After being poisoned by mushrooms, all the strange creatures became fascinated by me.

Upon hearing this, everyone else present was taken aback.

Lian Sheng suddenly looked up, and Lian Shi leaned forward, all three pairs of eyes focusing on Han Zhou. Han Zhou also took in their reactions.

"Have there been people brought back to life in 'Jie Bailing' as well?" Lian Sheng took a breath and picked up the conversation. "How many people are there? When was this first discovered? And... it only happens to assassins?"

Han Zhou didn't answer this time. He narrowed his eyes, his thoughts racing: It's not surprising that Lian Sheng and Lian Shi have such insights, but why did Tang Li also come over with a serious expression? Look at her eyes, there's more than just curiosity unrelated to herself, but a clear purpose of investigation.

Could it be that she also...? But this little girl has only been at "Jiebailing" for a day and a night, so if it is... then who could it be?

A sudden thought flashed through Han Zhou's mind, and he suddenly remembered that Tang Li had indeed resisted someone in various ways this morning.

The boy stared at Tang Li and suddenly asked, "Is she a flower girl?"

Tang Li opened her eyes wide.

Han Zhou clicked his tongue, confirming the matter directly: "Ji Chunmu also fell victim? Tell me, how did she die last night?"

Tang Li didn't try to hide anything: "Okay."

"Haven't we all witnessed people coming back from the dead?" Tang Li glanced around the room, her tone utterly nonchalant. "How about each of you tell us one story?"

She was never one to suffer a loss. Though small in stature, her aura was in no way weak.

Han Zhou narrowed his eyes: "So you have indeed seen him before."

He unusually indulged her, tacitly approving Tang Li's suggestion. The boy leaned back in his chair, his eyes half-lowered, half reminiscing, half recounting.

"Three years ago, there was a disciple in the sect who was usually taciturn, but suddenly went insane overnight."

"No one knows what he saw, only that he suddenly did everything he could to stay away from his senior brother whom he had always respected and loved. On the first day, whenever he approached his senior brother, he would cry and scream incessantly, as if he were facing a flood or a ferocious beast."

"On the second day, his madness worsened. Whoever approached him would be mistaken for his senior brother. In the afternoon, even when he was alone, he could see the phantom of the person he feared."

"I personally interrogated that disciple. No matter what I asked him, he kept saying that his senior brother had died the night before and that he had watched his senior brother burn himself to death. When I pressed him further, he laughed and ran towards the blade, trying to end his own life."

"His fellow disciples had no choice but to take away all the sharp weapons on him that could cause him to die; he then tried to strangle himself with his clothes, so they stripped him of his clothes, tied his hands behind his back, and locked him in an empty room. The room was stuffed with cotton quilts to prevent him from committing suicide by hitting his head against the wall."

"On the third night, the house suddenly caught fire. The fire started at some unknown time, and it spread so rapidly from just one room to such a large blaze."

Han Zhou's gaze lingered in mid-air, as if he could still see that night, the firelight reddening a patch of sky, making it seem like the evening glow even though it was the middle of the night.

"The disciples rushed to put out the fire, but even his close friends and fellow disciples dared not rush in for his sake."

"At this moment, a person suddenly stumbled out of the fire. No one knew how this disciple managed to escape from the burning house. The instant he stepped out, a terrifying ring of flames suddenly burst from his body. As he ran, red sparks and pieces of charred skin peeled off his body."

"No one wanted to stop him; everyone was waiting for him to be burned to death. In just a short time, the entire house was reduced to ashes, yet this disciple was still running."

"It was as if the fire hadn't burned him out yet, so he could keep running. Until finally, he reached the top of the cliff and, like a red-hot comet, leaped off and plunged into the raging Hanyan River."

"In the end, no one could find the disciple's remains in the river. 'Jie Bailing' called it the 'Cotton House Case,' and after that, the disciple's senior brother also disappeared without a trace. I only saw him once before he vanished."

The boy's eyes were indifferent.

"—I noticed that there were burn scars under his clothes."

After Han Zhou finished speaking, there was a moment of silence in the room. Lian Sheng paused slightly and said, "I'll speak next."

"This happened four years ago, before I knew Lian Shi. I joined a security escort agency and became a bodyguard, traveling all over the country day and night with the team."

"There was a man in our team who was around forty years old and missing a little finger. Everyone called him Zhao Jiuzhi. Zhao Jiuzhi and I were both former assassins who became bodyguards, so we always had more to talk about."

"One day, we were escorting the goods and spent the night in the wilderness. It was a very cold day, and we were exhausted from the long journey, so we all went to sleep, except for Zhao Jiuzhi, who was on night watch that day."

"When it was darkest, I suddenly woke up for some reason. My heart was pounding, and Wuyou was trembling in my arms. Suddenly, I heard a continuous 'creaking' sound."

"The sound was extremely grating. I have a small dog myself, and it sounded familiar. It was like some kind of animal chewing on a small piece of meat, skin and bones."

"I was worried it was some kind of wolf or jackal passing by, so I quickly opened my eyes and quietly looked towards the source of the sound."

Lian Sheng took a light breath.

"—I saw Zhao Jiuzhi eating his own finger."

"I almost thought I was dreaming. He was eating with his face covered in blood, and blood mixed with saliva was dripping from the corners of his mouth. I felt disgusted, but he ate with great relish, his eyes full of greed, as if his fingers were some kind of delicacy."

"But perhaps a human throat is not as thick as a wild animal's throat. Just then, he suddenly clutched his neck, bent forward, looked extremely pained, and made strange gurgling noises."

"That's when I realized that he seemed to be choking on the bones of his own fingers."

"I didn't care about him. Rather, I watched him breathe his last, and before he could react in any way, he inexplicably fell into a deep sleep. I slept soundly until I was woken up the next morning."

"I opened my eyes and found Zhao Jiuzhi smiling at me with his missing teeth. He was the one calling me to get up."

"The only change is that he's now missing half of his ring finger. It's bloody, with the white bone fragments exposed."

"He should be called... Zhao Bazhiban."

Lian Sheng looked at Han Zhou and said, "If that disciple had a similar experience to me, it wouldn't be hard to understand why he was driven mad by fear."

Han Zhou smiled enigmatically: "It can only be said that he is cowardly and timid, unfit to be an assassin."

"If it were someone brave, even if they were young, they would remain calm and composed when faced with such a bizarre scene."

The three of them focused their attention on the only child.

After Lian Sheng finished speaking, Tang Li was the next to speak.