"Ah!" This time, even I couldn't help but shout out. Zhao Simeng also became nervous, pushing us to go upstairs, fearing that a ghost with disheveled hair might suddenly appear behind us.
In the previous cases, we had been worried about vampires, and now there was a female ghost involved. But no matter how I thought about it, I didn't believe she truly existed.
We rushed upstairs, and when we reached the second floor, something was strange. The second floor was now filled with many mirrors, which hadn't been there last time.
Someone must have placed them here later. The mirrors reflected strange dark shadows, moving around as if something was truly inside them!
We shone our flashlights at them, but the mirrors reflected the light back at us, casting it onto the ceiling and surrounding walls.
The scattered light made us dizzy. My God, where exactly are we?
"We told you not to come up, but you didn't listen. This house is mine. You shouldn't have trespassed!"
It was that eerie, distorted voice again. Just as we were disoriented, we heard the sound of footsteps on the third-floor stairs. It sounded like high heels clicking against the floor.
We quickly looked toward the third-floor staircase, and it seemed like something was coming up, but in reality, there was nothing there. We could only hear the sound of the heels.
At that moment, Zhao Simeng shouted, "Don't panic, stay calm!"
"What did you find?" I asked her.
"Nothing, I just feel like there's something wrong with these walls." She touched the graffiti on the second-floor walls, sniffed, and said uneasily, "Now I understand why there's a ghost."
"What's going on?" Gao Qiang and I both asked.
"LSD is a hallucinogen, and the walls are covered with it. Someone put it on the walls. If I'm not mistaken, it started from the stairs. As we go up, we're inhaling a large amount of LSD. Combined with the rumors about the house, the stories of the woman being burned to death, that's how the female ghost is coming."
No wonder! Zhao Simeng quickly took out a bottle of spray and sprayed it on Gao Qiang and me, then sprayed it on herself. Soon, we all became more clear-headed, and we no longer heard any strange sounds. Zhao Simeng also gave us both masks and said, "Put these on!"
I then called the police department to have the forensic team come and clean up the hallucinogen on the walls. Before they arrived, we made our way to the third floor of the old house.
The top of the third floor was decorated with many ribbons, and the walls were stacked with several nests of European bullet ants. I quickly counted—there were over 30 nests. We almost went to the third floor earlier, but actually, we should have investigated it last time. We had no idea it was a breeding ground for European bullet ants.
Gao Qiang quickly grabbed a camera and started taking pictures, while Zhao Simeng and I launched an insecticide attack, spraying the ants everywhere. The European bullet ants scrambled, and it seemed like we killed most of them. The floor was covered with their bodies.
We moved a few ribbons, noticing various colors, though we had no idea what they meant. As we pulled them from the ceiling, a loud crash occurred, and a large amount of sand and dirt fell down.
We screamed as the third-floor floorboard cracked open, and all of us fell straight through to the second floor!
It seemed the ribbons were a trap—pulling them caused the floor to collapse. But it was too late now. After we landed on the second floor, many European bullet ants started crawling toward us. They quickly surrounded us.
We must not have killed all of them earlier, or maybe some had escaped. Either way, we were in real danger.
"What should we do? If they come, we'll end up like Captain Yang," Gao Qiang said.
"I know, don't panic," I replied.
Thousands of European bullet ants surrounded us, piling on top of each other, emitting a sour, pungent odor. As they crawled over the ground, there was a constant rustling sound.
"Quick, use the insecticide!" Gao Qiang urged.
"It won't work, there are too many. It's not enough," Zhao Simeng said.
They slowly closed in on us, step by step, getting closer and closer. In a critical moment, Zhao Simeng took out some white powder from her inspection box and scattered it around.
I asked her, "What is this?"
"It's the sugar you bought for me."
Seeing the European bullet ants flocking toward the sugar, I quickly understood. Insects are attracted to sweet things. Zhao Simeng had asked me to buy the sugar earlier because she had planned to use it in this situation.
Taking advantage of this, we escaped the encirclement of the European bullet ants and ran outside. Just as we stepped out of the Qing Dynasty old house, a shadow flashed across the yard. Seeing it, we immediately drew our Falcon pistols and shouted, "Don't move!"
The person didn't pay attention to us and seemed to be holding something. He dashed off quickly. Gao Qiang and I chased him, running out of the street where the old house was located. But this person moved so quickly, and soon he entered a large forest. We were about to continue chasing when suddenly, we heard sharp screams.
I recognized it as Zhao Simeng's voice and quickly turned around, telling Gao Qiang to pursue the man while I went back to the old house. When I returned, I found Zhao Simeng had thrown sugar everywhere. The European bullet ants were crawling all over, and she couldn't find a way to escape.
I immediately sprayed insecticide, and some of the European bullet ants died. I grabbed Zhao Simeng and pulled her out.
We crushed countless European bullet ants, and after some time, reinforcements from the police department arrived. A large number of forensic officers came with insecticide and sprayed it everywhere, finally handling the bullet ants around the old house.
If they had been a bit later, we would probably have become their dinner. The forensic team, along with Zhao Simeng, went upstairs to do a thorough cleaning of the house.
They exterminated all the European bullet ants and cleaned the walls of the LSD liquid. Of course, they wore gas masks while working, as we couldn't afford to have hallucinations again.
After the house issue was resolved, I called Gao Qiang. He said he had lost the suspect. I had already expected it and sighed, telling him to come back. The person who appeared at the old house should be the killer. He must have wanted to kill us when we returned to the house, destroying the bodies to cover his tracks, ensuring no one would find out about the case.
When Gao Qiang returned, I asked, "Did you see the killer?"