Chapter 559: Bullet Hole

Leaving the hospital didn't prove anything. Suspecting Feng Minglong based solely on that was a bit arbitrary. To me, he lacked both the ability and the motive to commit the crime.

We shared a hospital room, so I was very familiar with his habits and how he operated.

Ever since I became a live show streamer, I had been exceptionally observant of the people around me. To me, Feng Minglong was just an ordinary citizen, plain and simple.

"If he really is the killer, that would be terrifying. His acting skills would have to be master-class at the very least." Walking out the hospital gates, I didn't look back, catching a cab straight to Ting Tang Road.

I opened the shop, tidied up briefly, and headed up to the second floor.

I pushed the window open to let the air circulate, silently gazing down at Ting Tang Road.

People came and went amid the bustling traffic. Everything seemed unchanged, but only I knew the situation was steadily deteriorating. I had to plan a way out.

The broken landscaping tree by the entrance had already been hauled away, and new tenants had moved into the small restaurant next door. The original family of three had been mistakenly killed by the Blood Fox, and I had even seen them on the Death Train.

"Without power, we're nothing but ants. Only when you touch the darkness of this world do you realize how terrifying the monsters hiding in the shadows truly are," I sighed. Closing the window, I retrieved the Skeleton Key left behind by the detective during the Real Death Game Live Broadcast, then hurriedly left the shop and headed for my first destination.

I had visited Ye Bing's place before, back when I was wanted by the entire city. Thinking back on it, Ye Bing getting drawn into this mess might have been part of the Double-Faced Buddha Plan from the very beginning.

If I wanted to break this deadlock, the best approach was to start my investigation with her.

Avoiding the security cameras, I entered Ye Bing's residential complex. Since my expression was perfectly natural, the security guards didn't try to stop me.

Slipping quickly into the stairwell, I used the Skeleton Key to effortlessly unlock the security door to Ye Bing's apartment.

Once inside, I turned the place upside down. It took me about half an hour to finally find my target.

Under the bed in Ye Bing's bedroom was an old-fashioned wooden chest for storing old clothes. Buried beneath a massive pile of garments was a tattered Plush Bear.

Compared to the Dream Realm, the Plush Bear in reality looked a bit cuter. Its goofy face had two button eyes sewn on, and all its tears had been stitched up with needle and thread. At first glance, you would probably think it was just a perfectly ordinary toy.

"Can you hear me?" Talking to the toy in my hands was a foolish thing to do, but I felt absolutely no psychological burden doing it.

I waited for a few minutes, but the Plush Bear still didn't respond.

"This is the only plush toy in the apartment, and it looks roughly the same as the one I saw in the Dream Realm. There's no mistake. This is where the Hunchbacked Boy's soul resides." I closed the bedroom door and drew the curtains, shutting out the sunlight. Then, I used my ghost art to summon the Seductive Ghost, intending to have her possess the Plush Bear.

The moment the Seductive Ghost, Wang Yuchun, touched the Plush Bear, the stitched-up knife cuts on the toy suddenly tore open. Red threads danced in the air, snapping shut toward the Seductive Ghost like a massive maw.

"Little guy, I'm Gao Jian! The one who saved Ye Bing in the Dream Realm and helped you fight Chen Jiuge!" I retracted the Seductive Ghost and shouted at the Plush Bear. "Ye Bing isn't out of danger yet. She's still in the dream, and she's fallen into Chen Jiuge's hands. Only by working together can we rescue her and truly set her free!"

Convincing the Plush Bear wasn't a difficult task. Ye Bing was its obsession; as long as I brought up her name, many problems would easily resolve themselves.

In the dead-silent room, the Plush Bear sprawled on the floor, waving the red threads on its body in a bizarre posture. The scene looked somewhat terrifying.

In reality, the Plush Bear was very weak. Whether it was because the sky hadn't darkened yet or for some other reason, it couldn't even manage the most basic communication. It could only barely wiggle its red threads to prove it truly existed.

"Your game of hide-and-seek with Chen Jiuge isn't over yet. I'll help you take back your body and make that monster face the punishment he deserves." Approaching the Plush Bear, I picked it up. Finding that it didn't resist, my hanging heart finally settled.

The Plush Bear was a card to play against Chen Jiuge, and now, that card was finally in my hands.

I searched Ye Bing's apartment one more time but didn't find anything else of value, so I left in a hurry. The security guards in the complex seemed to notice the extra Plush Bear in my hands, but since the toy didn't look precious, they naturally couldn't be bothered to stop and question me.

Returning to Ting Tang Road, I still hadn't figured out my next move. The moment I plugged my phone in and turned it on, I found dozens of unread messages and missed calls. Checking them one by one, I realized the person who had contacted me the most was actually Onitsuka Ayaka.

'Since when did this beautiful boss lady care so much about me?' An ominous premonition suddenly welled up in my heart. I dialed Onitsuka Ayaka's number. "Boss lady? Did you need me for something?"

The phone rang only once before it connected, and Onitsuka Ayaka's urgent voice came through the line.

"Gao Jian, come to Yiyun Community right now! Hurry! Something happened to Sakurako!" Her voice was thick with exhaustion and worry. Without giving myself time to think, I hung up the phone and rushed straight to the location she mentioned.

Yiyun Community was in the suburbs of Jiangcheng. It was where Onitsuka Ayaka rented her place, and it was my first time coming here.

I knocked on the door. Within seconds, I heard footsteps from inside. The security door swung open, and Onitsuka Ayaka's pale face entered my line of sight.

"Quick, come in." She was wearing a loose-fitting coat and had no makeup on. Bare-faced, she exuded a profound maternal beauty.

"What's wrong with Sakurako?" Entering the living room, I didn't even have time to take off my shoes before Onitsuka Ayaka dragged me into the bedroom.

The incredibly cozy little room was suffused with the faint scent of medicine. With one glance, I saw Sakurako lying on the bed. Her breath was as weak as a thread, and her condition looked extremely dire.

"Why didn't you take her to the hospital? What exactly is going on here?" I rushed to the bedside, my heart aching slightly. Sakurako was in her pajamas, her eyes shut tight, with a wet towel draped across her forehead.

"We already went to the hospital, but it was completely useless. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her and told me to take Sakurako to the provincial hospital." Onitsuka Ayaka had likely been awake all night; her eyes were completely bloodshot. Seeing such a formerly elegant woman now covered in exhaustion made it clear just how deeply she worried for Sakurako.

"It came on suddenly? Were there no warning signs at all?" I lightly touched Sakurako's cheek with the back of my hand. Her skin was freezing, like a corpse's. This wasn't a standard fever or any common illness. "Could it be food poisoning?"

"Last night, around midnight, a noise suddenly came from Sakurako's room. I rushed over to check, and the moment I opened the door, I saw her lying on the floor. Moreover..." Onitsuka Ayaka reached out and lifted the towel on Sakurako's forehead. "This mark appeared between her eyebrows."

I looked down. Right in the center of Sakurako's pale forehead was a deep black, circular mark about 5.8 millimeters in diameter.

"5.8 millimeters..." My eyes widened as I suddenly recalled my encounter in the Despair District. Right as I was about to be killed by despair, it was that highly inconspicuous Paper Doll Painting that saved my life. I remembered it very clearly: when I walked out of that nightmare of despair, I had specifically checked that Paper Doll Painting, and it had gained a bullet hole exactly like this on its forehead.

'That Paper Doll Painting Sakurako gave me was able to die in my place once within the dream. It's absolutely not simple.' I stared at Sakurako's forehead. The exact same bullet hole, and 5.8 millimeters was the standard diameter of a police bullet. None of this was a coincidence. That Paper Doll Painting very likely represented Sakurako herself!

My legs seemed to lose all strength. I slowly crouched down by the bedside, gazing at the bullet hole on Sakurako's forehead that looked like a deep black blood clot, and pondered for two or three seconds. I didn't hide anything and told Onitsuka Ayaka exactly what had happened.

"This happened because of me, and I swear I'll cure her!" Real-world doctors definitely wouldn't know how to treat injuries sustained in the Dream Realm. Even Chu Men would probably be hearing about this kind of wound for the first time.

But it was too early to give up. My experiences in the Deep Dream Layer had taught me that there was one sect capable of saving Sakurako—the Xiao Zhuang Taoist Temple, which used dreams to enter the Dao!

However, this sect was far more mysterious than Maoshan or Profound Truth. Getting in touch with them wouldn't be easy.

I glanced at Onitsuka Ayaka, who was on the verge of a breakdown as she kept watch over Sakurako. I took out my phone and dialed the number of Leng Qingxuan from Maoshan.

'He's an orthodox Maoshan disciple. He should know something about hidden sects.'