Translator: Cinder Translations
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"Who is the extra person?"
At this moment, Luo Yi also noticed the problem.
But Zhang Yinyin, the girl, acted even faster than him. She reached out and took the other camera, her movements direct and attracting attention.
After a moment.
"Nothing," she put down the camera, her face turning grim, but the next words she spoke made everyone extremely uneasy.
With a low voice, she said, "In this video, there are only 48 people."
Zhou Taifu, who was trembling uncontrollably, stared intently at the camera in Jiang Cheng's hand, his voice rising uncontrollably: "So, does that mean one of our cameras caught a ghost?!"
No one answered.
The answer was self-evident.
Saying it out loud served only to ease his anxiety.
As expected, this was very close to their initial suspicion.
These two cameras had a story.
The one gifted by the NPC could capture eerie presences invisible to the naked eye.
No one spoke again.
The atmosphere became overwhelmingly tense.
"Alright," Luo Yi stepped forward at this moment. He exchanged a glance with Zhen Jianren, noticing the latter didn't stop him, and then said, "There's no need to be so pessimistic. At least we've found the ghost in the mission."
"The next step," he paused, "is to confirm the ghost's identity."
Unexpectedly, Yu Wen immediately asked, "How do we confirm it?"
"First, we compare the photos to identify the ghost, then with the photo..." Luo Yi looked at Yu Wen, who had asked the question, with a puzzled expression.
This wasn't hard to understand, especially since Yu Wen was by no means a newcomer.
Why would she ask such a question?
Before the words even fully left his mouth, Jiang Cheng handed over the camera in his hand. "I'll leave it to you," he nodded.
Although he was a little confused, Luo Yi took the camera and began comparing to find out who the extra person was.
It didn't take long for Luo Yi to discover something, his expression turning strange.
The fatty asked him what was wrong, but he didn't answer, instead, he grabbed the other camera from Zhang Yinyin.
The other camera was normal.
Only the lens had fogged up, making the video less clear.
"How can this be?!"
Yu Wen looked at Luo Yi, who had lost control of his emotions, with a calmness identical to Jiang Cheng's.
He paused both cameras on the final choir scene, trying to identify who the extra person was.
But oddly, he failed.
Luo Yi, as if desperate, his eyes turning red, compared each person one by one, from the first row to the last, left to right, making sure he didn't miss anyone.
Yet the final result was that everyone appearing in the first photo could be found in the other photo.
There was no extra person.
But this was impossible, because the first photo clearly had 49 people.
And the second one only had 48.
Jiang Cheng had keenly noticed the discrepancy after realizing the number of people and concluded that it was caused by the restrictions in the mission.
"Enough," Zhen Jianren stopped Luo Yi, whose mental state was now clearly unstable, warning that there might be other dangers hidden in the photos.
As soon as Luo Yi left the camera, his energy visibly drained, as if he had been sapped of his strength.
After helping Luo Yi to rest on a bed, Zhen Jianren bit his lip and turned to Yu Wen. "What do we do next?"
After all, he had already determined the item was in Yu Wen's possession.
"Mr. Hao," Yu Wen turned to look at Jiang Cheng, "what do you think?"
Jiang Cheng didn't hesitate, thinking for a moment before saying, "Since the ghost has appeared in this manner, I believe she must be a student here and most likely participated in the choir."
"Of course," he paused, "I mean when she was alive."
"So after her death, her spirit lingered, and she came to the rehearsal site, repeating her past experiences," Zhang Yinyin frowned and quickly followed up.
Jiang Cheng glanced at her, sensing that the feeling she gave off was different from when they first met. He understood in his heart and said, "I think the word 'resentment' fits better."
Everyone agreed.
"Do you remember what the woman in charge of the rehearsal said?" Yu Wen raised her head, her expression somewhat strange. "At the time, Long Tao was just in the restroom for a bit longer, but she immediately suspected something had happened to him."
The fatty nodded quickly, "That's right, I remember. I was scared out of my wits at the time."
"So... she definitely knows something," Zhou Taifu rubbed his chin and slowly said, "We could start with her. The next time we meet, we can try to subtly find out what she meant by 'something happened.'"
At this moment, he seemed like a different person, not only keeping up with the group's thinking but even taking the initiative, offering his own insights.
With the train of thought cleared, the next steps became simpler.
Based on the clues gathered, the group pieced together a rough outline of the mission's plot.
The ghost was a student when she was alive.
A female.
She died for some unknown reason.
It was likely a malicious event; otherwise, her brutal methods couldn't be explained.
Compared to simple killing, this felt more like long-planned revenge.
Yu Wen boldly speculated that the girl might have been dismembered after suffering from violence.
Her reasoning was that there were surprisingly few men in such a large academy, even the security staff were female, which was highly unusual.
But if the girl's case had caused tremendous pressure on the school, leading them to fire a large number of male staff and teachers, it would make sense.
"So our next focus should be on confirming the girl's identity," Jiang Cheng sat upright in his chair, tilting his head in an almost official manner. "Now, let me assign tasks."
"First," he emphasized, "we need one team to go to the rehearsal woman to gather information."
"Second, we need another team to mingle with the students to see if there are any rumors," he paused, "The school would definitely try to cover this up, but it's hard to ensure that no word reached the students. They are particularly curious about these things."
He took a deep breath, glancing around the room. "Next is the equipment center, since the camera that can capture the ghost came from there, so we also need a team to..."
Hearing this, everyone's expressions darkened.
The first two tasks were manageable, but the last one...
Just thinking about the old man's pale face and sickly appearance made everyone uncomfortable.
"I agree with your plan," Yu Wen's face showed a slight change in emotion as she looked into Jiang Cheng's eyes. After a moment, her lips moved, but no sound came out.
Meanwhile, Zhen Jianren coldly sneered, "You've got a nice plan, using your command to send others to the equipment center as guinea pigs."
Once someone spoke up, others followed, "Exactly, the equipment center is the most dangerous, whoever wants to go can go, but I won't!"
Worried about being excluded, Zhou Taifu, who was clutching his only vest, shouted, "I don't mind going for the first two!"
(End of Chapter)
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