The flicker of the light lasted only a moment.
In the next second, it returned to normal. The dim yellow glow filled the room again, as if nothing had happened.
But the temperature had dropped.
An invisible chill crept along the walls, seeping into the bones.
Captain Zhang stood frozen, his throat dry. "Six… and none of them were reported?"
"Either they were ruled as accidents," Lin Wan said quietly, her voice slightly hoarse after using her ability. She paused.
"Or…"
"They were never discovered."
A cold shiver ran down Zhang's spine.
He glanced around the living room instinctively.
The curtains were half drawn. Dust-covered items were piled in the corners. The kitchen door was slightly open, revealing nothing but darkness—like a mouth waiting to swallow something whole.
"You mean… there are more victims, and we didn't even notice?" Zhang lowered his voice.
Lin Wan didn't answer.
She looked down at the corpse again.
The woman's eyes were still wide open, frozen in fear.
—"It's behind me."
The dying whisper echoed in Lin Wan's mind.
Behind.
Her gaze slowly shifted to the space behind the body.
A plain white wall.
Clean. Empty. Nothing there.
Yet after only a few seconds of staring, her fingers turned cold.
"Turn her over," she said suddenly.
Zhang frowned. "Now?"
"Now."
There was no room for argument.
Zhang gestured to the forensic doctor. The two of them carefully turned the body over.
The moment they did—
Everyone stopped breathing.
There was no wound on the victim's back.
But there were words.
Not carved.
Not written in blood.
They seemed to rise from beneath the skin itself.
Grayish marks spread like mold, slowly forming into clear shapes.
[The Seventh]
Crooked. Uneven.
But unmistakable.
As if something had marked her after death.
"This… this wasn't here before," the forensic doctor said, his voice shaking. "I checked earlier. There was nothing!"
Zhang's expression darkened instantly.
"You're sure?"
"I'm absolutely sure!"
The air grew heavy.
Oppressive.
Lin Wan stared at the words, her eyes turning colder.
This wasn't random.
It was counting.
From the very beginning, this had been planned.
A sequence.
"The first six victims… will have the same mark," she said quietly.
Zhang looked up sharply. "But we never found them!"
"Then we start now."
Lin Wan stood up slowly. Her body was still weak, but her mind was clear.
"Check all cases from the past month—accidents, suicides, missing persons."
She paused.
"Especially women living alone."
Zhang took a deep breath.
"…Alright. I'll pull every file we have."
He turned to leave, then suddenly stopped and looked back.
"You said it was 'behind her'… what does that mean?"
Lin Wan didn't answer immediately.
She looked at the wall again.
Still empty.
Still silent.
Then she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
"She wasn't looking at the wall."
Zhang frowned. "Then what was she looking at?"
Lin Wan exhaled slowly.
"At something standing in front of it."