Face (1)

The building's property management on duty didn't know what Zheng Ruijun was muttering to himself and asked, "Do you want to keep watching the surveillance?"

Zheng Ruijun nodded, "Please fast-forward the surveillance to yesterday at triple speed and scan this camera point to see if these two people appeared."

As he spoke, he took out two photos, one of Song Xiaoyu's parents, Song Hao and An Lifen. The photos seemed to be recent, and it was unclear how Zheng Ruijun obtained them.

The duty officer took the photos and asked with some surprise, "Aren't you going to watch with me?"

Zheng Ruijun shook his head, "Go to Building 7, Unit 1. Help me open the access control for the unit entrance, and then come back to continue watching the surveillance. I'm going up to the floor where this family lives."

The duty officer, following his instructions, took a universal access card for property management and led the way, curiously asking over his shoulder, "Officer, did something happen to this family?"

Zheng Ruijun smiled, "Their dog, Wangcai, bit a neighbor three years ago and insisted the neighbor bit himself. The neighbor, not believing it, bit himself and died from a fungal infection. Then this family fled overnight with Wangcai."

The duty officer was stunned for a moment, then his expression turned confused, "This neighbor... was he ZZ?"

"Heh, maybe, possibly, probably," Zheng Ruijun replied with a helpless smile.

Regarding special cases, the investigation unit's consistent practice was to control the scope of knowledge and prevent widespread panic among ordinary people.

If the investigation found no abnormalities with Song Xiaoyu's family, they would at most clarify with the property management that the Public Security Bureau had the wrong people.

The two soon arrived downstairs at Building 7, Unit 1. After the duty officer opened the access control, he held the door open, saying, "Officer, if their dog Wangcai is still here, I can go get Laifu from the security room. We might not lose to Wangcai in a fight."

This time, Zheng Ruijun was taken aback and quickly waved his hand, "No, no!"

He ran a hand through his messy hair and walked into the building. When he looked back, the property management duty officer was already leaving, muttering to himself.

Zheng Ruijun took the elevator directly to the 8th floor. Each floor in this building had four units, and Song Xiaoyu's home was 8-2.

After locating the unit number, he walked to the door of 8-2. Zheng Ruijun first looked down at the bottom of the door, then took a deep breath and stood silently at the entrance.

Diagonally opposite the apartment door was the direction of the stairwell. It was pitch black inside, but Zheng Ruijun seemed to faintly hear some movement.

He glanced over but found nothing.

Then, he took out a golden pen from his pocket and knocked on the door.

As a veteran officer in the Special Case Investigation Unit, Zheng Ruijun was well aware of the procedures for handling such cases.

Those who could join the investigation unit typically had strong mental fortitude. He was much stronger than ordinary people in terms of self-control.

Of course, despite their strong mental power, they were still ordinary people, not superheroes. Besides possessing exceptional courage and strong handling abilities, they were also not easily susceptible to mental interference.

As expected, after knocking twice, slow footsteps could be heard from inside the apartment.

This family was actually home all along!

A moment later, the door opened. A middle-aged man stood inside, holding the doorknob with his right hand, staring silently outside.

Because the corridor outside was lit, the inside of the apartment was not lit, making the person standing inside appear dim and blurry, difficult to see clearly.

Zheng Ruijun strained his eyes but still couldn't make out the man's features. He held up his officer's badge and said, "Excuse me, is this Song Xiaoyu's home?"

"Yes," the man inside replied calmly.

"Sorry to disturb you so early," Zheng Ruijun said with a smile.

The man inside replied, "It's fine, I'm already up. What can I do for you?"

"I need to ask Song Xiaoyu some questions, uh, about Qiguang Orphanage," Zheng Ruijun said.

The person inside seemed to nod.

"Come in," he stepped back and turned on the light by the door.

Only then did Zheng Ruijun finally get a clear look at the man's face.

He was about to step inside, but upon seeing the middle-aged man's face, he paused slightly.

The middle-aged man was smiling at him.

At first glance, the smile seemed normal, but on second look, it appeared somewhat fake.

His facial features were stiff, his lips were upturned, and the skin at the corners of his eyes was crinkled, forming wrinkles. Most importantly, the man seemed to have been staring at him with a smile in the darkness earlier, a smile that, upon recalling it, could send shivers down one's spine.

The middle-aged man dropped his smile and turned to walk inside, saying, "Come in, no need to take off your shoes."

Zheng Ruijun hesitated for a moment, then stepped inside. Soon, his nose twitched slightly.

The curtains in the apartment were drawn, letting in no light. A faint, strange odor permeated the room.

The decoration and furnishings inside were no different from an ordinary home, quite conventional, yet Zheng Ruijun felt an indescribable atmosphere.

This middle-aged man was Song Hao, the master of the house and Song Xiaoyu's father.

Zheng Ruijun recognized him immediately after the man turned on the light.

In Zheng Ruijun's opinion, not only Song Xiaoyu, but perhaps even Song Hao had become abnormal.

Song Hao walked into the living room without looking back to see if he had entered.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zheng Ruijun, after entering the room, did not close the door. Instead, he propped it open with a shoebox at the entrance to prevent it from closing on its own.

Song Hao stood in the middle of the living room, still with his back to Zheng Ruijun, and gestured towards the sofa, "Sit."

"Okay, no need to be polite," Zheng Ruijun said, not intending to sit down. He walked forward a couple of steps and stood not far from the living room entrance.

"Where is Song Xiaoyu?"

"She's still sleeping."

Song Hao replied, walking to the water dispenser by the TV and turning on the hot water switch. He then took out a box of tea and a paper cup, putting some tea leaves into the cup.

After finishing, he glanced back at Zheng Ruijun and found the other man still standing not far from the living room entrance.

"Why aren't you coming to sit down?"

From Zheng Ruijun's perspective, Song Hao's expression was now very ordinary, without the strange smile from earlier.

"It won't take too long, no need," Zheng Ruijun gave a casual excuse. "Could you please call Song Xiaoyu out..."

Just then, he instinctively felt something unusual behind him.

Before he could finish speaking, he immediately turned around.

In his sight, a person's forehead was almost touching the tip of his nose.

Zheng Ruijun immediately took two steps back, his heart pounding. He looked closely and saw a middle-aged woman in a gray pajama set, her head slightly bowed, hands hanging down, eyes looking up and to the side. She stood there staring at him without blinking.