Chapter 27 Part 1

Oh no!

This thought popped into his mind, and then he recalled what that cursed little ad had said about 122 people dying on Jinding Peak in the past two years. Bo Ting felt completely numb.

Regardless of whether the weird events described in that ad were real or fake, or if some serial killer was just putting on a show, the death toll couldn’t have been made up, right?

In other words, no matter the reason, people had been dying nonstop in the mountain behind their neighborhood?!

Bo Ting took a deep breath, realizing the severity of the situation.

No, this was too important—he had to call an emergency meeting right away to discuss it.

If people kept dying, didn’t that mean their neighborhood wasn’t safe either?

The residents were still poring over the map when Boss Zhu, who ran the bookstore, had just finished explaining his take on it and muted the rowdy kids in the group. That’s when Bo Ting’s message popped up.

Little Bo, who had gone silent after the map was shared, suddenly resurfaced and @-ed everyone in the group, followed by three urgent exclamation marks!!! The group’s atmosphere turned serious in an instant.

Bo Ting: “Everyone, there’s something we need to notify you about ASAP.”

“I just found out—we’ve got a huge problem with our translocation!”

The moment he said that, the people upstairs and downstairs were stunned.

“What? A huge problem?”

“What kind of problem?”

Even Wu Ge and his wife from Lele Restaurant, who had been lurking, popped up, looking confused.

Yesterday, when Little Bo announced their neighborhood had translocated, he hadn’t sounded this grave, had he?

What was going on?

The group, which had only had a few messages before, boiled over. People whispered to each other, wondering what had happened.

Hadn’t they just gotten the map?

Bo Ting noticed everyone’s reactions and organized his thoughts. He took a partial screenshot of the cursed page about “Jinding Peak” that he’d received that morning and posted it in the group.

“There’s something wrong with the mountain behind our neighborhood!”

From the map, this barren suburban hill was extremely close to their back gate—only a few hundred meters away.

After a moment of stunned silence, Boss Zhu, the first to understand the map, frowned.

“This mountain does seem to be right by our neighborhood.”

“But so many people died here in such a short time?”

The shocking number hit like a sucker punch, startling even Boss Zhu, who watched a lot of true crime shows.

This death toll was terrifying.

Elderly Aunt Qian couldn’t stand seeing this kind of thing. She glanced once and instinctively asked:

“Little Bo, where did you get this from?”

“Is it real?”

Bo Ting recalled the apps he’d browsed yesterday—they were all legit ones. If they were fake, they’d have been reported by now, right?

“Auntie Qian, it should be real.”

“We need to be careful.”

This was a death threat right in front of them—not some illusory translocation.

The group’s mood tensed up immediately. Elder Wen, living alone, looked especially serious.

“No need to joke about something like this. The text Little Bo got should be reliable.”

“Sigh, why did our neighborhood have such bad luck, translocating here all of a sudden.”

Who could argue with that?

Bo Ting sighed along with everyone’s misfortune.

But the most important thing right now was the “death incidents.”

According to the tally on that cursed page, Jinding Peak saw a death roughly every six days.

It had been about six days since the last one. That meant something was definitely going down tonight in this haunted place!

The fitness coach from [1004], who loved mystery manga, spoke up: “All those comics tell us there’s no such thing as ghosts in this world—weird events are utter nonsense.”

“So, with this many deaths in two years, there has to be a serial killer around here!”

Fitness Zhang Bro sounded absolutely certain.

Bo Ting nodded, thinking the same as Zhang Bro.

But superstitious Elder Wen from the older generation was doubtful.

“But… if it’s a serial killer, what’s with this page saying people heard crying?”

Elder Wen gradually came around, his tone bewildered.

Zhang Bro replied righteously: “That’s definitely some kind of disguise by the killer.”

“To muddy the waters and make it seem like a weird event so they can keep killing.”

His string of logic convinced most of the group. After all, they were all materialists who didn’t buy into that stuff.

Except for the neighborhood translocation, of course.

With Zhang Bro’s persuasion, Bo Ting took the lead in summarizing.

“There’s probably a serial killer prowling nearby, picking random victims every six days, dragging them up the mountain to kill, and dumping the bodies.”

“The security around here is awful.”

Aunt Qian grumbled.

“If it’s this dangerous, we absolutely can’t leave the neighborhood.”

What if they ran into that brutal maniac?

Boss Zhu cleared his throat lightly: “Even so, it doesn’t feel safe.”

“Our neighborhood doesn’t even have security guards. What if they come in?”

They were in the suburbs now. After translocation, there was just a 24-hour unmanned convenience store at the gate. As the only residential area for miles around—and a large one at that—how could a serial killer not target it?

If they didn’t go out, what if the killer came in?

Aunt Qian was stumped. This wasn’t like that previous bungled thief ring—it was a real murderer who’d already harmed 122 innocent people.

Bo Ting frowned tightly, feeling a bit anxious.

Sister Han from the group stepped up bravely.

“How about having my Doudou patrol the neighborhood tonight? It’s super sensitive to strangers—if there’s trouble, it’ll alert me right away.”

“And Doudou’s the fastest dog in the neighborhood; no killer could catch it.”

Everyone acknowledged Doudou’s speed—after all, who’d in the building not been bullied by it?

Some residents who’d held grudges against Doudou now felt a bit embarrassed hearing Sister Han.

But she did have a point.

Bo Ting glanced at Gouzi lounging nearby, never imagining it would one day get such an important job.

“Let’s try that, then.”

“Tonight’s right when Jinding Peak is due for another incident.”

“We’ll stay vigilant—if it’s a false alarm, even better.”

The group chattered and reached a decision. Bo Ting let out a breath and slowly put away his phone.

Seven o’clock that evening:

They’d just finished afternoon dinner when Lele Fast Food Restaurant downstairs shut its doors.

No choice—before they knew, it was fine, but now that they were aware of a serial killer lurking outside, even Wu Ge and his wife didn’t dare stay open late.

After delivering all the neighborhood orders early, they closed up and headed upstairs.

Bo Ting finished his fried noodles, tossed the container in the trash, and glanced at the box. Suddenly, he remembered something odd.

It had been so long since translocation, yet Wu Ge’s restaurant still had plenty of supplies. They delivered every day without running short—who knew how much food they’d stockpiled?

A flicker of subtle curiosity passed through his mind.

After chatting a bit more with the netizens, Bo Ting decided to head downstairs to throw out the trash and let Doudou assume its duty.

The well-fed black dog was lazily sprawled on the balcony. It only ambled over unhurriedly when Bo Ting called it with the leash.

Bo Ting: …

“Why do you seem so listless?”

“Can you really handle tonight?”

Doudou: …

The dog’s ferocious face shot him a sideways glare, snorting from its nostrils.

Bo Ting inexplicably felt despised by the dog. But when he looked again, Doudou was back to its ugly-cute, whiny self.

Bo Ting: …

Whatever—he must have imagined it. How could an ugly-cute mutt like Doudou despise him?

He patted its head casually, and as nightfall began to settle, Bo Ting took the dog downstairs.

But the moment they got down, Doudou yanked free of the leash and bounded joyfully through the garden.

Good thing everyone had their doors locked tight tonight—the neighborhood was empty, so no one to scare.

Gouzi zigzagged out of sight.

Bo Ting snapped a photo and posted it in the group with a message.

“Gouzi’s on duty.”

A minute later, replies rolled in:

“Good!”

“I’ve got the security booth cameras set up too.”

Mystery master Fitness Zhang Bro replied, forming the neighborhood’s first line of defense alongside Gouzi.

Neighbors upstairs and down liked it, and Bo Ting couldn’t help praising:

“Thanks, Zhang Bro.”

“I’ll head back up then.”

He subtly glanced at the 360-degree rotating cameras in front of the security booth and nodded in satisfaction.

Across the way, Zhang Bro, who had just turned on the lights and was watching the monitors, spotted the dark figure in the neighborhood.

The black raincoat was unmistakable. Caught off guard, Zhang Bro instinctively reached for the alarm.

Only when his phone buzzed with the group notification did he snap out of the eerie chill, breaking into a cold sweat. He looked down at the message and realized the shadow was Bo Ting.

Damn! He’d nearly scared himself to death.

Zhang Bro swallowed hard, his eyes darting away as he subconsciously avoided the video.

Only after the shadow vanished—confirming Bo Ting had entered the building—did he mutter and relax.

Zhang Bro rubbed his eyes. His legs, hooked on the pull-up bar below his waist, relaxed. Next time watching the feed, he’d keep his distance from Bo Ting.

What the hell!

A few minutes later, Bo Ting double-locked the door, sank onto the sofa with a sigh, and messaged the netizen.

“Mr. Xu, I might have to pull an all-nighter tonight.”

An orange cat with a world-weary face emoji came back.

Xu Qinglai was surprised.

“Why stay up?”

Didn’t Bo Ting always have a healthy schedule?

As he pondered, the reply came.

“Sigh, there’s been some trouble near home lately.”

“Need to keep an eye out.”

Afraid of scaring the netizen, Bo Ting didn’t blurt out the serial killer near their neighborhood.

Tch, normal people would be terrified by this, right?

Bo Ting shook his head and checked the time.

“Does Mr. Xu still work overtime at night?”

“If you’re working late, stay safe—best not to go home alone.”

In Bo Ting’s mind, Mr. Xu was refined and scholarly; running into a thug would be dangerous!

The concern in his netizen’s words was obvious. Xu Qinglai paused, raising a brow at the car window beside him.