Otherworldly Merchant

Indeed, my guess was correct. 

She told me that she’d gotten involved in a murder case and was now at the police station. 

Immediately, my scalp started tingling, but I didn’t dig further. Instead, I asked for directions to the police station.

I didn’t know why I was so worried about her. Actually, I was currently only nervous as I didn’t have much time to think. 

When I arrived at the front gate of the police station, I called Yin Xinyue. Shortly after, a middle-aged policeman came over and took me to his office. 

Yin Xinyue was sitting there, biting her lower lip and looking a little hurt. When she saw me, she burst out crying again like pear flowers in the rain, her teary eyes blurry. My heart twinged. I hugged her and comforted her by saying, “It’s all right. Hush, don’t cry. I’m here, right?” 

The officer gave me his business card as he smilingly introduced himself. “Mister Zhang, good morning. I’ve heard of your name. I’m called Li Yuntian, the incumbent Chief of the Criminal Police Department.” 

“Good day, Officer Li.” I shook his hand, asking, “Excuse me, sir, what happened?” 

Li Yuntian forced a smile. “I don’t know what to say. But, this case is a little weird! I’ve been working for years and I’ve never seen such a strange case…”

Then, Li Yuntian simply described the case to me.

Today, at around 2 a.m, police received reports of a horrible homicide in Binjiang Apartments. Police immediately rushed to the scene. On the third floor of the apartment building, they saw the murder. 

They found a girl whose head was almost completely severed save for the thin piece of skin still connected to her neck. She lay on the steps of the stairs, her head hanging. She’d died in a crawling position. Her blood had dyed dozens of stairs red. 

At first glance of the murder scene, people jolted in shock. 

The door to the victim’s house was open, and there was a trail of blood leaving the apartment. The police immediately determined that it was an extremely cruel murder case. They protected the scene and tried to look for all relevant clues. 

As it turned out, the case gradually became more unimaginable… 

First, they checked the surveillance camera in the corridor. There, they saw the victim crawling out of the house, her head already wounded. In principle, she shouldn’t have survived such a fatal injury. However, she was still alive and crawling out of her house toward the stairs, which was extremely strange. 

Additionally, the cut on her neck was strangely neat. Apparently, it was made by a large, sharp knife. However, the police hadn’t found any possible murder weapons in the victim’s house. They couldn’t even find any fingerprints of a third party. 

Even stranger, at around 4 a.m, two hours after the deceased was killed, two phone calls were made. 

One of the calls was made to Yin Xinyue, and another was to a strange number. However, the police hadn’t found the owner of that strange number yet. 

The last person the victim had contacted was Yin Xinyue. That was why Yin Xinyue was asked to go to the police station to give a witness statement. 

I shuddered. The material on my back was damp with sweat. Her head was connected to her neck by only a strip of skin, yet she could still crawl out of her house. 

Was she a zombie or something?

Frightened, I looked at Li Yuntian. “Officer Li, what’s the official conclusion?”

Li Yuntian frowned, his face grimacing as he handed me a cigarette. “For this sort of case, you tell me. How do we close it? It’s completely cold. There’s no normal methods to investigate. Sigh, I have a headache already.”

“Alright, you guys can go!” Li Yuntian waved his hand. “Anyway, Miss Yin, you have to stay home in case we need your presence again. And, we’re skeptical about whether or not that the last call from the victim was made by the murderer. The murderer wouldn’t just call you for no reason. Please be careful in the future. If you think it’s necessary, you can ask for police protection.”

Yin Xinyue shook her head, her face pale. She didn’t have the mind to care about these details. She thanked Li Yuntian before following me out of the police station. 

After leaving the police station, I asked her, “Yin Xinyue, how are you related to the victim?” 

Yin Xinyue said, “My bestie! She was my friend in college from the performance department. Currently, she was an intern at my company.”

I asked, “What did you do with her the last time you met her?”

“My bestie had the hobby of collecting calligraphy paintings. Yesterday, I went with her to an antiques market and bought an ancient painting with calligraphy.” Then, Yin Xinyue looked at me with odd eyes. “The reason I called you for help is…”

“You think it’s an otherworldly item, right?” I intervened.  

Yin Xinyue nodded. “Yes.”

I took a deep breath as I silently withdrew a cigarette. “So, you want me to help solve this case?”

Yin Xinyue forced a smile. “I don’t know. But, she died so mysteriously. I’m worried that she won’t be willing and will become a ghost to visit me. Sigh, I’m really entangled here…”

I gently patted her shoulder. “Actually, it’s possible that I might not be able to help with this case. It’s not that I can’t deal with the otherworldly item, but the local police is already on the case, and this is mainland China’s police we’re talking about  They’ll never relate such a case with a paranormal event. I’m sure they’ll go to a large group of experts and use science to explain everything. Do you think they’ll believe you when you say it’s a mess caused by some otherworldly item?”

Yin Xinyue nodded. “Then, don’t worry. I’m innocent. I didn’t do anything wrong, so I’m not afraid of any ghost knocking at my door.”

I patted Yin Xinyue’s shoulder and comforted her. “It’s all right. Let me take you home first.”

When I took her home, I was surprised to discover that she was living alone in a villa. She was just a secretary at an entertainment company, so how could she get the money to buy this big villa?

Did the girl… have a sugar daddy? Anyway, I thought it was impossible since I’d never seen her being close with any man, especially an old man. 

Since her bestie had been murdered, Yin Xinyue didn’t dare to live alone. She asked me to stay with her for the next several days. 

I could see the fear in her face, so I nodded in agreement. It was a good chance to experience the wealthy life, though. If it were good, later on, I would also try to buy a villa to materialize my dream. 

Yin Xinyue wasn’t in a good mood considering everything that had happened, so she went to bed early. She didn’t even have dinner. I bored on my own, so I sat down in the living room to watch TV. 

I stayed awake until almost dawn. Finally, I was too tired and dozed off. 

However, I hadn’t closed my eyes for long before someone tried to wake me up. Opening my drowsy eyes, I saw that Yin Xinyue was standing and crying in front of me while gently tugging my arm. 

I got up immediately, asking her, “Yin Xinyue, what happened?”

Yin Xinyue was terrified as she gave me her phone. “She… she texted me again.”

It felt like my scalp exploded. Instantly, I sat back on the sofa. “Who sent you a text message?”

"My deceased bestie.”

I received the phone, seeing two missed calls and one text message. The text said, “Did you see my hands?”

Damn!

I was scared, almost throwing the phone away. “Are you sure this is your bestie’s number?”

Yin Xinyue nodded. “Pretty sure.”

My sleepy head was clear now. I hurried to turn on all the lights in the living room while comforting Yin Xinyue that it could be a malicious joke. That phone should be at the police station. I asked her, “Did you offend that officer? Maybe he’s just trying to tease you?”

Yin Xinyue shook her head. “I didn’t offend any officer.”

I furrowed my brow. “Stay here until dawn, then we’ll go to the police station to ask.”

However, before we could go to the police station, we received a call from Li Yuntian. 

Li Yuntian’s voice sounded anxious and hurried. As he was stammering, he was obviously very confused and scared.

Anyway, eventually, I got his message. The victim’s hands were gone. 

It matched what was written in the short text! 

I took a deep breath and checked on Yin Xinyue. Yin Xinyue was completely petrified. 

On the other side, after Li Yuntian could stabilize his mood, he suddenly asked me out for a drink. 

I told him that I didn’t drink alcohol. 

Li Yuntian said, “It’s okay that you don’t drink. I would like to have tea with you. All right, see you at Qingyun Teahouse.”

Then, Li Yuntian didn’t give me a chance to deny as he abruptly hung up.

Begrudgingly, I put the phone down and said to Yin Xinyue, “These officers don’t seem to care for appearances. I didn’t agree, yet he invited me for tea on his own.”

Yin Xinyue understood what it meant and she beamed shyly. “I’m sorry, Brother Zhang. I pulled you into the water again.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “What comes will come, no matter what!”

Both Yin Xinyue and I understood that Li Yuntian couldn’t bear the case any further. That was why he wanted to have tea and had asked me, an otherworldly item merchant, for help!