Chapter 231: Psychometry

N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Chapter 231: Psychometry

For the first ten seconds or so, Chen Ying’s senses remained where she was, in the box truck, and she could feel a wet coldness where her body was in contact with the driver seat. The river water soaked into the seat gradually soaked her clothes, making the fabric stick to her thighs in an uncomfortable way.

The air around her smelled faintly of aquatic weeds and fish. From outside the window, night wind swept into the car.

As the energy inside Chen Ying’s body slowly converged before spreading in all directions, her five senses gradually shifted.

She waded against the chaotic currents of time, like a gust of wind or a spirit.

One second, the driver’s compartment she was in was still in the bottom of the river, surrounded by darkness and water. She felt lifted yet dragged down, and she couldn’t breathe.

The next second, she was on the road during the day as the car drove smoothly, accompanied by music that was soothing and lilting, but muffled.

All the images were snippets of memory. And one after another, they came to her.

Time continued to rewind and rewind further.

This time, Chen Ying found the driver’s compartment awash in darkness.

It was late at night. The road was a little bumpy, and thus the car shook gently as bleak scenery moved past the window. In the distance, there was a surface of shimmering light. Was it a lake, or a river?

Chen Ying couldn’t see clearly, and she didn’t force it. Instead, she focused on the interior of the car.

Then she looked at her hands.

Well, not hers, but a man’s hands, covered in black leather gloves.

Chen Ying was going to look at other parts of the man’s body, but the image was getting blurry and unstable.

She looked up at the rearview mirror above. In the reflection was a thin middle-aged man in a baseball cap, revealing only a chin she couldn’t make out clearly.

Ring.

A cell phone rang. The driver picked up the phone with his gloved right hand. It wasn’t a smartphone, but an old model, and he was likely using an unregistered prepaid SIM card.

“Done?” a voice said from the other side of the line. It was modulated. Not even the gender of the caller could be discerned.

“Done.” The voice of the man driving the car was also difficult to hear.

“Leave the car and the wares. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Consider it done. What’s next?”

“Hide, and wait for our contact.”

The call ended.

Chen Ying wanted to stay in the snippet of memory for more information, but her vision was blurring, and the scene around her dispersed like smoke.

After a moment of distraction, Chen Ying found herself back in the damp driver’s seat, surrounded by a fishy smell.

Her Psychometry attempt came to an end.

They turned on their phones’ flashlights, aimed at the interior of the cargo box. It was almost empty—the operative word being ‘almost’.

There was a cadaver bag in the very depth of it.

The three of them exchanged a shocked glance.

Gao Yang was surprised as well. He had thought all the bodies had been dealt with. He didn’t expect one to be left behind.

Was it a trap?

To be safe, Gao Yang accessed his system to make sure that his Luck points hadn’t spiked.

Then he turned to Wang Zikai. “Take a look and be careful.”

Sorry, Brother Kai, but you’ve got the thickest skin among us!

Even if it is a trap, you’ll live.

“No problem!”

Wang Zikai jumped into the cargo box excitedly and went up to the cadaver bag.

He unzipped it.

“Whoa!” Wang Zikai cried out.

Gao Yang nervously asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Wang Zikai covered his nose. “Fuck does it smell bad. Totally disgusting.”

Gao Yang sighed in relief. The bodies in Vermilion Bird’s morgues were all stored in freezer units, but once stolen, the bodies would have been kept in room temperature. It had been a week since the theft. It made sense that the remaining body would be decomposing and developing pungent odor.

Gao Yang glanced at Chen Ying. “Ready?”

Chen Ying took a breath and held it, nodding.

Gao Yang jumped into the cargo box and slowly knelt down by the cadaver bag. He had been anxious all this time until he got a look at the body. Only after seeing that it wasn’t a member of the fourth or fifth team did he feel a little better.

It was a man with short brown hair. His eyes were closed, and his face pale and bloated.

Gao Yang tried to imagine what the man would be like when he was alive: a man in his thirties with sculpted facial features. He looked to be the cantankerous type.

In truth, the body was in better shape than he had expected. It was almost summer. A week in this weather should’ve left the body rotting and crawled with maggots.

Gao Yang steadied himself and reached out to unzip the bag fully.

The man was dressed in simple blue clothes for the deceased. Other than that, he was unadorned, and the bag was empty.

Gao Yang didn’t get it. There must be a reason for the twelve bodies to be stolen. Why left a body behind?

Someone like Ghost Horse wouldn’t have stolen an additional body by accident. There must be a reason for it.

Gao Yang took a picture of the dead man’s face with his phone before putting it back into his pocket. Then he took out his dagger to slice the buttoned shirt open, planning to check the body.

When he got to the second button, he noticed something on the body’s chest.

Before he could get a good look, the body’s eyes opened wide.