The way they passed along rumors left me deeply doubtful of their truth.
With the receptionist standing right there, I couldn't openly question her. I laughed it off, then went with Lü Qiaolan to Room 308, the one she'd mentioned.
It was an old, shabby inn. The hallway was very dim, with most of the lights off. Only the windows at either end let in any light.
Room 308 stood right in the middle of the hallway, impossible to miss because police tape blocked the entrance.
The yellow police tape hung a little slack.
I tried turning the doorknob, but naturally, the door wouldn't open.
Just looking at it, I couldn't see anything wrong with the door.
I thought back carefully to the dream. Chen Xiaoqiu and Officer Zhuang had walked forward without a hitch. Chen Xiaoqiu had been carrying the box, but it had barely shaken; she hadn't made any big movements. To get past that police tape, she would at least have had to bend down, wouldn't she? I hadn't sensed her doing anything like that. And as for pulling the tape aside... I hadn't heard it being tugged, either.
The whole thing seemed stranger and stranger.
I'd heard the door open very clearly.
Officer Zhuang couldn't possibly have missed the police tape.
Could Chen Zi'an really have been right? Was it some kind of ghostly obstruction, leaving the living so confused that they couldn't tell dreams from reality and failed to notice anything out of the ordinary?
"Did you see a ghost?" Lü Qiaolan asked nervously.
I shook my head. "Let's check the hospital."
The things they'd lost had been found at the hospital.
Lü Qiaolan was also more interested in what had happened there. The teddy bear had been found there, after all.
The inn wasn't