Chapter 124 (1/2)

Published

at 6th of August 2019 11:00:07 PM

Chapter 124: 124

Chapter 124: Extra—Iron Hook (Part Two)

Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Jin Ling: “The chair was placed right next to my bed . At first n.o.body was there, but a while later, a person in black suddenly appeared on it . ”

Jin Ling wanted to see the face clearly, but the person sat with their head hanging low . Long, disheveled hair covered their face . Only a pair of snowy hands could be seen on the armrests . He adjusted the position of the mirror secretly . The moment his wrist moved, however, as though she suddenly noticed something, the woman slowly lifted her head . Her face was covered in dozens of bleeding cut marks .

Wei WuXian wasn't surprised, while all of the juniors were shocked speechless .

“Wait a second?” Lan JingYi placed a bowl of congee in front of Jin Ling, “A female ghost? How could it be a female ghost? Were you scared so dumb you saw wrong…”

Jin Ling replied with a smack, “Anyone can call me dumb except for you . Even though there's blood and hair everywhere so I couldn't really see what she looked like, both her hair and clothing were in styles commonly worn by young women . It's definitely right . We were just searching in the wrong direction . ” He continued, “Although there was indeed resentful energy left on the iron hook, the one haunting the White Room is probably not the Hook Hand . ”

Lan JingYi, “Did you not spend any more time to examine her face or something… Maybe we could use her facial features, like beauty marks or birthmarks, to find out her ident.i.ty . ”

Jin Ling snorted, “You think I didn't want to? I wanted to, but the ghost noticed the moonlight reflected in the mirror and immediately looked this way . The mirror then reflected her eyes, and I accidentally had eye contact with her . ”

If one were to be discovered while spying on a spirit, one shouldn't keep looking any longer . He had to put down the mirror at once and close his eyes, pretending to be fast asleep . Otherwise, he might've stimulated the creature's blood thirst, heightening its killing intent . Lan JingYi, “What a close call, what a close call…”

Comments flew back and forth across the table, “But the thief did not see a woman in his eyes . ”

“Just because he did not see one does not mean there was not one . Maybe the thief saw in the wrong direction…”

“No, the female ghost—why would she be a female ghost? Who is she!?”

Lan SiZhui, “The woman's face was marked with dozens of cuts, so it is likely that she was one of the Hook Hand's many victims . What Jin Ling saw must have been a shadow of her resentful energy . ”

The shadow of resentful energy referred to the endless playback of a situation in which a spirit gathered heavy resentful energy . It was usually the moment before it died or an incident it loathed .

Jin Ling, “Yeah . As shown in the mirror last night, the White Room had completely different furniture than what it has now . It seemed to be an inn . Before the Bai resident was established, there was probably an inn here . That inn was where the woman killed . ”

Ln JingYi, “Oh, oh . Speaking of it, from the information we collected, someone did mention that the Hook Hand could easily break the locks of inns . He often snuck inside in the middle of the night, picking on women who were out alone!”

Lan SiZhui, “And the room in which this maiden, or madam, was killed, just so happened to be in the same location as the White Room of the Bai residence!”

No wonder the head of the Bai clan insisted that no unsolved cases or accidental deaths happened in the Bai residence . They didn't equivocate on purpose, but instead, they were truly innocent—this really had nothing to do with them!

Jin Ling picked up the congee and took a sip, pretending to be calm, “I knew things wouldn't be so simple . Oh, well . We'd have to deal with this, sooner or later . ”

Wei WuXian, “Jin Ling, go take a nap later . We're gonna have to do more work tonight . ”

Lan JingYi glanced at his bowl, “You have unfinished food, Senior Wei . Wasting food is bad . ”

Wei WuXian, “I'm finished . Have some more, JingYi . You'll be on the front line tonight . ”

Shocked, Lan JingYi almost dropped his bowl, “Huh? Me?? W-What front line?!”

Wei WuXian, “Jin Ling couldn't finish his observations yesterday, right? Today we'll finish observing it together to get to the bottom of things . You'll lead . ”

Lan JingYi turned pale, “Senior Wei, did you make a mistake? How could it be me?”

Wei WuXian, “Of course not . Gaining experience, right? Everyone has a turn, everyone has an opportunity, everyone has to go . Both SiZhui and Jin Ling have gone . I've decided that the next one will be you . ”

“Why did you decide that the next one would be me…”

Of course, Wei WuXian wouldn't directly say that out of the group, Lan JingYi's name was the only one he could remember, apart from Lan SiZhui and Jin Ling . He only patted his shoulder, encouraging him, “It's a good thing! Look at everyone else . They all want to go, don't they?”

“Everyone else? They have long since run away from the conversation!”

No matter how much Lan JingYi protested, at midnight, he was still pushed to the front of the White Room .

A few long benches were spread across the front of the White Room, filled with rows of people . Each person poked a hole through the paper of the window . Instantly, the windows were packed with tiny holes, creating an appalling scene .

Making his own window hole, Lan SiZhui thought, I still feel that… this does not even count as 'spying' anymore . With so many holes, we might as well tear down the entire window…”

As expected, Lan JingYi was hauled to the foremost position by Wei WuXian . From here, he could see the most things, with the most clarity . If this were a show, he'd be sitting at the best seat that even wealth might not guarantee . However, Lan JingYi didn't want this 'best' at all .

Squeezed between Jin Ling and Lan SiZhui, he s.h.i.+vered, “Can I sit somewhere else…”

Wei WuXian was pacing back and forth at the side, “No . ”

Everyone who heard it felt that Wei WuXian's curtness displayed quite a mastery over Lan w.a.n.gJi's ways . Some even sn.i.g.g.e.red a little . Wei WuXian, “What a nice, relaxed mentality . Well done, well done . ”

Lan SiZhui, who just a second ago couldn't hold himself back, immediately steadied himself . Wei WuXian turned to Lan JingYi again, “Look, I don't even have a seat . Don't be so ungrateful . ”

Lan JingYi, “Senior, can I give my seat to you…”

Wei WuXian, “No . ”

Lan JingYi, “Then what can I do?”

Wei WuXian, “You can ask questions . ”

With no other choice, Lan JingYi could only turn to Lan SiZhui, “SiZhui, if I pa.s.s out later, y-you have to let me copy your notes . ”

Lan SiZhui didn't know whether or not to laugh, “All right . ”

Lan JingYi let out a breath of relief, “Then I can stop worrying . ”

Lan SiZhui cheered him on, “Do not worry, JingYi, you can definitely hold out . ”

The moment Lan JingYi showed an expression of grat.i.tude, Jin Ling patted his shoulder and spoke in a reliable manner, “Yeah, don't worry . If you pa.s.s out, I'll definitely wake you up at once . ”

Lan JingYi, alarmed, slapped his hand away, “Shoo, shoo . Who knows what you would do to wake me up . ”

Between the whispers, a soft, scarlet light bled from the paper window, as if someone lit a red lamp inside the dark room .

The crowd quieted at once, holding their breaths .

The light seeped from the small holes as well, making the pairs of spying eyes look bloodshot .

Lan JingYi held up a trembling hand, “Senior… Wh-Why does the room look so red? I-I have never seen red shadows like this before . Was there a red lamp inside the room when it happened?”

Lan SiZhui whispered, “It was not a red lamp . It was because the person…”

Jin Ling, “It was because the person had blood in her eyes . ”

Amid the red light, something new suddenly appeared within the room .

A chair . And a 'person' sitting atop the chair .

Wei WuXian, “Jin Ling, this was what you saw yesterday?”

Jin Ling nodded, “But I didn't see it clearly enough last night . She's not sitting on the chair… She's tied to the chair . ”

Just like he said, the hands that the woman lay over the armrests were tightly tied up by ropes .

Just as the juniors prepared to examine further, a dark shadow flashed across the room . Another figure appeared .

Surprisingly, there was another 'person' .

And this other person had both his eyelids and lips cut off . He could neither blink nor close his mouth, revealing his bloodshot eyeb.a.l.l.s and bright red gums . He was a thousand times more frightening than as described in the legends!

Lan JingYi exclaimed, “The Hook Hand!”

“What happened? Was the hook not melted already? Why would the Hook Hand still be here?”

“So there are two spirits inside this room??”

At this point, Wei WuXian asked, “Two? In reality, is there one or two spirits inside this room? Can anyone explain?”

Lan SiZhui, “One . ”

Jin Ling followed, “One . The Hook Hand inside the White Room isn't the real spirit, but instead a shadow emulating the scene of her death that the woman used her resentful energy to bring back . ”

Lan JingYi, “It is a shadow and all, but it is not at all less frightening!!”

As they spoke, the face slowly approached the wooden door . The face grew closer, clearer, and more gruesome as well . Even though everyone knew that it was only a shadow, that the iron hook in which the Hook Hand's resentful energy was truly stored had already been melted, that the shadow would never actually pa.s.s through the door, there was only one hair-rising thought stuck in their minds:

He saw them!

If that unfortunate thief just so happened to see this scene when he was spying on the White Room at night, no wonder he was scared so badly that he got a heart attack .

The face approached until it was no less than a single feet away from the window, paused for a moment, then turned around and strode toward the chair .

In unison, the juniors finally began to breathe again .

Inside, the Hook Hand walked back and forth the room, the old wooden boards creaking under his feet . Outside, however, Jin Ling felt that something was off .

He spoke, “There's something that's been on my mind since a while ago . ”

Lan SiZhui, “What is it?”

Jin Ling, “The shadow is the scene before the woman's death for sure . But when most people are facing a serial killer, would they be so calm and make not a single sound? In other words—”

He continued, “The woman was clearly conscious . Why didn't she scream for help?”

Lan JingYi, “Was she scared dumb?”

Jin Ling, “It wouldn't have been to the point that she didn't make a single noise, not even knowing how to cry . When most women are frightened to the extreme, wouldn't they start crying?”

Lan SiZhui, “Is her tongue still there?”

Jin Ling, “There's no blood at her mouth, so it should be . And even if she lost her tongue and couldn't say anything, she should still be able to make sounds . ”

Squashed between the two of them, Lan JingYi seemed as though he was about to die right there, “Can you two not use such calm tones to talk about such a scary thing, right beside my ears…”

One of the boys spoke up, “Could it have been because the inn was deserted or because no other people were present, she knew that it was no use screaming, so she decided not to do anything?”

Lan JingYi, who saw the scene clearest, finally had something to so, “I do not think so . Look at the shadow . No dust was on the furniture, which meant that they were definitely often used . It was impossible that n.o.body was present, or else she would not have chosen to rest here . ”

Jin Ling, “Looks like you're not a hopeless idiot yet . Besides, whether or not anyone is present is one matter, and whether or not you'd scream is another . For example, if someone's chasing after you in the middle of nowhere, even though you know n.o.body can help you, you'd still be screaming for help, wouldn't you?”

Wei WuXian clapped lightly, whispering, “Wow . You'd expect no less from Sect Leader Jin . ”