You said you were going to make games, how did you become the richest man without doing anything?

Chapter 539 Late Night Tragedy
Tang Yin suppressed the churning discomfort in his stomach and refocused his gaze on the shattered corpse before him. The strong smell of blood continued to assault his sense of smell, but he knew that now was not the time to show weakness.

He took a deep breath and slowly rolled up his shirt sleeves, revealing his slightly pale arm. As his hand slowly and firmly reached for the hideous wound, Zhao Gang's urgent voice suddenly rang out behind him.

"Hey, hey, what do you want to do!?" Zhao Gang's voice was full of fear and confusion, as if he had seen some unbelievable scene.

"Although the possibility is low, we still need to confirm it." Tang Yin's tone was unusually calm, his eyes gleaming with concentration. Years of reading mystery novels had taught him that sometimes the most obvious truth is often the most perfect disguise. Destroying the head could be an attempt to conceal the corpse's true identity—perhaps by killing someone of similar build and disguising them as Gao Zhijie.

"Does Gao Zhijie have silver teeth on his lower jaw?" Tang Yin suddenly asked, his eyes still fixed on the face of the corpse.

Zhao Gang's face turned pale instantly, and he subconsciously covered his mouth with one hand, and his voice was so low that it was almost inaudible: "No, no."

Tang Yin knew that his actions might seem a bit extreme at the moment, but in this strange village, no detail could be ignored. He had to remain rational, even if it meant doing something uncomfortable.

"Mr. Gao often boasted that, even though he was over sixty, he had never had a single denture..." Zhao Gang calmed down a bit and added, "Could it be that the corpse had dentures?"

"No, I'm only asking this to avoid being misled." Tang Yin's fingers carefully touched the dead man's teeth. "The corpse's teeth are indeed very healthy."

"What..." Zhao Gang let out a sigh, his tone full of helplessness.

Tang Yin carefully observed the facial features of the corpse. Although the upper jaw and the upper half of the face had been shattered beyond recognition by some immense force, the lower jaw remained relatively intact.

The black hair, beard, and eyebrows, mixed with white, perfectly matched the image of Gao Zhijie in his memory. This almost confirmed that the body before him was indeed Gao Zhijie's.

He lowered his raised hands, looked at his palms stained with dark red liquid, and realized that there was no need to continue to dwell on the method of murder - in this strange case, ordinary reasoning methods might not be of any use at all.

But another detail caught his attention. The body was covered with a thin blanket, and there were no signs of struggle or resistance. Did this mean that the killer had killed Gao Zhijie with a single blow while he slept? Or had the killer deliberately staged the scene to make him appear dead while sleeping, then proceeded to inflict damage to his head?

Tang Yin's gaze slowly swept across the room. No matter what the possibility, this was definitely not an ordinary murder case. Every detail pointed to an extremely special case, and the truth of this case might be even more terrifying than he imagined.

Morning light streamed in through the window, illuminating the thin, blood-stained blanket. Tang Yin stood up, looking at his blood-stained hands. He decided to wash them first before continuing to ponder this questionable case.

Tang Yin's eyes moved back and forth in the room, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

Logically, Mr. Gao had always carefully followed the rules of taboo, but the situation before him was full of strangeness. The door was intact, with no signs of forced destruction, which meant that the deceased had likely opened the door for the murderer.

The morning sun slanted into the room, casting thin streaks of light across the bloodstained floor. There were no signs of a struggle, no resistance; this peaceful death inevitably led one to suspect an acquaintance.

But on second thought, if this is the unique killing method of the Huangquan Ji Banquet, then the possibility of supernatural intervention cannot be completely ruled out.

Tang Yin slowly stood up, his legs numb from squatting for so long. He forced himself to refocus on the details of the scene, and suddenly noticed something unusual—the bedding and the floor were unnaturally damp, as if thoroughly soaked in water.

"Could the murderer have cleaned something here?" Tang Yin muttered to himself, but quickly dismissed the idea. Cleaning the blood next to the body was completely unnecessary and would only increase the risk of being discovered.

He squatted down and carefully examined the footprints on the ground. The marks were remarkably clear, as if the soles of the tramplers were stained with blood, and the ground and bedding were already damp. Most striking was the shape of the footprints—neither modern shoes nor clogs, nor did they look like the claws of a wild animal. They took on a strange, elongated shape, like a small gold coin, likely the mark left by some kind of straw sandal.

Most of the blood had been absorbed by the bedding, but the footprints left on the ground were exceptionally clear. Even more striking was the fact that there was only this single shape of footprints at the entire scene, with no other messy tracks.

"Have you found anything?" Zhao Gang's voice suddenly came from behind, interrupting Tang Yin's thoughts.

"Nothing." Tang Yin answered calmly and stood up straight.

"That's normal. After all, you are not an expert in this field." Zhao Gang said this with a hint of imperceptible contempt in his tone.

"Well, what a pity." Tang Yin responded softly, but secretly made a conclusion in his heart - the murderer was an extremely dangerous human being.

By the time Tang Yin went to wash the blood off his hands, Zhao Gang had already deftly removed the door. Together, they lifted Mr. Gao's body onto the door and gently covered his bloodied face with a towel.

"Please." Zhao Gang whispered, with a hint of heaviness in his voice.

"Okay." Tang Yin responded briefly, bending down and grabbing one end of the door panel.

The weight of the door and the body was far greater than expected, requiring two adult men to lift. They slowly lifted the door and cautiously walked out. The morning mist, as if waiting for them, still thickly enveloped the entire village.

The two figures stepped into the mist, gradually becoming blurred. The mist flowed around them, as if whispering, telling the unknown secrets of this village. Tang Yin felt that this farewell journey might bring him one step closer to the truth.

The morning mist flowed slowly under their feet like an icy river.

Tang Yin lifted the door panel, feeling the coldness seeping through his fingertips. He couldn't help but ask, "...Throw the body into the Godhead Valley?"

"That's what Grandma Rong said." Zhao Gang's voice was hoarse and low, as if it was soaked in fog.

"If I don't do this, will it be contaminated?" Tang Yin tested cautiously.

"Yeah." Zhao Gang's response was barely audible, revealing endless fatigue.

Tang Yin stole a glance at his companion. Zhao Gang's face was paler than fog, his eyes hollow, his lips tightly pursed. It was clear he was in a state of extreme despair. Tang Yin wanted to ask more, but his instinct told him that pressing the issue now might put him in danger. Just then, Zhao Gang suddenly spoke, "It's all my fault." His voice was thick with remorse.

"Why do you say that?" Tang Yin asked cautiously.

"Because I said the wrong thing at the [banquet]." There was a heavy meaning hidden in Zhao Gang's words.

Tang Yin couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. It seemed Zhao Gang had discovered something, or rather, confirmed a terrible truth. But now was clearly not the right time to bring everything to light.

"Although I don't know what happened, I believe you have tried your best." Tang Yin tried to comfort him.

"No matter what, failure is failure." Zhao Gang's tone was full of self-abandonment.

"...Then you should turn defeat into victory. In other words, you should become the new leader of the Hidden Mist Village." Tang Yin suggested.

"...I can't do it." Zhao Gang's voice was almost squeezed out from between his teeth.

Tang Yin also felt a surge of weakness. As an outsider, he couldn't immediately lift the spirits of this man who had fallen into such a slump. Their destination was the Shoudiaosong Cemetery, a plain said to be filled with strange and mysterious things.

As they approached the cafeteria, a startling scene came into view. Granny Rong stood at the cafeteria entrance, her stooped figure looking especially frail in the morning mist, chanting obscure scriptures. Her aged voice echoed through the fog, carrying a mysterious power.

Chen Xiang stood beside the old man, her eyes unfocused, as if she were out of her body. Her fingers unconsciously tugged at the edge of her apron, her knuckles turning white.

Hua Lu covered Xiao Mei's eyes tightly, but her own gaze was fixed on Tang Yin and Zhao Gang, and the door panel they were carrying. Her eyes were filled with fear, but also with a certain inexplicable expectation.

The most striking figure was Gao Mei—Old Man Gao's granddaughter. Her expression sent a shudder through Tang Yin's heart. Her young face bore no trace of sadness; instead, it was filled with naked anger, deep resentment, and barely concealed disgust. She stared intently at the body on the door, as if she wanted to burn a hole through it with her gaze.

Tang Yin couldn't help but wonder: Could something unpleasant have happened between the grandfather and grandson? But then he thought, even if there had been conflicts, they were still blood relatives. Was it really necessary to be so cold and ruthless in this final farewell?

But soon, Tang Yin forced himself to stop these speculations. He reminded himself that as an outsider who knew nothing about this village, it was best not to make arbitrary judgments about other people's family affairs.

The mist flowed among the crowd, as if weaving an invisible web, covering everyone's secrets.

"Damn it!" Tang Yin cursed inwardly. Thick fog swirled before his eyes, like a heavy veil, obscuring all possible clues. As an outsider, his situation was extremely awkward, like standing in a corner of a maze, unable to even discern which way the wall led.

Later, when the truth gradually surfaced, Tang Yin realized how naive he was. His understanding of the village at that time was like observing the tip of an iceberg through a magnifying glass, and he completely underestimated the seriousness of the situation.

"Qin Yi cannot be found."

On the hillside leading to the cemetery, Wang Lina's voice suddenly rang out. Her face was frighteningly pale, beads of sweat oozing from her forehead. It was clear she had been searching for a long time. Desperate, she and the two high school students split up to search. But in this village shrouded in thick fog, finding someone was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

"We'll come help after we bury Old Man Gao." Tang Yin had barely finished saying this when he and Zhao Gang quickened their pace. Although the cemetery was nearby—after all, Wuyin Village was a pitifully small place—for some reason, perhaps because of the dense fog or the weight of the door he was carrying, Tang Yin felt as if the journey was long.

"Hey hey hey."

A shrill laugh interrupted Tang Yin's thoughts. It was Master Wolf. The old man stood by the roadside, laughing and clapping his hands, his idiotic expression chilling. Tang Yin suddenly wondered: Is this old man still alive?
Qin Yi was the only missing person left. According to the rules, wolves could only kill one person in a night. Thinking of this, the two of them quickened their pace. No one spoke, and the air was filled with a suffocating tension.

Within minutes, they had their answer—a sickening, bloody one.

Zhao Gang, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped. In the grass leading to the cemetery, Qin Yi's body was spread out on the ground like a pile of scattered building blocks.

The strong stench of corpses, mixed with the fresh fragrance of wild grass and the unique stench of some wild beast, irritated their nostrils. The bloodstained grass and broken corpses silently told of the brutal struggle that had taken place here.

Torn clothes, torn limbs, every detail tells the pain the victims have experienced.

"——Xiaoyi..." Zhao Gang's voice trembled. He bent down and carefully picked up an object about the size of a football. It was Qin Yi's head. His once handsome face had been torn beyond recognition by the beast, leaving only a ferocious expression of clenched teeth.

"You are very brave—" Zhao Gang's voice choked. In this cursed land, Qin Yi proved his courage with his life, but was also forever silent.

The mist slowly flowed around the corpse, as if the earth was silently mourning for this young life.

Tang Yin stood aside, feeling the chill seeping from the soles of his feet to the depths of his heart. This wasn't just a simple murder; something darker and more sinister was at work. But at this moment, all they could do was keep moving forward, sending the deceased to their final resting place.

Tang Yin said, "Can you let me take a look?"

He found that there seemed to be something in Qin Yi's mouth.

He took Qin Yi's head from Zhao Gang and put his fingers into his mouth.

——Animal hair that is neither long nor short!

(End of this chapter)