The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 63 The Policeman in My Dream... We've arrived!

"What I want to tell you is what I saw last night..."

Cheng Jing thought for a moment, then reached out and took the body camera off her shoulder, throwing it onto the coffee table with a "thud".

"Let me finish... then you'll see... even I myself can't believe it!!"

When Cheng Jing arrived, she checked her watch.

4: 29.

Her motorcycle helmet was still tucked under her arm, and she was wearing a casual jacket with her hair disheveled by the night wind.

Yes, 4:29 a.m.

It was three minutes later than expected. The modified motorcycle "borrowed" from the street racers in the west of the city was quite capable, but the rain-soaked streets still affected its speed.

She casually tossed the motorcycle aside next to a trash can at the intersection of Anpingli Street, without even removing the keys.

I ran quickly toward Building 7 and could see several figures in police raincoats lingering at the police cordon below.

The one leading the group was Chen Ming.

"Captain Cheng!" Chen Ming was both surprised and delighted to see her. He quickly came to greet her and lowered his voice, "What brings you here? The Inspectorate..."

"What are you waiting for?" Cheng Jing interrupted him directly, her gaze sweeping over the few young policemen who seemed somewhat shivering in the cold rain and night wind, then looking at Building No. 7, which stood silently like a tombstone in the darkness. "Come upstairs with me!"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried a fierce edge.

The police officers looked at each other, then looked at Chen Ming.

Chen Ming looked troubled: "Team Leader Cheng, Director Yang has given clear orders that she will be in overall command on site, and we are only allowed to maintain perimeter security, not to act on our own..."

"Snapped!"

A crisp slap rang out, particularly jarring in the quiet, rainy night.

Chen Ming's head snapped to the side after being hit, and red finger marks quickly appeared on his face.

He covered his face, looking at Cheng Jing with a mixture of shock and grievance.

"You've climbed the social ladder, huh? You've lost all your police spirit!" Cheng Jing took a step closer, her eyes flashing menacingly in the dim light. "Do you know the consequences of missing a crucial opportunity?! There might still be people alive inside! There might still be evidence being destroyed! Do you even deserve this police uniform?!"

She grew increasingly angry, no longer looking at Chen Ming, and turned to several young police officers, yelling, "Listen to my orders! Team one, guard all exits downstairs, including any possible pipes and ventilation openings! Team two, come upstairs with me! Immediately!"

No one dared to say anything more. The police officers instinctively stood at attention: "Yes, sir!"

"Sister Cheng..." one of the bolder policemen tried to persuade him, "Brother Chen is doing this for our own good, afraid of disobeying orders..."

Just then, Cheng Jing suddenly raised her hand, signaling for silence.

Her ears twitched slightly.

It's too quiet.

The entire Building 7 was as quiet as if it were dead.

There were no lights, no sound, not even the faint noises that could be heard during the previous live stream.

Only the sound of rain pattering against the dilapidated window frames and tin roof could be heard.

She looked up at the fourth floor. The windows of room 403 were still boarded up, and no light shone through the cracks.

"Something's not right..." Cheng Jing muttered to herself, her ominous premonition growing stronger.

Without further hesitation, she drew her pistol from her waist, inspected the weapon and magazine, and then took a high-powered flashlight from a policeman.

"Chen Ming, you lead the way. The rest of you, follow. Stay alert and provide cross-cover." Her voice calmed down.

Chen Ming gritted his teeth and took the lead towards the dark entrance of the building.

Cheng Jing followed closely behind, while the other three police officers followed in a tactical formation.

The cement steps were covered in cracks, and there were no lights in the stairwell; the faint light of day was quickly swallowed up by the thick darkness.

The beam of the flashlight illuminated the mottled wall, which was covered with yellowed and curled posters and old-fashioned propaganda pictures, like pieces of peeling and festering skin.

The stairwell was filthy, filled with dust, mold, and a faint smell of stale rust, making it nauseating.

Cheng Jing's stomach suddenly clenched.

This smell... is vaguely similar to the smell at the scene of Li Wan's crime that my master described back then.

The four people pressed themselves against the cold, rough wall, slowly moving upwards. The sound of their footsteps was amplified in the deathly silent stairwell, and the beams of their flashlights swept across the dilapidated furniture and clutter piled up at the corner, casting distorted and menacing shadows in the darkness.

Second floor... Third floor...

Finally, they stopped on the fourth floor.

The corridor on the fourth floor was even darker, and the flashlight beam focused on the rusty iron doorplate—403.

The dark brown door was tightly shut, its paint long since lost its shine, covered with crisscrossing scratches and barely discernible stains.

The door handle is severely corroded.

But Cheng Jing's gaze was fixed on the top of the door frame and the walls on both sides.

The wall was a significantly darker color than the surrounding area, presenting a dark brown hue that seemed to have seeped into the wall itself.

Even after thirteen years, this wound still silently tells the story of the tragedy that once occurred.

is blood.

Even without testing, Cheng Jing could tell from experience and intuition that it was a trace left after a large amount of blood was splattered.

Li Wan's body was right behind the door that year, the fatal wound to her head, blood splattering everywhere...

She forced herself to look away and carefully observe the door and its frame.

The door showed no signs of damage, the lock was intact, and there were no signs of it being nailed or jammed from the outside.

This contradicts the information previously presented in the live stream and Cheng Tan's description.

"That's strange..."

Cheng Jing whispered, her back unconsciously leaning against the cold, rough stairwell wall, making a dull thud.

Did we find the wrong person? Or... is the live stream footage fake?

Just then—

"Squeak—"

A clear, old door hinge turning sound came from the side.

Everyone was startled at the same time, and they turned their heads sharply, gun barrels and flashlight beams instantly pointing at the source of the sound!

It's the door to room 402.

A relatively clean-looking door, with its paint well-preserved, slowly opened a crack inwards.

A face appeared through the crack in the door.

A face that was extremely old and withered.

Deep wrinkles crisscrossed his dull, sallow skin. Sparse, graying hair clung to his dry scalp. Most unsettling were his eyes—the whites of his eyes tinged with yellowish-brown, fixed intently on Cheng Jing… no, on Chen Ming behind Cheng Jing, or more accurately, on this group of uninvited guests.

There was no curiosity or kindness in that gaze like that of an ordinary old man, only a bottomless scrutiny, vigilance, and a heavy feeling that bordered on pity.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment. On one side was the shocking dark stain on door 403, and on the other side were a pair of murky yet sharp eyes peering through the crack in door 402.

"Who should I look for?"

The old man behind the door spoke. His voice was hoarse and dry, and his cloudy eyes seemed to pierce through the darkness, seeing through everyone's true nature.

Chen Ming took a deep breath, stepped forward, and tried to make his voice sound calm and professional: "Sir, we are police officers. We received a report that something might have happened in room 403... It's about a murder, about..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

The old man's gaze followed the direction of his finger and landed on the door of room 403.

"The police from my dream... have arrived!"