Wenn die Liebe naht, ist es wie Schnee

Kapitel 44

"Hehe..." Mo Yushan sneered, "You're dreaming. You must have heard the old saying, 'When the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked.' Once you've lost your usefulness, your master will ruthlessly kick you aside." Mo Yushan's words struck a chord with Wei Youzhuo. He had been secretly worried about this, and he was truly afraid that Mo Yushan's words would come true. Without his master, he was nothing.

Wei Youzhuo's expression changed drastically. After a moment, he said, "You're about to die. Say whatever you want. I believe him. He won't abandon me. We're friends."

Mo Yushan scoffed, "What you're doing is called colluding with each other."

"Go to hell!" Wei Youzhuo moved with lightning speed, his right fist clenched, and he slammed it towards Mo Yushan's chest. Mo Yushan was prepared; she blocked Wei Youzhuo's fist with her right hand and pulled away, dodging the attack. Wei Youzhuo laughed, "I underestimated you. You've got some skills. Now I'm going to get serious." Faced with Wei Youzhuo's storm of attacks, Mo Yushan could only parry, unable to retaliate. Forced to the edge of the pond, Wei Youzhuo punched her in the forehead, yelling, "Go to hell! Your two sisters are waiting for you down there!" Mo Yushan plunged headfirst into the azure waters. Wei Youzhuo waited by the pond for a while, and seeing that Mo Yushan didn't surface, he left, satisfied.

Mo Yushan fell into the pool. She felt the stench of blood mixed with a bitter, rancid liquid that had entered her mouth. A wave of overwhelming green washed over her, and a cold, viscous liquid touched her skin, seeping into her clothes, slippery and icy. Mo Yushan flailed her arms and legs, struggling desperately, but her body grew heavier and heavier, sinking as if filled with lead! The sounds around her immediately ceased, and her vision gradually darkened.

After an unknown amount of time, Mo Yushan opened her eyes and found herself at the bottom of the lake, surrounded by emerald green water. "Am I dead?" This thought terrified her. She took two steps forward, resentment and bitterness surging into her body like a tidal wave, fear and hatred seeping into her very being. A searing pain shot through her chest. In her dazed state, she saw two corpses, their faces reduced to half, withered, dark brown faces, bulging eyeballs, the lower half of their noses completely skeletal, their heads sparse and filled with yellow pus and dark red blood clots. Their arms were withered and zombie-like, and unknown yellowish-white worms were wriggling and crawling under their nails. Mo Yushan had seen corpses before, but never one so horrifying. Her stomach churned violently, undigested, pasty liquid rushing up her throat, a bitter, sour taste filling her mouth.

"Revenge! Avenge us!" The two corpses stood up, churning the pool water, and their withered bodies grabbed Mo Yushan's arms, their black nails digging into the flesh. When they spoke, a thick, reddish-yellow liquid gushed from their mouths. Even the incredibly brave Mo Yushan was terrified and fainted.

A cold wind blew by, and Mo Yushan shivered. She slowly opened her eyes and found herself lying by the pond. She slowly stood up and stumbled away. She didn't reappear for several days; no one knew where she had gone.

A few days later, Tang Yanfei mysteriously disappeared. Police received an anonymous tip and searched Wei Youzhuo's room, finding items used by the three girls. Wei Youzhuo was quickly sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in the suburbs three days later. This was the most efficient murder case ever committed in Shangjing City. After Wei Youzhuo's death, Yvonne Bolt smiled happily.

That night, Yvonne Bolt was writing at his desk when an unusually cold, chilling wind blew open the window. The dim yellow light in the room flickered, and the howling wind sounded like a person's agonizing scream. Startled by the heart-wrenching scream, Yvonne Bolt stood up, but as he paused to listen intently, it abruptly stopped, leaving an unsettling silence.

Yvonne Bolt stood up, walked to the door, and opened it. The hallway light was out, and the dark stairwell seemed to gape like the gaping maw of a demon. He blinked, and at the bottom of the stairs, he thought he saw a shadowy figure moving about. Yvonne Bolt took out his lighter, and the dim light revealed a woman standing before him. Her features were contorted, her mouth was wide open, her eyes bulged, and bright red blood dripped from the corners of her eyes onto the floor. Yvonne Bolt was terrified.

Mo Yushan wiped the white powder off her face, smiled, walked downstairs, climbed over the wall, and returned to her dormitory. From then on, Mo Yushan began recording the terrifying and bizarre events that occurred on campus. Many things were clarified, many were not. The first horror archive was thus born. After leaving the campus, Mo Yushan found a suitable person to pass the horror archive on.

Ah… Xia Chen took a deep breath. “My story is over. It’s long, isn’t it? This is the origin of the Horror Files.”

Hu Rongrong glanced out the window; the sun was almost setting, only a sliver visible above the horizon. "So that's how the Horror Files came about. Mo Yushan is truly a remarkable woman. But why is Director Wang looking for the Horror Files? Could there be some secrets hidden within them?"

Xia Chen said, "I don't know either. We'll find out once we find the horror files."

Luo Shimin's reaction was a little slow. "Mo Yushan is so cool. I want her to be my idol. I want to learn from her and help those in need."

Xia Chen rubbed his stomach. "I'm a little hungry and thirsty. Let's go to the restaurant."

Luo Shimin exclaimed, "I'm hungry too, let's go!" She pulled Hu Rongrong out of the classroom.

After the three had walked away, a figure stood up from a dark corner of the classroom, unnoticed by Xia Chen and the others. The figure had a ferocious expression and said menacingly, "Xia boy, you really did lie to me. You've lost your usefulness, so I'll make you disappear from the world forever."

006 Yet another boneless corpse

After dinner, the three of them took a walk on campus. Xia Chen finally spoke about what he had kept bottled up for years, feeling a sense of relief he had never felt before. After escorting the two girls back to their dorms, Xia Chen also went back to his own. In his cheerful mood, he didn't notice a dark figure following him. As Xia Chen entered the dorm building, the dark figure stood downstairs, emitting chilling laughter.

Xia Chen pushed open the dormitory door. His three roommates had already returned. Two were sitting in front of the computer watching a movie, while the student who had put talismans on the computer that morning was sitting in a chair, chanting incantations in front of the computer.

"If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear. I have a forty-year-old mother who needs me to take care of her, and a beautiful girlfriend in her early twenties. Please, don't bother me, just leave." Xia Chen chuckled and greeted his roommates warmly.

"Hi, I'm back."

A roommate, watching a movie, asked with a face full of curiosity, "Did you go on another date with Miss Luo?" In the eyes of all the male students at Yishi Academy, a guy who could date Luo Shimin for four or five months without getting hurt was a god-like existence, and their admiration for Xia Chen was beyond measure.

"I guess so." Telling Luo Shimin and Hu Rongrong stories all afternoon could be considered a kind of date.

Another boy watching the movie shouted, "Xia Chen, you're so handsome! From today onwards, you're my idol! Can you give me your autograph? I want to get a frame and hang your autograph up."

"It can't be that exaggerated, can it?" Xia Chen was a little embarrassed. He had never told anyone about his strange experiences over the past few months. If his roommates knew, they would definitely stare wide-eyed and worship Xia Chen like a god. Apart from the talisman-sticker guy, Xia Chen's two roommates were very excited. "What's wrong with Xu Ziyou? What nonsense is he spouting in front of the computer?" The Xu Ziyou that Xia Chen was referring to was the boy who had stuck talismans on the computer that morning.

"It's still because of the computer automatically turning on every morning," my roommate said disdainfully. "I've told him countless times that it's a problem with his computer's power supply, and that replacing it with a better one will solve the problem. He doesn't believe me, insisting that his computer has been targeted by evil spirits. He even wrote something about how his bed is a yin-gathering spot in the room, making him susceptible to demonic influences, and that he's bound to die a violent death sooner or later. I think he's read too many supernatural novels; his brain must have been slammed in a door and then filled with mercury. He's driving me crazy."

Xu Ziyou suddenly stood up from his chair and shouted angrily, "What do you mortals know? I asked a fortune teller, and he said that Yishi Academy is located in a low-lying area, with a low center and high surroundings. Moreover, the feng shui is bad. The Azure Dragon in the east is jealous of its master, and the White Tiger in the west is crouching and carrying a corpse. The surrounding area is low-lying, with wind blowing from all eight directions. The bright hall is gradually becoming stagnant, and the grass is filthy and smelly. It's an inauspicious place. That's why strange things often happen in the school. The bed I sleep in is also in a yin position, yin within yin. My birth chart is also weak, and I will face a major calamity this year. It seems that my life is not long. Don't worry, after I become an evil ghost, I will come to see you often."

The two roommates were stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. After laughing, they said, "Xu Ziyou, I think you're an idiot. You actually believe the fortune teller's nonsense. If he were really as good as you say, why doesn't he just calculate the lottery numbers? If he won once, he would be a millionaire. Why would he need to tell fortunes on the street and earn your pittance? Only an idiot like you with an IQ below 70 would believe his words."

Xu Ziyou's face was filled with resentment as he coldly said, "You two are the idiots. Your parents must have thrown away the fetuses and raised the placenta instead. I curse you both, you will die a terrible death, you will be tortured for five or six hours before you die, and you will not find peace in hell, suffering all kinds of punishments and never being reincarnated."

"What did you say! Say it again if you dare." The two boys stood up, enraged by Xu Ziyou's words. His words were indeed too vicious.

Seeing that a bloody incident was about to break out, Xia Chen stood in the middle and mediated, "We are all classmates and roommates. It is fate that we live together. Don't hurt our harmony for a moment of pleasure. We will continue to study and live together in the future. A moment of patience will bring peace, and a little concession will bring a brighter future. Everyone take a few deep breaths and calm down."

Xia Chen wasn't an ordinary person. If he intervened, they had to give him face. If they upset him, and then upset Luo Shimin, their days at Yishi Academy would be over. Thinking of this, the two roommates snorted, "We're not going to argue with you today because of Xia Chen. You'd better watch your mouth; you won't be so lucky next time." The two boys sat down and continued watching the movie.

Xu Ziyou also snorted coldly.

"Who's afraid of who?" He sat down in front of the computer with the talisman pasted on it and continued chanting his scriptures.

Xia Chen wiped the sweat from his brow; the commotion had finally subsided. He didn't want to see his roommates fighting; couldn't they just get along peacefully? He'd suppressed the matter for now, but who knew what might happen if he didn't find a way to resolve it completely? Xia Chen's eyes darted around, and an idea came to him. He walked over to Xu Ziyou and said, "Just chanting scriptures won't help. How about this, I'll switch beds with you. I'll sleep in this yin-gathering position, and you'll be fine."

"This...this...isn't that a bit inappropriate? You'll attract evil spirits and vengeful ghosts." Xu Ziyou looked at Xia Chen's sincere gaze and was a little moved.

Xia Chen patted his chest, "It's alright, my birth chart is very auspicious, I'm blessed with good fortune and a long life. No evil spirits dare to approach me. I'll be fine sleeping in the Yin-gathering position." This was a complete lie. Xia Chen didn't even know the day he was born, so how could he have a birth chart? However, it was true that he had escaped danger by chance several times when he was on the verge of death. He didn't take the so-called Yin-gathering position seriously at all.

"Thank you, I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow." Xu Ziyou immediately started moving his things. He had nightmares every night because he slept in the yin-gathering position (a position associated with bad luck), waking up in the middle of the night feeling cold all over. He was almost driven to a nervous breakdown by it all. It was rare for someone to be willing to switch beds with him, so what was one meal? He could treat them to three or four more meals if he wanted. The beds in the Yishi Academy dormitory were quite special; there was a desk and cabinet underneath, and a short ladder next to it leading to the bed. The two were busy unpacking their belongings when two boys who were watching a movie glanced at Xia Chen but didn't offer to help, continuing to watch their film.

Xia Chen and Xu Ziyou worked for over an hour to move all the things. Xu Ziyou didn't forget to peel the talisman off his computer and stick it on Xia Chen's bed. "This talisman will protect you, please don't tear it off." Xia Chen disliked talismans; they looked unsightly on the bed. But he couldn't refuse Xu Ziyou's kindness outright, so he smiled and said, "Thank you." He had already decided that he would tear the talisman off in a couple of days, saying it had been blown away by the wind.

Lights out time arrived quickly. The dormitory supervisor pulled the switch, plunging the entire building into darkness. Amidst the students' curses, Xia Chen climbed into his bed. This spot faced the dormitory door directly. Boys are often careless; sometimes they forget to close the door at night, and a cold draft blows it open in the middle of the night. Of course, the bed facing the door would get cold. Xia Chen got out of bed again, made sure the door was closed, and then climbed into bed to sleep.

In the dead of night, Xia Chen suddenly awoke from his sleep, feeling icy cold all over; a bone-chilling cold permeated the room. He looked towards the door, but it was tightly shut. A few specks of starlight streamed in through the window, casting a hazy silvery glow over the room. Xia Chen slowly closed his eyes. A faint clicking sound came from somewhere in the room. He opened his eyes abruptly, but the strange sound was gone. He held his breath, but heard nothing. But when he closed his eyes again, the sound returned, as faint as a mosquito's buzz, yet irresistibly penetrating Xia Chen's ears, like termites nibbling away at something deep within wood. In a noisy environment, you wouldn't notice this faint sound, but in the stillness of the night, it was amplified infinitely. He tried to find the source, but after circling around, he found nothing. Annoyed and wide awake by the clicking sound, Xia Chen got out of bed to go to the bathroom.

A mirror hung beside Xia Chen's dormitory door. As he passed by it, he noticed something strange. Looking at his reflection, he saw a strange bluish aura on his face, and his features were distorted in a terrifying way. In the mirror, a woman in white was slowly walking towards him. Her long, glossy black hair covered her entire head, and through the strands, he could see a bloodshot eye staring at him. She approached step by step, carrying a resentment that seemed to emanate from the depths of the underworld.

An image of a classic female ghost jumped into Xia Chen's mind: Sadako!

"How could this be?" Xia Chen was bewildered. Sadako was just a fictional character; how could he be seeing her? Was he dreaming? Confused, Sadako drew closer. Xia Chen frantically tried to move his body away from the mirror, but his body and hands were firmly attached to the surface, unable to move. The woman in the mirror slowly raised her head, her cold gaze like a sharp knife piercing Xia Chen's face. He was horrified to discover that he couldn't even close his eyes; his body was no longer under his control. He could only watch helplessly as her disfigured face gradually emerged from behind her long hair.

It was a terrifying face, devoid of any features except for a pair of eyes filled with resentment. Although the female ghost had no mouth, Yu Xiachen could still sense the presence of her sound waves. She was beckoning him inside, into the mirror! Going in would mean death! Xiachen understood this perfectly well, but his body was beyond his control. He took a step into the mirror, and the instant his foot touched the surface, ripples appeared. A mercury-like liquid enveloped his foot, and an icy chill shot from his toes straight to his brain. Instantly, the leg he had stepped into the mirror went numb.

"No! No!" Xia Chen struggled desperately, then suddenly woke up from his dream. He had just been dreaming. Xia Chen took a few deep breaths, and his violent heartbeat gradually calmed down. He laughed at himself; he had seen many things more terrifying and bizarre than Sadako, but in his dream, he had almost been scared to death by her. He was soaked in cold sweat, and a gust of cold wind blew past, making Xia Chen shiver. He pulled the blanket tighter around himself; he didn't want to catch a cold.

Wait, a terrifying thought flashed into Xia Chen's mind. A cold wind? The dormitory door was closed, and the windows were tightly shut. Where was the cold wind coming from? The gust of wind just now felt incredibly real. What was going on? A bead of cold sweat slid down Xia Chen's cheek. He heard a terrifying sound coming from the darkness, crackling... crackling... and there was a strange, fishy smell in the dormitory. An indescribable odor.

Am I dreaming? Xia Chen pinched the flesh on his arm with his fingernails and twisted it, the pain almost making him cry out. This isn't a dream. Xia Chen thought of the Yin-gathering point Xu Ziyou had mentioned. Is this location really that evil? After a few minutes, Xia Chen's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. He saw what seemed to be a wisp of green energy slowly flowing in the room. What was this? The green energy entered Xia Chen's nostrils with his breath, and he felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier. He struggled repeatedly, but his eyelids still closed, and he fell asleep again.

Ring... Ring...

Xia Chen was jolted awake by the piercing ringing of the alarm clock. He jolted awake from his dream to find it already broad daylight. One of his roommates exclaimed, "Damn it, we almost overslept! Professor Zhang's class is the first one this morning. The upperclassmen say he's become incredibly demanding, constantly deducting credits. If we're late for his class, we're in big trouble. Luckily, I set my alarm last night. There's still half an hour before class. If we hurry, we can still make it."

Another roommate said, "It's really strange. I usually wake up automatically at eight o'clock every morning, but I don't know why I slept so soundly today."

Xia Chen jumped off the bed and saw that his two roommates had dark circles under their eyes. "You guys watched a horror movie last night, didn't you? You had nightmares when you went to sleep, didn't you?"

"How did you know I had a nightmare?" a roommate asked curiously. "Wait a minute, we were watching 'The Promise,' which is an action movie, right?"

Xia Chen chuckled and said, "The Promise is a horror movie. I can tell just by looking at your complexions. You're pale and have dark circles under your eyes. You must be having either a wet dream or a nightmare. If it's a wet dream, you'll be yelling as soon as you open your eyes."

Another roommate, who was brushing her teeth, said, "You're not alone. You look pale and have dark circles under your eyes too. You must have had nightmares too."

Xia Chen was startled. All three of his roommates had had terrible nightmares—could it be a coincidence? One of his roommates nudged him, "Stop daydreaming! If you're late, Professor Zhang will make you suffer for a whole semester!" Xia Chen snapped out of his reverie and joined the rush of washing up. He brushed his teeth and changed clothes at the same time, finished brushing, dressed, rinsed his face under the tap, dried himself with a towel, and was done. His other two roommates weren't far behind. The three of them, textbooks in hand, were about to leave the dorm when Xia Chen saw Xu Ziyou still lying in bed. "Let's call him; being late is a real hassle."

"I'll go wake him up." The roommate closest to Xu Ziyou climbed into bed.

Xia Chen was stunned when he saw his roommate standing below. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he let out a high-pitched scream, almost as loud as a girl's scream. Then he jumped off the bed, flailing his arms and legs, and hit his head on the chair below, causing blood to flow out immediately.

"What did you see? What happened to Xu Ziyou?" Xia Chen helped his roommate up. Having lived together for several months, Xia Chen knew his roommate quite well; he was pretty brave and not easily frightened. What had he seen?

My roommate clutched his head, bright red blood seeping from between his fingers, and he stammered...

“…Dead…Xu…Xu…Xu Zihua…is dead, very…very…very…very…terrifying!”

Dead! How could this be? Xu Zihua was perfectly fine last night, how could he suddenly be dead? Xia Chen climbed onto Xu Zifan's bed, and the scene before him almost made even the seasoned veteran vomit. Xu Zihua's body was swollen several times its original size, his skin was gleaming and translucent, all the bones in his body were gone, and without the support of a skeleton, he looked like a lump of rotten flesh sprawled on the bed, with worms wriggling vaguely visible beneath the skin. Moving his gaze upwards, Xia Chen saw Xu Zihua's head, like a kicked-out ball, his facial features squeezed together like a crumpled rag, his bulging, misaligned eyeballs staring at him. Xia Chen panicked and almost slipped off the bed. This was the most disgusting corpse he had ever seen; he couldn't bear to look a second time and jumped off the bed.

Another roommate asked in horror, "Is Xu Zihua really dead?"

"He's dead as dead as can be! Take him to get his wounds bandaged first, and come back immediately after you're done. I'm calling the police." Xia Chen picked up his phone and dialed Ye Cheng's number.

"What? Your roommate is dead? Say it again, a body without bones? Are you sure?" Ye Cheng's reaction surprised Xia Chen; his voice was so loud it almost shattered Xia Chen's eardrums. "Was there some kind of disgusting worm inside the corpse?"

Xia Chen asked curiously, "How did you know?"

"It's a long story, I'll be there soon." Ye Cheng hung up the phone and immediately led Li Xiao and a team of police officers straight to the dormitory building of Yishi College.

Twenty minutes later, Ye Cheng stood in front of Xia Chen. His two roommates were taken away by Li Xiao to give statements. A group of police officers stood on what used to be Xia Chen's bed, trying to suppress the churning in their stomachs, and were trying to get Xu Zihua's body off the bed. Luo Shimin and Hu Rongrong also rushed over after hearing the news.

The moment Hu Rongrong saw Ye Cheng, she cursed, "You damn cop, what shady business have you been up to lately? You look like you just crawled out of a coffin, your face is worse than a ghost's." Luo Shimin stared at Xia Chen's face and asked with concern, "Xia Chen, you don't look well either, what's wrong? You were fine yesterday."

"It might be because I didn't sleep well last night and had a nightmare." Speaking of nightmares, Xia Chen recalled the strange cracking sound. He had seen Xu Zihua's corpse, which was as soft as a sponge. Could that cracking sound be the sound of insects gnawing on the bones? Thinking of this possibility, Xia Chen shuddered.

"What are you thinking about?" Ye Cheng noticed Xia Chen's unusual expression and immediately asked.

Xia Chen frowned and said, "I woke up in the middle of the night last night and heard a faint cracking sound. Could it be the sound of Xu Zihua's bones being gnawed on? If I had figured out what was going on then, he might not have died. I had just switched beds with him, and he died mysteriously after sleeping in my bed for one night."

"Your bed?" Ye Cheng sensed the seriousness of the situation. A bad thought flashed through his mind: the murderer might be targeting Xia Chen. The police chief had repeatedly emphasized the need for strict confidentiality regarding the assimilated body from the former Huangtai Hospital to avoid public panic. Should he tell Xia Chen or not? That was the question.

Hu Rongrong said impatiently, "You stinky cop, what kind of tricks are you up to now? Let me tell you, no matter how cunning you are, you can't escape my sharp eyes."

Ye Cheng glared at Hu Rongrong, then pulled Xia Chen aside, saying, "Let's go somewhere else. I have something to tell you." While they were talking, the police inside were wrapping Xu Zihua's body in a sheet and carrying it off the bed. Luo Shimin glanced at it and saw the naked body exposed; she was immediately stunned. Was this still a human corpse?

Hu Rongrong grabbed Xia Chen, preventing him from leaving. "What do you mean by 'change'? Say what you have to say here. If you want to whisper, no way. If you're going to tell Xia Chen, you have to tell me and Luo Shimin. We have the right to know." Hu Rongrong nudged Luo Shimin, who was still in a daze, and shook her head desperately.

Ye Cheng growled, "Are you stupid? Can't you see there are so many local police officers here? If you want to hear, come with me." Hu Rongrong fell silent. Ye Cheng led the three of them into the stairwell, found a quiet corner, and whispered, "I have something rather cruel to tell you. Don't get too excited. This matter is currently under strict confidentiality. You absolutely must not spread it, or I'll lose my job."

Hu Rongrong said, "Stop keeping me in suspense. Just say what you have to say, and be a man for once, okay?"

Ye Cheng slowly said, "Su Youqing, your Teacher Su, is dead!"

The air seemed to freeze instantly.

007 Tracking

Time seemed to stand still; the world fell silent, a quiet that was unsettling. Hearing the news of Su Youqing's death, everyone felt a deep sorrow, grief cutting into their very being like a sharp knife.

"Hehe..." Hu Rongrong suddenly laughed and lightly punched Ye Cheng. "You dead cop, you must be joking. We went to see her at the hospital last week. She was fine. The doctor said her condition was very stable. How could she suddenly die? Your joke is too cruel."

Ye Cheng said seriously, "I'm not joking, Su Youqing is really dead. She saved my life, and I'm very saddened by her death. What I'm about to say is something the police station requires to be kept strictly confidential. Su Youqing's death was not natural. The cause of death is basically the same as Xia Chen's roommate's. Her entire skeleton disappeared, and the skeletal parts were filled with disgusting slugs, causing her internal organs to compress and eventually lead to organ failure and death. Before Su Youqing, her roommate who lived opposite her also died, with the same cause of death. We conducted a detailed investigation, and the slugs came from the bushes near the old buildings of Yishi Academy."

Luo Shimin once again unleashed her powerful imagination, "You mean the bugs killed Teacher Su and her fellow patients, and now they're coming to kill Xia Chen? And the bugs ate all of their bones? How come I didn't know slugs eat human bones?"

“Slugs don’t eat bones.” Xia Chen frowned deeply. This way of dying was too bizarre, and he and Su Youqing had something in common—the ‘Nuwa Project.’ The several terrifying and bizarre events he had encountered were all related to this damned project, and Su Youqing not only knew the specifics of the project but had also repeatedly tried to stop it. Could it be that the damned Xia Group was planning to kill him to cover it up? These bastards, Su Youqing had already gone insane, and they still wouldn’t let her go. He thought of a terrible possibility and said sadly, “So the slug was after me. If I hadn’t switched beds with Xu Zihua last night, I might be the one dead now?”

Ye Cheng nodded. "It's possible the bugs were targeting you. Another possibility is that the patient living across from Su Youqing was killed by the bugs before she died. Xu Zihua's death could be some kind of warning or a death omen to increase the atmosphere of terror. The killer not only wants to kill you, but also torture you and drive you to a mental breakdown, just like a cat will tease the mouse before killing it."

"Damn it, I'll make these bastards pay a heavy price." Xia Chen slammed his fist against the wall with a loud thud. Luo Shimin winced; she felt a pang of heartache.

Ye Cheng emphasized repeatedly, "What I said must be kept secret from me, strictly secret. You absolutely cannot mention it to anyone else. If the news leaks out, we won't be able to catch the murderer. You don't want Su Youqing and the others to have died in vain, do you?"

Hu Rongrong asked seriously, "You mean everyone died from murder? Is that possible? Would insects obey human commands to kill people?"

"The world is full of wonders. You've all seen intestinal worms, bloodworms, and fly eyes, haven't you? You've seen animals in the circus, right? Trainers can train them to do many things. If animals can do it, why can't insects? Haven't bees already been domesticated by humans to collect honey?" Unconsciously influenced by Xia Chen, Ye Cheng's tone of voice became very similar to his. Hu Rongrong was speechless after Ye Cheng's words, glared at him, and angrily turned her head away.

“But slugs can’t possibly gnaw all the bones off a person in one night.” Xia Chen thought for a moment and then made a request. “Ye Cheng, I’d like to take a look at the other two boneless corpses. Maybe we can find some clues from them.”

Hu Rongrong also insisted, "We want to go too, we want to pay our respects to Teacher Su's remains."