Chapter 195: A Specific Person
“I think, this time around, the word {you} that she said means ‘you people’.”
Phoenix extended out her hand to help pull Chen Xiaolian up from the ground.
Chen Xiaolian was lying behind the door of a shop. The wooden door was knocked down by him when he fell and his body was presently lying in the middle of a pile of sawdust.
“At a time like this, you can still joke?” Chen Xiaolian looked at the young woman.
Phoenix held onto the large rifle and slung it casually over her shoulder. Then, she replied, “Why not? It’s not as though we lost anything.”
Chen Xiaolian stood up and brushed off the glass fragments and sawdust on his body.
The sharp sound of siren could be heard coming from the distance.
“We need to leave this place as soon as possible. If we get entangled with the police, the situation will only worsen,” said Chen Xiaolian. He looked at Phoenix before speaking to Lun Tai who was standing some distance away, “How is it?”
Lun Tai patted the unconscious Dr Mu and said, “Nothing… just this friend of yours. Something doesn’t seem right, he is unconscious.”
Bei Tai smiled as he regarded Colombo. “Our forensic doctor here is also fine… thankfully; he did not piss his pants.”
“… I was THIS close!” Colombo had a wretched face and he raised his head to look at his apartment. He screamed, “My apartment! DAMN IT!”
“We will compensate you for your losses,” said Bei Tai as he pulled the forensic doctor up.
Chen Xiaolian brought out a car from his Storage Watch.
Following a beam of light, a durable seven-seat Land Rover appeared on the side of the street.
Colombo became dumbfounded at the sight. “This… how did this appear? Is this magic?”
“We are not from Hogwarts,” answered Bei Tai. He took hold of the forensic doctor and pulled him into the SUV. As for Lun Tai, he carried Dr Mu and followed right behind them.
The driver role was given to Lun Tai while Chen Xiaolian and Phoenix both sat in the second row.
The SUV then drove off the street.
Inside, Chen Xiaolian held onto Phoenix’s rifle and he carefully inspected it. It was a shotgun; extracting one of the bullets, he saw that they were all specially made silver pellets.
“These weapons were all self-made by you people?” Chen Xiaolian asked after returning the rifle to Phoenix.
“We try to save up what we can. Purchasing items from the Exchange System requires points after all,” Phoenix replied coolly.
“Right, your gun,” Lun Tai tossed over the revolver without looking over. Phoenix glanced at Chen Xiaolian and handed the gun to him. She said, “You all can use it first. You do not have any weapon against spirit entities.”
“Thank you,” Chen Xiaolian sincerely expressed his thanks. He accepted the gun and handed it to Bei Tai.
“Earlier, the move you used last against the vengeful spirit; is that magic?” asked Chen Xiaolian as he looked at Phoenix. “That stick you pulled out, is that a magic staff? That silver arc of light…”
“Holy Light skill,” Phoenix did not hold anything back and she answered. “It is the most cost-effective spell to use against evil spirits. However, its damage may not be sufficient when going against high-level evil spirits.”
“You are a magic-type?” Bei Tai suddenly asked.
Phoenix turned to look back at Bei Tai who was seated in the last row. She said, “You people ask too many questions.”
“Sorry,” Bei Tai apologized. He was someone who understood the rules. For Awakened ones, their skills was their final trump card. It was not something that they would easily reveal.
“You’d better get in contact with your team members. Don’t let them return to the apartment.”
“I know.”
…
A few minutes later, Phoenix contacted her team members and they all chose a place to convene.
The location was suggested by Phoenix.
After her Coffeehouse Guild came to London, they rented a storage warehouse in a secluded area to be used as a base.
After the huge commotion they caused in the street before Colombo’s apartment, the police would surely have gotten involved. If they were to go to a hotel now, they would only be inviting trouble for themselves.
A warehouse for storing goods was quite a good place to hide for the time being.
By the time they arrived at the warehouse, the other team members had already arrived.
The Titan twins were standing guard by the entrance. After the car carrying Chen Xiaolian’s group entered the warehouse, the Titan brothers moved to close the doors of the warehouse.
“This was originally a warehouse for the terminal. However, its business has now declined and this warehouse is left vacant for now. If not for the fact that we were short on time, I would have bought it up.” Phoenix brought them into the warehouse.
Inside the warehouse, both Dagger and Monster were sitting on a stone block respectively. Dagger had a dagger in one hand as he carefully trimmed his nails.
As for Monster, he had an apple in one hand. He carefully ripped out a small portion of it and fed it to his monkey, bit by bit. Despite his towering constitution, he chose to keep such a small pet.
The monkey grabbed a small piece of the apple and munched down on it. Occasionally, it would glance at Chen Xiaolian and grin, exposing its teeth in the process.
“Where is she?” Phoenix asked.
“In the lounge.”
There was a small lounge here.
Inside the room was a single bed. Upon the bed was a single woman who appeared much younger than Polly. Her hair was a clearly dyed, golden in colour, and she wore very alluring pyjamas. Eye shadow makeup that had yet to be washed off could be seen on her face.
“When we found her, she was doing it with some guy.” Dagger came to stand in the doorway and he leaned against the doorframe. “We could only knock her out and bring her over.”
Phoenix nodded her head.
Lun Tai carried Polly over and placed her on the bed beside the other woman. Polly had also lost consciousness due to fright.
Chen Xiaolian observed the surroundings and accidentally caught sight of an old type of TV placed on a table. Unfortunately, the reception was not too good and grains plagued the screen.
“Heavens, I haven’t seen this antique in years.” Chen Xiaolian pointed at the CRT TV. He could not restrain himself from laughing out.
“The truth is, many people still lead conservative lives in London,” Phoenix replied. She switched the TV channel to a news channel.
The news channel in the TV was reporting on world news. It appeared that the incident earlier had yet to be reported.
“Now, we need to sort out the clues!” said Phoenix as she turned to Chen Xiaolian.
Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath and said, “I agree!”
He turned his attention to Lun Tai and asked, “Back then, what happened in Colombo’s house?”
Lun Tai thought it through and considered what to say for a while. After that, he did his best to narrate what happened in the shortest and most accurate manner.
“… right after we run out of the lobby, you arrived,” Lun Tai finished speaking and looked at Chen Xiaolian in the eye. “As for what happened after that, you two saw it for yourself.”
“En.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head and he looked at Phoenix.
“I have a question,” asked a frowning Phoenix: “You mean to say that… back in the apartment, Polly was in the toilet, Doctor Mu was in the room, and you three were in the living room. All three sides were attacked at around the same time?”
“Something like that.” Lun Tai considered it and said, “I feel that… the vengeful spirit was likely feinting. She attacked us who were in the living room and Dr Mu who was in the bedroom. Her target was probably Polly, who was in the toilet.”
“Right. When I rushed into the toilet, I saw that the woman was almost strangled to death by a shower curtain rope,” Bei Tai said. “If not for my quick reaction, she would already have died.”
“However, we have another question that we cannot explain.”
Chen Xiaolian stroked his head and said, “The vengeful spirit who was attacking you in the apartment… she is clearly not the one from the subway station last night.”
This was a very critical issue!
Lun Tai, Bei Tai, Chen Xiaolian and Phoenix. The four of them had seen the vengeful spirit from the subway station before.
And earlier, they had also seen the vengeful spirit that appeared in the apartment.
Although she had the figure of a woman… she was not the same one!
“Appearance wise, she is different. Furthermore… even though the vengeful spirit have a near transparent spirit body and have no colour on them, last night I had encountered Black Annie in the park,” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “Unexpectedly… I recognize her! The vengeful spirit who attacked us earlier… her appearance and the appearance of Black Annie who appeared at the park entrance yesterday night… were similar. Although it was only a quick glance, I can confirm that they are the same!”
“I agree,” Phoenix said. “I also saw Black Anne last night.”
Both Lun Tai and Bei Tai were waiting in ambush last night. Unlike Chen Xiaolian, they did not encounter Black Annie. Thus, they did not say anything about it.
“I… I think I can confirm it too.”
Colombo, who had been standing timidly by the side, said, “Last night, I also saw that woman.”
“So, now comes the question.”
Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath, and then he slowly said, “Let’s assume that the vengeful spirit in the subway station from back then had attacked us because we happened to be at the murder scene. The vengeful spirit was formed after the victim died and she will attack whomever she sees… this is somewhat plausible.
“However… Black Annie did not die in the apartment! She died far away in another street. Logically speaking, her death had no connection to us… even though Phoenix and I had gone to her murder scene, why would her vengeful spirit run all the way to the apartment to attack you all?”
This was an issue that did not make any sense!
Within the lounge, both Lun Tai and Bei Tai did not say anything. They quietly looked at Chen Xiaolian – it appeared that they have full confidence in their Guild Leader.
Chen Xiaolian sighed and pointed at Phoenix. He said, “Guild Leader Phoenix and I made a speculation on our way to the apartment. Last night, back in the subway station, the female vengeful spirit said something before disappearing: ‘I won’t let you escape me’.
“As we all know, in English, {you} can mean you. But it can also mean ‘you people’. It can be used for both singular and plural.
“Last night, when we heard those words in the subway station, we thought that the female vengeful spirit had meant to say ‘I won’t let you people go’ – the ‘you people’ here means all of us.
“However, there is another possibility. When the female vengeful spirit said {you}, she simply meant ‘you’! This meant that she was targeting a specific person among us!”
Phoenix’s eyes flickered and she said, “I agree with Guild Leader Chen Xiaolian’s deduction. Additionally… let’s recall back to what happened last night back in the subway station.
“Back then… the female vengeful spirit appeared. However, she did not attack me and Chen Xiaolian. Even when Guild Leader Chen Xiaolian took the initiative to attack the vengeful spirit, the vengeful spirit did not fight back. Instead, she went pass Chen Xiaolian’s body and went straight toward…”
After saying that, Phoenix raised a hand to point at a person.
“ME?” Lun Tai was shocked.
“No, not you,” said Phoenix. She slowly nudged her finger away from Lun Tai. “Back then, it appeared that the vengeful spirit was going after you… at that time however, you were holding onto someone… someone that we should be protecting!”
Her finger came to point at Dr Mu!
Dr Mu was still unconscious. His body leaned against a shabby chair as he slept.
In an instant, everyone became silent!
