01 Hong Kong Island Amusement Park

September 30th, Hong Kong Island.

Today, the sky is blue with white clouds, and a beautiful streak of light trails across the horizon. The early morning flight at 8:00 AM, a three-hour international flight, landed safely.

On the clean and tidy chair, Zhou Yun took a sip of her iced Americano. A notification popped up on her phone; the sender was Pan Xiaoxia.

Zhou Yun glanced at the text message and put down her phone.

Her thoughts wandered, and the drifting clouds outside the window brought her back to three months ago.

Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Early in the morning, Zhou Yun took her resignation letter to the office of her superior. After knocking twice, the superior said "Come in," and Zhou Yun pushed open the door.

At the bright and clean desk, Criminal Investigation Captain Xing was flipping through case files. When he saw someone come in, he looked up, took off his glasses, and glanced at them. He was a little surprised, but quickly understood.

Zhou Yun placed her resignation letter on the table. "Captain Xing, I'm resigning to go back to school. This is my resignation letter."

Captain Xing stood up, not even glancing at the report, and said earnestly, "I heard a long time ago that you were accepted by Professor Fang, which is great. The bureau now requires academic qualifications for promotions. These days, things are tough, unlike when we were young. I mentored you personally, and your case-handling abilities have been evident to all over the years. You've also worked very hard. I fully support you in pursuing a master's degree!"

Zhou Yun's eyes welled up with tears: "Thank you, Captain Xing."

Captain Xing continued, "Fang Chengjin is the most capable criminal psychology expert in recent years. You can definitely learn a lot by working under him. Our city desperately needs such an expert, but unfortunately he is used to working alone, so it may not be possible to invite him."

Zhou Yun: "I actually lack some knowledge in psychology. I have felt my own limitations in the past, especially in profiling criminals. I need more clues, but I think there may be a more convenient way. However, I really don't have any ideas at the moment."

Captain Xing walked around the table, reached out and patted Zhou Yun on the shoulder, "Alright, you've done very well. I have high hopes for you. Keep in touch when you get to Hong Kong. We have people there too. If you come back, we'll still welcome you back!"

Zhou Yun nodded with a smile.

After chatting about life and work for a while, Zhou Yun said goodbye to Captain Xing and left the office. The moment she closed the door, Zhou Yun breathed a sigh of relief.

Besides wanting to improve her crime-solving skills, she resigned to pursue a master's degree for a deeper reason: the disappearance of her older sister years ago. The Zhou family, or rather her mother, could no longer bear to see their only remaining daughter continue to do such a dangerous job.

As a criminal investigator, she has to deal with criminal suspects, and she also needs time to rest.

**

With a ding-dong sound, the broadcast voice came on, interrupting Zhou Yun's thoughts.

The plane landed quickly.

Zhou Yun stood up and was about to reach for her carry-on suitcase when a middle-aged businessman across from her spoke first and offered his hand in a friendly manner.

He asked, "Do you need any help?"

Zhou Yun glanced at him, smiled, and effortlessly removed her carry-on suitcase with both hands. As she turned, she pushed the suitcase, her eyes fixed straight ahead as she disembarked, leaving the middle-aged man behind her speechless, his raised hand slinking down in embarrassment.

Zhou Yun wore a light black shirt and silky black trousers, the all-black outfit making her skin appear even whiter. She tied her long, straight black hair into a high ponytail, leaving a few wisps of hair falling across her forehead. She had a slender and strong figure, with well-defined muscles in her arms, and at 1.68 meters tall, she was much taller than most girls.

Stepping out of the plane, Hong Kong Island's first impression was of its humid heat. The salty smell of the sea breeze lingered in the air.

Fortunately, she was able to adapt. The climate here was no different from that of the Jiangnan water towns in the south, except that it was a bit more humid and hot.

**

Hong Kong Island Police University.

Zhou Yun dragged her suitcase along the tree-lined avenue where Bauhinia flowers were in bloom. Following the signs, she arrived at a red brick building with a sign on the side that read "Psychology Department Office 103".

Zhou Yun stopped outside the door, swallowed hard, and was actually a little nervous.

She took a deep breath and reached out to knock on the door. A voice suddenly rang out behind her. "Oh, are you here to see Professor Fang?"

Zhou Yun turned around and looked at the person who had come in. "Who are you?"

Before me stood a middle-aged woman wearing glasses. She introduced herself as Aunt Chen, the dormitory supervisor, and said that Professor Fang had asked her to wait here.

Sister Chen pulled down her reading glasses, glanced at her, and continued, "Are you Zhou Yun? You're one of Professor Fang's new students this year, right?"

Sister Chan is from Hong Kong Island and usually speaks Cantonese. Her Mandarin is a bit awkward now, but Zhou Yun can understand her.

Zhou Yun nodded this time, "Yes, I am Professor Fang's student."

Sister Chen immediately urged, "That's it! Come with me! Professor Fang asked me to wait for you here and take you to the dormitory. There aren't enough beds for graduate students this year, but luckily Professor Fang only admitted you as a student. I'll take you to register first..."

Sister Chen walked ahead, chattering on and on, talking a lot.

Zhou Yun followed behind, not in a hurry to interrupt her, and followed her to a building. This place was much quieter, with fewer students around.

Sister Chen continued, "This area used to be a faculty apartment. The school gave Professor Fang a single room, but he doesn't live here. He asked me to give you this spot. Accommodation outside is very expensive. It's best if you can live on campus since you're here to study. Give me your ID card; I need to register..."

Zhou Yun gave her documents to Sister Chen, who quickly completed the registration and led Zhou Yun upstairs.

The building was constructed entirely in an apartment style, with about five or six rooms on each floor. The corridors were spacious and bright, and although it wasn't new, it didn't look old either; instead, it had the cozy feel of an old neighborhood. There were seven floors in total, and Sister Chen led Zhou Yun to the top floor.

7th floor, room 703.

The room wasn't small. To the right of the entrance was the bathroom, and further ahead was a small, separate kitchen. Then there was a large bed, some tables and chairs, and a small balcony. From the balcony, you could see the swan fountain in the school.

"Alright, you can pack your things now. If you need anything, just come downstairs and find me." After leading her here, Sister Chen was about to leave.

Zhou Yun called out to her, "Sister Chen! How can I contact Professor Fang?"

Sister Chen patted her forehead and pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket. "Oh dear, what a forgetful thing. I forgot to tell you, Professor Fang isn't on campus today. He said you should familiarize yourself with the campus and wander around. He also asked me to give you this; if you need to contact him, just call this number!"

Zhou Yun accepted it and thanked her.

The small piece of paper looked like a corner torn from a letter, with horizontal lines on the white paper and a faint scent of sandalwood. The handwriting was neat and orderly, in running script.

There were only two lines of text above: one line was a string of numbers, and the other line was a three-character signature.

**

After tidying up her dorm room, Zhou Yun left the campus at 2 p.m. She hadn't eaten anything all day, except for a glass of iced Americano on the plane that morning.

Hong Kong Island, situated by the harbor, boasts a highly developed financial industry. Walking through the streets and city center, one sees glittering CBD skyscrapers everywhere. Zhou Yun had visited Hong Kong Island six months prior, when Hong Kong and the mainland jointly cracked a case and apprehended international criminals. She left hastily, barely having time to appreciate the city.

She has been accepted into a postgraduate program on Hong Kong Island, and will have almost a year to stay there.

Zhou Yun first rode the Sunset Roller Coaster. Sitting in the open-air seats, the summer breeze brushed against her face, bringing with it the free and vibrant spirit of the city.

After wandering around for a while, Zhou Yun got off at Kowloon Plaza in Mong Kok. She originally wanted to go to the food street to find something to eat, but she accidentally wandered into an amusement park with bizarre and novel decorations.

Beside the entrance, two staff members dressed as ghosts in black cloaks were handing out flyers to scare tourists as they entered. Zhou Yun, seeing that there was something to see, decided to go and join in.

The amusement park is quite large. It used to be a park, but most of it was later transformed into amusement rides. Zhou Yun wandered around but couldn't find much to eat, so she bought a bottle of mineral water from a vending machine that cost twice as much as outside.

She scanned a QR code to pay, and as she waited for the water bottle to come out, a shadow fell over her; someone was standing behind her. Zhou Yun lowered her head, frowned slightly, and nimbly turned around, startling the person behind her.

With a cry of pain, a mascot fell to the ground. It turned out to be one of the park's ubiquitous ghost costumes. The costume was bizarre and frightening, the face completely disfigured, and blood was dripping from it. The staff member, caught off guard, had accidentally knocked the mascot's head off, which fell to the ground. It seemed the costume material was rather flimsy.

A young man's head immediately popped out from under the uniform, drenched in sweat. "Oh my god, the supervisor's going to yell at me again, this wig isn't sticking up properly!"

The next second, a strange melody rang out in the amusement park. The music was ethereal, and the mechanical voices of children echoed in the air.

Hide and seek, hide and seek, let's play hide and seek. Close your eyes, count to ten, quickly find a place to hide. One, two, three, four, five, little friends, hide well! Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, I'm looking for you, don't make a sound. Behind a tree, in the grass, every corner could be hiding. In the garden, in the old wooden box, where are you hiding? I'll look, look, look! Hehe, laughter echoes. I found you, it's your turn! Hide and seek, it's so much fun! Until the sun sets, hide and seek, hide and seek, let's play hide and seek, happy times, never forgotten...

The staff whispered among themselves, "Strange, when did the scenic area start putting up these kinds of trinkets again? Weren't they supposed to only have ghost costumes to scare people...?"

The next second, a tourist nearby screamed. He ran over and pointed in the direction some tourists had come from. "Over there! I heard something happened at the haunted house!" Then came a commotion of shouts, which sounded from not far away.

Zhou Yun frowned. The commotion over there... years of criminal investigation experience made her instinctively want to rush towards the scene, but today she was there to report for duty, not to solve a case...

However... Zhou Yun turned around, bent down to pick up the water bottle that had fallen from the vending machine, and couldn't resist joining in the fun, turning around and walking towards the haunted house.

**

Zhou Yun ran for a while and soon arrived at a crowded area. In the distance, a large sign on the roof of a ghost house read "Reincarnation Ghost House." She squeezed into the crowd, listening to the discussions of many people as she did so.

"So that body was real! I thought it was a dummy. I heard it was nailed to the door all morning!"

"Stop talking about it, it's really bad luck. I could smell blood when I went to play this morning. I was thinking, 'How come this haunted house is so realistic...'"

"Who is that person? How dare they look at the corpse like that? They probably look like a tourist. Did they call the police...?"

"I don't know, but the security guards have cordoned off the area, and I heard they're waiting for the police to arrive..."

Amidst the ongoing chatter, Zhou Yun pushed through the crowd and squeezed to the front. "Hey, don't come in!" A security guard stepped forward and stopped Zhou Yun.

There were five security guards on site, probably temporarily hired by the amusement park, all surrounding the area to prevent visitors from getting close. Right in the center of the enclosure was the entrance to the haunted house.

This haunted house is terrifying just from the outside. On the wall in the center of the entrance, there is a blood-stained white robe corpse nailed to the wall. The corpse's head is hanging down, and the large brim of the hat completely covers its head, making it impossible to see its face. Above the corpse's head is a huge old French clock, with the hands stopped at twelve o'clock.

In front of the corpse, only one person stood with his back to everyone else.

Zhou Yun couldn't make out the person's face. The person had their hands behind their back and was looking up slightly. White shirt, black trousers, simple and understated. This silhouette seemed vaguely familiar...

After hesitating for a moment, the person slowly turned around. Although they were about ten meters apart, Zhou Yun could see the person's face clearly.

She has long, deep-set eyes and slender eyebrows, high cheekbones, well-defined features, and fair, radiant skin.

Zhou Yun's pupils dilated slightly, a flash of surprise crossing her face.

Fang Chengjin is a professor specializing in modern criminal psychology. He has participated in solving numerous major cases, and is most famous for his sense of smell, reportedly able to detect the scent of a murderer, thus pinpointing the culprit more precisely. This sounds like nonsense, and most people believe it's due to his deep understanding of criminal psychology, given that he has earned a doctoral degree.

Zhou Yun stared at his figure, lost in thought for a moment. In order to become Fang Chengjin's graduate student, she resigned at an advanced age and came to Hong Kong Island to study crime-solving again.

I never expected that we would meet again at the crime scene?

**

Lin Long glanced at the crowd and spotted Zhou Yun, who was standing at the very edge and had been stopped.

Lin Long remembered Zhou Yun and muttered in confusion, "Zhou sir?!"

Zhou Yun clearly saw Lin Long as well, and waved vigorously at him.

Because Lin Long was close to Zhou Yun, he took a few steps to her side and said with a half-smile, "I haven't received any instructions that this murder case is related to the mainland." Lin Long and Zhou Yun had previously worked together on an international crime case and were considered friends.

Zhou Yun: "I'm not here to investigate a case; I'm here in Hong Kong to study."

"Reading books?" Lin Long was even more surprised.

Zhou Yun pointed to a spot not far away and said, "I'm Professor Fang's student now. Can I go in and take a look? I absolutely won't interfere with the police's work."

Fang Chengjin looked back and forth between Fang Chengjin and Zhou Yun with surprise, "Team Leader Zhou, you've really changed a lot in just a few days! When did you get in touch with the great Fang? I was thinking of introducing you two, but it seems I won't be doing you any favors."

Zhou Yun smiled and waved her hand, "This is a long story, I'll tell you the details later."

Seeing this, Lin Long knew there was plenty of gossip to see, but there was no rush. He said, "Let's go, let's take a look at the crime scene first."