In front of Numbered Room '70'.
"It stinks."
Jiang Jiuguo covered his nose, his gaze shifting toward Number 35.
He and Number 35 had left their Numbered Room and headed down to the second floor; even from a distance, they could smell a strong, putrid stench.
The smell was unbearable.
Like a corpse left to rot and ferment outside a morgue in the summer heat, the stench was overwhelming, enough to make one vomit up last night's meal with just one whiff.
Yet the truth was... the person in Room 70 had only been dead for a short while, no more than ten minutes.
Fortunately, having witnessed Zhou Fengchun's transformation process,
Jiang Jiuguo was mentally prepared.
The moment the door opened, there were no surprises; inside the room, besides a 'roommate' from Room 70, there was also a corpse.
The corpse was highly decomposed.
Its entire body was bloated as if soaked in water, the skin pale and bloodless, looking like a corpse that had been drowning for dozens of days.
Jiang Jiuguo covered his nose.
Suppressing the churning in his stomach, he looked the corpse up and down.
"With him looking like this, even Forensic Qin Ming would be at a loss. I bet even if Conan came to investigate, he wouldn't be able to tell the cause of death was suicide by medicine."
"Stop being a smart-mouth."
Number 35 crouched before the corpse and looked up. "Carry the body out."
One in front and one behind, the two of them moved the corpse onto the body bag prepared outside the door.
But just as Jiang Jiuguo grabbed the corpse's hands—
*Riiiip—*
The corpse's arms were easily torn off by Jiang Jiuguo.
Looking at the two dangling arms...
"..."
Jiang Jiuguo, Number 35, and the roommate from Room 70 locked eyes; the atmosphere froze instantly.
"*Blegh~*"
The roommate from Room 70 couldn't hold it in any longer and started vomiting.
He was the corpse's roommate and had been in the room since the death, waiting several minutes for Jiang Jiuguo and the other; he had been smelling the stench the whole time, and now that the arms were torn off, it wasn't just the smell anymore; the scene was both bloody and disgusting.
Jiang Jiuguo didn't know what to say.
He glanced at Number 35, somewhat speechless.
The corpse didn't just look like it had been in water for dozens of days; it was truly rotten through.
"I forgot to tell you."
Number 35 nonchalantly took the two severed arms from Jiang Jiuguo and placed them on the corpse's chest.
"Those who die from a ghost sequence formula have different appearances in death, but the bodies are never fresh; they all look like they've been dead for a long time, so the corpses are very fragile."
Having said that, Number 35 looked at Jiang Jiuguo, then at the corpse with the severed arms.
Then he added two words.
"My bad."
Jiang Jiuguo: "..."
roommate 70: "..."
*Are you an airhead? How could you forget to mention something so important?*
Jiang Jiuguo said nothing.
He walked up to the corpse and pressed his palms together.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Please be magnanimous and forgive me."
Then, the two of them carefully lifted the corpse.
With quite some effort, they placed the corpse into the body bag.
They zipped up the body bag.
Number 35: "First, pack up his things and clean the room. If you want to change rooms, press the red button and I'll arrange it for you."
"Just help me change now," said roommate 70.
"Alright, once I've dealt with the body, I'll take you to move."
Number 35 pulled the cart carrying the body bag and signaled for Jiang Jiuguo to leave.
As the cart rolled along...
They passed the various Numbered Rooms on the second floor where Room 70 was located.
Through the glass on the Numbered Rooms, Jiang Jiuguo saw people in some of the rooms looking out. Their gazes were fixed on the corpse on the passing cart, their eyes filled with undisguised grief for their own kind.
That might be their future end as well.
The second floor corridor was no longer quiet; sighs drifted out from the Numbered Rooms from time to time.
"Sigh, another one dead."
"How many has it been this month? I feel like I'm next."
"Which room was it?"
"Seems to be Room 70. I heard the sound of the cart starting from Room 70 next door."
"Room 70? Was it Zhou Dong? He still didn't make it? What a pity, he was almost done with the successful transformation."
"Yeah, if he had endured this time, he only had two more to go to succeed."
"This morning... he told me he was already planning how to use the ten million to honor his parents once he got out."
"His parents won't see him return; they won't even get to see his body."
Voices drifted out from several Numbered Rooms.
They echoed softly in the corridor, reaching Jiang Jiuguo's ears.
In this way, Jiang Jiuguo and Number 35 silently pushed the cart away from the second floor. They didn't speak the whole time, and it was unclear what either of them was thinking.
Until they reached the third basement level.
On the way,
Number 35 glanced at the silent Jiang Jiuguo.
He thought Jiang Jiuguo was scared, having seen the corpse and heard those conversations.
"You must be scared this time," said Number 35.
"I'm not scared."
"Is that so? This is the first time I've seen you silent. Weren't you thinking about escaping or your family?" Number 35 said calmly, in the tone of someone who had been through it.
He could understand this feeling.
He had gone through the same thing back then.
Hearing this, Jiang Jiuguo stared at Number 35 for a few moments. He could tell that although Number 35 appeared cold and expressionless, he was actually quite decent to those they had captured; he had even proactively helped roommate 70 change rooms just now.
Then, he grinned.
"I was silent because I was thinking that after what just happened, I probably won't be able to eat shredded meat for a long time. It's a bit sad."
*Seems like I shouldn't have cared.*
Number 35's eyelid twitched.
Before he could say anything more, Jiang Jiuguo spoke up.
"Number 35, did you know him?"
As he spoke, Jiang Jiuguo's gaze fell on the corpse on the cart.
He adjusted his non-existent glasses.
"Even though I haven't known you long, you've always been efficient and haven't made any mistakes before. So why did you forget to tell me about the corpse's decomposition this time? I saw that your attention was fixed on the corpse back then. It couldn't be that you were trying to prank me for revenge, right?"
Number 35 looked startled.
He instinctively looked at the corpse on the cart.
Finally, he gave a slight nod.
"He was my classmate." Number 35 didn't elaborate much, changing the subject: "Your observation skills are good."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Jiang Jiuguo wanted to chat more, but there was no time.
The two arrived at the room on the third basement level where the cremator was located.
"I'll handle it." Jiang Jiuguo took the initiative to take over the task of moving the body.
Number 35 was the only 'kidnapper' he could interact with right now. Building a good relationship might lead to more information later, and the man had shown some concern for him earlier.
Burning a friend's body with one's own hands—
That must be a painful thing for Number 35.
"You handle it, then."
Number 35 didn't refuse Jiang Jiuguo's kindness.
Even though he was used to seeing life and death, no one can truly get used to it, especially when facing the death of friends or family; one cannot remain indifferent.
He lit a cigarette and, as he sat down to the side, took out his phone and opened a photo.
It was a group photo.
Number 35 was standing among them.
Looking closer, the person standing next to Number 35 in the photo had features that matched the corpse currently in the body bag.
Jiang Jiuguo didn't know any of this.
He was currently carrying the corpse to the cremator.
With a thud,
the heavy corpse was lifted onto the platform inside the furnace.
He began to arrange the body.
He had experienced his grandfather's death when he was a child and remembered clearly that during cremation, the body needed to be laid flat so that after the incineration, one could tell which part the remaining bones belonged to.
This would make it easier to place the bones into the urn in order from head to toe.
According to custom, this was so the body would be neat inside the urn, and in the underworld, the body wouldn't be crooked and the bones would be complete.
But just as Jiang Jiuguo was arranging the corpse,
he suddenly froze.
"Huh? What's this?"
Jiang Jiuguo's gaze fell directly on the corpse's chest, where the clothes had been accidentally pulled open.
There were rows of words on the lining of the clothes.
As he clearly saw the content of the words,
Jiang Jiuguo's pupils constricted. "This is... a ghost sequence formula."
...