With the Thai Baht paving the way, Nawa told them everything he knew without holding back.
Hearing that Nan Zhi wanted to learn about some local supernatural legends of Manggu, Nawa was not surprised. He readily drove the car to the opposite side of an abandoned hotel building and pointed at the derelict structure to introduce it:
“Here, wow, it used to be a very, very fun grand hotel, the decoration was beautiful, wow! Oh~ so many foreign tourists loved staying inside, comfortable, number one, wow!”
“Then one year, a very famous male celebrity disappeared in the building. Our police searched everywhere, but what could we do? We couldn't find a trace of him, so in the end, we stopped looking.
“But later, many hotel guests said that when they were sleeping at night, the television would suddenly turn on by itself, and it would start playing dramas performed by that male celebrity—
“There were also foreign tourists who, as soon as they moved in, said a black-haired man would knock on their door in the middle of the night and sing opera in the hallway.
“The most terrifying thing was, a family of four staying in a first-floor room heard someone knocking from the basement at night, and blood even seeped up through the floorboards!
“In the end, the matter blew up, and the hotel couldn't stay open. And then! Our Manggu police, under pressure, simply dug open the hotel basement~ Guess what they found?”
Neither Nan Zhi nor Qin Yue said a word.
Nawa waited for a long time. Seeing that the two of them showed absolutely no sign of fear, he finally revealed the answer:
“There were over a dozen crocodiles raised in the basement, as well as many human bones—
“This hotel was originally the property of the Shawang family. Since the last century, this hotel had been the Shawang family's private torture water prison. Anyone who resisted the Shawang family would be sent here to feed the crocodiles!
“I heard that just the heads dug out of the basement could fill a casino lobby!”
“There was no other way, so the hotel could only be used specifically to house foreign tourists. You Huaxia people stayed there the most, and things always went wrong. Some heard a woman laughing, some saw the television flashing in the middle of the night, and others heard people crying.
“Later, things became chaotic. There have been no tourists for these past two months, so no one lives there anymore...”
Nawa spoke with great enthusiasm, but when he turned around, he saw that his two passengers had opened the car doors and were standing outside the hotel's main entrance, looking inside.
The hotel had been abandoned for a long time. Every single window was wide open, with the curtains behind them fluttering in the wind. The pitch-black window openings looked like eyes staring at him.
Even in broad daylight, Nawa couldn't help but feel a chill creep into his heart.
“Out of their minds... running over to look at this...”
Nawa muttered to himself. He wanted to go down and listen to what they were saying, but after hesitating for a long moment with his foot extended, he quickly pulled it back:
“May the Naga protect us, protect us...”
...
“It's very clean. Extremely clean.”
Nan Zhi raised her head and couldn't help but wrinkle her nose.
The main entrance of the hotel was piled high with flower wreaths of various sizes, white candles, as well as many offerings and fruits. The strong scent of burning incense was dizzying and somewhat pungent.
Some of the food had already rotted, but no one dared to touch it.
Even the most emaciated children on the streets would deliberately avoid this place, as if steering clear of a terrible monster.
“There are no ghosts, nor is there a shred of resentful energy. Where did all of it go?”
Qin Yue cultivated the Small Twelve Bone Forging Method, which tempered the physical body, making her extremely sensitive to things like malevolent energy. Yet, she did not sense anything either.
The hotel was designed in a British style, a cylindrical building. On the side facing the street, all the rooms were empty, with locks hanging on the doors even in broad daylight. The interiors were pitch-black and eerie, giving off an exceptionally oppressive feeling.
Most peculiarly, hanging on the hotel's exterior walls were ring after ring of flower garlands made from bright yellow blossoms.
Some of the garlands had been hung up early and the flowers had already withered, while others were very fresh, still carrying dew.
As the two spoke, a Manggu woman dressed in simple clothing hurried past. She placed fresh food on the shrine, then fled in panic, not even daring to cast a single glance at them.
“It shouldn't be like this. If a case like that really happened in this hotel, it couldn't possibly be this clean, unless that resentful energy and those ghosts went somewhere else.”
Nan Zhi suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Qin Yue:
“Is the Shawang family the family of Chailigong Shawang, the former warlord leader whose faction General Basong inherited?”
“It should be the same one.”
Qin Yue browsed through the data she had just received, her expression grave:
“Little Aunt, I think you should take a look at this.”
Nan Zhi took the phone and found that it was a statistical report of accidental deaths in Manggu over the past six months.
The resident population of Manggu was fifteen million. Last year, the total number of deaths for the entire year was 316,281, which included 118,660 natural deaths.
Yet starting six months ago, according to the statistics of the World Statistical Association, the death toll in Manggu had surged. In just these past 180 days, nearly 980,000 people had died due to various reasons.
Car accidents, falling from buildings, drowning, sudden illnesses, hangings, drug overdoses, fires...
This was equivalent to more than five thousand people dying in Manggu every single day for one reason or another.
“No, the distribution of these deaths...”
Nan Zhi pointed at the chart, suddenly realizing something:
“The death toll in wealthy areas is far lower than in the slums. In particular, these accidental death cases basically only occur in areas where supernatural incidents are relatively common, especially here, here, and here. Demons and ghosts wouldn't be so obedient as to kill people according to a pattern, much less stay quietly in one place, unless...”
The places she pointed to were all landmarks that Nawa had mentioned where supernatural events had occurred or that were famous for supernatural cases.
—And all of these places, without exception, avoided the areas where high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants resided!
Qin Yue's brow furrowed tightly. She carefully observed the direction Nan Zhi was pointing, and a terrifying thought suddenly arose in her mind:
“Are you saying someone is intentionally controlling these demons and ghosts, having them selectively slaughter... commoners?”
“I lean more toward a transaction. Some great demons can restrict minor ghosts.”
Nan Zhi shook her head and handed the phone back to her:
“This way, it perfectly explains why the wealthy areas are still brightly lit at night, while the slums dare not have even a speck of light.”
Radiating outward from the most bustling city center, the closer one got to the newly built pagoda, the lower the death toll was.
Within this radius, those who lived there were, without exception, Manggu's high-ranking officials, merchants, as well as exorcists and monks with considerable local influence.
They controlled Manggu's entire tourism industry, handicrafts, and various grey-market venues. One could say they held the lifeblood of this city.
In other words, someone had reached a deal with some evil entity lurking in the dark.
Using the lives of the people in the slums in exchange for protection, thereby trading for a superficial "peace."
The discovery of this fact couldn't help but send a chill deep into both of their hearts.
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