Chen Ge had been explaining for quite some time before Zhen Zhen finally understood what he meant, but the boy didn't seem to want to talk about it and retreated behind the policewoman once again.
"Chen Ge, he's just a child. He's still undergoing treatment for psychological trauma. Don't make him recall those terrible things." Chen Ge had never met this policewoman before, but she had called him by name the moment she spoke, as if the two of them had known each other for a long time.
"If we want to stop the tragedy at its source, the only way is to find answers through Zhen Zhen. I have no other choice." Chen Ge crouched down in front of Zhen Zhen. "Zhen Zhen, if you sense where any of the other children are, you have to tell me. Uncle wants to go protect that child."
The Cursed Hospital was also searching for the children selected by the Nether Fetus. If they found one first, that child could very well be killed outright.
After more than ten minutes, Zhen Zhen finally spoke. He hid behind the policewoman, the smile gone from his small face, and said timidly, "That weird uncle always said strange things to me before I fell asleep. After hearing those words, I'd always dream dreams that had nothing to do with me — like experiencing a stranger's life through someone else's eyes."
Zhen Zhen's explanation was a bit muddled, but Chen Ge understood what he meant.
This child shared an origin with the Nether Fetus. Its aura clung to him. With Jia Ming's help, he had dreamed the dreams of other children selected by the Nether Fetus.
It was this very ability that Jia Ming and Bei Ye had used to track down Liu Wen.
"Besides Liu Wen and Nie Xin, I had one more dream. In that dream, everything was pitch black. I couldn't see anything." Zhen Zhen struggled to recall.
"Pitch black? You couldn't see anything?"
"Mm. It felt really awful. It was completely dark all around, and my skin was so itchy. I wanted to scratch it off."
Just listening to Zhen Zhen's description made Chen Ge feel uncomfortable. "If you couldn't see, then your sense of smell and hearing should still work. Did you smell anything strange? Hear any unusual sounds?"
Chen Ge was gently guiding the child. The boy thought for a good while before answering, "I could smell something rotten and fishy. And I could hear cats meowing. Yes! It was like there were a lot of cats in my room."
"A lot of cats? A blind person who takes in stray cats?" An image immediately formed in Chen Ge's mind. "Just cats meowing? No voices?"
"There seemed to be a man's voice too. He kept calling me 'little brother,' and he said something else, but it felt like he was very far away. I couldn't make it out clearly." Zhen Zhen told Chen Ge everything he knew.
"I think I have a rough idea." Chen Ge stepped out of the duty room, pulled out his phone, and recorded the useful information. "Two men appeared in Zhen Zhen's dream — most likely brothers. The younger one is blind, and he's surrounded by lots of cats. Given the rotten smell, the environment must be pretty bad. The older brother was standing very far away when he spoke…"
Li Zheng stood beside Chen Ge, watching him mutter to himself as he organized the information and took notes. An involuntary wry smile crept onto his face. "You're really wasted talent if you don't become a cop."
"Brother Zheng, can you do me another favor?" After organizing the information, Chen Ge looked at Li Zheng. "If we don't find this blind man quickly, his life could be in danger."
One moment he'd been chatting with a child, and the next he'd jumped to a murder case. The speed of the topic shift caught even an experienced detective like Li Zheng off guard. "Life in danger? How did you deduce a murder case from a child's dream? I'm not questioning you — I just find it a bit incredible."
"Intuition." Chen Ge couldn't very well explain the real reason. "My intuition is usually pretty accurate."
"I won't deny that, but we're short on manpower right now. I'm afraid we can't provide you with much help." Though Li Zheng said it would be difficult to assist, he still opened the police-only database once they returned to his office.
"Take a look and see if there's a pair of brothers running a pet shop in the area, or an organization that rescues stray cats. The younger brother should be blind. Something bad must have happened in their family…"
There were plenty of leads, but trying to screen through all the information in a single day was still extremely difficult.
It wasn't until sometime after two in the afternoon that Li Zheng finally came back with good news — they had found someone who fit the profile.
"Ying Chen, twenty-two years old. Local head of the Hanjiang Caring Cat Rescue website. A devoted cat lover. Has participated in various volunteer activities across Hanjiang. Excellent academic record in school. No bad habits." Li Zheng pointed at the computer screen. "All of this is publicly available information online. I don't think this counts as a violation."
Chen Ge looked at the website called Caring Cat. The homepage was filled with adorable cats and posts from cat lovers. The site's most popular feature was a stray cat rescue initiative that urged people not to abandon their pets.
The website had a bio on Ying Chen along with his photo. He had a refined appearance with very fair skin, and his first impression was quite pleasant.
"He's pretty impressive. His parents passed away early, and he and his younger brother were taken in by relatives. Turns out the relatives only took them in to seize the family house and treated the brothers terribly the whole time. He didn't make a fuss about it — just studied hard until he could take care of his brother on his own, then kicked the relatives out. All in all, he's a very positive, inspirational young man."
Li Zheng held up the investigation report he'd compiled. "The website users have a high opinion of him too. They say he's like a child full of light. Quite a few unmarried female users even wanted to pursue him, but he politely turned them all down because he was afraid of burdening them with the responsibility of caring for his brother."
"If what you're saying is true, he really does seem like a good person." Chen Ge first scrolled through the entire website without finding anything unusual, then clicked into Ying Chen's personal page.
Ying Chen's page contained videos and photos he had taken, along with articles he had written. Most of them documented his life with his younger brother and the stray cats.
All his videos and articles had high view counts. He had also opened accounts on certain video platforms. His follower count wasn't huge, but it wasn't insignificant either.
"The older brother is a person full of love and compassion. And the younger brother, despite his eye problems, must be very well taken care of." Chen Ge clicked on the videos one by one and watched them in silence.
"Yeah, having a brother like that, it's a real blessing amid all the misfortune for the younger one."
"Brother Zheng, you're not getting what I mean." Chen Ge turned to glance at Li Zheng. "Do you remember how Zhen Zhen described that dream? Pitch black all around, a rotten smell, couldn't see anything, and his skin was extremely itchy. If the brother were really taking meticulous care of him, there's no way the situation would be like that."
"But that was just a dream Zhen Zhen had." For Li Zheng, any suspicion needed evidence, and a dream certainly couldn't count as evidence.
"Dreams are reflections of the subconscious. Most people choose to flee when they encounter something terrifying in a dream. But some people will pick up a knife. Different choices can, to some extent, reveal a person's mental state and psychological issues." Chen Ge didn't even look up as he continued watching the videos.
"Do people who run haunted houses need to know all this stuff these days?" Li Zheng watched Chen Ge methodically going through one video after another. "Are you trying to find evidence in the videos that proves Ying Chen is hiding who he really is?"