Cauchemar

Chapitre 12

He asked Zhao Lirui curiously, "Is that ghost they were talking about real?"

"Which ghost? If it's the one in 602 last night, then it's you, you idiot ghost. If you're asking about the ghost upstairs who's bored and playing marbles, then I can only say you're scientifically illiterate."

"Then what's your explanation?" Su Yang asked, unconvinced.

Zhao Lirui looked at Su Yang's childlike seriousness with interest and smiled, "Have you studied the principle of thermal expansion and contraction in physics?"

Su Yang nodded blankly, "But what does this have to do with ghosts?"

"Ghost my ass!" Zhao Lirui tapped Su Yang on the head. "Those sounds are just the expansion and contraction of concrete, steel bars, and water pipes due to temperature differences between day and night. Do you really believe that ghosts sit on the rooftop all night playing marbles out of boredom?"

Su Yang blinked, seemingly unable to believe that a question that had been troubling him for so long had been resolved so easily. He thought about it for a moment and still found something to wonder about. According to Zhao Lirui's explanation, the sounds he heard every night should be roughly the same, so why was it so noisy that night? But then he realized that perhaps Zhang Chengtin was mopping the floor upstairs that night, and the water caused a large temperature difference in the cement, making the noise a bit louder. As for the sounds of dragging furniture, perhaps that was just the actual sound of him moving furniture around the house while washing the floor.

"What are you meditating on? You wouldn't be so petty as to start sulking just because I said a few words to you," Zhao Lirui said, feeling a little uneasy about her previous tone.

"No way, I've been thinking carefully about what you just said. Great, that's solved a problem for me, and I'll be less afraid when I sleep from now on."

"Oh, I see." Zhao Lirui smiled. "I thought you were taking it to heart. By the way, what are your plans for the future? Will you stay in Guangzhou to find a new job, or go back to Qinglan Town?"

"If I really had a choice, I would like to go to Australia to find Zhu Su's father. Maybe he can provide some clues to unravel the mystery of Zhu Su."

"Australia? Why go to Australia? Her father isn't in Australia, what are you going there for?" Zhao Lirui asked curiously.

Su Yang was shocked. "What did you say? Zhu Su's father isn't in Australia? Where is he? Can you find him?"

“I don’t know why you think he lives in Australia. Anyway, when my brother bought 602 and signed the contract, the old man said he lived in Huadu, a suburb of Guangzhou.”

Apartment 602, the Man-Eating Apartment, Chapter 15 (2)

"That's great!" Su Yang said excitedly. "Can you help me find Zhu Su's father?"

"I can go back and check the purchase contract; his contact number is on it. I can ask for his specific address and that will tell me. But why did you say he was in Australia?"

“This…” Su Yang racked his brains to recall, “It seems to be what Zhu Su’s neighbor said. He said that Zhu Su’s parents had immigrated to Australia. Could that be false? Then who spread the rumor? Did Zhu Su announce it to others, or did that neighbor spread the rumor?”

"Oh. But that's alright, we can just ask Zhu Su's dad later. So when are you planning to go?"

"Now. Let's leave right now!" Su Yang said decisively.

"Huh? So fast?" Zhao Lirui was surprised, but then she thought about it and could understand Su Yang's feelings. "Okay, come back with me to check the phone number, and then I'll go with you to Huadu to find him."

"Thank you so much," Su Yang said sincerely. "You've really helped me a lot, thank you."

"You're being so polite. Your problems are my problems too," Zhao Lirui said, then realized her words were inappropriate and blushed. She quickly explained, "I mean, we're in the same boat now. Only by solving Zhu Su's cause of death can we find out the truth about my brother's death. So we don't need to be polite to each other; we should just stick together and support each other through thick and thin."

Su Yang was completely oblivious to the change in Zhao Lirui's expression; he was only immersed in the joy of his unexpected discovery. "Hopefully, this time we can uncover the truth of the whole matter."

With his mind preoccupied, Su Yang hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls of rice and urged Zhao Lirui to go back together.

The two returned to Zhao Lirui's home. Zhao Lirui quickly found the purchase contract in a drawer, which indeed contained the signature and phone number of Zhu Su's father, Zhu Shengshi. Zhao Lirui dialed the number, and after about three seconds, a middle-aged woman answered, asking gruffly, "Who are you looking for?"

When Zhao Lirui mentioned that she wanted to visit Zhu Su's father, Zhu Shengshi, to find out the truth about her brother's death, the woman simply said, "You've dialed the wrong number," and slammed the phone down.

Zhao Lirui was so angry she was trembling all over, and she cursed, "You have no manners at all!"

Su Yang answered the phone and redialed: "Hello, is this the Zhu Sheng family? We are from the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau. We are currently investigating several murder cases related to apartment 602, Building 6, Buyun Garden. We hope you can cooperate with our work and provide your specific address so we can visit you later." The other party reluctantly gave Su Yang an address: Room 405, No. 117 Jianshe Road, Xinhua Town, Huadu District, Guangzhou. Su Yang hung up the phone and gave Zhao Lirui a "V" sign. Zhao Lirui looked at him admiringly.

They took a taxi straight to Guangzhou Bus Station. After buying tickets and boarding the bus, they arrived safely in Xinhua Town, Huadu District, after about an hour's journey. Following directions from locals, they spent nearly half an hour finding Zhu Shengshi's home.

Zhu Shengshi's home was a two-bedroom apartment in a detached commercial building. Su Yang and Zhao Lirui knocked on the door, and a middle-aged woman with a gloomy face opened it, asking warily, "Who are you looking for?"

"Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, investigating Zhu Su's case," Su Yang replied expressionlessly.

The middle-aged woman looked at them suspiciously and muttered, "Is it real or fake?" But she still reluctantly opened the door.

As Su Yang and Zhao Lirui entered, a chilling aura immediately enveloped them—an atmosphere only found in long-abandoned old houses. Both their palms were sweating. The middle-aged woman didn't even greet them, instead sitting down on a sofa and coldly saying, "Ask me whatever you need to know; I need to hurry and cook."

"Excuse me, we'd like to speak with Zhu Shengshi." Su Yang suppressed his displeasure and tried to speak politely.

"That old man is almost dead, and you can't get a single word out of him. If you just want to find him, then this is none of my business. You can go back now." After saying this, the middle-aged woman stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"Stop! What kind of attitude is this?" Su Yang's anger finally erupted. "Do you know how many people have died because of your daughter Zhu Su? If you continue to refuse to cooperate, we will sue you for obstructing official business!"

"My daughter?" The middle-aged woman sneered. "I don't have such a bastard daughter. You're accusing me of obstructing official business? On what grounds? Do you really think I'm some country bumpkin who can't tell you're all imposters? Let me tell you, I've lived with that bastard cop for over twenty years since I was eighteen. I've seen far more lousy cops than you have."

Su Yang then realized that he had underestimated the mental capacity of the middle-aged woman in front of him, and was speechless for a moment.

Seeing the stalemate, Zhao Lirui stepped forward and said gently, "Auntie, we are indeed not police officers. I am Zhao Lixu's sister, who bought your house before. This is my friend. We have no ill intentions in coming to your house, but we would like to ask you to help us find out the truth about my brother's death."

"If you want to investigate, go find the police. My old man stopped being a policeman a long time ago, why bother with him?" The middle-aged woman's face showed impatience. "If you want to ask about that girl Zhu Su, then I'm telling you for the last time, you've come to the wrong person. Our family has long severed all ties with her. Her life or death is none of our business, we don't care, and as for her past, we've forgotten everything. Are you satisfied now?" The middle-aged woman gave a contemptuous "humph," then ignored Su Yang and Zhao Lirui and walked into the kitchen.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Su Yang suddenly stood up and rushed straight into the bedroom.

"Hey, what are you doing?" The middle-aged woman stormed out of the kitchen, brandishing a kitchen knife. "If you dare take another step, believe me, I'll chop you up with this!"

"Fine, come and try hitting me!" Su Yang said with a sneer. "Others may not know your background, but I do. Aren't you just hiding in Guangzhou because you took dirty money, committed murder, and fled here?"

Apartment 602, the Man-Eating Apartment, Chapter 15 (3)

A look of panic flashed across the middle-aged woman's face. "How do you know all this?"

"How do I know?" Su Yang knew he had her weakness and needed to press his advantage to further suppress her arrogance. "I've lived in Qinglan Town for two years. How do you think I know?"

The middle-aged woman's face changed drastically. "What rumors have you heard?"

“I’ve heard so much. Things like how you two inhumanely abused Zhu Su, and how Zhu Su gave birth to a monster, and you threw that monster into the well…”

"You're talking nonsense..." The middle-aged woman trembled all over. "They're all talking nonsense too!"

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Su Yang said sternly, "I personally retrieved the baby's remains from the bottom of the well. And..." Su Yang stared intently at the middle-aged woman, "I also dug up the skeleton in your backyard. Hmph, if you don't cooperate today, I'll immediately call the police station in Qinglan Town and tell them that Zhu Shengshi, the murderer from over twenty years ago, is hiding here in Huadu, Guangzhou. I think you don't want to spend the rest of your life as a widow, do you?"

The middle-aged woman, her face ashen, asked weakly, "How did you know there was a body buried under that tree?"

These words jolted Su Yang awake. His eyes widened in fury as he pointed at the middle-aged woman and angrily denounced her, "You two inhuman bastards! You both ran away for your own lives, leaving Grandma Zhu Su alone at home. She died two years ago, her body rotting without anyone noticing, and in the end, even one side of her face was bitten off by rats. You...you..."

The middle-aged woman's face showed terror, and her body trembled even more violently. "You mean she... she died? But that has nothing to do with us. She didn't want to come out with us. It's not that we abandoned her."

Su Yang thought for a moment. At this point, it was pointless to question them. The most important thing was to find out what they had done to Zhu Su after they came to Guangzhou, and whether Zhu Su's death was related to them. So he softened his tone slightly, "Didn't you just ask me how I knew all this? Well, I'll tell you, it was Zhu Su's grandmother's ghost that told me!"

The middle-aged woman gasped, unable to contain her nervousness any longer. The kitchen knife fell from her hand, and she trembled uncontrollably. Zhao Lirui felt a pang of pity. She quietly tugged at Su Yang's sleeve, signaling him to stop talking.

Su Yang nodded to Zhao Lirui, indicating that he understood her meaning. He had also vented his anger by scolding the middle-aged woman, so he said gently, "Alright, now you can take us to see Zhu Shengshi, right?"

The middle-aged woman looked helpless and shrugged, saying, "It's not that I don't want to take you to see that old geezer, but that guy has really become a cripple. He lies in bed all day and I have to take care of him even when he needs to use the toilet. I really don't know what sins I committed in my past life to have to be with such a person and suffer like this in this life."

Su Yang frowned, asking incredulously, "You mean he had a stroke? Or is he suffering from Alzheimer's?"

"Ugh, they're all pretty much the same." The middle-aged woman waved her hand dismissively as if shooing away a fly. "Since we're just going to be living like this anyway, we might as well just die sooner."

"Can we go in and see him?" Zhao Lirui asked softly.

"If you can stand the smell of excrement and urine, then go ahead and go see it." The middle-aged woman, as if she could already smell the stench, covered her nose and opened the side door next to the bedroom.

Before Su Yang and Zhao Lirui even entered the room, they were overwhelmed by a pungent odor, a mixture of human body odor and the smell of feces, almost making it impossible to breathe. Zhao Lirui couldn't stand the smell, covered her nose, and retreated outside.

The middle-aged woman cursed, "You bastard, you've shit on the bed again." She turned on the light, covered her nose with one hand, and pulled at the blanket covering Zhu Shengshi with the other.

Su Yang also took the opportunity to sized up Zhu Shengshi. In Su Yang's mind, Zhu Shengshi was supposed to be a man with a full beard and a fierce aura, but the old man before him was nothing like Su Yang's imagination: his hair and beard were completely white, his face was gaunt, his eyes were sunken, and the corners of his eyes were covered with eye discharge. His wife, probably for the sake of convenience, hadn't dressed him at all, just wrapped him in a filthy quilt, making him look like a dried-up corpse. Perhaps sensing his wife's scolding, the old man was gurgling out muffled gas, making it impossible to understand what he was saying.

Su Yang felt a pang of sadness and silently withdrew from the room. He recalled his thoughts from 602: if Zhu Su truly intended revenge, her father's "treatment" would be worse than death. Now it seemed that was indeed the case. Could this confirm that the root of all the strange events surrounding 602 pointed to Zhu Su? Su Yang didn't know whether to be happy or dejected by this conclusion. However, many questions remained unanswered. The middle-aged woman, carrying the stinking, crumpled quilt, walked out of the room with a resentful expression and slammed the door shut with a loud "bang."

Su Yang quickly followed, suppressing his nausea, took the bedding, held his breath, threw it into the bathroom, and then asked the middle-aged woman, "How did he become like this?"

"I'm getting old, my hands and feet aren't as nimble anymore, I fell down," the middle-aged woman said irritably, still harboring resentment.

Su Yang looked at the middle-aged woman and clearly sensed a hint of evasion in her eyes. Knowing there must be something going on, he decided to take a roundabout approach. "Then why don't you live with Zhu Su and instead move here?"

"Who would want to live with a madwoman?" The middle-aged woman rolled her eyes at him. "Why are you so enthusiastic about that madwoman? Could she be her ex-boyfriend?"

"How exactly is she crazy?" Su Yang pressed closer.

The middle-aged woman hesitated for a moment, then mumbled, "That madwoman talks like a lunatic every day at home, saying she has opened her third eye and can see many ghosts in the house, haunting me and that dead ghost. She describes it so vividly. Tell me, who can stand living like this?"

"What the hell is this? Is Zhu Su's mother involved?" Su Yang's eyes blazed.

Apartment 602, the Man-Eating Apartment, Chapter 15 (4)

The middle-aged woman glanced at Su Yang, then remained silent. Su Yang's guess was indeed correct.

"What about that black cat? Was it the one you got back then?"

The middle-aged woman's face showed panic. "No, it's not our cat. It's a stray cat that the madwoman picked up from somewhere. It has the same temperament as her, and it attacks people for no reason at the drop of a hat."

"Attack people for no reason?" Su Yang sneered. "I'm afraid it's not attacking you, but the ghosts behind you."

The middle-aged woman shuddered and suddenly looked up. "You didn't see those ghosts too, did you?"

Su Yang chuckled inwardly, deciding to intimidate her again, "That's right, I saw it. And I also saw Zhu Su standing behind you, covered in blood, trying to pull your head off."

The middle-aged woman screamed like a pig being slaughtered. She curled up on the sofa, her eyes filled with despair. "Zhu Su, I know we've wronged you. But every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor. It was that old man who beat you, scolded you, and drove you to your death. It has nothing to do with me. Besides, you've already made that old man suffer a fate worse than death, so you've gotten your revenge. Please, please, for the sake of the years we've raised you, please don't come looking for us again. Please, please..." She rolled off the sofa and onto the floor, kowtowing repeatedly, wailing incessantly.

"Forced her to death?" Su Yang's heart skipped a beat. It seemed that Zhu Su's death was indeed closely related to the couple. He decided to scare her one more time. "Let me tell you the truth, we summoned Zhu Su's ghost. If you want her to stop haunting you forever, you'd better tell us the whole truth."

"I'll talk, I'll talk," the middle-aged woman sobbed. "It's all that old man's fault for being greedy. He said you threatened him every day by saying you saw your mother and many ghosts carrying him, forcing him to give you that house. He felt he couldn't just give you that 300,000 yuan for nothing, so he spent 50,000 yuan to hire someone to kill you. After that, I don't know anything. I beg you, please stop bothering me. The old man is half-dead from fear, and you've gotten your revenge. Don't come looking for us anymore. Go to your hell, oh no, no, go to heaven. Please, please..." As she finished speaking, the middle-aged woman began to bang her head against the ground repeatedly.

Su Yang's voice turned cold upon hearing these words. He never imagined that such a beastly father existed in the world, hiring a hitman to kill his own daughter for a mere house. He cursed bitterly, "You're worse than pigs and dogs! You deserve to have Zhu Su take your lives!" With that, he pulled Zhao Lirui, whose face was filled with sorrow, and walked out.

"You can't leave!" the middle-aged woman wailed, scrambling forward to grab Su Yang's trouser leg. "You promised me you would get rid of Zhu Su's ghost. You can't leave her in my house!"

“It’s not that I’m unwilling to take her,” Su Yang said coldly, “it’s that Zhu Su herself refuses to leave. Didn’t you see her gritting her teeth behind you? You two should settle your own scores.”

The middle-aged woman screamed and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Su Yang slammed the door shut and strode out, still furious. Zhao Lirui, being a girl, was soft-hearted. She cautiously asked Su Yang, "You scared her like that, it's not good to just leave. Shouldn't you tell her there's no such thing as Zhu Su's ghost, and that we just made it up to scare her?"

“This is already letting her off easy,” Su Yang said coldly. “If I didn’t want that half-dead man to waste the country’s taxpayers’ resources, I would have reported their hiring of a hitman to the police and made them spend the rest of their lives in prison.”

Zhao Lirui remained silent.

"Where are we going?" Zhao Lirui noticed that Su Yang was walking faster and faster, so she ran a few steps to catch up with him and asked, tilting her head.

“Back to Guangzhou,” Su Yang sighed. “Although we have now figured out the general cause of Zhu Su’s death, we still need to investigate who the killer was and why they used such cruel methods to kill Zhu Su. In addition, we need to continue to find out how Zhu Su’s death is related to the deaths of Chen Lijuan and that group of police officers, and how deeply I am involved.”

"So what's your next step in the investigation? How can the two of us possibly find the killer?"

Su Yang suddenly remembered something and excitedly pulled Zhang Chengtin's ID card from his pocket. "I have an idea! I've always suspected that the guy in apartment 704 of Shangling is the murderer who killed Zhu Su, and I saw in the news that the police later found Zhu Su's head in the toilet in his apartment. So his ID card should be a clue for our next step. Look, according to the registered address on this card, he lives near the train station. We can go to his house and take a look."

"Oh," Zhao Lirui replied, her mind preoccupied.

"What's wrong?" Su Yang noticed Zhao Lirui's mood and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you into danger again. How about this, I'll investigate the rest and let you know when I have the results."

“That’s not what I meant.” Zhao Lirui took a breath and wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m not afraid of any danger. If I were, I wouldn’t have come to investigate the truth behind my brother’s death. I just feel that you can’t stop investigating this case, can’t you? Didn’t you say yourself that whether you killed someone or not, that’s all in the past? And no police officer in the entire city of Guangzhou is investigating this case anymore, and no one is bothering you. If you’re willing to live under an assumed name, you can start a new life. Besides, you have no relation to Zhu Su, and you’ve already done so much for her. I think she would be grateful to you in the afterlife and wouldn’t make things difficult for you anymore. I really don’t want you to take any more risks. You know, just now at Zhu Shengshi’s house, when that woman came out with a kitchen knife to threaten you, I was so worried. I was afraid she would go crazy and slash you with the knife…” Zhao Lirui began to sob softly.

Su Yang looked at Zhao Lirui with emotion, gently cupped her face, and wiped away her tears. "Don't worry, I'm very lucky. I've been through so much before and nothing happened to me, so I won't be in the future. I don't want to take any more risks, but you should be able to understand how I feel. If I don't investigate this matter thoroughly, no matter what kind of life I live, I will always have the shadow of killing someone in my heart, and I won't be able to be truly happy, let alone bring happiness to others."

Apartment 602, the Man-Eating Apartment, Chapter 15 (5)

Zhao Lirui sighed softly, "Alright then, I won't stop you. But you have to promise me that no matter what the outcome, you will return to me safe and sound."