Chapter 63: Her Boyfriend Could Slap a Coquettish Brat to Death with One Hand (26)

Coincidentally, Yin Huanmian was quite perceptive herself. She was far from stupid—she could sense Mr. Shu’s interest in her. At first, she did not respond to his probing glances, but as the death toll mounted, her attitude naturally began to shift. When Mr. Shu tentatively asked her one day, she hesitated only a moment before accepting the rose milk tea he offered her.

Once you’ve tasted something from the supernatural, severing the bond becomes no easy feat.

Truthfully, Mr. Shu never forced Yin Huanmian, nor did she ever grow particularly dependent on him. Everything that followed was simply the natural course of things between adults. She showed him the pleasures of love between a man and a woman; he gave her a greater chance of survival.

Yes, only a greater chance—he never gave her any explicit promise that she would leave alive. Yet for Yin Huanmian, that was enough.

As for so-called morality—it simply didn’t exist in this town.

Bai Yao clicked her tongue. “Scumbag.”

Xue Yan echoed the gesture. “Scumbag.”

Mr. Shu received an unequivocally disdainful verdict. His eyes were full of confusion. “Am I really a scumbag?”

He’d always thought himself quite refined and polite. Everyone said he had a good temperament—a genuinely nice guy.

Bai Yao said, “Wait till you stand on equal ground with her, then you can call it a fair transaction.”

For once, Mr. Shu was at a loss.

Meanwhile, the farce in Screening Room One continued.

Jiang Xun’s gaze flicked back and forth between Tian Susu and Zha Lan, unable to make up his mind. Behind him, Yin Huanmian said, “Only two minutes left.”

If they didn’t find the dead person within the allotted time, they would all die.

Yin Huanmian stood up. “Let’s put it to a vote.”

Zha Lan immediately said, “I vote for Tian Susu.”

Tian Susu retorted, “Then I’ll vote for Zha Lan!”

Yin Huanmian said, “I vote for Tian Susu. Mr. Jiang, what is your choice?”

Now Tian Susu had two votes, Zha Lan one. The deciding vote now rested with Jiang Xun. If he voted for Zha Lan, they’d be tied, and the situation would just stagnate.

But time was running out.

The countdown on the screen pressed on. Jiang Xun gritted his teeth, looking at Tian Susu as if a decision had crystallized in his heart.

Tian Susu shook her head desperately. “It’s really not me. You have to believe me!”

Just as everyone thought Jiang Xun would choose Tian Susu, he suddenly lunged at Zha Lan. Caught off guard—and realizing that Jiang Xun’s strength was extraordinary—Zha Lan found the movie ticket in his pocket snatched away.

Jiang Xun tore up the ticket, but the countdown on the screen continued. In disbelief, he looked toward Tian Susu.

In that moment of Jiang Xun’s distraction, Zha Lan struck back, tackling Jiang Xun to the ground. Jiang Xun hit a seat as he fell, pain slowing his movements. Zha Lan drew a hidden fruit knife and drove it hard toward Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun instinctively raised an arm to block the blade. It pierced through his forearm; blood pooled beneath him.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Zha Lan grabbed Jiang Xun’s ticket and tore it to pieces. Jiang Xun landed a hard punch to Zha Lan’s head, sending him rolling; the knife clattered to the ground, and for a moment, Zha Lan lay dazed.

It seemed the outcome was already decided.

Jiang Xun’s gaze remained fixed on Tian Susu, whose smile was gradually widening. A chill like nothing he’d known before crept over him.

Three seconds left on the countdown.

Suddenly, a high-heeled foot slammed into Tian Susu, knocking her sideways off the step. Before she hit the ground, Yin Huanmian snatched the ticket from her hand.

As the ticket stub was torn, Tian Susu tumbled down the steps. A faint cracking sound could be heard. Fissures spread across her face, and in the next moment her head separated from her body and split open—though not in a spray of gore as one might expect.

From the outside, the head looked lifelike, but inside it was solid white wax—a wax figure!

Jiang Xun sat up in shock, speechless and momentarily forgetting his pain.

A line of text flashed across the movie screen: [Congratulations on discovering the hidden corpse. We hope today’s screening has brought you enjoyment. The screening is over. We look forward to your next visit.]

The screen went black. The lights in the theater flicked on, exposing the bodies on the floor in full, making the scent of blood even more overpowering.

Zha Lan clambered to his feet, laughing loudly. “So Tian Susu really was dead all along. Judging by this, she must’ve died a pretty miserable death.”

Jiang Xun protested, “Impossible... She can’t be dead... There’s no way she could be dead!”

He seemed to have encountered something beyond his comprehension. The usually composed man lost his calm and shouted, “There was a system guiding her—she couldn’t possibly have died!”

Yin Huanmian, standing at a distance, asked, “What do you mean by ‘system’?”

Jiang Xun looked up at her, his gaze suddenly turning vicious. Now that only Yin Huanmian had a ticket, he had to seize it from her.

Jiang Xun picked up the knife and charged at Yin Huanmian. Zha Lan, realizing what he intended, rushed to block him, but by now Jiang Xun had lost all reason. He drove the blade toward Zha Lan’s chest.

But, to everyone’s surprise, the knife passed through Zha Lan’s body as if slicing the air—no blood appeared on his chest.

Kicked aside by Zha Lan, Jiang Xun fell to the ground once more, staring, stunned. “Are you human or a ghost?”

Zha Lan stared dazedly at his own chest for a long moment. He touched it, felt no pain, and his expression grew faintly bewildered. After a while, he recalled something and spoke, slow and dull, “So, I’ve been dead all along.”

It was on the third day after they’d arrived in the town. After becoming a murderer and being shunned by everyone, he’d gone out alone to search for clues. He remembered seeing a mass of beautiful, vivid red flowers; after that, his memory became patchy.

He’d forgotten how he’d been surrounded by the flowers, forgotten how his body had vanished without a trace. He’d thought he was still alive—just an ordinary person.

Realizing he was dead, Zha Lan watched his body slowly fade away. He felt fear and panic, but calm soon settled over him.

He looked at Yin Huanmian, as if finally understanding the significance of returning here after death. He said earnestly, “I did a lot of wrong things before. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

Yin Huanmian and Zha Lan had been together since their student days. In the absence of Tian Susu, it couldn’t be denied—they shared bright, youthful memories. She had once imagined she’d walk with him from school uniforms to wedding gowns.

But who could have foreseen all that would transpire, changing the destinies of everyone involved?

Meeting Zha Lan’s gaze, Yin Huanmian replied, “I’ve already let it go.”

So whether or not she forgave him no longer mattered.

Zha Lan smiled—a little sadly. His final words were, “You must leave here alive. Find a man better than me, and love him.”

With that, he gazed deeply at Yin Huanmian. In the blink of an eye, he vanished like mist.

Jiang Xun gripped the knife, using a chair to steady himself as he tried to approach Yin Huanmian again. But she had already retreated far away, and as a group of people entered the room, Jiang Xun was isolated from her.

There were men and women, young and old. Their eerie eyes were filled with ridicule and threat; Jiang Xun was now nothing more than meat on the chopping block.

Terrified by their stares, Jiang Xun stumbled back a few steps. Gone was his former poise; he looked for all the world like a desperate prisoner. “You can’t let her go! We didn’t find the dead person in time!”

A little girl with pigtails said innocently, “But that big sister found the dead person within the time limit. The brother who disappeared was a ghost, not a dead person.”

Seeing so many people, Yin Huanmian didn’t relax—her guard only heightened.

Mr. Shu approached, asking affably, “That was quite a performance, Miss Yin. Would you like me to escort you to rest?”

Yin Huanmian tightened her grip on the ticket in her pocket, stepped two paces away from Mr. Shu, and shook her head. “No need.”

Mr. Shu smiled gently and did not press her.

Jiang Xun continued backing away, his gaze falling on Tian Susu’s corpse. Panic welled up inside him, threatening to overwhelm. “Did you kill Tian Susu?”

Everyone turned to look in the same direction.

Xue Yan was bent over, boasting to Bai Yao, “Yaoyao, we’ve won so much money! We can buy a house for the baby outright. As soon as he’s born, we’ll hurry to find him a wife and move him out.”

Bai Yao smiled, pinching Xue Yan’s waist.

Xue Yan winced in pain, realizing everyone was watching him. He straightened his back. “What’s up?”

Mr. Shu asked, “Are you the one who killed Tian Susu?”

Xue Yan asked, “Who’s Tian Susu?”

Mr. Shu pointed at the headless body on the floor. “That woman without a head.”

Xue Yan said, “Oh, that was me...”

He suddenly remembered something and covered Bai Yao’s ears before nodding in open admission. “Yes, I killed her. So what?”

Jiang Xun shivered all over. “How could you have killed her? It’s impossible. No one here could have killed her... no one!”

Xue Yan rummaged in his pocket, producing a tiny electronic chip and tossing it to the floor. “You probably thought she had one of these...”

Bai Yao glanced up at him.

Xue Yan quickly covered her ears again, grinning with childlike innocence. “You thought with this thing, she could emit some irresistible pheromone, and we’d all be unable to touch her, right?”

Jiang Xun went rigid.

A sinister smile curled Xue Yan’s lips, as exaggerated and menacing as a monster’s. He said warmly, “I almost forgot—welcome back to Beiji Town.”

The townspeople all smiled as one and said in unison, “Welcome, Dr. Jiang.”

Jiang Xun’s face went white as a sheet.