Chapter 749: Phantom Pig (1)

Led by the plague ghosts, I arrived at a corner on the top floor.

The Five Directions Plague Ghosts hesitated, as if an immense lethal threat lay hidden in that inconspicuous corner.

Having broken through to the Ghost Art Fifth Layer, I was brimming with confidence. The way I handled problems had unconsciously begun to change. Forming a hand seal, I let Yin energy and blood aura shroud my body and strode confidently forward.

A faint scent of blood drifted through the corridor, mingling with the cold wind and scattered raindrops. The further I went, the stronger it became.

"Another body?" Several lengths of hemp rope were scattered in the pitch-black corner. A boy with a distended belly and a highly disproportionate body was buried under a pile of debris.

The "assailant" had only been able to hastily wrap a straw mat around the child, leaving his hands and feet completely exposed.

I lifted the straw mat and moved aside the bricks weighing down the body, revealing Li Ming's livid face.

His eyes were wide open, his mouth unconsciously agape. Filth lingered around his nostrils and the corners of his lips, and a gaping hole had been torn open in his belly. It was a deeply unsettling sight.

"The wound on his stomach wasn't fatal; the true cause of death remains to be seen." I dragged Li Ming's body out from the debris. The condition of his corpse was similar to Zhang Shuxue's. In fact, they shared many similarities—for instance, their bodies had both been occupied by an obsession, and their facial expressions were bizarre, as if they had encountered something utterly terrifying in the instant before they died.

One end of the hemp rope was tied to the corpse's arm. Scanning my surroundings, I noticed several nails driven into the cracked wall.

"Zhang Shuxue was hung at the corridor entrance after she died. Going by that, the killer probably intended to hang Li Ming in the middle of the corridor too."

Hanging corpses right in the middle of the passage—what deeper meaning lay hidden behind this prank-like behavior?

Blood still seeped from Li Ming's torn belly. All the blood trails I had seen along the way were left by him.

"Hanging the bodies with rope makes them look like bait on a fishhook. The Red Building Tenants killed Li Ming and Zhang Shuxue—could they be trying to lure something out?"

Corpses held little attraction for me, so their intended target definitely wasn't me. The fact that Li Ming's body had been casually discarded was perfect proof of that. The Red Building Tenants must have noticed my killing spree in the Ancient Building and my frantic devouring of obsessions. Unsettled by this, they were forced to retreat.

"It seems my arrival ruined their plans."

With Yin energy swirling around my body, a cold sneer formed beneath my mask. "The Red Building Tenants left their rooms late at night, came to the Longchang Old Site, and even plotted to lure the Faceless Woman away. They're clearly here for something very important. Li Ming was only abducted into the Red Building tonight. For him to die here proves that their original purpose for kidnapping him was connected to the Longchang Old Site."

Using living people as bait, hanging them in the middle of the passages and at the building entrance—everything the Red Building Tenants did made one thing clear to me.

"Besides me, Gu Junsheng, the obsessions, and the Red Building Tenants, there is another extremely dangerous thing inside this building!"

What could it be?

The giant Five Plague Ghosts lingered by my side as Yin energy and blood aura surged. I fell into silent thought, shifting my gaze away from Li Ming's body.

"With my breakthrough to the Ghost Art Fifth Layer, I now have a certain degree of self-preservation capability. Even if I run into an existence on Elder Chen's level, I still have a chance to escape."

The Ghost Art Fifth Layer was exceptionally rare in this world. Even if one scoured Jiangcheng and Jinghai, they probably wouldn't find a second person who had reached it. However, that didn't mean I was in absolute safety. Whether it was the Five Great Upper Sects, the Two-Faced Buddha, or that other live show streamer, every single one of my enemies possessed strength no less than my own.

The Ghost Art Fifth Layer was merely a starting point. It only gave me the ability to fight head-on so I wouldn't have to rely entirely on schemes and luck.

"The Blood Fox's monstrous killing intent can suppress obsessions, and the Yin-Yang Ghost Art can enslave the vast majority of ghostly entities. Those filthy things in this live broadcast are nothing to fear. The true threat comes from the living."

Having done so many live broadcasts, I knew better than anyone that the human heart was the most wicked and hardest thing to guard against in this world.

"With the Five Plague Ghosts protecting my body, I don't need to worry too much." Picking up the hemp rope, I bound Li Ming's body, lifted it with one hand, and hung it on the nail. The corpse hung spread-eagled. Blood slid down from its torn belly, and a foul stench spread far into the distance.

"I've hung the bait up for you. I just wonder what it will hook."

Too many unknown secrets lay hidden within this decades-old ancient building complex. I was very curious about what undiscovered monsters lurked in the deepest reaches of the darkness.

With Li Ming's corpse suspended on the corridor wall, the night wind blew against the rope, causing the still-warm body to gently sway. It looked just like a marionette.

"The mirror the Old Granny mentioned is on the top floor, yet the plague ghosts searched for so long without finding it. It seems not just anyone can see this mirror; there must be a profound mystery hidden within." From left to right, I searched every room on the top floor, but found absolutely nothing. Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly realized that a short, shadowy figure had appeared a dozen meters behind me at some unknown point.

It seemed to be hesitating, not daring to approach, yet unwilling to wander far.

"Gu Junsheng?" I raised an eyebrow. The Old Granny had given me the Embroidered Ball, saying Gu Junsheng would take the initiative to find me. After entering the Ancient Building, I hadn't held much hope, but who would have thought this child actually came seeking me out!

Waving my arm to drive the Five Plague Ghosts away, I walked straight toward the shadowy figure.

It held a spherical object in its arms, hiding in the corner. Its fingers dug into the wall's plaster, anxious and somewhat terrified.

Seeing him like this, I was afraid of scaring him off, so I took the Embroidered Ball out from my jacket while still a good distance away.

"Little guy, the person you can't forget entrusted me to protect you." I didn't know if the short shadowy figure could understand, but I slowly approached him. Strange to say, ever since I took out the Embroidered Ball, the figure had become much more docile.

When I reached his side and looked at his frail, thin body, I instinctively reached out, wanting to grab his shoulder.

Unfortunately, my hand still couldn't touch him. It was as if we existed in completely different worlds, forever unable to touch one another.

Junsheng was startled by my sudden action. He was extremely timid and hastily stumbled back. Perhaps seeing that I made no further moves, he reluctantly walked back over.

"Why did you suddenly run into this place?" I crouched down, examining him through my cold mask.

Countless obsessions roamed the Ancient Building. In their eyes, the short shadowy figure was an irresistible delicacy. Coming to this place carried an immense risk for Junsheng.

The short shadowy figure looked at the Embroidered Ball in my hand. He slowly lowered his head, not saying a word and not moving an inch.

"Did something happen to your physical body in this lifetime?" My gaze was like a knife, piercing and intimidating as I stared straight at the short figure, giving him nowhere to hide. "The first time I met you was at the junction between the sixth and seventh floors of the Red Building. Is that child living on the sixth floor your reincarnation?"

I held my breath, waiting for Junsheng's answer. This question was incredibly important to me. A single word from him would essentially be the crucial proof that reincarnation existed! It would completely overturn everything I previously knew!

Wind and rain blew into the building, icy drops pelting against the walls. Junsheng's reaction was a bit strange; he first nodded, but then shook his head. I had no idea what these contradictory actions meant.

"You entered the Ancient Building a step ahead of me. Did you see the Red Building Tenants here?" The deaths of Zhang Shuxue and Li Ming gave me a sense of urgency. One was a child, the other a woman. Neither held a physical advantage. In an environment where the strong preyed on the weak, they were the first to be eliminated.

Just like at the Pig Cage Apartments back then—when hunger paralyzed the nerves, living humans turned into demons. All ethics and morals became mere window dressing. Between eating and being eaten, there was no difference whatsoever between humans and animals.

"The Red Building Tenants murdered two people in a row and hung their bodies in the Ancient Building as bait. They're clearly trying to lure something into taking the hook. Since they haven't achieved their goal, they definitely won't give up. The next person chosen to be bait will very likely be the little boy living on the sixth floor!"

The law of the jungle—the strong preying on the weak—might seem crude, but it was an unchanging truth.

"If eliminations really start from the weakest, the next victim is basically guaranteed." I didn't hide anything, speaking all these words right in front of Junsheng. "Little guy, take me to find the Red Building Tenants right now. I'm the only one who can stop them."

Putting the Embroidered Ball away, I waved my hand and dismissed the Five Plague Ghosts to avoid alerting the enemy. I merged my body into the deep darkness of the night and concealed my aura.

The short shadowy figure seemed to realize the severity of the situation. Clutching the spherical object in his arms, he turned and ran downstairs.

Amidst this, the short figure made a movement that caught my attention. As he passed Li Ming's body, he tilted his head and glanced over.

At first, I thought he was looking at Li Ming's corpse. But when I reached that spot and looked back from the exact same angle, I realized this little guy had actually been looking at the nail-studded wall behind Li Ming.

"Is this wall different from the others?" Junsheng's unintentional action revealed some information. I didn't point it out, merely following him all the way down.

He maintained his speed as he ran from the top floor down to the first floor. From the looks of it, he was actually heading out of the main building.

The heavy rain continued to pour outside. As I reached the corridor entrance, I suddenly realized something was wrong.

Among the messy footprints on the ground, a bizarre, never-before-seen type of claw print had appeared. It was about the same size as a human foot, but the toes were long and slender.

"The Pig Cage Apartments are out in the wilderness, so it's certainly possible for large wild animals to appear. But these claw marks are a bit too strange..." They looked like deformed human feet walking on all fours. Unable to identify them, I continued forward. As I was about to step out of the main building, my heart slowly sank.

"Zhang Shuxue's body was dragged outside!" Drag marks lingered on the ground. I broke into a run, and the scene before my eyes was somewhat horrifying.

Amidst the torrential rain, the woman's full, lustrous body had shriveled up. Her clothes were a mess, and all the blood in her body had been sucked dry...