Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

In the bathroom, a bloody person lay dead. It wasn’t so much that their skin had been peeled off, but rather that a thick layer of their own flesh had been carved away.

"Captain Zhou, this was her instrument of crime." An officer pointed to a nearby piece of metal.

"Have Qin Shu and her team come take a look. And keep a tight watch on Yang Ziyi."

The words had barely left his mouth when a headache assailed Zhou Tiancheng. With a case this bizarre, if Guo Tianqi truly wanted them dead, there was nothing they could do to stop him.

After saying his piece, Zhou Tiancheng turned and stepped outside to give them space. He took out his phone and called the colleague tailing Guo Tianqi.

"Bring Guo Tianqi back to the station right now!"

"Captain Zhou, I was just about to report to you. I was staked out downstairs from Guo Tianqi’s apartment, everything was fine, and then I suddenly passed out."

"I went up to check on him, but Guo Tianqi’s gone. I did see a lot of strange things in his apartment, though."

Ji Qinghe went to have someone pull up the surveillance footage. Zhou Tiancheng and Zhao Shuo split up; Zhou Tiancheng headed for Guo Tianqi’s apartment, while Zhao Shuo and Lu Xingye used Ji Qinghe’s information to search for him.

"Stop," Lu Xingye said suddenly, rewinding the footage a little.

"Right here. Guo Tianqi was fine when he went in, but when he came out, he was obviously injured."

Lu Xingye rewound the video a bit more. A familiar figure walked into the frame.

"Xiao Ji?" Lu Xingye pulled out his phone to call Jiang Li.

In the hospital, Yu Huannian handed the phone to Jiang Li.

"Hey, Jiang Li, is Xiao Ji at the hospital with you now? He met with Guo Tianqi today. Zhang Qingzhi and the others are dead, and we need to ask Xiao Ji if he knows where Guo Tianqi is."

Lu Xingye spoke quickly, his eyes still glued to the monitor.

Hearing Miao Anji’s name, Jiang Li sat up. She watched as he walked in from outside. ’So, he found the person who placed the Gu on me, and then he... he went and beat him up?’

"Ahem, Xiao Ji’s right here. Let me ask him for you."

Lu Xingye put the call on speaker, and Jiang Li’s voice filled the room.

"Xiao Ji, you didn’t lay a hand on him, did you?" Jiang Li asked, looking at Miao Anji.

"He’s filthy. I couldn’t be bothered to lay a hand on him. He brought it on himself; his own evil deeds caused the Gu Worms to turn on him," Miao Anji said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Xiao Ji, do you know where he went, then?" Lu Xingye pressed.

"Off to die, of course." Miao Anji’s expression remained impassive. ’Forcing the Gu Worms to mature that quickly, on top of the backlash... it’d be a miracle if he survived.’

The officers listening in tensely: "..." ’Talk about blunt.’

"Ahem, Xiao Ji," Jiang Li coughed awkwardly.

Miao Anji sat up straighter. "Ruan Zhixia died by the river. He’ll be there."

Lu Xingye and Zhao Shuo instantly understood. "Jiang Li, Xiao Ji, we’re going after him. Gotta go, talk later."

The two of them hung up and sped toward the river.

When Zhou Tiancheng arrived at Guo Tianqi’s apartment and opened the door, a foul odor shot straight up into his sinuses—the stench of decay and rotting flesh.

Zhou Tiancheng frowned. They had visited Guo Tianqi’s apartment during a routine inspection before, and it had been nothing like this.

"Captain Zhou, judging by the marks, it looks like Guo Tianqi moved these things out himself."

A nearby officer took photos for the record as Zhou Tiancheng approached a 1.2-meter glass tank by the wall. The closer he got, the more potent the smell became.

The medical examiner beside him put on his gloves, prodded the contents with a pair of tweezers, and said, "This isn’t ordinary soil. It’s a nutrient substrate made by mixing minced, putrid flesh with blood and some other fragmented materials." He lifted something with the tweezers. "This is an insect’s shed skin."

"Are there any worms still in there? And the putrid flesh and other fragmented materials you mentioned...?" Zhou Tiancheng glanced into the tank.

"We’ll need to run tests back at the lab to be sure. But judging from the trash over there that hasn’t been taken out, it’s most likely animal remains."

"Captain Zhou, we found a diary here. It’s probably Guo Tianqi’s."

Zhou Tiancheng took it for a look. It was an old-fashioned journal with a combination lock on the side, but the lock was broken.

Taped to the first page was a clipped photograph of a girl around fifteen years old in a stage costume. It had to be Ruan Zhixia.

Flipping through the pages, he saw it chronicled the evolution of Guo Tianqi’s feelings for Ruan Zhixia, filled with the sweet nothings they’d whispered to each other.

There were even lists of things needed for a proposal and a detailed plan, after which the entries stopped abruptly. Flipping further, Zhou Tiancheng found Guo Tianqi’s final record, where he had documented the entire process of his crimes.

Upon learning that Ruan Zhixia had been victimized, he had taken up the art of Gu again, force-maturing the worms in the shortest time possible. In the end, he only managed to create six successful Gu.

Li Chang’s death was an accident; he was drunk, got spooked, lost his footing, and fell from a cliff. Afterward, Guo Tianqi used Zhang Qingzhi to incite a rivalry among Li Deming and the others, which provoked Liu Shan and Wang Hua into accidentally killing someone.

The day he was called to the station was his first opportunity to place the Gu on Wang Hua and Liu Shan. On his way home, another one of the perpetrators, Sun Cong, confronted and taunted him with a stream of filth, which is why Sun Cong died before Zhang Qingzhi.

His second trip to the station was when he planted the final Gu.

The last sentence read: Zhixia suffered so much when she was alive. I’m going to be with her now.

Zhou Tiancheng tore out the last two pages, closed the journal, and glanced around Guo Tianqi’s apartment.

"Zhao Shuo, Xingye, what’s your status? Have you found Guo Tianqi?"

Zhou Tiancheng stepped outside to contact Zhao Shuo’s team.

"Still looking, Captain Zhou. What’s the situation on your end?"

Zhou Tiancheng glanced at the journal pages in his hand. "Guo Tianqi was the killer, alright."

Zhao Shuo was silent for a moment on the other end. "Right. We’ll keep searching, Captain Zhou."

After hanging up, Zhao Shuo leaned against a nearby wall, pulled out a cigarette, and took a couple of drags after lighting it. ’The longer I’m in this line of work, the more lost I feel.’

Back in the hospital, Jiang Li examined the wound on her arm. The once-black ring around it had already faded.

"Let’s go home," Jiang Li said, looking at the other three in her room. If they hadn’t all insisted she stay, she would have left yesterday.

Wu Ming and Yu Huannian both turned to look at Miao Anji. He had the final say.

Miao Anji glanced at her arm. The toxin had been completely absorbed by his Life Gu.

Miao Anji nodded, and Yu Huannian turned to go handle the discharge paperwork.

On the way back, she thought about the person she had rescued. ’I wonder if they’ve gone home yet. It’s been a few days, so they must be awake by now. They’ve probably already left, right?’

By the time Yu Huannian returned, Jiang Li and the others were already packed and ready to go.

"Homeward bound!" Wu Ming declared, pulling Jiang Li by the hand toward the exit.

On the way home, Wu Ming sent her saved list of favorite recipes to Yu Huannian.

Yu Huannian glanced at the list, picked a few of Jiang Li’s favorite dishes, and headed straight to the supermarket for groceries once they got back.

Back at home, Jiang Li watched the scorpion in front of her, occasionally prodding it with a finger. ’It looks dangerous, but it’s actually pretty docile.’

Miao Anji watched her out of the corner of his eye, the corners of his lips turning up in amusement.

When Yu Huannian returned, he cooked a large, nutritious feast. He’d also bought a cookbook on medicinal cuisine that included Pinyin pronunciation guides.

Full and satisfied, drowsiness soon washed over her. Jiang Li went back to her room, closed the door, and fell asleep almost instantly.

No sooner had she fallen asleep than the scorpion crawled out from its little den. It glanced at Jiang Li with eyes that glowed red, then crept out of the room.

Jiang Li was sleeping soundly when a bone-chilling gust of wind suddenly washed over her.

She opened her eyes and was startled by the bizarre scene that greeted them.