World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 160 Campus Mystery
A ghost at my university?
Lin An's first reaction was that the Foundation knew about what he had been hiding before. But then he thought that it was probably Ghost Unit 2, which had inherited the codename, causing trouble again.

After confirming the details of the mission with the captain, Lin An cut off the contact and fell into reminiscence.

After he left Dietrich, the "Ghost" who took his place frequently killed people throughout the city.

In just one month, this resulted in more than ten cases.

In the coroner Vanessa's report, the cause of death for all the victims was damage to their souls. Unfortunately, due to rating limitations, she could not obtain more information and could only confirm that the rating of "Ghost" was above Disaster.

The victims also had a large amount of blood drawn from them. After testing, it was found that about 2000 milliliters of blood were taken from each body by the "ghost". The deaths were extremely gruesome, and the victims looked like mummies.

However, the ghost never left any evidence after committing its crimes, disappearing without a trace.

More than three months have passed since the initial crime, and the foundation has not even recorded a single sighting of the "ghost."

Although it is unknown whether Ghost is of the same Origin level as Thunderbird, due to its increasingly frequent killings, the Foundation believes that it is necessary to launch a capture and imprisonment operation against Ghost as soon as possible, so it has been upgraded to an Alpha wanted level.

Looking at the bloody records, Lin An shook his head. Ghost Unit 2 was indeed too extreme.

This person targeted only women, ranging in age from 14 to 35.

More than a dozen families were torn apart. Not only in Michigan, but the ghosts specifically targeted helpless international students. Many parents far away overseas received the devastating news and were even unable to see their daughters' bodies.

As the saying goes, the more you do, the more mistakes you make. Although the Foundation still cannot confirm the true identity of the "Ghost," it has collected a lot of information about its activities, narrowing its scope of operations infinitely until it has reached the University of Ann Arbor.

Of course, the fact that the ghost can get away with it is also related to the fact that the existing direct confrontation department has a very low rating and that the chairman is a weak prophet who dares not show his face.

Therefore, upon Simon's return, the Foundation decided to launch a surprise attack.

They were determined to take down this persistent serial killer in one fell swoop.

Ghost Unit 2...

A slight smile appeared on Lin An's lips.

Let Unit-01 meet you, imposter!

Upon seeing his smile, Sangsang misunderstood and her eyes lit up, jumping three feet high in the air.

"Lin Dou! You've agreed to join both directions!" she shouted. "You can come to our practice room tomorrow to play together! It's a deal, I'll be waiting for you, my idol."

…………

Half an hour later, Lin An arrived at the meeting point.

The crime scene was located on the edge of the campus, in a place that was closed during the day and turned into a bar at night.

Yellow lines were drawn to display a "No Entry" banner, police sirens blared incessantly, and police and security guards kept driving away university students who were watching the commotion outside.

"Good evening, officer." Lin An flashed his newly issued paper employee ID. "Special Investigation Team."

Upon entering the bar, a psychedelic atmosphere of alcohol and perfume hits you.

Don't stop, keep partying!

The DJ made me have a blast!
Tonight, I'm going to have a blast!
Until the sun rises.

Lin An walked across the shimmering, colorful floor. The upbeat background music was still playing, but no one was dancing or bobbing to the rhythm anymore; the dance hall was empty.

The victim died tonight in the women's restroom of a nightclub.

Simon was talking to a police officer, while Mishi and Barry were discussing the situation. When Lin An arrived, they briefly explained the current state of the investigation.

The deceased was a 22-year-old college student from another university. He went to a bar to dance with his friends last night and went to the restroom at 5:36 a.m. and never returned.

Her friend got so drunk he was unconscious and left on his own. In the end, a terrified cleaner called the police.

When the body was discovered, her head was pressed into the toilet, and she was kneeling on the ground. Her body was emaciated to the point of being skin and bones. Her hair was disheveled, and her long hair covered a strange scar on the back of her neck.

This was the only wound on her entire body, and the murderer "sucked" her blood from it.

By this time, nearly 10 hours had passed since the time of death, and the autopsy report had been released.

The cause of death was excessive blood loss due to a wound on the back of the neck, but judging from the agonizing expression on the body in the photo, it was clear that the person had experienced supernatural torment before death.

There were no surveillance cameras in the toilet stalls, and with people coming and going in the nightclub, the police had difficulty identifying the killer's fingerprints, but they also couldn't conduct any further investigation.

Because the last video footage showed that the woman ran all the way from the nightclub to the restroom before she died.

As if she were hiding from something, she rushed into the cubicle, peeked out again, and then locked the door in terror.

No one entered her or the next cubicle during that time, and there were no signs of anyone entering or leaving the ventilation ducts.

But the woman never came out; she died inside for no apparent reason.

It was as if I was being controlled by a supernatural force...

After a preliminary investigation, the police immediately contacted the St. Anne-Love Foundation, which determined that this was the work of the "ghost" and quickly dispatched Simon's team.

"Why can we deduce from these clues that it was the ghost?" Lin An followed the three into the scene. "The ghost's characteristic is its mysterious magic that harms the soul. At least from the description and photos alone, I can't be certain that it was it." Simon said in a cold voice that Lin An had never heard before: "In fact, since February, all the victims who were harmed by the ghost have had small amounts of powder detected in their blood."

"powder?"

"This is a special kind of hemp from the land of maple leaves. It erodes the nerves through the blood and creates hallucinations. The ghost probably uses this method to deceive emotionally distressed children, making them fall into a daze, in order to achieve some kind of purpose."

Lin An understood why Simon was so furious when he mentioned "ghost".

It seems this ghost not only uses mystical arts to kill, but also appears to have the assistance of modern biological weapons.

For Simon, a former narcotics officer, this person undoubtedly crossed his line.

Unit 2, your image is getting worse and worse.

In the restroom, there were four mysterious figures standing there. They were none other than the four-person group from the Foundation that Lin An had first met: Reagan and three team members.

They nodded to Lin An and his group in greeting, gesturing for them to look at the open cubicle.

Very clean, that was Lin An's first impression.

It wasn't that it was particularly clean; the toilet walls were covered in graffiti and torn-up advertisements, and the toilet itself bore various marks. The outline of the body had been drawn with white lines by the investigators. But as a crime scene, it was surprisingly clean.

Despite dying from blood loss, there was no trace of blood at the scene, nor any signs of struggle, fighting, or escape.

Where did all that extracted blood go?
What was the murder weapon?
Why don't the victims resist?

She was practically a victim of the alluring, blood-sucking vampire monsters of Western legend.

Only the power belonging to "Comers" can overturn the material laws of Titan.

Police began by stating that, based on clues provided by the deceased's friend, the woman had met a like-minded man offline a week earlier through social media.

However, her date with the man didn't go well, and they lost contact afterward.

But ever since that meeting, the woman's mood has become unpredictable. She often talks to herself and her friends. A few of her girlfriends wanted to take her to a nightclub to change her mood, but that's when the trouble started.

Her friends suspected that the man had ulterior motives towards her and had slept with her during their date. When the woman confronted him, he became enraged and tried to harm her.

Another strange thing is that the woman had no record of purchasing illegal drugs, but a small amount of white powder was found in her blood, which was confirmed to be caused by recent use.

"Have you contacted the website administrator and retrieved the IP address of that man's account? I think he is very likely the murderer!" Mishi said.

“We logged into that forum immediately. Unfortunately, it was a very hidden dark web site. We couldn’t find its server location, let alone hack into it or track down any trace of the creator.”

"Even your hackers can't do that?"

"At least the technology here isn't good enough."

"What's the name of that website?" Mi Xi asked curiously, and Lin An also perked up his ears.

"World Tree Forum"

I go.

Lin An's lips twitched. How did things end up back in my happy hometown?

"Could Ghost be the founder of the World Tree Forum?" Barry suddenly asked.

Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Ann Arbor University, World Tree Forum, the art of killing without a trace...

Unit 2 doesn't know that I am the real Ghost, but its actions always seem to overlap with mine. If this continues, the Foundation might accidentally find some information about me.

With their powerful imaginations, who knows how many strange labels they'll add to me?

Adding to the mess that Unit 2 made, it's now confirmed that Ghost treats human life like dirt.

After a moment's hesitation, Lin An made up his mind.

This child is terrifying; he must not be allowed to live.

Reagan and Simon did not dwell on the World Tree Forum. The Foundation had already confirmed that the ghost was lurking within the University of Ann Arbor, and in the next few days, the two control teams would conduct a thorough search.

Just like searching for the witch along the international bridge, there are four patrol groups, rotating every six hours.

Lin An applied for the morning shift and was paired with Barry again.

It was 11 p.m. when they left the crime scene. The first patrol team set off, while the others stayed in the university-provided dormitories for the night.

"No need, I have other places to go." Lin An politely declined to travel with them.

The early spring evening breeze was damp and slightly cool; it looked like it was going to rain again. Dark clouds obscured the bright moonlight, plunging the path leading to the dormitory into deep darkness.

Walking on the familiar road, Lin An took out his phone from his pocket and opened the forum with a black background.

Ranger_12: A lonely female college student looking for a mysterious chat partner online. [Video]
(End of this chapter)