The drunkard had stumbled onto the hearse in a drunken haze, but he was the most normal of the lot—someone who still held hope for life, feared death, and yet possessed the ordinary person's resilience.
The doctor had crossed paths with Chen Ge twice, and while the other passengers kept vanishing one by one, the doctor had remained on the bus and survived.
There was no need to elaborate on Jia Ming, but what put Chen Ge more on edge was Li Zheng. He still remembered the message he'd received on his phone before entering Liwan Town—the sender didn't seem to be Li Zheng himself.
After meeting Li Zheng in person, Chen Ge hadn't confronted him about any of it, deliberately leaving both of them some breathing room.
Of everyone, Scissors had the lowest probability of being the Shadow in Chen Ge's estimation. The effort he put into making himself appear more vicious and ruthless was something others would find extremely difficult to mimic.
Smiley Face's identity remained a mystery. If the Shadow had killed him before he boarded the bus and replaced him, no one would know—since the other passengers weren't familiar with Smiley Face, no matter what the Shadow did, everyone would assume Smiley Face had always been that way. He was the easiest person to impersonate, but because of his unusual identity, he was also the most likely suspect.
The spike at the tip of the Skull Crusher scraped against the floor, producing a sound that made one's skin crawl. Chen Ge walked alone through the darkness. Neither the drunkard nor Scissors dared to get too close.
The Chen Ge before them now radiated an extremely dangerous aura—the once ordinary man had taken on a distinctly different presence.
"Let me guess what little surprises the Shadow has prepared for me?" The white cat lay perked on Chen Ge's shoulder, its ears standing tall in a state of high alert, yet it hadn't issued any warning. That meant something truly terrifying might exist in the building, but it hadn't come over yet.
The staff residential building wasn't large, and Chen Ge soon arrived at Jiang Long's doorstep. The uncontrolled door was right here.
"Soon I'll know exactly what sets an uncontrolled door apart from a normal one." Chen Ge raised the Skull Crusher and smashed the door open.
A thick blood mist surged out from the room—the concentration inside was even denser than what permeated the neighborhood. An ordinary person would probably only be able to see two or three meters ahead.
"I'll go in and take a look first." Chen Ge gripped the Skull Crusher in one hand while reaching into his backpack with the other to pull out the red high heels. "Forgive me."
He tossed both shoes into the living room and stood at the doorway, observing for a while. Only after confirming the blood mist held no hidden traps did he step inside.
The moment his body made contact with the blood mist, an inexplicable irritability welled up inside him. Negative emotions battered his brain—if someone with weak willpower entered, they very likely would lose control. "You all stay outside for now. The fog is thick in here—be careful not to get caught in the crossfire."
Picking the red high heels back up, Chen Ge noticed the blood mist thinned whenever it drew near the shoes, as though they were actively absorbing it.
"Is this mist beneficial to ghosts?" Chen Ge asked
Chen Ge wasn't yet sure whether absorbing this substance carried any hidden risks, so he chose not to release all his ghosts at once.
"Nothing unusual in the living room. The basement is behind the closet…" Just as Chen Ge was about to head over, the white cat on his shoulder suddenly let out a sharp cry. He turned to look and saw the cat baring its fangs at the bedroom.
"When it encounters a Red-clothed ghost, the little thing usually trembles all over. The fact that it dares to fight back means the ghost in the bedroom isn't that powerful." Even so, Chen Ge wasn't about to let his guard down. He tossed the high heels inside first, then slowly followed.
"Sense exactly where it is." The bedroom wasn't large, but once the white cat entered, it seemed to lose track of the entity entirely—moments later it was baring its fangs under the bed, then meowing at the curtains.
"Is it deliberately avoiding me, stalling for time?" Chen Ge felt he couldn't rule out that possibility. He wasn't willing to waste any more time, and just then, the bedroom door slammed shut behind him.