That woman's face was right in front of Zhu Xi Ning's as she turned, nearly touching. It was Song Chunhua's face.
Zhu Xi Ning's heart gave a violent, physiological thud from the sudden shock. She quickly looked away, pretending not to see the eerie woman before her.
"Mom?"
Mother Zhao pulled back the curtain, her hair still wet.
"What is it? I'm done washing. Are you sure you don't want to?"
Zhu Xi Ning pulled Mother Zhao away.
She wouldn't wash here. Even with her experience, the constant supernatural scares in this mission were beginning to fray her nerves.
...
Everything was peaceful that night. Xiang Guang's vengeful spirit, which had been persistently hounding Nan Yue, didn't even show up.
Nan Yue fell asleep.
When she woke up, it was nearly six in the morning. It was a rainy day outside, a torrential downpour. The sky, which should have been brightening, remained dark and heavy.
Nan Yue got up as usual. The sound of the rain was so loud that she couldn't hear if anyone else was awake.
They likely were; not even a storm of knives would stop them from going to work.
Nan Yue got dressed, turned off the bedroom light, and grabbed her umbrella to head out.
The lights outside were on, and people were already braving the rain to go to the cafeteria.
She wouldn't be returning here tonight. Nan Yue took one last look at the room, her gaze lingering on the wedding photo.
Li Hui was innocent. Even in this world of complex karma, she was innocent.
Her life had been ruined the moment she met Xiang Guang.
She had been left with no other choice.
Nan Yue stopped at the doorway of the bedroom.
Because in the outer room, there was something.
No, it seemed to be a person.
A dark mass was squatting on the floor, barely visible by the blurred light from outside.
It was a man. He was squatting on the ground with both hands braced in front of him, his body curled up... like a crouching cat.
However, seeing a human perform such a movement was nothing short of grotesque.
His face was obscured, but Nan Yue knew it was Xiang Guang.
Xiang Guang, who had been absent until now, was crawling on all fours. He stretched his body like a cat.
In the darkness, his eyes glowed with an eerie light that no human eye should possess. Green vertical slit pupils were visible within the gloom, along with a wide, grinning mouth that was a cavernous black void.
He stayed quietly in the dark, tilting his head until it was parallel with the floor, his eyes fixed intently on Nan Yue.
"Meow."
The man's voice rang out in the darkness, producing a weird, stiff imitation of a cat's cry.
He crawled forward two steps, his wide mouth stretching into a silent smile like a black hole devouring Li Hui's soul.
"Meow."
He stared deathly at Nan Yue, like a cat watching a mouse.
...
Zhu Xi Ning waited at the warehouse entrance. Nan Yue hadn't arrived yet, and she was starting to worry.
Just as she was about to go look for her, Nan Yue arrived in a hurry.
"A-Nan."
Zhu Xi Ning helped Nan Yue dry the water from her hair and clothes. Her danger perception hadn't triggered, but she was still worried Nan Yue might need help.
"Why are you so late?"
"Xiang Guang came to find me."
Nan Yue nonchalantly shook the water off her umbrella. "It delayed me a bit."
On the fourth night, the supernatural events everyone encountered had undergone a qualitative change.
However, Zhu Xi Ning had noted this morning that no one was missing; Song Chunhua was still alive.
Yesterday, Zhu Xi Ning had finally found Song Chunhua and completed their storylines.
Song Chunhua had indeed been scared to death by Zhao Mingming, but the reason she had been repeatedly risking trips outside the factory these past two days was because the one haunting her wasn't from the factory.
It was Liu Qian.
The vegetable in the hospital.
This had caused Song Chunhua to have no direction at first; she couldn't find who was haunting her.
Later, Yang Xufen's disappearance made Song Chunhua realize that out of the four women pursuing Zhong Guochao, three had met with accidents. The probability was too high.
Though Liu Qian had never appeared, she existed within the causal threads in another way.
As expected, Liu Qian had been harmed by someone.
And the culprit was Song Chunhua.
Zhu Xi Ning's thread had surfaced completely. She was somewhat surprised to hear that Nan Yue's delay was because of Xiang Guang.
Because logically, the supernatural phenomena today shouldn't have reached the point of attacking a scavenger yet.
How could Nan Yue be late?
Zhu Xi Ning's brow twitched. "Did you absorb the pollution on Xiang Guang?"
One must not take action against the ghosts within the storylines; that was a mission rule.
Even as powerful as Nan Yue was, she wouldn't easily break the mission rules, especially with others around.
However, if the pollution on Xiang Guang was absorbed, he would have no way to continue seeking his target's life.
In essence, the resentment of a vengeful spirit created pollution, which in turn kept the soul that should have dissipated anchored in place; it was a vicious cycle.
Once the pollution was absorbed, Xiang Guang would disappear.
"I absorbed half of it," Nan Yue explained as she closed her umbrella. "The purification method for this world is for everyone to confess their sins and beg for forgiveness, breaking the resentment of the vengeful spirits' deaths."
"But Xiang Guang is an exception. He doesn't deserve an apology from Li Hui."
Nan Yue's expression was cold, even carrying a trace of killing intent. "Letting him dissipate directly is too good for him."
Nan Yue lowered her eyes. "He needs to see everyone in the factory find out what he did, to know exactly what kind of person he was."
"And he will never be able to claim Li Hui's life again."
The fifth day seemed peaceful because everyone's storylines had been pieced together.
They had no idea how many scavengers had entered this mission.
Currently, it seemed their team alone was involved in three lines.
The Li Hui line, the Zhao Yao line, and the Zhong Guochao line.
The other scavengers were involved in the storylines of other people. Since there was no overlap, they knew nothing about them.
They could only hope the other scavengers could discover the rules of death and survive.
What disappointed them, however, was that Jiang Siyan had searched for a long time and found no trace of other scavengers.
They could only comfort themselves with the thought that perhaps they were the only ones who had entered this purification mission.
Zhou An and Yang Xufen were already dead, and to their deaths, no one knew what the original scavengers were called.
At six in the evening, a movie was being shown in the factory hall, and everyone was expected to attend.
This was a rare entertainment activity. Such occasions often saw young men and women arranging to watch together, or entire families enjoying a rare moment of domestic bliss.
The five members of Nan Yue's team met after the movie started, at the factory office on the second floor of the hall.
Gu Xiang Kai deployed his Steel Thorns to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.
Wen Xiang Yuan sat in a chair, looking up at the others.
She had rehearsed this moment for a long time. Every night when she couldn't sleep, she wondered how she could tell them what she knew.
Even if they were different, Wen Xiang Yuan understood how difficult the things she was about to say would be to accept.
"What is the pollution world?"
Nan Yue spoke first. Having reached this step, no matter what the truth in Wen Xiang Yuan's mouth was, they had to accept it.
Wen Xiang Yuan stared fixedly at Nan Yue. She took a deep breath. "The pollution world... is a nightmare that cannot be erased."
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