Chapter 5: Qinhuai

Officer Ma still wore a vigilant expression, "I heard you went missing, how did you end up here? Were you locked up by Old Wu?" As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately realized he was mistaken; the basement was not locked, and the door to the room was wide open.

Upon arriving at the office, Officer Ma poured me a glass of water, while Xiao Guo took notes beside me. He furrowed his brow and asked, "Zhou Xi, how did you end up in the basement of Old Wu's house?"

Xiao Guo immediately slapped the table and snorted, "Do you think that basement is fun? It's a place full of dead people. A normal girl would probably scream and run away at the sight of it, yet you can still stand there looking at it, unless..." He raised an eyebrow as he spoke, and I really disliked that expression of his.

As I reached the entrance of the courtyard, I noticed that the yellow talisman paper that had just been posted in the four corners of the yard was missing, leaving some burnt paper ashes on the ground, and there was not a single person around. Officer Ma crouched down to take a look and said, "There are bloodstains; Xiao Linzi may be in trouble. Xiao Guo, Yangzi, you two take Zhou Xi back to the station first, and then come back immediately. I need to request support from the station chief." The Xiao Guo mentioned by Officer Ma is the young policeman with a mole on his mouth.

I am studying medicine, and my father is a cobbler; corpses are not frightening to me at all. I replied in a firm tone.

I suddenly shouted and quickly retreated to hide in the corner of the wall. The three of them looked at me with surprised expressions, and Xiao Guo asked in astonishment, "What are you shouting for?" He instinctively glanced around.

Qinhuai seemed to have something to say, so Officer Ma specifically sent Xiao Gu away, leaving only the three of us in the police office

It seems they consider me an accomplice of Old Wu. If I were to say that I spent five years accompanying a ghostly woman with a human skin lantern, they would probably send me to a mental hospital. But the truth is just that; how should I respond

Qin Huai glanced at Xiao Gu and inexplicably said, "It is merely that some appear human but lack a human heart, while others, who are clearly not human, happen to possess a human heart." After saying this, he scrutinized me for a long time. I couldn't shake the feeling that although Qin Huai looked quite young, he was much more mature and composed than his peers, speaking like an old scholar.

Xiao Guo was instantly dumbfounded, his face covered in cold sweat, and he stammered, "What... what on earth is going on?"

The night was unusually quiet. After Officer Ma received the call, everyone felt reassured. Xiao Linzi mentioned that a shadow had attacked him earlier and suspected it might be Old Wu, so he chased after it but lost track and returned to the station to regroup with everyone. Only I noticed that the voice on the other end of the phone was faint, with a lot of static, occasionally interrupted by strange interference, much like the call I received from my dad that afternoon.

"Lin Zi has arrived." Officer Ma called out while turning his head, then kept staring at me, waiting for a response. I glanced over inadvertently and immediately gasped in shock. There was a distinct mark on Lin Zi's neck, similar to that of my second uncle and the old Wu from my previous dream, which reminded me of the phone call I had received earlier.

Two young police officers could not withstand the intense stench of the corpse and turned to vomit. The three of them stepped back several paces, drawing their guns and taking a defensive stance. "Who... who are you?" asked the officer with a mole by his mouth, his voice trembling.

I immediately thought of those two evil spirits and hurried to advise, "Officer Ma, you must not act alone." If I were to say that there are two evil spirits with their heads sewn on incorrectly ahead, they would probably think I am crazy

I encountered him on the mountain. When descending, three individuals surrounded Uncle Wu. He asked me to wait at his home, and I only just discovered the basement.

The footsteps behind me grew closer. I turned to look, and three individuals in police uniforms entered, shining flashlights around the basement. Upon seeing the pile of corpses on the ground and me beside it, their expressions were all filled with shock. It was only when I noticed the flashlights in their hands that I remembered this basement was densely dark and lacked any lighting. Yet, I could see the scene inside clearly, not even realizing I was in darkness.

Officer Ma had not finished speaking when he said, "This girl's eyes can see through their disguises. That little Lin in the picture book just now has a problem." Qin Huai interrupted Officer Ma and walked towards the police office from earlier. Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass was heard. By the time we re-entered the room, that little Lin had already jumped out of the window and fled

Officer Ma paused for a moment, turned his head, and asked me, "Zhou Xi, so you must be the last person to have seen Old Wu. You mentioned that three people were entangled with him; do you know them? What were the last words Old Wu said to you when you parted?"

As I finished speaking about the Hidden Investigation Bureau, the reactions of the three of them were quite strange. Xiao Guo let out a mocking laugh, Lin Zi shot me a fierce glare, and Officer Ma widened his eyes in disbelief, then laughed twice, saying, "So it turns out that person is you, Zhou Xi. Come with me for a moment."

The three of them exchanged bewildered glances. "I think this girl probably has some mental issues. By the way, Ma Ge, they just discovered Old Wu's body, and the condition is quite horrific; the skin on his face is gone," Xiao Lin said seriously, but inadvertently smiled at me with a crooked mouth.

I was pondering how to explain all of this when suddenly someone asked, "Are you Zhou Xi?" I was taken aback and looked up. Besides the two young police officers, there was an older man standing nearby. It then occurred to me that this person’s surname is Ma; he had come to our village several times to handle cases and had also visited our home to ask questions.

"What? Old Wu is dead too?" Officer Ma's eyebrows nearly knitted together, as events unfolded one after another, extremely bizarre. Upon hearing the news of Uncle Wu's death, a wave of heaviness washed over me

Officer Ma decisively said: "Go outside and check, seal off the scene. Zhou Xi, you need to come back to the station with us to assist in the investigation." I nodded; after all, I had nowhere else to go. Perhaps it was safest to follow them now. The policeman with a mole on his mouth deliberately walked at the back, tightly gripping his gun.

Hello, my name is Qin Huai, the Qin Huai near the wine house where I anchor at night. I am the team leader of Group One of the Hidden Adjustment Bureau.

Qin Huai, you arrived just in time; I was about to look for you. This young lady should be the one you mentioned before...

At this moment, I do not know what to say; even I am unsure of what is happening before me, so I choose to remain silent. Suddenly, a loud shout comes from outside. The police officer with a mole on his mouth turns around and immediately says: "It seems to be Xiao Linzi; he was just guarding outside. I hope nothing has happened."

At that moment, the door of the police office opened, and a person entered while asking: "Brother Ma, I heard you made a significant discovery regarding Old Wu's family? I said this person must have issues."

Officer Ma scrutinized me from head to toe, his gaze piercing. "Do you know something?" Just as I was about to respond, Officer Ma's phone suddenly rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, and immediately exclaimed with excitement, "It's Xiao Lin!"

He stared into my eyes for a long time. I averted my gaze several times in between, but he remained fixated, creating an extremely awkward atmosphere. Officer Ma seemed to sense this and said, "She is the apprentice you mentioned, right"

Isn't the basement of Old Wu's house the so-called secret adjustment bureau? How could it be filled with corpses? My first reaction was that this must be a dream. I heard that pain is weak in dreams, so I bit my left arm hard. The pain almost brought me to tears. I was instantly bewildered. Is this all real?

I was momentarily taken aback, and this time it was Xiao Guo and Lin Zi who looked at Officer Ma in surprise. Officer Ma did not elaborate much, but pulled me along as we headed outside, where we happened to run into a man. He appeared to be in his twenties, with sharp facial features, but there was an air about him that made him seem difficult to approach.

"Officer Ma?" I asked with a frown, but to my surprise, my question startled the police officer who had just spoken to me.

He instructed to go find the Bureau of Covert Affairs, the Bureau of Secret Investigations. I clearly remember Old Wu mentioning it in a dream, although I can no longer distinguish whether it was indeed a dream.

Without a moment's thought, I blurted out: "He is not a human"

I reached out my hand in confusion and said, "Hello, my name is Zhou Xi."

"Do you know who those deceased individuals are? Interestingly, since the year you went missing, there have been continuous disappearances, with no signs of life or death. Over the years, we have gathered clues and finally located them, but unfortunately... so many people, yet only you are alive. Where have you been during these years of your disappearance, and what have you been doing?" Officer Ma asked in a stern tone.

Ah? Xiao Guo exclaimed in surprise, "Alright... alright then." There seemed to be a hint of concern in his tone