Chapter 395 Who is playing the ghost?

It was getting close to dawn, and many bustling streets in Hong Kong were still ablaze with lights and people reveling until dawn.

People were drinking and having fun in Causeway Bay, Wan Chai, but the coastal community of Yue Wah Hin in North Point to the east was gradually falling asleep.

The lights in most of the residents' houses were off, and the street lights in the community were also dim. It was quiet all around, with only some rustling sounds when the breeze blew through the trees and debris.

The old man's TV in the lobby on the first floor was still playing a TV series in a low voice, but the old man had already fallen asleep on the single chair bed.

The only strip light in the lobby suddenly flickered. The equipment in the old building broke down every few days. The strip light was hit by moths every day, so it was inevitable that it would have some problems after a long time.

However, the old man was sleeping soundly and was unaware of the shadows of the trees outside the building being blown by the wind and the dim lights in the lobby, until a burst of urgent life-threatening ringing sounded suddenly -

the sharp beeping sound echoing in the lobby awoke the old man from his sweet dream. He jumped up and stared for a long time before realizing that it was the phone ringing.

Picking up the phone, the old man said hello, then he felt the chill of the late autumn night. He wanted to turn around and find a coat to put on. He squinted his eyes and couldn't see clearly around him, so he looked up at the dim and flickering strip light. He cursed, and only heard the person's breathing in the microphone. The old man on duty asked impatiently:

"Who is it? Why don't you talk?"

The panting on the other end suddenly stopped. The old man frowned and asked again, and the person on the other end spoke faintly:

"I died so unjustly... I didn't commit suicide, he killed me... He killed me... I died so unjustly..."

Suddenly, a strong wind blew up outside the building, blowing through a gap somewhere, making a sound like sobbing and wailing.

The broad-leaved plants swayed wildly, and the dark shadows were looming, as if countless evil spirits were flying in the wind.

The old man was so scared that he howled and almost threw the microphone away...

...

Entering

adolescence, Jia Ru was full of enthusiasm for life, gradually awakening her self-awareness, and gradually began to want to control her own life. She tried little by little, wanting to know to what extent she could influence the world.

In addition to studying every day, she had to participate in poetry classes, geography clubs, etc. After returning home, she had to help her eldest brother make milk tea drinks to earn some private money. In the evening, she had a lot of homework to do, as if she didn't know how to get tired.

It's understandable that such a busy girl eats ten fish balls, two bowls of noodles, a chicken leg, and a cup of milk tea for a meal.

Listening to her sister sharing interesting stories about school and watching her eat heartily, Jiayi felt that her appetite had improved.

"Wow, how do you have so much time?" Liu Jiaming couldn't help but exclaimed. He would feel like his bones were falling apart after work every day, so how could he still have the energy to do anything else?

"You're getting old." Jiaru said seriously.

"Hey! I'm only in my twenties, I'm still young~" Liu Jiaming protested.

"What does age have to do with it? My sister is an inspector and a mother at a young age." Jiaru shrugged.

"Be a mother?" Sanfu and the others who were just smiling and listening to their conversation widened their eyes and turned to stare at Yi Jiayi's belly.

"I'm a mother to you~" Jiaru explained hurriedly the moment Jiayi's eyes widened.

"Even though I'm Jia Mingzi's mother, I think I'm still very independent." Sanfu quickly expressed his opinion. He is a mature adult, unlike Jia Mingzi who is a childish guy.

Everybody was laughing and joking, and the TV hanging on the wall of the main hall suddenly switched from an advertisement to the news:

"Our station reports today that according to reliable sources, someone has received a call from a ghost again!"

Four large red characters were typed on the screen next to the female anchor:

[The ghost is calling again]

At the same time, the female anchor spoke with an especially heavy voice, word by word:

"An old night watchman claimed that he received a call from a ghost in the early morning. The female ghost was named Wang Mou'e, and she kept crying and shouting on the phone, saying that she did not commit suicide, but was killed by her boyfriend Liang Mou. The female ghost who asked for help was a resident of the building where the old night watchman worked. Upon investigation, it was found that she had indeed died 7 days ago, and the moment she called for help was the night of her return to the spirit...

"It is said that the police received reports from more than just the old night watchman, and every reporter claimed that they received a call from a ghost. The police seem to have reopened the case and started to thoroughly investigate the truth of the matter.

"Is it a real ghost calling or a prank? This station will..."

Jiayi was eating a fish ball when it fell into the bowl with a 'pop' sound.

She was dumbfounded and stared at the TV for a long time.

No, it has been a long time since she pretended to be a ghost to make a phone call.

"Huh? This kind of thing happened again? Murders were found every time before. Could it be true this time?" Liu Jiaming stood up, holding the bowl of noodles, eating while staring at the TV to watch the news.

“So the victim of a suicide case turned into a ghost and called the police to tell them that he didn’t commit suicide but was murdered by him?” Sanfu frowned and immediately ran to the counter, picked up the landline and called a colleague from the Public Relations Department. After the call was connected, the first thing the other party asked was,

“Which district and which group is this case from?”

Jiayi turned around and cast a questioning look at Sanfu. One minute later, Sanfu hung up the phone and answered Jiayi and others’ doubts:

“The deceased is a resident of the Yue Wah Hin community in North Point and is assigned to Team C of the Central District Crime Squad.”

…

…

The day after [Ghost Calls Again] appeared in the news, some newspapers also published the incident, and someone even wrote an interview specifically for the person who called the police.

The person who received the call swore that not only did he hear the ghost calling for help on the phone, but he also clearly felt the temperature around him drop, and even saw ghosts outside the window and door!

Hong Kong entertainment media loves this kind of news, and they will hype it up regardless of whether it is true or not to help their own newspaper sales.

By the third day, not only did the report escalate, but the number of people who received calls from the ghost also escalated - the media had received more than a dozen people who claimed to have received calls from the ghost, and each of them swore that they were not lying.

The media found that these people had one thing in common, that is, they all knew the female deceased Wang Mou'e.

Some people were therefore more convinced that the female ghost was asking for help from people they knew.

However, the information Yi Jiayi got from Mr. Guo from the Public Relations Department was that the police suspected that the person who pretended to make the call might have the deceased Wang Min'e's phone book in his hand and dialed the phone numbers one by one.

The purpose is probably to put pressure on the police and force them to reopen the case.

Under pressure, the Central Police Station did indeed begin to re-investigate the location where the deceased committed suicide and retrieved the body for a new autopsy. They also stepped up their investigation, interviewed all the testimonies of the deceased (including all the people who received the "ghost call"), and re-evaluated whether the deceased's motive for suicide was established.

But on the other hand, the police are also tracking the location of the "ghost call" in order to identify the person who played tricks.

"Last night, the police station received a lot of calls from ghosts." Sir Guo was sitting in the office, chatting with Yi Jiayi, and sighed:

"The person who made the call is so unrestrained. How could a ghost make several calls every night for help? This ghost is too unmysterious!"

"Hasn't it been locked yet?" Jiayi asked while reading the cooperation projects that Sir Guo gave her to screen.

"The call was locked in North Point, but because the call was not long enough, the specific location has not been locked yet." Sir Guo shook his head and said, "I heard that the female police officer who answered the phone at the Central Police Station was so scared that she didn't dare to work the night shift. Everyone in the Central Police Station was nervous and didn't know what was going on. Even I have to burn incense to Guan Erye twice a day. It's winter and the yin energy is heavy."

Jiayi, who is a habitual ghost caller, pinched her nose a little embarrassedly.

Who would have thought that someone would imitate her behavior...

...

In the evening, Yi Jiayi had dinner with her family and teammates at Yi Ji, and a talk show was broadcast on TV.

Regarding the "Ghost Calls Again" incident, the program team invited a fortune-teller and a master to discuss what happened from different perspectives.

The fortune teller swore that the person who received the call had come to her for a fortune telling, and that the deceased had indeed turned into a ghost and was still in the human world. She asked for a fortune telling and saw a female ghost, who cried and said that she had died unjustly and definitely not by suicide, and asked the fortune teller to help her clear her name.

However, the fortune teller was not feeling well that day, and was unable to talk to the female ghost about the real murderer, so she left the fortune telling state, and has not been able to ask for a ghost again until now.

The master thought that it was very likely that a lonely ghost was causing trouble, and that it was like this every winter, and some little ghosts liked to come out and play with humans during the period of weak yang energy, so everyone should be patient, it was not a big deal, and there was no need to be afraid.

After this show ended, Liu Jiaming tuned into another talk show on another channel, and surprisingly, they were also talking about [Ghost Calls Again].

This program is very different from the previous channel. They invited several university professors. These anti-superstitious people claimed that the previous ghost calls were simply "eyewitnesses who knew about the murder, or other insiders" who wanted to call the police, but were afraid of being implicated, so they called the police pretending to be ghosts.

This time is definitely the case, and it is even possible that someone is trying to curry favor with the public.

They called on the public to break superstitious thoughts and believe in science!

"This matter is quite a big deal, and I don't know who called." Liu Jiaming followed the report of this case throughout the whole process. His curiosity was aroused. He wished that he could also receive the call for help from the

ghost so that he could have a good chat with the ghost about this matter. "So many people received the call, the media likes to follow this kind of news, and the citizens also like to watch it. Of course, it will be a big deal." Sanfu couldn't help but curl his lips.

…

…

On the fourth day after the first “ghost call”, the police station still received ghost calls, but this “ghost” call was too much, even the originally timid pretty female operator began to lose her fear:

“Why is it coming again…”

That night, the police, who had the phone book of the deceased Wang Min’e, monitored the deceased’s friends who had not received any ghost calls. At about 1 a.m., the person pretending to be a ghost really called the deceased’s friends according to the phone book.

The police finally successfully locked the location of the call.

The police, who had been preparing for a long time, caught the troublemaker in a telephone booth in North Point. The caller was not even a woman, let alone a female ghost.

He was simply a very masculine man, with bright eyes, rosy cheeks, and even no black forehead. Obviously, he was far from being a ghost.

The troublemaker was taken to the police station and the whole story was uncovered that night.

The next morning, Jiayi came to the Public Relations Department again to talk to Sir Guo about the subsequent activities she would be appearing in, and she also heard the first-hand information that Sir Guo had received:

"It was William, the ex-boyfriend of the deceased, Wang Min'e. Although he was dumped, he was still deeply in love with Wang Min'e. According to him, Wang Min'e was alive and well, and had just made a new boyfriend. She often made appointments with friends to play mahjong. She was in love and in high spirits, and she would not die at all.

"He suspected that it was the current boyfriend of the deceased, a small businessman named Liang Xinwen."

"Is William's suspicion based on facts? "Jia Yi raised her eyebrows. She was more concerned about the truth of this case, whether it was suicide or murder.

"William said in his confession that he deduced according to the rationality of the matter. He felt that his ex-girlfriend had no reason to commit suicide. She must have had a conflict with her current boyfriend Liang Xinwen and was killed by Liang Xinwen." Sir Guo spread his hands.

"Did Liang Xinwen have a motive to kill? Was there anything suspicious at the suicide scene of the female victim? Or do all the clues and evidence point to suicide?" Jia Yi threw out a bunch of questions.

Sir Guo pondered for a few seconds and did not answer. Instead,

he turned on the TV. While switching to the morning news channel, he said, "The questions you asked are too sharp and they really hit the point. The current situation is indeed like this: although it has been confirmed that the ghost calls were indeed caused by someone, but--"

He pointed at the TV.

It happened to be the time for the morning news. After the opening commercials and the opening animation ended, the anchor began to report the main news.

Soon it was time for social news. The female anchor sorted out the documents and said to the camera:

"Regarding the 'ghost call again' incident, the police have caught the perpetrator who made phone calls to harass citizens and police...

"But on the other hand, through a thorough investigation by the police, Wang Mou'e's suicide is indeed suspicious."

"!" Jiayi sat up straight, her expression also became solemn: "It's really not suicide?"

"The police found Liang Xinwen, the current boyfriend of the deceased accused by William, and found that the alibi provided by Liang Xinwen was very problematic. Moreover, he claimed that he got along well with the deceased Wang Min'e, but in fact they had been arguing and breaking up recently.

"He couldn't stand Wang Min'e's temper and complained to many friends that he wanted to break up, but he was afraid that Wang Min'e would pester him and was very upset.

"Liang Xinwen's friends told the police these words truthfully, which proves that Liang Xinwen lied during the interrogation and made a false alibi, which is very suspicious."

Mr. Guo nodded and sighed:

"The Forensic Department sent many people to re-investigate the scene this time and found some suspicious places where the deceased fell from the building - those evidences showed that on the day of the deceased's fall, someone hit and broke the roof guardrail, which was inferred to be the damage caused by the struggle. If it was suicide, there should be no such traces."

During the first investigation, the Forensic Department was disturbed by the detectives and onlookers at the scene, and preconceived that it was suicide, so they missed important clues.

Jiayi frowned slightly, this was a serious mistake.

"The police can only rely on scientific evidence from the Forensic Science and Medical Sciences Department, confessions from eyewitnesses, and the investigations and logical reasoning of detectives to solve cases... However, these scientific technologies have limitations, and at this stage there are still very large areas that we cannot explore. We have so many things that cannot be tested, and mysteries that cannot be solved through anatomy, so... almost every detective often questions: Are the judgments based on these scientific knowledge absolutely accurate?

"After all, we cannot see the ins and outs of everything with our own eyes like God or the gods.

“Many veteran policemen and outstanding detectives always talk to me about their doubts about the outcome of a case - even the detectives themselves cannot be completely confident in their own judgment.

“Often when handing over evidence and documents to the Department of Justice, everyone is still asking themselves over and over again: Is this the truth? Did I really check it correctly and catch the right person?”

Sir Guo stroked his hair, which was no longer thick, and murmured,

“When I was a frontline policeman, I also had such self-doubt.

"Especially the kind of cases that take years to investigate, or the detectives all believe that someone is the murderer, but they just can't find any evidence... These situations are the most detrimental to the detectives' professional confidence."

Sir Guo sighed, took a sip of tea, and continued to complain while Yi Jiayi was thinking:

"This matter may affect the public's trust in the police force. But... the Central District Forensic Investigation Department is willing to admit its mistakes, which is actually a very brave thing."

The kind of judicial personnel who found that their judgment was wrong, but in order to protect their reputation, refused to admit it, and even tried their best to interfere with the truth being found out and affect the fairness of the law, has happened more than once in old cases at home and abroad.

Jiayi was still thinking, and did not respond to Sir Guo.

The news was still on TV. Mr. Guo watched it for a while, then suddenly remembered something and asked Yi Jiayi:

"Are you going to the Central Police Station to give a presentation on criminal psychology today? I just happened to be following up on this case and had a chat with the inspector in charge. Why don't we go together?"

Jiayi finally came to her senses and nodded, "Let's go now."