Night Shock

The female officer nodded while rapidly jotting notes in a pad.

Shen Xing also noticed a voice recorder with a blinking red light placed beside her thigh.

"Do you live alone?" the male officer asked, glancing around.

"Yes." Shen Xing nodded.

"What about your parents?"

"They don't live in this city."

"What do you do for a living?"

"Wooden Carving. I make them myself and sell them," Shen Xing said. "I have a small shop on Chunyu Street, about a twenty-minute walk from here."

"Have you heard anything unusual downstairs these past few days? Like arguing, crying, or the sound of things crashing or breaking?" the male officer continued.

Shen Xing recalled for a moment and shook his head. "No. I'm usually very focused when I'm working on a Wooden Carving; I need a quiet environment. To be honest, even though this complex is quite old, it's usually very quiet after nine o'clock every night. It's perfect for a night owl like me."

"So, if there were any distinct sounds, you would have noticed them quickly?" the male officer asked with a frown.

"Yes." Shen Xing met his gaze directly, not looking away. "If there were any abnormal sounds, I would likely be more sensitive and attentive to them than others."

At this point, the female officer looked up and asked, "Is this apartment yours, or..."

"I've been renting it for a while. It's cheap and quiet, so it doesn't matter that it's small and old," Shen Xing replied.

From the officers' questions, he gathered they weren't ruling out homicide in Lin Wanru's death, which was why they were conducting a door-to-door investigation.

As long as he cooperated fully, it would hopefully help them catch the killer sooner.

"How is Lin Wanru's daughter, Feifei, doing?" This was what Shen Xing was currently worried about.

The male officer shook his head. "Don't worry. Feifei called the police when she got home from school. The little girl was terrified, but she's been taken to the Public Security Bureau, where we have people looking after her and providing counseling."

The female officer looked up again and asked, "What time does your next-door neighbor usually get home?"

Shen Xing felt relieved and replied, "An elderly man in his seventies used to live next door, but he moved in with his son. The room is currently empty and hasn't been rented out."

Like many old residential buildings, Ivy Apartments only had six floors. It was designed with a peculiar layout where the building was split in two, featuring two separate stairwells on the left and right that led to different units.

On Shen Xing's floor, there were only two units total. To get to the other side, one would have to go downstairs and take the other stairwell back up.

After a few more questions, the two officers stood up and walked to the door.

The male officer turned back to instruct him, "The scene on the third floor is cordoned off. Please don't go near it when you're coming or going so you don't disturb the evidence. If you remember anything else, you can call me at this number."

With that, he handed Shen Xing a card with a phone number on it. The name on the card was Xiong Wei.

Shen Xing looked up at the male officer. He was under 1.7 meters tall and rather thin—his appearance was the exact opposite of his name.

As he closed the door, he saw the two officers continuing to head upstairs.

He thought back carefully; it seemed the neighbor of Lin Wanru and her daughter had also moved out just last month, and the room was still vacant. If that family hadn't moved, they probably wouldn't have been able to sleep a wink tonight after a death right next door.

Returning to his workbench, he worked until nearly midnight. Shen Xing finally set down the finished Buddha Wooden Carving, yawned, and went to the bathroom to wash up.

After relieving himself, his obsessive-compulsive tendencies kicked in. He checked every door and window in the apartment before returning to the bedroom.

He casually closed the bedroom door as well and checked that lock, too.

He usually didn't close his bedroom door when sleeping, but after today's events, Shen Xing felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

He turned off the workbench lamp, climbed into bed, and, feeling drowsy, fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Shen Xing tried to keep his pre-sleep thoughts focused on the Buddha statue he had spent the night polishing, refusing to think about that blood-red eye.

Yungu City had a mild, humid subtropical climate. Summer nights cooled down quickly; even though the temperature peaked at around twenty-seven or twenty-eight degrees Celsius during the day, it was a true summer sanctuary.

As he slept, Shen Xing even instinctively pulled the light summer quilt over himself.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he was woken up by the cold.

Dazed, he opened his eyes and found himself curled into a ball, hugging a pillow, though the quilt was still neatly covering him and hadn't been kicked off.

"What's going on?"

Still feeling cold, Shen Xing tugged at the quilt to ensure it was still covering him. Suddenly, he felt the foot of the bed move slightly, as if someone were curled up underneath it, with their head or back pressing against the frame.

His sleepiness faded. Shen Xing didn't know if the sensation was an illusion or real; after all, he had just woken up and his mind wasn't clear.

He lifted his head slightly, peering toward the foot of the bed in the moonlight filtering through the window. He was suddenly struck with terror, his eyes widening as he stared fixedly at the bedroom door.

The bedroom door was wide open!

Shen Xing remembered clearly that he had definitely closed the bedroom door before going to sleep.

The sight of the open door instantly banished all his drowsiness, and a chill crept through his hands and feet.

Thump!

A faint sound came from the foot of the bed, followed by a slight tremor.

This time, Shen Xing was certain: the first movement hadn't been an illusion.

The moonlight outside was bright enough that even without turning on the lights, most of the room was visible.

He remained lying flat, limbs motionless, only tilting his head slightly to cast his gaze toward the foot of the bed where the vibrations had originated.

A slow rustling sound emerged, as if someone were crawling across the floor, moving very sluggishly.

Suddenly, Shen Xing seemed to see a pitch-black mass at the foot of the bed arch slightly before flattening out again.

A thief must have broken in!

The first thought that crossed Shen Xing's mind was that the arched shape looked like the back of a person crouching down.

The bedroom fell into a brief, heavy silence.

Shen Xing propped himself up with his right hand and sat up slowly, eyes wide open, straining to see exactly what was lurking in the hazy darkness at the foot of the bed.

His heart had already begun to race without him realizing it.

Once upright, he reached under his pillow, gripped the flashlight he kept there, and held it in a death grip.

After waiting a moment, Shen Xing slowly turned his body and lowered his bare feet to the floor. He didn't put on shoes, ensuring he could move without making a sound, and the slight chill from the floor helped him calm down quickly.

He managed to get out of bed with no noise other than a faint creak from the bed frame, his eyes never leaving the foot of the bed.

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