Chapter 2109 - 1169: Night Visit to the Cultural Palace

Yang Xiao hesitated slightly, but he reacted quickly. The next second he returned to normal and said rather urgently, "Hello, I’m looking for Chief Zhou."

"Chief Zhou is not here. He went to patrol the factory, and he won’t be back for a while. If you have anything to say... hai... hai hai... you can talk to me, and I’ll relay it to him when he returns." The woman coughed intermittently while speaking, as though her throat wasn’t in good shape.

"We just came to the factory today to report and accidentally lost our armband. We hope the protective department can issue us a new one," Yang Xiao replied without hesitation.

"Lost it? How careless! What dormitory do you live in? I’ll have someone send one over tonight," the other side said, slightly displeased.

"No. 9, 2nd floor, Family Building No. 1," Yang Xiao responded.

Upon hearing Yang Xiao reveal his residence, Ye Zheng, standing behind him, couldn’t resist reaching out to pinch his arm.

Yet, Yang Xiao didn’t react at all, even until the phone call ended.

After cutting the phone line, Ye Zheng said anxiously, "How could you tell her the truth? How can you be sure the second one is real?"

"I’m not sure," Yang Xiao said, rubbing his arm, "I just made a hypothesis."

Ye Zheng was increasingly puzzled by the man in front of him. Their thinking seemed to be on different frequencies: "Now that you’ve told her the real address, we can’t go back to the family building dormitory. What do you plan to do next?"

"We’ll go to the protective department and see who is actually there. That way, we can distinguish truth from falsehood," Yang Xiao replied.

"And then?" Ye Zheng seemed to understand something.

"And then... we’ll deal with it accordingly. If the first Chief Zhou is fake, then we can’t go to the Cultural Palace. We’ll return to the family building tonight."

"If the second woman is fake, then we’ll do the opposite—don’t return to the dormitory and stick to the original plan to spend the night at the Cultural Palace, catching it off guard." Yang Xiao grasped into the air with a show of force.

Ye Zheng was somewhat of an experienced player by now, having contended with ghosts in earlier missions. Still, Yang Xiao was the first to actively propose catching a ghost off guard.

This guy’s mind works really fast—he tells lies without hesitation. It seems he had already thought of a countermeasure before making the second call. He’s a true veteran player.

Ye Zheng’s mind couldn’t help but picture a scene—the front of the Cultural Palace late at night, deserted, the wind chilling, a weak ghost shadow crouching in a hidden spot near the steps, waiting eagerly at the road in front.

Eventually, it endured the night, waiting until almost dawn, without catching sight of them.

The ghost stood foot stomping in fury and secretly cursed humans for being utterly bad, even deceiving ghosts. Next time, when it catches Yang Xiao, it plans to slap him hundreds of times and twist his head off.

Yang Xiao naturally didn’t know Ye Zheng’s thoughts, nor did he care.

This guy has a bit of cleverness, but not much and still lacks experience, given this is only her third mission.

A long time ago, Yang Xiao realized most Nightmare World missions aren’t overly difficult, or many people wouldn’t survive.

Generally, about a third die; close to half at most. He receives protection from a good sister, making each mission exceptionally challenging.

Now, the backlash from the Hundred Demons Coffin Clothes is growing more serious—over half the skin on his body has changed, and what he finds most unacceptable are the vivid red handprints on each butt cheek.

It’s more than a terrible humiliation; it’s an absolute disgrace!

How much can one endure before it’s too much?

Yang Xiao silently vowed that one day he would teach her a lesson, seal her inside the Blood Coffin, and extract her spiritual power for himself to avenge these humiliations!

"Yang Xiao, are... are you okay?" Ye Zheng looked at him with a strange expression, tentatively asking, "Why are you smiling?"

"I’m fine. Let’s go to the protective department." In the Nightmare World, there is an advantage: the good sister can’t interfere with him, so Yang Xiao acts with impunity.

The factory at night is completely different from during the day. The front area is relatively busy since some night shift workers are still working overtime, while the back sector, the living area, is much quieter.

Due to recent murder cases, the factory promptly issued a notice advising everyone to travel in pairs at night, avoiding isolated paths.

Both Yang Xiao and Ye Zheng chose to walk along main roads, even if it meant a longer route.

During the day, they already memorized the factory map. It didn’t take long for them to reach the protective department, where the office lights remained on.

Looking through the glass, Yang Xiao saw Chief Zhou inside, with another man. The two appeared to be arguing quite intently.

Chief Zhou had a sharp eye, noticing Yang Xiao before he could overhear the argument, signaling for them to come in.

Upon entering the room, Yang Xiao sensed the atmosphere was off—all filled with smoke, suffocating and headache-inducing.

The other man, a sallow-skinned middle-aged man, wore a gloomy expression, squatting on the ground and puffing on cigarettes, completely ignoring them.

"Old Wu, go have a look, see if anyone is tailing us."

Chief Zhou instructed with a harsh tone, his face equally grim, "Also, stop with those ridiculous comments you made earlier. Remember, you are a protective department officer, a soldier. We have our own spirit and belief. If even we believe such nonsense, how can we solve cases!"