Chapter 81.1 Ghost Market
Li Su arrived very quickly. Before Lin Banxia even finished his meal, the others were there, already fully armed. After entering the house, they took out the weapons prepared for them. Song Qingluo’s was a gun, and Lin Banxia’s was a dagger.
“Li Xinyu and Sun Shui have people who were sent to protect them. In the morning, someone came and tried to contact them.” Li Su said, “I captured that person. After investigation, there was nothing special about him. He was just a companion with an average level of infection. If you are worried, would you like to go and have a look? ”
“No need.” Song Qingluo said.
“And…” Li Su hesitated a little.
Song Qingluo: “Say it.”
“If you can do without a gun, try not to use it.” Li Su said, “After all, we are in the city, so it would be bad if there was a big commotion. Also, I contacted the superiors and let them know that the city might need to be cordoned off.” The best way to prevent a source of pollution from continuing to develop was to block it, but in the modern era where information was so developed, it was extremely difficult to achieve a perfect blockade. Therefore, they would usually deliberately create some accidents and then isolate that area.
Song Qingluo: “Seal it up first.”
“Then I’ll tell them to take action.” Li Su said, “Go over after you get the news… Yi Xinhe’s test results are out.” He lowered his voice a little, “That hair is indeed his.”
This news was tantamount to completely announcing Yi Xinhe’s death.
Song Qingluo was silent for a moment then hummed.
Li Su still had some follow-up things to do. After explaining things, he was about to leave. When he stood up, he deliberately took off his sunglasses and winked at Lin Banxia: “What were you two doing at this time yesterday? ”
When Li Su said this, Lin Banxia immediately remembered something, his face felt a little hot, and he pretended to be calm: “I was just sleeping.”
Li Su: “I didn’t see it.” He wanted to tease Lin Banxia a bit more, but found that Song Qingluo, who was sitting next to him, cast a gloomy look at him, so he immediately stopped and said: “Song Qingluo, you are really stingy. I was just joking with Lin Banxia.”
Song Qingluo: “Why don’t you joke with me?”
Li Su: “You’re not funny!”
Song Qingluo: “Didn’t you laugh happily when you told Lin Banxia about the apple jade pendant?”
Li Su was speechless, thinking that he had been betrayed by Lin Banxia, and cast a resentful look at Lin Banxia. Lin Banxia spread his hands indicating that he was really innocent. He did not betray Li Su, it was clearly Li Su who was completely deceived by Song Qingluo.
Song Qingluo watched Li Su leave, tapping his fingers on the table, it was unknow what he was thinking.
Lin Banxia tried to change the topic: “When should we go?”
Song Qingluo said: “Watch the news.”
Lin Banxia: “Huh?” He was confused.
It was around three or four o’clock in the afternoon that Lin Banxia understood what Song Qingluo meant by watching the news. The news software on his mobile phone pushed a breaking news, saying that a gas explosion suddenly occurred in a restaurant somewhere. Fortunately, there were no casualties and police were helping to evacuate the crowd and cordon off the area.
Lin Banxia looked at the address on the news. It was the old street they had visited before.
Song Qingluo answered the phone almost at the same time, hung up after saying a few words, then said to Lin Banxia: “Get ready, we need to leave soon.”
Lin Banxia said: “Okay.”
Speaking of preparations, there was nothing to prepare. It was not like when they went to a remote place like deep in the mountains and old forests like before. It only took an hour or two to get there. Lin Banxia simply carried a bag and his dagger was inserted into the strap on the outside of his thigh.
The recorder’s car was waiting for them downstairs. In the car sat Li Xinyu, whom they had met yesterday. Her face had lost the relaxation of yesterday and became a little depressed. There was another unfamiliar face beside her. He introduced himself and said he was the new recorder assigned to them. His name was Zhou Zhixiang.
“Let’s go through the procedure.” Song Qingluo took out the dice and handed it to them.
Li Xinyu took a deep breath and carefully shhok the dice. The two dice spun a few times. The final number stayed at forty-two, which did not exceed the standard value. However, it was still a lot higher than yesterday. Zhou Zhixiang also threw the dice, which was lower than Li Xinyu’s, only thirty-three.
Song Qingluo also rolled the dice once, and it was only twelve, which was an extremely safe number.
“Let’s go.” Song Qingluo said.
The car slowly drove out of the community and headed towards the old city.
In the car, Song Qingluo simply asked Zhou Zhixiang and Li Xinyu a few questions, probably to test their understanding of the whole incident. Seeing that their answers were correct, he paused for a moment and suddenly said: “Li Xinyu, you don’t actually have to insist on continuing to participate in this incident.”
Li Xinyu said: “Yi Xinhe and I were good friends.” She picked at the holes in her jeans and explained in a low voice, “We have been partners for several years. Although I can’t be of much help, at least… I have to know how he died.” If she didn’t go, she would lose the qualifications to find out the truth, and the base would not tell her the results.
Song Qingluo hummed softly at her answer and said nothing more.
A few hours later, they returned to the old city. By then, the surrounding area had been blocked off and no pedestrians could be seen entering or exiting.
Lin Banxia saw Li Ye and Li Su at the scene, standing with a group of police officers. They didn’t come over to say hello when they saw them, they just waved to them and motioned for them to go in first.
After passing through a few alleys and returning to the old city, Lin Banxia noticed a strange silence. In the huge community, there was not a single resident watching the excitement, and every door was closed. At first glance, it looked like an empty city.
“Where are we going now?” Lin Banxia asked.
Song Qingluo said: “I want to go to Wei Zhimao’s house to check again. You take Li Xinyu and check the surroundings.”
Lin Banxia said: “Okay, be careful.”
“Same for you.” Song Qingluo said, “If you notice anything happening, contact me first and don’t act rashly.”
Lin Banxia nodded in agreement.
Song Qingluo headed towards Building 13, while Lin Banxia wandered around the community. This community was really big and there was even a basketball court inside. Lin Banxia took Li Xinyu carefully around the community and made some discoveries. The entire community, from the appearance point of view, was almost completely homogeneous. He didn’t notice it before, but now he realize that not only were the things placed outside the same, even the curtains hanging inside the houses were of the same color.
Lin Banxia thought of something. He walked outside a certain first-floor window and looked inside through the gap. He could barely see the furnishings in the room. It was okay if he didn’t look at it, but when he looked at it, he felt that things were even worse, because the furnishings in that room are exactly the same as those in Wei Zhimao’s home. Although the structure was slightly different, the appearance and placement of the furniture were almost all deliberately imitating the appearance of Wei Zhimao’s home.
Li Xinyu saw that Lin Banxia’s expression was wrong and asked what was wrong. Lin Banxia said, “Come and take a look?”
Li Xinyu heard his words and moved closer. She took a few glances and noticed something was wrong. She was about to say something in surprise when she met a pair of dark eyes. Li Xinyu was startled and took two steps back with a look of horror. When she looked up again, she found a pale face twisted against the glass. It seemed that the owner of the room had noticed the two people peeking, and suddenly brought his face close to them.
“Ah!” Li Xinyu almost screamed.
Lin Banxia also saw that face. After all, he was caught peeping. He felt a little guilty. He was about to pull Li Xinyu away, but saw the man knocking on the glass window several times with his hand, as if he wanted to say something.
Lin Banxia stopped and looked at the man.
The man turned around and pointed in the direction of the door.
Lin Banxia understood what he meant and was a little hesitant about meeting this person. He then thought that if this person was really willing to tell him something, it might be a clue that he should seize.
Arriving around the door, Lin Banxia saw that the door had indeed opened, revealing a dark crack. He and Li Xinyu also smelled the smell of honey. This time, this sweet smell was faintly mixed with the smell of rotting meat.
Lin Banxia hesitated for a moment, opened the door and walked in.
As soon as he arrived in the living room, he saw the person who had directed them from the window, sitting in a rocking chair and resting. He looked no different from ordinary people, except that his face was a bit paler. When he heard the sound of Lin Banxia and the Li Xinyu coming in, he raised his head. He raised his eyelids and said, “What are you doing here?”
Lin Banxia said: “Saving people.”
“Can they be saved?” the man asked.
Lin Banxia thought for a while: “Whether we can save them or not is one thing, whether we can do anything or not is another matter. You can’t just do nothing even if you can’t save them and watch a group of people die.
The man fell silent and closed his eyes.
Seeing that he was silent for a long time, Lin Banxia thought that he would not say anything anymore. Unexpectedly, after a while, he suddenly said: “You have to join them before you can go in.”
Lin Banxia paused: “Go in? Where?”
The man was silent again. This time, no matter what Lin Banxia asked, he didn’t speak again, but Li Xinyu, who was standing nearby, felt something was wrong. She sniffed and said hesitantly: “Mr. Lin, did you smell anything strange?”
Lin Banxia said: “You mean the smell?”
Li Xinyu said, “Yes.” She had a very keen sense of smell. From the moment she entered the room, she felt that the strong smell was nauseating. If she hadn’t endured it, she would have vomited. “Although it’s a bit offensive, it seems like the smell… It came from this gentleman.”
Lin Banxia looked back at the person on the rocking chair. He hesitated for a moment, walked to his side, stretched out his hand and patted him gently. As soon as he put his hand down, he felt that the texture was wrong. It was sticky and soft, and didn’t feel like a normal living person… instead it felt like a corpse that has been lying there for a few days.
“Sir?” She called him again, and Lin Banxia carefully put his hand under his nose – it was cold and completely devoid of the breath that a living person should have.
Li Xinyu said tremblingly: “What, what’s wrong?”
Lin Banxia said: “He’s dead.”
Li Xinyu: “…”
“And he’s been dead for two or three days.” He didn’t pay attention to these details earlier, but Lin Banxia noticed it now. He sniffed his fingers, which exuded a strong smell of rotting meat. A familiar corpse odor that could only be left by corpses that have been left for a few days.
“Then what should we do now?” Li Xinyu said, “Let’s go?”
Lin Banxia said: “Let’s go and let people from outside come in and dispose of the body.”
Li Xinyu said: “Okay…” She nodded and walked out with Lin Banxia. She was a little nervous and took a few steps forward. She didn’t notice the debris placed under her feet. She was about to lift her feet, but was tripped by something. She staggered a few steps, but luckily, she held on to the backrest of the rocking chair next to her to steady herself.
Just as Lin Banxia was about to tell Li Xinyu to be careful, he saw that as the rocking chair shook a few times, some changes appeared on the man’s body – a piece of his skin fell off.
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