Huang Xiaotao asked the policemen below what happened. A policeman came up and stammered that he just heard some movements. When he looked around, he saw nothing. But just as he turned his head, he saw a reflection on the window glass with the corner of his eye. It was a little boy, bouncing a ball. The boy’s eyes were completely white, and he even smiled at him!
Xiaotao and Dali looked at each other. Wang Dali said with a trembling voice, “Dude, maybe this house is really haunted!”
“What difference would it make whether this house is haunted or not? We still need to solve this case!”
Xiaotao turned to the policeman and rebuked him, “Did you hear that? You can’t be afraid of ghosts if you’re a policeman! If the rumor leaks out, people would be laughing at us!”
In truth, I heard somewhere that police officers tend to be enveloped in a fierce aura that made ghosts and spirits hesitate to appear in front of them or get close to them. The little boy-ghost must’ve been an impudent spirit to make himself be seen like that.
“You can take the bodies back to the police station now,” I told Xiaotao.
“Is the autopsy over?” Xiaotao was confused. “But I didn’t see you burn any joss papers yet.”
“That’s because there is nothing more I can do here. I’ll continue tomorrow,” I explained. “I need to prepare a special pillow first.”
“Prepare a special pillow? I can give you one! Someone gave me two tea leaf pillows two days ago. You’ve probably never heard of it, have you? It’s supposed to help make your skin glow and you’ll become more beautiful. Well, at least I know it’s very comfortable. I can bring one to you tomorrow.”
I smiled. “No, the pillow I’m talking about is to be used in autopsy! Wait a minute, who would give you pillows as a gift? And why were you given two?”
“Are you jealous?” smirked Xiaotao. “Anyway, you should learn to be more thoughtful and give me something once in a while.”
“Okay, roger.” I nodded repeatedly.
Xiaotao asked some officers to clean up the scene, and the bodies were put into body bags. By then, it was already one o'clock in the morning. Ye Shiwen and Zhang Yan had already gone back. I didn't pay attention to when the two of them had left. Dali said, “The college gates are closed by now. Why don’t you go spend the night at Xiaotao-jiejie’s place?”
“What about you?” I asked.
“I’ll just look for an internet cafe and play League of Legends until dawn,” he said with a note of bitterness. “We don’t have any classes tomorrow anyway.”
“You can come stay at my place too, you know?” Xiaotao suggested. “Do I look like such a cruel person to leave you out alone all night like that?”
Dali clapped his hands excitedly and exclaimed, “Thank you Xiaotao-jiejie! You’re the best!”
There was only one bed in Xiaotao’s apartment. It wouldn’t be comfortable for me and Dali to sleep on the sofa together, but to let both of us sleep on the bed while Xiaotao sleep on the sofa was definitely out of the question, so I quickly refused.
“It’s fine, we’re not going! Please just drive us to the college gate and we’ll find a cheap hostel to stay for a night. It only costs about 50 yuan per night anyway!”
So we arrived at the college main gate with Xiaotao. There were quite a lot of food stalls still open at that hour. They served the game-addicts who often stayed up at the internet cafes around here till morning.
Xiaotao rolled up her sleeves and marveled, “Wow, there are still so many barbecue stalls here this late! Come on, let’s grab a few bites!”
“Don't you want to go back to sleep?” I asked.
“I’m hungry! What, are you not willing to treat me even for just a few skewers of lamb? Don’t be so stingy!” Xiaotao pouted.
“Okay, let’s go. Get whatever you want. I’ll pay this time.” I could never resist that pout. Also, I had just received the bonus money from solving the previous cases anyway, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t afford it.
Xiaotao then parked the car on the side of the road. We found a barbecue stall and asked for some kebabs and roast lamb. Dali had beer and edamame. As he got tipsy, he started to sing praises of me for helping him get the number of the cute girl he liked.
He mentioned it casually, but I saw how Xiaotao’s interest was piqued. She squinted at me and smirked. Did I do something wrong again?
After a while, the barbecue meat arrived. Xiaotao held up the plate under my nose and asked, “Are these made of real lamb or are they mouse meat doused in sheep urine?”
I sniffed and assured her, “Don’t worry, it’s lamb.”
“Aww, these chunks are too fat! Help me eat them!”
I bit the chunks off obediently.
Dali suddenly groaned, and I asked him what was wrong. He replied, “Seriously, can you guys dial down the PDA? Think of my feelings! My poor lonely single self!”
Xiaotao picked up a lamb skewer and held it in front of his mouth, “Fine, come on! I’ll feed you too!”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Dali waved his hands. “You two go ahead. I don’t want to be the third wheel!” He looked up to the sky and sighed. “Ah, look at how wonderful the stars are tonight!”
We both were amused by him. Xiaotao changed the subject, “Let's talk about business! Song Yang, I just had an idea. You said that the two bodies were very weird. Could someone deliberately make them seem that way?”
I thought about it and replied, “Not very likely.”
“Are you sure?”
“There was no need to make so much effort at all if it had been a simple burned corpse. If it was a psychopathic serial killer, then what would they gain? Killing two people at the same time and throwing them in the same spot—that didn’t sound a lot like what serial killers normally did. Besides, the place was completely isolated. No one would’ve found them if not by coincidence. That would prevent them from getting any perverted pleasure…”
Xiaotao nodded thoughtfully.
“What do you think happened, then?” she asked.
“I’m confused myself,” I sighed. “I’ll probably be able to get a much better picture once I complete the autopsy tomorrow.”
“Which line of inquiry do you think we should follow?”
“First, we should confirm the identity of the victims, then investigate the background information of the house. We should find out who the current owner is. This house should be a haunted house, so we should see whether anyone died there before, then investigate from there.”
“Right, I’ll assign the tasks accordingly first thing tomorrow morning.”
Dali couldn't help but raise his thumbs up. “Xiaotao-jiejie is always so cool and efficient.”
Xiaotao smiled and explained, “Every murder case is a race against time. Each second that passes means that the possibility of the next victim to fall prey to the murderer increases.”
Once we finished our food, Xiaotao told Dali to go back first because she had something else to say to me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You really are clueless about girls, aren’t you? The girl was interested in you. Did you not see it?”
“Which girl?” I wondered for a while.
“The one whose number you gave to Dali! She gave it to you, you know?” Xiaotao smiled.
I shook my head in confusion.
Seeing that I said nothing, Xiaotao poked my arm and teased, “Is she beautiful? That girl?”
“She’s fine…” I replied vaguely.
“You’re really too slow about these things, you know? Maybe I should educate you about it sometime. Anyway, I’m going back now!”
“Um, by the way…”
“What is it?”
I had something to say, but I was too embarrassed about it.
“Never mind. We’ll talk about it later.”
Xiaotao smirked. “Don't be late tomorrow!”
After that, I was interrogated by Dali the whole night. He asked me how things were between me and Xiaotao. Did we hold hands? Did we kiss? He encouraged me to be more active and aggressive in pursuing her. I didn’t know how to answer his questions.
Then he asked me to help him analyze whether he and Xia Mengmeng had a chance to get together. How likely would it be? Were their characters suitable for each other? I was too sleepy, so I just mumbled something and fell asleep.
Early next morning, we arrived at the police station for the task force meeting. There was nothing much to say at this point as the case was still in its early stage. Even the identity of the victims had not yet been clarified.
After the meeting, I found a carpenter shop and drew a sketch of what I wanted to the master. I needed him to produce a pair of wooden pillows according to the description in the sketch, and I wanted it ASAP. The sooner the better!
Meanwhile, the police, including Xiaotao, went around to investigate the case. All I could do was wait at that point. There was nowhere else to go in the city so I accompanied Dali to the internet cafe. He played League of Legends with great enthusiasm, but I was not good at any game. All I did was waste time on QQ and read some news on the internet.
I searched the internet for any news articles about the house. The things that Baidu found were all useless, so even after a long time, my efforts were not fruitful.
I shook my head in despair and opened the QQ site again. But the moment I entered the site, a horrifying sight greeted me!
All of my friends’ avatars were turned to cursed children with bloody eyes. They kept shaking and squirming and they all sent me the same message: Song Yang, I want you dead!
1. Public display of affection.