Chapter 1: Liu Wei's Death

  "Haha, Mr. Lin was able to come out alive, I'm so relieved! I've been worried about you all along!"

  I recognized it was Liu Wei's voice, and coldly hummed "Worry about me? You're worried that I won't die, aren't you!"

  "Ah, Lin, little brother, it's all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!" Liu Wei quietly changed the way he addressed me.

  I glanced at the watch and it was already past 7 o'clock in the morning, so I tilted my head, holding the phone with my shoulder, and coldly asked while putting on my clothes, "What do you want from me?"

  "Do you need me to help you with something?" Liu Wei asked directly. I replied even more directly, only two words: "Won't help."

  "Cough," Liu Wei coughed and smiled, "Lin, don't answer so quickly. You help me with this, I'll tell you everything about Mr. Zhang."

  This was a great temptation for me, after some thought, I replied indifferently "What's up?"

  "I can't talk now, come to the Lin Ge Hotel, I'll be waiting for you in room 403." He then immediately hung up the phone.

  I furrowed my brow, I had already lost the most basic trust in him, and didn't understand what he was up to. I dialed a phone call to Shi Tou, telling him to go to Lin Ge Hotel, then without even washing my face, I walked out the door.

  The Lin Ge Hotel is not far from where I live, and it only takes more than 10 minutes to get there by taxi. I didn't wait for Shi Tou, and I went up myself. When I arrived at room 403, I knocked on the door for a long time, but there was no movement inside, which made me very depressed. I thought to myself that he had fooled me again. In anger, I kicked the door with one foot, but unexpectedly, the door was kicked open by me. It seemed like the door wasn't locked from the inside. I lifted my leg and walked in, the room is not big, and there's no one inside.

  No, suddenly a bloody smell drilled into my nose, coming from the bathroom. I slowly walked over and pushed open the door. What entered my eyes was blood, all over the floor. Liu Wei lay in the bathtub with his eyes wide open, staring at me with a smile on his face. His mouth was raised, still smiling, making my back feel cold. Fortunately, there had been enough strange things happening since we entered the ancient tomb. Even if he were laughing loudly, as long as it wasn't too loud, I wouldn't have felt surprised.

  I hastily retreated and walked towards the bedside, where there was a phone. I wanted to call for help, but when I saw the phone, my scalp felt like it was going to explode. The five buttons on the phone all had red handprints on them, and the combination of numbers 86531 was exactly my phone number! I quickly lowered my head, and my heart skipped a beat. Although it was still hot in Beijing in September, I felt cold and chilly, with goosebumps all over my body. Even though there was a red carpet on the floor, upon closer inspection, I could still see bloody footprints. I didn't dare use that phone again, nor did I dare stay in that room any longer. I hastily ran outside, and when I passed by the bathroom, I took a glance inside. My heart sank even further - it turned out that his corpse was indeed terrifying! How could his expression change?

  After rushing out of the door, I immediately called security and soon the police arrived. I sat in another room, answering the police's questions "Name?"

  Lin Miao.

  "How old?"

  Twenty-seven.

  "Sex?"

  "Hey, can't you tell us apart by our looks?" I glared at the two policemen in front of me. They had a good attitude and smiled as they continued to ask questions:

  "Professional!"

  "Unemployed."

  "What's your relationship with the deceased?" The old policeman asked, lighting a cigarette and handing it to me.

  I smiled and accepted it, thinking to myself: As expected of a bald head, he's indeed clever enough to tell that I wanted to smoke. Considering how much he cares about the masses, I couldn't deceive him either. I blew out a ring of smoke and replied, "We're not close, just met a few times."

  "So why did you come to the Lin Ge Hotel?"

  "He received his call and said there was something he needed me to help with?"

  "What time?"

  "It's probably after seven!" I said after some thought.

  The old policeman smiled and said, "Think again, maybe you've remembered it wrong?"

  "No." I shook my head and said, I clearly remembered that it was already past seven at that time.

  "Heh heh," the old policeman sneered, saying "But his time of death was between 5:30 and 6:30, how could he still be making phone calls at 7?"

  "What?" The cigarette in my hand slipped to the ground, and I stared at the police officer in shock. "No, no way," I said, but then I remembered the bloodstains on the phone and the carpet. I quickly added, "There are bloodstains on the phone and the carpet. Check if they were left by the killer. If he died at 6:30, the bloodstain on the phone can't be his."

  "We've already done this, you'd better think about what else you're hiding!"

  I lit a cigarette and they didn't stop me. I kept reminding myself in my heart, this is not real, absolutely not real. How could a dead person possibly call me?

  Suddenly I thought of a possibility and hastily said "Could it be that the meter in my house is malfunctioning?" But I immediately denied this possibility myself.

  At this time, the old policeman's phone suddenly rang. He answered it and his face became increasingly ugly. A minute later, he hung up the phone and said, "It has been confirmed that the phone and the bloodstains on the carpet are from the deceased, and judging by the degree of coagulation, they were left around 7 o'clock."

  My head buzzed with a loud noise, although most people don't believe in zombies and the like now, but I've seen it! Could Liu Wei have faked his own death? But if he had, he wouldn't have any thoughts left, let alone be able to speak. For a moment, my mind was in chaos, and I didn't even notice when the two police officers stood up. The older policeman walked over and patted me on the shoulder, which finally brought me back to reality. I also stood up and asked, "What? Do you want me to go to the police station?"

  He shook his head and said, "The hotel's surveillance video has been retrieved. You entered the hotel at 7:25. If you suddenly remember something, give me a call!" He handed me a business card, which I took with a nod and a smile, saying, "Don't worry, don't worry! It's an honor for me to do something for the great police uncle too!"

  "Oh, right," the old policeman who was about to leave suddenly turned back to me and said, "The identity of the deceased has been confirmed. He's an antique dealer, very likely a tomb raider. And I heard you're also quite knowledgeable about Feng Shui...you two wouldn't have any..."

  Before he finished, I hastily interrupted him and accompanied a smile saying "You're joking, I'm too timid to dare to rob graves. I study Feng Shui just to occupy a good grave after death, which also makes up for the regret of not being able to buy a good house in my lifetime."

  "I hope so." He gave me a glance and walked out.

  I felt as if I had fainted and sat down on the sofa, this thing was really too strange. With a creak, the door was pushed open and Shi Tou walked in. After listening to me finish telling him what happened, Shi Tou's eyebrows also furrowed deeply.

  "Damn it," I cursed, throwing the third cigarette to the ground, "Can't he even let me go in death?"

  The stone smiled and said, "Are there really ghosts in this world? Are you sure that was Liu Wei's voice? Could it be someone imitating him?"

  I shook my head "No? His voice is so unique, it's impossible to mishear."

  The stone knocked over a cup of water and said, "Then there's only one way left."

  I sat up straight and asked "What's the solution?"

  "Let's come again tonight."

  I shook my head and said "It's no use, the police have already taken it away."

  "Unlikely?" Shi Tou interjected, "If he let you come, he wouldn't just let you see Liu Wei's corpse."

  I nodded and stood up saying "Alright then, I'll come back tonight. Now I need to go back and catch up on some sleep."

  The night and sleep shrouded the earth, all sounds were hushed, at midnight twelve o'clock, I and Shi Tou wore a black pants and black T-shirt, from the side of Lin Ge Hotel climbed to the rooftop, fortunately it only had seven floors not very high, to be honest I still slightly have a bit of acrophobia. Looking at Shi Tou deftly tying knots on the rope, then slid down to the fourth floor along the rooftop, don't know how he managed, in less than three minutes, he slipped into the house, I also grabbed the rope and slid down, feeling quite thrilling, reminded me of Zorro and Batman who didn't like walking through the front door, but rather from the sky. Unfortunately, the force of the fall wasn't controlled well, if Shi Tou hadn't pulled me back, I would have followed in the footsteps of those two predecessors.

  I took a look at the current room and couldn't help but laugh out loud, saying "Actually, the police and tomb raiders are about the same, they've both emptied this house."

  "Let's think about where he could have hidden it!"

  I stroked my chin and said, "Think about how he could hide things without being discovered by the police?"

  After a few minutes. "Oh, right!" I exclaimed with a snap of my fingers.