Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

"Officer, I’m begging you, you have to find my son and daughter-in-law." He Ming’s father, He Zhong, looked at them, his face gaunt and weary.

"Mr. He, we’ll do our best."

Zhou Tiancheng offered a word of comfort, then looked up at the surrounding terrain. The rugged mountains, combined with the harsh weather, were greatly hindering their progress.

"Be careful. We’re deep in the mountains, and the paths are slippery with dew. You don’t want to accidentally slip and fall."

A middle-aged man in local dress, holding a stick, turned back to caution them.

If someone accidentally fell, that would just be another difficult mission to deal with.

After dividing the area into search zones, the group headed into the mountains with their police dogs.

Lu Xingye took out the drone he’d brought and began scanning the mountain. "The fog is too thick. The drone’s visibility is going to be limited once it’s in there."

Jiang Li leaned over to look at the feed on his controller. The view was severely restricted; if he flew it too high, they wouldn’t be able to see anything clearly either.

The longer this dragged on, the more danger Kong Zhen would be in.

’Trying to find one small cave opening in these foggy, dense mountains...’

"CAW, CAW—"

The caw of a crow overhead shattered her train of thought.

Jiang Li looked up. The instant their eyes met, the crow’s jet-black eyes flashed red. It let out a long caw and, with a flurry of wings, flew off in another direction.

Jiang Li felt an inexplicable urge to follow it and see what was going on.

"What is it, Jiang Li?" Lu Xingye noticed she was staring fixedly in one direction.

Jiang Li pointed toward the forest. "That crow... it flew off that way. Do you think it might know something?"

"How..." ’How could that be possible?’

Lu Xingye got one word out before swallowing the rest. "Well, let’s follow it and see."

’Ever since he’d met Jiang Li, nothing was too strange to accept anymore.’

He handed the drone to a nearby colleague and went with Jiang Li in that direction.

The deeper they went, the more intense the damp chill became. Wu Ming couldn’t help but rub her arms. She thought she’d come prepared, but it seemed she hadn’t prepared enough.

Jiang Li took the scarf from her own neck, unwrapped it, and draped it over Wu Ming’s shoulders. "Do you want to go back?"

Wu Ming looked at Jiang Li and shook her head. "I’m just a little cold, it’s not that bad. Finding them is what’s important."

After walking for half an hour, Jiang Li saw the crow in a tree. Before she could speak, it flew off again.

Lu Xingye looked ahead. The path was flanked by steep slopes and loose scree, and it was getting narrower.

After walking a bit farther, Jiang Li stopped, and the others behind her stopped as well.

Jiang Li looked at the crow perched on a branch. This time, it didn’t fly away. "We must be close."

Lu Xingye nodded. "Alright, let’s split up and look around."

The group split up to search.

Qin Hao had just come out when he noticed the movement and immediately ducked behind a tree, watching the small group in the distance.

’They don’t look like police. Are they here to forage for mushrooms?’

Qin Hao clenched his fists, not daring to make a move for the time being.

"Sister, someone’s here," Miao Anji whispered to Jiang Li.

Jiang Li tensed up, then suddenly spotted a termite mushroom under a tree and immediately pulled it from the ground.

"Look what I found!"

Wu Ming’s eyes lit up. "Wow, Jiang Li, you actually found one! That’s amazing!" Finding a termite mushroom while on a search mission, of all things.

Hearing Jiang Li, Lu Xingye immediately sensed something was wrong. Why would she be looking for mushrooms at a time like this?

"It’s a huge one. If we find some more, maybe we can have a feast tonight."

Lu Xingye said, playing along while discreetly scanning the surroundings. Suddenly, he spotted the corner of some clothing ducking out of sight.

Lu Xingye took out his phone and messaged Captain Zhou and the others.

Hearing their conversation, Qin Hao breathed a sigh of relief and put away the knife in his hand.

’These outsiders came all this way just to find mushrooms. Scared me for a second, I thought the cops had found me.’

Qin Hao took another look, then, seeing no other option, made his own path. He slid down a steep slope, grabbed onto a tree to steady himself, and ran.

"The person’s gone," Jiang Li said, hurrying over to where Qin Hao had been and starting to search the surrounding area.

The crow in the tree tilted its head, watching the people below. Finally, as if it couldn’t stand it anymore, it flew down and landed just in front of Jiang Li and to her left.

Jiang Li’s eyes lit up and she hurried over. The moment she stepped onto the spot, however, her expression froze.

"AHH!"

"Jiang Li!"

"Sister!"

Lu Xingye ran over in a panic. The ground where Jiang Li had been standing had collapsed, revealing a bottomless pit.

Miao Anji’s heart seized, and he jumped straight in after her.

"Holy shit, is he trying to get himself killed?!" Wu Ming cried out, frantically tearing away the dry branches and weeds around the hole.

"Jiang Li! Jiang Li, can you hear me? Jiang Li!"

Wu Ming shouted into the hole, but when there was no response, her heart leaped into her throat. ’Oh no, did something really happen?’

Just as Lu Xingye was about to go down and take a look, his phone rang. Seeing it was a call from Zhou Tiancheng, he answered it.

"Xingye, have you found anyone on your end? Our people have already caught Qin Hao."

"Damn it, they really are cops! Shit!" Qin Hao had been tackled the moment he got down the slope. Hearing what Zhou Tiancheng said, he finally realized that the group from before had been part of the same team.

He’d been tricked!

Lu Xingye stared at the deep pit. "Jiang Li fell into a hole. Captain Zhou, you need to send some people over here."

Lu Xingye scanned the area. ’There must be another path nearby,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, there’s no way Qin Hao could have gotten out so quietly.’