Der umwerfende Premierminister

Kapitel 4

Li Hong was also quite surprised. There were no other police officers here! The local investigation team had already closed the case, and the case report would be available that afternoon. So why were there still police officers here?

"Was that police officer male or female? Did you see his badge?" Li Hong asked quickly.

“He was a male police officer named Zheng Zhihao, a guest staying in room 401. I asked him why he was staying there, and he said he was sent from Beijing, so I didn’t ask any more questions—wasn’t he a policeman?”

It was him! Li Hong had a bad feeling. I don't even know if he's a policeman! What was he doing in room 104? The scene has already been cleaned up. If he's a policeman, he should have investigated the scene long ago. Why is he only going now? Could there be some clues left at the scene that we haven't discovered?

“Oh, he’s a colleague from a different department,” Li Hong said immediately—don’t let the waiter get nervous—she wanted to see what that guy was up to. “By the way, do you have a spare key? I need to get into room 104 now, I’m worried Officer Zheng isn’t in the room.” If he’s up to something, he definitely won’t let me in; I want to catch him off guard.

"Yes, we do." The waiter was completely impressed by the two policemen. "However, this is the last key, so please return it as soon as possible. Also, it would be best to register it here."

"Okay, no problem."

As Li Hong wrote down her name, she casually asked, "Do you keep the corridor lights on at night in your hotel?"

"Oh, the lights are off because there's a bathroom in the room. Guests returning late will be escorted directly to their room by a staff member."

"Okay, thank you." — So, the light I saw in the hallway through the crack in the door last night definitely wasn't from the hallway light. That's a detail.

The waiter handed Li Hong a key with the room number on it. Her heart pounded as she held the key—she was finally going to have a direct confrontation with him!

The first-floor corridor was quiet; since the incident, no guests wanted to stay there. At the end of the corridor was a window, letting in sunlight and making the corridor very bright. Room 104 was tightly closed, but it was unclear whether anyone was inside.

Li Hong checked the door; there were no talismans or anything like that on it. Then she slowly moved closer, trying to listen to what was happening inside. After listening for a while, she didn't hear any strange sounds.

Li Hong took out the key—what if he was in the room and I suddenly appeared, catching him off guard and then revealing my true colors? I definitely couldn't be a match for him alone—she stopped moving—what could he do to me? If he was really doing something shady, he would definitely be afraid of me after I found out; besides, if I approached the door and he tried to harm me, I could just turn around and run, and he definitely wouldn't be able to catch me—after she felt confident, she inserted the key into the lock, turned it, and the door opened.

15. The Mystery of the Toilet (2)

The door to room 104 opened silently. As the door opened, Li Hong heard a rustling sound, like a mouse scratching at the door. She stood in the doorway for a moment, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. Her gaze settled on the bathroom; the sound was coming from there, but the door was tightly closed, and the sound was very faint.

She tiptoed into the room, tilting her head to glance at the bedroom. The bedroom was empty, and impeccably clean; the snow-white sheets were neatly made, and summer sunlight streamed in through the window. There was no hint of unease in the room. Like a thief, she removed her high heels and crept stealthily towards the bathroom.

Yes, the rustling sound was coming from there. Li Hong recalled her childhood experience raising a cat. Maoqiu (her cat's name) always wanted to be in the bedroom with its owner at night, and every midnight it would gently scratch at the bedroom door with its little paws, hoping its owner would let it in. The rustling sound coming from the bathroom now sounded exactly like Maoqiu scratching at the door, only the sound wasn't continuous, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and occasionally a metallic clanging sound could be heard. There must be someone in there, doing something.

Li Hong took a deep breath, her left hand trembling as she placed it on the doorknob. The bathroom door hadn't been repaired yet; broken pieces of new wood were visible from the outside, meaning the person inside definitely couldn't lock it. She had to see if that guy was causing trouble inside, even if it put her in danger, she wouldn't back down.

With a determined effort, she pushed the door open.

A sharp whistling sound seemed to reach her ears, and as the door opened, the sound quickly fled due to the bright light. Li Hong saw a person sitting on the open floor of the bathroom, with a pit about 40 centimeters square in front of him. His right hand, which was holding a small iron shovel, was still there, and he looked up at her.

Zheng Zhihao! It was him. At this moment, he was expressionless, his thin lips tightly pursed. He was not startled by Li Hong's sudden intrusion; on the contrary, it seemed as if he was welcoming her arrival.

"Do you usually disturb men who are using the restroom like this?" Zheng Zhihao asked helplessly, looking at Li Hong, whose eyes were wide and mouth was agape.

"What are you doing?!" Li Hong was confused by the scene before her. "What are you digging for here?"

"Shh!" Zheng Zhihao made a shushing gesture. "I'll tell you later. Let me finish my work first."

"No way!" Li Hong was enraged by Zheng Zhihao's shushing of her. "You've been noticed by the local police, and they're on their way. You'd better behave yourself. Now, please come out of the bathroom." She decided to intimidate him first, and even told a lie.

Zheng Zhihao was very surprised: "The police here are paying attention to me? What did I do? I didn't break the law, did I?"

"Really? Are you a police officer? Let me see your police ID. Is Zheng Zhihao your real name?"

"Oh, this matter. Well, I'll tell you in a bit, let me finish my work, okay? I promise I'll tell you the truth, just wait a moment." Zheng Zhihao softened, and his right hand was about to move the shovel again.

"Don't move!" Li Hong tensed up, looking at the sharp blade of the shovel. If this thing flew onto a person's head, it would definitely leave a wound of more than 5 centimeters. If it hit the throat, it could be fatal. "Put down the shovel and put your hands on your head."

“Officer Li, I won’t use this to attack you.” Zheng Zhihao seemed a little impatient. “I won’t hurt you, I swear to God. If you knew what I was doing, you wouldn’t be there giving orders.”

"Then what exactly are you doing?" Li Hong asked coldly. "Who are you? Is Ma Guiping's death related to you?"

Zheng Zhihao looked up at her incredulously: "What does Ma Guiping's death have to do with me? I don't even know him."

"So what are you doing now?" Li Hong was getting a little impatient. This guy just wouldn't say what he was up to, leaving me guessing. If you have a legitimate reason for what you're doing, why can't you just say it?

“I’m digging up a body,” Zheng Zhihao said calmly. “I can only dig after your police lift the blockade. What I’m doing won’t hurt anyone. I apologize for disturbing you with my actions.”

"Whose body did you dig up? Who buried it? How did you know there was a body here? If you were digging up a body, why did you only dig such a small area?" Li Hong tried her best to suppress her surprise and curiosity, asking in one breath, but her tone didn't reveal her curiosity, as if she knew the whole truth.

“I don’t know what kind of body is buried down there, nor do I know who buried it, but I’ve learned through my own methods that there is a body here. I want to dig it out and see if it can answer why Ma Guiping died here,” Zheng Zhihao said, rubbing the mud off his hands.

"Who exactly are you?" Li Hong asked again.

"I am..." Zheng Zhihao paused, seemingly pondering how to say it. Li Hong was so anxious that she almost rushed over and hit him on the head with the shovel.

“I’m afraid you won’t believe me if I tell you, so it’s better to describe it as a religious worker,” Zheng Zhihao finally said, but what he said made Li Hong even angrier.

"Alright, alright, I'm not going to argue with you anymore. Come out of the bathroom now." Li Hong felt she was losing her patience and had to hand him over to the police. She wasn't going to get any information out of this guy. How could there be a body in the bathroom? That was utter nonsense. If there really was a body, there would definitely be a smell in the room. Even if it had been buried there for a long time, there would still be clues because of the relatively enclosed space.

"Forensic doctor, my dear sister, I beg you, I absolutely did nothing wrong, the police have nothing to do here," Zheng Zhihao said with a frown, seemingly very anxious.

"I'm sorry, I can't allow you to dig any further. This place will be sealed off as a crime scene. If there have been any criminal cases here before, you'd better explain to the police how you know that." Li Hong said, thinking to himself, "Maybe he committed a crime here before, and now he's back to retrieve something. His previous antics were just to distract everyone. Luckily, I decided to come back and check, and I caught him."

Zheng Zhihao looked at the pit in front of him, then put down the shovel. After a long while, he said, "Fine, then I won't dig anymore. But Ma Guiping's soul will not forgive you. Make sure he can never be reincarnated."

“Ma Guiping is dead, he’s unconscious!” Li Hong shouted. “I don’t believe in ghosts at all, there are no ghosts in the world!”—Being able to shout this out in front of him was a great relief, and Li Hong felt her whole body trembling with anger and excitement.

The man in front of her shrugged, then stood up, patted his butt, raised his hands, and prepared to leave the bathroom.

Li Hong also came out and pointed to the bedroom. Zheng Zhihao obediently went to the bedroom, looked at her with a half-smile, and shook his head.

16. Peculiar Identity (1)

Although Li Hong had no weapon to threaten Zheng Zhihao, he seemed to be cooperating at the moment, sitting obediently on the bed, smoking, and looking deep in thought.

“Now, you’d better tell me what really happened. If, as you say, no one was threatened, and we can even find the reason for Ma Guiping’s strange behavior before his death, we can leave the local police alone,” Li Hong said calmly, standing in front of him. Her outburst earlier had made her feel much better. Seeing his worried expression, Li Hong felt she had caught him red-handed; he should confess now.

Zheng Zhihao didn't speak, still lost in his own thoughts, as if he hadn't heard anything.

"Did you hear that?" Li Hong asked again.

“I heard you,” Zheng Zhihao said hoarsely. “I’m considering how much you would believe if I told you the truth.”

"Tell me first, how do you know I won't believe you if it's true?"

"You just told me that you don't believe in ghosts at all, and you think it's not true."

"..." Li Hong is now beginning to believe her initial judgment. He should indeed be a mental patient with delusional symptoms. If that's the case, then all her efforts in paying attention to and investigating him have been in vain.

"Is that right? If you don't believe in ghosts, then you'll think everything I'm about to tell you is impossible," Zheng Zhihao said. "I'm not worried about myself. You said the police are on the road, but that's just to fool me. They can indeed detain me, but I think it's best not to make things worse in front of you. I just hope you won't bother me. I'll cooperate with your work, and you can cooperate with mine, so we won't interfere with each other."

Standing there, Li Hong suddenly felt like an annoying person interfering in other people's private affairs, but this thought vanished in an instant, because she felt that she should interfere; who knew what the man in front of her really wanted?

“Then tell me what your purpose is in coming here,” Li Hong asked. “I’m not interrogating you; I just want to know the reason. After all, I’m here to investigate Ma Guiping’s death at the request of my friend, so I need to understand the reason from strangers who are also concerned about this matter. That’s quite normal, isn’t it?”

“Alright, I’ll tell you. But after I tell you, whether you believe me or not, you’d better continue doing what you’re doing. I promise I won’t bother you. But if you continue to interfere with me—I’m not threatening you, I have the ability to get rid of you—then I will continue my investigation in my own way, which may put you in danger.” Zheng Zhihao stared into Li Hong’s eyes as he spoke, his gaze carrying an indescribable chill.

Li Hong stood there, feeling both amused and angry. Just then, her phone rang. It was a call from her police friend in Beijing.

"Should I leave?" Zheng Zhihao asked.

Li Hong waved to him and answered the phone, "Hello, this is Li Hong."

"Teacher Li, this is Xiao Jia. The person you asked me to investigate is having some difficulty," the other party said.

"What's wrong?"

“We found 623 people named Zheng Zhihao registered nationwide, of whom 577 are male and 289 are between 25 and 35 years old. We need some other clues.”

"Okay, wait a moment." Li Hong pointed to the bed, indicating that he should stay there while she went outside to answer the phone. He nodded.

Li Hong came to the corridor and said, "This person has a Beijing accent, so he should be Han or Manchu, and about 175 cm tall. Please screen him again."

"Okay, wait a minute."

Li Hong paced back and forth in the corridor, waiting for news.

"Hello," came the voice on the other end, "there are still 42 people left."

Li Hong bit her lip. What other distinguishing features did he have? Ah! That's right, his ID number! I'm so stupid, he must have left his ID number when he registered at the hotel. "Xiao Jia, wait a minute, I'll send you his ID number later. I just remembered he left it when he registered."

"Ahem! Teacher Li, look at how you beat around the bush. But since you've never been a policeman, I won't say anything more, haha."

"I'm so sorry! I'll text you later."

After hurriedly hanging up the phone, Li Hong went to the service desk to check his ID number. The clerk at the service desk was increasingly confused, but Li Hong couldn't care less now. That guy was still waiting inside. What he said was what he said, and I still needed to verify his identity. The two were not contradictory. Now that she was getting closer to his true identity, she was a little excited.

17. A Peculiar Identity (2)

Li Hong sent her police friend a text message with his ID number, requesting a text message with the investigation results. It wasn't that she didn't want to answer the phone, but rather that she wanted to continue interrogating Zheng Zhihao. She returned to her room, passing the bathroom without glancing inside, and went straight to the bedroom. Zheng Zhihao hadn't run away, nor had he continued digging; he remained sitting on the bed, patiently waiting, having smoked quite a few cigarettes, filling the room with smoke. "Looks like he really wants to cooperate," Li Hong thought. "He's realized playing games with me won't do any good, and he's much more honest now—well, let's see what he has to say."

"I'm sorry. Let's continue now," Li Hong said cheerfully. She felt she was in control and was in a very good mood. "Can I open the window? It's too stuffy in here."

"Don't open it yet, let's close the curtains too," Zheng Zhihao said.

Li Hong looked at him suspiciously, wondering what his intentions were.

"Don't be nervous, I won't harm you, and I have no ulterior motives." He said somewhat irritably, "You have to trust me. I'm not your prisoner now; I should say I'm your friend in the same trench—in fact, we have the same goal, don't we? We're both investigating the motives and process of Ma Guiping's suicide. But now you're going to such lengths to figure out who I am, why I'm interested in this matter, and why my investigation is progressing faster than yours, and why I've learned things you don't know."

Li Hong nodded. Indeed, she seemed to have neglected to focus her investigation on Ma Guiping and the incident itself. Because things seemed so simple, she had relaxed her investigation on the incident itself and instead focused on Zheng Zhihao's identity and motives. Oh, and those unsettling strange events that happened at night had given her a preconceived notion that Zheng Zhihao was "not a good person."

“Alright, I trust you,” Li Hong finally said. “I hope to share intelligence with you.” With that, she drew the curtains.

The room darkened. For a fleeting moment, she sensed a barely perceptible smile on Zheng Zhihao's face. She now regretted not carrying any weapons; criminals were cunning, and she had foolishly trusted him.

"Now that you're sitting here, how do you feel?" Zheng Zhihao asked, as if he wasn't in a hurry to share the information but rather wanted to play with her.

"What do you mean, what do you feel?" Li Hong said. "I'm waiting to hear you tell me who you are and what your purpose is in coming here."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you," Zheng Zhihao said reassuringly. "I want to ask you how you feel being in this room. If you feel sluggish, you can go to the bathroom to check it out."

"What do you mean I'm not perceptive..." Li Hong was about to get angry again, but she immediately sensed that this room was indeed different from before. What was different? She couldn't say. She also admitted that she had felt very bad that afternoon alone in the bathroom, but what did that mean? Did he have the same feeling? Was it not a hallucination?

"What kind of feeling do you want to know about me?" Li Hong said calmly. "I do have a feeling of unease, but isn't it normal to feel uneasy in a small room where someone has just been burned to death—I mean, the bathroom?"

"But you're a forensic pathologist, you should have seen many similar scenes. Did you feel that way at the time?" Zheng Zhihao asked aggressively.

Li Hong recalled her first mission as a forensic pathologist. Aside from that time, she had never felt goosebumps before, even when faced with dismembered corpses or rotting, maggot-infested carcasses; she hadn't even flinched. She called this behavior, which might be considered perverted, numbness. But why did she feel uneasy this time? Note, uneasy, not disgusted. It was indeed very strange.

“But what does that prove? After all, the deceased was my good friend’s husband,” Li Hong said. “This is different from a regular crime scene investigation.”

“No, essentially there’s no difference. You didn’t know him well, and you called him the dead,” Zheng Zhihao said. He paused for a moment, then continued, “You should know that this feeling doesn’t come from the dead, but from the room itself.”

Silence fell over the room.

Li Hong didn't want to recall that feeling, but at this moment, she still felt a chill run down her spine because that feeling was back, crawling all over her body like ants and slowly devouring her trembling heart. She felt that someone was standing behind her, a person with long hair that completely obscured his face, motionless, just coldly watching her, if he still had eyes.

She turned around abruptly, but there was nothing there, no one.

“You felt it…” Zheng Zhihao said softly, “It appeared behind you.”

"What is it?" Li Hong asked, her voice trembling slightly.

“It is a ghost that you don’t believe in,” Zheng Zhihao said, emphasizing each word.

"Impossible!" Li Hong told himself. "Impossible! There are no ghosts in this world! How could he possibly see ghosts!"