Night Doll - Chapter 17
"What is this?" he asked in surprise.
Lee Jung-jin smiled and said, "It's a bowl of Korean cold noodles... I saw Xiaoyou last night, and she brought me a lot of fragrant Korean cold noodles. I told her I had a new neighbor. She was very happy and asked me to save a bowl for you. This bowl of cold noodles was supposed to be for you last night, but you weren't here. Xiaoyou told me to make sure to give it to you, so I've been waiting... waiting for you to come back..."
"Well... I can't possibly accept that! You saved me last night, and I haven't even repaid you yet!" Song Xiaomo was at a loss for words. He hadn't expected Li Zhengzhen and that girl named Xiaoyou to be so enthusiastic.
"Just accept it, otherwise Xiaoyou will be unhappy," Li Zhengzhen said seriously.
Song Xiaomo couldn't refuse, so she quickly accepted the gift with both hands and said with great gratitude, "Thank you, thank you!"
"Then I'll be going now." Li Zhengzhen left quickly.
Song Xiaomo closed the door, placed the object on the table, and gently opened the lid.
Indeed, it was a bowl of North Korean cold noodles.
He then realized he hadn't eaten for two meals, so he quickly grabbed his chopsticks and wolfed down the food. The cold noodles tasted a bit strange, hard to describe, but not so bad as to be unpalatable. In less than five minutes, he had devoured the entire bowl of cold noodles. He was just too hungry!
Chapter 81: The Ghost Doll Returns (81)
After finishing his meal, he immediately felt sleepy and lay down on the sofa for a while. Sometime later, a deafening phone call woke him. He turned over and grabbed the receiver.
"Xiao Mo, you're finally back." It was He Zhiying's voice.
Song Xiaomo woke up from her sleepiness and asked anxiously, "What happened? Where did you go just now?"
He Zhiying hesitated for a moment, then said somewhat incoherently, "I...I went...to see that 'ghost'."
"What the hell? Are you out of your mind?"
“Last night, around midnight, I suddenly woke up from a dream. At that moment, I heard a faint sound coming from the bathroom, like a soft sobbing. I walked over nervously, opened the door, and saw a person squatting in the corner of the bathroom. She was wearing a pink dress and had her back to me, doing something I couldn't tell. When she realized someone was behind her, she turned around... I saw... she... she lifted her long hair from her face, revealing a bloodied face... her eyes..." The voice on the phone trembled incessantly, and Song Xiaomo couldn't help but tremble as well.
“Her eyes were watering, no…no…it was blood! Then she grinned and sneered at me. That’s when I noticed her whole body was covered in bloody holes, especially around her temples, where milky white brain matter was oozing out. She was sewing up the holes in her body with a needle…”
"And then what happened?" Song Xiaomo's heart skipped a beat again. However, he had already realized that this was one of He Zhiying's nightmares. He remembered that she had once told him the story of this girl who committed suicide, who was also mending her wounds and wearing a pink dress... He knew very well that He Zhiying's mental state had been very poor lately due to the death of that female administrator, and she often had nightmares in the middle of the night.
"Then I ran out of the bathroom to call you. I had just finished speaking when I saw that woman crawl out of the bathroom and pounce on me. I was so scared that I kept running around the room, and suddenly I was knocked unconscious by something. When I regained consciousness, the woman in the bathroom was gone."
"Looks like this is another nightmare for you!"
"No, absolutely not. At first, I also thought these were all nightmares, just my imagination, but then I realized they were all real. Because this morning, I saw a lot of blood in the bathroom, left by that ghost. And I also found a needle by the door... I really saw a ghost! It was so scary, so terrifying!"
"No way? Are you sure it's really a ghost? Have you killed any fish, chickens, or ducks recently? Could those bloodstains be from them? That needle could also be from an animal's stomach," Song Xiaomo reminded her.
"No, I never kill any living beings. I'm terrified of blood, and I even have a mild case of hemophobia!"
Song Xiaomo was lost in confusion. He couldn't help but think of the dead woman in the antique shop. Her son always said she wasn't dead. He had even seen her under the overpass. Those red high heels still sent chills down his spine. Could there really be ghosts? He couldn't explain these mysteries.
Chapter 82: The Ghost Doll Returns (82)
“Xiao Mo, I went to her grave this morning. I also laid a bouquet of flowers for her, hoping she won’t bother me again,” He Zhiying added.
Whose grave is this?
"It's that 'ghost,' the girl who fell from the balcony. Her name is Xiaoyou!"
"Xiao You!" Upon hearing those two words, his mind exploded as if struck by lightning. He understood: the Xiao You that Li Zhengzhen spoke of was this girl. In fact, she was already dead!
No wonder that bowl of Korean cold noodles always tasted weird; it turned out it was made by a dead person! Song Xiaomo couldn't hold back any longer. He threw down the microphone and ran to the bathroom to vomit violently. He wished he could vomit up all his internal organs and intestines.
Returning to the phone, He Zhiying had already hung up. He took a few deep breaths and dialed back.
"What were you doing just now?" He Zhiying asked.
"Oh, I needed to pee and had to go to the toilet," he made up an excuse.
"Xiao Mo, do you believe what I'm saying?"
"I...I believe it!" He was speechless for a moment.
“Thank you. I’m always afraid that people won’t believe me, that they’ll say I’m not a normal person, and that one day they’ll send me to a mental hospital…” He Zhiying’s voice choked up.
Suddenly, a surge of inexplicable courage welled up within him, and he declared loudly, "I will protect you! I will absolutely not let 'him' hurt you!"
"Thank you! With your words, I will not be afraid even if I encounter great hardship and danger."
Just then, there was a second knock on the door. Song Xiaomo was still a little shaken and didn't respond for a long time until he heard Park Eun-hee's voice outside the door, at which point he breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm sorry, let's talk again tonight. I have guests now..." Song Xiaomo said a few more words and quickly hung up the phone.
The door opened, and there were three people inside.
"Xiao Mo, when did you get back?" Park Eun-hee asked first.
"Oh, just now, please come in!" Song Xiaomo nodded politely to the two strangers behind him. He didn't know their purpose, but from their serious expressions, he seemed to sense something.
"Hello, we are police officers. We would like to ask you some questions." Xiao Nan handed over her police ID.
Song Xiaomo paused for a moment, but quickly regained her composure and said, "You want to know what's in that box, right?"
An Qiqi exchanged a surprised glance with Xiao Nan, then smiled and said, "Mr. Song, I can tell you're a straightforward person. You probably already know why we're here, so there's no need for me to beat around the bush. You just need to tell us what you know."
"Don't worry, I will cooperate with you very well!" Song Xiaomo did not avoid his gaze.
"My name is An Qiqi, and I'm in charge of the 'headless female corpse case' that's been happening on campus lately." An Qiqi glanced around the room, paced back and forth a few times, and then said, "Can you tell me the secret of that box?"
Chapter 83: The Ghost Doll Returns (83)
"God knows what's in there, but I don't think it's what you're looking for."
"Oh, really? What's in there?" Xiao Nan asked.
"At most, it's something like ashes."
An Qiqi was slightly surprised and asked, "Could you recount the whole story of how you got the box?"
“Of course.” Then, Song Xiaomo recounted her first encounter with Song Yun’er and the general process of going to the cemetery.
An Qiqi hadn't expected Song Xiaomo to be so frank with him, and his mind went blank for a moment. However, he quickly composed himself and continued to ask, "Who exactly is that girl named Song Yun'er?"
"I don't know either. I don't even know if she's a human or a ghost. I hope you can tell me after you've investigated." Song Xiaomo shrugged.
"It's truly baffling. Why would she go to the graves of two dead people in the middle of the night?"
"have no idea."
"This girl is really brave!"
"So, you spent the whole night at the graveyard?" Xiao Nan's eyes flashed with a menacing light.
"Yes, what's wrong? Is there a problem? Are you doubting me?" Song Xiaomo replied coldly. The policeman's tone and eyes made him very uncomfortable. He didn't want to tell them about Xiuzi, because these matters involved a dead person, and he was worried that they would keep pestering him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, you misunderstood. I just wanted to clarify some things," Xiao Nan said with a smile.
An Qiqi suddenly remembered something and asked, "I heard you saw something in the room across the street, is that true?"
"This...this...it's hard to say, it's very likely that I was seeing things!" Song Xiaomo gave a wry smile.
"By the way, there's one more question. Do you think these cases are related to the two people who died two years ago?"
A chill ran through Song Xiaomo's heart, and she blurted out three words: "Ghost Doll!"
"What did you say? A ghost doll?"
"I'm sorry, I was just overthinking things," Song Xiaomo explained hastily.
An Qiqi frowned, glancing at Song Xiaomo's expression out of the corner of his eye. He knew it wasn't as simple as he made it out to be; he was definitely hiding something. He vaguely felt that both of these headless murder cases were inextricably linked to the ghost doll, even suggesting that the victim received a ghost doll before each crime. Furthermore, there must be some shocking secret hidden behind the words "The Ghost Doll Returns."
"Do you know Cui Zhenyang?" Xiao Nan asked.
"Who is he?" Song Xiaomo shook her head and asked, looking confused.
"He was the second person to be beheaded. The deceased was riding a BMW motorcycle around 8 PM last night when his head was severed by a steel plate... The head has not yet been found..."
Song Xiaomo was startled and remained silent for a long while. The image of the motorcycle disappearing into the distance flashed before her eyes...
"Who do you think will be next?" An Qiqi asked, her sharp gaze fixed on him.
Chapter 84: The Ghost Doll Returns (84)
Song Xiaomo remained silent, only shaking his head weakly. At that moment, a sense of unease and anxiety welled up within him, and he couldn't help but ask himself, "Will I be next?"
"Alright, you look very tired, get some rest. We won't disturb you any longer, thank you for your cooperation. Here's my business card, please contact me if you have any leads." An Qiqi handed her business card to Song Xiaomo.
"Yes, I will." Song Xiaomo stuffed the business card into her pocket and then saw them out the door.
After leaving the boys' dormitory, Xiao Nan asked An Qiqi, "Do you think that Chinese man deceived us?"
"It doesn't seem like a lie. But just to be on the safe side, we should go to the cemetery and check what's in the box."
"Shall we go now?"
"No, let's go take a look at Cui Zhenyang's studio first."
Chapter 85: The Ghost Doll Returns (85)
(twenty four)
After getting the keys from the logistics department, An Qiqi and Xiao Nan went straight to Cui Zhenyang's studio.
Turning the doorknob, a space of about forty square meters came into view. Following the light seeping in from the window, An Qiqi could see the interior furnishings. There were almost no decorations; several colorful paintings hung on the walls. In the center was a drawing board supported by a tripod, with a small wooden stool beside it. A dark red round table stood next to the drawing board, with a palette, a paintbrush, and several boxes of paint on its edge.
An Qiqi approached the easel and stared at the oil painting—
The painting's colors appear monotonous, mostly composed of black, white, and gray, creating a strong sense of oppression. The background is shrouded in blurred shadows. There are two figures in the painting, a man and a woman.
An Qiqi's first attention was drawn to the man. To his utter astonishment, the man only had a body, no head. His neck was empty, smeared with black paint, like black bloodstains. Judging from the man's physique and clothing, the person in the painting was Cui Zhenyang himself. He wasn't sure if this was intentional on the artist's part, or if it was an unfinished work. Or perhaps, Cui Zhenyang had foreseen his own death and expressed it in the painting.
Next, he shifted his gaze to the woman in the picture. She was hiding behind the man. Most of his body obscured hers, but it was clear from the details that she was almost naked. Her beautiful face, above the man's neck, gazed at him sadly, her eyes radiating a beauty and melancholy. She was barefoot, her exposed skin appearing smooth and supple. He also noticed a blue bracelet on the woman's right ankle, like a strange mark, perhaps the only bright spot in the entire picture.
An Qiqi stared at it, gradually becoming distracted. When he focused his attention on the painting again, a strange change occurred: the beautiful woman in the painting moved, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably. Gradually, her features distorted and deformed with the trembling of her facial muscles… Then, one of her eyeballs fell out, leaving only a bloody black hole…
A sudden thought struck him, and a black and white photograph flashed into his mind.
“Shen Meixuan…” he murmured.
"Is the girl in this painting Shen Meixuan?" Xiao Nan asked.
“You forgot? We saw this face in the mourning hall in the girls’ dormitory. Moreover, I’ve seen several photos of her recently when I was going through old case files, so it shouldn’t be wrong.”
"Then... what is the relationship between these two people?" Xiao Nan scratched his head.
"It's a teacher-student relationship. I've asked many teachers and students, and they all say that the two of them have a simple teacher-student relationship."
"But...this painting, isn't the style too avant-garde and daring?"
An Qiqi smiled slightly and said, "It's nothing special. Aren't all artists like this? Haven't you seen foreign oil paintings? How many of them have clothes on? Hehe..."
Chapter 86: The Ghost Doll Returns (86)