Chapter 394: Shedding the Shell 

“Floating object?” Wang Dong furrowed his brows.

He understood the general idea—objects floating in liquid or gas. Simple principles: like how a balloon floats in air, or how a human floats in water. It’s basic science. Buoyancy comes from the difference in pressure applied by a fluid or gas to an immersed object. 

But was it really that hard to create a humanoid floating figure?

Not really.

If we assume it was just a simple construct, like a balloon, then using hydrogen, a gas less dense than air, and combining it with some lightweight structural design, the result wasn’t difficult to achieve.

“In the dim lighting during the video, we never saw the red-dressed woman’s legs,” Xiao Yu said, picking up the tablet and rewatching the footage. “We only saw her face and those skeletal hands. It’s true that her face and hands looked real, but they could’ve been faked. Everything else was hidden under clothing. And Brother Wang, didn’t you notice something strange?

“When the red-dressed woman rushed the first girl, that girl didn’t react at all. She didn’t struggle, didn’t dodge, just stood there and got stabbed. That stab was particularly odd. The girl just stood there motionless and let it happen. Then, she and the red-dressed woman fell into the darkness together. Then came the second victim, the young man. Same deal. He didn’t move either. He just let her grab his head.

“Tell me, what normal person, faced with a ghost rushing at them, wouldn’t at least try to move? Don’t tell me they were too scared to react. One person maybe. But two? And most importantly…”

Xiao Yu pointed at some details in the video on the tablet. “When the red-dressed woman killed them, aside from floating in and eating an eyeball, or grabbing the guy’s head, her body always stayed at the edge of the frame. We never saw her full figure, only her upper half.

“So, what if behind her lower half, just outside the camera’s view, someone was operating her? Also, when she was killing those two, only the guy and the girl were visible in the footage. Where were the other four? 

“And at the end… all six victims were found dead in the same room, right? You saw the speed she moved at. Killing two people took time. The remaining four had more than enough time to escape. So how did their bodies end up back in the house?

“But according to the on-site investigation, all signs indicated they never left. Every one of them died inside that room. I can’t make sense of it. What were the other four doing? Just standing around waiting to be killed? Is that scientific? Logical?”

Wang Dong’s expression grew increasingly strange as he listened. He recalled that he and his teammates had even toyed with the idea that maybe—just maybe—the red-dressed woman really was a ghost. That she used some kind of supernatural force to immobilize the others. That would explain the impossible killings.

But now, listening to Xiao Yu lay it all out, the number of inconsistencies in this case was off the charts.

“All of this only makes sense,” Xiao Yu continued, “if the red-dressed woman was a real person.”

His eyes lit up with a strange glint, like flames quietly flickering. 

“But what if… she wasn’t a real person? What if she was just a humanoid prop?” he added.

“You mean…” Wang Dong stared. “Someone used the floating prop to commit the murders?”

Xiao Yu shook his head and let out a cold chuckle. “No. Maybe they weren’t murders at all. Maybe… they were acting.”

“…Huh?” Wang Dong was completely thrown.

‘Acting? What kind of leap in logic is this?!’

“Let’s start with the spirit game,” Xiao Yu said, beginning to explain. “A proper plate-spirit summoning, the classic setup, usually requires four participants—two men, two women. The optimal time is midnight, with all the lights turned off. Everyone sits around the plate, closes their eyes, and silently chants to invite the spirit.

“They chant three times—‘Plate spirit, plate spirit, please come out.’ And throughout the game, everyone’s fingers must remain on the plate—always. Once contact is broken, the spirit won’t respond. The plate won’t move.

“But in their video, right at the start, they weren’t even touching the plate. It moved on its own? That’s already a huge red flag. It shows they didn’t even know how to play properly. And then the funniest part—all six of them pulled their hands back at the same time. Why would they do that?”

“It means…” Wang Dong suddenly understood. “None of them actually knew how the game worked. One of them was pretending to know and taught the rest how to play it wrong.”

“Exactly.” Xiao Yu nodded. “None of them were pros, but they all acted like they were. It was an act. All six of them putting on a performance. That’s why the surveillance camera was there. They were filming it. For someone else to see.”

“They were directing and acting in their own ghost story?” Wang Dong’s voice trembled slightly. “The red-dressed woman was just a prop they’d made? The killings we saw were all staged in advance? That’s why the first two victims didn’t react, they were pretending. And the red-dressed woman was being controlled from off-camera?”

“More or less,” Xiao Yu nodded. “That’s currently the most plausible theory.”

“But one thing doesn’t add up.” Wang Dong’s face darkened. “If that’s true, then they’re all dead now. Who the hell dies from method acting?”

“I haven’t figured that part out either.” Xiao Yu frowned. “If one of them wanted to take advantage of the setup to commit real murder, they still wouldn’t be able to kill all six. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Wang Dong pressed.

“Unless there was a seventh person,” Xiao Yu said meaningfully. “Or… an eighth.”

“That’s impossible!” Wang Dong was stunned. “The video clearly shows only six people.”

“Why impossible?” Xiao Yu spoke slowly, deliberately. “What if the seventh—or eighth—was a corpse?”

“…Huh?!” Wang Dong’s expression turned to horror. “What do you mean?”

“Originally there were six people,” Xiao Yu said, voice low. “But what if one or two of them are still alive? What if one or two of them used someone else’s body and pulled a shell-shedding escape?”