There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

Chapter 72: Chapter 69 Disappearance

As evening arrived, the rainfall began to patter again, and thunderclouds rumbled faintly in the sky.

Officer Zhang, reluctantly casting a glance at the dance studio's windows, still started the car and drove the priest toward the urban village.

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The city was quite old, and there were many small villages nestled among the forests of steel and concrete, where sewer water unsettlingly gushed onto streets, sprayed by the passage of car tires.

Lanruo's place wasn't far from Qiuzi's residence either; although they didn't share an apartment, they both rented rooms within the same area.

"They came up to the north together a few years ago but split up because they found the shared apartment too cramped," Officer Zhang said as she drove. "Last night, although no one saw Lanruo go to the dance studio, her room was also empty."

"It's a pity there are so few surveillance cameras in this city, otherwise we could have checked more thoroughly," the priest said with a nod.

"In this day and age, we must rely on human surveillance."

As they talked casually, the signboard of the narrow urban village appeared before them. The roads inside were too cramped, so they didn't drive the car in.

Officer Zhang parked beside the road and turned to see the priest, who had somehow produced a black umbrella.

Dressed in a black robe with gold trim, a golden cross stitched on his chest, his expression was both sorrowful and gentle, exuding an aura of holiness.

The man stood alone, silent in the rain with his black umbrella—an indescribably somber sight.

It was as if he was there to conduct a funeral.

The city's residents were largely religious; though the village was home to many outsiders, the appearance of a priest drew involuntary glances from some of the elderly.

A twitch of her mouth, Officer Zhang said, "Don't walk with me, go over there."

Having said that, she dashed into the street, braving the light rain. Following the information sent by her colleagues, she waded through puddles beside the road to a building.

The dark staircase reeked of decay, and the dim yellow light was extremely faint, with stains streaking the walls.

Officer Zhang glanced back to see that the priest hadn't followed; instead, he was being detained by some elders on the street. She then made her way up the stairs by herself.

The hallway was laden with the typical dampness of the urban village, smelling somewhat foul and oppressive.

This building had only two apartments on each floor, facing each other. With many residents returning to their rented rooms at this time, the sound of conversation was sparse and disorderly, as if uttering delirious chants.

Officer Zhang reached the third floor and knocked on a door.

The banging sound against the rusty green iron door was jarringly grating.

But she wasn't able to knock open the door of apartment 301. Instead, due to the poor soundproofing, she ended up knocking the door of the apartment across open.

Initially prepared to pick the lock, Officer Zhang, seeing the young man who peeked out from the open door, gave a smile and casually asked, "Sorry to disturb you. Do you know where the people from this apartment have gone?"

The young man, his hair unkempt and dark circles under his eyes, spoke with a deadpan expression like a fish out of water, "Don't bother knocking anymore. The girl who lives opposite me hasn't been back for days. I don't know, maybe she ran off with her boyfriend..."

He muttered the last part under his breath.

Lanruo was strikingly gorgeous, with a bold style and a good figure—a girl like that would hardly be short of boyfriends.

But definitely, not for him.

Officer Zhang's gaze flickered for a moment, her composure unchanged, as she inquired curiously, "Does she have a boyfriend?"

"Maybe," the young man said, sounding uncertain. "I'm not too sure, are you looking for her?"

"I'm her friend. I haven't seen her contact me these past few days, so I got curious and came to check. I don't know if something's happened," Officer Zhang said, his face full of worry.

Hearing this, the young man's guard slightly eased, saying, "I used to see her going out frequently a few days ago. She's a dancer, right? Always hopping around in her room, but these past few days there has been no sound. I don't know what she's up to."

"Thank you. I'll go ask some other friends then. If you hear anything, please remember to tell me," Officer Zhang said upon hearing this, nodding appreciatively.

"Hm, I don't know much, just that I haven't seen her for several days," the young man replied, showing some impatience.

Seeing this, Officer Zhang thanked him again and left, his footsteps clomping down the stairs as he quickly made his way onto the street.

He looked around and saw the priest already sitting in front of a fruit stall, eating grapes and chatting with a few neighbors, looking quite at ease.

As Officer Zhang briskly approached, the man excused himself to the enthusiastic neighbors and then stood up to look at her.

"Lanruo is not in her apartment," Officer Zhang said in a hushed voice, looking visibly upset.

The information from his subordinates was that after midday, the three people in the dance studio had separated. Xuena went to the city hospital, while Lanruo returned to her own rental, and she had not come out since.

In the city, only the main streets were monitored. Lanruo's figure was lost after turning into the village within the city, and after that, they had to resort to having people follow her.

But just now, that young man said that not only was the girl not in her apartment, but she had also not returned for several days.

Upon hearing this, the priest mentioned something seemingly off-topic, "No one has gone missing in this area."

"Of course, I know that," Officer Zhang raised an eyebrow.

"But a few days ago, a Black Dog died in the narrow alley and was stinking. It's been dealt with, but the elders think it's an ill omen. They wanted me to go pray over it," the priest added.

Upon hearing this, Officer Zhang fell silent.

In this era where news doesn't spread easily, disappearances only come to light through people reporting them. Without a report, there would be no way to know that something had happened.

Worse still, what if nobody had "disappeared" at all?

Recalling the striking girl who used to show up on camera precisely on schedule to check in at the dance studio made Officer Zhang shiver.

Then he remembered that there were usually only four people in the dance studio, and it seemed two of them were acting strangely, which made him shiver for the other two as well.

The sound of raindrops pattering on his arms indeed made it feel colder.

Officer Zhang got back into his car, took a moment to compose himself, then frowned and said, "If that's the case, the anomaly likely started with Lanruo first, and afterwards, she went and killed Qiuzi."

"But she didn't vanish like the others who disappeared before; she still went to the dance studio for practice as usual," the priest said slowly.

The ones who disappeared before had truly gone missing.

No trace was found, and it was only after bizarre murder cases emerged that they could see shadows of those people. The footage of their appearances was nothing but deathly still, like Wraiths.

That's why they said the killers were the deceased.

Those involved in the 'Black Dog' incidents were essentially deemed dead by the police.

As for why such a conclusion was reached, that goes back to events from decades ago, before this city was influenced by any religion, when all manner of sinister events were rampant.

At this moment, Officer Zhang suddenly thought of something even more important and widened his eyes, saying, "Wait, if Lanruo disappeared and then came back to kill Qiuzi, then after that, could it be that Qiuzi... "

Would it then go on cyclically, gradually contaminating the entire dance team?