A Shocking Dream

"A small matter?" Lin Wunian sneered. "A corpse mysteriously appears and disappears, and this is a small matter? Do you know how great a disaster this may be hiding? If we don't investigate it soon, the entire city may be in danger. Yet you hide this from me as if it were a small matter?"

Zhou Cheng lowered his head even lower. "Miss, please calm down. It was our fault for not thinking things through. We just didn't want you to work too hard. After all, you've already exhausted yourself worrying about everything going on in the city."

Lin Wunian took a deep breath and tried to suppress the anger in his heart. "Forget it, now is not the time to assign blame. Tell me every detail of the discovery of the body, including the location, time, and condition of the body. Don't leave anything out."

Zhou Cheng quickly responded, "Yes, girl. The first body was found near the abandoned mill in the south of the city. It was early in the morning. The body was festering all over and emitted a foul odor. There were no special signs around it..." He narrated in detail, and Lin Wunian listened carefully, trying to find clues to solve the mystery from this information, with a frown on his face.

After hearing this, Lin Wunian paced the room, pondering various possibilities. "This is too strange. It seems we need to start from the source of the bodies. Is there anything unusual around the body that first appeared in the south of the city? Also, does that body have any special markings or wounds?"

Everyone looked at each other, and no one could answer for a moment.

Lin Wunian frowned, pacing back and forth across the room, her mind reeling from all the questions surrounding the corpse. The rotting skin, the bizarre disappearances, the similarities in the manner of death—they all tangled together like a tangled thread. Suddenly, a terrifying thought sprouted in her mind, like a cold seed that quickly took root and sprouted.

She turned abruptly, her eyes shooting at Zeng Mu like lightning, and asked harshly, "Since the day the body was found, have you let anyone leave the city?"

Zeng Mu was startled by her eyes and aura, and was stunned for a moment before answering: "This... We didn't deliberately stop people from leaving the city, but we have brothers checking at the city gate, and we didn't find anything unusual."

Lin Wunian was extremely anxious, with beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. She shouted, "Quickly block the city gates, let everyone turn on the lights at home, and tell everyone not to travel alone!" Her voice was a little hoarse with anxiety, and her eyes showed unprecedented panic and tension.

"Hurry, hurry!" Zeng Mu shouted, urging Zhou Cheng and the others as they hurried toward the city gate. Zhou Cheng and the others didn't dare to slack off. They immediately dispersed, banging gongs and shouting at the top of their lungs, "Seal the city gates! Everyone, light your lamps! No one is allowed to travel alone!" The sound echoed through the streets and alleys.

The city was suddenly plunged into panic, and people emerged from their houses, faces filled with fear and confusion. Lights lit up one by one, the dim light illuminating the people's anxious faces.

Lin Wunian rushed through the city, directing everyone: "Arrange patrols on each street and pay attention to any suspicious people and movements." She knew very well that they had to race against time at this moment. The danger hidden in the dark seemed to have opened its bloody mouth, ready to swallow the city at any time.

"What happened?" Qin Ruoyu frowned slightly, looking at the nervous and flustered expressions of Lin Wunian, Zeng Mu and others, and asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Lin Wunian kept walking, just glanced at him and said quickly: "There is no time to explain."

Qin Ruoyu looked confused, but seeing that everyone was facing a serious enemy, he also knew the seriousness of the matter. "Then how can I help?" He said as he followed Lin Wunian's pace.

Lin Wunian looked solemn as she hurried towards the south of the city, shouting, "Call all the doctors to the clinic, I have something to say!" Her voice echoed in the street, attracting the attention of passers-by.

Her heart was filled with worry, and every step she took was hurried and frantic. The bodies that had mysteriously appeared and disappeared were like a heavy shadow that lingered in her mind. She was afraid, afraid that the terrible suspicion in her heart would become a reality.

The wind whistled in her ears, but it couldn't dispel the gloom that filled her heart. She truly hoped that when all the doctors gathered, they wouldn't hear the result she'd anticipated. If that were the case, the city would be doomed, and those innocent people... She didn't dare to think about it anymore. She simply quickened her pace, running towards the south, her figure gradually disappearing into the chaotic cityscape.

Qin Ruoyu watched Lin Wunian's retreating figure. His hurried and nervous demeanor made him realize that this matter was serious. He immediately ordered those around him to summon a doctor, but his eyes never left Lin Wunian's path.

"She'll be alright going south alone, right?" Qin Ruoyu muttered to himself, his brow furrowed into a deep, round frown. He knew Lin Wunian was a skilled martial artist, and ordinary dangers were like ants trying to shake a tree; they were simply impossible for her to approach. But at this moment, his heart was filled with inexplicable worry, a feeling that grew like wild weeds, unstoppable.

"No, I still have to tell the emperor's uncle." Qin Ruoyu made a secret decision in his heart and hurried in the direction of Qin Rongchen. Along the way, the hurried and nervous figure of Lin Wunian as he left kept appearing in his mind, and the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.

By the time he saw Qin Rongchen, he had already learned the whole story from Zeng Mu and was about to rush to the south of the city. Qin Ruoyu hurried forward and said, "Uncle, Miss Lin went to the south of the city alone. I am really worried about her, so I came to tell you."

Qin Rongchen's expression was stern. "I already know and was about to go there. This matter is strange. She went alone, and I was worried that something might happen." After saying that, he raised his leg and walked away with big and fast steps. Qin Ruoyu hurried to catch up.

The wind whistled past their ears, as if urging them to speed up.

Outside the old mill in the south of the city, the silence was eerie. Even before Lin Wunian arrived, the air was filled with a pungent odor of decay, a smell that felt like an invisible hand, tightly gripping one's throat, making one nauseous.

Lin Wunian frowned, but without hesitation, she walked quickly towards the source of the smell. She knew that the smell was likely related to the bodies that disappeared and reappeared. The closer she got, the greater the danger, but she couldn't retreat.

As she got closer to the old mill, the rotten smell became stronger and stronger, almost enveloping her whole body. The surrounding trees rustled in the breeze, as if whispering a warning. Suddenly,