Chapter 243: Tie Ningxiang

"Human skin?!" Tie Ningxiang reached out and pulled the mask off the wall. She rubbed the material between her fingers, forcing herself to stay calm. "It's even been treated with preservatives. There's no doubt about it—this is human skin."

I hung the Human Skin Mask back on the wall, watching Tie Ningxiang's every move from the corner of my eye.

A Human Skin Mask could only disguise a face; it couldn't alter a person's build or voice. The culprit surely wouldn't be stupid enough to try and impersonate Tie Ningxiang using just a mask.

I paced around the room. There was an inner partition set up like a workshop—except the workbench was heavily stained with blood, and the tools laid out across it sent a chill down my spine.

There were chemical solutions for treating biological skin, specialized polishing and waxing machines, and an assortment of scissors and tweezers in various shapes and sizes.

"The killer is a complete and utter psychopath." A toolset like this couldn't even be found on the black market; it had to be custom-ordered at an exorbitant price. Just the thought of him using these precision instruments on living people or corpses made my stomach turn.

"To think Human Skin Masks actually exist. It seems my theory from five years ago was right—there is definitely more than one killer. His accomplice must have infiltrated the police force, knowing the exact time and location of every single dispatch. That's the only way to explain how the killer perfectly evaded the investigation, slipping right through a dragnet of over a thousand officers, only to be caught by a rookie cop like me who broke rank."

"The killer is an absolute master of disguise. Plus, he can control the Mirror Ghost, which means he must have a deep understanding of mirror illusions and similar tricks."

I didn't touch the items on the table. As far as I was concerned, the agonizing wails of vengeful spirits clung to every single one of them.

"Let's check the other rooms."

Beneath the lifeless stares of the Human Skin Masks, Tie Ningxiang and I stepped out of that suffocating room.

"The machines are still running, and the press isn't too hot, meaning they haven't been on for long. Whoever turned them on can't have gone far." I peered down the gloomy corridor. The layout here was complicated; multiple passageways crisscrossed into an unknown labyrinth, and they all looked identical on the surface.

"Stay sharp. There's more than one killer." Tie Ningxiang took the lead. She already knew I suspected her, but she didn't ask for an explanation. Instead, she willingly entrusted her back to my protection, taking on the most dangerous job of scouting the way forward.

I remembered streaming with Jiang Fei at the Henshan Psychiatric Hospital. Back then, I was always the one leading the way while she cowered behind me like a frightened canary. That was what made Tie Ningxiang so different from other women.

Whenever Tie Ningxiang acted like this, it made me mull things over. She was exactly the Tie Ningxiang I remembered—someone entirely irreplaceable. Yet, I would never underestimate my enemies, especially when dealing with Lu Xing and the killer from the cold case five years ago. Normal logic didn't apply to them.

It was precisely because I wanted to save Tie Ningxiang and Yi Yi that I had become so overly cautious. If I slipped up, if I guessed wrong, then it wouldn't just be me losing my life. Tie Ningxiang, Yi Yi, and even Xiaofeng would all pay with theirs.

"I'm sorry. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I have to be responsible for everyone dragged into this." Looking at Tie Ningxiang's back, my voice was so low that only I could hear it.

Tie Ningxiang and I hadn't made it far down the first passageway when the clatter of iron chains hitting the floor echoed from the corner ahead, followed by the sound of someone running down the corridor.

The footsteps were chaotic. Tie Ningxiang and I both halted, pressed our backs against the wall, and peered deep into the corridor.

Whoever was approaching seemed to be being chased. Panicking, they drew closer and closer to Tie Ningxiang and me.

"Who could it be? Lu Xing? Clown?" Gripping my iron tongs, I was completely focused, like a wild wolf approaching its prey. My heartbeat practically merged with the sound of the footsteps, my dark eyes locked onto the corner of the corridor.

"Here they come!"

The first thing to step out from the corner was a girl's shoe, followed by a bloodstained calf. Her pants were torn in several places and covered in mud.

Her upper body soon emerged from behind the wall. Her clean, cute coat had marks of being torn, the ripped collar exposing the tender skin beneath.

Her innocent face was brimming with terror. Just one look at that pure, naive face was enough to make anyone's heart ache.

The girl had large eyes, and teardrops were still rolling in them. She looked just like a little deer that had fallen into a hunter's hands, so panicked and pitiful.

"Yi Yi..." The moment she saw the girl, Tie Ningxiang seemed as if she were possessed. Her eyes swept over every wound on the girl's body, and she couldn't help but walk toward her.

"Hey, don't go over there!" I called out to warn her, maintaining my last shred of rationality. Thinking about it carefully, the timing and location of Yi Yi's appearance were extremely bizarre; it was highly likely a trap by the other party.

I reached out and grabbed Tie Ningxiang, but she shook me off. Seeing Yi Yi in this state, the toughness she had shown all along finally shattered, and she approached the girl step by step.

Oddly enough, as Tie Ningxiang walked toward her, the terror in Yi Yi's eyes only became more pronounced. The little girl didn't say a word; she stood in place, her body seemingly shrinking backward in fear.

"Yi Yi, don't be afraid. Come to Auntie." Tie Ningxiang softened her voice as much as possible, but Yi Yi's reaction at this moment surprised everyone.

As if provoked by something, she stumbled backward in disbelief, giving Tie Ningxiang a wide berth.

"What's wrong? It's me, Auntie." Tie Ningxiang wanted to say something else, but as another woman appeared at the corner, the dim second underground level fell into an eerie silence. The air seemed to solidify, making even breathing difficult.

"Yi Yi, come back!" the woman standing behind Yi Yi said. Yi Yi also subconsciously retreated, standing together with that woman.

Their eyes locked as the two women met at the corner. Not only were their faces and voices identical, but even their auras were strikingly similar.

"Is it time for a head-on confrontation?"

I utilized Chasing Eye to study the two women in front of me—two completely identical Tie Ningxiangs.

The Tie Ningxiang who had entered the Haunted House with me wore a simple, slim-fitting tank top, her injured arm wrapped in her jacket. She looked capable and mature.

The Tie Ningxiang standing behind Yi Yi also had an injured arm. Blood had soaked through her jacket, and she had used a hair tie to bind the proximal end of the artery to prevent massive blood loss. Furthermore, she had another wound just above her collarbone—a shallow mark that looked like it had been cut by a knife.

"Who are you?"

"Who are you?"

The two spoke in unison, their timing and speaking speed completely identical. At this point, it wasn't just Yi Yi; even I was a little confused.

"Auntie..." Yi Yi turned to look at the familiar figure, then looked at the Tie Ningxiang in front of her. An unspeakable terror crept into her heart.

"Don't be afraid, Auntie is here." The Tie Ningxiang who had used a hair tie to bind her wound shielded Yi Yi behind her. She looked warily at the woman in front of her who was identical to herself, and then shifted her gaze to me. "Gao Jian, who is she?"

"Let go of Yi Yi!" the Tie Ningxiang who had bandaged her wound with her jacket shouted at her. Her eyes held hidden anger and worry. "Yi Yi, I'm your aunt! Think about it carefully. I'm the one who brought you here. You said a classmate gave you two night tickets to the Amusement Park and you wanted to come play..."

"How do you know these things? The father of Yi Yi's classmate is the project manager for the Jiangjin Real Estate Amusement Park reconstruction project, which is how he was able to easily get extra tickets. That child originally invited Yi Yi to go with him, but I turned him down."

The Tie Ningxiang behind Yi Yi not only knew these things but spoke of them in even greater detail. After the two confronted each other a few times, the situation became even more tangled and confusing as running hares.

These two Tie Ningxiangs shared not only the same appearance and aura, but it seemed their memories were also identical.

Time slipped by second by second. An inexplicable crisis was closing in from the darkness. There were many questions, with true and false indistinguishable. The scene before my eyes was like an ever-expanding whirlpool trying to shred everyone involved in it.

"Are their memories identical too?"

I stood silently in place. I felt like I had caught onto something, but I couldn't quite grasp it.

Looking up at the two Tie Ningxiangs, I felt a vague sense of unease. In my mind, there was also a worst-case scenario: that both of these people were fakes, and I had yet to meet the real Tie Ningxiang.