pozo profundo

Capítulo 34

Seeing Abao's extremely aggrieved expression, I felt a pang of pity. After all, she was still a child, and I shouldn't have been so harsh with her! I gave her a guilty look and said gently, "There won't be anything inside!"

Unfortunately, no sooner had he finished speaking than a knocking sound came from inside the door!

*Smack!* One smack, then another! Just two smacks, but enough to scare both Ah Bao and me! Ah Bao immediately shrank behind me, asking tremblingly, "Lin Xiao, what was that!?"

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! It's just a mouse!" I quickly comforted Abao, while also comforting myself.

But then there was another sound, *bang*! Louder than the previous two! It sounded like someone was pounding on the door, trying to get out! And the sound was clearly coming from the middle of the door—a part a mouse couldn't possibly reach. There couldn't possibly be a mouse that could reach the middle of a door! Thinking this, I touched Abao's hand and said, "Don't be afraid, let me see!"

"No!" Abao grabbed my clothes and said, "If anything happens to you, how am I supposed to explain it to Fang Lei?"

"Oh my god!" I rolled my eyes and said weakly, "Then I beg you to shut your mouth!"

"Okay, okay!" Abao smiled awkwardly and took a step back.

I took a step toward the door, rubbed my hands together, and for a moment I really didn't know how to pull the chain open! After thinking for a moment, I decided to try looking through the keyhole first! I crouched down and put my left eye close to the keyhole.

One glance was enough to terrify me. A blood-red eye was staring at me from the keyhole! Cold sweat instantly soaked my clothes again. A gust of cold wind blew in from somewhere, causing me, already drenched in sweat, to tremble violently. My body involuntarily leaned back, and I fell to the ground with a thud.

"Lin Xiao! What's wrong?" A Bao rushed over and helped me up, asking with concern. Unfortunately, I was still in shock and couldn't say a word.

"Do you see something? Let me see!" Abao said, then leaned towards the keyhole.

"Don't look!" I screamed immediately, grabbed Abao and rushed towards the stairs without saying a word. I dragged Abao out of the unfinished building and ran all the way back to the main road!

"Hey! What are you doing?" As soon as we got to the street and saw that I had let go of his hand, Abao couldn't help but shout out!

"That place is really unclean! You're not allowed to go there again! You're going home!!" I grabbed Abao and headed towards her house. Of course, the curious little one kept asking me questions along the way, but I just kept a gloomy face and didn't say anything.

After finally arriving at Abao's house, I looked at Abao, who was still jumping for joy, and said seriously, "Go to sleep and don't think about that damn unfinished building anymore!"

“But I’m really curious!” Abao said, picking up her plush toy.

"Being curious is a mistake; you might as well risk your life!" I said in a harsh tone. I glanced at Abao, who was secretly making a face, and suddenly felt a headache coming on. Was this curious little one up to something?

"You're not planning to go by yourself after I leave, are you?" I asked.

"Hahaha! How could that be?" Abao laughed, but I could clearly see the words "You guessed right" written all over her face!

"Alright!" I made up my mind, dragged a chair over and sat down in front of Abao, saying, "I'll stay at your place tonight!"

"Huh!? What?" Abao exclaimed in surprise.

"What? I'm doing this to take responsibility for you!" I argued.

"Men and women shouldn't be so intimate!" Abao shouted, pointing his finger at my nose.

"Don't worry!" I pretended to look her up and down for a moment, then said, "I'm not interested in unripe apples!"

"Unripe apple? Who's the apple?" Abao puffed out his chest and said.

"Hehe, that's right!" I temporarily forgot my fear from earlier and started joking with Abao.

"Damn it!" Abao threw the plush toy at me.

So, after the initial shock, Abao and I had a pretty good night. But I never imagined that, having resolved never to go back to that unfinished building before going to sleep, I would climb its stairs again the very next day!

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Five: The Arrival of the White Clouds

Volume Two: The Devil's Left Eye, Chapter Five: The Arrival of the White Clouds

When I woke up this morning, the sunlight was already gently spilling into every corner of the room. For some reason, I slept exceptionally well last night, without any nightmares. Normally, sleeping in a different environment should make it difficult to sleep soundly, but I'm different from others!

She stretched on the sofa, then turned to look at Abao, who was still fast asleep. Sunlight fell on her soft hair, casting a soft, iridescent glow. A slight smile played on her innocent face; she must be dreaming of something wonderful.

I smiled, got up, put on my clothes, and prepared to wash up, when my phone suddenly rang. Picking it up from the coffee table, I immediately frowned; the warm sunlight that had been there suddenly felt cold.

"Hey, Xiao Ren! What's up?" I answered the phone helplessly. Actually, calls from Xiao Ren at this time usually don't bring good news, and this time it ruined my beautiful Sunday.

"Lin Xiao! There's a murder case, come quick!" Xiao Ren shouted to me over the phone.

"Where is it?" I plopped back down on the sofa, while Abao, woken up by my phone call, looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"At No. 77, ** Road, in an unfinished building." Xiao Ren's words almost made me fall off the sofa. Could it be such a coincidence? I just went there last night, how could someone have died?

"Hey, Lin Xiao! Are you listening?" Xiao Ren asked.

"Oh, I'm here!" I replied hesitantly. "I'll be there soon. See you later!"

I turned off my phone and touched my face. An unease welled up from the bottom of my heart, making me restless. Scenes from last night flooded my mind again, especially that bloodshot eye before I left, which seemed to appear before my eyes again, staring at me eerily.

"What's wrong?" Abao asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"It's nothing, I have work to do and I have to leave right away!" After saying that, I immediately stood up and rushed into the bathroom, leaving Ah Bao still confused.

※※※

We rushed to the unfinished building as quickly as possible. The police had already cordoned off the area, but there was still a large crowd of onlookers, making the usually quiet alleyway lively and crowded.

With difficulty, I pushed my way through the crowd and finally stood in front of Xiao Ren. Xiao Ren looked at me in surprise and said, "What happened to your left eye? Why is it so red?"

I shrugged helplessly. I really didn't know how to explain why my left eye was red, so I quickly changed the subject: "Who discovered the body first? What were the basic details?"

"The first person to discover it was the person in charge of this unfinished building project, named He Bing!" Xiao Ren explained as he led me into the unfinished building.

"The person in charge of this unfinished building?" I asked curiously. "Why would he suddenly come to this abandoned construction site?"

“That’s what’s strange to us! Logically speaking, this construction site should have been abandoned long ago. Why would he happen to come here so early this morning and just happen to find a body?” Xiao Ren replied.

"Tell me about the deceased!" I took the white coat and gloves that Xiao Ren handed me, and glanced up at the second-floor stairwell we had just passed. The mirror there reflected our fleeting figures.

"The deceased was male, estimated to be around forty years old, but we don't know the specifics yet! Strangely..." Xiao Ren gave me a serious look and said, "The deceased was missing his left eye."

"What?" I stopped in my tracks immediately. Although it was broad daylight, the chilly feeling still made me shiver. The blood-red eyeball from last night reappeared in my mind like a ghost.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Xiao Ren looked around and whispered to me, "Everyone says this building is haunted!"

"Really?" I nodded perfunctorily, but in my mind I was already figuring out how to explain to Chen Kai that I had been here last night.

"Lin Xiao!" Just as I was thinking of him, Chen Kai walked towards me.

"Captain Chen!" I greeted him with a smile.

"We've been waiting for you to see the body!" Chen Kai patted my shoulder. I smiled guiltily and was led by him to the door at the end of the third-floor corridor. The door, which had been firmly locked, was now wide open. A male corpse lay face down on the floor, a large pool of blood covering the entire concrete floor. His hands were covered in blood, and even the door was stained with blood. His fingers were stiff and bent, his fingernails filled with blackened blood. Looking at his slightly turned face, his left eye was also covered in blood, the eyelid rolled back to reveal the muscle tissue inside, as if the eyeball had been gouged out.

"The deceased likely tried to open this door and pounded on it, which is why his blood is all over the door!" Chen Kai pointed to the bloody handprints on the door and said, "Look! There are still handprints!"

Knocking on the door? A sudden chill ran down my spine. Could it be that those strange knocking sounds last night were actually the deceased's last struggle before death? Then the bloodshot eyeball I saw in the keyhole was also the deceased's? But who gouged out his left eye?

I clasped my hands tightly, looked at Chen Kai, hesitated for a long time, and said, "Captain Chen, I'm afraid I can't do the autopsy this time!"

"What's wrong?" Chen Kai asked. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, no!" I hurriedly shook my head and said, "Last night..."

After a pause, I said with difficulty, "I was here last night."

"What?" Chen Kai and Xiao Ren, who were standing to the side, exclaimed almost simultaneously, their faces full of surprise.

"Here's the thing, a friend and I were here last night. More importantly, I heard a knocking sound outside this door last night, but I thought it was just a mouse and didn't pay attention. Also, the door was chained up last night!"

Chen Kai and Xiao Ren exchanged a glance, and the atmosphere became awkward. After a while, Chen Kai finally spoke, "You're really not suited to handle this case anymore! But who's going to do the autopsy? Fang Lei isn't here!"

"Captain!" Li Yang's voice suddenly came from behind. Turning around, I saw him running towards me excitedly. He immediately shouted to Chen Kai and me, "Sorry, sorry, I'm late!"

"As a police officer, you should have arrived at the scene immediately. Where were you?" Chen Kai questioned Li Yang sternly.

"Hehe!" Li Yang scratched his head sheepishly and said, "I originally went to the station to pick up some things, but I ran into someone and ended up late!"

"You ran into someone? Who was it?" Chen Kai asked.

"Oh, she's a female forensic doctor sent from a neighboring province on official business. I brought her here because I knew about the murder case, so we were a little delayed!" Li Yang said with a sly look. I knew this female forensic doctor must be quite good-looking.

"A female forensic doctor?" Chen Kai thought for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Isn't it Bai Yun from the provincial bureau?"

Bai Yun? I was immediately stunned. There couldn't be this many coincidences today, could there? But there shouldn't be many people named Bai Yun who are also female forensic pathologists! Could it really be her? Just as this thought crossed my mind, a familiar fragrance wafted over—the scent of Gucci Envy perfume, cool yet passionate, fiery yet subtly mysterious! Alright, no need to overthink it, it must be her! What other forensic pathologist would wear perfume even during autopsies? This strange habit could only belong to her!

"Lin Xiao!" A sweet female voice came from behind me, and a familiar figure was already standing next to me, giving me a big hug, which caught me completely off guard!

"Haha! Baiyun! It really is you!" I tried to pull her away from me and looked at this girl who was once my college classmate. Her sweet smile was still on her face, and her two shallow dimples seemed to be filled with intoxicating sweetness. Her phoenix eyes were captivating, and her beautiful figure was wrapped in tight jeans and a black low-cut wool sweater, making her already alluring wheat-colored skin even more sexy and sunny.

"You know Lin Xiao?!" Li Yang looked surprised.

“Yes! We’re college classmates with a special relationship!” Bai Yun’s ambiguous tone immediately achieved the effect she wanted. Chen Kai and Xiao Ren had an “I see” look on their faces, while Li Yang looked like he wanted to slap me!

"Haha, haha!" I made a desperate attempt to prove my innocence: "Just friends, just friends!"

"Just friends?" Bai Yun immediately looked mournful and said, "You're so heartless!"

Good heavens! If I keep talking like this, I'll be in deep trouble no matter what I do. More importantly, if Fang Lei hears this, I'll be in real trouble! Thinking of Fang Lei's angry face, I quickly said, "Oh, let's not talk about this anymore! Since you're here, you can do the autopsy!"

"You want a beautiful woman to do such a disgusting thing?" Baiyun was still the same as always, always arguing with me.

With a helpless sigh, I said, "Could you help me with this first? I'll treat you to dinner another day!"

"Really? You want to go on a date with me? Okay! I'll help you out today!" Bai Yun looked righteous and dignified, completely ignoring the strange looks from Chen Kai and the others, and took the gloves from my hand and put them on.

Once Baiyun gets to work, she becomes a completely different person—focused and professional. She shows no dissatisfaction with her forensic work because she is a woman, and her diligent demeanor puts Chen Kai's initial worries at ease.

Since no autopsy was required, I looked around and saw a police officer questioning a burly man with a menacing face. His obese body was like a barrel, and sweat poured from his brow like a running tap. He was constantly wiping away the sweat, and a napkin was completely soaked. This must be He Bing; he looked quite like a construction foreman.

Upon closer inspection of the scene where the body was found, it was clearly a locked room. There were no windows or holes in the surrounding walls, but the walls were covered in splattered blood, making them look like an abstract graffiti painting!

Abstract painting!? The thought immediately made me frown. The art exhibition from the day before yesterday had vanished, the strange phenomena last night, and the corpse today all indicated that this was not a simple murder case. The unknown fear was once again enveloping me.

"Alright." Bai Yun stood up and said to us, "The deceased's time of death should be between 7 pm and midnight last night. The preliminary cause of death appears to be a tracheal rupture caused by having his throat slit and massive blood loss! The deceased's left eye was gouged out, but it was not found at the scene!"

"Any other injuries on your body?" I asked.

"Nothing has been found yet. A detailed autopsy report will only be available after further examination!" Bai Yun replied.

“Then let’s do this, Lin Xiao!” Chen Kai suddenly interjected, “We can only ask Bai Yun to handle this case for now. As for you, you shouldn’t get involved anymore, since you’re also involved in the case.”

"Okay!" I nodded in agreement.

"Involved in a case? Lin Xiao, what have you been up to now?" Li Yang nudged me with concern and asked.

"I'll tell you later!" I replied irritably.

"Alright, Xiao Ren, you can do some more cleanup work! Bai Yun and Lin Xiao, you should go back to the station first!" Chen Kai gave the order, and I quickly pulled Bai Yun out. I was afraid that if we stayed any longer, Bai Yun might say something that would make others think too much.

"Then where am I?" Li Yang asked Chen Kai, pointing to himself.

"You?" Chen Kai glared at Li Yang and said, "You stay here and find clues!"