An Xin paused and asked, "What were the characteristics of the corpse when it was running?"
"It's so stiff, so fast... It's going to kill me! It's going to kill me!" The woman pulled hard on An Xin's arm, and An Xin felt a bit of pain from the tearing, but her mind was racing. So stiff, yet it could run so fast? How did it do that?
An Xin asked one last question: "Which way did it run?"
The woman pointed to an alley not far away. The alley was quite secluded, and An Xin would not have paid any attention to it if the woman hadn't pointed it out. It was dusk, and the sky was getting dark, but the alley was already completely dark. An Xin patted the woman's shoulder, got up, and walked over.
She has always been bold, and seems to have a curious interest in the dark. This curiosity far outweighs her fear. An Xin stopped at the entrance of the alley and looked towards the alley from her direction. There was endless darkness, as if the alley was dark and long and had no end in sight!
An Xin stood in the light, facing the darkness. Her gaze slowly darkened, as if a pair of eyes hidden in the darkness were staring at her intently. That cold stare made every pore on her body stand on end.
Suddenly, a hand landed on her shoulder!
An Xin suddenly turned around, her arm sweeping fiercely behind her, but in the next moment someone grabbed her wrist. An Xin was startled: "Yan Zhen!? Are you a ghost?!" She was really frightened! Couldn't this bastard have appeared without making a sound?!
Yan Zhen laughed and said, "Aren't you not afraid of ghosts? Why is your forehead covered in sweat and your whole body so tense?"
An Xin rolled her eyes at him and said, "I'm not afraid of ghosts, but you're much scarier than a ghost!"
Yan Zhen took out a handkerchief and wiped her forehead with a smile, saying, "Don't you think I'm much prettier than a ghost?"
An Xin's lips twitched.
"It's so dark, what are you looking at?" Yan Zhen looked into the alley, and An Xin looked into the alley again. It was still dark, but whether she was too sensitive or what, the eyes that had been staring at her from the darkness had disappeared!
"Is there a fire?" An Xin felt it was necessary to go into the alley to find out.
Yan Zhen casually called out to Minghe, and Minghe appeared like a ghost, holding a torch. An Xin took the torch and walked into the alley.
The darkness was dispelled by the light, and everything in the alley gradually became clear.
The alley was very clean and not as deep as An Xin had imagined. After walking about fifty meters, she reached the end, where there was a high wall. An Xin looked up and saw that, being in the capital, all the walls were built extremely high. Looking up from the base of the wall, the surface was smooth and there was nothing to climb. Unless one had superhuman agility, it would be impossible to climb up!
An Xin frowned. Knowing lightness skill... In this world, there are as many people who know lightness skill as there are cars on the road in her previous life. It seems that all martial arts practitioners know some lightness skill. Of course, lightness skill is directly related to personal strength. Good kung fu, such as the Right Prime Minister, should be able to climb this kind of wall without any problem.
An Xin looked at the corner of the wall. The alley was not dusty because of the wind and rain, and there were no clues as An Xin had imagined.
"Can we just climb up this wall?" An Xin asked Yan Zhen.
Yan Zhen raised his eyelashes and said calmly, "Lightness skill also needs to rely on external forces. Unless one's skill is divine and extraordinary, it is still difficult to go up directly. However, I can do it naturally."
An Xin's lips twitched. Couldn't she stop praising herself?!
An Xin stared at the wall, her eyelashes heavy. The woman had said the headless corpse had clearly wandered into this alley—it was too eerie, wasn't it? The alley was a dead end; could the headless corpse have some kind of kung fu skill?! How could it fly up such a high wall without a head?!
This matter can no longer be described as merely strange.
An Xin frowned slightly. She felt that something was amiss, something she had overlooked!
Solving cases often involves this situation: once a subtle clue is overlooked, it's like a thin layer of paper covering the case, which can be broken at any time, but we always forget to do so!
An Xin glanced at the wall again, then turned and asked, "Do you see that woman over there?"
Yan Zhen said calmly, "Yes, I was frightened."
An Xin said in a deep voice, "She was frightened by a headless running corpse. And the headless corpse ran into this alley. It's ridiculous, it's a dead end."
Yan Zhen narrowed his eyes slightly, then smiled and said, "This is the first time I've heard of a headless corpse running back like this. But why is that corpse chasing that woman?"
An Xin paused and said, "That woman saw the body beheaded with her own eyes, and it was killed by men in black. Men in black again! Could it be someone from the Northern Desert Ghost Gate again?"
Yan Zhen's lips slowly curled into a thin line, clearly indicating that he knew a great deal about the Ghost Gate and probably didn't have much affection for it.
"The last people who appeared at the Ghost Gate in the capital were all killed in this storm. The identities of these men in black are still uncertain, but if they are from the Ghost Gate, Xin'er needs to be careful."
An Xin slowly walked out of the alley and said, "When soldiers come, we will block them; when water comes, we will dam it. If it is my tribulation, I cannot avoid it; if it is not mine, I cannot wait for it to come."
Yan Zhen paused, then glanced at her with a smile and said, "You see things very clearly."
An Xin's gaze fell on the woman who was still huddled there, and she frowned slightly, saying, "She looks very pitiful. Why don't we settle her down? Perhaps those men in black will reappear."
Yan Zhen immediately disagreed, saying, "You're just asking for trouble. Why are you meddling in something that has nothing to do with you?"
An Xin paused for a moment and then said, "Curious."
Yan Zhen said seriously, "Stop your curiosity, curiosity killed the cat."
An Xin said impatiently, "Yan Zhen, don't worry about whether I can do it or not!?" Even her parents don't care about this kind of thing, why is he acting like a mother hen!
This time, Yan Zhen wasn't angry. Instead, he said with a forced smile, "No."
An Xin: "..."
...
Chapter Seventy-Nine: A Woman's Hands
Chapter Title: Chapter Seventy-Nine: A Woman's Hands
A sudden gust of wind swept through the inky night, rustling the branches and making a crackling sound as they struck the window paper.
An Xin suddenly woke up, sat up from the bed, rolled off the bed, and looked at the window frame.
Moonlight streamed through the window, casting swaying shadows of trees. A dark silhouette was reflected on the pale window paper, motionless as if drawn on the window.
The night breeze that suddenly picked up was chilly; although it didn't reach An Xin, it made her feel a chill down her spine.
An Xin walked slowly to the window, reached out, and gently pushed it open. The window frame creaked, and An Xin saw the scene outside clearly—a white-clad woman in black shoes, arms hanging limply, body stiff, blood dripping from her neck and onto her clothes, headless.