15 Chapter 15 Mask

Li Ang regarded the kneeling corpse before him with cold detachment, ignoring the thick, stinging stench of decay as he spoke indifferently, "Around one in the afternoon on June 17, 51-year-old woman Bao Fangtian came to Ancestor Sky Tower."

"Bao Fangtian suffered from a mild mental illness, and her visit to Ancestor Sky Tower was to seek treatment at a sanatorium on the fifth floor of Building No. 2, known as 'New Rehabilitation Home.'

"To facilitate customer access, the businesses in Building No. 2 had built a dedicated elevator on the right side of the building, which only reached the seventh floor and the floors below."

"Having been to Ancestor Sky Tower several times before, Bao Fangtian entered the dedicated elevator. Although she needed to go to the sanatorium on the fifth floor, she inexplicably pressed the button for the sixth floor."

"When the elevator doors opened, she wasn't met with a corridor leading to the rehabilitation center but with a sealed iron gate. It turned out that the owner of the sixth floor had installed this iron gate outside the elevator for security reasons."

"Unaware of this, Bao Fangtian subconsciously thought this was a new iron gate installed by the rehabilitation center, so she stepped forward to check if it could be opened and knocked on the iron door in an attempt to call the center's staff."

"Just as she was inspecting it, the elevator doors behind her closed automatically. Panicked, Bao Fangtian tried to prevent the doors from closing, but due to her stout figure and slow reaction, she hadn't turned around before the doors shut completely."

"Thus, she was trapped in the narrow gap between the iron gate and the elevator doors."

"The crevice was extremely cramped, and the short, plump Bao Fangtian was stuck, unable to move, squat, or sit, only able to stand, pressed against both steel doors."

"She called out loudly for help, but the sixth floor was uninhabited year-round, and with thick concrete slabs separating the floors above and below, no one could hear her cries."

"Desperate, Bao Fangtian tried to reach through the iron gate with her arms to press the elevator button outside, but due to the narrowness of the gap and the stubbiness of her arms, she couldn't reach the button no matter how much she tried."

"The only chance the dedicated elevator passed the sixth floor was if someone used it to go to the beauty salon on the seventh floor, called 'Fragrant Beauty.' However, with the salon's poor business and few customers, even when the staff occasionally passed by, they automatically ignored the knocking sounds from the old elevator."

"Worse still, to prevent vagrants from sneaking in, the owner of the sixth floor had also sealed off the building's fire escape, making it so no one would come to this 'nonexistent floor.'

"Soon after, Bao Fangtian's family, noticing her disappearance, urgently arrived at the rehabilitation center in Ancestor Sky Tower to inquire, only to learn that Bao Fangtian had not shown up for treatment that day."

"There were no surveillance cameras in the building, and there was no reason for the sanatorium to lie. After briefly checking, Bao Fangtian's family subconsciously thought that the old lady had suddenly had a mental breakdown, had not gone to the sanatorium, and instead got lost on the streets."

"The frantic family quickly printed missing person notices and searched the streets, unaware that Bao Fangtian was trapped just above the rehabilitation center."

"One day, then two, without food or drink and oblivious to the passing of time outside, Bao Fangtian fell into despair and eventually died on the fifth day due to organ failure caused by dehydration."

"The incident did not end there. Several days after Bao Fangtian's death, another person stepped into the elevator."

"That was Old Man Chen, whom I had seen earlier at the hospital."

"Old Man Chen had come to Ancestor Sky Tower to visit his daughter, but he might have misremembered the address and did not head to the correct Building No. 1, but instead came to Building No. 2."

"Coincidentally, Old Man Chen, who was supposed to go to the seventh floor, ended up mistakenly pressing the button for the sixth floor."

"Full of anticipation to see his daughter, Old Man Chen could never have imagined that when the elevator doors opened, he would be greeted by the sight of a standing, fully blackened corpse."

"With the elevator doors opened, the unsupported corpse of Bao Fangtian automatically fell forward, kneeling, its hideous and hollow eyes staring intently at Old Man Chen inside the elevator."

"The sudden shock was too much for Old Man Chen, a regular person; it was as if his soul had fled. He shrank into a corner of the elevator, trembling and not daring to move."

"As the elevator doors were about to close, they were obstructed by the kneeling corpse of Bao Fangtian, clunk, clunk, clunking mechanically shut repeatedly, unable to close."

"A man and a corpse faced off in the elevator entrance on the sixth floor for a long time. Finally, unable to take it any longer, Old Man Chen suppressed his fear, lifted the body of Bao Fangtian, stuffed it back into the crevice of the iron gate, and returned to the elevator to press the down button."

"The elevator doors finally closed. Overcome with terror, the frightened and soul-shaken Old Man Chen didn't even think about visiting his daughter. He fled Ancestor Sky Tower in a panic, not even informing the tower's staff that a corpse was still trapped on the sixth floor."

"Once home, the shock stripped Old Man Chen of his sanity. He could no longer lift his hands or speak,"

"He wasn't possessed by a ghost; the psychic response lingering on his body was merely the unwillingness and fear left in the elevator on the sixth floor before Bao Fangtian's spiritual body dispersed."

"Perhaps before the doctors could figure out a solution, the authorities of the Republic would have already sought out Old Man Chen to cure the dementia caused by the residual spiritual energy in him."

[Investigation Progress 100%]

[Routine Task 'Between the Cracks' Completed]

[Reward Calculation in Progress]

[Ordinary Quality Random Item*1 has been dispatched to the player's inventory, please check]

"Huff..."

Li Ang exhaled a breath of stale air and walked straight out of the elevator, which had descended to the first floor, leaving the tragedy behind him.

It took a while, but the first unfortunate person to open the elevator door emitted a deafening scream that pierced through the tranquility of Ancestor Sky Tower, upon seeing the darkened corpse of a woman lying across the elevator.

Having reached the street, Li Ang vanished into the crowd, moving forward with the bustling throngs, until he turned the corner of the street south of Yin City East General Anal and Intestinal Hospital.

He hadn't lied to Wang Congshan; he truly wanted a bowl of hot and sour pig intestine noodles from the shop next to the hospital.

The large-faced basin was filled with translucent sweet potato noodles; the red chili oil gleamed against the mustard oil, with diced pickles floating on top and a towering pile of fatty intestines in the center.

Li Ang chewed on the intestines while watching the bustling traffic and steady stream of pedestrians on the street, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

Firstly, the missions issued by the system are not necessarily combat-type; they could simply be pure deduction and decryption. There might also be missions in the future that feature both decryption and combat elements.

Secondly, a psychic response doesn't necessarily mean there will be a spiritual body; some spiritual bodies may dissipate over time.

Finally, if any unnatural death could potentially trigger a mission,

then the number of potential missions in Yin City, an international metropolis with a population of over twenty million, is even beyond his imagination.

Li Ang finished the hot and sour soup in one gulp and opened the reward from his inventory in his mind.

[Name: Face-Changing Mask]

[Type: Armor]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Defensive Power: Weak]

[Special Effect 1: When worn, a random mask pattern will be imprinted]

[Special Effect 2: When worn, the wearer can choose to enhance or diminish their presence in the eyes of others]

[Equipment Requirement 1: The wearer must have a face as anatomically defined]

[Equipment Requirement 2: Intelligence Attribute must be greater than or equal to 5, Perception Attribute must be greater than or equal to 6]

[Note: Fang Clan's leader, with a bear skin hood, golden eyes, and mysterious attire, carrying a halberd and a shield, commands a hundred subordinates as he performs exorcisms to expel epidemics.]