Chapter 1
"On the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell open."
Burning paper ingots to worship the souls of the dead.
The lamps of the water lanterns illuminate the road.
A distant banner ferryes the lonely soul across the land.
The wind howled, and the rain wept.
A thousand-mile journey through wind and rain,
I can't see where I'll go home.
Who will come with me back to my house?
My lord, I've been waiting for you for so long...
The wind whistled, the leaves rustled, and the chirping of insects grew louder and louder, but the light from his phone grew dimmer and dimmer. In this large, dark forest, Zhang Zhanchao's fear intensified. He hugged his arms tightly, swallowed hard, and tried to suppress his fear by silently chanting Buddhist mantras. However, in the tense atmosphere, the songs he had heard a few days ago resurfaced in his mind—the terrifying voices of children and women in operatic singing swept over him again, making his legs tremble uncontrollably, and he dared not move forward.
Hang in there, just a little longer, or those losers will laugh you to death.
He closed his eyes, continuing to mentally prepare himself, while imagining the prize he could win after this bet. Just one night in the woods, and a two-thousand-dollar prize—what a bargain! His new computer was just two thousand dollars short.
"Snap! Rustle..." It sounded like someone was stepping on a dead branch and walking on fallen leaves. There was also a strange sound, like a song but out of tune, with a terrifying feeling that sent chills down one's spine.
Zhang Zhanchao suddenly opened his eyes.
That one glance nearly made him faint. In the distance, a few lights floated in the air. As they drew closer, the figure of a long-haired woman gradually emerged. Hidden in the grass, it was impossible to tell whether she was standing or floating, but encountering such a person in this desolate place late at night was unsettling. The female ghost moved forward step by step, while Zhang Zhanchao moved back step by step, but the more he moved, the more his heart pounded, as if a chill was creeping down his back. He finally couldn't help but turn around, and at the same time, the woman spoke.
"Hey--"
"ah!!!"
The sensation of his foot stepping on something on the ground, and the voice that sounded like a female ghost, sent his blood rushing to his brain, and he instantly lost consciousness. Amidst the clearly audible dripping sound, Xiao Zhang passed out, stiff and disheveled.
Iris could only sigh.
All right, consider it a new experience to accumulate.
She put away her notebook, grabbed a small knife, and approached the man, holding it high. Only after confirming he was truly unconscious did she lower her guard, her face showing a conflicted expression as she looked at the half-exposed hand sticking out of the ground beneath him. Seeing that he wouldn't wake up anytime soon, and that moving him would only further disturb the scene, Iris hesitated for a long time before finally abandoning her plan to move the boy, who was lying in a very awkward position. She pressed the screen, didn't dial an ambulance, but simply put down the candle in her hand, instead shining her flashlight on Zhang Zhanchao's head to make sure he hadn't hit any rocks when he fell. Then she walked back to the side and waited for the police to arrive.
The firelight still lingered in the darkness, and the eerie music continued to drift through the air. When the Major Crimes Unit arrived, they were also startled by the noise. Upon stopping, Inspector Lu, who was taking statements, couldn't help but ask the beautiful woman before him, "In the dead of night, are you here to celebrate a ghost's birthday?"
This unforgettable and bizarre scene quickly spread throughout the police station. When the deceased's identity was confirmed and the case was transferred to the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau (OCTB), Ah May, who received the file, immediately inquired about it: "Ah Ron, that eyewitness, she really did bring a lotus candle that played a version of the 'Happy Birthday' song in the Great Compassion Mantra and stayed next to the body all night?"
Lu Zhaoheng sighed and shook his head, his tone filled with incomprehension and helplessness. If the other party hadn't acted normally and clearly when answering questions, he would have really suspected that the woman named Iris had mental problems: "One night is false, it didn't last that long; the lotus lantern is real, anyway, after we returned to the police station, that thing was still ringing. If you go to see that girl today, you might still hear it."
May was genuinely looking forward to meeting this extraordinary woman. However, the record was very detailed, and after reading it, she couldn't recall anything else she could ask. So, half an hour before she was supposed to leave work, she had completely given up on the possibility of meeting Iris.
However, just ten minutes later, the young woman got through to their boss. Zhuang Zhuohua walked out of the office with a calm expression and instructed her subordinate Xiao Bo: "Bo, there is an eyewitness to this case downstairs. Go and bring her up."
Excited about the case and feeling a little guilty for scaring someone unconscious, after resting, Iris enthusiastically bought a bouquet of flowers and went to the hospital to visit Zhang Zhanchao, who had woken up in the middle of the night the previous night only to be scared unconscious again by the corpse.
After a few polite exchanges, the topic inevitably turned to the events of the previous night. Hearing that Iris had gone to gather writing material, Zhang Zhanchao didn't hesitate to explain his purpose. Seeing her diligently taking notes in her notebook, Zhang Zhanchao, anticipating a possible appearance as an important character in this writer's work, became excited and described the events in greater detail. It was precisely because of this that Iris, with her keen intuition, immediately noticed the steel balls Zhang Zhanchao mentioned: "You mean, you collected a lot of steel balls of the same size?"
“Just a few, just a few,” Zhang Zhanchao said with a sheepish grin, scratching his head as he took the beads out of the drawer. “I was using my phone’s flashlight to shine a light on the ground, and I saw those things flashing. At first, I didn’t intend to pick them up, but then I got bored and a little scared, so I wanted to find something to do.”
Iris now understood the speechless look on Lu Sir's face when he faced her. Of course, without a strange way of thinking, this guy wouldn't have run into her in the mountains in the middle of the night. She forced a smile, patted Zhang Zhanchao's shoulder, stared at his arm that he had broken when he fell for the second time, and said with a smile and a wink, "Okay, you stay here and recover. I'll take your things to the police station for you."
"Ms. Zhou, is this the new evidence you mentioned?" Zhuang Zhuohua shifted her gaze from the transparent plastic bag and sized up the smiling girl opposite her. Just as her colleagues in the Major Crimes Unit had described, she was indeed too calm and too enthusiastic. If the forensic department hadn't already determined the time of death, and if Ms. Zhou Yishi hadn't provided a solid alibi, she would probably still be a suspect.
Zhou Yishi's eyes crinkled, and she leaned forward slightly: "Madam, actually I'm not entirely sure if these beads are related to this case, because according to Xiao Zhang, the place where he found them is quite a distance from the body. And if the burial site isn't the primary crime scene, then the relevance of these items to the case is even less."
Zhuang Zhuohua narrowed her eyes upon hearing this, scrutinizing Iris even more intently. According to the forensic report, the cause of death of the deceased, Daliqiang, was indeed unrelated to these steel balls; even his other wounds showed no indication of being caused by them. She sat closer, crossed her arms, and looked at Iris across the table: "Ms. Zhou, if you've already considered all of this, then why did you come to me in the first place?"
“Two reasons,” Iris’s smile widened as she gestured. “First, I’m not sure if these things are really unrelated to the case. Even if they aren’t, I think it’s very unusual for these steel balls of the same size to appear in the woods. One here, one there, and another one stuck in a tree trunk. I suspect these balls were used as bullets, and a gun capable of firing such bullets would probably have been modified to fire at speeds of over ten joules. That would be illegal in Hong Kong, wouldn’t it?”
Zhuang Zhuohua frowned, then relaxed her grip: "Miss Zhou is also quite knowledgeable about guns?"
Iris shrugged: "I'm learning recently because the male protagonist of my next novel is a sharpshooter, so I want to experience what it feels like to fire a gun."
"And the second reason?" Zhuang Zhuohua asked after a moment. The person opposite her immediately covered her face with both hands, a hint of girlish shyness in her eyes: "The second reason, well, at first I wanted to use the opportunity of delivering the beads to come in and see what the differences were between the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau and the Major Crimes Unit, to gather some writing material. But after hearing Inspector Lu mention your name, Madam, I changed my mind. I wanted to ask, Madam Zhuang, do you know a man named Zhuang Zhuoyuan? He might also be a policeman?"
Zhuang Zhuohua was stunned for a moment. She knew her brother was good at socializing, but she had never known that he knew such a girl. However, judging from Zhou Yishi's words, they didn't seem to be very familiar with each other: "Miss Zhou, why are you asking me? And why do you have such an inference?"
Iris was already excited, her big eyes sparkling: "Madam Zhuang, you're Ah Yuan's older sister, right? I've been looking for him for over a year, and finally, I've made progress! We met in Amsterdam a year and a half ago, but after going to India, I accidentally lost my phone. Because I didn't remember his number, I haven't been able to contact him since then. This is my fourth time in Hong Kong, and finally, finally, I've met you!"
"You've come to Hong Kong four times for him?" Zhuang Zhuohua became interested. She remembered that after returning from the Netherlands, Zhuang Zhuoyuan had indeed been absent-minded for a while. If her younger brother was indeed distracted by this Miss Zhou, then as his older sister, she had no reason not to lend a hand.
Iris sighed, “Yes, I come here whenever I have the chance and stay for a week or two, but unfortunately I still haven’t been able to find him. Although Hong Kong is small, finding someone is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I originally wanted to put an ad in the newspaper, but then I remembered that he had calluses on his thumb and index finger, like from holding a gun for a long time, so I didn’t dare to do it.”
That means they've already held hands. Zhuang Zhuohua's eyes flickered, and she reached into the pen holder, picking up a pen. She deliberately asked again, "What do you want with him? Does he owe you money?"
“Hmm…he doesn’t owe me money, but I guess I owe him a girlfriend.” Iris, who had been covering her face with both hands, now rested her chin on one hand, laughing and lowering her head. She sensed Zhuang Zhuohua’s deliberate probing and frankly revealed her purpose: “Back in the Netherlands, he helped me get my bag back once, and I didn’t have a chance to thank him properly. It’s been so long, so I think I can only repay him by marrying him. Madam Zhuang, I have a legitimate job and I guarantee I have a clean background and no bad habits, so could you please give me a chance to pursue your brother?”
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