Translator: CinderTL
Hua Luo frowned and put the phone to his ear. A few seconds later, everyone noticed a change in his expression. "Got it, thanks. I'll head over now."
After hanging up, Hua Luo quickly explained, "It's Qiao Yu's brother. He said he also received an email with some strange content—a video of a man filming in his brother's bedroom."
Jiang Cheng looked at him. "Who else received the email?"
He noticed Hua Luo had used the word "also" in his explanation.
"Yu Youwei's former colleague also received the same email," Hua Luo clarified. "She was the one who contacted Qiao Yu's brother. Last time we left our contact information, Yu Youwei's colleague passed my number to Qiao Yu's brother."
"By the way, this video was sent from Qiao Yu's account," he added. "It looks like it was a mass email."
"Qiao Yu?"
"Yeah," Hua Luo replied as he took the tablet and started operating it. "Qiao Yu had taken photos of this girl before, so he had her contact information. They were introduced through Yu Youwei."
Soon, a video arrived on the tablet. To avoid any unexpected issues during playback, they moved to a more spacious area.
The sunlight warmed their bodies, dispelling the chilling sensation.
The moment the video started playing, Fatty froze, his body trembling violently.
It was Liu Guo!
He was flipping through pages of drawings, speaking rapidly, looking extremely anxious.
Unfortunately, the audio was heavily distorted, as if something was interfering with it.
The camera wasn't very clear either. While the drawings were visible, some of the text was hard to make out.
"Those are the urban legends!" Chu Jiu exclaimed, staring at the screen.
They saw the ghost on the hunchback's back, the wig, the shadow that was hard to look at directly, the gap, and the nails in the drawer—all the urban legends.
The artist's skill was impressive, with bold strokes and just the right amount of detail.
The appearance of the ghost and the state of those about to be killed by it were deeply unsettling, creating a sense of immersive horror.
When the ghost crawled out from under the bed, Chu Jiu's face turned pale. It felt exactly like her own experience.
They had originally planned to go to a place called Hezong Cultural Group, but now they decided to change their itinerary and meet Qiao Yu's brother first.
Soon, they arrived at the coffee shop.
The coffee shop was old, with some sections rented out, making the entrance quite narrow. Only a large sign hung outside, hinting at its former glory.
Under the sign, a scruffy man was squatting.
The two groups met, exchanged introductions, and the man who claimed to be Qiao Yu's brother looked troubled, speaking in a very low voice.
It felt like a spy rendezvous.
According to Qiao Yu's brother, a few people had come to see him several times in the past few days, but the last time, they left without saying goodbye.
From the man's description, it was undoubtedly the people from Building 3.
And they probably didn't leave without saying goodbye—several of them had no chance to, as they were already dead.
The man invited them inside, but Jiang Cheng politely declined and instead headed to a restaurant across the street, choosing a quiet private room.
"By the way," the man said, lifting his eyelids, his eyes bloodshot as if he hadn't slept well in a long time, "Did you watch the video I sent you?"
His voice was trembling.
"We did," Hua Luo replied. "It's one of our friends. You must have seen him before."
"Of course!" The man suddenly became agitated. "I definitely saw him! He came yesterday, with two other people."
"But how... how could he appear in the video?" The man seemed unable to accept this fact, his emotions running high. "That was my brother's room!"
"Maybe he just wandered in accidentally," Fatty said, trying to brush it off.
"No way!" The man took out his phone and played the video for them, then pointed at a poster in the background. "Do you see that?"
It was a poster of a skeleton warrior, wearing tattered armor and carrying a large, old cross on its back.
It had a desolate aura, as if the warrior's spirit lingered even in death.
It seemed to be from some online game.
"My brother threw this poster away before he died because he suspected he had encountered something unclean. He was scared just looking at it!"
"Your friend came before my brother died. No, perhaps he didn't just come—all of this... all of this might be related to him!"
"Please calm down," Jiang Cheng said, firmly patting the man's shoulder and cutting off what he was about to say next.
The man's emotions were clearly unstable. If they let him continue speculating, he might even start thinking they were all in on it, conspiring to kill his brother.
"Haah—, haah—" The man was breathing heavily. Chu Jiu quietly called a waiter at the door and brought a bottle of ice water.
After gulping down a few mouthfuls of ice water, the man's emotions eased slightly, but his eyes started to redden again. It seemed the bond between the brothers was indeed strong.
"I don't know who did this, or for what purpose," the man said through gritted teeth. "But as long as I'm alive, I will get to the bottom of this."
Jiang Cheng patted his shoulder, comforting him. "We're here for the same reason—to uncover the truth." He paused. "To bring justice to the deceased."
Fatty thought that when the Doctor spoke of bringing justice to the deceased, he was probably referring to Lin Chen, not scumbags like Qiao Yu and Li Maoshen.
"Do you know what scared me the most after I received that message?" The man widened his eyes. "It was the timing! That email was sent on July 7th!"
"But none of us have any memory of that email. We don't know if the email was the problem, or if we were the problem."
"But I'm usually at the coffee shop, and I know some of Qiao Yu's friends, but I've never seen this person before. And my brother wouldn't let just anyone into his room—he had photography equipment in there, his most prized possessions."
"Do you have any idea where the filming took place?" Banana Wolf asked, frowning as the man rambled without getting to the point.
"On... on his desk," the man replied. "It was probably filmed using his computer. I can take you in to have a look."
"No need," Jiang Cheng said in a sincere voice. "We'll just listen to what you have to say. We believe you."
Everyone who had entered the coffee shop had disappeared. Who would dare go in now? It was like asking for death.
Before he could finish speaking, the man's phone screen suddenly changed, and a video call came in. The caller's profile picture showed a man with a buzz cut.
Under the picture, it read: "Brother."
(End of the Chapter)
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