The Person Next Door
The people inside refused to open the door or respond to anything further.
Zhao Feng turned around and looked at Wang De'an, who had also left the room. The latter also had a solemn expression.
Clearly, from the brief exchange between Zhao Feng and the people in the room, he also sensed that something was wrong.
The two exchanged a glance, said nothing, and went directly to the floor's attendant to ask him to contact the manager.
Wang De'an showed his ID to the manager—in fact, the manager recognized him; the hotel was very close to the branch office, and when representatives from other units came, they were often received here.
After explaining the situation, Wang De'an and Zhao Feng checked the occupancy information of the room next to theirs and reviewed the corridor surveillance footage from that period, confirming that only the registered occupant was currently in that room.
The man was 37 years old and from Guangdong Province. Judging from the surveillance footage, he seemed somewhat dazed. He entered the room at noon and never came out again.
"What do you mean?" Wang De'an asked Zhao Feng privately after sending the hotel manager away.
Zhao Feng frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "I still feel there's something wrong... Whether it's that glimpse we made through the window, or our conversation with him outside his door, his voice and the content of his words are all suspicious. And the knocking sound at our window is also strange. It's not just knocking on our window, but also on the neighbor's window, as if it's reminding us to pay attention to the neighbors. Who exactly is knocking on the window?"
Wang De'an subconsciously lowered his voice and said, "Is it that... reminder we need to be given again?"
Zhao Feng knew what he meant by "that," and shook his head, saying, "I don't know, but I think... it probably isn't."
After discussing it for a while, the two finally decided to ask the hotel to help them cut off the power to the room and then send someone in under the pretext of maintenance to check it.
But to our surprise, there was no response in the hotel room after the power was turned off.
Could he really be asleep?
So they asked the waiter to knock on the door again, but after knocking for a while, there was no response from inside.
Just then, Wang De'an and Zhao Feng suddenly heard the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground inside the room.
Wang De'an quickly said to the waiter, "Open the door, quick!"
When the door to the room was opened, they immediately saw a man slumped on the ground, tears streaming down his face, covered in blood, and trying to cut his own throat with a knife.
Wang De'an and Zhao Feng rushed in, tackled the man to the ground, and disarmed him.
The hotel manager, who followed them in, quickly used the walkie-talkie to have the power in the room reconnected. Once the lights were on, they discovered that the man's neck had been slashed several times, and he also had wounds on his wrists, which were covered in blood.
However, perhaps because the knife was too dull, or perhaps because the man was too ruthless towards himself, the cuts were not deep, and luckily none of them damaged the arteries.
Looking at the ground next to it, there was a central air conditioning vent cover that had been torn down by a rope, and a chair lying on the ground not far away.
Seeing this, anyone could understand—the man wanted to commit suicide!
Moreover, it appears that after failing to cut his wrists, he attempted hanging, and after failing to hang himself, he tried to slit his throat.
The hotel manager was furious, but after being reminded by Wang De'an, he quickly called an ambulance.
Wang De'an immediately called the bureau to report the incident, while Zhao Feng asked a hotel staff member to bring out a clean towel from the restroom and apply it to the man's wound.
"What's bothering you so much? Tell me about it," Zhao Feng asked, trying to distract the man who was still quite emotionally distraught.
"I deserve to die! Leave me alone, let me die! I'm useless, I'm just a burden to others. Let me die..."
Amidst the man's sobbing, broken, and illogical words, Zhao Feng and Wang De'an finally understood that this guy was addicted to online gambling. He borrowed money to gamble, then mortgaged his house to continue gambling, losing everything and accumulating a mountain of debt. In despair and collapse, he bought a knife and rope, intending to commit suicide in a hotel, but unexpectedly failed repeatedly.
Upon learning that Zhao Feng and Wang De'an were police officers, the man suddenly hugged their legs, crying, "I'll provide evidence, I'll be a witness, I want to report those online gambling operators! They definitely cheated, they're breaking the law! Please help me get my money back..."
"Calm down, don't get too agitated. We'll have someone follow up on the situation once your wounds are treated," Wang De'an could only offer this reassurance.
However, he knew that these online gambling gangs were very difficult to track down because the servers and the main criminals were mostly located overseas, and the funds could be transferred very quickly, making it difficult to arrest people or recover money.
After the man who had attempted suicide was taken to the hospital, a canary hidden in a secluded corner outside the window weakly flapped its wings and flew towards "Little Apple's " house.
It wasn't that "Little Apple" didn't want to know what happened next or continue eavesdropping on Officer Wang and Officer Zhao's conversation, but rather that "Gold Glitter" was exhausted and needed to come back to rest and eat.
This trip involved flying around everywhere, intensely collecting sensory information, searching for people, eavesdropping, and hiding—it was far more tiring than simply flying around aimlessly and observing at will.
Other birds, when tired or hungry, might find something to eat or a place to rest nearby. But "Gold Glitter" has become picky about food; it won't eat anything except the birdseed "Little Apple" carefully prepares. And now that it's not at home, not in its little cage, and in other places, it can't rest or sleep peacefully.
After "Gold Glitter" started flying back, "Little Apple" in the bedroom finally breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
While "Gold Glitter" was eavesdropping on the two officers' conversation, "Little Apple" overheard some noises from the next room.
It was a man recording some resolute words, like a suicide note, some for his wife and children, and some for his parents. He talked about the wrong things he had done and why he wanted to commit suicide.
Upon hearing this, "Little Apple" panicked. Her first reaction was to call the police, but then she realized she had no reason to do so and couldn't explain it to them.
Moreover, given the current situation, by the time the police arrive to verify the facts, it might already be too late.
Calling the police will only get her into trouble and arouse unnecessary suspicion; it will serve no other purpose.
After learning that she could perceive the outside world through "Gold Glitter," Uncle Xiang once told her to try to be an observer rather than a participant in other people's affairs and information from the outside world. If she encountered something that she couldn't ignore, she should contact Xiang Kun first, and he would tell her what to do.
But right now, she can't contact Xiang Kun, and the situation is extremely urgent. She can't just do nothing and let that person commit suicide.
In a moment of desperation, she sent "Gold Glitter" to knock on the windows. By knocking on both windows, she alerted Officers Wang and Zhao to the situation next door.
Back then, if someone looked up at the hotel from outside, they would see a canary quickly peck twice at one window, then hop to the next window and peck twice more before flapping its wings and flying up to hide on the windowsill of the next floor, pressed against the wall, and concealing itself.
After doing this twice, Officer Zhao finally noticed the unusual activity next door.
When "Gold Glitter" discovered that the person in the room was about to hang themselves, and that Officer Zhao, Officer Wang, and others were at the door, "Little Apple" clenched her fists, wishing she could remotely control the door to open—unfortunately, she didn't have that ability.
Fortunately, the person was too heavy, and the rope pulled down the air conditioner grille, thus preventing the hanging attempt.
Officer Wang and Officer Zhao finally managed to get the door opened and rushed in to stop the man from continuing his self-harm.
The moment the two police officers went inside, her heart, which had been pounding with anxiety, finally settled down.
After a while, the exhausted "Gold Glitter" finally flew back. "Little Apple" opened the window to let it in, prepared food and water for it, and gently stroked its back and feathers with her fingers while it ate.
Just as "Gold Glitter" was finishing her meal, her phone beeped with WeChat notification—a reply from Xiang Kun.
"Little Apple" immediately made a phone call and then told Guo Tianxiang everything about the two police officers, Wang and Zhao, who wanted to see her, as well as her guesses and deductions. She also told Xiang Kun about the information she had overheard about "Guo Tianxiang" and "Mi Qiao" through "Gold Glitter" at the hotel, and about the suicide incident.
Jianzhou City, Airport.
Upon arrival, Xiang Kun did not inform You Meng in advance or arrange for anyone to pick You Meng up. Instead, he, Lao Xia, Tang Baona, and Yang Zhen'er chartered a car and headed to Tongshi Town.
Seeing that Xiang Kun, sitting in the passenger seat, had barely spoken after taking the phone call at the airport and had been listening intently, Yang Zhen'er couldn't help but ask Tang Baona beside her curiously, "Chef Xiang, who are you talking to? It's been over ten minutes since you got on the phone, talking for so long?"
"If I'm not mistaken, when Xiang Kun answered the phone, it was 'Little Apple' calling," Tang Baona said.
Xiang Kun's phone call lasted a long time. It wasn't until they were almost at the hotel that he said to "Little Apple," "Well, you've done a great job. We've just arrived at the hotel. I'll help you with the problems you encountered later."
After hanging up the phone, facing the questioning looks from Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er, Xiang Kun said, "It was 'Little Apple' asking about 'Gold Glitter,' and some things I taught her before. She's having some questions."
"What's the question?" Yang Zhen'er asked subconsciously, but immediately shook her head and muttered to herself, "Never mind, it must be something I'm not interested in or don't understand, otherwise 'Little Apple' would have just asked in the group chat."
Just like in Star City, they booked two standard rooms, one for the three girls and one for Xiang Kun himself.
There were some things he couldn't say in front of Nana and Zhen'er, so after returning to his room, he immediately called "Little Apple" back.
Of all that "Little Apple" had just said, what he cared about most was neither the fact that Officer Wang and Officer Zhao had come to his door, nor the information related to Guo Tianxiang and Mi Qiao, but rather "Little Apple's " "intervention" in the suicide incident in the room next to the two officers' residence.