Blutiger Handabdruck - Kapitel 38
To avoid attracting attention, the officers weren't frequently rotated. These two had been guarding the room for twenty-four hours straight; they must have been feeling incredibly stifled. Pan Xiaolu pulled up a stool and sat down on the edge of the bed, asking, "Chief Huang, are you feeling any better?"
Huang Yisen nodded weakly, looking as if he hadn't quite recovered from the shock. After all, he was getting on in years, and his body couldn't handle such a fright.
"Then can you tell me what happened last night?"
"Last night, last night..." Huang Yisen's eyebrows twitched, his voice trembling, as if even mentioning the word "last night" was unbearable for him. "The elevator stopped on the second floor, and I felt something was strange. I looked up and saw the door was a crack open. It was pitch black outside, and there was a face, but no body, just... floating there. It was so scary, so scary... Did I encounter a ghost? Do you think I encountered a ghost?" He shrank back, his hands unconsciously gripping the blanket tightly, the fear in his eyes seeming ready to leap out and bite at any moment.
Pan Xiaolu's heart raced at his tone and expression. She took a deep breath and said, "Director Huang, tell me slowly. What did that face look like? Why didn't it have a body?"
Huang Yisen nodded obediently, his expression like that of a kindergarten child in front of his teacher. He took a deep breath and said, "Last night, when the elevator doors opened, I looked up and saw a face half-hidden in the darkness..."
"What kind of half-hidden, half-revealed..."
"I can't really explain it. When I first saw it, my heart skipped a beat, and I felt a chill run down my spine. But now that I think about it carefully, it's not just a face..."
The bedside lamp suddenly went out.
Huang Yisen was startled and swallowed the rest of his words.
"What happened?" Pan Xiaolu asked in surprise.
The plainclothes officer lifted the curtain and looked outside, saying, "There might be a power outage. I'll go check it out." As he spoke, he opened the door. The corridor was also pitch black, and he could faintly hear the voices of patients from other rooms, wondering why there was a power outage, as well as nurses reassuring patients that the power would be back on soon.
The two people inside were relieved and waited quietly for the power to come back on.
A faint breeze brushed past Pan Xiaolu, carrying a foul, fishy smell. She frowned slightly, leaned back, and recalled Huang Yisen's last words: "Actually, it's not just a face." She asked, "Chief Huang, what do you mean by 'not just a face'?"
"Oh, oh..." Huang Yisen made a hoarse "oh" sound, as if his throat was blocked and he had to make a sound. Pan Xiaolu felt uncomfortable all over and was about to go out for a walk when she suddenly felt the bed shaking. A thought flashed into her mind, and her heart skipped a beat. She quickly reached out and touched the bed, and sure enough, Huang Yisen's body was convulsing. "Chief Huang, what's wrong with you?"
Section 72: Chapter Twelve - The Second Part of the Void Calamity (2)
"Oh oh..." It was still just a muffled "oh oh".
Pan Xiaolu's heart pounded. In a panic, she reached out to touch Huang Yisen's head. Her fingers touched something cold and unclean, and a jolt of electricity shot through her. She quickly pulled her hand back, feeling a cool breeze carrying a fishy smell brush past her. What was that? Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Suddenly remembering her phone in her pocket, she pulled it out and randomly pressed a button.
The blue light emanating from the screen slightly softened the darkness. She turned her head to look towards the doorway on her right; a flat face was silhouetted against the shadows…
Pan Xiaolu screamed, her whole body trembling violently. Her phone fell to the ground with a thud, and then darkness enveloped them once more. Hearing the noise, the plainclothes officers in the corridor rushed in, urgently asking, "What happened? What happened?"
Then another person rushed in and asked, "What's wrong?" It was Xu Haicheng's voice. It turned out that he couldn't stay in the car, so he went out to the yard to smoke. When he saw that the inpatient department had suddenly turned dark, he felt something was wrong and rushed in, just in time to hear Pan Xiaolu's scream.
"A face... a face..." Pan Xiaolu's voice trembled.
Just then, the desk lamp turned on. The light was still a warm orange-red, but there was no warmth in the room at all.
Xu Haicheng glanced around. Huang Yisen lay on the bed, eyes wide open, drool at the corner of his mouth, no longer making those "oh" sounds, and a deep red tooth mark on his neck. Pan Xiaolu squatted against the wall, her hands covering her face, trembling uncontrollably.
"Quick, call the doctor!" Xu Haicheng shouted as he rushed to the door, glancing left and right. The piercing screams had alerted the others, who were standing at the ward door looking around. Some even wanted to come and see what was going on, but Xu Haicheng glared at them and sent them back. He thought for a moment, then rushed to the right window. The window was open, and outside were evergreen shrubs that never faded. A little further away, the shrubs were trembling eerily.
Xu Haicheng stepped out of the window and followed the rustling sound. The holly bushes were planted around the outer wall of the inpatient department. By the time he reached the corner, the rustling had stopped, and the outer wall was right in front of him. Turning back, he saw the holly bushes standing neatly like a row of guards protecting the inpatient department. To the right and to the left were dark, towering buildings.
Xu Haicheng looked around for a long time, making sure there would be no further discoveries, before dejectedly returning to Huang Yisen's ward. The person on the bed had been covered with a white sheet. Pan Xiaolu sat on a stool, still covering her face, her shoulders trembling slightly. Two plainclothes officers stood beside her, perhaps wanting to comfort her but unsure how. They both looked bewildered, probably not yet understanding how such a change had occurred in less than five minutes.
Xu Haicheng walked over to Pan Xiaolu, gently patted her shoulder, and asked, "What did you see?"
Pan Xiaolu's shoulders stiffened at first, but she relaxed upon hearing his voice, and said in a tearful voice, "A face, a floating face..."
"What kind of?"
"It was terrifying...terrifying..." Pan Xiaolu shuddered again, her usual fierce policewoman demeanor completely gone. Xu Haicheng gently patted her shoulder and said, "It's gone now, don't be afraid anymore."
Pan Xiaolu clutched his clothes tightly, her eyes blank as she said, "Really? You won't come again? You really won't come again...?" She looked like a five or six-year-old child who had just woken up from a nightmare, desperately seeking comfort from someone.
Xu Haicheng frowned slightly, waved to a plainclothes officer to take her to the emergency room for a sedative, then sat down on a stool and, ignoring the no-smoking rule in the ward, lit a cigarette and started smoking. Only then did he realize his shirt was soaked with sweat. He wiped his face, feeling an indescribable regret. He should have accompanied Pan Xiaolu to Huang Yisen's ward; perhaps this wouldn't have happened.
If his calculations were correct, the murderer hadn't been able to find Huang Yisen's hospital room, so he waited near the hospital until Pan Xiaolu entered the inpatient department, where she conveniently became his guide. Looking at Huang Yisen's stiff corpse on the bed, and recalling Pan Xiaolu's terrified state earlier, he deeply hated his own incompetence, while a burning rage ignited within him. He vowed to catch the murderer, even if it was a summoned ghost.
Deputy Captain Feng arrived quickly with a team, and everyone worked until 3 a.m. Pan Xiaolu fell into a deep sleep after receiving her injection; she remained at the hospital, protected by two plainclothes officers. Xu Haicheng returned to the police station with Deputy Captain Feng and his team, and as one of the witnesses, he gave his statement that night.
It was already past midnight when the whole story was told. Another sleepless night had passed, and everyone looked exhausted. Since the first case on November 2nd, four people had died in just six days. With only two days left until the Mansi Cultural Festival, two well-known figures in the organizing committee had been completely wiped out.
Xu Haicheng walked out of the interrogation room and heard from Deputy Captain Feng that Chen Chen was waiting for him in the office. He immediately felt his head was so heavy it felt like it would fall off his neck. Forcing himself to open the door to the bureau chief's office, he saw that in just a few days, the bureau chief seemed to have aged considerably; wrinkles covered his forehead like a spiderweb, and his temples were as gray as autumn frost. He gestured to the stool in front of him, indicating for Xu Haicheng to sit down, and said wearily, "I heard you were also at the hospital last night?"
Section 73: Chapter Twelve, Part Two of the Void Calamity (3)
"Yes, I should have been with Pan Xiaolu back then," Xu Haicheng said regretfully.
"Is Xiaolu alright?"
"I was quite frightened."
"This time it killed someone right in front of everyone..."
"Yes." Xu Haicheng felt like a heavy stone was pressing on his heart. The first three murders all happened when the victims were alone. This time, however, it happened in front of two police officers, only hidden in the darkness.
Do you have any thoughts?
"Chief, please reinstate me to my post. I wish to participate in the investigation." In just two days, Xu Haicheng realized how convenient the position of criminal investigation captain could be. Last night, the security guards at Nanpu University were able to detain him, let alone investigate cases. Without identification, it would be impossible to move an inch.
"The suspension was the city's decision, and I can't reinstate you without my permission. I heard from Xiaolu that you remembered you didn't kill anyone, but we need evidence first." Chen Chen paused. "I came to you about this. Deputy Captain Feng said that a suspect was arrested at Ma Junnan's house last night, and he scared Ma Junnan so much that he was hospitalized. I heard from Xiaolu that you also went to see Ma Junnan. Did you see or hear anything?"
Upon hearing that "a suspect was apprehended at Ma Junnan's house last night," Xu Haicheng said he felt a surge of energy, adding, "I overheard their conversation; it seemed this suspect knew very well what happened at Julong Cave afterward." He hesitated for a moment, then continued, "He seemed to say that Ma Junnan committed murder."
"Oh?" Chen Chen frowned. "Ma Junnan would kill someone?" He had seen him on TV; he was clearly a frail professor.
"Chief, could I conduct the interrogation? I know the details better." Xu Haicheng couldn't contain his eagerness.
Chen Chen hesitated. According to Xu Haicheng, the suspect was likely an eyewitness to the gunfight at Julong Cave, while Xu Haicheng was a suspect in the gunfight and should recuse himself according to regulations. However, no one else knew more about the investigation team and the rescue team than him. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Let Deputy Captain Feng interrogate him later. You go next door and listen in. Notify him if there are any problems."