all directions like the shriveled arms of an old man.

Huai Yi calmed down at this point, but when he looked at the puddles again, the tree full of corpses had disappeared. Reflected in the water was the dead tree and the gloomy sky behind it.

"Don't be afraid," the fatty comforted the disturbed Huai Yi. "Look carefully, where are the corpses?"

"But I clearly saw them just now, I'm sure of it!" Although Huai Yi couldn't understand it, he was confident in his observational skills.

What happened to Huai Yi instantly made Jiang Cheng think of something else. When he first arrived at the manor, he and Miao Qing were familiarizing themselves with the environment, and under this crooked-neck tree, Miao Qing's behavior was very similar to Huai Yi's.

Although Miao Qing brushed it off at the time, Jiang Cheng saw all the tension she displayed.

Could it be that Miao Qing also saw the corpses on the crooked-neck tree?

Similar conjectures gradually formed in Jiang Cheng's mind. He looked at Huai Yi, a trace of worry flashing in his eyes.

Suddenly seeing corpses, especially at this time, was definitely not a good sign.

"It's nothing," Jiang Cheng said, glancing at the crooked-neck tree and reassuring him in a calm tone. "Let's get out of here first."

Back at their lodgings, as soon as they entered the building, the fatty sniffed his nose and asked in confusion, "What's that smell? Do you guys smell it?"

"It smells like blood," Huai Yi replied.

At first, they didn't think much of it, assuming that Miao Qing's bloody smell from last night hadn't completely dissipated. But when they went up to the second floor, they found that the blood stains on the corridor and stairs had disappeared, and everything was clean.

Moreover, after arriving on the second floor, the faint smell of blood also disappeared.

Jiang Cheng immediately turned around and went downstairs, with the fatty and Huai Yi following behind him. The three of them followed the smell of blood, searching all the way, and finally stopped at the kitchen door.

The kitchen door was ajar, and blood was seeping out along the crack under the door.

Jiang Cheng stepped forward and slowly pushed open the door. The scene before him made Huai Yi's heart sink to the bottom. Bai Xiaojie was sitting at the dining table, facing away from them, leaning back in her chair, her hands hanging down limply.

Blood dripped from her fingers from time to time.

A large pool of blood under the seat was shocking.

Huai Yi immediately ran over, but it was too late. Bai Xiaojie's slightly opened eyes had already lost their luster. Her body was supported entirely by the back of the chair, and there was a deep wound on her left wrist.

On the dining table in front of her was a knife and a mobile phone.

The three of them immediately tried to rescue Bai Xiaojie, but it was too late. Jiang Cheng pulled away Huai Yi, who was frantically pressing on Bai Xiaojie's chest. "It's too late." Jiang Cheng stared at Bai Xiaojie's body and sighed.

She must have been sitting here for several hours. Now the blood had dried up and the body was cold.

"She can't die!" Huai Yi's hands were covered in blood, and so were his clothes, but he didn't care at all. He stared at Bai Xiaojie's body, his eyes filled with regret and anger.

It wasn't that Bai Xiaojie couldn't die, but that she couldn't die now, after all... night was coming soon.