Chapter Twenty-Five: Have I Run Into Another Deadlock?

If his answer to this question wasn’t clever enough, and the other man spotted a flaw and called over the black-faced security guard, his life would hang by a thread.

Shang Yi calmly fabricated a lie. “The security guard on the second floor asked me to fill out a form. I remembered I had a pen on me, but I think I dropped it in the courtyard when I came in, so I went out to look for it.”

“Did you find it?”

Shang Yi realized he didn’t have any pen on him and gave a bitter smile. “No, I couldn’t find it anywhere.”

The Hanged Man took a black gel pen out of his pocket and handed it to Shang Yi. “Use mine. There are a lot of mosquitoes outside—don’t stay out unless you have to.”

Shang Yi took the pen. Only after the Hanged Man turned and went upstairs, his figure slowly disappearing, did Shang Yi notice his own palm was slick with cold sweat.

He guessed the Hanged Man had gone far enough now and quietly walked to the door of the first-floor bedroom.

Knock, knock, knock—he tapped as lightly as possible, not wanting the people upstairs to hear.

Soon, the door opened a crack, revealing half of Xue Ling’s ghostly face.

Shang Yi spoke softly, “Hello, Xue Ling. I’ve found a way to help you get your revenge. May I come in and talk?”

Hearing her own name and the word “revenge,” Xue Ling was startled. She looked at Shang Yi for a few seconds. “Come in.”

Shang Yi entered and closed the door behind him. Seeing the confusion on Xue Ling’s face, he lowered his voice. “Tonight I plan to cooperate with the police to capture the criminals here. I have a forbidden domain—I’m not affected by the Hanged Man. I need your help.”

Seeing Xue Ling’s bewildered look, Shang Yi understood that this news was too sudden and hard for her to believe.

So, he took out the Skull-crushing Hammer and the Multi-purpose Military Shovel from his portable space. “This is just part of my forbidden domain. See? They’re not sealed.”

He waved the tools in front of her and then put them away.

Xue Ling watched, dumbfounded, as Shang Yi conjured two large objects from thin air and made them disappear again. She began to believe him a little.

“How do you know my name? How do you know about the Hanged Man’s sealing?”

“I just spoke with a one-eyed man. You should know him.”

“Tang Gong? He’s locked in the sealed bungalow. There’s no way you could’ve talked.”

“I drilled a hole in the window glass.”

Seeing Xue Ling’s skepticism, Shang Yi took out a handheld drill and waved it in front of her. “With this.” He quickly put it away.

Xue Ling stared in shock. “What do you need me to do?”

“Tell me everything you know. For example, how to break the Hanged Man’s seal, how to deal with him, how to handle Fang Liang, and what abilities the other living people in this building have.”

Xue Ling shook her head. “I hardly know anything about what you’re asking.”

Now it was Shang Yi’s turn to be stunned.

Xue Ling tilted her head and thought for a moment. “But I can tell you two things. Maybe they’ll be useful.”

“First, after my forbidden domain was sealed, it was unsealed once. I’m not sure why.”

“But I remember that day the Hanged Man had a cut on his hand and wore a bandage.”

“When his hand healed, my forbidden domain was sealed again.”

“Thank you. That’s very useful information.”

Shang Yi suddenly recalled what the one-eyed man had told him. “Tang Gong said the Hanged Man and Fang Liang can’t be attacked. Can you explain in detail?”

“Tang Gong saw a guest hide a pistol and fire at the Hanged Man from two meters away, but not a single shot landed.”

“Tang Gong later analyzed it and suspected that as long as a person looks at the Hanged Man while trying to attack, their aim will go off target.”

“What about Fang Liang?”

“Any kind of ghost attack is useless against Fang Liang. He seems to have a power that blocks all forms of attack.”

Shang Yi pressed his ear against the bedroom door and listened, but heard nothing. He turned and asked, “What’s the second thing you wanted to tell me?”

“Oh, almost forgot. Second, I know the Hanged Man carries a forbidden item that can detect the forbidden domain on any person or ghost. He never goes anywhere without it.”

Shang Yi’s heart leapt—this was a key clue. “What does it look like?”

Xue Ling gestured with her hands. “About this big, like a badge, black.”

A crucial question occurred to Shang Yi. “Of all the living people in this apartment, aside from Xing Jie, are they all the murderers from the family massacre two years ago? Why does Fang Liang help the Hanged Man?”

Hearing this, Xue Ling’s face twitched, and she ground her teeth. “They’re all murderers! The Hanged Man is the ringleader, the other three are his killers. That bald fat one is even a rapist.”

“Fang Liang was sent to a psychiatric hospital while he was alive—no one knows the real reason. After he died, he seemed to be controlled and only obeys the Hanged Man.”

Shang Yi continued along the line of the case. “Do you know if there’s any evidence that could be given to the police to prove they’re the murderers?”

Xue Ling shook her head. “It’s been too long since the crime. Even if there was evidence, it’s gone. They’re very cautious—always conducting thorough background checks before killing, never provoking the police. The only way to get evidence is to make them confess.”

“All right, thank you. I’ll return to my room. If I need anything, I’ll come find you.”

Shang Yi didn’t dare stay in the first-floor bedroom for long. He gently opened the door, saw the living room empty, slipped out, closed the bedroom door, and quickly returned to his own room.

“This Luen Apartment is far more dangerous than I imagined. There may not be monsters like in the prison, but these living people with forbidden domains and fierce ghosts could end my life at any moment.”

“They can detect and seal others’ forbidden domains, have invincible skills, four crazed killers plus a boss-level ghost—have I walked into another dead end?”

“Seems they’re not ready to make a move on me yet. Otherwise, any one of them—the black-faced guard or Fang Liang—could easily kill me now.”

“The only ones with some fighting power now are the three ghosts whose domains are sealed, and even they’re suppressed by Fang Liang.”

“I’m facing four forbidden-domain-wielding murderers alone—I have no chance of winning. How do I break this deadlock?”

He began recalling his thoughts when he was trapped in a dead end in prison, and how he’d eventually broken through.

“Sometimes people fall into total despair, thinking there’s no way out.”

“But looking back afterward, most of the time it wasn’t truly hopeless.”

“Lack of information or insufficient analysis breeds despair.”

“Often, if you piece together all the clues, you’ll find a way through.”

“Besides, the system sent me to do this mission—there must be a solution.”

He encouraged himself as he carefully reviewed every clue he had encountered since entering Luen Apartment.

“The first breakthrough came from talking to the one-eyed man, Tang Gong.”

“And to do that, I had to have prepared a handheld drill and a glass drill bit.”

“And the system never reminded me to bring those—it was just my own thoroughness that led me to buy them.”

“This reminds me to make full use of all the equipment I brought before coming here—there might be new breakthroughs hidden among them.”

“Also, Xue Ling’s three pieces of information are extremely valuable.”

“With the forbidden domain knowledge I’ve just gained and the layout of the people in the building, this is all the information I have. Is it enough to find a way out?”

Shang Yi shook his head. “It feels too limited—tougher than in the prison.”

“In prison there were many enemies, but I could disguise myself, choose weapons, even mimic other people’s voices, and Tang Ya helped me in the end.”

“But now? All my skills are sealed, the ghosts are powerless, I have no fighting strength at all.”

“Even telling them to turn invisible is useless, because the other side has a ghost who can see invisible ones—and he’s the boss.”

“Even if all the ghosts’ forbidden domains were unsealed, we might still lose.”

“Is there really no way out?” He walked slowly to the window and gazed at the pitch-black yard and the tall walls.

He picked up his phone and opened the PalmChat app, where he saw a contact: Tian Yuan, the police academy student who had visited the haunted house last time.

“Police academy student…” Shang Yi felt as if he saw a glimmer of hope in the fog, though he didn’t yet know the direction.

After thinking for a moment and sorting through all the clues in his mind, his eyes lit up—he suddenly had a workable plan.

He immediately messaged Tian Yuan: “Do you remember me? I’m Shang Yi, the owner of the haunted house at Dreamland Park.”

A few seconds later, Tian Yuan replied, “Of course, Boss Shang! How could I forget? I’m still talking about your haunted house with my classmates.”

Seeing that Tian Yuan was online, Shang Yi perked up. “I have an urgent situation. You’re a police academy student—do you have any connections with the police?”

Tian Yuan replied at once, “Boss, if there’s a problem, just call the police! You don’t need connections for that.”

Realizing he couldn’t explain clearly via PalmChat, Shang Yi asked for Tian Yuan’s number.

Fearing there might be listening devices in his room, Shang Yi didn’t dare call there. He slipped quietly out to the courtyard outside the living room.

Finding a particularly dark corner with no one around, he dialed Tian Yuan’s number and, in a low voice, explained his current situation.

When he finished, Tian Yuan was left utterly shocked.

This honest, naive college student from the countryside, who had made it into the police academy, never expected his first phone conversation with a business owner would be about a case as sensational as a family massacre.

“You’re in the apartment where seven people died?”

“Yes.”

“The four people in the apartment are the murderers from two years ago?”

“That’s right. I’m certain, but there’s no evidence yet—we have to find a way to get them to confess.”

“I’m a little overwhelmed. Let me think about it.” Tian Yuan sat holding his phone, glancing at his roommates.

One was shirtless, gaming; another was picking his feet while watching adult videos—a world utterly disconnected from the tension and fear on the other end of the line.