Chapter 166
Chapter 166
After the Man in a Duckbill Cap broke away from the crowd, he headed toward a hidden side path.
From the second floor of the Intelligence Department, Xia Guofeng looked down at the Man in a Duckbill Cap’s retreating back, his eyes narrowing slightly.
He shot a look at the investigator beside him.
“Go. Find out where that troublemaker came from.”
“Yes, Director.”
The investigator had only just accepted the assignment and withdrawn when a communications officer outside knocked on the door in a rush.
Knock, knock!
“Director, urgent matter!”
“Come in.”
The communications officer entered and handed Xia Guofeng a sealed bag with both hands.
“Director, surveillance footage from the Jinghai City Public Security Bureau. They said the situation is urgent and asked that you review it personally.”
Xia Guofeng took the bag, tore open the seal, and pulled out the USB drive.
At the same time, he strode to the computer desk, plugged in the drive, opened the files, and quickly clicked on the video.
The surveillance footage began to play.
The video was related to Dai Chunli.
Over the past few days, Dai Chunli, who had been locked up in the detention center, had apparently lost her mind.
As if suddenly possessed, both her hands clawed desperately at something “that did not exist” around her neck.
Judging from the surveillance footage, it looked as though something was viciously strangling Dai Chunli.
Her breathing came in broken gasps.
The veins on her neck and forehead bulged as she rasped out hoarse cries.
“No… don’t, urgh…”
“I’ll… give you… money…”
“Please! Urgh… don’t kill me…”
In the surveillance footage, Dai Chunli was yanking hard at that invisible murder weapon, trying to keep herself from suffocating to death.
Her face had already turned the color of liver.
But inside that room, aside from Dai Chunli herself, there was no killer at all.
The police officers on duty rushed over one after another.
“Is there something wrong with the prisoner’s mental state?”
“Is she psychotic? Should we send her to the hospital?”
Just as one of the officers on duty took out his key and prepared to open the iron door to go in and check on her, an invisible hand also grabbed the officer by the throat.
The officer was seized by the neck, his feet leaving the ground as he was lifted into the air.
Seeing this, a colleague beside him hurried to the storage room next door.
The colleague brought back a bone cleaver “that had just been confiscated from rioters downtown” and chopped down into the gap between the iron door and the officer’s neck.
With one clean stroke, the strangled officer was saved.
And a woman’s hand wearing a luxurious watch, now covered in blood, revealed its shape and fell to the floor.
“It’s a Strange Tale.”
“Dai Chunli has been targeted by a Strange Tale!”
“Don’t go near her. Dai Chunli must have done something and violated certain rules, which is why she’s being killed!”
“Everyone, be careful! Whatever you do, don’t let the Strange Tale possess you!”
The gathered officers retreated again and again.
Under everyone’s horrified gaze, Dai Chunli was dragged into the corner. Both hands clutched at her own neck as her legs kicked frantically.
Soon, Dai Chunli’s consciousness began to blur. Her brain was starved of oxygen, and her hands grew weaker and weaker.
In less than three minutes, Dai Chunli’s legs jerked straight, and she died.
Xia Guofeng shut off the video with a grave expression, his brows tightly furrowed into three deep lines.
“Dai Chunli is dead.”
With a sigh, Xia Guofeng pressed a hand to his forehead and arrived at the conclusion he least wanted to see.
Of all the times Dai Chunli could have died, she had to die right as Jiang Li entered the amusement park Instance, at the critical moment when she was bound to Dai Chunli!
Now that Dai Chunli was dead, Jiang Li’s attempt to clear this challenge would directly lose the human shield backing her from behind.
That meant every single step Jiang Li took could not go wrong!
“Go bring Dai Chunli’s body back. Place it in the morgue. Don’t bury her yet.”
“Yes, Director!”
After the communications officer acknowledged the order, he turned and left the room.
Xia Guofeng looked at Jiang Li in the Live Streaming Room on the large screen beside him.
She had probably received a message from the System as well.
Right now, whether it was the people of Jinlin City or the loss of the “damage transfer” talent, everything was pressuring Jiang Li to make the easier choice-the one that better served her own interests.
No ordinary person of sound mind would continue digging in their heels against the Ghost Face Organization under such enormous risk and public pressure.
No one knew what choice Jiang Li… would make.
Inside the Live Streaming Room.
Jiang Li, who was standing in line, had indeed received a notification a few minutes ago: “Failed to link with Dai Chunli in the surface world.”
Jiang Li was somewhat surprised.
Dai Chunli… was dead?
Given Dai Chunli’s personality, she didn’t seem like the type to do something foolish or take her own life.
Could Dai Chunli’s death have been deliberately orchestrated by the Ghost Face Organization?
Had they intentionally cut off every method Jiang Li had to protect herself, all for the sake of forcing her to stop fighting them?
While Jiang Li was lost in thought, she had already reached the very front of the line.
“Miss, this round is already full. Please wait patiently for the next batch.”
A staff member in a long white uniform reached out to stop Jiang Li and, in passing, shut the waist-high little gate.
This amusement park’s Ferris wheel did not operate by rotating continuously, allowing people to get on and off at will.
Instead, it would only start once a full batch of visitors had boarded.
Jiang Li nodded. “All right.”
Standing outside the small gate, Jiang Li observed the visitors inside the park.
Before entering the Ferris wheel cabins, all of these visitors had to step onto an electronic device that displayed numbers, as if undergoing a physical check.
The staff member in charge beside it held a record book and was carefully writing down some kind of information.
Visitors coming out of the cabins also had to undergo the same check again before leaving.
The Ferris wheel staff would once again record the relevant information for these “departing visitors.”
Jiang Li shifted her gaze to the Bulletin Board beside the small gate.
Posted on it were the boarding rules for the Ferris wheel.
[Hell’s Paradise Ferris Wheel Rules]
[1. One full rotation of the Ferris wheel takes fifteen minutes. Please wait patiently and do not cut in line.]
[2. Flammable or explosive personal items are prohibited inside the Ferris wheel cabins. Before entering a cabin, please follow staff instructions and submit your belongings for inspection.]
[3. Please ensure that 3-4 people ride in each cabin.]
[4. For your safety, please do not open the cabin door.]
[5. After the game ends, if your Health Points are above 50, you will be deemed to have cleared the game.]
After Jiang Li finished reading the final rule, she seemed to trigger some kind of mechanism.
Almost in the blink of an eye, a red number appeared above every visitor’s head.
Puzzled, Jiang Li swept her gaze around.
She discovered that the two numbers appearing most often above the visitors’ heads were 0 and 100.
There were also a small number of visitors whose numbers were between 0 and 100, such as 20 or 30.
And in front of Jiang Li’s own head, there was also a number: 100.
Could these numbers that had suddenly appeared be… Health Points?
Just then, the deafening cheers coming from the main path nearby forcefully seized Jiang Li’s attention.
Jiang Li looked over.
She saw a crowd of visitors following behind the Red-Nosed Clown. In the middle of the park’s main path, they surrounded the performing clown, shouting loudly, clapping, and cheering.
The clown held a torch in his hand.
He took a mouthful of odorless kerosene, then sprayed it out into the air, performing a fire-breathing act in the middle of the crowd.
Firelight swirled around him.
The scene was spectacular and lively.
Far down the main path, a gigantic inflatable yellow hornet balloon was slowly rising into the air.