"Cigarette burn scars?"
Chen Ge remembered the man who sat first on the right side of the Strange Tales Association's dinner table — the fingers visible outside his black robe bore cigarette burn scars.
"We reviewed all surveillance footage within a five-hundred-meter radius during the twelve hours surrounding the incident. We didn't find anyone too suspicious, only this one who stood out as somewhat unusual."
Captain Yan's voice carried a hint of puzzlement. "He used the hood of his sweatshirt to hide his face. The phone screen in his hand was black — he looked like he was making a call, but he seemed to actually be observing his surroundings. There's one more thing I can't figure out: why was he holding a promotional flyer for your haunted house?"
"My haunted house has very few employees. We've never distributed flyers outside the park. So I can confirm that he — or a friend of his — entered New Century Paradise and appeared outside my haunted house at some point."
"Do you recognize this man?"
"The haunted house has many scenes, and I'm only responsible for one of them, so I can't give you a definitive answer." Chen Ge was already sizing up this cigarette-burn man in his mind. "Captain Yan, once you found a suspect, you must have investigated right away. You must have found something?"
Captain Yan's voice was somewhat hoarse, probably from extended periods without rest. "We looked into him. He's a program director at a private radio station. No criminal record, no blemishes on his record — the type of successful, family-oriented man who has his career in order. He has absolutely no connection to a murder case."
"A radio program director? Sounds impressive."
"It's just a station that specializes in midnight programming. Its influence has only grown over the past two years. Its listeners tend to be young people with a taste for the macabre and a few night workers looking to kill the boredom."
Captain Yan's words wiped away every trace of Chen Ge's sleepiness. There was only one decent midnight radio station in Jiujiang, and that was the one where Lychee, the twelfth new recruit of the Strange Tales Association, worked — Ghost Talk.
The station used to focus on emotional healing programs. As its listener base dwindled, it had been forced to reinvent itself — and to everyone's surprise, the gamble paid off spectacularly. On its very first broadcast under the new format, Ghost Talk shattered the private station's listening record.
"Captain Yan, is the station you're talking about Ghost Talk?"
"Yes, that's the one. You've listened to it?"
"A few times. There's a host named Lychee with a really nice voice." Chen Ge's thoughts raced. The sweatshirt man suspected of being a Number Five member of the Association was a radio program director, and Lychee was one of his on-air hosts. Was it possible that the Strange Tales Association flyer Lychee had received was distributed by him?
If that was the case, Chen Ge now effectively knew the identities of two Association members.
"I couldn't figure out his reason for going to Haiming Apartments. To avoid spooking him, we can only investigate from the outside for now." Captain Yan's voice sounded weary. "These are turbulent times. Stay safe yourself, and if you come across any leads, be sure to let us know."
Captain Yan exchanged a few more words before hanging up. Chen Ge sat on the edge of his bed and searched for Ghost Talk on his phone. Tonight's host was indeed not Lychee, but someone else.
"Should I strike first and take them out one by one?"
…
Around six or seven in the morning, just as the sun was rising, Chen Ge was jolted awake by his phone vibrating. He fumbled through his clothes for a while before realizing it was the Black Phone that had received a notification.
"Two-star horror scenario Western Suburbs Private Academy failed to unlock! Haunted house space insufficient. Please conduct a second expansion!"
"Insufficient? The underground parking garage still has most of its area unused." Chen Ge had been expecting to wake up to a brand-new scenario ready for operation. He never anticipated this kind of problem.
He threw on his clothes and rushed out of the haunted house to the entrance of New Century Paradise. No one had visited in a year or two, and to prevent any tourists from wandering in by accident, the park management had blocked off both exits of the parking garage with miscellaneous debris.