Chapter 1: Strange Phenomena in the Underworld

  Director Li's wife is overbearing at home due to her family background, always ordering Director Li around. At home, Director Li lives like a dog, and not even as well as the pet dog his wife keeps. If the pet dog gets sick or doesn't eat well, Director Li's wife will get anxious, but if Director Li gets sick, he can only deal with it himself because no one will care.

  However, today Director Li slapped his wife in the face, which shocked Mrs. Li greatly. She stared at her husband with wide eyes, momentarily not daring to speak, and stood obediently in place.

  Director Li clapped his hands at this time, with his clothes disheveled, hair messy, eyes dull, and he couldn't stop laughing, occasionally shouting a few times, in short, nothing was normal.

  Now his wife is very certain that her husband has gone mad, otherwise she would never dare to raise her hand and hit him.

  Director Li yelled loudly at his wife, baring his teeth like a dog, then turned around and rushed out of the house, laughing loudly as he ran out of the neighborhood.

  He ran down the street, shouting: "I am sorry to the citizens, I am sorry to the people, I am not a good official, I am corrupt and take bribes, I deserve to die."

  Such a crazy and loud shouting attracted the attention of many citizens, everyone pointed at Director Li, some clapped their hands in celebration.

  But in fact, all of this was done by Ouyang Qing. He possessed Li's body and made him look like a fool. Nobody knew about it.

  Ouyang Qing also had him taken to the police station, where he explained to the director that he would no longer be pressing charges against Ouyang Qing and hoped that the police station could take Ouyang Qing back from the detention center.

  The police station could have not done so and did not listen to Director Li's arrangement, but sometimes the officialdom is interconnected. Not only do they have to consider Director Li's face, but also the faces of people related to Director Li. Besides, without the plaintiff, what crime does Ouyang Qing have?

  So, the director quickly agreed to Li's request and called over a few police officers, instructing them to go release Ouyang Qing.

  When the police went to the detention center, Ou Yang Qing's soul had already returned. Director Li felt a chill and found himself in the police station, so he asked unexpectedly: "Why am I here?"

  This question even left the director speechless. The several police officers present also exchanged glances, more bewildered than Director Li as to why he had come here.

  "You've just arrived," the director handed him a cigarette. "To withdraw the charges against Ouyang Qing, so we have already informed the detention center to release him."

  "Am I here to withdraw the lawsuit?" Director Li was very puzzled. "I'm here to withdraw the lawsuit? How could that be? What's going on?"

  "Just now," the director smiled, he had been smiling all along, from when Director Li came in until now he had been smiling, but no matter how you looked at this smile, it always seemed to have some sarcastic content. He stretched his waist and said, "You seem to have forgotten, just now, you personally told me, I still remember vividly, just like I won't forget to wish you good health."

  "I'm confused," said Director Li. "I also remember that I didn't do this before, and I'm very clear about it. Did you guys make a mistake? Then just let him go like this?"

  "What do you think?" said the director. "A person can be indecisive, but orders cannot be changed overnight, otherwise how can I ensure one party's safety in the future."

  "This is terrible!" Director Li muttered, mentioning the word "ghost", he suddenly remembered a person he saw in the elevator last night. No! He should say that he saw a ghost, he was possessed by evil spirits.

  He thought of running into ghosts and was a bit scared, so he hurriedly ran back home.

  Back home, his wife was still sitting on the sofa, just a bit dazed. When she saw her husband return, she shrank back and didn't dare to look at her husband's face.

  "Honey," Director Li said, trying to curry favor with his wife, "I ran into a ghost last night."

  "Uh," his wife forced a smile and said, "I'm going to work." After finishing speaking, she got up quickly and walked into the bathroom, washed up, grabbed her bag and went out the door.

  Director Li silently watched his wife's actions, seeing that she seemed to be afraid of him, he was puzzled, but the puzzlement only lasted for a moment, and more was surprise, he again looked like a man with raised eyebrows and a sigh.

  He was at home, sometimes returning to a humble life, and sometimes proudly pretending to be a man. Today, the city leader called him, saying that his behavior last night had damaged the image of the municipal government, so he was asked to stay at home for reflection. So, he had plenty of time to strike a pose in front of the mirror, sometimes with a silly expression, and sometimes with his wife's underwear or other clothes, pretending to be a patriarch.

  After messing around for half a day, he felt tired and sat down on the sofa to rest. As soon as he rested, his brain started working again, spinning rapidly. Now it was spinning around Fang Zixun, the owner of the restaurant, giving him 100,000 yuan to use his connections to help get that piece of land in Chengnan that someone else had already bought. He didn't dare take a taxi after taking the money and tried to walk on inconspicuous pedestrian paths, but unexpectedly, the 100,000 yuan was snatched away by some unknown thugs before it even warmed up. Being robbed like this, he didn't dare report it to the police. Once the police got involved, even if they found the money, it would be confiscated as evidence of bribery and corruption, and he would definitely face legal punishment, possibly even going to jail. For someone like him, once in prison, his career would be over, his family would be ruined, and he would literally have nothing left. So, he didn't want things to get out of hand and could only swallow his teeth and blood together.

  Things against the law can be hidden for a while, but evil intentions will eventually be exposed.

  But for now, let's put aside Director Li's arrival and return to Ouyang Qing.

  Ouyang Qing was released and went home to freshen up before returning to his work unit.

  Colleagues kept a distance from him because he had hit the director, and anyone who had any connection with him would suffer along with him. For the time being, he became a dangerous person or a plague.

  So, in the unit, Ouyang Qing was very lonely. He went to find the department head, hoping to arrange some things to do, but the other party just let him rest well. Therefore, bored him can only walk out of the unit and stroll on the street.

  He wandered aimlessly, unknowingly arriving near the police station. It was also noon, and Chen Zhenhua and Huang Aiguo, who were bored in the file room, went to a street restaurant for lunch. They met on the way.

  Chen Zhenhua was delighted to see his friend, Ouyang Qing, who had been arrested by the police and he had even helped him out, arguing with the captain in charge of security, but ultimately to no avail. His friend was locked up, and he still felt a little guilty about it. Now that he saw Ouyang Qing, he knew his friend was okay, so he said he wanted to treat him to a meal, and together with Huang Aiguo, they pulled Ouyang Qing into the restaurant.

  They ordered several dishes and the three of them started eating slowly.

  Just as they were eating, several people also walked in. These people were all dressed strangely, with gold chains hanging from their necks, and two women had gold rings on each of their ten fingers. They looked like nouveau riche, shining with jewels and treasures.

  They sat in seats not far from Chen Zhenhua and Ouyang Qing. As soon as they sat down, they loudly talked like a local tyrant, showing off the gold jewelry on their bodies.

  "What do you think of this ring style?" A woman with hair dyed in five colors, a pale face, and thick black eye circles spread her hands on the table and said to her companion, "It was bought by my husband for me."

  "Very good," another woman said. "Your husband is very good to you. Right, where did you buy it? I'll get my husband to buy one for me too."

  "It was bought at that gold shop 'Zhu Guang Bao Qi'." The woman holding the ring said proudly.

  "That store's gold accessories are really nice," a man said. "It was robbed several years ago, I heard the losses were not small. Ah, if those robbers could send me a few pieces of jewelry that would be great."

  "You might as well say that after they robbed the gold store, they died one by one under strange circumstances, and the last one even sent all the stolen gold jewelry to you, a complete stranger with no connection to them, before he died."

  "Alright, let's stop gossiping, we just got here, everyone eat." a woman said.

  And after the waiter brought up the dishes, these people really didn't say a word, they just started digging in.

  However, Chen Zhenhua, who was sitting not far from them, had already heard their conversation and listened very carefully.

  "Has the Golden Jewelry Store been robbed?" Chen Zhenhua asked Huang Aiguo.

  "Not bad," Huang Aiguo said with a mouthful of food, then took a few more bites of rice before putting down his bowl and saying, "That was several years ago."

  "That's to say that when Ruan Jiaoluo was robbed, she was already the general manager?" Chen Zhenhua asked with a frown.

  "I don't know if she was the general manager at that time, but she should have been working in the gold shop then." Huang Aiguo said, he didn't care, just like chatting idly.

  "Why hasn't this case been solved yet?" Chen Zhenhua asked.

  "Are you asking me?" Huang Aiguo suddenly stared at Chen Zhenhua with his eyes, sizing him up and down for a few moments before asking in puzzlement, "Why are you coming to ask me? Don't you know? This case is indeed strange. The robbers vanished into thin air, leaving not even a single clue behind. Our police bureau and the provincial police sent together can't crack the case."

  "Is that so?" Chen Zhenhua said, "Does this robbery case have a record in the archives room?"

  "Of course," Huang Aiguo was perplexed by Chen Zhenhua's question, "All police officers know about this robbery case, unless you were just recruited in the past two years. Why are you speaking so strangely today? It's as if you're not a policeman from Haizhen City."

  "Oh, no," Chen Zhenhua said, "I'm so excited that I'm talking nonsense."

  Ouyang Qing didn't say a word, he ate while listening intently. After finishing, both he and Chen Zhenhua had the same question - was there really no clue at all?

  After the three of them finished eating, Ouyang Qing said he had something to attend to and bid them farewell. Chen Zhenhua saw that Ouyang Qing looked lonely and bored, with a heavy heart, and originally wanted to chat with him, but he was thinking about the case of Ruan Lijiao's murder that he had mentioned again earlier.

  For so long, the police station and Huang Aiguo and Chen Zhenhua have been doing their own things, everyone thought they had forgotten, but unexpectedly, as soon as someone mentioned it lightly, this case that made Chen Zhenhua's brain hurt was opened like a scab. Chen Zhenhua urgently wanted to crack the case as soon as possible. So he didn't ask Ouyang Qing to stay for tea, and he himself dove into the mountain-like records and files to find the file of the gold shop robbery case.