Chapter 229
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Chapter 229: The True Ritual Site
Lin Qiye hesitated.
“But I saw the pub owner in the recording – he was a short, balding, greasy middle-aged man, completely different from the person in the video.”
“For someone with rapid regeneration, changing body type briefly isn’t difficult,” An Qingyu’s voice echoed slightly.
Hearing this, Lin Qiye asked in surprise: “You’re not in the pub? Where are you?”
An Qingyu didn’t answer. He was descending a dark, narrow stone staircase, his phone’s faint glow illuminating his calm face.
Soon, the stairs ended at a rusty iron door.
Adjusting his glasses, he placed his right hand on the door. Intense frost spread from his palm, and once the door was completely frozen, he tapped it lightly, shattering it.
An indescribable stench hit him as the door opened – rotting wood mixed with heavy blood smell, making him frown deeply.
Entering, An Qingyu examined his surroundings. It appeared to be a long-abandoned storage room covered in cobwebs. Two crimson blood streaks marked the opposite wall.
An Qingyu touched the blood streaks, rubbing his fingers – the blood was fresh.
Moreover, four new nail marks scarred the wall.
An Qingyu raised his phone, speaking calmly: “I’m at the primary crime scene.”
“You found it?” Lin Qiye was amazed at An Qingyu’s efficiency.
An Qingyu glanced at the stairs, “I analyzed the pub’s layout and noticed it differed from other businesses on the street – it was several square meters smaller.”
“I discovered a portion of the pub’s original space was taken by the neighboring hotpot restaurant. The owners likely made an agreement, with the pub selling this space and building a dividing wall.”
“The hotpot restaurant now uses it for storage, so structurally, this area belongs to them, not the pub. This trick fooled the police during their search.”
Lin Qiye’s eyes narrowed. “If so, the pub owner must be behind everything. But… why use such bizarre methods like wall-nailing and finger-cutting? Why perform this ritual? He’s human – a vengeful ghost’s ascension ritual wouldn’t affect him.”
“Unless… the ritual wasn’t for himself?”
Lin Qiye believed this vengeful ghost ascension ritual was genuine – otherwise, an ability user had no reason to randomly kill innocent people so elaborately.
The only logical explanation was that the owner was indeed completing the ritual, but not for himself – rather for another vengeful ghost-type Mystery…
“Could a Mystery be controlling him?”
If everything centered on completing the ritual, the pub owner would definitely come to this area for the final ceremony.
But why was he rushing to leave Cangnan?
After orchestrating such an elaborate scheme, would he just abandon it?
Lin Qiye gazed down at the dark residential area, his thoughts churning. He felt he was missing something…
Ritual, area, murder, sacrifice…
As Lin Qiye pondered, a plane crossed the sky, its red wing lights catching his attention. Looking up, he suddenly froze.
A bold idea struck him!
Could he…
Lin Qiye jumped up, checking the time – 3:11 AM.
“Qi Mo! What time is the pub owner’s flight?!” His voice suddenly broke the quiet channel, startling the others.
But Wen Qi Mo didn’t respond.
Lin Qiye called several more times, but Wen Qi Mo’s channel remained silent.
Chen Muye frowned, “Wen Qi Mo, can you hear us?”
Eleven minutes had passed since the last status report. Wen Qi Mo had spoken normally then, but now gave no response to their calls.
“Lin Qiye, what did you discover?” Wu Xiangnan, sensing something wrong, asked.
“Deputy Captain, ask Little Black about the pub owner’s flight time.”
“Alright.”
Seconds later, his voice returned, “3:20 takeoff. Why?”
Lin Qiye’s heart sank. Without hesitation, he leaped into the darkness, shouting:
“Stop that plane! Don’t let it take off! There is no unknown Mystery – the pub owner planned everything! I’ll explain the details later.”
“He will complete the ritual here, but not on the ground, rather…”
“In the sky!”
Lin Qiye looked up at the dark sky, stunning the others.
“The ritual only needs to be performed within the designated area. The pub owner knows we’re staking out this neighborhood, so he chose not to do it on the ground. He’s not leaving Cangnan – he plans to complete the ritual when the plane flies over this area!”
“The plane has over 200 passengers, which might not satisfy the soul sacrifice requirement, so he used Little Black to lure Wen Qi Mo there, planning to use his soul to fill the gap.”
Hearing this, Squad 136 members’ hearts sank. Chen Muye immediately ordered without hesitation:
“Contact the airport immediately – stop that plane from taking off at all costs. Xiangnan, Hong Ying, Qiye, Xiaonan – go to the airport now and catch him.”
“Leng Xuan, stay here with me to guard against a diversion.”
He trusted Lin Qiye’s deduction, but as captain, he had to consider the whole picture. Since the ritual could be completed in sky or ground, the pub owner might be feinting, waiting to perform it on the ground once everyone rushed to the airport.
With thousands of lives at stake, he had to be careful.
Wu Xiangnan, Hong Ying, and Si Xiaonan quickly got in their car. Lin Qiye had already vanished, freely leaping between buildings in the empty night city, moving as fast as any car.
With an engine roar, the black van disappeared into the darkness.