Chapter 123: The Eyes Are Moving

“From the First Branch to the Tenth Branch, but I’ve never even heard of a Seventh Branch. I assume they aren’t very strong.”

The speaker was the striking woman who had been trailing Xue Tinghai—the only female among them.

Her expression was cold, and a slight sneer tugged at her lips as she spoke, clearly showing the demeanor of a veteran staff member.

Yet compared to Xue Tinghai, her temperament was several levels below.

Xue Tinghai glanced at her, snorted coldly, but said nothing.

Inside the cabin, there was more than one corpse now—bodies sprawled in every direction.

They included both flight attendants and Japanese police officers.

The Fourth Branch operated with ruthless efficiency, adhering to the principle of eliminating all potential threats.

Simply to investigate a mysterious deceased individual, they had first killed everyone else.

Fang Shenyan could understand such methods, yet it was hard not to feel a chill.

Of course, if it had been Ji Li and Fang Shenyan here, they might also have opted for the simplest, most effective solution.

But when an entire branch accepted this without objection, the team became truly terrifying.

Either Xue Tinghai’s leadership was overwhelmingly strong, or the Fourth Branch maintained exceptionally strict discipline.

In such a team, no dissenting voices were allowed or dared to speak.

Such an opponent was the most dangerous.

Fang Shenyan narrowed his eyes. From this point on, he knew the brutal fight had already begun.

With the Fourth Branch acting this way, peace was no longer possible.

He was, however, somewhat relieved that Xue Tinghai hadn’t anticipated anyone following and monitoring them.

Otherwise, the young man in the down jacket would never have been allowed to draw out his Sin Artifact first.

On a simple glance, the composition of the Fourth Branch’s four members became clear.

The formidable Xue Tinghai, the cold and short-sighted striking woman, the psychologically fragile young man in the down jacket, and a middle-aged man who appeared the weakest.

Judging by the middle-aged man, he likely counted as cannon fodder in the Fourth Branch’s eyes, sticking close to the young man in the down jacket.

Presumably, he lacked a Sin Artifact, which explained his dependence.

Fang Shenyan speculated that if Xue Tinghai carried two Sin Artifacts, the striking woman and the young man each likely held one, while the middle-aged man obviously did not qualify.

He glanced at his own cunning Ghost Eye, silently calculating: “One against four…”

And that was just the surface situation; the intelligence indicated Xue Tinghai possessed at least two Sin Artifacts.

As they advanced, Xue Tinghai’s usual confident stride slowed considerably.

In Fang Shenyan’s mind, he saw the rear section of the cabin, cleared and cordoned off.

The corpses were located there.

Xue Tinghai moved forward, carefully tearing down the tape, stepping cautiously yet without pause.

Fang Shenyan’s gaze remained fixed. He could see the restroom door wide open.

As the young man in the down jacket approached, the scene became clearer.

A body lay in a grotesque posture.

The head was completely severed, tilted backward. The most disturbing part: the corpse remained upright, not collapsing.

Arms were parallel to the shoulders, fully extended, while forearms hung limp, perpendicular to the ground.

Legs bent slightly forward, feet crossed, forming an X shape.

The manner of death was horrifying.

The young man in the down jacket and the middle-aged man staggered back a few steps in fear.

Only Xue Tinghai and the striking woman, standing closest, remained solemn yet unmoving.

“Will the deaths in this mission be like this…”

It was obvious—a ghost had killed. Otherwise, such unnatural postures would not appear.

Yet Fang Shenyan couldn’t comprehend how someone, with no escape and not even a branch member, could die at this moment.

“Japanese…”

Xue Tinghai’s courage was evident; he examined the body directly.

His thick fingers pressed along the limbs, muttering:

“The corpse’s skin is stiff, as if frozen in a refrigerator after death, perfectly rigid.

Yet it doesn’t feel cold, nor warm. It’s clear this was the work of a ghost.”

The striking woman’s eyes revealed confusion. She glanced at the mirror in front and back at the corpse.

“But on this unclear timeline, how could he have died?”

Xue Tinghai frowned, searching the corpse’s pockets, and pulled out an ID card.

The name read: Takayama Seisou. This must be the man’s identity.

What struck Xue Tinghai as an odd coincidence was that the man’s registered address was in Lower Kyoto District, Kyoto.

Although he didn’t know if it was near Sunset Bridge, he couldn’t believe it had nothing to do with the mission.

Without turning his head, he handed the ID card to the striking woman and instructed:

“Have Tomiko, who’s guarding Sunset Bridge, check this ID.”

Meanwhile, Fang Shenyan, having seen and heard everything, understood the situation.

The identities of the Fourth Branch’s five members were now clear. Besides the four present, there was another Japanese person stationed near Sunset Bridge.

Judging by the name, this was likely a Japanese woman.

Fang Shenyan instinctively adjusted his glasses. Two branches, both executing missions in Kyoto, each with one Japanese team member—this seemed deliberate on the hotel’s part.

“Huh?”

As Fang Shenyan was about to ponder further, Xue Tinghai suddenly noticed something beneath Takayama Seisou’s feet.

He pushed the stiff corpse against the wall, revealing what was pressed under its shoe.

It was a pile of powder—more like ash.

Xue Tinghai bent down, pinched a small amount, and sniffed: “The smell of burning… it was a small card, completely incinerated. No information remains.”

“But there’s no way he burned it. He didn’t have the ability,” the striking woman added with a snicker.

Then, almost unconsciously, she turned toward the mirror to adjust her hair.

Suddenly, her eyes widened in horror, as if she had seen something utterly terrifying in the reflection.

Almost simultaneously, she reached into her pocket, seemingly to grab something that gave her a measure of courage.

In the mirror, she saw the corpse, head tilted back, facing her.

And the eyes—supposedly frozen and lifeless—suddenly moved in a fluid, deliberate rotation.

“He…

His eyes are still moving!”