Chapter 136

Chapter 136

It was eight o’clock in the evening, and Song Xiaotian still wasn’t answering his phone.

The three of us were unable to sit still any longer.

“Something’s happened. Something has definitely happened!”

Meng Yifan looked anxious. “If something happened to a guy as fierce as him, who on earth could have done it? He wouldn’t…”

I glared at Meng Yifan, telling him not to jinx it.

“Let’s go find him. Worrying won’t do any good.” Old Zhao Seven stood up, his face also etched with concern.

He might be petty, but with Song Xiaotian in trouble, he was just as worried as we were.

“Where do we even look? We don’t know where he was when it happened,” Meng Yifan said.

Old Zhao Seven thought for a moment. “Didn’t he go to the school to investigate? We’ll have to check there first.”

I told Meng Yifan to go to the teahouse to find Song Xiaotian’s father, while Old Zhao Seven and I headed to the school.

Time was of the essence. None of us wanted anything bad to happen to Song Xiaotian, so we immediately locked up the shop and prepared to search for him.

But just as we finished locking the door, a text message from Song Xiaotian arrived on my phone.

“Something came up unexpectedly. Don’t call me. I found He Tao’s Girlfriend. Her name is Su Qian. Address: Room 402, Unit 3, Building 24, Chaoge Community, 347 Wannian Road.”

Seeing the content of the message and the sender, the three of us breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The kid was okay!

“Damn it, would it have killed him to text sooner?”

Meng Yifan couldn’t help but curse. “We called so many times, and it took him this long to reply!”

I said, “As long as he’s okay. There might have been an emergency on his end that made it inconvenient to text back.”

Though I was also curious about what exactly had happened to him.

Logically, since we had practically blown up his phone with calls, he should have known we were worried and checked in sooner to let us know he was safe.

Yet he only replied this late.

Unless he had encountered a situation so urgent that he didn’t even have a second to send a text.

I wanted to call him back and ask, but since he specifically said not to call in the message, I had to refrain.

“Since he’s fine and time is tight, we should head to this address and check it out,” Old Zhao Seven said.

After getting into the car, I asked Old Zhao Seven what we should do once we found Su Qian.

Tell her a ghost was out to get her?

What if she didn’t believe us? What if she thought we were idiots?

After all, most people in this world don’t believe in ghosts and gods. I was afraid she would just dismiss us.

“Then we make her believe. We tell her how He Tao died.”

Old Zhao Seven said with a grim expression, “It’s best if she leaves the city for a while to hide. She can come back once this blows over. No matter what, her life comes first.”

We soon arrived at Chaoge Community.

It was an ordinary residential complex with lax security. Aside from delivery drivers who were restricted, anyone could walk right in.

We entered the complex and quickly located Unit 3 of Building 24.

Standing below, we glanced up. The lights were on in Su Qian’s home; someone was there.

Moreover, since it was Saturday, Su Qian was likely at home.

We went straight upstairs to the door of Room 402 and knocked.

But after knocking, no one came to open the door.

“Is anyone home?”

I knocked three more times and called out.

Still, no one answered.

“The lights are on, so why isn’t anyone opening the door?” Meng Yifan said, knocking three times himself.

I knocked several more times, but there was still no response.

Old Zhao Seven’s expression had turned solemn. He leaned in, pressing his nose near the gap between the door and the frame, sniffing from top to bottom.

I didn’t know what he was smelling for, so I asked him.

“There’s the scent of blood,” he said, his brow furrowing deeply.
Meng Yifan and I stared at each other in confusion. “How come we didn’t smell anything?”

“You can’t smell it, but I can. Something has already happened.”

Old Zhao Seven sighed and looked around for any security cameras. Seeing none, he pulled out two pieces of iron wire and began picking the lock.

The scent of blood…

A sense of unease began to stir in my heart.

A smell of blood definitely meant something was wrong, but how could it be such a coincidence? Just as we tracked down Su Qian’s home, something happened to her?

Then there was Song Xiaotian’s side; I felt that was strange too.

While I was lost in thought, Old Zhao Seven had already clicked the lock open.

His lock-picking skills were truly top-notch.

As the door opened, a thick, metallic stench of blood practically hit us in the face, the stench so overpowering it forced us back two steps.

The living room lights were on, leaving the scene inside completely exposed.

The three of us froze at the doorway, eyes wide and stomachs churning.

Something had happened, alright-something horrific.

In the living room alone, there were two bodies. A middle-aged couple, presumably Su Qian’s parents.

Cruel wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the scene.

Judging by the state of the room, Su Qian’s father had likely killed her mother, using a knife to decapitate her.

The body was slumped on the sofa, while the head sat on the coffee table. The entire table and most of the sofa were drenched in blood.

As for Su Qian’s father, it appeared he had committed suicide. However, he hadn’t been able to fully sever his own head; his neck was only halfway cut through, leaving his head lolling grotesquely to one side.

The entire living room looked like a vision of purgatory, the floor covered in blood.

Meng Yifan and I covered our mouths, not daring to look any longer as we fought the urge to vomit.

“If you don’t want to leave traces for the police to find you, you’d better not throw up,”
Old Zhao Seven said grimly. He took off his shoes and stepped inside.

He stayed in for about a minute before coming back out. He put his shoes back on, took off his shirt, and began wiping down the outer door.

He was likely wiping away our fingerprints.

There was no doubt about it-Su Qian’s parents had been driven to kill each other after being possessed by Du Yuwei.

Su Qian’s father had been the one possessed; he killed the mother and then himself.

Since the killer in this tragedy was a ghost and not a person, Old Zhao Seven was wiping our prints to prevent the police from mistakenly identifying us as the culprits when they processed the scene.

Suppressing the nausea in my gut, I didn’t dare look inside again. I asked Old Zhao Seven, “Seventh Master, what do we do? Should we call the police?”

“Call the police for what? In a case with no human killer, whoever reports it becomes the suspect.”

Old Zhao Seven’s face was ashen. He didn’t even close the door, pulling us straight toward the stairs.

Before we exited the residential compound, he told us to stay calm and act as if we hadn’t seen anything.

He had mentioned earlier that the bodies showed no signs of livor mortis or rigor mortis, meaning the time of death was less than an hour ago. We had entered only minutes after the fact. Even if the police checked the compound’s surveillance, as long as we remained calm, they wouldn’t suspect us.

Once we were out of the compound, Meng Yifan and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. We found a restroom across the street and spent several minutes retching.

When we finished, Old Zhao Seven’s expression was terrifyingly dark.

It was so grim that I didn’t even dare speak to him.

Just then, Song Xiaotian called me.

“Hey, are you finished with your end?” I asked quickly after picking up.

“Finished with what? Finished with my ass!” Song Xiaotian’s cursing came through the phone. “I fucking passed out. I just woke up.”

I quickly put him on speakerphone, my jaw dropping. “What did you say? Didn’t you just send us a text message half an hour ago?”

Song Xiaotian replied, “I just woke up! I didn’t send that text!”