You want to talk about this? I'm not sleepy anymore!

Upon discovering that someone was watching him, Shen Xing's heart rate spiked for no reason, a change immediately reflected on the monitor beside him.

He had no choice but to cough twice and slowly open his eyes.

The first thing that came into view was a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion and a thin, slight build; he was the one who had spoken just now.

The man's hair was somewhat disheveled, and he wore a gray jacket and dress pants—the jacket was already yellowed with age, yet he still couldn't bear to throw it away.

However, the gaze this man fixed upon him was calm and profound, as if he could see right through to what Shen Xing was thinking.

"So, you're awake?" Li Naijing walked over.

She shrugged immediately afterward. "Actually, it doesn't matter if you heard us. You've already encountered an anomaly; we couldn't keep all of this from you."

As she finished speaking, Li Naijing looked at the middle-aged man sitting beside Shen Xing. "Brother Zheng, what do you think?"

This middle-aged man was Zheng Ruijun, the team leader of the Special Case Investigation Unit of the Yungu City Public Security Bureau. He hadn't appeared when Li Naijing first met Shen Xing because he had been tied up with other cases.

But this time, the commotion had been so significant that even though Zheng Ruijun hadn't finished handling his other cases, he had no choice but to come and take a look.

In fact, he had entered the ward with Li Naijing, Xiong Wei, and the others just moments ago, but he had remained silent and moved quietly, sitting down by the hospital bed the moment he entered.

Seeing Li Naijing asking for his opinion, Zheng Ruijun didn't speak, merely nodding.

Li Naijing seemed to receive the cue and looked at Shen Xing. "Do you believe that ghosts exist in this world?"

Shen Xing paused, then spoke slowly, his voice somewhat hoarse. "Before... I didn't. But now, I do."

The young man sitting on the other side of the hospital bed said, "Actually, even now, those of us in the investigation unit don't really believe it."

Hearing this, Shen Xing was taken aback.

Li Naijing gestured toward the young man and then toward Zheng Ruijun, introducing them. "His name is Zhao Wenbo, and this is our team leader, Zheng Ruijun."

"Why don't you believe it?" Shen Xing asked.

Zhao Wenbo smiled and shook his head without speaking, as if it were a secret, or perhaps something simply impossible to explain clearly.

Li Naijing said, "Because the things we encounter are bizarre—too bizarre—to the point where we cannot accurately or effectively define these strange events."

Shen Xing nodded thoughtfully.

"That mangy dog that died in your bedroom—is it the same one you told Naijing you encountered in the trash-filled alley behind your apartment complex?" Zheng Ruijun asked.

"Naijing?" Shen Xing didn't react for a second, then his expression turned awkward as he nodded. "Yes, that's the one."

"Was there anything different about it the second time you saw it?" Zheng Ruijun asked, focused solely on the case.

Shen Xing tried hard to pull his attention away from the image of "Naijing" that had popped into his head and recalled carefully. "I didn't pay much attention to the dog the first time; it just dirtied my pants. But the second time, I noticed its eye was wrong—it was as if Lin Wanru's Blood Pupil had appeared in its eye socket."

Zheng Ruijun nodded slightly and looked at Li Naijing and Zhao Wenbo; they seemed to have guessed as much, only now receiving confirmation from Shen Xing.

"Did you see the Blood Pupil, then?"

Later, the public security officers hadn't found the Blood Pupil in Shen Xing's bedroom—well, aside from that wooden carving that looked very much like it.

As for that wooden carving, along with the half-body carving of Hong Bin, it was still sitting on Shen Xing's workbench; it was just a handicraft, and it hadn't drawn much attention from the investigation team members.

Shen Xing seemed to be reminiscing, though in reality, he was quickly calculating how to answer. After a pause, he replied, "In my panic, I think I used the Arc Blade to stab the dog's eyeball, then I pulled hard. Later, I saw the dog fall to the ground, but I couldn't hold on any longer and passed out shortly after. I felt myself being lifted later; I assume that was when you arrived."

"So, you're saying that after you gouged the eyeball out, you never saw it again?" Li Naijing asked skeptically.

Shen Xing gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "I'm not even sure if I actually gouged the eyeball out. You have to understand, everything was chaotic at the time, and my shoulder was bleeding heavily. I thought I was going to die; I didn't have the capacity to worry about anything else."

"Why did you go for the eye instead of stabbing a vital organ on the dog's body?" Zheng Ruijun asked the critical question.

Shen Xing looked at Li Naijing and offered another bitter smile. "You can ask Li Naijing about this. When Lin Wanru's corpse appeared, I noticed that Blood Pupil was wrong, and it caused me a great deal of psychological trauma. I even carved an unfinished wooden eyeball because of it, which Li Naijing knows."

Zheng Ruijun looked at Li Naijing, who nodded.

Shen Xing continued, "So, when I was being chased and bitten by that vicious dog, the moment I grabbed the Arc Blade, I stabbed at the eye almost subconsciously."

At this point, Shen Xing had basically explained everything, but for these investigators, the whereabouts of the Blood Pupil were what they cared about most.

Of course, their focus was not within the scope of Shen Xing's considerations.

He only knew that, so far, he had harvested two ghosts: one was Hong Bin, and the other was the Blood Pupil.

After chatting for a while longer, the investigation team left, leaving Xiong Wei by Shen Xing's bedside.

"Captain Xiong, do you know about ghosts, too?" Shen Xing asked before Xiong Wei could speak.

Xiong Wei nodded. "I'm in the Homicide Division. In the process of handling cases, I've encountered some bizarre events here and there."

"Does every homicide case involve a ghost?" Shen Xing asked curiously.

Xiong Wei smiled. "There aren't that many ghosts! It's rare—very rare. And as you heard Zhao Wenbo say earlier, even members of the Special Case Investigation Unit don't really believe these strange events are related to ghosts."

Shen Xing understood roughly and nodded. "Although it can't be fully proven yet, let's just call them 'ghosts' for now."

To be honest, with the image of the Blood Pupil crawling through the optic nerve flashing in his mind, Shen Xing wasn't even sure if that thing was a ghost. Perhaps it was some kind of bizarre power, or perhaps after Lin Wanru died, her resentment accumulated in her eyeball, causing a special mutation.

In any case, since even the Special Case Investigation Unit couldn't be sure, he couldn't find the answer for the time being either.

"Sigh!"

He let out a breath. The experiences and changes of the past few days left Shen Xing feeling exhausted. A wave of fatigue washed over him, and he prepared to close his eyes and rest.

"Focus on recovering for now. Until they find that strange eyeball Li Naijing mentioned, you need to stay vigilant about your safety." Seeing that he was ready to sleep, Xiong Wei spoke while pulling a red, hard-covered certificate from the briefcase he was carrying.

"This is a 'Good Citizen' award issued by the Public Security Bureau. There's a ten-thousand-yuan bonus that will be deposited directly into your account as a reward for helping the Bureau catch a murderer."

"Oh? If that's what we're talking about, I'm suddenly wide awake." Shen Xing opened his eyes, his gaze locking onto the red certificate.

Xiong Wei laughed heartily, placed the certificate in the bedside drawer, and reminded him, "Remember to take it with you when you're discharged. You're just suffering from blood loss; a bit more rest and you'll be fine. The wounds aren't actually that serious."

Shen Xing offered his thanks, then asked as if in passing, "What about my hospital bills..."

"The Public Security Bureau is covering them. You don't need to worry." Xiong Wei replied.

"That's a relief." Shen Xing said bluntly, looking visibly relieved.

Running a small business as he did, it would be a lie to say he wasn't worried about suddenly being hit with such expensive medical costs.

"Did you lock the door to my place?" Shen Xing suddenly remembered to ask.

Xiong Wei smiled. "It's locked. We even had one of our partner agencies install a new security door and bedroom door for you, along with new locks. The keys will be delivered by tomorrow at the latest."

"Mm, thank you!"

Shen Xing patted his chest, his obsessive anxiety vanishing instantly, and he closed his eyes to sleep in peace.