Chapter 2: Is He Really Dead?

  Guo Zhi and his team had arrived in the area, everyone got off the car, ready with their equipment in hand, Captain Huang Kai dialed Yang Hao's phone again and again, unfortunately... it was unreachable. Everyone's face turned solemn. For a police officer, especially a detective, phone contact is life, 24 hours a day, they cannot turn off their phones, if the phone is unreachable, that person is either in grave danger or already...

  Huang Kai gave a command and made a hand gesture, and the group divided into two pairs, one on the left and one on the right, to start searching step by step. At the same time, Yang Hao faced this group of unimaginable "things" and felt ridiculous in his heart, wondering what kind of education he had received and what all this was. After thinking for a moment, Yang Hao slowly raised his gun, although he didn't know if it would have any effect on these things, but out of instinct, he fired shot after shot... to no avail. The bullets passed through the "things" and hit the wall behind them. When the bullets were all used up, he could only stare blankly as the Japanese devils drew closer and closer, muttering incessantly, holding various objects in their hands - syringes, military knives, axes, iron pincers... step by step, they approached Yang Hao...

  "Guo Zhige, this way of searching isn't going to work, this place is too big..."

  "No matter what, I must find Yang Hao."

  Guo Zhi glared at the questioning police officer, viciously stomped on the cigarette butt on the ground, and was about to continue walking when he suddenly heard a few gunshots. Although the sound wasn't loud, it was very clear in this deserted area at night. Everyone was stunned for a moment, and voices came from the walkie-talkies.

  "Hello, hello, can anyone hear me? Hello, hello, can anyone hear me..."

  "Received 002.."

  "What's going on over there?"

  "I'm fine, and I haven't found the culprit..."

  "What was that gunshot just now?"

  It was clear that the gunshot did not come from either side of the two teams, so there could only be one explanation... The two men immediately reacted and pulled out their guns, loaded them, and led their team members to run towards the direction where the gunshot came from... The two teams met in front of a building similar to a church. The criminal police team was indeed elite, not saying a word, everyone entered a state of first-level combat readiness, and the team members at the front pushed open the door with their guns still raised. At this time, Guo Zhi and Huang Kai also caught up. What they saw was completely different from what Yang Hao had seen. The hall was empty, with some crumpled paper balls and broken old tables and chairs on the ground. In the center of the room, a bunch of tattered cloth strips were hanging. There were many spider webs on the ceiling. But there was no sign of Yang Hao or Zeng Qiang. What was going on???

  "Team 1 goes upstairs to take a look, Team 2 searches the hall to see if there are any clues," Huang Kai's voice had just fallen when the two teams began working. Not long after, a police officer from Team 2 ran over...

  "Huang team, found a hidden passage over there, seems to lead directly underground..."

  "Oh? Let's go take a look..."

  Huang Kai and Guo Zhishun walked in the direction pointed by the police officer and soon arrived at this underground laboratory. All the rooms were empty, with some rusty instruments faintly visible, and further inside...

  "Yang Hao....." Guozhi was the first to discover Yang Hao lying on the ground and immediately ran over. The people behind followed closely...

  "Ahao, wake up, how are you???? Ahao... speak..."

  Guo Zhi anxiously shook Yang Hao's body, but no matter how hard he shook him, Yang Hao didn't have the slightest reaction.

  At this time, Huang Kai walked over, used his hand to feel Yang Hao's breath, listened to his heartbeat, and was stunned, not speaking for a long time.

  "Huang Ge, how is he? Is he okay?", Huang Kai still didn't speak, stood up and sighed, shook his head with a sense of regret.

  "No way?! Brother Huang?... It's impossible, he can't be dead, how could he die?"

  "Ahao, are you getting up for me? Are you being lazy and sleeping in? Are you slacking off?"

  "I won't let you get away with this, you damn well better get up...get up...get up"

  Guo Zhi started to go crazy, he shook Yang Hao's body frantically, tears streaming from his eyes. After a long while, he stopped and stared blankly ahead, suddenly fixing his gaze on Zeng Qiang's corpse.

  "It was you... it was you who killed my brother, I want revenge, bring him back to life so I can kill him a few more times..."

  Guo Zhi started speaking incoherently and kicked Zeng Qiang's body again like a madman. Huang Kai was afraid he would cause more trouble, so he ordered someone to pull Guo Zhi away. The others carried Yang Hao and Zeng Qiang's bodies out. The two teams returned silently to the parking lot, got on their cars one after another, and drove back in silence.

  The phone rang in Yang Hao's home, it was already past 3 am, Yang Hao's father rubbed his eyes and got up to answer the phone. Yang Hao's father had retired but was rehired by the police department as a consultant for the criminal police team.

  "Hello?"

  "Uncle Yang, I am Huang Kai..."

  “……….”

  "Uh...uh...I see. I'll go now."

  Yang Hao's father's face changed, and he became extremely gloomy. He slowly put down the phone, and this detail was noticed by Yang Hao's mother, who suddenly realized something in her heart and waited for Yang Hao's father's response with a sleepless mind.

  "What's wrong with Yang Hao?" His mother couldn't help but ask as she saw his father getting dressed to go out.

  "Nothing's wrong, there's a case at the bureau, I need to go over for a bit."

  "Can't it wait till tomorrow?"

  "Don't worry, I'll be back soon, you go to sleep first"

  Yang Hao's father didn't want his mother to be too heartbroken, so he decided to take a look at the situation first before making any decisions. After comforting her for a few moments, he left the house. As soon as he reached the entrance of the police station, he saw that it was packed with people, all discussing and sighing. Yang Hao's father suddenly felt a pang in his heart, and he slowly made his way through the crowd. When people saw him, they instinctively parted to let him through, and finally, he stood before his son's body, staring blankly at everything in front of him.

  "Yang Shu..." Huang Kai walked over and was about to say something, but he only saw Yang Shu's hand raised, making a silencing gesture, and the crowd immediately fell silent. The words that were on the tip of Huang Kai's tongue were also swallowed back down. From this, it can be seen that although Yang Shu is not some big shot, in the eyes of these detectives, he still has quite an air of authority about him. He slowly squatted down, using his hand to feel for a pulse, listening to the heartbeat, and then pinched his fingers on Yang Hao's wrist artery. After a while, Yang Shu's eyes suddenly lit up, and he stood up saying...

  "Send Zeng Qiang's body to the forensic center for autopsy, Hao I'm taking him away..."

  "Uncle Yang, this seems a bit difficult to handle. When our people die, they must first undergo forensic examination before the family can take them away... You're not unaware of that..."

  Yang Shu made a silencing gesture again, "No need to say more, just do as I said, and I'll take responsibility for anything that happens."

  After he finished speaking, he picked up his son and walked out, unexpectedly, none of the police officers present stopped him. Huang Kai also shook his head helplessly, after all, losing a child in middle age is one of life's three greatest misfortunes. Perhaps Yang Shu still can't accept reality yet, maybe when he accepts it, doing an autopsy won't be too late. In his heart, Huang Kai was also overcome with grief, actually, he really felt terrible and wanted to cry, but as the team leader, in front of so many team members, he couldn't cry, couldn't show a weak side, he could only forever display a strong, tough image of a man, as for those sorrows, they could only be comforted alone in his bed.

  Yang Shu hugged his son and had just walked out of the crowd when he stopped because he saw a woman with tears streaming down her face. It was none other than Yang Shu's wife, Yang Hao's mother. For a moment, Yang Shu didn't know what to do either, so he slowly walked up to his wife.

  "Let's go, let's head home first..." Yang Hao's mother said, her voice trembling as she held back tears, her body stiff as she got into the car with Yang Uncle. They disappeared from everyone's sight.

  The car drove all the way to Yang Hao's home. Uncle Yang put his son on the floor of the living room, found a thin quilt and covered it over Yang Hao's body. He turned around and said to his wife.

  "Lock the door during this period of time and I won't see anyone. You also try not to go out unless necessary, I have a report to rush and write, don't come to disturb me either, and don't mention Hao Hao's matter to anyone, got it?"

  Yang Hao's mother nodded slightly, at this time she couldn't hear anything, and didn't care about anything. Her world was filled with sorrow, sorrow, and still more sorrow. Tears kept falling continuously.

  Yang Shu went into the study and never came out again. Yang Hao's mother cried all day and didn't go to work, just guarding Yang Hao's body. She still put food in his bowl three times a day, but it was never eaten.

  Yang Hao's mother became more and more haggard by the day, her face pale. She stayed by Yang Hao's side, exhausted, and fell asleep, only to be startled awake again. This went on for seven days.

  Normally, after seven days, a dead body would stiffen and rot, especially in the summer heat. But Yang Hao's body was still intact, not stiff or rotten, with a normal complexion, as if he were just sleeping.

  Yang Hao's mother didn't notice this unusual phenomenon because she was too grief-stricken to care about anything else. On the seventh night after Yang Hao's death, his mother was still guarding his body, wiping his face with a towel. Tears streamed down her face again when she suddenly saw Yang Hao's eyes move slightly.

  His mother was shocked and rubbed her eyes, looking closely at Yang Hao's body, which remained motionless. Just as she thought it was an illusion, Yang Hao's fingers moved slightly. Although the movement was tiny, this time it was real. Yang Hao's mother became extremely excited, feeling for his breath with her hand. A faint, gentle airflow went in and out of his nostrils.

  Overjoyed, she listened to Yang Hao's heartbeat, feeling a slight vibration at his heart. Suddenly, she stood up, ecstatically pounding on the study door: "Hao's father, Hao's father! Come quickly and see! Hao is breathing! He has a pulse! Come quickly and see!"

  Yang Hao's mother was overjoyed, knowing that her son had come back to life, that he wasn't dead.

  "Oh no, stop it, you're going to knock the door down...!" Yang Shu came out of his study, and judging from his face, he didn't look much better than Yang Hao's mother - red eyes, pale complexion, disheveled hair... His mother was also taken aback, finding it unbelievable. Normally so particular about his appearance, how could he... But she immediately dismissed the thought and changed her tone to say...

  "Hao Hao's dad, come and take a look quickly, Hao Hao is breathing now, his heartbeat has also recovered. He isn't dead, is he?!"

  "How is this possible….?" Yang Shu looked at his wife, judged from her expression that there was no lie, and unbelievably put his hand on Yang Hao's nose, "Huh? There really is breath!" Then, like Yang's mother, he put his ear to his son's chest, "Thump... thump... thump", the heartbeat was strong, and it made this haggard father overjoyed. "Haha... haha ha ha... I knew it, my son wouldn't die so easily, great! Great! Wife, you quickly prepare some of Hao's favorite dishes, I'll clean up here..."

  Yang Shu's hands and feet were dancing with excitement. Yang Mama saw this and knew that she was not hallucinating either. She suddenly gained energy, repeatedly saying "good good good" as she quickly entered the bathroom to tidy up her appearance, changed clothes, and prepared to go out. Just as she was about to walk out of the room...

  "Ah... huh..." A sigh was heard by the two people, and they looked at each other in surprise... Yes, it's hard not to be surprised, Yang Hao, who had been dead for 7 days, opened his eyes and was about to sit up. Maybe because he had been lying down for too long, his body ached a bit, so he let out a groan. Mr. Yang rushed to his son's side and helped him up, while Yang Hao's mother was so excited that she cried again, ruining her newly applied makeup.

  "Hao...hao...hao? You...you're awake?" Yang Shu asked in a trembling voice.

  "Hmm... Dad, oh no, why is my body so sore??? Sigh... Mom... what's wrong with you? Look at your makeup. Haha"

  "Mom's fine, nothing's wrong." Yang's mom said as she wiped away her tears with her hand, pinching her own face to feel the pain and reassuring herself that her son was really awake.

  "Mom, I'm starving, can you make me something to eat?"

  "Ah? Okay okay okay, Mom's going to buy groceries and cook for you, wait a bit", Yang Hao's words seemed to have given her new life, Yang's mom was so afraid that Yang Hao would starve to death that she even forgot to wipe off the messy makeup on her face before rushing out to buy groceries.

  "Dad, thank you..." Yang Hao said, holding onto Uncle Yang's hand after his mother walked out of the room.

  "Stupid kid, thank your dad for me, but remember, don't tell anyone about everything that happened to you, including anything about me."

  Yang Hao nodded after hearing... The father and son smiled happily.