Chapter 105: Chapter 105: Trouble
"Huff—"
"Huff—"
Yang Xiao awoke suddenly, his face pale, his limbs cold, and his hands trembled uncontrollably. Another dream, that same strange dream!
But this time, the content of the dream had changed: behind the big red coffin appeared six black coffins.
Yang Xiao did not know what this meant, but... but it gave him a very bad feeling, as if it was a premonition that something was about to happen.
The only comfort for Yang Xiao was that the costume, unlike the last time, was not on his body but lying quietly in his backpack, as if nothing had happened.
He picked up the mineral water bottle on the table, unscrewed it, took a sip of water to calm his nerves, and caught a glimpse of a Doraemon sticker at the corner of the desk. Suddenly, Yang Xiao’s eyes paused, and he realized in shock that, including himself, the investigative team also just happened to have six members.
All morning, Yang Xiao waited anxiously, worried that the other members of the investigative team had also experienced this strange dream. It wasn’t until 8 a.m., with his hair in a mess and eyes half-closed, that Zhuge Zhijie appeared at the office door.
"Zhijie!"
Seeing Zhuge Zhijie was like seeing a long-lost relative for Yang Xiao, and his heart also settled. After all, even Zhuge Zhijie was alive, so the others must be fine.
Zhuge Zhijie was somewhat panicked by Yang Xiao’s sudden enthusiasm and did not relax until he confirmed that Yang Xiao had no ill intentions. He then went to the coffee machine, got himself a cup of coffee, walked back to his desk, sat down, took out a thick stack of papers from his briefcase, and started to work with his head down.
Their workday started at 8 a.m., but except for Zhuge Zhijie, who arrived on time, everyone else was late. Yu Shu was the next to arrive at 8:15, followed by Da Xiong at almost 8:30, and Xi Menxiu sauntered in around 9: "Hey, Brother Xiao, good morning!"
"Captain, after you find a place to live, you don’t need to come this early. The station isn’t strict about this," Da Xiong kindly reminded him. "We don’t roll that way."
"Come on, Brother Xiao, have some coffee." Xi Menxiu, in a new outfit and in a particularly good mood, brought a cup of coffee over to Yang Xiao.
Seeing Yang Xiao sip the coffee, Xi Menxiu smiled and pressed, "Brother Xiao, is the coffee good?"
"Um... not bad," Yang Xiao replied, glancing at the Doraemon-shaped clock on the wall. "By the way, where’s Beibei? Is she always this late?"
"Captain, Ms. Bei was called away by Ms. Wen. I saw her when she left," Da Xiong poked his head out from behind his desk.
Now, Yang Xiao completely put his heart at ease, everyone was safe and sound. He held the coffee cup with both hands, as if drawing warmth from it. Later, he tentatively asked everyone how they slept last night, and everyone said it was fine, which seemed to indicate they did not encounter the strange dream.
Yang Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. He was someone who didn’t like to trouble others and certainly didn’t want to cause any inconvenience to everyone because of himself.
"In a while, I’m going to see Director Nalan to report this strange dream," Yang Xiao thought. He knew this matter had to be resolved quickly and could not be delayed.
"Tap tap tap..."
As sharp footsteps approached, Beibei entered carrying a file in her hands, animatedly speaking, "Captain, the Xinmao Building case has been resolved!"
"That was fast?" Yang Xiao did not expect such efficiency in less than one day.
Taking the file, the outer kraft paper envelope was marked with several lines:
Code Name: Xinmao Building Ghost Hitting Person Incident
Supernatural Event Levels: D Level
Threat Level: Medium
Result: Contained
Opening the file envelope, it contained dozens of pages and some photos. Among them were pictures of a man brutally killed in an office—Schröder, if he remembered correctly—and another of a woman tied to a chair, mouth stuffed.
The subsequent photos were unfamiliar. They were taken inside a luxurious-looking building, a bedroom, and a spacious bed.
The room was thoughtfully decorated, the walls adorned with artistic oil paintings, including that of ’The Shepherd’.
It wasn’t until Yang Xiao saw the last two photos that he was truly shocked. One photo showed a young couple in a selfie, apparently taken in a trendy café with a strong ambiance. Both the man and the woman were young, their smiles radiant, cheeks pressed together—a clear sign of a romantic relationship.
The moment he saw the girl’s face, Yang Xiao recognized her as the white-dress girl photographed by the Ghost Camera.
Slowly turning to the last photo, the sight was horrifying. The girl was hanging in the bedroom, with the thin rope cutting into her neck, her face distorted in a ghastly expression, eyes bulging. She was wearing a white dress, and those red high heels, with the painting of ’The Shepherd’ perfectly captured in the background.
"Ah, so young, such a pity," Xi Menxiu sighed, slowly shaking his head. The girl’s name was Xu Qingqing, only 22 years old.
The files were too numerous to scrutinize in detail. Yang Xiao recalled the female ghost’s method of killing and could surmise that she probably caught her boyfriend cheating, then couldn’t bear it and committed suicide. Her posthumous obsession was also directed at men and women showing signs of romantic involvement.
Beibei immediately bristled at the way Xi Menxiu and the others instantly showed pity upon seeing the girl dead. "Hey, hey, hey, what’s this? Why do you all act like this as soon as you see a pure and beautiful girl has died? Don’t judge a book by its cover, okay?"
"Let me tell you, this Xu Qingqing might seem tender and fragile, but she was no pushover. Her boyfriend never actually cheated on her. She was a control freak with a delusional disorder, hounding her boyfriend every day, forbidding any contact with other women. She insisted on being told of his whereabouts, or she would threaten or attempt suicide, and even injured her boyfriend with random objects, stabbing him in the back with scissors."
"Her boyfriend couldn’t take it anymore, so he dumped her and cut off all contact with her. After that, she couldn’t cope and eventually went to her boyfriend’s house to commit suicide."
"Right, and her boyfriend was originally her best friend’s. She stole him away, which made her best friend so angry she tried to slit her wrists. Luckily, she was found in time."
After relaying the story in one breath, Beibei sneered, "After being rescued, her ex-best friend even changed her Weibo name to ’Wall Breacher Punishes Cheating Men and Women.’"
Xi Menxiu was taken aback for a moment, and her sympathy vanished without trace. "Damn! Such a deceptive lotus!"
"How did this painting come into the company’s possession?" Yang Xiao asked another question after Beibei roughly clarified the cause behind Resentful Eye.
Beibei took the coffee Xi Menxiu had brought her, pulled up a chair, and sat down. "Hey, the story behind that is quite a coincidence. Someone died hanging in that house, so no one wanted to go near it. Everything inside remained untouched until a petty thief took interest. Among the many things he stole was this painting. After changing hands several times, it ended up at this company."
"Captain Xu has an update as well. The company has a hodgepodge of ways for acquiring goods, many of which are from shady sources. The electronic invoices we found are connected to smuggling. They’re still investigating specifics, but the crimes are certainly not minor."
Beibei sipped her coffee, looking somewhat pensive. "Shao Honghong and Schröder probably thought we were there because of the smuggling records, so they took the risk to sneak in and destroy the evidence."
With that, things became clear, and Yang Xiao hadn’t expected that a supernatural event could unravel so much complexity, mistakenly stumbling onto a sizeable smuggling case.
"Beibei, did you see Director Nalan just now?" Yang Xiao inquired.
Beibei took a sip of her coffee, letting out a comfortable sigh. "No, Ms. Wen said the director was called into a meeting by higher-ups and hasn’t returned yet. Why, do you have business with him?"
"Director Nalan is very busy every day. If it’s about specialized knowledge, you can talk to us," Da Xiong offered reliably.
Yang Xiao actually wanted to ask about the costume, but thinking about it, decided not to spread the word due to the unclear situation. Instead, he looked at the file bag and asked, "How are the levels and threat severity of supernatural events classified?"
"Supernatural Event Levels are divided into A, B, C, and D. The higher the level, the more difficult it is to handle. Take our team, for example, we’re only responsible for handling events up to C Level. Anything higher is beyond our capabilities."
Yang Xiao nodded, finding it humane. The levels allow those taking on tasks to have a clear understanding of the scope of the supernatural events they’re facing. In simple terms, do tasks within your ability, which could avoid many unnecessary casualties.
One could imagine that resolving higher-level supernatural events would bring greater benefits and rewards.
"The threat severity is more complex. It represents the urgency of corresponding events and the hazard level to our world, with six levels from lowest to highest: Harmless Level, Minor Level, Medium Level, Serious Level, Hazardous Level, and the highest, Disaster Level."
"A Harmless Level event cannot pose a direct threat to people within the range of the Resentful Eye, or there isn’t conclusive evidence that it can pose a threat."
"Minor Level results in injury, meaning it can injure people but not take lives."
"Medium Level, which is the level of the event we handled this time, is set because someone died in the final stage."
"Serious Level involves mass casualties or leads to a large number of people going missing."
"Hazardous Level is even scarier. If not dealt with quickly, people within a certain area are unlikely to survive."
"Disaster Level, I’m not very clear on its definition. I haven’t seen it in the related archives either, but it’s said it can destroy an entire city."
"Destroy an entire city..." Yang Xiao took a deep breath. Truly, Disaster Level sounded terrifying.
Before Yang Xiao could inquire further, hurried footsteps approached from outside. Soon, Huang Qiang, whom he had met earlier in the director’s office, appeared at the door. "Captain Yang, Director Nalan wants you in his office, immediately!"
The man’s haste was evident, making Yang Xiao anxious. He promptly made his way to the director’s office.
As soon as he pushed open the door, before even greeting, he saw Director Nalan turn from the window with a troubled expression. He asked, "Have you been in contact with Zhao Yuanpei recently?"
Yang Xiao was taken aback, "Who did you say?"
"Zhao Yuanpei, Captain Zhao, the one who recommended you."
"I messaged him the night before coming to see you, the night of the strange dreams, but he didn’t reply," Yang Xiao answered truthfully.
Director Nalan frowned deeply, waved his hand to motion Yang Xiao to sit on the couch, and after Yang Xiao settled, Nalan began, "He’s in trouble. Yesterday at noon I got word that Zhao Yuanpei and his team disappeared while re-investigating the Fengmen Town Wasteland site due to a supernatural event. Including him, six people, all gone."
"What!??"
