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墨書 Inktalez
“Captain Xing, bring it here for me to take a look.” She said nervously.
Captain Xing looked at the paper and then curiously asked Su Jin'er, “Do you recognize this?”
“Isn't this the Paper Man that went missing from our dorm, then reappeared, and then went missing again?” Ruan Hongmei said in surprise as she looked at the paper that Captain Xing handed to Su Jin'er.
“Yes, that's right. Although it only has one eye, I will never forget it. Just a moment ago, it was staring at me with wide eyes!”
“It was staring at you with wide eyes?” Captain Xing asked in confusion.
Su Jin'er nodded and then said, “Accidents involving injuries or deaths often happen at construction sites. Why did this case attract the police's attention?”
“Because someone claimed it wasn't an accident; it was murder.”
“Murder? How so?”
“Their Foreman said—” Captain Xing started but then looked at Su Jin'er with a scrutinizing gaze. Su Jin'er felt her face flush under his gaze, but remembering that he was a man over a decade older than her and a detective eased her nerves. Still, she anxiously asked, “Why did you stop?”
“Suddenly, I feel like you're my superior!”
Captain Xing's words made Su Jin'er blush even more. She shyly looked at him and said, “I’m just curious.”
“Then what did you mean when you said the eye was staring at you?” Captain Xing didn’t answer her but instead asked.
Su Jin'er thought for a moment and then recounted everything: hearing singing at night, encountering the Paper Man, fainting afterward and bringing the Paper Man back to the dorm, and everything that happened in the hospital.
“So, what do you think?” After a long pause, Captain Xing asked.
“I believe these events must be connected, and that person seems to want to kill me; otherwise, there wouldn't have been the hospital incident.”
Chu Feifan stood by, listening intently. When he heard that Su Jin'er had nearly lost her life in the hospital elevator, his face turned pale. He kept his head down, never daring to look at her. Since that day, they hadn't exchanged a single word, and it seemed that Su Jin'er was completely indifferent to their situation. The thought made his heart feel as if it had died. Now that Su Jin'er was in danger, he couldn't just stand by.
"I think I need to go to the hospital and check the surveillance footage; it should tell us something."
Of course! How did she not think of that? Hospitals have surveillance cameras; it seemed she wasn't qualified to be a police officer after all! But why would she even think about becoming a police officer? Had her brain gone haywire recently?
"Jin'er, what are you thinking about?" Ruan Hongmei nudged her arm.
"Oh! Nothing much. By the way, Captain Xing, you haven't explained why this is considered murder."
"Because his death is similar to Zhuo Xiaoman's. He didn't go up onto the overpass today; he suddenly started climbing up later. The foreman called out to him, but he ignored it. When he reached the top, he suddenly jumped down."
"That sounds like suicide!" Ruan Hongmei exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes, it's similar to Zhuo Xiaoman's case; the only difference is that Zhuo Xiaoman was angry at someone at the time, while this one didn't care about anyone at all. Actually, jumping off the overpass wouldn't necessarily lead to death, but unfortunately, someone had placed a steel bar below, and he fell right onto it. The bar pierced through his skull."
A vivid image appeared before Su Jin'er's eyes: a man with a strange smile slowly climbing up the overpass and then leaping off, tracing a beautiful arc in the air before crashing down to the ground, the steel bar piercing through his head and blood instantly staining the yellow earth.
The scene sent a chill down her spine. Although she had seen corpses more than once, she still couldn't get used to it. She thought that aside from forensic experts who frequently dealt with bodies, no one could truly become accustomed to seeing them!
Suddenly, she thought of Gaya Ze. Ever since their encounter in that village, she hadn't seen him again. She wondered where he was now and if he was still dealing with corpses regularly! Thinking of Gaya Ze inevitably led her thoughts back to Chu Feifan. She couldn't understand why he refused to talk to her. Even if he had done something wrong, if he could just explain himself, she would still forgive him! She glanced at Chu Feifan walking with his head down and noticed his pale complexion and prominent dark circles under his eyes, which made her feel uneasy.
She looked around but didn't see Zuo Yi and Zhuang Lingtian. It was strange; they had just been there! Where could they have gone?
"Where are Zuo Yi and Zhuang Lingtian?" she asked.
"Oh! I noticed there was a lot of tension between them, so I let them go practice for a bit," Captain Xing said with a smile. Although he was smiling, she could see the tension in his brow.
Su Jin'er felt a strange sensation this time; she always thought that this incident was aimed at her, and the person hiding behind the scenes was watching them with an evil smile as fear gradually enveloped them.
"Um, I'm a bit tired, so I'm heading back to the dorm," Su Jin'er said, and without waiting for their response, she immediately ran towards the dormitory. Ruan Hongmei paused for a moment before saying goodbye to everyone and following her.
Chu Feifan watched their departing figures with concern, his expression turning dejected.
"I think you should explain things to her," Captain Xing said, patting Chu Feifan on the shoulder before leaving as well.
That night, Su Jin'er sat dazed in the dormitory. Ruan Hongmei looked at her, feeling somewhat at a loss. She didn't understand why Su Jin'er had suddenly run back to the dorm and was now just sitting there in a daze.
"Jin'er, what are you thinking about?"
Su Jin'er often fell into deep thought unexpectedly, and this question had become one that Ruan Hongmei frequently asked.
"I'm wondering if this incident is really aimed at me."
"Why do you think that?"
"I don't know; it’s just a feeling."
Feelings can be quite vague. Many people say that women's intuition is strong and accurate, and women often trust their instincts. However, that doesn't necessarily mean feelings are always correct.
"Feelings aren't always true," Ruan Hongmei said. Although she often acted on her emotions, who could blame women for being inherently more sentimental?
"I know, but why can only I hear that inexplicable singing? And what about that Paper Man? I really can't figure out what's going on!"
"Could it really be Zhuo Xiaoman's ghost coming back for revenge? I've heard that women who die with resentment carry a heavy grudge."
Vengeful Spirit's Call for Retribution
Should we still blame the Vengeful Spirit for the things that cannot be unraveled?
The black wind of the night blew in through the closed window, and Su Jin'er shrank her neck; tonight's wind was a bit cold. She stood up and walked to the window to close it. Through the glass, she looked at the distant black mountains, which appeared pitch dark due to the absence of the moon tonight.
The wind rustled the leaves, while the branches seemed like malevolent spirits pleading for forgiveness from above, each stretching their pale arms toward the sky, continuously shouting into the darkness. She could even hear their mournful and sorrowful voices.
"What are you looking at?" Ruan Hongmei approached without her noticing.
"Nothing much, just thinking that the night is a cradle of crime. Who knows how many terrifying things are hidden in the darkness? Perhaps a monster, perhaps a zombie, perhaps a decaying corpse, or maybe some unknown creature. All these things instill fear in us."
Ruan Hongmei pressed her face against the glass, her nose slightly distorted from the pressure. If any students from the opposite building saw her like this, they would surely think their dormitory was haunted.
"You seem a bit sentimental tonight!" Ruan Hongmei mumbled.
Su Jin'er smiled lightly: "I just feel that human life is very short; it disappears from this world in an instant. The only thing left behind is the pain inflicted on loved ones, and this pain gradually fades with the passage of time until eventually no one remembers that this person ever existed."
Ruan Hongmei felt a bit scared; she had never seen Su Jin'er so melancholic before. Even when Linyuan died, she hadn't reacted like this.
For a moment, it seemed as if the air had stopped flowing, and the atmosphere became oppressive.
After a long while, their legs began to feel numb. Su Jin'er glanced at her watch and said, "Alright, it's getting late; let's go to sleep!"
Lying in bed, Su Jin'er thought she wouldn't be able to fall asleep. However, strangely enough, not long after lying down, her consciousness began to blur, though she wasn't sleeping deeply.
In her dreams, she vaguely heard knocking at the door. She thought she was dreaming at first, but that dull sound quickly made her realize that someone was indeed knocking.
She suddenly sat up, the knocking at the door continuing. Drawing from past experiences, she pinched herself hard again to prove she wasn't dreaming, then got out of bed.
The knocking was dull but rhythmic, stopping for a moment after every three knocks, then starting again with another three. It seemed the person at the door was knocking tirelessly.
Hearing such an eerie knocking in the middle of the night would frighten anyone, and standing by the bed, Su Jin'er trembled slightly with fear.
This knocking was truly bizarre.
She didn't dare to open the door.
The knocking continued, and Su Jin'er felt her nerves fraying. Perhaps she wouldn't be scared to death by some unknown creature outside, but rather by her own fear within.
It was already midnight; the one knocking could not possibly be human.
Su Jin'er startled at her own thoughts, standing rigidly in place, too afraid to move, her mind engaged in a battle of thoughts.
Should she open the door or not?
The knocking persisted, her temples thumping, her legs beginning to feel numb. Why hadn't Hongmei heard it yet? Could it be that this knocking was like that song, only she could hear it? Or perhaps due to her recent lack of rest, she was experiencing hallucinations from nervous exhaustion?
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