Strange Events in Room 202

Chapter 18

Everyone looked at Yang Mian, who stamped his foot in frustration and said, "I can drive, everyone get in the car quickly!"

As soon as Yang Mian finished speaking, everyone rushed to the car. Hou Zhong tried to chase after them, but Chen Shou grabbed him. When Gu Xing and the others were all in the car, and Yang Mian finally started the car, Gu Xing and the others looked back and saw Hou Zhong chopping at the pile of meat on the ground. But Chen Shou was still excited and kept shouting, "Gold, my gold, give me back my gold!"

Chapter Eleven: Strange Noises from the Recorder

"This station reports: Yesterday morning, a horrific tragedy occurred in Laode Village, on the outskirts of Lelang Town in this city, leaving 52 dead and 8 injured, 5 of whom are in critical condition and the other two with minor injuries. It is understood that..."

Chen Zhuang, the captain of the criminal investigation team, turned off the TV, touched his burning face, and was exhausted after two days and one night without rest.

"Captain, you must be tired. Why don't you go home and rest first? Leave the rest to me," Lü Qing said, looking at Chen Zhuang with concern.

"I'm fine," Chen Zhuang said simply in a low voice before burying his head to look through the testimonies of Gu Xing and the others.

"I can't believe so many people died over some gold. By the way, what's the story with those college students?"

“Xiao Wang has already gone to their school to investigate, and what they said matches the testimonies of some villagers, so it seems they weren’t lying.” Chen Zhuang rubbed his eyes, stood up, and went to the water dispenser to get a glass of water. Just then, Sun Zhengqiang walked in.

"Captain, the parents of that college student named Zhang Da have come and asked when they can leave."

After hearing what Sun Zhengqiang said, Chen Zhuang put down his water glass, walked out of the criminal investigation room, and met Zhang Da's mother, who was anxiously waiting in the lobby of the bureau.

Zhang Da's mother, Tang Qimei, was somewhat overweight and had a weathered face, but which revealed the strength of a rural woman.

Chen Zhuang politely shook her hand and said, "Zhang Da and his classmates can leave now, but if there are any new developments in the case, we will need to call them back to get more information, so they cannot go back to school yet."

Lu Qing then arrived with Gu Xing and the others. They were all still shaken; Li Xu could barely stand, with Da Kai and Feng An supporting him. Xu Chen comforted Yang Yi and Fang Yi. Tang Qimei walked up to Zhang Da and patted his head, saying, "Are you alright? Let's go home and talk."

"Mom," Zhang Da pointed to Gu Xing and the others, "they are my classmates."

"Oh, is everyone alright?" Zhang Da's mother asked Gu Xing and the others with concern, then turned to Chen Zhuang and said, "Officer, the children are staying at my house for the time being. If you need anything, just call and I'll bring them over."

Chen Zhuang nodded. Zhang Da's mother wrote down her phone number and led Gu Xing and the others out of the police station. Along the way, Zhang Da's mother asked Zhang Da about his well-being but did not mention the tragedy of the previous day at all.

After walking for a few minutes, Yang Mian approached Zhang Da and asked in a low voice, "Where do you live? Is it far?"

"It's far, in the suburbs. We'll take a bus now, and then it'll be a ten-minute walk home."

"What? After two days of hassle, we still have to take the bus. Why not take a taxi? I'll pay for it."

Zhang Da was also quite tired, so he said to his mother, "Mom, we're both tired, why don't we take a taxi?"

Seeing Gu Xing and the others' exhaustion, and especially noticing that Li Xu looked like he was about to die, Tang Qimei said, "Alright, let's go over there, there are more cars over there."

Tang Qimei led Gu Xing and the others to several taxis across the street and started bargaining with the drivers. Yang Mian was very anxious, but he was too embarrassed to step forward and make the decision. After a lot of effort, they finally agreed on a price and got into three cars.

Zhang Da, his mother, Da Kai, and Li Xu were in one car; Yang Mian, Xiao Hui, Fang Yi, and Feng An were in another; and Xu Chen sat in the front seat in the same car as Gu Xing and Yang Yi. After driving for thirty or forty minutes, the three taxis stopped in front of a country road. Xu Chen immediately took out a hundred-yuan bill, stuffed it into the driver's hand, and said readily, "Keep the change." Then he got out of the car.

"Wow! Sister Xu Chen, you're so generous!" Yang Yi exclaimed as she got out of the car, looking at Xu Chen in surprise.

Gu Xing said dismissively, "What's so great about him? He's just a spendthrift like your brother."

At this moment, Xu Chen made a face at Gu Xing for no reason. Gu Xing looked at Xu Chen strangely, subconsciously took out his wallet, rummaged through it, and found that one hundred yuan was missing.

"You..." Gu Xing looked at Xu Chen, too angry to speak.

On the other side, Zhang Da's mother and Yang Mian were arguing about paying the fare. In the end, Yang Mian took out two fifty-yuan bills and threw them at the two drivers, who refused to accept the change. Zhang Da's mother stared at Yang Mian with wide eyes: "Wow, you're really rich!"

Yang Mian said smugly, "It's nothing, it's nothing." He then walked over to Gu Xing, Xu Chen, and Yang Yi, and seeing that their car had already driven away, he looked disappointed and said, "Did you pay for the fare? Really, I could have just paid for it."

Da Kai and Li Xu followed. Da Kai sneered and said, "That's right, our young master Yang Mian has plenty of money. He just gave those two drivers fifty yuan each and said to keep the change. He's really generous."

Yang Mian said smugly, "Really, it's only a few dozen yuan for the fare, it's practically nothing."

Yang Yi also sneered at Yang Mian: "Hmph, brother, Sister Xu Chen was really something just now. She gave that driver a hundred yuan and readily said to keep the change. Your few dozen yuan is really nothing."

After hearing this, Yang Mian smiled awkwardly and walked to Gu Xing's side, asking in a low voice, "Gu Xing, is what my sister said true?"

"I don't know." Gu Xing said angrily, and then followed Zhang Da's mother straight to Zhang Da's house.

After Gu Xing and his companions arrived at Zhang Da's house, Zhang Da's parents warmly slaughtered chickens and ducks, and within an hour, they had prepared a large table of food to welcome Gu Xing and his friends and calm their nerves.

Zhang Da's house is very large and has many guest rooms. Zhang Da's parents had already cleaned it before evening.

In the evening, Yang Mian and the others went to the village grocery store and bought some beer. Back in Zhang Da's room, a large group of people gathered together to chat. Zhang Da's parents didn't disturb them, but they had previously told Zhang Da and the others not to make too much noise at night.

Time flew by. The ten people talked about their lives and drank quite a bit. Fang Yi, Xiao Hui, Yang Yi, and the other women only drank a little. Seeing that it was late and they were all a bit tired from yesterday's events, they went back to their rooms.

Xu Chen was still competing with Da Kai and Feng An in drinking. Da Kai and Xu Chen played rock-paper-scissors, with Da Kai losing more often than winning. He drank a lot of alcohol, and then suddenly started acting crazy, yelling "Ooh... ya!" Zhang Da and Li Xu held him down, telling him to go back to his room to rest, but Xu Chen pointed at Da Kai and said, "You lost. If you're going to leave, you have to finish this drink first."

"Damn it, who's afraid of who?" Da Kai broke free from Zhang Da and Li Xu, picked up the whole bottle, and drank it all in one gulp.

Xu Chen clapped his hands, cheering and laughing heartily, before collapsing headfirst onto the ground. Gu Xing and the others ignored him, simply sitting there chatting. Xu Chen then pointed at Feng An and said, "Alright, now it's our turn."

"Very well! It's rare for Miss Xu to be in such a good mood. I'll gladly keep you company and drink three hundred cups with you."

After Feng An finished speaking, he kept drinking, and soon he was completely drunk.

Seeing that Da Kai and Feng An were both drunk, Xu Chen looked at Gu Xing and the others. He saw Gu Xing, Li Xu, Yang Mian, and Zhang Da chatting. Xu Chen went over and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Gu Xing looked at her coldly: "Go back to sleep. It's not right for a girl to be drinking so late."

Xu Chen looked at Gu Xing with displeasure, but Gu Xing continued chatting with Yang Mian and ignored her. Seeing that Xu Chen's expression was not good, Li Xu said to Gu Xing and Yang Mian, "I didn't expect Xu Chen to be your childhood playmate. It's really rare for you to meet again, don't you think?"

Zhang Da also chimed in, trying to smooth things over: "Yes, yes."

"It would have been better if we hadn't met at all, instead of causing all this trouble," Gu Xing said coldly, without even glancing at Xu Chen.

Xu Chen slammed the glass down on the table, splashing beer all over it.

Gu Xing looked at her seriously: "What are you doing? Stop fooling around and go back to sleep."

Xu Chen didn't react, only staring at her cup for a long time. She then touched the rim of the cup with her hand. Gu Xing and the others watched her, wondering what she would do. Xu Chen suddenly smiled and asked Yang Mian, "Yang Mian, do you remember the day we met again?"

"Oh, I remember, Gu Xing and Da Kai were also there that day, together in the apartment..."

"Not that time."

"Not that time?" Yang Mian thought for a moment, but couldn't think of anything.

"Do you remember when I arrived at the apartment with my luggage, saw you, and called you 'brother'? Haha, you treated me like your little sister?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Mian vaguely recalled the memory, and the buried memories in his heart were slowly unearthed.

"Then, you also saw hallucinations, and you saw two younger sisters. At night, you also saw..."

As Xu Chen spoke, Yang Mian suddenly clutched his head, breaking out in a cold sweat, his face turning pale.

Xu Chen raised his voice: "At night, you saw yourself again, and Gu Xing and Da Kai were all fake, because at midnight that night..."

It was as if the terrifying memories in Yang Mian's mind had been awakened. He clutched his head and screamed, "Stop talking... Stop..."

Seeing Yang Mian like this, Zhang Da and Li Xu were at a loss. Yang Mian kept begging Xu Chen to stop talking, but Xu Chen seemed to have no intention of stopping and continued talking.

Suddenly, with a "slap," Xu Chen was slapped across the face by Gu Xing. Xu Chen covered half her face and looked at Gu Xing, who glared at her angrily and said, "You... don't say another word."

The house fell silent for a moment. Everyone stared at Xu Chen, who also stared blankly at Gu Xing. No one said anything. After a while, Da Kai, who was lying on the ground, murmured, "Drink...drink, I'm not drunk."

"You hit me?" Xu Chen suddenly said.

"You're being too reckless."

Xu Chen stormed out of the house in a huff, and Gu Xing turned back to ask Yang Mian, "How are you, Yang Mian? Are you feeling better?"

Yang Mian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I'm fine, but I seem to remember some terrifying things."

"Don't think about it anymore, go back to your room and rest."

Yang Mian nodded and went back to his room. Gu Xing then went outside. Unlike the city, there were no streetlights outside; it was pitch black, and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

"Where has that crazy girl gone?" Gu Xing muttered to himself as he walked. After a few steps, he realized it was too dark and difficult to find her. Thinking that Xu Chen was probably alright, he gave up, went back to his room, lay down, and couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

Xu Chen walked out of the village onto the road. Thinking about what had just happened, he felt very angry, so he hailed a taxi and went to the city. After arriving in the city, Xu Chen took out a men's wallet, took out a hundred-yuan bill, handed it to the driver, and got out of the car.

Xu Chen strolled through the market for a while when he spotted a familiar figure weaving through the crowd and heading towards a dark alley. Curious, Xu Chen followed him, only to see that the man had a full beard and was wearing a dirty shirt and trousers.

"Huh? What's he doing here?" Xu Chen wondered to himself, and cautiously followed.

It was 10 p.m. Lu Qing had finished her work at the bureau and was so tired that she didn't even bother to change out of her uniform. She came out of the office wanting to go home, thinking about the case as she walked.

"The murderer has not yet been caught. The suspect is a man named Hou Zhong. According to the testimonies of Gu Xing and others, as well as villagers, Hou Zhong lost both his parents at a young age and lived with relatives in the city. As for the other murderer, Chen Shou, his whereabouts are also unknown..."

Holding a miniature recorder, Lü Qing continuously recorded what he was saying. This method was something Lü Qing learned from movies. Whenever he encountered a complex case, he would record his own account of the case and listen to it again at an appropriate time, which would help him organize clues and clarify his thoughts.

After leaving the police station, Lü Qing stopped recording because the surrounding noise made it impossible to record. He walked for half an hour before entering an alley, his only route home. This alley was usually quiet even during the day, with few people passing by. At night, no one dared to walk through it. Lü Qing, however, felt that as a policeman, he shouldn't be afraid, so he passed through this alley every night on his way home from work. Lü Qing was also a workaholic; in fact, a true policeman should be a workaholic. He was constantly thinking about work, whether at the station, at home, or even on the street. The route from the station to this alley was too noisy due to the bustling city, causing background noise during recording. But as soon as he reached the alley, Lü Qing eagerly took out his miniature recorder and began recounting the case.

"My team leader and I arrived at the scene immediately. Before we even reached the village entrance, we could smell the nauseating stench of blood. As for the 70-year-old man, Chen Shou, whom the college students had mentioned, who was seriously injured by Hou Zhong with an axe on the road, when we arrived at the scene, we didn't find anything on the road except for a pool of blood." As Lü Qing said this, his throat felt a little itchy, so he coughed a few times.

"When we entered the village, we saw all the villagers shouting frantically, most of them fighting over the gold. Even seven or eight-year-old children were grabbing the valuables with sticks. In the village, we verified that there were ten corpses and two villagers with minor injuries. But as we went up the mountain, the smell of blood became stronger. The leaves on the trees along the road were stained red, and the soil on the ground became slippery and difficult to walk on because of the blood. This was the case for more than fifty meters of the mountain path. After checking, we found that there were forty-one corpses on the mountain path, and six people were seriously injured. The seriously injured were immediately sent to the hospital. Although they were badly injured and had lost a lot of blood, they were still holding gold bars in their hands and their faces were full of excitement. The captain said they might have taken some kind of stimulant."

"On the way to the hospital, another person succumbed to their injuries, bringing the total number of deaths to fifty-two..."

Holding the mini recorder, Lü Qing talked and talked until she unknowingly arrived at her apartment building. Once home, Lü Qing immediately lay down on the sofa, rested for a while, and then took a shower.

After taking a shower, Lü looked much more refreshed. He sat comfortably on the sofa, took out his recorder, and decided to review the case. He closed his eyes, recalling the scenes in the village, hoping to find the key to solving the case.

Meanwhile, the recording was playing.

"The murderer has not yet been caught. The suspect is a man named Hou Zhong. According to the testimonies of Gu Xing and others, as well as villagers, Hou Zhong lost both his parents at a young age and lived with relatives in the city. As for the other murderer, Chen Shou, his whereabouts are also unknown..."

This is the case summary he recorded at the police station. The recording paused briefly, then started playing again.

"My team leader and I arrived at the scene immediately. Before we even reached the village entrance, we could smell a nauseating stench of blood. And what the college students were saying..." This was recorded by Lü Qing as she walked into the alley. Although the noise of the bustling city was not recorded, the only drawback was that Lü Qing's own footsteps could be heard when it was played back because the alley was too quiet.

After listening for a while, Lü Qing noticed that there were too many footsteps, as if two people were walking. Could it be an echo? Lü Qing listened intently, and although the footsteps did not completely drown out his voice, they made it impossible for him to concentrate.

After the recorder played for a while, in addition to footsteps, abnormal noises began to appear.

“…We went to…squeak, crunch…gurgle, there was only a puddle…crunch…gurgle.” Then came Lü Qing’s cough.

Listening to the noise, Lü Qing realized it didn't seem to be caused by a malfunction. The sound was deep and steady, unlike the harsh noise of a typical tape recorder.

"...Most of the villagers were constantly fighting over the gold, gurgling...and also holding...whew...goods. Crunch...squeak...But as we climbed the mountain, the stench of blood grew stronger, and the leaves on the leaves along the roadside were stained red, whew...this blood..."

Lü Qing reluctantly turned off the recorder, planning to buy a new one the next day. He put the recorder on the table and went to sleep.

Xu Chen didn't return to Zhang Da's house until 1:30 a.m., walking with his head down, lost in thought. Gu Xing, who couldn't sleep at all, had been waiting at the door for an hour and a half. When he saw Xu Chen return, he was overjoyed and went to greet him.

"Phew... You're back. I was really worried something might have happened to you."

Xu Chen ignored Gu Xing and was deep in thought.

“You can’t blame me just now. Who told you to say these things that would provoke Yang Mian? He might have gone crazy. You’re too strange. It seems like there’s something hidden behind you…” Gu Xing spoke eloquently, while Xu Chen was lost in thought and ignored Gu Xing.

Gu Xing looked at Xu Chen strangely. Xu Chen seemed to be sleepwalking, walking slowly, thinking about something, until he returned to his room.

The next morning, to help everyone forget what had happened in Laode Village, Zhang Da suggested going hiking. Behind Zhang Da's house was a very high mountain with some caves inside. After learning about the situation, Yang Mian and the others eagerly urged Zhang Da to take them up quickly.

As the group walked along the mountain path, Xu Chen, unlike his usual lively self, simply followed behind everyone, muttering to himself, "No, I must be mistaken. How could it be him?"