Trembling At A High Altitude

Apart from Richard and Zeka, the remaining five people walked out of the courtyard with their umbrellas, circled around to the back of the courtyard, and walked along the stone path toward the direction of the vegetable garden.

Li Teng and Aila shared an umbrella, deliberately keeping a distance from the other three.

"Who is the person you've identified? What evidence is still missing?" Aila asked Li Teng in a low voice.

"I'm waiting for the outcome tonight. If one more person among these seven dies tonight, we should be able to find out who the ghost is," Li Teng replied to Aila.

"You suspect Richard, right?" Aila said outright.

"Key evidence is still missing," Li Teng said noncommittally.

"Although I hate that person, I think it's unlikely he's the ghost because that's just the kind of villain he is!" Aila shared her speculation.

"The concept of the ghost here doesn't necessarily mean the person who is the ghost knows they are the ghost. Richard is suspicious, but I don't rule out the others. Anyway, be careful, I'm really worried you'll be the next target," Li Teng warned Aila.

"Anyway, in this mission, I've already punished Gemma. After letting Richard receive his deserved punishment, it doesn't matter to me if I can live to return or not. Even if I'm killed by the ghost, I can die with my eyes closed," Aila said, quite indifferent to her own fate.

"Try your best to survive. Life is harsh, and it has taken away everything precious to you, but there are still people who care about you. If possible, hang in there for them!" Li Teng encouraged Aila.

"Prison is a harsh and dark place, and the task world is even more brutal and darker. Everyone is struggling to survive, and you are the only light and warmth in this darkness," Aila looked at Li Teng, deeply moved.

"Don't make me out to be so noble. I only pursue justice and fairness when it doesn't threaten my own life," Li Teng shook his head.

"In this cruel and dark world, achieving all that you have is already quite remarkable. You and Richard are completely different people. He is selfish, cruel, greedy, malicious, and sly; you are sunny, upright, brave, wise, and kind. You could be called the epitome of a perfect man in this world," Aila evaluated the two men from the bottom of her heart.

"Cough, I'm really not as outstanding as you say," Li Teng continued to be modest.

As they talked, they unconsciously arrived at the vegetable garden.

The rain also temporarily stopped.

The vegetable garden was bigger than they had imagined, with more variety and quantity.

"How can we eat all this in just a few days? There's so much here, and they're still growing every day. We could eat for a month or two without any problems," Yang Shunli was pleasantly surprised as he looked at the vegetable garden.

Next to the vegetable garden, there was a stone house with some tools. After getting the tools, everyone immediately started to pick various vegetables.

In addition to vegetables, there were also potatoes and corn planted, which could serve as staple food.

Soon after, everyone picked several large bundles of vegetables, potatoes, and corn, and after the harvesting, they carried and hauled them back toward the courtyard.

Richard and Zeka had not met with any accidents; both were still alive.

But this did not prove that neither of them was the ghost.

After all, the ghost isn't foolish. Killing another person under these circumstances would amount to revealing their own ghostly identity, wouldn't it?

With these vegetables, there was no need to kill so many chickens and ducks.

With both meat and vegetables, today's meals were much more varied.

Everyone had a great meal.

Zeka also got up to eat a big bowl.

After the meal, the rain got heavier.

Carrying an umbrella, Richard asked Aila to go for a walk with him alone.

But she declined, claiming she didn't feel well.

Thus, Richard walked out of the yard alone, holding an umbrella.

"He's on his own, isn't he afraid of encountering a ghost?" Aila asked Li Teng in a low voice.

"He isn't from prison; he doesn't know about the ghost. If he is the ghost, then he would be even less afraid. So... either way, he's not scared of ghosts," Li Teng replied to Aila.

"That makes sense. I guess he's off to see Gemma, and if Gemma isn't dead yet, he'll finish the job himself," Aila speculated.

"Aren't you going to check it out?" Li Teng glanced at Aila, feeling like she had suddenly lost interest in revenge.

"No need now, anyway... We know that Gemma is already dead, now we just want to think about how to make his death even more miserable," Aila answered Li Teng.

...

At noon, Richard returned from outside.

With a stern face, he said nothing, seemingly very tired, and went straight to lie down on the bed in the side room.

The rain continued in the afternoon, and it grew heavier, with thunder starting up.

The thunderstorm made it inconvenient to go out, and with cell phones still unable to get contact with the outside world, everyone had to stay inside the stone house where the space was quite cramped; it was utterly boring.

Richard kicked Zeka out of the side room and several times invited Aila to come inside, which she refused each time.

He seemed very displeased and then just continued to lie down and sleep.

The others, either with no interest in chatting or having exhausted all possible topics, in extreme boredom, either leaned against something or lay down, sleeping or resting with their eyes closed.

They toughed it out until nightfall.

Tonight was evidently crucial.

Last night, the tourist who was killed was Gemma, and if another person died tonight, it would further narrow down the range of suspects.

Li Teng still arranged the same night shift schedule as the previous night.

At eleven fifty at night, Li Teng woke up Yang Shunli and Aila.

Mindo and the female assistant, who were in the same room as Aila, did not wake up this time.

So, Aila went to the restroom by herself.

The rain outside had stopped.

"Come with me," Aila suggested to Li Teng.

"Well... okay," Li Teng hesitated for a moment but agreed in the end.

"I..." Yang Shunli felt that he should follow the two of them, but felt it was somewhat inappropriate.

He sensed that there seemed to be something between Li Teng and Aila; maybe these two were looking for a chance to be alone, and it would be really inappropriate for him to follow them.

Clearly, he was overthinking it.

"Come with us," Li Teng suggested to Yang Shunli.

"Never mind, I'll watch over these sleeping people, in case something happens, I'll yell for you," Yang Shunli hesitated for a while, then decided not to be the unwelcome third wheel.

So Li Teng accompanied Aila out of the stone house and into the yard.

Aila went to the restroom and asked Li Teng to wait outside the door.

After a while, Aila finished up and it was Li Teng's turn, with her now waiting by the door.

Li Teng was halfway through dealing with something when Yang Shunli's yelling suddenly came from the stone house.

Then there was Mindo's piercing scream.

Aila glanced over at Yang Shunli, then back at Li Teng, and thought it would be better to wait for Li Teng to finish up so they could go there together.

After quickly taking care of business, Li Teng shook off, pulled up his pants, and rushed out of the restroom with Aila toward the stone house.

Richard and Zeka had also been woken up by the noise; by then, they had all gathered at the side room or near its door.

"Damn it! Who did this?" an angry accusation from Richard came from inside the side room.

Li Teng and Aila entered the side room to have a look.

In the side room where the three women were staying, the female assistant was sleeping on the bed, and Mindo was on the floor next to the bed.

Aila had followed Li Teng's instructions and slept on the floor by the door, within Li Teng's range of observation and protection.

The situation now was that the female assistant sleeping on the bed had her throat cut with a knife.

The murder weapon, a small kitchen knife, was placed beside her pillow.

Blood was still bubbling out of her neck, indicating that she had not been dead for long.

"Just now, the two of them went out to use the restroom. I used my phone's flashlight to check inside the room. I checked on Director Lin's side first; all was normal, and then I went to their room. That's when I found her murdered. At that time, only those two people were in the room," Yang Shunli, using Song Hui's identity, explained to Richard.

He also narrated the events to Li Teng and Aila.

"I had been sleeping the whole time; I didn't know anything. His yelling woke me up," Mindo quickly attempted to clear herself of suspicion.

"Among us, a murderer has emerged! But why target her? She was innocent!" Richard crouched beside the female assistant's bed, touching her face, his expression one of pain and anger.

As he said those words, Richard turned to scan everyone's faces, as if trying to spot the killer among them.

"I've been asleep the whole time, and you were watching me. Did you hear any strange noises while I was sleeping?" Aila pulled Li Teng aside and whispered.

"No," Li Teng shook his head, frowning deeply.

"So who's the prime suspect now?" Aila continued to ask.

"Mindo is the most suspicious," Li Teng replied to Aila.

"Yang Shunli also can't easily be ruled out—this murder just happened, and back then, only those two were at the scene," Aila reminded Li Teng.

"Indeed," Li Teng nodded.

…

"President Song, I don't want to disrupt the friendly relationship between our two companies, but I can't just let go of her death, you and your assistant, indeed, cannot shake off the suspicion. I don't know what grudge you had against her, but I hope you can give me an explanation before the police get involved; perhaps we could keep this matter under wraps.

"If I don't get a reasonable explanation from you, I definitely can't let this go," Richard could not let go of his female assistant's death and now turned his suspicions towards his esteemed guest, President Song.

"It's inappropriate for Director Lin to say that. When I went in to check, she was already murdered, Assistant Wang was still sleeping, and besides, Director Lin, what would my motive be to kill her?" Yang Shunli retorted to Richard.

"Fine, since President Song has asked, I might as well ask President Song a question first. Why would you go into their room with a flashlight?" Richard questioned Yang Shunli.

"Well… My sister and her bodyguard know that they had me scheduled for night duty. When I'm on night duty, I definitely need to ensure everyone's safety, so of course, I had to check on everyone," Yang Shunli explained.

"You're a CEO, and they have you on night duty? Why not have your assistant do it?" Richard asked Yang Shunli with a puzzled look.

Richard had harbored doubts about the four individuals from the Song family for a while.

This president seemed to show no signs of his authoritative stature in front of his sister's bodyguard, rather, he always seemed to be showing respect?

"Assistants work hard, I've always been considerate of my subordinates," Yang Shunli hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up to explain.

"Hmph!" Richard felt unhappy upon hearing Yang Shunli's words.

Was this a sarcastic remark about his poor treatment of subordinates?

"Director Lin has always been considerate and caring towards his subordinates too," Zeka, seeing the displeasure on his boss's face, quickly jumped in to defend Richard.

However, this defense only backfired.

How Richard had treated Zeka in the past couple of days had been quite apparent to everyone.

After an argument, the scene fell into silence once again.

With someone having died an unnatural death, everyone else was deprived of sleep.

No one dared to sleep in separate rooms anymore, and all gathered in the central stone house, sitting against the walls.

A candle was lit inside the stone house, its flickering flame swaying with the wind that entered through gaps in the door and windows.

"Ah!"

Mindo suddenly let out a scream while staring at the wall opposite her.

"What happened?"

Her outburst startled everyone, who quickly asked her what was wrong.

"Just now... just now there was a ghost shadow on the wall!" Mindo pointed at the opposite wall with a terrified expression.

Everyone turned to look at the wall opposite Mindo.

It turned out that the flickering candlelight occasionally cast the shadow of the candlestick's handle onto the opposite wall. The handle was carved with a small figure, which looked like a ghostly shadow.

"Everyone is on edge, let's not startle each other anymore! President Song, please control your subordinates!" Richard said irritably.

He had initially been courteous towards the four individuals from the Song family.

But the recent argument had clearly soured his relationship with Song Hui.

"Director Lin, are you blaming us? Now we really should clarify things. Who is responsible for bringing us to this predicament? We came here upon invitation, planning to invest in your company. You promised to take us sightseeing, but look what happened..."

Until now, Yang Shunli seemed like an easygoing person, but he was obviously displeased with Richard and couldn't refrain from retorting.

"My original intention was certainly to entertain you well, but who would have known he would arrange everything so poorly? I will definitely hold him accountable when we return." Richard, upon hearing Yang Shunli's explanation, recalled that the Song family were distinguished guests here for investment.

The death of the female assistant could wait; even if it was the Song family members who had killed her, so what?

At most, it was the loss of a subordinate; it wasn't worth affecting the big picture of the company's business.

"Just don't purposely pin the blame on us," Yang Shunli sneered a few comments.

"Why would I do that? I was in a bad mood earlier, and if my words have offended, I hope President Song won't take it to heart," Richard, having realized this, offered Yang Shunli an apology.

"It's fine, it's fine," Yang Shunli waved his hand dismissively.

As they spoke, snoring suddenly filled the air.

Someone had actually fallen asleep.