Chapter 5: Murder Motive

  In front of a small security guard, I was scared to the point where my face turned pale. I felt that it would somewhat damage the image of the police, so I didn't say anything. This way, I could still appear calm.

  "Really saw a ghost?" Grey asked curiously.

  I'm also unsure what I just saw, a headless black shadow, without even a face.

  "It seems this house is really eerie, you'd better close the door quickly." Ge Lei said to Xiao Bao An.

  The security guard quickly closed the door and then threw the key to us. He didn't want to hold it for another second.

  We returned the key to the security captain and then left Xinghai Community.

  Walking under the scorching sun, I don't feel like a human at all. My body is always cool and refreshing, but somehow uncomfortable, though I can't quite put my finger on what it feels like.

  We returned to the office of Case Zero before the end of work hours. At 3:30 in the afternoon, surprisingly, there was not a single person, and the door of the office was wide open.

  I poured myself a glass of water and gulped it down in one breath, feeling slightly better. Gray was still expressionless, sitting on the chair playing with his phone.

  "What's your take on this Zero Case Team?" I asked.

  "It's pretty good, you see how free it is."

  This guy is indeed big-hearted and didn't think in that direction. I said in a low voice, "Didn't you ever think that this special case was handling cases of that kind?"

  "What aspect are you referring to?"

  "It's almost the same as the case back when I was an intern."

  So saying, Grey understood and his face changed color as he lowered his head. After a while, Grey said: "This is just right, we can investigate that matter clearly!"

  I nodded, the past things always need to have a result, so many people died must have an account. If Zero Number Special Case Group is really what we think, it must have special handling methods, after we learn, we can find out the truth. Let those people under the nine springs also close their eyes.

  "You say that, and it really seems to be the case." Ge Lei picked up the peach symbol on Lin Yan's desk, and also picked up Xiao Xi's tarot cards. After looking at me, he said: "These things are not quite like what we usually see, they're strange. Do you want to take a look?"

  I suddenly felt a bit tired, and lay on the table saying: "I'm a little sleepy, I'll take a nap first, you wake me up later."

  "OK!" Greg replied, putting down the item in his hand and continuing to play the game.

  I fell asleep listening to the sound of mobile games, and I didn't know how long I slept. I felt cool and couldn't sleep again.

  It was very quiet around me, a dead silence, so quiet that I could hear my own heavy breathing.

  After a while, I realized that it was a bit too quiet. Grey wasn't playing with his phone, so why was there no noise at all? There was also this cold feeling, not the kind of cold from a drop in temperature, but a chill that rose up from the bottom of my heart, suddenly reminding me of the last time I saw a ghost.

  I suddenly woke up, opened my eyes and found myself still in the office of Case Zero, but I was alone. Gail was nowhere to be seen. The door was wide open, right in front of me, no wonder I felt cold.

  The corridor outside was quiet, there was no noise at all, I thought it was a bit strange. When I went to the corridor to take a look, there was not a single person, and the corridor was empty!

  Isn't there a big case going on? I closed the door and just sat down in the chair.

  Knock knock knock...

  Suddenly there was a knock at the door, which sounded particularly clear in the quiet environment, and I was startled.

  I got up and walked to the door, opened it and took a look. Hua Jie was standing at the door with an expressionless face, and behind her was another woman wearing a white dress, her hair hanging down in front of her face, covering it.

  "What are you looking at? Don't you know it's impolite to stare at people like that?" Hua Jie asked, noticing I was staring at her and sounding a bit annoyed.

  "What's up? Are you going out with friends?" I quickly made way for them and let the two of them in.

  Hua Jie walked into the office and sat down at her desk, but her friend behind her didn't follow in.

  "What are you standing stupidly at the door for?" Hua Jie asked.

  My head was a bit dizzy, I rubbed my temples and said: "Your friend hasn't come in yet."

  "Friend? What friend!" Hua Jie shouted: "I'm back alone!"

  In an instant, I felt a chill run from the soles of my feet to the top of my head, and after shivering for a moment, I immediately came to. I realized who the woman in white at the door was - it was Mrs. Hu, whom we had just seen this morning.

  "Hmph……" Mrs. Hu let out a chilling laugh, suddenly lifted her head, and the hair hanging in front of her face fluttered, through her grayish-white hair, I saw a pair of eyes staring at me, almost bulging out.

  I took a few steps back, and the woman's face was like a skull, with only a thin layer of flesh stuck to her face. Even more eerie was that she was still smiling, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and her laughter grew louder and louder. And Hua Jie remained unmoved, staring at me with a dull gaze.

  "Ah......oh......ah......" Mrs. Hu opened her mouth and let out a string of meaningless sounds.

  I think Mrs. Hu wants to express something to us, but she can't speak, it seems like this is the case in mental hospitals.

  Calm down, must calm down, especially at this time, keeping calm is the most crucial.

  "Head... head... head again... tripod... tripod..." Before Madam Hu could finish speaking, I heard a cracking sound, like the sound of bones breaking. Madam Hu suddenly couldn't speak, her expression twisted.

  Everything happened too fast, I didn't see anything and have no idea what happened.

  Mrs. Hu's body suddenly shook twice, her head tilted back, and a terrifying blood mark appeared on her slender neck. The wound continued to expand, revealing blood vessels and white bones.

  This scene was terrifying to the extreme, and my scalp felt numb all over. Mrs. Hu's head had just been severed right in front of me. Blood gushed out from the blood vessels.

  With a crack, her head fell to the ground, thudded twice, and rolled to my feet. I looked down and saw that her eyes were still wide open, her face was covered in blood, and her eyes were still staring at me with a fixed gaze.

  I lifted my foot to kick the head away, but before my foot even touched it, the head opened its big mouth and bit down on my foot.

  In the summer, I wear thin shoes. My toes are pinched very hard and my feet ache terribly. The pain is so bad that it makes me let out a mournful cry.

  Under intense pain, I woke up and broke out in a cold sweat. It turned out that it was just a nightmare earlier.

  "Hey buddy, what's wrong?" Gail asked, putting down his phone.

  "It's nothing, I just had a nightmare." The feeling of the nightmare was so real, it felt like I was right there. I feel like it wasn't a dream, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.

  "Have a drink of water!" Gray found a paper cup and poured some water into it. Because he had similar experiences before, so he knew how I felt.

  I grabbed the water cup and drank it all in one gulp, feeling much more comfortable. However, the clothes I was wearing were soaked with cold sweat, sticking to my body uncomfortably. I wanted to stand up and go outside for some fresh air, but as soon as I moved my toes, a sharp pain shot through them, making me unable to stand.

  Something's wrong, I quickly took off my shoes and looked, there was a tooth mark on my big toe, and it was bleeding.

  "What the...? What's going on here?"

  "In a nightmare, Mrs. Hu's head fell off and then bit onto my foot." I explained it simply.

  "Look at your phone," said Ge Lei, "you've only been asleep for five minutes and so many things have happened. If you sleep a bit longer, won't even your toes be bitten off?"

  After all, you're my brother, and I trust what you say without any reservation.

  The two of us discussed it for a bit and didn't get an accurate answer. We can only wait for Old Master to come back, he might know the answer.

  It was almost time to get off work, but still no one came back.

  "Does Team Zero work only half a day?" Grey said discontentedly.

  The night is about to fall, and we all have a bad premonition. The strange dream just now was only the beginning, and the real horror is at night.

  Knock knock knock...

  Suddenly there was a knock at the door, which startled us. This knock on the door is the same as the one I heard in my dream.

  I hadn't even reacted yet, and the door was pushed open. Two people were standing at the entrance. The one in front was a middle-aged male detective, and the other was an old man in his fifties or sixties with a completely bald head, wearing a Tang suit with classical Chinese characters written all over it, holding two antique walnut shells in his hand. He looked like an antique dealer, but his temperament was much worse than Xie Ping'an's.

  The detective took a glance and asked: "Where's that old man?"

  "Our team leader has gone out and may be back soon," I explained.

  The detective said somewhat impatiently: "I won't wait any longer, this person is handed over to you, he's here to provide a lead on the Xie Ping'an case."

  "Thank you......" Before I could finish speaking, the detective had already left.

  Gray stuck up his middle finger at the back of the detective and said: "This guy is really good at pretending! Looks like a big shot!"

  The bald merchant said: "Liao Captain is just like this, it's okay to get used to it slowly."

  We were actually comforted by the informant, and this bald-headed man seemed to be very familiar with the criminal police team. I asked: "Who are you?"

  "Ha! My surname is Jia and my name is Liu. Friends call me Jia Liu, I make a living by trading antiques near the front gate."

  I exchanged a glance with Galey, this bald head seemed to be familiar with the police station and understood the rules very well.

  "Come and sit down!" I pulled over a chair for Jia Liu to sit on.

  "This is the legendary Zero Case Team's office, I didn't expect it to be like this! It's really an eye-opener."

  This person made me feel somewhat surprised, he actually knew about the Zero Case Group. Grey asked: "What is this legendary Zero Case Group like?"

  "It's said that the Zero Case Team is an extremely awesome existence, even more so than the Criminal Police Unit. They specialize in handling some difficult cases, cases that ordinary detectives can't crack, are all high-level stuff."

  I stared at Galey, and if Jia Liu knew that the Zero Case Team had only six people in total, and that I and Galey were new recruits who just started work today, what kind of expression would he have? I have great confidence in our team leader, whose appearance is quite intimidating.

  "Let's get down to business," said Grey. "What intelligence have you come to report?"

  Jia Liu deliberately lowered his voice and said: "I might know the reason why Xie Ping'an was killed!"