Otherworldly Merchant

Even if it was daytime, no one dared to go to the eighth floor.

The place was deserted, and the chilly wind made me feel as if I’d barged into hell.

When we reached the eighth floor, we discovered a long trail of blood on the ground. It started from the head of the stairs and covered the whole corridor. Part of the blood had already dried up, and it felt like it was done by the old woman from yesterday.

However, some of the blood had yet to dry. I squatted down and touched it. Sure enough, it was still wet.

The fresh trail of blood led to the roof of the building.

It seems like the other party didn't go anywhere and that they’re still on the roof! A welcomed stroke of good luck!

I didn't hesitate and brought everyone to the roof.

Due to Azalea House falling into disuse, the roof was covered with knee-length weeds, the railing was severely damaged, and one might just fall off the building if they were a little careless.

I carefully looked around and discovered an old woman lying on the railing.

She was calmly lying there, seemingly asleep. Her clothes were in tatters, and she smelled pretty bad.

Moreover, her sleeping posture was very dangerous as she’d fall off the building if she were to move carelessly.

We were on the eighth floor; she was definitely going to die if she fell from this height!

Given her precarious posture, we didn't dare to wake her up.

Just as we’d reached a deadlock, Li Mazi pointed at her pocket and said, "Look there. There seems to be something in her pocket."

I took a look and saw a phone.

Song Longji broke the silence. "If we want to know whether or not she's that student, why not give her a call?"

He had a point. As such, I told him to look for the phone number of the suicide victim in the police records.

Song Longji took out his phone and said, "I have no signal. Can you use your phone instead?"

I didn't think too much of it and dialed the number.

The familiar ringtone of an iPhone echoed from the woman’s pocket. The discovery shocked us. It meant that the old woman in front of us was indeed the university student that had died!

Then, just as I was preparing to go forward and wake her up, the other party was startled awake by the ringtone and fell off the building...

I opened my eyes wide in shock. Afterward, I looked down and saw a bloody mess.

The loud impact attracted the attention of the police officers on the third floor. They walked out of the building to see what was happening and then looked upward.

When they saw us, they were surprised. It was likely that they mistook us for the murderers.

Song Longji calmed down and said, "Keep your calm, and be careful how you reply."

I nodded and wiped the sweat off my forehead.

After seeing the corpse, I got a sudden idea. I quietly approached Song Longji and whispered a few words.

Very soon, the other police officers reached the roof and asked while gasping for breath, "What's the deal with the body downstairs?"

Song Longji brought the police officers before the railing. "The woman fell off the building on her own."

Since the other police officers were still puzzled, Song Longji continued, "The woman was lying on the railing, seemingly asleep. Afterward, her phone suddenly rang, and she was startled awake. She lost her balance and fell off the building."

Li Mazi gasped and his face paled. He looked at me with a worried expression. I could only hint for him to stay calm.

Song Longji suddenly turned toward me and smiled coldly. "Mister Zhang, can you tell us whom you called just now? Did you deliberately murder that homeless woman?"

Yin Xinyue was dumbfounded.

Li Mazi gritted his teeth and looked at Song Longji. "What are you trying to do?"

Before Song Longji could speak, another police officer came over, his expression grave. "I'll have to trouble you to hand over your phone. We need to check it."

"You don't have any proof. Why should I give you my phone?" I said.

"Because you’re now suspected of multiple murders!" The police officers snorted and continued, "We checked the video recording, and it turns out that you came to Azalea House last night! Can you tell us what were you doing here?"

"Moreover, the death of the red-haired girl also seems related to you. Some people said they saw you quarrel with her yesterday. Is this still not enough?"

The three of us gasped and felt as if we were standing trial.

Song Longji said coldly, "Take them back to the police station. Mister Zhang, it's better if you immediately hand over your phone. Don't compel me to use force."

Li Mazi flew into a rage and rushed toward Song Longji. "You bastard, you’re the one that gave us the number! No wonder you didn't make the call yourself and let my brother do it. You planned this since the beginning!"

Yin Xinyue took out her phone. She knew that things didn't look good for us. We’d fallen into Song Longji's trap, and she could only call her boss and ask for help.

But, there was no way that Song Longji would give her the opportunity. He dashed forward and snatched her phone. Next, he brought us to the police station.

Along the way, Li Mazi cursed until his throat was sore.

Yin Xinyue was also worried. "What do we do now?"

I replied, "We can only go with the flow."

After throwing us into a cell, nobody came to interrogate us.

Li Mazi was restless and kept walking back and forth.

Yin Xinyue wanted to find a method to get in contact with her boss. She firmly believed that her boss would have the means to bail us out.

As for me, I sat there, comforting and telling her that everything was alright. "If they can't find any evidence by tomorrow, they'll let us leave."

Li Mazi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You really are naive. If Song Longji did everything in his power to bring us here, there’s no way that he'll let us off that easily.”

I simply shook my head and didn't reply.

Maybe it was because he was exhausted, but Li Mazi lay on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

In the evening, a sudden noise woke me up.

I opened my eyes and saw that Song Longji had come over. Behind him was a group of men with naked upper bodies covered in tattoos.

No one spoke as a police officer in the rear threw the various thugs into the cells.

It didn't take me long to recognize those guys. They were the thugs doing drugs in Azalea House last night, the same ones that had run after us with daggers, ready to chop us up.

After seeing Song Longji, Li Mazi began cursing again.

Song Longji ignored us as he turned around and left.

The junkies also recognized us. They started laughing and harassing Yin Xinyue.

I told her to ignore them. “Getting into an argument with trash like that is only going to worsen our mood.”

After seeing that we were ignoring them, the thugs got bored and quietly sat down in their respective prison cells.

I pretended to sleep, but I was secretly keeping an eye on them.

I thought to myself: This young and they’ve already degenerated this much... aren't they afraid of letting down their parents? What are their plans for the future? Life is short, and yet these guys are wasting it like this...

Since they were unable to do drugs in prison, the thugs quickly started to feel uncomfortable. Some began walking back and forth, while others started screaming.

If I hadn't known in advance that they were drug addicts, I would’ve mistaken them for mummified corpses with their skinny bodies and the dark circles under their sunken eyes.

They caused a ruckus and only fell asleep around dawn.

Then, just as I was quietly sitting in my cell, one of the thugs sleeping in the adjacent cell suddenly stood up. He looked around, somewhat dazed, and his eyes finally fell on me.

He weirdly smiled at me, making my heart race. I felt that there was a deep, hidden meaning behind his smile.

He walked over and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm hungry! Give me your hair, I want to taste it."

This guy is nuts! I cursed him inwardly and ignored him.

Luckily, we weren't in the same cell, and there were thick bars of reinforced steel between us. I didn't have to worry about him hurting me.

Seeing that I was ignoring him, the thug shouted, "Give me your hair, I'm hungry!"

As he shouted, Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue also woke up and looked at him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

The thug glared at us and turned around. He sat on the toilet bowl and began defecating.

Even while defecating, he was acting very strange. He was laughing and pulling his hair out, stuffing it in his mouth.

He was very quick, eating half of his hair in mere seconds.

His scalp was bleeding profusely, and the blood that slid down on his face made him look even more terrifying.

After witnessing the scene, I nodded. It was time!

I shouted, "Aji, now!"