| WRIAWW | People's Hearts Are Hard to Predict | 68
Zong Le didn't manage to sleep for long before being startled awake by noises outside.
Just like before, Zong Le immediately opened his eyes at the slightest sound, his gaze sharp and alert, showing no trace of having been asleep.
This time a certain someone witness this scene finally understood why this guy dared to sleep so carelessly in a haunted house, he had the skills to back it up, which was why he showed no fear.
The moment Zong Le woke up, he turned his head.
Joshua was leaning casually against the headboard, the cold glow of his phone screen casting light on his sculpted face. Sensing his gaze, the silver-haired man lifted his eyes, his ice-blue pupils gleaming faintly in the dark, exuding the lazy confidence of a top predator.
"Let's go take a look."
He casually turned off his phone and slipped it into his pocket.
The two stepped out of the room together.
As soon as they emerged, they saw a group of people standing there, surrounding the two people's faces red with anger. One of them was clutching his arm, blood steadily seeping through his fingers.
Coincidentally, it was the same two who had been arguing earlier.
"What happened? How did you get hurt?" Zong Le’s attention immediately zeroed in on the injury.
Judging by the amount of blood, the wound had to be deep enough to reach the bone, it was a serious injury.
"I just had an argument with him, and he held a grudge! He waited until I was asleep and ambushed me!"
"I was sleeping peacefully in my own damn room! Why would I go out of my way to hurt you?"
"Stop lying! I saw you! Stop pretending! Do you know how many times survivors with grudges faked attacks? And how many NPCs others have we killed on a regular bases during missions? Why would you be any different?"
"Bullshit! You’re just framing me!"
Liu Jianhua, who had been trying to mediate, rubbed his temples in frustration.
"This is the situation, Lord Joshua. Honestly, I think this must be the work of the weird. Why else would something like this happen out of nowhere during a mission? It’s not like they have some deep hatred here."
Even as he spoke, he called out to the quarreling pair, "Cut it out, will you? Arguing during a mission as a A-level and a B-level, you are both veterans with hundreds of missions under your belts. Aren’t you afraid of others finding out on the forums?"
"Let’s treat the injury first."
Once they stepped out of the master bedroom, Joshua slipped back into his usual compassionate persona, shaking his head helplessly.
As he spoke, a soft golden glow gathered at his slender fingertips, coalescing into ribbons of light that flowed like water into the injured survivor’s wound. Within moments, the deep gash that had exposed bone vanished without a trace, not even a scar remained. It was nothing short of a miracle.
Zong Le watched all this with quiet amazement.
Despite his bad nature, Joshua’s abilities were radiantly pure, so divine it was awe-inspiring. No wonder he was hailed as the saint of the Infinite Space.
Watching the wound disappear, Zong Le quickly spoke up: "I can testify to this matter. The weird in this apartment can take on the appearance of people we know. Just now, I saw it transform into Joshua's with my own eyes."
As he spoke, he subtly glanced at the silver-haired patriarch, signaling him to corroborate.
Joshua, catching the hint, rubbed the ring on his finger as he weighed the pros and cons before nodding slightly, tacitly agreeing to this explanation.
Normally, he wouldn't be so charitable, he might have even discreetly fan the flames. But doing Zong Le a favor was different. Since he was trying to build goodwill anyway, why not go along with it?
However... Joshua's sharp eyes caught the fleeting look of guilt on the A-level survivor's face, causing the corners of his lips to curl upward.
It seemed his earlier casual remark had unexpectedly stirred things up, making developments more interesting than anticipated.
While Zong Le was a talented newcomer, he was still only C-level, so his words carried little weight. But coming from the 1st ranked survivor was entirely different.
Seeing Joshua's agreement, the B-level survivor reluctantly accepted this explanation. "Fine then."
"In that case, perhaps we should exchange information," Zong Le proactively suggested to prevent awkward silence.
Seizing the opportunity, Liu Jianhua quickly added: "Earlier when I was sleeping in the bedroom, I heard strange noises. So I activated my medium abilities and sensed something. This weird has been entrenched in the apartment for so long it's probably merged with the building itself, turning this place into its domain. Around 1 AM, I felt its presence once, but it quickly disappeared using some kind of teleportation ability. We should look for common patterns between the murders or check areas like ventilation ducts."
"But I'm just a low-level medium, I can't pinpoint its exact location. If my guild master were here, he could probably lock onto where the weird is hiding immediately. Of course, 1st must already know the weird's true form. I'm just showing off before an expert to stimulate better suggestions."
Not forgetting to flatter both his guild and Joshua, Liu Jianhua then observed his rival's reaction, only to find Dong Feng staring dumbfounded as if he had said something unbelievable.
Liu Jianhua: ?
What's going on? Why does he look so shocked?
This shouldn't be happening. Dong Feng is A-level while he is B-level. Even as rival guild members, they sometimes needed mediums for difficult missions. A proper team required diverse specializations.
Yet Dong Feng maintained his astonished expression, he kept staring at Zong Le until the latter looked equally puzzled.
Clearly, Zong Le had completely forgotten the remarks he'd casually made to Dong Feng when getting up in the middle of the night.
Joshua smoothly took over: "You flatter me."
"Rather than revealing the answers directly, I believe it's more important to enjoy the reasoning process. The main system would never assign an impossible mission, so every room must contain clues or items relevant to completing it."
Halfway through, Liu Jianhua suddenly understood and cast an envious glance at Zong Le.
What 1st was explaining were common knowledge deeply ingrained in veterans. Having gone through countless dungeons, they hardly needed such instruction. The only one who truly needed to learn these basics was the newcomer here.
If nothing else, this newcomer had incredible luck.
Not only were the three major guilds fighting to recruit him, but he'd also gained 1st's personal protection. Judging by the situation, he must have earned Joshua's favor during their private interactions.
Otherwise, why would the latter teach mission procedures so meticulously and patiently?
Meanwhile, Zong Le was completely unaware that he was receiving special treatment, he immediately applied what he'd learned by picking up newspapers from the side table.
"These papers are several years old, and there's such a thick stack. How do we identify how old it is?"
"By finding clues inside the house," Joshua pointed toward the floor-to-ceiling window. "Large glass panels always bear production year markings. That tells us when the glass was made, which indicates the building's construction period."
Following instructions, Zong Le located the corner marking on the window, then rushed back to sift through the newspapers.
Soon, he found the first clue:
"Blue Ocean Apartments, Guiyi City's Premier High-Rise Complex, Commences Construction Today—Grand Groundbreaking Ceremony Held"
Below were several color illustrations.
Studying these images, Zong Le frowned. "What is this?"
The pictures depicted something resembling a sacrificial ritual. A man-made platform draped with colorful banners, a deep pit was dug with a person was kneeling on the ground.
What's even more outrageous is that there were people tied with hemp ropes with hoods covering their heads and covered in talismanic scripts. They were locked up with chickens and goats used for sacrifices.
"It's exactly what you're thinking," Joshua said calmly. "Some construction sites preserve feudal superstitions, practicing what's called 'living pile sacrifice.' They believe embedding live humans in the first concrete pour for foundation pillars ensures structural stability."
"Oh! I've heard of this tradition," Liu Jianhua exclaimed. "During a mountain village dungeon mission, local NPCs mentioned it supposedly creates bound weirds artificially. The sacrificed people remain trapped within the concrete and are unable to reincarnate, thus eternally guarding the structure, even as vengeful weirds."
The living pile sacrifice tradition sent chills down many survivor's spines.
Battle-hardened as they were, witnessing humans being casually slaughtered as construction materials was another matter entirely.
"This building's haunting likely originated this way," Liu Jianhua continued. "Otherwise, it's hard to explain why my medium ability shows the weird so intrinsically fused with the structure."
As he spoke, the surrounding temperature dropped abruptly.
Clearly, their unrestrained discussion hadn't gone unnoticed by the lurking weird.
It wouldn't have matter if they were wrong, but I'm afraid that guess was right.
[Deduction successful. Side task completed (4/4)]
In an Instant, all color drained from the apartment, leaving only suffocating grey.
Every present survivor recognized this signature phenomenon, the telltale sign of a weird domain manifesting.
In the master bedroom, a shadow of a girl gradually materialized beside the bloodstained wedding gown.
In the playroom, ribbons suddenly stiffened without any wind, outlining the silhouette of a hanged child. At the bar counter, the liquor cabinet's glass reflected a financial elite with a shattered skull, grinning grotesquely.
The battle was imminent.
"Watch out!"
Dong Feng cast aside his earlier thoughts and swiftly drew an iron rod, positioning himself protectively in front of the group. His movements were swift, instantly blocking the financial elite's swinging golf club and engaging it in combat.
The sudden expansion of the weird domain and the abrupt attack caught everyone off guard. The injured B-level agility type barely had time to react before being ensnared by a ribbon lasso thrown from the playroom, dragging him inward.
At that critical moment, Zong Le, who was busy fending off a descending veil, spotted the danger and casually flung a fruit knife, precisely severing the lasso.
"Thanks!" The B-level barely have time to think about it before diving back into the frenzied fight.
As Zong Le tore away the veil, Joshua suddenly spoke out.
The silver-haired man spoke with an air of indifference, "You know, in missions like these, you must guard against not just weirds, but also the hearts of your teammates."
"Do you want to know why I view all living beings as lambs? Because lambs are foolish and blind, they only care about their selfish desires even in such dire circumstances. Zong Le, you underestimate the complexity of human nature."
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