Chapter 86: Xiao Lan’s Secret
On the first night of the mission, things were far from over.
Ji Li had already been pulled into the eerie portrait, facing the ghost intent on taking his life to satisfy the four-person sacrificial quota.
Fang Shenyan had narrowly escaped death and was now being rushed back to the bedroom by Yu Guo and Tao Xiaoyi for emergency treatment.
Meanwhile, Tongguan and Chang Nian, who had ostensibly split from Yu Guo to locate Fang Shenyan, had already exited the Li Mansion.
The couple, like every other team member, harbored their own agendas. Each sought to gather intelligence from different angles to uncover clues, just as Fang Shenyan had ventured alone into the back courtyard to find the servants.
Their target was Xiao Lan, the girl who had just led them here.
Chang Nian had initially wanted to force her hand but was stopped by Tongguan—partly out of compassion and partly because he believed there was a better approach.
“Red clashes with white. We all thought it was just a momentary thing, but actually…” Tongguan adjusted his watch on the silent street and spoke to Chang Nian beside him.
“I guess we were unconscious for about five to ten seconds.”
Chang Nian nodded. “Ten seconds pass in the blink of an eye; none of us noticed.”
This conclusion came after a meeting in the bedroom. They had been puzzled by how the young man had controlled them.
A key detail came from Tao Xiaoyi. She reported that she had kept her eyes closed and her mind clear, but suddenly felt herself lose consciousness. During that period, she felt dazed, her thinking sluggish, half-asleep, half-awake.
When she opened her eyes again, she was completely weak, as if struck, her mental state depleted.
The others under the young man’s control did not experience this.
From this, Tongguan deduced that, since the young man and those in the Li Mansion were all human, the only way to control the team members was through drugs.
The reason Tongguan and the others felt nothing was likely due to their stronger constitutions and the small dose administered. Within ten seconds, they regained consciousness and were placed in the coffins.
Tao Xiaoyi, however, being physically weaker and mentally less resilient, succumbed to the drug, which is why the young man had to place her in a coffin.
“Our intelligence is too limited. I’m certain Fang Shenyan will survive this trip. Tomorrow’s meeting is likely to be hostile; Xiao Lan may be our breakthrough.”
Tongguan pulled a small, square device from his pocket, its fan-shaped scanner sweeping. A circular dot appeared at the center of the screen, representing Xiao Lan’s position. It now stood still.
“I let her leave, but I placed a tracker on her. After departing from us, she paused for half an hour, then walked out of the mansion—without reason.”
Chang Nian said nothing, trusting Tongguan’s meticulous planning. At the moment he stopped her from acting, she had understood that he had a backup plan.
Sure enough, under the pretense of searching for Fang Shenyan, Tongguan followed Xiao Lan’s trace.
“What could she be doing out of the mansion at this hour?”
With that question in mind, the two continued forward silently.
They were now on a street opposite to the one they had come from. Around a corner, they heard someone sobbing.
It was a woman’s crying in the deep night, carried faintly by the wind. Tongguan and Chang Nian paused.
“That’s Xiao Lan…”
As he spoke, a gust of wind carried a few burnt pieces of paper past them. Tongguan reached out instinctively—they were warm to the touch. One glance confirmed what they were: spirit money.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion as he peered along the wall.
Xiao Lan, still in her usual attire, was crouched in the street corner, back turned to them. She poked at a small brazier with a wooden stick; the fire was modest, and the amount of burnt paper was limited.
The wind carried not only the burnt spirit money but also her quiet sobs.
It seemed she was performing a memorial for a departed relative.
“In the middle of the night, why would she sneak out of the Li Mansion just to burn paper here?”
As Tongguan frowned in suspicion, Xiao Lan’s whispered words reached them.
“Kill them… none of them are innocent. You’d better kill all those demons. That way, you’re free, and so am I…”
After this, she stopped crying and instead laughed hysterically.
Tongguan, watching from the shadows, felt goosebumps rise along his skin.
He turned to Chang Nian, frowning, and analyzed:
“She… seems to be burning paper for a ghost.”
Chang Nian also sensed something was off. Burning paper for a ghost in the middle of the night—could this ghost be deeply connected to her?
Until now, no one would have guessed it. The fact that a seemingly ordinary maid could be linked to the mission’s supernatural threat was shocking.
“She’s quiet now. We should leave…”
Chang Nian knew that merely eavesdropping wouldn’t yield critical information. But Xiao Lan’s significance had become apparent, so they needed to act quickly if they wanted answers.
Tongguan, however, grabbed Chang Nian’s arm, stopping her.
Chang Nian frowned, puzzled, while concern suddenly appeared on Tongguan’s face, as though he sensed something terrible was about to happen.
He halted Chang Nian and peeked toward Xiao Lan again.
By now, all the spirit money had burned, and it seemed Xiao Lan was preparing to leave. But Tongguan, watching the faint red glow of the braziers in the night, felt a deep sense of foreboding.
“What’s wrong?” Chang Nian asked, gripping his hand.
Tongguan finally spoke, his voice low:
“If Xiao Lan truly has a deep connection with that ghost… the spirit money she burned—could it be drawing it here?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a chill ran through him, as if his worst fear had just materialized.
Through the wall separating them, Xiao Lan suddenly screamed.
Ash swirled around her, suspended in midair, mixing with the smoke of the burnt paper.
Most striking of all was the ghostly figure in the iconic red robe, resembling a wedding dress!
Yet instead of fleeing, Xiao Lan let out an even more unsettling laugh.
“You’ve finally come!”