Chapter 409: Chapter 335: Overly Suspicious
The thought that the place was haunted flashed through the man’s mind. After a moment’s hesitation, he went over to check the curtains.
There was nothing behind the double-layered curtains, and the vent on the floor-to-ceiling window was shut tight.
The man turned his head, surveying the entire master bedroom.
It was completely silent.
’How did the curtains move, then?’
The man instinctively looked toward the large bed beside him.
’Under the bed?’
His gaze shifted downward, and he considered getting on the floor to look under the bed.
But a deep sense of unease lingered in his heart.
’What if there’s something under the bed?’
’If I don’t look, I won’t know.’
Just then, the man spotted the open bedroom door and quickly latched onto an explanation.
’It was probably the wind blowing in through the open door.’
’I’m just being paranoid.’
At this thought, the man relaxed a little and went to the bathroom to relieve himself.
But he couldn’t help it; his mind kept going back to the curtain that had suddenly moved.
Coming out of the bathroom, the man went ahead and turned on the light.
The light illuminated the bedroom, and that hair-raising feeling dissipated.
Only then did the man walk to the bedside, squat down, and take a quick look.
Just a glance.
It was pitch-black; there was nothing there.
That one glance, however, gave Shen Xin and the others in the van a huge scare.
The curtain, of course, had been disturbed by Sheriff as he walked past.
And at that very moment, Sheriff was actually huddled in a corner under the bed.
The man’s glance felt as if he were looking right at them.
But the man only swept his eyes over the area once before quickly looking away.
Shen Xin felt a wave of residual fear.
He immediately understood that the man hadn’t actually seen anything clearly.
Sheriff was all black, curled up in a dark corner; he wouldn’t be that easy to see.
Moreover, in the dark, a cat’s pupils dilate, making the yellow of its eyes less visible and the cat even harder to spot.
In the bedroom, the man told himself he was overthinking things, got up, and closed the bedroom door.
Seeing this, the tech guy hurriedly asked what they should do.
There was only one door. If it was closed, Sheriff couldn’t get out.
He still needed to be charged.
Watching the man turn off the light again, Shen Xin said, "It’s fine. I saw it earlier. It’s a door handle. As long as he doesn’t lock it, Sheriff can open the door himself."
Da Mei could do it, so Sheriff could too.
Influenced by his gift, they had become incredibly smart.
Just like how Tian Kui knew to use the men’s restroom and Da Mei knew how to use a toilet, as long as it wasn’t a round doorknob, Da Mei could open doors on her own.
And Sheriff could do it too.
In the darkness, the man got back into bed to sleep.
Sheriff still remembered his previous orders. While the man was closing the door, he had already slipped out from under the bed without a sound.
The man lay in bed and closed his eyes, but he still had an uncomfortable feeling.
Just a few seconds later, he leaned out of bed and glanced under it again.
Pitch-black. Nothing there.
In a corner not far away, by the entrance to the master bedroom’s study, Sheriff turned his head, having sensed the man’s movement.
Shen Xin said softly, "Would you call that a mild case of OCD?"
He looked, confirmed it was fine, but still wasn’t reassured and had to look again.
The others present all nodded in agreement.
The tech guy even turned his head to look at Gao Siyu.
Finding nothing, the man lay back down, shifted a bit, and prepared to sleep.
Meanwhile, Sheriff took a stroll around the small study in the master bedroom but found nothing.
In the darkness, Sheriff wandered around some more.
The man was lying in bed; he seemed to be asleep.
Shen Xin ordered Sheriff to hide well and wait a while before leaving.
Sheriff lay motionless in a corner where he could see the man on the bed.
But at that moment, the man lying in bed abruptly opened his eyes.
He vaguely felt like he had heard something.
Very faint.
It sounded like people talking.
In the dark, using the faint light from outside the window, he stared at the ceiling, not daring to move.
His skin crawled.
The man wasn’t sure if it was tinnitus, an auditory hallucination, or if there was really a sound.
He wanted to get up and check, but it was too quiet all around.
The atmosphere made the man not want to get out of bed.
He pricked up his ears and listened carefully, but there was no sound at all.
After a long moment, telling himself he was just scaring himself, the man closed his eyes again.
’Forget it. I’ll just pretend nothing happened.’
’Besides, what could there be?’
’The door is closed, and I checked under the bed myself.’
’A burglar couldn’t have snuck in, right?’
’Burglars are rare these days anyway.’
’And all my first-floor windows have security bars.’
’The front door is a smart door, too; no one can open it easily.’
But once this idea took root, the man couldn’t stop thinking about it.
He squinted slightly and, while turning over, peeked behind the curtains.
No movement. He rolled to the other side; there was nothing as far as he could see.
A moment later, he rolled back again. Still nothing.
From the corner, Sheriff squinted, curiously watching the man on the bed toss and turn.
He knew the man wasn’t asleep yet.
When people fall asleep, their breathing becomes even, and even their heartbeat slows down.
A cat’s hearing is four times more sensitive than a human’s; they can hear a human’s heartbeat.
At night, cats will often jump onto the bed to listen to their human’s breathing and heartbeat, confirming their "underling" is still alive.
So Sheriff knew very well that the man wasn’t asleep.
After all that tossing and turning, the man finally felt at ease.
Before long, he fell asleep.
Meanwhile, in the van, the team had already been through a discussion.
The topic was whether or not to let Sheriff open the door and come out.
If he didn’t come out, he’d have to wait until morning and leave with the man.
Because Sheriff could open the door, but he couldn’t close it.
If he opened the door, wouldn’t the man suspect someone had been in the house?
As for not charging, they might as well just not charge him. The man was asleep anyway, so there wasn’t much point in surveillance.
But Shen Xin was worried.
Only by watching through the camera could they know what Sheriff was doing and stop him if he did anything out of line.
But if the battery died, then God knows what Sheriff might get up to.
After some discussion, they ultimately decided not to have him open the door and to wait for morning.
Shen Xin gave one last command, telling Sheriff to stay in the room, not to run around, and to come out only when the target opened the door to leave.
Sheriff didn’t react, but he must have heard.
With that, the team prepared to wrap things up.
Qin Chunyi was energized. Even though it was very late, he pulled Shen Xin aside to thoroughly discuss the potential applications of using Sheriff for reconnaissance.
For example, if the target was in his study writing documents, could Sheriff watch from behind to see what he was doing?
Or if he received any visitors and what they talked about.
Most importantly, there was that secret room. As long as he went there, there would eventually be a chance to follow him inside and find out what was in there.
For a case that had reached a stalemate, Sheriff’s appearance could very well create a new breakthrough.
"You have no idea. This guy is extremely private. He lives alone, no elderly or children to look after, so there isn’t a single security camera in his house."
"Now, with Sheriff, we can finally get a real look at his daily life. If we just keep this up, we might find a clue."
Qin Chunyi was very optimistic.
As long as they had the right method, he had plenty of patience.
Shen Xin nodded in agreement, but privately, he had his doubts.
Their economic crime investigations often dragged on for a long time, sometimes taking several months, or even longer, to investigate a target.
’I’m not an economic crimes detective. A short time is fine, but for the long haul, I can’t be tied down here forever, can I?’
But Qin Chunyi and the others were in high spirits, so Shen Xin didn’t have the heart to rain on their parade.
’Leaving Sheriff with them probably wouldn’t work.’
’Sheriff has a rather wild, independent personality, much like Tian Kui and Tiger Stripes. I’m the only one who can really keep him in line.’
After seeing off Qin Chunyi and the others, Zhang Songhao stayed behind for his shift.
While getting out of the van to stretch his legs, Zhang Songhao couldn’t help but say, "Shen Xin, you know, since I joined the task force, the number of times I’ve seen Qin Zhi smile doesn’t even add up to a fraction of how much he’s smiled tonight."
On the task force, Qin Chunyi was always stern and serious.
But today? He couldn’t keep the corners of his mouth from turning up.
"So, Shen Xin, that move of yours was absolutely brilliant. Amazing." Zhang Songhao gave him another thumbs-up.
Shen Xin waved his hand dismissively, wanting to ask about the case.
But the words died on his lips.
’If they wanted to tell me, they would have. Why ask?’
It was now almost two in the morning. Zhang Songhao told Shen Xin to go lie down for a while. His own mind was too wired to sleep, so he’d keep watch.
After a moment’s hesitation, Shen Xin went to the van to get some sleep.
’It’s not my case, so there’s no need to be polite about it.’
He was dozing fitfully. He didn’t know how long he’d been asleep when someone suddenly pushed him.
He woke with a jolt.
The rear door of the van was open, and Zhang Songhao, along with the others, were staring intently at him.
It startled Shen Xin, and he asked them what they were doing.
The sky was still dark.
SWOOSH! Something leaped into the van.
’No need to ask what that was.’
Shen Xin was instantly wide awake. He hurriedly asked how Sheriff got out.
The tech guy, whose name was Guan Wenkang, shook his head. "I don’t know. I was on shift change, stretching outside the van, and then Sheriff just appeared in front of me."
"No idea when he got out."
Shen Xin quickly looked toward the villa. The second floor wasn’t lit, so the target probably hadn’t been alerted.
"What are you doing out here?" Shen Xin asked, grabbing Sheriff.
"We agreed you’d wait for the target to open the door before coming out."
HUNGRY.
Sheriff’s eyes were fixed on him, and then came another thought.
FISH.
Shen Xin rolled his eyes hard. What else could he do?
Guan Wenkang offered a suggestion, asking if they could get Sheriff to go back into the bedroom and ram the door shut from the inside.
Shen Xin thought about it and felt it was feasible.
But just then, in the villa in the distance, the lights on the second floor suddenly flicked on.
Everyone present jumped in alarm, a chill running down their spines.
’We’re screwed,’ Shen Xin thought.
’Seriously, does this guy have a weak bladder or something? How many times does he have to get up in one night?’
「A few minutes earlier.」
As the man in the bedroom drifted in a hazy state, he had a dream.
In the dream, he was vaguely aware that he was sleeping, but for some reason, he kept feeling that there was something behind the curtain to his right.
The man tried to get up to have a look but found he couldn’t move.
He whipped his head around, only to discover with a shock that someone was pressing down on his body.
The man was instantly "awake." In a daze, he tried to see who it was, but it was too dark; he just couldn’t make out the figure.
He just felt this person sitting on his chest.
He tried to move his legs, to get up, but his limbs felt heavy as lead. There was a disconnect between his mind and his body; he just couldn’t rise.
His remaining consciousness told him he was probably experiencing sleep paralysis.
He couldn’t help but start to panic.
But with someone pinning him down, he couldn’t get up no matter how he tried.
He struggled, growing more and more frantic.
Moreover, the man could feel the thing on top of him moving closer.
In his mind, he screamed, ’Don’t come any closer!’ as he struggled.
Vaguely, he thought he saw a familiar face, but he couldn’t see it clearly.
Then this person, or thing, slowly leaned in toward him.
The man felt it getting extremely close to his face.
The terror made his scalp tingle, and he struggled with all his might.
Then, after an unknown amount of time, just as his fear reached its peak, the man suddenly felt the weight on his body lighten.
Strength seemed to return to his legs.
With a cry, the man jolted awake and sat up.
He really sat up.
The room was pitch-black, and there was nothing on him.
The curtains.
The man whipped his head around.
The curtains were unchanged, just as they were before he fell asleep, with a small crack letting in a sliver of faint light.
There was nothing there. Everything was normal.
The man put a hand to his forehead, feeling a wave of residual fear.
’So it was just a nightmare.’
’But it felt so real, like something was actually pressing down on me.’
’No, wait!’
The man’s eyes shot wide open.
In his peripheral vision, he saw that the bedroom door to his left, which had been closed, was now open by a ten-centimeter gap.
An icy chill shot straight to the top of his head.
He was absolutely certain he had closed the door before going to sleep.
’So how is it open now?’
The man lunged and switched on the bedside lamp.
Then he stared in terror at the bedroom before him. Everything was as it was. There was nothing.
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