Lei Xiaojia’s body gradually faded, and so did her mother’s. Lei Xiaojia’s voice was very soft, “Lin Fan, we are all free now.” She seemed to smile, and Lin Fan’s eyes widened in shock. “No!”
The ghosts had vanished, leaving no trace. Lin Fan rushed to the corner but found nothing.
The police had arrived, and someone called her. Lin Fan turned back, dazed, as Qin Feng walked over and pulled her along. “Let’s go outside first.” Lin Fan looked up as Qin Feng’s rough, warm hand brushed her face. “We need to find Su Weilan; otherwise, things will get more complicated.”
Investigators were taking photos; the scene was too bloody. The victims were dead.
Lin Fan felt heavy-hearted and took a deep breath to calm her turbulent emotions. “Su Weilan is probably gone. The resentment has dissipated, and Lei Xiaojia and her mother have left.”
Qin Feng frowned. “Ouyang Yu?”
Lin Fan looked into Qin Feng’s eyes. “Or Mr. Chen.”
But where were they? Qin Feng and Xiao Wang went downstairs to check the surveillance footage, though Qin Feng didn’t hold out much hope. Ouyang Yu wasn’t human, and neither was Su Weilan; the cameras might not capture them.
Surprisingly, the surveillance did capture something. Seeing the footage, Qin Feng stood up. The elevator opened, and Ouyang Yu, dressed in a black trench coat, stepped out. He seemed to glance back at the camera. Liu Xue’s apartment door suddenly opened, and noises came from inside. Qin Feng signaled, “Turn up the volume.”
Ouyang Yu entered the apartment, and soon there were screams. Ouyang Yu then dashed out and ran into the emergency exit. The footage returned to calm; the people were likely already dead.
It took only a minute for Ouyang Yu to go in and out. Xiao Wang asked, “Who is this?”
“Ouyang Yu, we chased him from the school to here,” Qin Feng said.
“There’s something else; the cameras didn’t capture it,” Lin Fan said.
Xiao Wang’s scalp tingled; Lin Fan’s words made his head hurt. It was too terrifying. Fast-forwarding about ten minutes, Lin Fan and Qin Feng rushed out of the elevator and into the crime scene.
Xiao Wang said, “Ouyang Yu? Sounds familiar.”
Qin Feng found the wanted notice and handed it to him. “This guy, go find him.” His gaze swept over the screen, then paused. “Rewind.”
The footage rewound bit by bit, and Qin Feng said, “Stop.”
Two minutes after Ouyang Yu left, the elevator came up. The doors opened, but no one entered. Checking the second camera, in the enclosed hallway, the emergency exit door suddenly opened and then quickly closed.
From the footage, no one pressed the elevator button on this floor. They immediately checked the elevator camera. The elevator had come up from the first floor, but no one had pressed the button there either. Suddenly, the button lit up by itself.
Qin Feng rushed to the crime scene. The bodies had been taken away, and the room was a mess with a lot of blood on the floor. Lin Fan followed him, “Could it be Mr. Chen?”
“Hard to say, but something definitely came up and followed Ouyang Yu into the building.”
Qin Feng and Lin Fan walked down the stairs. On the eleventh floor, they found bloodstains on the handrail. Xiao Wang followed them, immediately putting on gloves to collect blood samples. The blood had started to dry. Qin Feng continued down, and the blood on the handrail increased, giving him a bad feeling.
The hallway reeked of blood, with signs of a struggle. Two floors down, the blood trail stopped abruptly. They searched the area and found broken glass at the end of the corridor. There was blood on the glass, on the ninth floor. Qin Feng leaned over and looked down, the wind howling.
“Was it a person? Did they fall from here?”
“Let’s go check.”
They took the elevator down, but found nothing on the first floor. Checking the surveillance again, this time, the footage showed the glass breaking but didn’t capture what caused it.
Xiao Wang’s scalp tingled as he turned to Qin Feng, “Captain Qin, what the hell is all this? It’s so scary, like Resident Evil. Invisible, yet so powerful.”
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Qin Feng glanced at him. “Ghosts.”
This case was too unusual. After collecting the evidence, they headed back to the station.
On the way, Qin Feng noticed Lin Fan looking dazed and held her hand. “What did Lei Xiaojia say?”
Lin Fan recounted the events. Xiao Wang, driving in the front seat, broke into a cold sweat. Was this really a supernatural case? How many ghosts were there? Were the vengeful spirits still around?
Qin Feng organized the evidence and had Lin Fan stay in the office. He then headed to the chief’s office. This bizarre case required special handling.
Lin Fan sat in the office, holding a cup of water, staring blankly at the wall. She was confused. Lei Xiaojia had explained everything clearly, but where was Ouyang Yu now? Was he dead?
Leaving the office, Qin Feng went to check the bodies. The forensic report was out. Liu Xue’s fatal injury was a claw mark on her chest, which had sliced open her chest and pierced her heart.
“Can you determine what the weapon was?”
The forensic doctor frowned at the gruesome sight. The chest had been opened, and there were many claw marks on the body. The eyes were wide open, indicating death by fright. “They look like claw marks. There are many on the body. This doesn’t seem like something a human could do—” The forensic doctor, a staunch materialist, was shaken. “Was it really done by that thing?”
Qin Feng nodded. “It’s possible. There’s too little evidence. The blood samples at the scene only match two people, Liu Xue and her husband.”
“Are ghosts real?”
“Who knows.”
Lei Yang, in the hospital, had narrowly survived but was still in critical condition and unconscious. The police couldn’t question him.
At 7 p.m., Qin Feng went to pick up Lin Fan from the office. Lin Fan quickly stood up, “Did you find Ouyang Yu?”
“Not yet.” Qin Feng put on his coat and walked out. “We’re going to your school. Let’s go.”
Lin Fan hurried to catch up with Qin Feng. He slowed down, taking her hand as they left the station. Their driver was Qin Feng’s colleague, Xu Yu.
“This case is such a mess.”
Qin Feng leaned back in the seat, rubbing his brow. It was a mess indeed.
Where to start? The most recent event was Lei Xiaojia’s death. Twenty-four years ago, Lei Xiaojia’s mother unintentionally caused the death of a girl named Su Weilan. For some reason, Su Weilan lay dormant for twelve years before killing Shen Yi. After another twelve years, Su Weilan might have continued to sleep or consumed Shen Yi’s soul. She had Shen Yi’s memories and Su Weilan’s as well. She lured Lei Xiaojia to this library and killed her. Maybe Su Weilan couldn’t leave the building until she killed Lei Xiaojia’s parents today.
But what roles did Ouyang Yu and Chen Xianghua play in all this?
Qin Feng needed to find Zhou Jing first. Zhou Jing still hadn’t fully explained everything. She might have lured Lei Xiaojia to the library, but without enough evidence, they couldn’t arrest her yet.
At 7:50 p.m., they arrived at the school but couldn’t find Zhou Jing.
“She took leave.”
Qin Feng got Zhou Jing’s address and headed there. Zhou Jing lived in the suburbs, a very remote area. They arrived at 9:30 p.m. The area was full of shantytowns, close to a landfill, with a pervasive stench.
Qin Feng knocked on the door, and soon someone came. “Who are you looking for?”
“Is Zhou Jing home?”
"She went to work, she's not home. Are you Jingjing's friend?"
"Has she not come back? Hasn't been back at all today?"
"No."
"Then I'll come back another day to find her."
"If it's urgent, you can go to her school to find her."
"Zhou Jing took leave. She didn't have class this afternoon," Qin Feng said. "If she comes back, please have her call me. My name is Qin Feng."
"Alright, alright."
Qin Feng tried calling Zhou Jing, but her phone was temporarily unreachable. The three of them walked out. Xu Yu took out his phone and received a text message, saying, "Captain Qin, we've found the person who leaked information to that horror blogger."
Qin Feng took the phone and glanced at it. All the phone numbers traced back to Zhou Jing. She had sent the blogger three leak messages. The blogger had posted two, the most recent one a week before Christmas Eve.
Qin Feng handed the phone back. "Go back to the station and file a report. Bring Zhou Jing in for investigation."
Qin Feng and Lin Fan ate at a restaurant near the station. Lin Fan scrolled through her phone while eating. A new friend request popped up on WeChat, this time with a different name but the same profile picture.
Lin Fan hesitated for a few seconds before accepting. A video was immediately sent over. Torn between curiosity and conserving data, Lin Fan quickly chose curiosity and opened the video. A woman's scream suddenly rang out, and Lin Fan quickly pressed the back button.
Qin Feng looked up, "What are you watching?"
People around them also glanced over. Lin Fan's face flushed red, and she shook her head. "Nothing."
Adding random people on WeChat and receiving unknown videos was awkward, like stumbling upon something inappropriate.
She put her phone back in her pocket and quickly focused on eating. After dinner, Qin Feng returned to the station to handle the ongoing investigation. He needed to find Zhou Jing; where had she gone?
Lin Fan sat in Qin Feng's office, waiting. Bored, she reopened WeChat. Staring at that contact number for a while, curiosity won out. She clicked on the video. After the initial scream, she saw Shen Yi's face—or rather, Su Weilan's. In a dimly lit space, a talisman hit her, causing her body to ignite. She screamed and struggled desperately, but couldn't escape the flames.
"You lied to me!" She tried to lunge at the screen but was struck back by another talisman, falling to the ground. Her voice was shrill and piercing, "You lied to me!"
The middle-aged man remained silent throughout.
Her screams gradually weakened. The middle-aged man finally stepped into the frame, taking something away. He turned back to the screen, his eyes sharp and menacing, seemingly piercing through it. Lin Fan was startled and rushed out of the office to find Qin Feng.
The man on the screen was Mr. Chen, and he had taken Su Weilan. Lin Fan had to tell Qin Feng immediately. Who sent the video? What was their intention? She dashed out, the door banging against the wall loudly. Suddenly, she felt something was off.
It was too quiet, eerily quiet.
She rushed to Qin Feng’s office, flung the door open, but it was empty. The computer screen glowed blue. She shouted but got no response, panicking as she ran outside. The white fluorescent lights in the hallway cast an eerie glow in the unsettling silence.