Ghost Detective Records

Chapter 39

"Hanging coffins? What are those? Has the mastermind been caught?" Li Yang asked immediately.

"We didn't catch the mastermind, only a few henchmen. So the case is still unsolved! As for the hanging coffins!" Bai Yun tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying, "Hanging coffins are a unique burial method of a minority group. They don't bury their deceased members in the ground; instead, they hang the coffins on very steep cliffs. There are quite a few hanging coffins in the area I came from; it's even become a tourist attraction in our province!"

"A coffin suspended on a cliff? That must be very difficult to steal," I said.

“That’s right, so this criminal group didn’t succeed.” Bai Yun shrugged and said.

"By the way, do you know the mastermind's name?" Li Yang asked.

"Name? I'm not sure," Bai Yun shook her head and said.

Li Yang and I exchanged a disappointed glance. The best news we had was that there might indeed be a family of tomb raiders surnamed An; everything else remained a mystery. An abstract painter—how could we possibly connect him to tomb raiders? And what motive could the murderer have for killing those two victims? Was their left eye gouged out by someone else, or did they gouge it out themselves?

Forget it, let's not think about it anymore, my brain is about to explode. With a sigh, I said to Baiyun, "Forget it, let's not discuss this anymore, let's get back to work!"

"Okay!" Baiyun nodded and said.

"Alright, you guys get back to work, I'm going to get back to work too." Li Yang came over, patted my shoulder, and whispered mischievously in my ear, "Don't you dare cheat on me!"

"I'm not you!" I said coolly, swatting Li Yang's hand away.

*********

As I left the police station, the streetlights were already on. After a day of examining corpses, I stretched and loosened my limbs. The lab results showed that Hu Rui was in the studio around 1 a.m. Why he was still there so late was a perplexing question; perhaps he had a sudden burst of inspiration and was working late. The blood and mucous membrane tissue on his right fingernails were confirmed to be his own, especially some flesh and blood under his nails—it was from his eye socket! So, did he really gouge out his own left eye? What kind of event could drive someone to such a cruel act as to gouge out their own eyeball while still alive?

I declined Baiyun's offer to have dinner together, but instead gave the opportunity to Li Yang, who was making suggestive remarks to me. I hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take me home.

Looking out at the dark sky, I leaned my head against the window, feeling utterly helpless. The jolts of the vehicle made my vision jump around. Pedestrians walked briskly down the street, their eyes devoid of warmth.

Just as I was about to close my eyes and doze off for a while, my left eye suddenly throbbed with pain, the cramping sensation making me sit up straight immediately. My eyes glanced out the window, and a familiar figure immediately caught my eye. Although I couldn't see his face, I was sure I wasn't mistaken. The same dirty clothes, the same way of walking with his body almost completely still.

That figure from behind—that's the man from the art exhibition!

"Stop the car! Stop the car!" I yelled at the driver immediately, while pulling out a few ten-yuan bills from my pocket and throwing them to him.

"Sir, we can't stop here!" the driver said helplessly.

"But I really have an emergency!" I pleaded with the driver, my eyes fixed on his back as he was about to turn the corner.

"Okay, be careful when you get off!" The driver was probably annoyed by my calls, so he finally let me off the bus.

I jumped out of the car quickly, disregarding that I was in the middle of the road, and rushed across recklessly, which naturally drew curses from the drivers of several cars behind me.

Ignoring the stares of others, I climbed over the sidewalk railing and chased after my target, but the figure seemed to be getting faster and faster, and no matter how fast I quickened my pace, I could never catch up.

Panting heavily, I caught up with the man, and I couldn't help but wonder if I was getting too old. How could I not keep up with someone who looked like he was just walking? I stopped to catch my breath and then hurried to catch up again. I was drenched in sweat, definitely like I had just run a kilometer.

Following the man, I gradually entered a secluded residential area. Although it wasn't late, there was hardly anyone to be seen. The streetlights cast a dim, yellowish glow, stretching my shadow long. The area was densely covered with lush greenery, which blocked much of the light, including my view. I only paused to catch my breath, and when I looked up again, the man had vanished.

After hesitating for a moment, I took out my phone and dialed Li Yang's number: "Hey, Li Yang, where are you?"

"What do you want?" Li Yang's voice came through the phone.

"Come to me now," I said. Two people are always safer than one.

"What would I do at your place?" Li Yang asked curiously.

"Oh, I saw that man from the art exhibition, he's right here..." I looked closely at the address of the building closest to me and said, "He's in the ** residential area on ** Road."

"That man? Great! I'm coming right away. Don't act on your own!" Li Yang said excitedly.

"Okay, hurry up!" I said and hung up the phone, standing alone in the cold wind.

I circled around in place, still trying to find him. The buildings in this complex were the old-fashioned public housing type, with ventilation openings on each floor, through which you could see the staircase leading upwards. After wandering around for a few more times, the surrounding bushes had become the outlines of dark shadows, looking like the hideous faces of demons. The wind blowing against me made me shiver. In the darkness, I saw pairs of eyes gleaming with golden light, which startled me. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were just a few stray cats.

My body, which had just relaxed, stiffened again at the sudden sound of soft laughter.

Looking up at a public housing building, I saw a strange face grinning at me through the openwork ventilation opening.

In a flash, the face disappeared.

My feet had already stepped onto the building. The dilapidated old-style apartment building resembled a beast with its jaws wide open, and darkness instantly swallowed me. I wanted to leave, but it was too late. The man was standing on the stairs facing me, but this time his face was covered by a mask of conversion. A strange smile was outlined on the silver-white mask, the open mouth curving in an unsettling arc. Even stranger, the mask had no eye holes, making him appear from a distance like a faceless person, with only a demonic smile remaining.

"Wait!" I yelled, but the man had already turned and dashed upstairs. Without much time to think, I hurriedly chased after him. I rushed to the second floor, but there wasn't a soul in sight. Looking up at the spiral staircase, there wasn't a soul either, not even a sound of footsteps. The only sound was my heavy breathing.

Undeterred, I continued climbing the stairs, reaching the sixth floor in one go. There was no one there, and certainly no man wearing the strange mask. Only the faint light shining through the cracks in the doors told me that the building was still inhabited.

What do I do now? I looked at the door leading to the rooftop; its rusty appearance proved it hadn't been opened in a long time. I peered out the window, but there wasn't a soul in sight. Where did that man go? He can't fly or disappear into the ground, so how did he vanish so suddenly? Did he possess some kind of invisibility or teleportation magic? Or perhaps…? I looked at the doors of several houses. Could he have hidden inside one of them? But am I supposed to knock on every door and search each one? If I did that, I'd probably be arrested for trespassing before I even caught the man!

With a sigh, I went downstairs and stood at the entrance of the public housing. Since I couldn't do it myself, I would wait for Li Yang to come. After all, it would be easier for him to act since he was a policeman.

So I stood there, huddled in the cold wind, anxiously waiting for a full half hour, before Li Yang finally appeared before me, rushing anxiously toward me.

"This place is really hard to find!" Li Yang said.

"Stop talking, come upstairs with me now." I pulled him and dragged him into the public housing.

"What exactly happened?" Li Yang asked me with concern. I quickly explained the situation to him and gestured for him to use his police identity to ask around at each house.

"Ask them one by one? Do you think that will be useful?" Li Yang asked me from the stairwell.

“Asking is better than doing nothing. Besides, if he's a person, he's definitely in this building. I haven't left this door even once,” I said as I pushed him forward.

"If he's a person?" Li Yang stopped in his tracks, shrank back, and looked at me with a serious expression. "What if he's not human?"

"Not human?" I was stunned by Li Yang's question. Yes! If he wasn't human, wouldn't asking everyone would be a waste of time? He might have already vanished without a trace. This man was truly strange—his odd gait and terrifying mask. A normal person wouldn't act like that! But he was a key figure in two murder cases; we had to investigate!

But even if he is a ghost, why would he come here? This is just an ordinary residential building. Was his appearance here intentional or unintentional? What secret is hidden in this apartment building?

Forget it! Let's try anything, even if it's a dead end!

"Whether it's a person or a ghost, it's never a bad thing to ask," I said, giving Li Yang another push.

"Okay, okay!" Li Yang nodded and asked, "Which one should we start with?"

"Let's start from the second floor. That's where the man disappeared." I walked to the door of a house, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Eleven: The Third Dead

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Eleven: The Third Dead

"Excuse me, ma'am, have you seen a man wearing a mask?" Li Yang showed his police ID and asked the middle-aged woman in front of him who was still wearing an apron.

"A man wearing a mask? No!" The middle-aged woman shook her head and said.

"So, Madam, have you noticed any strange people going in and out of this apartment building these past few days?" I asked, standing next to Li Yang.

"No, not at all!" the middle-aged woman shook her head and said.

"Oh, thank you then. Goodbye." Li Yang politely said goodbye to the middle-aged woman, then turned back and gave me a helpless look. I shrugged helplessly in return.

We were already on the sixth floor, and the results from asking each apartment were all roughly the same: no one had seen a masked man, and no strange people had been seen coming or going from the apartment building. In short, everything seemed perfectly normal.

"Oh, right," the middle-aged woman suddenly called out to us, "Although there aren't any strange people coming and going, there is something strange!"

"Oh? What?" Li Yang and I immediately turned back and asked in unison.

"It's like this." The middle-aged woman began to demonstrate her Bagua skills, first looking around mysteriously, then lowering her voice and saying in a deliberately mysterious tone, "The person who lives in 601 hasn't come out for a long time. I often hear screams coming from his room, it's quite terrifying!"

"601?" I looked at the door of 601. The cold iron door was locked, giving me a sense of fearful distance.

"Screams? What kind of screams?" Li Yang asked.

The middle-aged woman immediately perked up, saying with a hint of pride, "It's like the wailing of ghosts and wolves, it's heartbreaking to listen to!"

Howling like ghosts? I raised an eyebrow. Looks like there really is a strange person here!

"What kind of people live there?" I asked.

"He's a middle-aged bachelor with no friends or relatives," the middle-aged woman replied.

"How do you know he didn't?" Li Yang suddenly asked.

"Because I've never seen him have any guests!" The middle-aged woman glanced at Li Yang with an air of "I know better than you."

"How do you know he hasn't come out for several days?" I asked.

“Because I’m home every day, and his house is right next to mine. If he wants to go down the stairs, he has to pass by my house. Besides, about three days ago he suddenly bought a lot of things. I asked him if it was a big sale at the supermarket, and he just said he wanted to buy more to store. I haven’t seen him since that day!” The middle-aged woman said confidently.

What a strange person! Li Yang and I exchanged glances. Could he be the masked man? If so, it would explain why the masked man suddenly disappeared from this apartment building. If he had just run up to the sixth floor and entered his room, I wouldn't have been able to see him.

I nodded to Li Yang, and we walked together to the door of room 601, while the middle-aged woman looked like she was waiting to see a good show.

"Hey, do you think this person could be him?" Li Yang pointed to the door of 601 and asked me.

"Why don't you just knock on the door and ask?" Without saying anything more, I raised my hand and knocked on the door.

Just as his hand was about to touch the door, an extremely horrific scream suddenly came from inside the door.

"Ahhhhh!" The miserable voice was filled with despair and fear. This was no ordinary howl. Li Yang and I were shocked at the same time and pounded on the door.

"Sir, open the door! Open the door, sir!" Unfortunately, no matter how loudly we shouted or how loudly we pounded on the door, it remained firmly shut. The screams from inside grew weaker and weaker, like the struggles of someone on the verge of death. The middle-aged woman beside us was clearly terrified, trembling as she cried out, "What...what's going on?"

"Damn it!" I kicked the door hard and turned to Li Yang, saying, "Let's break him down!"

“Okay!” Li Yang nodded, and then the two of them slammed into the door with all their might.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The door groaned as we slammed it, the shaking door indicating that we had used considerable force.

"Give it your all!" I yelled, my body slamming heavily against the door again, just like Li Yang's.

With a loud crash, the door was finally kicked open. Due to the inertia, Li Yang and I were thrown forward, and our bodies rolled involuntarily to the ground.

I stumbled to my feet and rushed into the room. The familiar yet pungent smell of blood filled me with a sense of foreboding. The room was pitch black, with only a figure lying on the floor in the dim light.

I reached for the light switch near the door, pressed it, and the incandescent light flickered with a violent tremor. In the dimly lit space, a corpse covered in strikingly red blood on the cold floor seemed to dance before my eyes, appearing and disappearing into the darkness, then reappearing and disappearing again…

The scene was as unreal as a slideshow.

My left eye twitched, but this time there was no pain, only an uncomfortable feeling as if a foreign object had entered it, and an unprecedented sense of disgust arose in my heart.

In the interplay of light and shadow, I saw a strange smile on the corpse's face, a smile exactly like that of the bizarre mask. There was a bloody, mangled welt around the corpse's left eye socket, and the illogical smile had spread to its temples. Blood flowing from the left eye socket was dripping down to the corner of its mouth.

My hair stood on end.

In my left eye, I felt like something was drilling into it, but I couldn't feel any pain.

In a daze, I saw the corpse's right eye filled with fear, staring intently ahead.

Looking in that direction, outside the window, a faceless white mask revealed a smile as eerie as that of a corpse.