As the sun began to set, Qingfeng Town was bathed in its afterglow. Xiao Lou opened the window and glanced outside. Sure enough, people on the street hurried home. The bustling and peaceful town during the day would become a ghost town once the sun went down. Looking at the empty alley, Xiao Lou murmured, "If we stay in town any longer, we'll be teleported to Ghost City again after dark. I wonder how many Hunters will be waiting for us there this time."
Yu Hanjiang walked to his side, gently put his arm around his shoulder, and said, "But if we leave Qingfeng Town, after dark, will we be transported to another world like CEO Shao and Ninth Brother did last time?"
Last time, their team split into three groups. Shao Qingge and Ye Qi were teleported to the world twenty years in the past at the town gate. The four members of the Nine Brothers went to the forest and ended up returning to three years in the past.
In other words, those within the town's boundaries after dark will remain in their "original world." Challengers who leave the town will be teleported to other points in time. The exact teleportation mechanism is currently unclear; if they are also transported to the famine era twenty years ago, the entire chamber will become unplayable.
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang and said, "We must stay in the original world. Not only is there no clue about the killer in the Sunken Lake Case, but we also haven't found Zhou Xiaoyun, the key figure in the Ghost Case, as well as the two killers, Qi Ran and Han Ningshuang."
Yu Hanjiang said, "Well, we have no choice but to stay here. There are still too few clues in the Sunken Lake Case, but what is certain is that the bride who hanged herself at her wedding and the groom who drowned in the river not long after are the key figures in this case. Generally, if a murderer doesn't commit an impulsive, random killing, then the first person he kills is definitely closely related to his motive. On the other hand, the people he kills later may be similar targets chosen after his mind has become twisted, to satisfy his psychological pleasure."
According to information that Qu Wanyue and Liu Qiao gathered from various sources in the town, on the eighth day of the third lunar month two years ago, Long Yan, the third young master of the Long family, and Lin Wanqing, the eldest daughter of the Lin family, got married. Since both the Long and Lin families were prominent families in Qingfeng Town, the marriage of the two young people was considered a good match. The wedding was grand and many guests were invited.
The murderer likely infiltrated the wedding banquet among the guests and killed the bride. Two years have passed since the wedding, making it difficult to obtain a complete list of guests who attended.
As it was getting dark, Xiao Lou said helplessly, "It seems we'll have to wait until tomorrow to continue the investigation of the Sunken Lake Case. I wonder if we'll be able to get any other clues from Ghost City after dark."
Yu Hanjiang paused for a moment, then pressed his earpiece and said to his teammates, "It's getting dark. Everyone, come to the top-tier room and meet up with me and Xiao Lou to avoid being ambushed by Hunter like last time."
Upon hearing this, the four immediately gathered in Xiao Lou's room.
The woman with infinitely growing hair encountered in Ghost City, and the woman with ghost doll makeup and a red oil-paper umbrella, were both formidable Hunters. This time, it seems the Hunters can only appear in the Ghost City maze at night; no one bothers them during the day. Perhaps there are restrictions on the Hunters' identities in this particular escape room.
In short, Ghost City is extremely dangerous at night, and everyone must be fully prepared.
After a while, it finally got dark.
The town of Qingfeng outside the window was bathed in soft moonlight, and the dark shadows of the trees swayed on the ground like menacing demons. There wasn't a sound from any animals; the silence was eerily profound, as if the six of them had been abandoned by the entire world.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, opened the window, and climbed out with their teammates.
This time, the alleyway wasn't straight and endless like before; instead, it was winding and the moon overhead was clearly visible. Old Mo immediately said, "The alleyway is normal; we weren't pulled into the Hunter's domain."
Liu Qiao glanced around and asked in a low voice, "Did she not come this time, or is it that she doesn't want to use the same method a second time?"
Xiao Lou perked up his ears alertly. There seemed to be no Hunter's voice around, but Xiao Lou still dared not let his guard down. He whispered to his teammates, "Everyone be careful. Hanjiang and I will lead the way. Long Sen and Wanyue will follow behind with the Chameleon Card. Xiao Liu will cover the rear. If anyone attacks, use Elsa's Blizzard to stop them."
The six quickly formed a line. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou led the way, Long Sen and Qu Wanyue concealed themselves with chameleon cards, Liu Qiao brought up the rear, and Lao Mo took out a maze map drawn on a handkerchief to guide them. They soon emerged from the alley behind the inn and saw the lake in the center of Qingfeng Town.
The familiar Zuiyue Lake, its surface dappled with fragments of moonlight. Old Mo crouched down, carefully observing the fragments on the lake's surface, and said, "The maze is still rotating tonight. It's a one-hour cycle from the origin. In other words, if we want to leave this maze, we need to stay here for 12 hours until the maze returns to its origin, and then exit through the previous exit."
Yu Hanjiang lowered his voice, "These 12 hours are definitely in survival mode. I don't know where Hunter is hiding."
Xiao Lou took a deep breath and said calmly, "Let's go, everyone be careful."
They walked along the lake, but after only a short distance, they suddenly heard deafening firecrackers all around them. Liu Qiao, who was walking at the back, was startled and immediately stopped, turning her head to look in the direction from which the firecrackers were coming. "Firecrackers in the middle of the night? Is the wedding of Miss Zhao Zean about to be repeated?"
When everyone first came to Ghost City at night, they saw Zhao Zean getting married. Are we going to see it again today?
Old Mo looked toward the alley where the firecrackers were going off and said, "It shouldn't be the Zhao family's; that alley doesn't seem right."
Although the maze keeps rotating, it is difficult to accurately determine the direction.
However, he remembered that the alley in front of the Zhao family's house did not have many willow trees, but at this moment, the place where the firecrackers were coming from was full of willow trees. The willow branches and leaves on the roadside intertwined and swayed in the wind under the moonlight, looking like ghosts.
Xiao Lou said, "If it's not the Zhao family, then it must be the Long family."
Liu Qiao quickly realized, "Could it be the Longyan and Lin Wanqing couple who had the accident at their wedding banquet two years ago?"
Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice, "It's the same scene again. Let's go take a look."
The six followed the sound of firecrackers to the street and, sure enough, saw a family's courtyard surrounded by a ring of large red lanterns, with two "囍" (double happiness) characters pasted on the gate. Several guards stood at the gate, all dressed in festive red.
At this time, although the gate was open, no guests were coming in or out, so the wedding banquet may have already begun.
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and asked softly, "Should we wear the Invisibility Cloak and go straight in, or fly to the roof and take a look?"
Xiao Lou thought for a moment and said, "How about this, Long Sen and Wanyue sneak in first to check the situation, and we'll wait for news."
Long Sen and Qu Wanyue had already blended into the floor using the chameleon card. Upon hearing this, Qu Wanyue spoke from the ground, "Okay, let's go in and scout ahead."
The two entered the courtyard, and a moment later, Qu Wanyue's voice came through Xiao Lou's earpiece: " Professor Xiao, the bride and groom are performing the wedding ceremony, and the guests don't seem to be acting strangely. It should be a reenactment of the scene from two years ago."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance, and Xiao Lou nodded. " Lightness Skill, go in."
The Invisibility Cloak should be used sparingly. Yu Hanjiang activated his Lightness Skill Card, flew to the rooftop with Xiao Lou, and Liu Qiao also activated his Lightness Skill Card, used Thumbelina to shrink Lao Mo and put him in her pocket, then flew to the rooftop.
The four of them chose a dark corner away from the light, and secretly lay on the roof, only peeking out their heads to observe the situation in the yard.
"First bow to Heaven and Earth, second bow to parents."
"Husband and wife bow to each other" - "Ceremony complete"
Sure enough, a wedding ceremony was taking place in the hall. The bride's face was covered by a red veil, making it impossible to see her features, while the groom had a joyful expression on his face. After the ceremony, he smiled and bowed to the guests around him.
The groom had a fleshy face, his eyes narrowed into slits when he smiled, he was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, less than 1.7 meters tall but weighing over 200 kilograms; in contrast, the bride, although her face was not clearly visible, had a graceful figure.
Before entering Ghost City at night, Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang connected via Telepathic Connection. Upon seeing this scene, they thought to themselves, "The groom's family is very wealthy, but his physique and appearance don't match the bride's. He probably weighs more than three times the bride's weight. I wonder if the bride willingly married him."
Yu Hanjiang said, "If the bride was forced into it, why would the murderer kill her?"
Xiao Lou thought about it and agreed. Suppose the murderer was deeply in love with the bride and had the idea of killing her because of "unrequited love". If the bride was forced by her family, the murderer would not kill the bride. He would be more likely to kill the groom and her family and then take the bride away.
Yu Hanjiang followed up with, "There are two possibilities. First, the bride and the murderer were originally deeply in love, but later, because she coveted the Long family's money, she changed her mind and agreed to her parents' arrangement to marry the fat and ugly third young master of the Long family. The murderer was jealous of this and killed the bride on the night of the wedding banquet. Shortly afterward, he killed the third young master of the Long family. Then, due to his twisted mentality, he killed many girls of the same age in the town, dressed them in red, and dragged them into the lake."
Following this line of thought, Xiao Lou said, "The second possibility is that the bride had offended the murderer in the past, and it just so happened that she was wearing red, leaving the murderer with severe psychological trauma. The murderer deeply hated the bride, so he took advantage of the wedding banquet to kill her."
Was it a twisted mentality caused by love turning into hate, or did he already hate her and then retaliate at the wedding banquet?
Xiao Lou looked up and saw the matchmaker helping the bride into the bridal chamber, while the groom and other guests stayed in the courtyard to drink. He went from table to table toasting with a wine pot, and the entire backyard was bustling with activity and laughter.
Yu Hanjiang's sharp eyes swept across the guest seats, trying to find any suspicious people.
He saw many familiar faces.
Qin Feng sat at the leftmost table, next to Lin Feng, the head of the Lin family, and Lin Wanru, who had been killed not long ago. Two years ago, Lin Wanru was a girl of about 16 years old. Lin Wanqing was her cousin. She came to the wedding banquet with her parents.
Yu Hanjiang said, "Judging from their expressions, these guests did not seem to be acting strangely. All the seats were occupied, and no one was sneaking away from the scene."
Could the murderer be among the guests?
Yu Hanjiang was puzzled, but suddenly another possibility occurred to him, and he said, "Quick, let's go check out the new house."
Upon hearing this, Qu Wanyue immediately walked towards the new house with Long Sen.
Just now, when the matchmaker led the bride away, they saw the location of the bridal chamber. The two quickly arrived at the door of the bridal chamber. The matchmaker and the maids seemed to have already left; it was very quiet inside. Qu Wanyue poked a hole in the paper window and looked inside.
A woman in red was seen hanging from a beam inside the house, her tongue lolling out; she was already lifeless.