Chapter 30: Liu Shang

After the crossroads, nothing unexpected happened.

Perhaps even the System felt that throwing another sudden jump-scare mini-game at him would be excessive, because Zhou You did not encounter a single supernatural creature before reaching the next destination.

As for Longsong Slope, despite its name, it was not much of a slope at all.

It was little more than a large dirt mound.

The surface was nearly barren, with scarcely any vegetation visible, making it appear particularly desolate beneath the moonlight.

Construction seemed to be underway at the foot of the hill.

Building materials and tools were scattered throughout the area.

Yet not a single worker was present.

Nor was there even a night security guard.

Apparently, they were not worried about anything being stolen and had simply piled everything off to one side.

Of course, they were right.

After all, Zhou You could not imagine any thief being willing to steal things in an environment like this.

Past the construction site, a path winding around the foot of the hill led to a villa district.

This area appeared to have been developed alongside the construction project.

Most of the buildings remained unfinished.

Only one magnificent mansion stood at the very end of the road.

Judging from the situation, it seemed to have been completed ahead of schedule as some sort of special company privilege.

“But who would deliberately come to a place like this, put up with construction noise and a completely undeveloped environment, and spend a fortune building a villa ahead of schedule? That’s just being a sucker.”

His question was quickly answered.

A gilded nameplate stood before the property.

The craftsmanship was exquisite.

The design was distinctive.

One glance was enough to tell that it had been custom-made at considerable expense.

And engraved upon it were two striking characters.

Liu Shang.

The man who was almost certainly the city’s richest person.

And likely the mastermind behind everything.

“...Alright. Now I know who the sucker is.”

“And I also know that this place is probably the endpoint of the patrol route.”

Taking a deep breath, Zhou You raised his head and examined the villa once more.

Wealth practically radiated from the building.

Yet not a single light shone inside.

There was not even a security guard in sight.

“Nobody here?”

Zhou You lightly pushed the outer iron gate.

It was unlocked.

The inner door was also unlocked.

The entire house stood completely undefended, welcoming every visitor without discrimination.

“No way. It’s this obvious? Could there be some kind of trap?”

Zhou You stepped back and observed the villa again.

Yet he found nothing suspicious.

Compared to the residential buildings, this place did not even feel sinister.

There was no eerie atmosphere.

No ghostly faces.

No strange shadows.

Everything seemed completely ordinary.

Like a perfectly normal residence.

In the end, Zhou You merely shrugged and pushed the door open.

The interior was equally luxurious.

The entrance hall alone exceeded one hundred square metres (~1,100 sq ft).

Every decoration in the house radiated extravagance.

Simply standing there made one feel as though they had entered a palace built entirely from money.

But Zhou You was not looking at the decorations.

He lowered his head and looked at the floor.

A thin layer of blood had been evenly spread across the expensive stone tiles beneath his feet.

And not just in one place.

Every floor in the villa was stained a deep crimson.

At first glance, it resembled a legendary sea of blood from hell.

However, by now, Zhou You had grown accustomed to scenes like this.

It was not even as frightening as the fermented-fish-can stench inside Ghost Granny’s shop.

So he merely crouched down and lightly touched the blood.

Then he froze.

“Why is this layer of blood so thin?”

Refusing to believe it, Zhou You checked several more times.

He discovered two things.

First, the blood was cold.

Extremely cold.

It had clearly left a human body some time ago, though for some reason it had never coagulated.

Second, it was astonishingly thin.

Although the visual effect of covering the entire mansion was shocking, if one actually calculated the amount...

It seemed to equal roughly the blood volume of a single person.

Frowning, Zhou You failed to find any further clues.

He decided to leave the matter alone for now and head upstairs.

But the instant he stepped onto the staircase, his foot suddenly slipped, nearly sending him tumbling backward.

Fortunately, he had always possessed good balance.

After performing what amounted to an impromptu dance routine, he finally grabbed the railing and steadied himself.

Then he looked at the culprit.

And froze.

It was an intestine.

A very long intestine.

Beginning behind Zhou You and extending all the way to the stairs, the organ lay stretched across the floor, coated in mucus.

It looked so fresh that it almost seemed warm.

By visual estimation, the length was around six or seven metres (~20 to 23 ft).

Because he enjoyed reading medical books, Zhou You knew very well that the total length of a normal adult’s intestines was roughly six or seven metres.

Zhou You fell silent.

Carefully stepping around the intestine, he ascended to the second floor.

The first thing he saw was a pair of kidneys.

Opening another door, he found a spleen.

Then came a stomach.

Lungs.

A liver.

A gallbladder.

It was as though someone had dismantled a living human being piece by piece and arranged the organs into a pathway.

A trail deliberately created to guide someone toward a particular destination.

By the time he reached the heart’s location, Zhou You found himself standing before a gilded door.

At this point, based on everything he had seen, only the bones, flesh, and head were missing.

Everything else was sufficient to reconstruct an entire human body.

And judging from the condition of the organs, the owner had been elderly.

Yet also morbidly obese.

Zhou You already had a suspicion regarding their identity.

Thus, after raising the bell toward the door and confirming that it produced no warning sound, he pushed the door open.

The room beyond was even worse than the rest of the mansion.

Red and white filled every corner of his vision.

The red was flesh.

Flesh that had been drained of blood and then deliberately ground into mince.

The white was fat.

Fat that had been intentionally scattered throughout the room.

Beyond these things, there were no decorations at all.

There was not even a bed.

Only a single ferocious bodhisattva statue stood in the center.

Zhou You recognized it immediately.

It was the same statue he had seen in the orphanage.

The thing the System had identified as the Auspicious Tranquil Ghost Mother Bodhisattva.

“It looks like everything is finally connected.”

Carefully avoiding the chunks of flesh and fat covering the floor, Zhou You circled behind the statue.

Then, exactly as he had expected, he saw something.

A human face.

Ancient.

Sickly.

Yet clearly accustomed to luxury.

A face filled with malice and cruelty.

At that moment, Zhou You happened to meet its eyes.

The pupils were still moving.

This thing was alive.

And despite never having met him before, Zhou You recognized the man’s identity instantly.

Liu Shang.

Boss Liu.

The wealthy man who exploited the poor, withheld the wages of impoverished sanitation workers, sacrificed countless children from the orphanage...

The city’s greatest culprit.