Horrorgeschichten, die in einer verlassenen Wohnung spielen

Kapitel 17

Chapter Fourteen: Vanished Without a Trace

"Please calm down, calm down. Now, tell me the whole story again."

The two bailiffs standing opposite Detective Wang looked extremely grim. Their thin, long eyebrows twitched intermittently, each time causing beads of sweat to drip down. The other bailiff, whose nose was being smelled by Detective Wang, fared slightly better, though his bulbous nose had been kneaded and rubbed until it resembled a wet cherry tomato.

"I, back then, was a prisoner..." As he spoke, he kept rubbing his nose, so much so that it covered his mouth. He was somewhat taken aback to realize his awkward movement and quickly lowered his hand.

He was the bailiff in charge of the prisoner during the trial. Since something had happened to the prisoner, he naturally bore undeniable responsibility. Nothing like this had ever occurred before, so he didn't know what punishment he would face. But that was all in the future; there wasn't time to put so much pressure on him now.

He stood before me and Detective Wang, struggling to organize his thoughts, trying to accurately recount the events that had just occurred. But from my perspective, it seemed he hadn't had time to process or understand what had happened so recently. He didn't even understand what had happened, which, while making it difficult for him to recount the events, also instilled in him an overwhelming fear that he couldn't suppress.

The man with rosacea is named Zhu Baohua. When he was very young, he was sitting on the old-fashioned toilet in his family's bathroom, trying his best to pull his head back when a wasp suddenly appeared. However, the wasp still stung him on the most prominent part of his face. Now, he often examines the large pores on his nose in front of the mirror, guessing that one is a sty from back then.

As compensation, every visible pore on his nose seemed to have sprouted olfactory cells. When escorting prisoners to court, he could always smell the cigarette smoke in their teeth, the drugs in their blood, or the blood in their bone marrow, and then use that to gauge just how murky and dark the handcuffed man truly was. This judgment often coincided with the judge's verdict, though his colleagues thought he was either exaggerating or being paranoid.

What he smelled on Lü Wanqiang today was a strange scent.

It was both calm and passionate; both profound and superficial. Many contradictory qualities were mixed in this seemingly simple and ordinary boy. And of course, there was a hint of bloodlust.

Zhu Baohua glanced at Lü Wanqiang again. This guy…

“Hey, what have you smelled this time?” his partner Wu Chaodong said, his tone carrying a hint of unintentional mockery.

Zhu Baohua shrugged and said nothing. He knew they didn't believe him, but it didn't matter; people don't live for others.

He remembered the warning he'd received from the police that morning. This guy was definitely different, but what could possibly happen? He knew even the criminal court had undergone an emergency explosives search by bomb disposal experts; it seemed the police were quite confident in their sources. But what could possibly happen? He was certain there was a police presence around the courthouse today, which should be enough. This wasn't some chaotic Middle East; this was Shanghai, one of China's safest major cities. Unless, of course, divine intervention came to his rescue.

When the judge announced a fifteen-minute recess, Zhu Baohua breathed a small sigh of relief. He had been genuinely worried for a while, but now it seemed the matter was about to end. Perhaps the police information was flawed, or perhaps their arrangements had caused those who wanted to do something to cancel their plans. Thank goodness, he hoped this last bit of time would pass quickly. Whatever happened, he hoped he wouldn't be the one to experience it.

He chuckled self-deprecatingly. Did he really think a scene from a Hong Kong police thriller was about to unfold? He glanced at Wu Chaodong and noticed that he was also a little nervous, which made Zhu Baohua relax a bit.

"I need to use the restroom," Lü Wanqiang suddenly said.

This request did not arouse much suspicion from the two bailiffs, at least since Lü Wanqiang had not gone to the toilet after being escorted to the court in the prison van.

Wu Chaodong led Lü Wanqiang to the toilet door, went in first to look around, and then came out to indicate to Zhu Baohua that there was no one else inside.

His red, bulbous nose twitched. Because of his acute sense of smell, he always hated going to the toilet. Even if he held his breath, the smell would still get into his nostrils. He gave Lü Wanqiang a nudge, and the prisoner obediently went into the toilet.

The court session was about to resume in a few minutes, and many spectators had already taken their seats in the courtroom, so there weren't many people in the aisles. However, two people noticed the prisoner and the uniformed bailiffs and stood to the side, giving them curious glances. Zhu Baohua glanced at them; perhaps these two were going to use the restroom. But he didn't need to say, "Excuse me, please wait until the prisoner comes out before you go in," because even if they wanted to go in, it would be to another stall.

However, Zhu Baohua was wrong. The two onlookers only paused briefly before walking away.

Watching the strangers leave, Zhu Baohua took a deep breath and went into the restroom. His partner looked at him with surprise; he knew Zhu Baohua's aversion to restrooms, especially since he had just used one.

Zhu Baohua just wanted to be more careful. He always felt uneasy. This mission was about to end, and it was best not to let the prisoner out of his sight.

There was no one in front of the urinal.

Zhu Baohua's heart sank suddenly. He said, "Hey, are you taking a dump?"

The only response he received was the sound of hurried footsteps; his partner, Wu Chaodong, rushed in.

He and his partner exchanged a glance, their hands already touching their holsters.

"I'm asking you a question, answer me!" he shouted.

The echo lingered faintly in the small space of the toilet, and that was all.

"Bang!" He kicked the door of the nearest cubicle. The unlocked hard plastic door bounced open, revealing the toilet behind it, before slowly bouncing back.

"Bang bang bang..." He and Wu Chaodong kicked open the doors one after another.

In the last two cubicles, the two bailiffs almost simultaneously stood up, then quickly looked at each other, trying to see a last glimmer of hope in each other's eyes, which immediately turned into shock and disbelief.

The prisoner has vanished!

"Is this the toilet?" Detective Wang asked.

"Yes," Zhu Baohua replied.

The toilet had been temporarily secured, and Detective Wang called out to me, "Come and take a look too."

Two bailiffs followed me into the restroom. They didn't know who I was, but at that moment they were no longer curious about it.

This is a very common toilet layout: men's and women's toilets opposite each other, with a sink in the middle. Inside the men's toilet, there's a row of six urinals, one of which is for disabled people. Opposite the urinals are four stalls with sit-down toilets; each door now has a clear shoe print, and one door is hanging crookedly, having been kicked and damaged.

This was a windowless toilet, and as soon as I noticed this, I looked up at the ceiling. There was no sign that the vent had been opened, and the vent wasn't like those in Hollywood movies, large enough for an adult to crawl inside.

This is a case of disappearance from a locked room!

Locked-room murders are a favorite genre in Japanese detective manga, but locked-room disappearances are far more unbelievable. After all, there are many ways to commit murder, and the killer doesn't necessarily have to be at the scene of the crime. But disappearances are different; a living person simply vanishes into thin air.

Detective Wang's eyes swept over every corner of the restroom, taking quite some time, before finally settling on the two bailiffs.

"How long was it between the time the prisoner entered the toilet and when you discovered he was missing?" the detective asked.

"Not long after, Azhu quickly followed her inside," Wu Chaodong said.

"It won't take more than three minutes," Zhu Baohua said confidently. After thinking for a moment, he added, "It'll probably only take about two minutes."

"About two minutes?" Detective Wang's eyebrows furrowed deeply.

How is it possible to escape from that small toilet in such a short time in some mysterious way and restore everything to its original state?

“No matter what, he’s already escaped. But I think even if he managed to get out of this restroom, he might not be able to get directly to the courthouse,” I said.

“I have had people keeping a close watch on the area around the courthouse, and they will notify me immediately if they spot any targets. I have also started monitoring the places he might go and the people he might come into contact with.”

"Was the person who threw the bottle in court earlier Lü Wanqiang's father?"

"Yes."

I shook my head slightly; the matter was indeed troublesome. Judging from Mr. Lü's behavior in court, he didn't seem to know that his son would escape in this way; otherwise, the title of "Best Actor" would be too cheap.

"Where were you standing when you were outside the door?" the detective asked the two bailiffs.

"exist……"

“Go outside and show me,” the detective interrupted them.

At the entrance to the restroom, two bailiffs pointed out their previous positions, which were opposite the sinks. Zhu Baohua was standing closer to the men's restroom, while Wu Chaodong was standing on the women's restroom side.

"What were you looking at during those two minutes?" The detective's question was rather blunt.

The two swore that their eyes never left the direction of the toilet, and even if they occasionally glanced in other directions, they would definitely be able to spot anyone coming out of the toilet, even with just a glance.

“During those two or three minutes, absolutely no one came out of the toilet. There are surveillance cameras in this corridor, and the surveillance footage can prove it,” Zhu Baohua said.

"They'll definitely pull up the surveillance footage when they get it," Detective Wang said, then went into the restroom and scrutinized the room from above and below.

After a while, he turned to me and asked, "Na Duo, have you discovered anything?"

"If even you, the detective, couldn't find anything, what could I possibly find?" I said with a wry smile.

"Um."

"Gentlemen, while you were standing guard outside, did you hear any noise coming from inside?" I asked the bailiff.

"No, there wasn't a sound at all," Wu Chaodong quickly replied. He must have thought I was an undercover officer.

Zhu Baohua also shook his head, but I felt he seemed to want to say something.

"What, have you thought of something?" Detective Wang asked, staring at him.

He touched his bulbous nose and said, "I didn't hear anything either, but my nose is fine. However, my colleagues usually don't believe me and say I'm being paranoid..."

The web detective interrupted him impatiently: "Get to the point, what did you smell?"

"I smelled a bit of urine, a fresh smell of urine."

"Smells like urine?" Detective Wang asked.

I've been wondering what the smell of urine means.

"Yes, so at first I didn't think anything was wrong. I thought he was just peeing in there."

Detective Wang stared wide-eyed at the bulbous nose: "You mean, if someone urinates in this urinal in the toilet, you can smell it just by standing at the door?"

The man with the bulbous nose nodded and glanced at his companion. Wu Chaodong was also looking at him with surprise in his eyes.

Detective Wang looked at each urinal one by one, and in the second urinal near the entrance, he found something.

These are all automatic toilets. When someone finishes urinating, the sensor activates and flushes away any remaining urine with water. However, there's a small yellow spot on the edge of the container, in an area the water can't reach. It seems someone accidentally urinated there and it hasn't completely dried yet.

The detective immediately bent down, squinted, and turned his head to look at the ground in front of the urinal.

"Damn it?" he cursed.

I quickly realized that he was criticizing himself.

He stood up, waved at us like we were shooing away mosquitoes, and shouted, "Get out, all of you get out!"

After kicking us out of the restroom, he followed us out and said into the walkie-talkie, "Send a forensic expert over here. This is the restroom, where I am now! Also, send someone to guard the door!"

I guess he probably noticed the footprints. Of course, someone standing in front of a urinal will leave footprints when they urinate.

But did Lü Wanqiang really urinate in the toilet? In those two minutes, he was trying to escape, yet he still had the leisure to urinate? Even if he might wet his pants, which is more important, being caught and losing the escape attempt?

Unless he never intended to escape at all!

The sole discovery at the scene made the disappearance even more mysterious and unpredictable.

The police officers who were ordered to keep watch on the scene quickly appeared, jogging over. Detective Wang nodded at me and said, "Let's go check the surveillance footage."

The surveillance video was very clear.

The time between Lü Wanqiang entering the men's restroom in handcuffs and Zhu Baohua entering was less than two minutes.

One minute and forty-nine seconds.

We watched that minute and forty-nine seconds three times. The last time, we watched it in eight times slow motion. During those ten-odd minutes, everyone's eyes were glued to the men's restroom exit on the screen. Even if Lü Wanqiang ran out of the restroom at ten times the world sprint record speed, he couldn't possibly escape being noticed.

I initially thought that Lü Wanqiang might have used some kind of drug to numb the nerves of the two bailiffs at the door. Indeed, there have been cases in southern China where people were drugged and obediently handed over their money and bank card PINs to strangers, only to have no recollection of what happened upon regaining consciousness. But while the human eye can be temporarily deceived, surveillance cameras cannot.

Detective Wang lit a cigarette and vigorously blew smoke rings. I doubt he had ever encountered such a maddening case in all his years of criminal investigation.

I completely understand how he felt; it was like being slapped hard across the face.

Because we had received prior reports from our inside sources that something bad was going to happen, we took all sorts of precautions, but they were all in vain. The most frustrating thing is that we were completely ruined, but we didn't even know how we got into trouble.

Could it really be a miracle? Mortals cannot comprehend a miracle created by the hand of God?

I shook my head. There are no gods in this world, oh, and even if there were, they would never be in this crooked little temple of the Holy Maiden Church.

Some people rewound the video and played it from the beginning. But in reality, everyone had given up on finding any problems in the video, so this time they didn't even bother to zoom in on specific areas of the image.

The video, in its most original form, is played from a distance, showing the scene in the corridor over this period of a little over a minute.