Her name is Suya, ten years old, reported missing by her family a month ago while on her way to school. Following a large child trafficking case in Jiangcheng earlier, both her family and the police concluded she had been abducted.

Lin Fan held her phone, looking at the photo on it, her scalp tingling.

"You were murdered?" Comparing the photo with the girl in front of her, the girl now had grim wounds and a ghastly pallor on her face.

Lin Fan really must be seeing ghosts; she pinched herself quietly, feeling the pain.

"I'm not lying," she said.

Carrying the heavy shopping bags, Lin Fan hesitated for a moment, not sure if she should go upstairs; this building was very peculiar.

"What about the killer? Why don't you go find the killer?" The lights in the corridor flickered, and Lin Fan cleared her throat. "What can I do to help you? Can't you be less... less bloody?"

"Okay," she returned to her normal appearance, and Lin Fan closed her eyes and walked past her, hypnotizing herself that she was just a child.

"Sister?" Opening the room's lights, she saw the girl in the pink down jacket standing in the middle of the living room. Lin Fan was startled again, "You!"

The girl lowered her head, the overhead light flickering, the sound of electricity crackling as if it was about to short circuit.

"Hey!" Lin Fan shouted in panic.

"I don't kill people, I can't kill people, I just hope he gets punished by the law." The girl raised her head, the room returning to calm. She looked at Lin Fan, "He's my mom's man, and he killed me."

Lin Fan's throat rolled. "Your stepfather?"

The girl nodded.

"And your body?" Lin Fan's question took a different turn. "Where is it?"

"In the sewer."

Chilled to the bone, her stepfather killed her? Her mother knew nothing, searching the world for her child.

"Can you help me?" The girl's eyes pleaded.

Lin Fan shook her head, finally understanding the situation.

"If the police catch him, I can leave." The girl seemed to smile, turning her head to look out the window. "I want to go, sister, can you help me, please? I beg you. I've been drifting for a month, and if I don't enter the underworld, I'll never be able to leave."

The child was pitiful, only ten years old, her life just beginning before it was cut short. If the real culprit wasn't caught, she would be trapped in this city, unable to find peace for eternity.

Lin Fan took out her phone and dialed 110, the call connected.

"This is the Jiangcheng Emergency Center."

"I'm reporting a missing person," Lin Fan stared at the little girl in the pink down jacket ahead, "I saw a missing person notice online, a child named Suya, ten years old, missing for a month."

"Do you have any clues?"

"No, I—" Lin Fan slammed on the brakes in time, saying, "She's dead—"

"Have you found the body? Let me transfer you—"

Lin Fan slapped her forehead, quickly hung up the phone. Had she found the body? No!

Was she saying she was seeing ghosts?

"Sister." The girl looked at her with eager eyes. "I don't have much time left."

"Where exactly is your body located?"

Only by seeing the body could she report it to the police, otherwise no one would believe her.

"Tao Yuan Road, I can take you there." Suya's face lit up. "Sister, do you want to go? Thank you, sister."

Lin Fan hesitated, feeling a bit lost. "Now?"

It was already dark outside. Did she really want her to go find a body now? Help!

"How would you explain lifting the sewer cover during the day?"

Now that she didn't seem as scary, Lin Fan put down what she was holding and rubbed her arms. "Are you really not a flesh-eating ghost?"

Suya's gaze dimmed as she lowered her head and clenched her hands.

Feeling the pressure drop, Lin Fan asked, "What's wrong?"

"If I were an evil spirit, I would have killed him already."

Silence, a long silence. Lin Fan looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the girl, outside was pitch black. She had been insulted and ostracized since birth, without friends. Grandma said as long as she was a good person, someone would like her. She could easily fight back, but she was still hurt again and again, and still no one liked her.

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"Then wait for me for a moment, I'll change clothes and go with you."

The girl stared at her without blinking, from the living room to the bedroom, her gaze piercing. Lin Fan couldn't stand being watched like this, so she put on the down jacket from before, took the keys, and went out.

"Is it safe?" she asked.

"I'll protect you."

Lin Fan laughed. "Just you?"

But then she stopped laughing. She was a ghost, she should indeed have more power than herself.

One person, one ghost, they went downstairs together. Lin Fan pulled her hat over her head, feeling the cold wind blowing in the corridor. It was freezing.

"There's an electric bike at the door, the keys are in the car," Suya reminded her.

Lin Fan found the electric bike in the abandoned guard room, covered in dust. She cleaned it off and rode out of the neighborhood.

An hour and a half later, they arrived at Tao Yuan Road. The girl jumped off the bike and ran towards a sewer entrance. Lin Fan parked the bike, took out the keys, but the girl had already disappeared.

She stomped her feet, feeling numb from the cold, and ran to the sewer entrance.

"Hey? Suya?"

No response. Lin Fan took a deep breath and forcefully lifted the sewer cover. The stench hit her, squatting at the sewer entrance, Lin Fan observed her surroundings. The road was secluded, very deserted, with only one street lamp.

After waiting for about a minute and not seeing Suya's figure, Lin Fan turned on the flashlight on her phone, intending to go down.

"Sister?" Lin Fan was startled, Suya appeared in front of her, frantic. "I can't find my body, what should I do?"

"What?"

"It's gone, it was here before, but now it's gone? I can't find it."

"What's going on? Let me go down and take a look."

The sewer was too smelly, and Lin Fan's foot sank as she stepped on it. Her heart jumped to her throat, and she quickly held the flashlight to see. It turned out to be a bloated diaper, which relieved her.

"I can't find it, sister, can you see if it's here?" Suya was frantic, spinning around, making Lin Fan dizzy.

"It was originally here, at the entrance of the sewer."

The city sewer was intricate, collecting the complete system of filthy waste. Water soaked into her shoes, and Lin Fan dared not think about what was underneath. The smell made her want to vomit, covering her mouth as she moved forward.

"It rained these days, could the water have washed the body away—" The light flickered, and she saw a black clump hanging on the iron mesh. "What's that?"

Suya floated over first, then burst into tears, Lin Fan hurried over and grabbed the black object unexpectedly seeing a pale face, sitting in the dirty water.

Lin Fan shivered as she climbed out of the sewer to call the police. Half an hour later, the police arrived and found the child's body in the sewer.

Qin Feng received a call from the team as soon as he got off the highway. "A female body was found on Tao Yuan Road, it's a child."

There were still two forensic experts in the car, which was also one of the purposes of the call, as there were few forensic experts in the city.

"We have a case," he said after hanging up the phone, removing his earpiece. "Let's go straight there."

In the back seat, Zhang, one of the forensic experts, groaned, "Do these damn murderers ever let people live?"

"We haven't confirmed if it's a criminal case yet, so let's not jump to conclusions," Qin Feng replied.

Tao Yuan Road was remote, not far from the highway exit, and they arrived in half an hour. The area where the body was found had already been cordoned off. Qin Feng got out of the car, buttoning up his coat. Xiao Wang from the team hurried over. "Has Old Liu arrived?"

Qin Feng nodded.

"The time of death is around a month ago, and the body has undergone gigantism," Xiao Wang reported.

Qin Feng lifted the cordon and walked over. "Is it still down there?"

"We're afraid of damaging the scene."

Qin Feng looked down the well, unbuttoned his coat, took it off, and tossed it to Xiao Wang. "I'll go down and take a look."

Xiao Wang was right, the time of death was about a month ago.

Old Liu crouched down to retrieve the body from the iron mesh. "This shouldn't be the primary crime scene, so it's not of much significance. You guys find out the identity of the deceased. Pull it out, it's not very valuable."

Qin Feng took a flashlight and walked about a hundred meters along the sewer, but didn't find any valuable clues. When he returned, they had already removed the body.

Qin Feng didn't take the coat Xiao Wang handed him when he came out; it stank too much. He lit a cigarette against the wind.

Forensic expert Liu was doing the initial examination. He looked around and his gaze fell on a girl, not very old, around sixteen or seventeen, very thin, very pale.

But her gaze was too calm. Qin Feng paused in his smoking motion. "Who's that?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention, the person who reported it, she found the body."

"Finding a body in the sewer at night?" Qin Feng raised an eyebrow, his brows furrowing. "Is that normal?"

"Not very normal. Do you suspect she's the killer?"

"Bring her back for questioning."

The most obvious injury to the body was in the head, with the child's skull deformed, and the back of the head caved in.

Qin Feng finished his cigarette, and Liu packed up his tools. "Take it back for autopsy, we can file a case, it's a homicide."

"Leave two people to search the sewer again."

On the way back to the bureau, Qin Feng still drove the car. The stench in the car was overwhelming, the smell of the sewer stubbornly clinging to their skin, seemingly never-ending.

"What kind of person could be so cruel? That child was at most ten years old, poor thing."

The atmosphere in the car was heavy.

Qin Feng lit another cigarette. He couldn't stand to see children die.

He parked and quickly walked into the office.

"Team Leader Qin."

"Give me the information of the person who reported the case."

"Okay."

Lin Fan, eighteen years old, came to Jiangcheng in February to seek refuge with her father.

Not from Jiangcheng?

Qin Feng pushed open the door to the interrogation room, and she immediately looked up, her black and white eyes very clean.

"Lin Fan?"

"Yes." Lin Fan pursed her lips and put her hands on the table. "Uncle, I—"

Qin Feng looked up, his sharp eyebrows raised. "Uncle?"

Lin Fan looked at the man in front of her, his beard scruffy. "Huh?"

Qin Feng slammed the file on the table. "What's your relationship with the deceased?"

"No relationship."

"Do you know her?"

Lin Fan pinched her palm, feeling that this lie couldn't be rounded no matter what. "Do you believe me if I say I've seen the soul of the deceased?"

"No."

"Her name is Suya. She was killed and her body was dumped by her stepfather. Her soul found me and asked me to find her body."

"Do you know what the crime of lying to the police is?"

Lin Fan sighed. "I'm telling the truth."

The door was knocked, and Xiao Wang walked in, whispering something to Qin Feng. "There's a situation with Forensic Expert Liu."

Qin Feng closed the file, stood up, glanced at Lin Fan, then turned and left the room.

Lin Fan: "When can I leave?"

Xiao Wang, seeing her harmless appearance, felt a pang of pity and poured her some water. "Just sit tight for now. If there's evidence to prove your innocence, we'll let you go. Don't be afraid, we're police, not bad guys."

"Thank you," Lin Fan said.

Lin Fan held the cup, furrowing her brow and looking down, unsure of how long she would have to stay there.