Chapter 1: Case Zero

  The night has deepened.

  A full moon hangs in mid-air, its light like water, quietly shining over the vast land.

  The Moon Bay is a villa area of Xinghai Community, with two-story buildings standing quietly in the night.

  "Ah!" A shrill cry suddenly came from one of the rooms.

  Ms. Hu, who was in a deep sleep, was awakened by the scream, which came from beside her, and the mournful cry pierced her eardrum.

  Mr. Hu turned on the bedside lamp and looked at his husband beside him, who was still fast asleep but let out such a terrifying scream.

  "Husband, wake up!" Ms. Hu pushed him with her hand and felt a wet and sticky sensation. It wasn't until she took a closer look that she realized her husband's pajamas were soaked in cold sweat.

  She had long been aware that her husband had not been himself in recent days, always suspiciously saying that someone wanted to take his head. She thought all this might have something to do with that unlucky thing. It must be that thing that brought bad luck.

  Her husband was a well-known collector in the local area, and from time to time, people with a strong earthy smell would come to their home bringing things. Those people looked stupid on the surface, but their eyes all shone with a thieving light. She generally didn't ask too much about these matters, it's just that day was really unusual, so she paid attention. She had never seen her husband like that before, excited with a hint of fear.

  "Ah!"

  Another mournful cry broke her reverie, and her husband finally woke up from his nightmare. He saw Mr. Hu stunned for a moment before coming back to himself.

  She gently wiped the sweat from her husband's forehead with her sleeve, and said with some reproach: "At your age, you're still scared like this, it's ridiculous! I think your heart disease is caused by that thing. We have a lot of good things at home, but that thing is really unlucky. Why don't you just get rid of it?"

  "Alas!" said the husband with a sigh. "I would like to, but it's too late now. It has recognized me and is going to take my head off. I'm done for!"

  "What are you talking about!" Mr. Hu said with some anger: "Don't ever say something like that again!"

  Her husband didn't say a word, and Ms. Hu got out of bed to pour him a glass of water, saying softly, "Why don't you drink some water?"

  Her husband's trembling hand took over the cup of water. It wasn't until then that Teacher Hu noticed that under the dim lamp, her husband's face was as pale as paper, a color only seen on corpses. In the lamplight, his features were extremely ferocious.

  Mr. Hu suddenly felt a sense of fear, it was an inexplicable feeling, the fear in your heart was slowly eroding your rationality, and before you knew it, it had swallowed you up, leaving you with no way to escape.

  Bang!

  Just then, a crashing sound came from some corner of the room, similar to the sound of a bell being struck.

  Mr. Hu didn't understand what was going on yet, but her husband suddenly collapsed and cried out: "It's all over, it's all over! They've come to take my head!"

  "You're still talking!" She quickly glanced around, but couldn't find the source of the voice. There was no change in the room, but she could feel that something had already entered the room.

  Mrs. Hu quickly returned to bed and felt a little more at ease beside her husband.

  Bang!

  Another crash was heard, and this time she heard it very clearly. The sound came from under the bed.

  No! This is impossible!

  Mr. Hu remembered very clearly that there was nothing under the bed in the bedroom!

  "I was wrong, I dare not again, please don't take my head!" The husband completely collapsed, crying and begging for mercy to the air. After so many years of living together, she could see that her husband was really scared out of his wits.

  "Honey......honey......are you okay?!"

  Her husband didn't answer her question, his eyes wide open, almost bulging out of their sockets. From the look in his eyes, she could tell that he was terrified.

  Wow!

  This voice was even closer, and it must have come from the bed. However, she couldn't see anything. Along with the sound, the bedside lamp on one side flickered a few times, as if it were about to go out.

  Ms. Hu was also frightened, as a teacher, she didn't quite believe those absurd and terrifying legends. It wasn't until she had the real experience that she knew how fearful it was.

  The desk lamp was the only source of light in the room, fortunately it didn't go out, but after flickering a few times, the light became even dimmer, and could only illuminate a small area around the bedside. Any further away was darkness.

  Ms. Hu could feel the danger getting closer and closer, her body hair standing on end, as if an invisible hand was grasping her heart.

  "I've had enough!" her husband yelled loudly, jumping out of bed and rushing towards the door.

  "Wait for me!" Teacher Hu didn't want to stay a second longer, she wanted to leave the house as soon as possible.

  Her husband ran to the door and had already grasped the door handle when he suddenly stopped moving.

  "Run!" Mrs. Hu, still in a state of shock, noticed that her husband's head had something extra on it, an indescribable weirdness.

  "What...what...what's wrong with you?" She hadn't even finished speaking when she heard a cracking sound, the sound of bones breaking! Then she felt something wet and sticky splatter onto her face.

  A thick smell of blood filled the air. Mr. Hu touched it with his hand and, under the dim light, found that it was blood!

  When she came to her senses and looked again, she was horrified to find that her husband's head was gone! There was a terrifying wound on his neck, with a white spinal cord hanging out, swaying slightly.

  "Ah!"

  Ms. Hu let out a shrill cry, her strength suddenly drained from her body, and she fell to the ground with a thud. In the last second before she lost consciousness, she saw something strange rolling towards her from under the bed.

  After a long time, everything returned to calmness.

  Monday morning sunshine is bright, the streets are crowded with cars and people flowing endlessly, the glass curtain wall of high-rise buildings reflects the morning sun's rays, everywhere is a thriving scene.

  A new day, a new beginning!

  For me and Ge Lei, today is an extremely unusual day. Today is the police academy graduation, the first day of formal work. The reporting unit is a special task force directly under the provincial hall - Task Force Zero.

  When we received the notice of reporting for duty, both of us were surprised. Among many classmates, we are two freaks. Because we are severely biased in our studies, subjects related to brainpower, I am all excellent. However, subjects related to physical ability are not passing. And Gere is just the opposite of me, he is a master of action. We even had difficulty graduating, but we got the best treatment unit.

  There must be some inside story, both Grey and I think so. This guy is my childhood friend, we grew up together, went to school together, played together, and even experienced a terrifying and bizarre incident before graduation. Absolutely reliable good brother.

  Standing in the lobby of the Municipal Bureau, we couldn't find the Zero Case Team on the floor plan. Everyone seemed very busy and didn't even bother with us.

  "Hey, look over there! There's a beauty!" Grey called out in a low voice.

  I looked in the direction he was talking about, a female police officer around thirty years old, her police uniform perfectly accentuating her figure. She walked with an air of elegance and poise. I've seen many women wearing police uniforms before, but this is the first time I've seen one as beautiful as her, the uniform seemed to be tailor-made for her.

  The beautiful woman walked straight up to us and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

  "We're here for a report," Gail said hastily, "but we can't find our department."

  "Are you going to report to that department?" The beauty smiled slightly at us.

  I said: "We're going to Team Zero, you know?"

  "What a coincidence! I'm actually the internal staff of Project Zero. My name is Hua Ni, you can just call me Sister Hua. What about you?"

  "My name is Ge Lei, and his name is Shi Xiaotao."

  "Then you go along this corridor to the end, and you can see the office. Colleagues are all there. I have something to do, and I'll be back in a minute." Sister Hua turned around and walked upstairs.

  We watched the beauty walk up the stairs. He walked in the direction that the beauty had pointed, all the way to the end of the corridor, where the lighting was not very good, and the light on the corridor was very dim, with a faint musty smell in the air, probably nobody came here usually. We didn't find the office of the Zero Case Team after all.

  "Has the beauty bewitched us?" Grey said.

  "It shouldn't be." I saw a door under the stairs, and faintly heard people talking. I walked over to try it out, and with a gentle push, the old wooden door creaked open.

  Inside, it's really an office, absolutely the most broken office I've ever seen. There isn't even a window, and it's lit entirely by lamps. The chairs in the room are all tattered and worn out, there aren't even any computers, just several wooden desks that look older than me, with some file folders on top.

  There were two people in the room, a man and a woman, both wearing casual clothes, staring at us with wide eyes.

  This must be the office of Project Zero, nice fantasy shattered, reality is cruel.

  I quickly scanned it, and the office of Team Zero was just too weird.

  A man and a woman had some strange things on their office desks. The man's desk had Taoist deity statues, over a dozen big and small ones, as well as copper coins and Bagua mirrors. Another girl's desk had a crystal cross, right during work hours, she was enthusiastically playing with a deck of tarot cards.

  The man looked about the same age as us, while the woman was extremely young, wearing a pair of glasses and short hair, looking very cute. It's the popular little loli image nowadays, but her figure is extremely hot. Glay's eyes almost popped out.

  A lot of questions popped up in my mind, this doesn't look like a police department at all, but rather a gathering place for gods.

  My mind is filled with doubts, the provincial public security department's directly affiliated department, there must be a reason for its existence. Unable to find any information, it seems extremely mysterious. These staff members look very untrustworthy, what kind of case is this Zero Special Case Group handling?

  "Who are you?" asked the little loli.

  "We're here to report on the new arrivals," Gail hastily explained. "Hua Jie told us to wait for her here."