"But I also know that it was so late then, and not many people lived in this apartment. If that guy came up to silence me, I would probably be dead. I tried my best to move more heavy objects to the door, anything to delay him a bit. Then I picked up my phone, intending to call the police, but I found it missing. I was terrified. Was it stolen by that guy? But it's impossible, he never came upstairs, did he? I looked everywhere for my phone, like a madman. When I couldn't find it, I messaged on the computer, hoping to find some friends to help me call the police. But it was too late, many people were asleep. Someone replied to me, but they thought I was playing a prank and stopped talking to me. I was speechless. At that moment, I heard footsteps outside my door, 'tap, tap, tap.' The sound was extremely heavy. Without looking, I knew it had to be that big guy. I was terrified, but my curiosity still made me peek through the peephole."
"I didn't see anyone at first, but I could sense someone on the stairs carrying a hammer and moving upwards. That guy must be very strong. He was carrying such a huge hammer, not dragging it on the ground but holding it directly on his back, like Abigail from Street Fighter. It was so frightening. When he reached my floor, he actually stopped outside my door. At that moment, I only saw his chest muscles trembling. He raised his hand and slowly knocked on the door. 'Knock, knock.' The sound scared me so much that I peed myself!"
The middle-aged man said this and subconsciously covered his lower half with an embarrassed look. Liu Yuning immediately felt awkward. "Please continue."
"Uh, sorry. I got too into it. I'll continue, continue. After that, the guy didn't smash the door, but kept knocking, as if he wouldn't stop if I didn't open it. As he knocked more, the sound naturally reached the apartment next door. However, it was a university student, who seemed to live alone, but she had a bad temper. As soon as she opened the door, she cursed, 'What are you making noise for in the middle of the night! Don't other people need to sleep?' She said this to the big guy, and I knew something bad was about to happen. Sure enough, the big guy moved away and went straight to her side. I don't know what happened, but I heard loud thudding noises from next door. I think that girl probably..."
"We'll go and check!" I left this statement and temporarily left the man's apartment. Then we went to the next door. The door was not open but locked. I knocked on it. Liu Yuning called from behind, "Is anyone there?"
There was no movement from inside. We both felt uneasy. I took out a lock pick and started turning it in the lock. But at that moment, someone downstairs suddenly shouted anxiously, "Hey, hey! What are you doing?"
I saw a girl with short purple hair dragging a heavily tattooed guy upstairs. As soon as the girl saw him, the middle-aged man was terrified and screamed, then turned and ran back into his house: "Zombie! Zombie! Help!"
Liu Yuning and I exchanged a wry smile. We saw that the girl had a projection and was breathing. Of course, she wouldn't have died. I quickly took out my police ID and showed it to her. The girl quickly urged the man to leave. I could tell at a glance that the guy was involved in that kind of work.
"Police? What are you doing here?"
"Something happened last night. Did you know someone died downstairs?" Liu Yuning asked.
"I know, but what does that have to do with me? What's going on?"
"Your neighbor just now..." I told the girl some of the details.
"What? How is that possible? No one knocked on my door last night, and there was no noise. I think that creepy guy next door has a problem with his head. He must have seen things wrong. I'm telling you, that guy is crazy. He often sings by himself in the middle of the night and laughs loudly. So don't believe anything he says, okay?"
The girl spoke very earnestly, not like she was lying at all. I asked her name, Dong Shantao, a third-year student at Guangming City Hardware University. I asked her, "Why aren't you living at school? It's dangerous to be out here alone, isn't it?"
"So what? School is too boring. I don't want to be with those immature and ill-mannered girls."
From Dong Shantao's tone, it was clear that she didn't get along with her dorm mates. I continued, "Who is that man just now to you?"
"Just a friend. Don't ask so many questions, and don't believe that lunatic. If you really want to find the real killer, search downstairs. It's useless here!" Dong Shantao said, walking back into her house and intending to close the door. Liu Yuning intercepted her, "Wait, we need to inspect your house!"
"This is so troublesome. Hurry up, I have to go to school later!"
I looked at the time. It was already this late. If she still had to go to school, I suspected Dong Shantao was lying to us. We walked into the house and found it very tidy, with no bloodstains. I sprayed Luminol around, but found no reaction.
It seemed that the middle-aged man next door might have been hallucinating. Could it be true, as Dong Shantao said, that he was crazy?
I had seen similar cases in novels before, but they were not as complicated as this one. I had to ask Liu Yuning to go back and visit the neighbors again. But they all said that last night was very quiet, and they didn't notice anything at all.
If one person thought so, it might not be true, but if several households said the same thing, Liu Yuning and I basically thought the man's words were not very reliable.
There was no surveillance in the hallway. We consulted the landlord, who told us that surveillance would be installed as soon as possible, but they were busy with some other matters recently. Liu Yuning cursed, "Don't you know about this kind of equipment? According to your situation, it's a violation. According to regulations, you must be fined and detained!"
"Ah, no, I'll install it right away, please, Officer Hua."
Liu Yuning didn't really want to arrest him, she just wanted to scare him a little. Once they achieved their goal, we left. In fact, this was not our responsibility, we were just doing it as a side task.
Back at the Provincial Department, the couple's bodies had been sent to the forensic department. I went there. After contacting their families for identification, I prepared for the autopsy.
I went to the laboratory and stood with Xie Chuchu. Zhang Keying was also there. This was her first time participating in an actual dissection, but she still seemed very calm, not at all like a first-timer.