The beginning of summer had arrived, and as the temperature rose, the rich piles of trash began to emit a foul, rotten stench.
An elderly scavenger was rummaging through the garbage heap, but eventually left disappointed. Feeling the temperature steadily climbing, the old man clicked his tongue and decided to head back to his “nest” planning to come out again in the evening.
His “nest” was a half-completed building on Xiyi Road. Construction on it had begun in 2011, and by 2012, it was almost finished, with windows halfway installed. But then, rumors of haunting spread out of nowhere. Homebuyers withdrew, construction workers went on strike, and the boss quickly went bankrupt. It was said he almost jumped off the tallest building in Jiangzhou.
As the old man slowly made his way, he muttered under his breath, “If you ask me, there’s no such thing as ghosts. I’ve lived here for years and haven’t seen even half a ghost…”
Before he could finish, he spotted something not far away. It looked like a person lying there, dressed in bright red clothes, motionless.
He swallowed hard, thinking to himself, “Could it really be that strange?”
When he got closer, he was so frightened that he fell to the ground.
It was indeed a person, but their limbs were twisted, bones sticking out from their flesh, with a fist-sized hole in their head. Red and white stuff oozed out, splattered all over the place.
The old man scrambled backward, trembling, and stammered, “Ghost… there really is a ghost!”
—
Zou Shuyang yawned as he walked out of the duty room, just in time to see the young police officer Xiao Tang, who had recently been transferred from the police station, rushing over with a stack of documents.
“What’s the rush?” Zou Shuyang peered behind Xiao Tang, “No ghost is chasing you back there.”
Xiao Tang immediately put on a bitter expression and replied, “I wish a ghost were chasing me.”
He then pulled out a few documents from the pile in his hands and stuffed them into Zou Shuyang’s arms, briefly explaining the case. “Around 9:15 this morning, there was a high-altitude fall incident at the unfinished building on Xiyi Road. The forensic and trace examination teams are already there. These are the records based on the statements from the first witness and the person who reported it. Captain He wants you to handle this case.”
Zou Shuyang paused as he flipped through the records and pointed at himself in disbelief. “Me? Didn’t I submit a vacation request last month? Didn’t the bureau approve it?”
Xiao Tang, expressionless, mimicked Captain He’s serious tone and repeated, “Captain He said, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ Right now, the serious crime unit has no captain, just the two of us as deputy captains, so we have to handle it.”
“And what about Captain He?”
Xiao Tang sighed softly, “Captain He said he’s getting older and needs to give young people a chance.”
Xiao Tang patted Zou Shuyang’s lean shoulders, feeling the firm muscles beneath, and said seriously, “Thank you for your hard work, Captain Zou.”
“That sly old fox.”
Zou Shuyang cursed as he opened the records, and the first one he looked at left him staring in disbelief.
He raised his head from the record, his beautiful puppy-like eyes filled with confusion. “What does this mean? The first witness claims there was a ghost at the scene? And a ghost dressed in black?”
Seeing that Zou Shuyang had finished reading the first record, Xiao Tang explained, “That’s why this case was handed to us. According to the preliminary investigation by the forensic team, the victim showed no signs of being bound or restrained before death. The trace examination team also preliminarily concluded that the fall occurred naturally. There were only the victim’s footprints at the scene, making the possibility of a second person highly unlikely.”
Xiao Tang took a deep breath and continued, “If that were all, it would be just an accident or a suicide case. But according to the first witness’s statement,” he pointed at the papers in Zou Shuyang’s hand, “there was another person at the scene before them, a person dressed entirely in black, covering themselves completely.”
Zou Shuyang had found a comfortable spot to sit and carefully examined the record. “So, before the first witness arrived, there was another person at the scene. But this person didn’t call the police. Either they’re the culprit, or they’re hiding something.”
Xiao Tang clapped his hands like a seal. “Exactly, that’s why the case ended up with our serious crime unit.”
Zou Shuyang flipped through the thin record again. “And what about the first witness and the person who reported it? Have they left?”
“The person who reported it is a surgeon. He heard the first witness scream and rushed over, worried something dangerous had happened. When he found the body, he immediately called the police.” Xiao Tang sorted the documents in his hand and, under Zou Shuyang’s gaze, added, “So the person who reported it doesn’t know much. After finishing his statement, he said he had surgery scheduled and left his contact information and name before leaving.”
Zou Shuyang hummed in response. “And what about the first witness?”
He raised the record in his hand, his bright puppy eyes filled with hesitation. “From his statement, it seems like… he might have some mental issues?”
This suspicion was quickly confirmed by Xiao Tang, who nodded firmly. “According to the descriptions from nearby shop owners, the first witness is an elderly scavenger who’s been around for years. He’s usually very gentle and doesn’t cause any trouble, so sometimes people even help him out.”
Gentle?
Zou Shuyang mentally mocked Xiao Tang’s odd word choice, but then caught onto a loophole in Xiao Tang’s speech. “Why only spring, summer, and fall? What about winter? Where does he go in winter?”
Xiao Tang checked the records. “People in the area said they don’t see him in the winter. Maybe he gets taken to a shelter during that time?”
Zou Shuyang nodded and didn’t pursue the question further.
“Where is he now?”
Xiao Tang pointed downstairs. “He’s in the interrogation room downstairs, with two officers from the police station keeping an eye on him.”
Zou Shuyang hummed again, taking the documents Xiao Tang handed over. After about five minutes, he set the documents, now memorized, on the table, interlaced his fingers, and propped up his chin. “Have we identified the victim yet?”
Xiao Tang sighed. “The victim had no identification on him, and his phone was shattered beyond repair. It’ll take a while for the tech team to restore it. But Captain He already sent someone to retrieve the call records from the phone’s SIM card. Although the victim’s face was damaged, his identifying features are still intact, so we should be able to match him in the database.”
Zou Shuyang asked again, “Have the surrounding surveillance cameras been checked?”
Xiao Tang nodded. “Colleagues have already gone to check. The results should be out soon.”
This time, after Xiao Tang finished speaking, he thought Zou Shuyang wouldn’t have any more questions. Just as he relaxed, he saw Zou Shuyang suddenly stand up. Xiao Tang’s heart skipped a beat, and he coughed lightly, asking, “Captain Zou, where are you going…?”
With his hands in his pockets, Zou Shuyang lifted his chin. “The first witness should be able to describe the black-clad ghost more clearly. I’ll go ask him again.”
Before he even finished speaking, Zou Shuyang immediately started walking downstairs.
Xiao Tang: …
What could Xiao Tang say? He could only follow.
Zou Shuyang was tall with long legs, and Xiao Tang had hesitated for just a moment, but now he had to jog to catch up.
As they got closer to the interrogation room, Xiao Tang recalled the fear he had experienced while accompanying Captain He during the initial questioning of the old scavenger. Trembling, he reminded Zou Shuyang, “Captain Zou, earlier when Captain He was questioning this person, he almost got a heart attack from frustration.”
“You should be mentally prepared.”
Zou Shuyang snickered at that.
“With Captain He’s petty nature, anyone talking to him would give him a heart attack. It has nothing to do with the first witness.”
Xiao Tang looked at Zou Shuyang’s back and swallowed nervously. He lowered his voice, muttering, “No, no, it’s not that… I almost had a heart attack too. Not from anger, but from frustration.”
Before Zou Shuyang could ask what kind of frustration could lead to a heart attack, he had already pushed open the door to the interrogation room and stepped inside.
The two young officers from the police station, seeing someone taking over, greeted Zou Shuyang and then bolted… ran away.
Bolted?
Zou Shuyang was momentarily surprised by his choice of words. Only then did he turn his head to look at the first witness, who was quietly sitting on a chair, as harmless as a ragdoll.
It was an old man.
He was dressed in ragged clothes, filthy all over, dried up and frail, his face full of wrinkles, his eyelids drooping, and his eye bags sagging.
Despite the sound of the door opening, the old man didn’t lift his head. He just stared blankly at his hands, as if there were some rare flowers growing on them.
“Click”
The door to the interrogation room closed behind them, and Zou Shuyang pulled Xiao Tang to sit across from the old man.
Still, the old man didn’t react.
Zou Shuyang gestured to Xiao Tang, raising an eyebrow as if to ask, Is this really the guy who can drive someone to a heart attack with frustration?
Xiao Tang’s face was full of bitterness.
This one hadn’t shown his true colors yet. Their Captain Zou was still too young.
Xiao Tang slowly recalled how earlier, when he and Captain He had been sitting here, more information could be seen, but for now, they were horrified by the old man’s unexpected behavior. At first, the old man had also seemed calm and harmless. But once they started asking questions, the man first glared at them menacingly, then suddenly burst into a chilling laugh that made their hair stand on end. After laughing for a while, he started spouting all sorts of superstitious nonsense.
The old man’s strange behavior, combined with the dim lighting in the interrogation room, made Xiao Tang’s hair stand on end just thinking about it.
Zou Shuyang didn’t start questioning right away. Instead, he sat in his chair, arms crossed, staring at the old man for a while.
Perhaps it was the intensity of Zou Shuyang’s gaze, but the previously oblivious old man instinctively shrank back, looking even more harmless.
After a while, Zou Shuyang suddenly spoke, “Do you think there are ghosts in this world?”
The old man snapped his head up, staring directly at Zou Shuyang. Just as Xiao Tang felt the cold sweat running down his forehead, the old man suddenly started laughing, a raspy sound emerging from his throat.
After he had laughed enough, the old man’s expression turned serious, and he fixed his gaze on Zou Shuyang. In a hoarse voice, he rasped, “Young man, you should believe in the existence of spirits. There truly are ghosts in this world.”
As he spoke, the old man suddenly pointed behind Zou Shuyang, a strange smile on his face. “Look, there’s a black-clad spirit standing right behind you. You should respect him, or else… he’ll take you away!”
Xiao Tang felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he moved unconsciously closer to Zou Shuyang, his breath becoming noticeably lighter.
However, Zou Shuyang remained unfazed. He even leaned forward a bit, asking with great interest, “What does this black-clad spirit look like? You don’t know this, but my biggest dream in life is to see a ghost.”
“You want to see a ghost?” The old man laughed again, as if hearing a joke, his voice becoming strange, “You want to see a ghost? Just turn around, and you’ll see one.”
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