Midnight Harem at West City Police Station (Third Update)

"The Network Monitoring Department of West City Police Station investigated every report concerning Lost Media from the past ten years and found this."

Captain Yan turned the computer screen toward Zhang Ze.

He clicked the mouse to play the video.

"Hanjiang City Television Station is interrupting its broadcast with an emergency news report."

"Information from the Hanjiang City Ghost Story Research Company."

"July 16, 2023. Residents of Hanjiang City, please take notice. Our company has recently discovered that a nonhuman entity extremely similar to humans has infiltrated the city. All residents are advised to prepare food and water, reinforce their doors and windows, and refrain from going out unless necessary. Beware of the people around you. If you notice any of the following traits in someone near you, stay away from them and do not believe anything they say. They have most likely already been replaced!"

"First: disproportionate limbs."

"Second: abnormally deformed body parts such as the head and hands."

"Third: a disordered language system."

"Fourth: abnormal daily behavior."

"Fifth..."

The video was short, only around three minutes long. The speaker was an electronic synthesized voice, cold and emotionless, making people feel inexplicably uneasy. Zhang Ze, however, remained fairly calm.

After watching the video, Zhang Ze raised an eyebrow. "Captain Yan, this should just be some horror simulation video made by ghost-story enthusiasts, right? Haven't those been popular lately? Impostors, Rules Horror, Mandela County—none of that proves anything."

Captain Yan's expression was grave. "We specifically investigated Hanjiang City Television Station. On July 16, 2023, they never produced a news report like this."

"Not only that, we couldn't find any information on the Hanjiang City Ghost Story Research Company in the national trademark database. No one has ever registered a company with that name."

Zhang Ze scratched the back of his head.

Didn't that make it even more obvious that the video was just a prank?

There were so many ghost-story enthusiasts online who regularly made cheaply produced videos. Surely they couldn't have fooled even the well-informed Captain Yan?

Captain Yan continued and played the next video.

"Hanjiang City Television Station is interrupting its broadcast with an emergency news report."

"Information from the Hanjiang City Ghost Story Research Company."

"After research, we have found footage of a nonhuman entity attacking a human. Viewers, please carefully study how to identify this humanoid entity and protect your own lives. Do not easily trust anyone around you."

The footage was from a surveillance camera. The setting was a rather cheap-looking old residential complex, with peeling, weathered walls. The green belts lining both sides of the road had been overtaken by lush ivy, and the paving stones had cracked with age. Such old complexes were everywhere in Hanjiang City and nothing unusual.

Soon, someone appeared on the screen.

A woman in a red qipao. She looked very young.

But it was obvious to the naked eye that her limbs were disproportionate. Her arms were long, her legs were long, and her neck was even longer. Her entire body looked like some monster that had been stretched several times over.

She did not even move like a normal person. Instead, she resembled some kind of bird, tilting her head in exactly the same reflexive manner as one.

The woman entered the building. After a while, what sounded like an argument broke out, followed by smashing and banging inside. Before long, there came a clatter, and many paintings were thrown out.

Finally, blood began to appear on the ground. A pool of blood flowed out along the doorframe, staining the carpet red...

"Wait a second?"

"What the hell is this?"

Zhang Ze froze as well.

Why did that thing look so much like... Lingling?

His mind instantly buzzed, and he could barely process it. Was that Lingling?

He recalled all of Lingling's traits.

Disproportionate limbs, an especially long neck, instinctive bird-like movements. More importantly, when Zhang Ze had tried to communicate with Lingling and told her that he had come to help her—

Lingling had spoken like an uneducated fool:

"Friend... tasty."

Then he thought of the traits of nonhuman entities mentioned in the previous video.

"First: disproportionate limbs."

"Second: a deformed head..."

"Third: a disordered language system."

"Fourth: abnormal behavioral logic."

Could it be... Lingling wasn't insane because she had become a Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghost? Could it be that Lingling herself was a nonhuman entity like the Impostor mentioned in the video?

No, impossible. The system wouldn't make a mistake.

The genius artistic girl, her severed hands, the product of inbreeding—those things could all explain her abnormal behavior.

If she really was a monster, then how did that family kill her?

Or perhaps the real Lingling had died long ago, and this monster had taken her identity and infiltrated the family? Her father had discovered that the monster had become his daughter, so he had ruthlessly killed her??

For the first time in all this time, Zhang Ze felt chills run down his spine. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he fell into a long silence.

No one knew how much time passed.

Only then did Captain Yan poke Zhang Ze's shoulder.

"Are you all right?"

"I... I'm fine."

"Good. We reinvestigated this case and found many suspicious points. Besides the Hanjiang City Genius Girl Case, there are other cases that were once closed. They all occurred within the past three years, from 2023 until now, and all contain illogical details."

"What I just showed you was Lost Media No. 014. That codename came from the video's displayed file code. All of the Lost Media collected so far are in the station. I'd like you to stay and help us look for clues. After all, you're someone who has come into contact with these things."

Captain Yan's tone was extremely sincere.

Zhang Ze gradually recovered from the shock of the first case and nodded slightly.

He had to get to the bottom of these matters too.

Was Lingling really Lingling, or a monster that had infiltrated her life?

If she was a monster, then why had she become a Red-Clothed Vengeful Ghost after dying with her hands severed?

And what exactly was this Ghost Story Research Company?

These mysteries surrounded Zhang Ze. He could not make sense of them, and the unanswered questions kept gnawing at him. Even Chen Ge had never encountered these things before. If Zhang Ze added them to his Haunted House, wouldn't he be able to thoroughly outdo Chen Ge?

"Thanks. I'll take you to the surveillance room later. There are more computers there. I'll have someone from the Network Monitoring Department set up a separate local network for you, then transfer all the data into it. You can work there."

"But we'll have to wait until after work. Another two hours or so. You can try our cafeteria first; the food here is pretty good."

Captain Yan patted Zhang Ze on the shoulder. "I'm counting on you."

There was still plenty of time.

Zhang Ze walked out with Captain Yan and entered the corridor.

West City Police Station had a square-loop corridor layout. The holding cells, cafeteria, armory, and surveillance room were all at the ends of different corridors, so they were easy enough to find.

They ran into Li Sanbao head-on. Li Sanbao greeted Zhang Ze with a beaming smile, then said to Captain Yan, "Oh, right, Captain Yan. That Little Chen from New Century Amusement Park contacted me too. It seems he's gotten involved in another case. Looks like the two of us will have to go out on duty again tonight."

"True. But I've already handed the Lost Media work over to this young man. Even if the two of us go out tonight, someone will still be guarding the station."