Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 316: Awakening

Chapter 316: Chapter 316: Awakening

"Bang——"

It wasn’t until Lin Dayou’s body hit the ground with a heavy thud that Ouyang Kang realized what had just happened before his eyes.

"Dead... someone’s dead! Someone’s dead!!!"

Ouyang Kang’s face turned ghostly pale, and he fell to the ground, screaming in horror until his voice turned hoarse and he couldn’t go on.

At this moment, any sense of respect for the deceased was lost; Ouyang Kang hurriedly flung away Lin Dayou’s head from his arms.

"Bang bang bang——"

Lin Dayou’s head rolled a few times on the floor and then came to a stop.

However... his eyes were just so perfectly aligned to look in Ouyang Kang’s direction, appearing as if he were staring right at him.

The others reacted similarly to Ouyang Kang, each one turning ashen with fear.

After all, from the backdrop of the story, they were only here to participate in some tycoon’s three million contest, never expecting it would result in a murder.

At that moment, Bai Yanliang’s expression suddenly changed, and he immediately pulled out his phone!

It dawned on him... after this scene unfolded, Bai Yanliang finally realized where the familiar feeling had been silently emanating from!

Back when he was in the mental hospital, he had read about this case in the newspaper!

Upon entering keywords: villa, three million, murder, reward, several pieces of information popped up.

Bai Yanliang lightly touched Song Que’s shoulder, and Song Que turned back to look at him, puzzled.

"I discovered something very important. Let’s split up. You and Xu Zhifei stay with the others on the second floor, I’ll take Qi Nian to the first floor."

"Hmm, be careful." Song Que nodded.

Then, Bai Yanliang told Qi Nian and Xu Zhifei the same thing.

Qi Nian was a bit puzzled but did not refuse in the slightest.

Bai Yanliang added a word to Xu Zhifei: "Pay attention to Song Que’s emotions, remind him when he’s acting strange."

"Okay." Xu Zhifei responded, glancing at Qi Nian and Bai Yanliang, "Be careful."

Bai Yanliang nodded and quietly went downstairs with Qi Nian, without even looking at Lin Dayou’s body.

Returning to the first floor, Bai Yanliang went straight to the hall.

Qi Nian followed closely behind, somewhat at a loss. "What’s up?"

Bai Yanliang handed the phone to Qi Nian, "Look."

Qi Nian took the phone and quickly read through the information, her face changing color.

"This... can actually be found out? Is this a real case? When we executed tasks in the past world, weren’t we unable to find relevant information when we returned to reality?"

Bai Yanliang remained silent.

A sense of panic inexplicably rose in Qi Nian’s heart.

She had thought that Fog Gathering, which transcended to the real-time, was just a virtual task to accelerate their deaths. She never imagined that this was indeed a case that had happened before! And now, it could be found out!

Reading the information on the phone, Qi Nian couldn’t help but feel a chill over her whole body.

If the case written on the phone was exactly what they were experiencing now, then... no one would survive this villa.

"On the afternoon of October 15, 2016, at 3:00 PM, the police received a report, on the way from Ye City to Sanbai Town, the villa in the suburb by the road had a strong stench of blood. After investigating, the officers found the entire villa empty, with only five horribly dead bodies... After technical identification, the deceased were identified as Lin, Liu, Zhan, Ouyang, and Liu."

"Why are there two Liu’s?" Qi Nian questioned, "Where’s Wang Rui? If it were this incident, she..."

Speaking halfway through, Qi Nian’s face changed slightly, "Wang Rui is a false name, her real surname is Liu! This whole event from beginning to end was orchestrated by her, she is the ghost!"

"No wonder... although Wang Rui was quiet and timid... every move she made was graceful. Her family background shouldn’t be bad..."

"Yes," Bai Yanliang took back the phone from Qi Nian, "We should have realized when she served the western lunch."

"Ordinary families wouldn’t eat western food a few times a year, let alone make it." Bai Yanliang’s gaze focused slightly, "However, I don’t believe Liu Rui is the ghost."

"Huh?" Qi Nian didn’t quite understand what Bai Yanliang meant.

Bai Yanliang stared at the wooden table, pondering deeply, "On October 15, 2016, the police received a report and went to the scene, finding five deceased including Liu Rui, who reported it?"

"Maybe... it was a passerby who didn’t want to get involved?"

"No, the one who reported it was the ghost." Bai Yanliang stated with certainty.

Qi Nian was momentarily stunned, then fell into deep thought. After a while, her eyes lit up, "The distance!"

"This villa is so big, and the murder happened inside, there’s no way a passerby would have smelled the blood from such a long distance!"

Bai Yanliang neither nodded nor denied, he simply said, "This murder case withheld even a single detail of the investigation, it’s highly likely that the police encountered some inexplicable matters upon entering the villa."

After finishing, Bai Yanliang looked around the surroundings, "There is another ghost in this villa, it’s the one giving Liu Rui the power to make letters into reality. But why Liu Rui collaborated with the ghost, that remains a question."

"Wait!" Qi Nian suddenly raised a hand, "Are we now... in October 15, 2016? I remember the blood letter from Fog Gathering clearly stated it was May 5, 2019, going to Sanbai Town for a week’s film shooting. How did we return to the past from reality? And... how should we understand the original task..."

Bai Yanliang slowly approached the wooden table, drumming his fingers rhythmically against the surface, saying: "Do you remember the early rules of Fog Gathering?"

"Yes, it sent us back to the past world to perform terrible tasks."

"Exactly," Bai Yanliang looked up at the ceiling, his thoughts going far beyond that of Qi Nian, "check the New Moon Department Store incident again."

Upon hearing this, Qi Nian immediately opened her phone, and sure enough... it could be found!

"On April 3, 2016, the New Moon Department Store incident occurred. A serial killer fled to the West Suburb, hid in the New Moon Department Store at night, locked the doors when discovered by overtime employees and security, and started a deadly hide and seek, hunting game throughout the building..."

"Why... the information that couldn’t be found before, can now be found..." Qi Nian murmured, sensing something unnatural appearing quietly, a feeling that immensely unsettled her.

Bai Yanliang tapped the wooden table, producing "Tap, tap——" sounds, and said, "My understanding is that whether it is fierce ghosts or strange events, they were sealed by the power of Fog Gathering. Fog Gathering once put us entirely into the past world, and now, it can only strip out a segment of that past world, insert it into real time-space, and then send us in. It used to be able to entirely erase bizarre events, but now... relevant information can be searched."

"Fog Gathering is collapsing," Bai Yanliang’s expression remained placid, "or rather, something long constrained by Fog Gathering is awakening."

"Now, Fog Gathering can no longer spare the force to erase the paranormal influence."