"You help Team Two investigate the corpses in the reservoir first — leave the rest to us." Every time Li Zheng spoke with Chen Ge, he felt a strange sensation. The other man's tone of voice, his way of thinking — everything about him resembled a seasoned frontline detective with years of field experience. Sometimes he even wondered whether Chen Ge was some off-the-books special operative Director Yan had personally recruited.
Li Zheng even felt that if, one day in the future, Chen Ge clapped him on the shoulder and said with a grin, "Sorry, I'm a cop too," he wouldn't be all that surprised.
Love your job, they say — but Chen Ge's pursuit of justice, his drive to investigate homicides, had gone far beyond mere passion. It was hard to imagine what state of mind he was in each day, working without expectation of reward, unearthing buried cases in the forgotten corners of the city.
"Sure, I'll cooperate with them."
The teams handling the floating corpses in the reservoir were the Eastern Suburban Police Station and the City Bureau's Criminal Investigation Team Two. Chen Ge didn't know them well. After fielding some basic questions, the two sides hit a stalemate over who would take custody of the coffin lid.
In the end, after Team Two's captain persuaded him, Chen Ge agreed to hand over the coffin lid and the dolls inside the coffin to the police first. Once the medical examiner and other specialists had finished their examination, the police would transport everything directly back to the horror house.
"Every doll has a name carved on its back, and each name corresponds to a living child. I suggest you investigate every single name — there may be unexpected discoveries." The eastern suburbs had been quiet for a long time, but that peace was a facade. Beneath the surface, dark currents churned, and no one knew how many filthy secrets still lay hidden in the deep.
At three thirty in the morning, the reservoir management staff and the search-and-rescue team arrived. The corpses, coffin and all, were pulled from the water.
During the recovery, one member of the rescue team heard strange sounds coming from a cave beneath the reservoir, and others glimpsed shadows moving inside the cave — whether schools of fish or something else entirely unknown, no one could say.
The salvage operation went smoothly. Once the corpses and coffin were out of the water, they were carted away immediately, and there was nothing left for Chen Ge to do.
After getting the officers' permission, Chen Ge hailed a cab and left.
He had never seen an underwater horror scene before, and he was thoroughly curious about this newly unlocked area.
Shortly after four in the morning, Chen Ge returned to his horror house, pushed open the front door, and headed straight for the underground levels.
Descending the dim staircase, Chen Ge noticed that a new narrow path had appeared between Muyang Middle School and the Living Coffin Village.
It was just wide enough for two people to walk side by side, extending deeper underground. Walking along it felt oppressively claustrophobic.
The light was dim, the air faintly damp, and Chen Ge could vaguely hear the sound of lapping water.
At the end of the passage lay a stretch of pitch-black water, with a small boat floating on its surface.
The boat was wooden and could hold at most two people.
"No oars?"
Chen Ge tossed the Jar Ghost into the water. To his surprise, the water was fairly deep.
Stepping into the small boat, Chen Ge dipped his hand into the water and slowly pulled himself forward.
"This design is a bit sick. To move the boat, you have to paddle with your bare hands. If the monsters and ghosts hiding in the water chose that moment to strike, how desperate would the person on the boat feel?"
For safety's sake, Chen Ge decided he would head to the props room later and craft a small wooden paddle, just in case.
Bracing one hand against the wall, he guided the boat onward. The Twin Water Ghost scene was only about half the size of Muyang Middle School.