Several used cotton swabs sat on the wooden table, along with a bottle of mineral water and an unopened loaf of bread.
The young police officer seated at the other end of the table set down the voice recorder, pulled out his phone, and opened a folder: "Is this your man?"
Chen Ge glanced at the photo. A group of men had their arms draped around each other's shoulders as they walked out of a restaurant. The tallest among them had a peony tattooed on the back of his hand.
"Yes, that's him!"
"A blooming peony — fortune follows naturally. His name is Zhang Peng. Gambler, owing hundreds of thousands in loan shark debt. Suspected of breaking and entering, robbery." The officer swiped to the next photo. "Take a look at this one."
The next image was extracted from surveillance footage. After zooming in several times, Chen Ge could finally make out a panicked-looking, heavyset man sitting in the driver's seat of the bread van. His face bore an eight or nine out of ten resemblance to the short, fat man from the apartment building.
"Looks familiar."
"Based on your description, we cross-referenced our public security database. The driver in the image is Feng Chunlei, an out-of-province national. Drunk driving, followed by a hit-and-run — extremely egregious circumstances." The young officer put his phone away and organized the documents in his hands. "I've finished my statement here, but you can't leave just yet. The city precinct's criminal investigation team will be coming to conduct a more detailed interrogation shortly. We'll need your cooperation with the investigation — after all, you're the only witness."
"Of course." Chen Ge sat on the bed. Only now was his mood finally beginning to settle.
A few hours earlier, the Xicheng Police Station had received a report that a possible homicide had occurred at Ping'an Apartments in the western suburbs. The police had sprung into action immediately and encountered Chen Ge on the road near the apartments. After a preliminary questioning, the Xicheng station split into two teams.
One team followed Chen Ge to the wooden cabin on the back mountain to pursue Wang Qi; the other entered the forest to search for the tenants of Ping'an Apartments.
After pushing through the dense woods, by the time Chen Ge reached the cabin again, all that remained on the ground was a pool of blood. Wang Qi had vanished without a trace.
The Xicheng officers, upon discovering the fresh blood and finding a large quantity of the deceased's clothing inside the cabin, finally believed Chen Ge's account. They immediately requested backup from the city precinct, called in additional manpower, and sealed off the mountain for an overnight search.
As a key witness, Chen Ge was placed under close protection. The police had originally planned to transport him directly to the precinct, but in order to complete the task assigned by the Black Phone, Chen Ge told the officers that there were still more important clues hidden inside Ping'an Apartments and insisted on giving his statement right there.
And so the scene described above had played out. With one police officer inside the door and another outside, Chen Ge had lain peacefully in the haunted house, waiting for the mission timer to run its course.
At just past three in the morning, the door was pushed open and a middle-aged officer in his forties stepped inside. He removed his police cap, grabbed the bottle of mineral water from the table, and took several long gulps.
"Uncle Sanbao, that's my water," Chen Ge said, climbing up from the bed.
The man who had entered was Li Sanbao, full name, deputy chief of the Xicheng Police Station. As it happened, he was the very officer who had investigated the disappearance of Chen Ge's parents all those years ago. Back then, Chen Ge had been desperate and anxious, and it was largely thanks to this uncle running hither and thither that he had received so much help.
"Kid, since when do you get to call me 'Sanbao'? How many times have I told you — call me Director Li, or Captain Li." Li Sanbao set down the water bottle, the corners of his mouth twitching with a grin he couldn't quite suppress. "Never mind. Seeing as you've made a real contribution this time, I'll let it slide."
"Did they catch them?" Chen Ge shot to his feet.
"The criminal investigation team isn't made up of pushovers. They've not only apprehended Wang Qi — the other tenants in the apartment have all been rounded up as well. Right now, only Zhang Peng remains at large."
"That's great!"
"Wang Qi's fiancée's body has been recovered and is being examined by forensics. If you've got questions, fire away — I've got other matters to see to." Captain Li had come over solely to put Chen Ge's mind at ease.
"Zhang Peng and Feng Chunlei were both fugitives. Are the other two also wanted criminals?" Chen Ge didn't hold back, posing the question straightaway.
"The woman is Zhang Peng's wife. At most, she could be charged with harboring a fugitive. As for the landlord, the situation is a bit more complicated — he was originally just a caretaker. But he saw an opportunity for profit and teamed up with the others to seize the old man's apartment. That said, he never mistreated the old man. At least, we found no obvious signs of physical abuse." Captain Li put his cap back on. "Why do you ask?"
"No particular reason." Chen Ge put on the same dopey smile he had seen Heshan use. "Risking one's life to assist the police in apprehending fugitive suspects — I hear there's a reward for that."
"We'll deliver the banner to your place once the case is wrapped up. See you later."
"Hey, wait—!"
Seeing Chen Ge get stonewalled, the young officer beside him chuckled. "Captain Li was just teasing you. If Wang Qi really turns out to be the culprit behind the family annihilation case from five years ago, the reward you'd be entitled to should be upwards of thirty thousand — though the payout comes from the local treasury. In addition, the old gentleman in the apartment building once posted a personal bounty of five thousand yuan for anyone providing key information."
"There really is a reward?" At the mention of cash, the corners of Chen Ge's mouth curled upward. "I was just asking in passing, to be honest. My initial motivation for acting heroically was never the money. Contributing to the harmony and stability of our city is every citizen's duty."
The young officer smiled but didn't argue, faithfully standing guard at the doorway.
Later, Chen Ge was subjected to questioning by the city precinct's criminal investigation team as well. After giving two complete sets of statements, the Xicheng station originally intended to drive him home, but he kept finding excuses to stay put in the haunted house — claiming he needed to go to Room 408 to retrieve his backpack, then insisting on bringing the officers upstairs to see the second crime scene on the third floor. He dragged things out until six in the morning, when the Black Phone finally confirmed that the trial mission was complete. Only then did he climb into the police car and leave.
Watching the scenery blur past on both sides, Chen Ge felt no trace of sleepiness whatsoever. He secretly pulled out the Black Phone and began checking the mission rewards.
"Player reached the mission site within the designated time, successfully identified the killer, and survived until dawn. Midnight Pursuit Trial mission complete! New horror scene — Midnight Pursuit — unlocked. Player may freely control all mechanisms within this scene from the Scene interface!"
"Trial mission completion exceeded ninety percent. Hidden item awarded — Wang Qi's Missing Person Notice."
"Wang Qi's Missing Person Notice (Grudge Value: Eleven): Every day I search for the person I killed with my own hands. I kill her over and over again, yet she always seems to find me. Each time dawn breaks and I open my eyes, her belongings appear on my bed. I bricked her into the wall, but it's as though she crawled into my heart instead…"