Dirt kept falling from the ceiling of the secret room. The place felt incredibly unsafe to Chen Ge, as though it could collapse at any moment.
Finding nothing else, Chen Ge prepared to leave. "A door connecting two worlds usually appears for one minute at midnight. I'm not sure if the out-of-door still retains that property, but next time I can try timing it right to come back and take another look."
The police had sealed off the secret room without discovering the door's secret — most likely because they'd missed the window. After all, cops were only human. Who would voluntarily crawl into a crime scene's hidden chamber at midnight?
Chen Ge called out to Xu Yin, climbed out of the secret room, put the wooden board back in place, and restored the closet.
Looking at the various handicrafts arranged around the room, and then thinking about the thick plush doll suit inside the iron cage of the secret room, Chen Ge's feelings were complicated. "Despair is something that already exists by nature. Living is hard enough as it is — so why go out of your way to do these pointless things?"
After checking the room one more time and confirming there was nothing left to find, Chen Ge climbed out through the bathroom window, then carefully closed the window frame that no longer had any glass.
"Finished the hearse trial mission, returned the electric bike, and checked the secret room in Jiang Long's house. Everything's done — time to head back." Chen Ge glanced at his watch. It was three in the morning, the deepest hour of the night.
"Better get the hearse back before dawn. If I run into traffic police after the sun's up, that's going to be a problem." The black phone had said the hearse should only be driven after midnight on rainy nights — Chen Ge kept that firmly in mind. The last thing he wanted was to have his car impounded by the police on its very first outing.
Fan Cong lived on the top floor, and Chen Ge couldn't be bothered with the hassle of going up and down. He took out his phone to send Fan Cong a quick heads-up before leaving.
He'd barely dialed — just one ring — and Fan Cong's voice came through.
"Bro! Why did you smash their window?! We agreed you were just going to look!"
"I checked the surroundings. There are no cameras." Chen Ge stood at the edge of the building with his bag in hand. The rain was almost done.
"That's not the point! What do cameras have to do with anything?"
"I'm trying to solve a murder case here. The victims' families are crying their eyes out every day. More importantly, if the killer isn't caught, there will be new victims before long. Imagine living in that kind of fear — doesn't that scare you? I broke a piece of glass that was already damaged, and in exchange I could save one or even several lives. Compared to human lives, does a cracked pane of glass really matter?"
Fan Cong couldn't find a rebuttal. He thought about it for a moment and actually found it rather convincing.
"Oh, right — before I smashed the window, I specifically hung up the call. How did you know what was happening?" Chen Ge was someone who paid close attention to detail. Being calm and cautious was exactly what had kept him alive through so many trial missions.
"I've been watching you from up here the whole time! If anything happened to you, I was going to call the police."
After hearing Fan Cong's words through the phone, Chen Ge tilted his head up toward Fan Cong's apartment.
A faint glow shone from a room on the left side of the top floor of the opposite building. Fan Cong was standing right at the window, phone in hand. When he saw Chen Ge looking up, he even gave a little wave.
"Boss Chen, I really admire you. Daring to go into a haunted house alone at two or three in the morning — that's impressive." Fan Cong kept talking, but there was no response from Chen Ge on the other end.
He stood on the roof and looked down. Chen Ge had the phone pressed to his ear, but his body seemed to have turned to stone. He stood frozen in place, still looking upward.
"Boss Chen? Say something!" Seeing Chen Ge acting strangely, Fan Cong started to panic for no reason he could understand. "Don't scare me, man! Are you possessed?! Damn it — I knew you shouldn't have gone in there!"
"Don't talk." Chen Ge's voice came through the phone, and though it might have been his imagination, Fan Cong thought Chen Ge's voice sounded different from before.
"What's going on?"
"Stay in that exact position and don't move. And whatever you do — don't look behind you!"