"Comrade, are you alright? Wake up."
Amidst shaking and calls, Li Hua shakily opened her eyes.
He opened his eyes to see several unfamiliar faces. He looked somewhat confused and it took him a few seconds to react.
"Ah--" Li Hua screamed in terror as he recalled what had happened before he lost consciousness.
"Sir, please calm down!" the police officer quickly reassured him.
Li Hua, panting heavily, only felt a slight sense of security after recognizing the clothing of the people in front of him. He stopped shouting, tears streaming down his face, and cried to the police officer, "There are ghosts! This place is haunted! Run!"
"Sir, please calm down." Captain Feng Qian, who was in charge of the case, walked to Li Hua's side and gently comforted him, "It's all over now. With us here, you'll be perfectly safe. Don't act rashly."
"Just now... I really saw a ghost! I saw Lao Tian, and his missing daughter, she... she..." Li Hua was still in a state of terror, speaking incoherently.
Feng Qian couldn't understand what Li Hua was saying. He felt that Li Hua's mental state was very strange, possibly caused by a strong shock.
Police received a report from a person who claimed that extremely loud screams were coming from the building and, fearing something terrible had happened, called the police.
When the police arrived, the first thing they saw was Li Hua lying at the entrance of the residential compound.
Judging from Li Hua's current mentally unstable state, he seems unsuitable for interrogation, and it's unlikely that any useful clues will be obtained.
"Old Tian and his missing daughter? It must be the missing person case that happened in this neighborhood." Feng Qian remembered this missing person case; the missing person's name was Tian Tian.
Missing persons cases are more difficult to solve than homicide cases. Most homicide cases can be solved by starting with the victim's interpersonal relationships and quickly identifying the suspect. However, missing persons cases are difficult to solve because the person is neither alive nor dead, and it is impossible to confirm whether the missing person is alive or dead. In addition, issues such as population mobility and incomplete surveillance coverage further increase the difficulty of the investigation.
Why does Li Hua become so frightened whenever Tian Tian and her father are mentioned?
Could Tian Tian's disappearance be related to Li Hua?!
Feng Qian's suspicious gaze swept over Li Hua's face. He didn't believe in ghost stories at all; they were just feudal superstitions!
How could a police officer who has received higher education in this new era possibly believe such nonsense?
Seeing that Li Hua was still shaken and in a bad state, Feng Qian could only say to him in a gentle tone, "Sir, let us take you home. After you calm down, we'd like to ask you a few questions. Would it be convenient to ask where you live?"
Li Hua pointed tremblingly to an apartment building in the residential complex, "That's my home. The Tian family lives downstairs. I'm afraid to go back; I'm afraid I'll encounter something evil again!"
Li Hua had no idea how he survived after falling into a coma, but he could now clearly see that the apartment building where he lived was extremely eerie and terrifying, seemingly shrouded in dark energy, and he dared not go back.
However, the officers seemed completely oblivious to anything unusual about the building. Feng Qian smiled and said, "Sir, please rest assured, with us here, we can handle any dangerous situation that may arise."
Li Hua didn't say anything more. He just wanted to leave as soon as possible and didn't want to go home. He wanted to go to a crowded place, where crowds would give him a sense of security!
"Ah--"
A short, piercing scream came from the apartment building. Feng Qian's expression changed. He briefly explained a few things to Li Hua, quickly left Li Hua's contact information, and then led his men to rush over.
Li Hua watched Feng Qian and the other police officers' backs as they walked away, and could only pray silently for them.
Pray they don't encounter ghosts, pray they can resolve all their troubles.
Li Hua then turned and left. He wasn't the kind of brainless horror movie protagonist who Daoism was haunted but still insisted on going home. He needed to go somewhere safe and crowded; this place was just too terrifying.
Feng Qian and several police officers have entered the residential building.
The hallway was very quiet. The motion-activated lights flickered on and off, and a slight, cold wind carried an inexplicable chill that made the backs of the officers' heads go cold, causing them to shiver involuntarily.
"Why is it so cold?" Feng Qian frowned, and he could vaguely smell a foul odor. As a police officer, he was very familiar with that stench—it was the smell of a corpse!
Feng Qian's expression was grave. Following the stench of the corpse, several police officers went up to the third floor.
The gate of the Tian family's Tian family 302 was wide open at that moment, and as soon as you approached, a pungent stench of decay hit you.
Feng Qian cautiously led his men into the room, but upon entering, he saw Mr. and Mrs. Tian, with ruddy complexions, standing motionless in the living room, like soldiers at attention, smiling at them.
"Comrades, we are from the Public Security Section of New Yan City Public Security Bureau..." A young police officer behind Feng Qian took out his badge to identify himself, but Feng Qian interrupted him halfway through his sentence.
"Captain, what's wrong?" the young officer asked, looking puzzled.
Feng Tian remained silent, only staring intently at Tian's father and mother.
The two remained motionless, their expressions unchanged from beginning to end.
Only then did everyone realize that something was wrong.
The expressions on Tian's parents' faces now resembled those of paper effigies at a funeral, their smiles sending chills down one's spine.
Feng Qian took a deep breath, repeatedly telling himself that there were no supernatural forces or strange phenomena in this world, only feudal superstition!
He tried to communicate with them. "Comrades, you..."
But there was no response.
The father and mother of the field resembled two exquisite wax figures, lifelike yet devoid of any vitality.
An ominous premonition welled up in Feng Qian's heart. The other police officers accompanying him also sensed something was amiss. One of them said, "Captain, I don't think something's right. Should we evacuate first, seal off the building, and then have the Criminal Investigation Division and forensic doctors come and examine it?"
Feng Qian immediately nodded. "You're right. The stench in the room is undeniable. Perhaps those two people are already dead, just kept in this standing position in some special way."
He was also feeling uneasy under the watchful eyes of Tian's parents, and his body instinctively warned that the place was dangerous. He wanted to get away as soon as he could find a suitable excuse.
However, as the group turned to leave the room, they were nearly so shocked by the sight in the hallway that they lost control of their sphincter muscles!
There stood another identical couple, a father and mother, at the entrance of the building, their faces bearing eerie, deathly smiles, their eyes fixed intently on the police officers who were preparing to leave.
In that instant, the surroundings were eerily quiet. No one dared to utter a sound, and some even subconsciously slowed their breathing. The only sound was the officers' heartbeats pounding like drums.
Ten seconds later.
"Da da da..."
A rhythmic sound, like tapping on the ground, echoed in the hallway.