Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

Zhao Shuo looked at Yang Ziyi. "During a performance in October two years ago, there was an accident on stage. You and Ruan Zhixia both suffered burns of varying degrees."

Yang Ziyi stared at Zhao Shuo in shock. "Officer, it’s no secret the troupe leader is strict. We knew that before we even joined. You don’t actually think we’d cause him to fall off a cliff over a few bumps and bruises, do you?"

Yang Ziyi looked at Zhao Shuo and cracked a smile. "Officer, I can tell you don’t get it. In our line of work, getting minor injuries on stage is perfectly normal."

Zhao Shuo studied him for a few seconds before moving on to the next question. "Zhang Qingzhi is your girlfriend? I hear Sun Cong is interested in her too.

"And Zhang Qingzhi seems quite fond of Guo Tianqi."

Yang Ziyi’s expression froze. His hand on the table clenched into a fist, but he forced himself to look composed as he faced the officer.

"Officer, I think you’ve misunderstood. They were probably just discussing the opera."

Zhao Shuo detected a hint of bitterness in Yang Ziyi’s voice. Just as he was about to ask the next question, a terrified scream suddenly erupted from outside.

"AAAAAH! STAY AWAY!"

The sudden scream drew the attention of the entire police station. Jiang Li and Miao Anji watched as Wang Hua stumbled out of a room and collapsed.

Wang Hua hit the floor hard, his eyes wide with terror as he stared straight ahead.

It was Ruan Zhixia—who was supposed to be dead. She was wearing a white opera costume stained red with blood. More blood streamed from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Her eyes were rolled back in their sockets, the whites a horrifying web of red veins, and her body moved toward him in a twisted, unnatural crawl.

Wang Hua’s eyes bulged in terror. He gasped for air, unable to exhale, looking as if he were about to die from sheer fright.

Zhao Shuo rushed forward to check on him, but Wang Hua, with a sudden burst of strength, shoved him aside. He scrambled outside, muttering over and over, "I was wrong... Stay away."

"Hey!"

Zhao Shuo regained his balance as other officers gave chase. They had just reached the station entrance when a speeding truck, unable to brake in time, slammed right into Wang Hua.

BANG! SQUELCH!

The truck hit Wang Hua and ran over his body. The terror in his eyes had yet to fade even in death.

Zhao Shuo and the other officers stared, too stunned to immediately process what had just happened.

Terrified, Zhang Qingzhi dug her nails into Yang Ziyi’s arm. Her face was ashen, her lips trembling so badly she couldn’t speak.

’Just now... just now, if I saw that correctly... I think I saw Wang Hua’s lips form a name. It was... it was Ruan Zhixia.’

’In broad daylight? How is that possible?!’

Zhang Qingzhi stared at the gory scene before her, her whole body trembling. The next moment, a gust of wind swept by, carrying with it the faint scent of blood. A twig from a nearby tree fell onto her shoulder.

"AH!"

Zhang Qingzhi let out a terrified shriek.

Yang Ziyi winced in pain. Seeing the color completely drained from Zhang Qingzhi’s face, he grabbed her by the shoulders. "Qingzhi, snap out of it! It was just an accident!"

Zhang Qingzhi was too frightened to speak.

The other troupe members nearby were also badly shaken, staring in stunned horror at Wang Hua’s body.

Zhou Tiancheng and Lu Xingye hurried to review the security footage.

On the monitor, Wang Hua was at first sitting quietly. After a moment, his expression turned strange. He then began to flail his arms wildly as if he’d gone mad, right before he stumbled out of the room.

"The lab results are in. The belt belonged to Wang Hua, and the fingerprints on the shovel belong to Wang Hua and Liu Shan."

Qin Shu came rushing out with the report. When she saw the gruesome scene outside, she too was stunned for a moment.

’What a bizarre coincidence.’

"No, it wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!" Hearing his name, Liu Shan’s legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.

The nearest officer reacted instantly, slapping handcuffs on him.

Chen Meihua panicked at the sight and stepped forward to say something, but another officer held her back.

"Liu Shan, why did you and Wang Hua murder Li Deming?"

Lu Xingye looked up at Liu Shan, who was still reeling from what had just happened, and his eyes narrowed.

"You saw what happened to Wang Hua. If you don’t want to be the next one, you’d better tell the truth. That’s the only way we can guarantee your safety."

At the mention of Wang Hua’s name, Liu Shan shuddered. His cuffed hands trembled. "I... I didn’t do it on purpose."

"I-It was like this... We hadn’t seen Ruan Zhixia that day, and we thought maybe something had happened to her, just like the troupe leader."

"So we went up the mountain to look for the troupe leader. But... but along the way, we got into an argument with Li Deming, and... and we accidentally killed him."

"Officer, I didn’t mean to! I... It was self-defense! Li Deming attacked first."

Lu Xingye looked at Liu Shan. "What was the argument about?"

Liu Shan gritted his teeth. "It was because of Zhang Qingzhi. Li Deming was lording it over us that he was the troupe leader’s son, saying that once the leader was dead, he would definitely be the next one in charge."

"He said he’d find an excuse to break up Zhang Qingzhi and Yang Ziyi, and then he would marry her. He said some other... crude things, too."

"In a fit of rage, Wang Hua and I killed him. Afterwards, we got scared and decided to dig a pit to bury him in."

Liu Shan pressed his lips together. He wasn’t lying about that part. They really had killed him in a fit of rage. It was the first time either of them had killed someone, and after they got back, they realized how sloppy it had been. They had been planning to find a time to go back and take care of the scene properly.

But they never expected the police to dig up the body the very next day.

Lu Xingye listened to Liu Shan’s confession. ’It’s all about Zhang Qingzhi again,’ he thought. ’Jiang Li said she and Yang Ziyi are a couple, but Sun Cong also likes her, and yet she’s so attentive to Guo Tianqi.’

’Now the victim, Li Deming, and his murderers, Wang Hua and Liu Shan, all turn out to have been interested in her.’

Lu Xingye’s eyelid twitched. ’Zhang Qingzhi and the missing Ruan Zhixia are about the same age. There might be something else going on here.’

"When did Ruan Zhixia go missing?"

"I-It was the day the troupe leader fell from the cliff. We were all busy searching for him. When we got back, we didn’t see her and just assumed she’d gone home."

"It wasn’t until you couldn’t find her today that we realized she was actually missing."

After speaking, Liu Shan looked nervously at Lu Xingye.

Lu Xingye looked over their statements. ’Their stories are half-truths. They’re definitely still hiding something.’

’Liu Shan’s silence surely had something to do with Zhang Qingzhi as well.’

Lu Xingye rested his chin on his hand for a moment, then stood up and went out to confer with Zhao Shuo and Zhou Tiancheng.

"Several of them have a thing for Zhang Qingzhi. And when Liu Shan mentioned Zhang Qingzhi and Ruan Zhixia, the look in his eyes was definitely off."

Zhao Shuo folded his arms. "So Ruan Zhixia’s disappearance might be connected to them?"

Lu Xingye nodded in agreement. "Let’s investigate Ruan Zhixia first. As long as these guys refuse to talk, we probably won’t get anything more out of them for the time being."

Miao Anji stared at the doorway for a moment, then got up and walked outside. There, in a corner, was a Gu Worm.

Miao Anji watched it with a cold expression for a moment before raising his foot and crushing it. ’Where did this little pest come from?’

Miao Anji looked back, deep in thought. ’Well now, this is something. Looks like I’ve run into a fellow practitioner.’

Miao Anji came back inside with takeout. "Sister, this is a new drink. Wu Ming said it’s really good."

He thoughtfully stuck a straw in it and handed it to her.

Jiang Li took the drink and had a couple of sips. A smile played on Miao Anji’s lips as his eyes swept over the people in the room.

’So, which one of them could it be?’