Her sudden appearance startled me, and I quickly turned around, letting out a surprised gasp.
"Did Liu Ju tell you?"
"Yes, I heard that Captain Yang used to be a member of the armed police. He's very skilled, so be careful when working with him. Don't offend him, or you'll regret it."
"Hey, Zhao Simeng, why are you telling me this? Do you think I can't handle him?"
As we were talking, Captain Yang and Liu Ju came out. We quickly stopped, cleared our throats, and greeted, "Hello, Liu Ju."
"Cut the crap, we're leaving now. I order you to solve this case in three days!"
"Three days?"
"Is that a problem?"
I hadn't been to the scene yet, so I didn't dare to make a conclusion, but seeing how serious Liu Ju was this time, I had no choice but to agree.
Soon, Captain Yang drove his police car and took me and Zhao Simeng to Shuiyu Town. Liu Ju had already contacted the head of Shuiyu Town's police station, Huang Ju, who said their officers could be readily mobilized.
This authority was quite significant, but I felt that having too many officers gathered didn't necessarily help. It was more about precision than numbers.
Captain Yang didn't take us to Shuiyu Town's police station, but directly to the crime scene. Throughout the journey, he hardly spoke, giving off a very serious vibe.
When we arrived at 131 Jian Gang Road, Shuiyu Town, he stopped the car and said, "We're here."
After these two words, he opened the car door and let us out. As I and Zhao Simeng looked up, we saw a rather decent-looking house. However, the house had water leakage on its walls, and parts of it had collapsed. Although the mansion of Li Xiude I had seen before was also old, compared to this one, it could only be considered worn with age. This house could truly be described as a decrepit old house.
"This big house must be from the Qing Dynasty or Ming Dynasty, look at the duplex design," Zhao Simeng asked.
"Based on the layout, it looks like a courtyard-style old house from the Qing Dynasty," I replied.
"Looks like you know your history!"
"When I was at the police academy, my electives were history and architecture."
"Impressive!" We kept chatting about the old house from the Qing Dynasty, treating Captain Yang as if he were a passerby, completely ignoring him. He awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "Are you here to investigate the case?"
"Oh, sorry," I quickly put on a serious face and said, "Simeng, let's go inside!"
She smiled faintly, knowing she had ignored Captain Yang earlier. However, she felt that he was too indifferent, as though the case was the only thing on his mind.
I cautiously pushed open the courtyard gate and entered the house's yard. Zhao Simeng and Captain Yang followed. As we walked on the leaf-strewn ground of the yard, my steps felt heavier.
As soon as I stepped inside, I was immediately struck by an oppressive feeling. Why?
It felt like the air was filled with a sense of death and loneliness, as though many people had died here before.
I turned to Captain Yang and asked, "Where was the body found?"
"Under the spirit table in the living room."
A spirit table is where they place the tablets of ancestors. I hadn't expected the body to be found in such a place. I asked again, "Who found it?"
"A few young people had heard strange rumors about this old house and came to explore for fun. They were playing when they heard a strange scraping sound coming from the house. One of them screamed, and they found the woman's body under the spirit table."
"What happened to those young people?"
"After this incident, they all went mad and are now in the psychiatric hospital in Gaogang City."
They must have seen something extremely terrifying that caused them to go insane. Although I hadn't seen the body, it couldn't be just because of a dead body, could it?
Could it be that this house is really haunted?
I thought to myself as I crouched down to check under the spirit table, where the body was originally discovered. The area had been cordoned off as part of the crime scene, with chalk outlines marking where the body had lain. I estimated from the size that the woman was probably around 35 years old, about 1.65 meters tall and weighing around 50 kilograms.
I asked, "Has the identity of the deceased been confirmed?"
"We haven't found anything. Her skin was severely decayed, and her fingerprints were completely gone. But since she was burned, we should still be able to test for DNA," Captain Yang explained.
I said, "High temperatures, organic solvents, acid-base reagents, urea, amides, etc., can cause DNA molecules to denature. That means the hydrogen bonds between the base pairs of the DNA break, and the double helix structure unravels—this is known as DNA denaturation.
But denaturation doesn't mean it disappears. Only something like concentrated sulfuric acid, which can dehydrate and carbonize organic matter, could destroy DNA."
Hearing me mention concentrated sulfuric acid, Zhao Simeng said, "There's a possibility, but without seeing the body, we can't be sure. We should have gone to the morgue at the police station first."
Just as we were about to leave, a strange voice suddenly came from upstairs in the old house: "What are you doing here? Do you want to die?"
Huh? Hearing the twisted voice, we were all startled. The sound came from upstairs. When we entered the house, I had roughly observed the layout and noticed it had three floors. The voice now sounded eerie and distorted, making it impossible to tell whether it was male or female. It carried a sense of distortion and oppression.
"Is there a ghost?!" Captain Yang actually shouted.
I didn't know why a criminal police captain would say such things, but he quickly added, "When my two colleagues kept watch here, they were so scared they didn't dare to return. They said that after staying until 2 AM, they kept hearing voices and things being thrown from upstairs, but when they went up, there was no one there!"
"Impossible. If I'm not mistaken, someone upstairs must be playing tricks."
But Captain Yang seemed too scared to move. I really wondered how he became the captain with such a lack of courage. I ignored him and told Zhao Simeng to follow me with a flashlight as we went upstairs while Captain Yang stayed downstairs.
As I stepped on the stairs, I gathered my courage and kept moving upward, with Zhao Simeng closely following me.
Step by step, I reached the corner of the second floor, and the distorted voice came again: "Do you want to die? How dare you come near me?"
I didn't respond. Then, from upstairs, the sound of a blade scraping against stone echoed, as though someone was sharpening a knife on a whetstone!
The walls on both sides had a strange color, as though some chemical liquid had been sprayed on them. Zhao Simeng and I paid it no mind. When we reached the second floor, we discovered that it was empty. There was no one there!
The surroundings were filled with a few graffiti-covered walls, looking quite artistic. It seemed like the work of someone with artistic talent.