As evening arrived, the rainfall began to patter again, and thunderclouds rumbled faintly in the sky.
Officer Zhang, reluctantly casting a glance at the dance studio's windows, still started the car and drove the priest toward the urban village.
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The city was quite old, and there were many small villages nestled among the forests of steel and concrete, where sewer water unsettlingly gushed onto streets, sprayed by the passage of car tires.
Lanruo's place wasn't far from Qiuzi's residence either; although they didn't share an apartment, they both rented rooms within the same area.
"They came up to the north together a few years ago but split up because they found the shared apartment too cramped," Officer Zhang said as she drove. "Last night, although no one saw Lanruo go to the dance studio, her room was also empty."
"It's a pity there are so few surveillance cameras in this city, otherwise we could have checked more thoroughly," the priest said with a nod.
"In this day and age, we must rely on human surveillance."
As they talked casually, the signboard of the narrow urban village appeared before them. The roads inside were too cramped, so they didn't drive the car in.
Officer Zhang parked beside the road and turned to see the priest, who had somehow produced a black umbrella.
Dressed in a black robe with gold trim, a golden cross stitched on his chest, his expression was both sorrowful and gentle, exuding an aura of holiness.
The man stood alone, silent in the rain with his black umbrella—an indescribably somber sight.
It was as if he was there to conduct a funeral.
The city's residents were largely religious; though the village was home to many outsiders, the appearance of a priest drew involuntary glances from some of the elderly.
A twitch of her mouth, Officer Zhang said, "Don't walk with me, go over there."
Having said that, she dashed into the street, braving the light rain. Following the information sent by her colleagues, she waded through puddles beside the road to a building.
The dark staircase reeked of decay, and the dim yellow light was extremely faint, with stains streaking the walls.
Officer Zhang glanced back to see that the priest hadn't followed; instead, he was being detained by some elders on the street. She then made her way up the stairs by herself.
The hallway was laden with the typical dampness of the urban village, smelling somewhat foul and oppressive.
In the city, only the main streets were monitored. Lanruo's figure was lost after turning into the village within the city, and after that, they had to resort to having people follow her.
But just now, that young man said that not only was the girl not in her apartment, but she had also not returned for several days.
Upon hearing this, the priest mentioned something seemingly off-topic, "No one has gone missing in this area."
"Of course, I know that," Officer Zhang raised an eyebrow.
"But a few days ago, a Black Dog died in the narrow alley and was stinking. It's been dealt with, but the elders think it's an ill omen. They wanted me to go pray over it," the priest added.
Upon hearing this, Officer Zhang fell silent.
In this era where news doesn't spread easily, disappearances only come to light through people reporting them. Without a report, there would be no way to know that something had happened.
Worse still, what if nobody had "disappeared" at all?
Recalling the striking girl who used to show up on camera precisely on schedule to check in at the dance studio made Officer Zhang shiver.
Then he remembered that there were usually only four people in the dance studio, and it seemed two of them were acting strangely, which made him shiver for the other two as well.
The sound of raindrops pattering on his arms indeed made it feel colder.
Officer Zhang got back into his car, took a moment to compose himself, then frowned and said, "If that's the case, the anomaly likely started with Lanruo first, and afterwards, she went and killed Qiuzi."
"But she didn't vanish like the others who disappeared before; she still went to the dance studio for practice as usual," the priest said slowly.
The ones who disappeared before had truly gone missing.
No trace was found, and it was only after bizarre murder cases emerged that they could see shadows of those people. The footage of their appearances was nothing but deathly still, like Wraiths.
That's why they said the killers were the deceased.
Those involved in the 'Black Dog' incidents were essentially deemed dead by the police.
As for why such a conclusion was reached, that goes back to events from decades ago, before this city was influenced by any religion, when all manner of sinister events were rampant.
At this moment, Officer Zhang suddenly thought of something even more important and widened his eyes, saying, "Wait, if Lanruo disappeared and then came back to kill Qiuzi, then after that, could it be that Qiuzi... "
Would it then go on cyclically, gradually contaminating the entire dance team?