Free Web NovelChapter 521: Chapter 491 Nightmare_1
April 30, 2013
The alarm clock went off.
Zhou Ning reached out, fumbled around, turned off the alarm clock, then covered his head with a pillow and closed his eyes again.
There was a knock on the door, urgent and persistent. Zhou Ning sighed, sat up straight away.
He grabbed a T-shirt and threw it on before opening the door. His aunt stood there holding a bowl of seafood porridge.
"Hurry up and eat the porridge, then you can go back to sleep. You didn’t eat anything when you came back last night, and you already have a weak stomach. You’ve lost a lot of weight after being away for so many days. Have some seafood porridge to replenish your strength, I put a sea cucumber and two abalones in it."
"Thank you, Aunt. What time did you come?"
Zhou Ning smiled at his aunt, took the tray, put it on the small table, and then pulled open the curtains.
"It’s only eight thirty. Don’t open the curtains; you can continue to sleep after eating. Shancun said that he would take us out for some fun, and the old man will join us too. In the kitchen fridge, there are meal boxes. I cooked braised pork, salted fish cakes, stir-fried tofu, and there is also a pot of washed dipping vegetables. The meat sauce is right next to them.
After you have had enough sleep, swing by the Xia Family. Since you’re back, with Momo not here, a mother-in-law should act like a real mother. Go and check on them for Momo. They might not actually need you to do anything, just sit there, buy some fruit, have a chat, that’s all." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Zhou Ning felt a lump in his throat and hugged his aunt from behind. She paused, her incessant talking stopped, and she glanced over with some concern, then smiled and patted Zhou Ning on the arm as she saw him bury his face in her neck.
"Alright, boy, no need to get emotional. Go and have your porridge, then get some more sleep."
"Thank you, Aunt."
Zhou Ning got a grip on his emotions, stood up, and smiled at his aunt. She did not linger but went straight to the door.
"Don’t be so formal with me. Take your time eating; I’m going ahead. Shancun is waiting downstairs."
His aunt hurried downstairs, voices of Xiaoyu and Mr. He came from outside, and soon, with the sound of car doors closing, all the noise disappeared. Holding the bowl of porridge, Zhou Ning ate while walking downstairs, staring in the direction of the small square outside the window, his mind kept drifting to the past.
As he was lost in thought, drowsiness overtook him, and he dozed off on the sofa.
In his sleep, Zhou Ning held Xia Momo’s hand, walking in the residential garden. Under the dim streetlights, their warm glow fell on her face. Zhou Ning pinched her face gently, and her incessant talking finally stopped.
He gazed at Xia Momo in silence, without a single impure thought in his mind, wanting only to really look at her and wondering how she had been during her time away on a business trip.
"Zhou Ning, why are you staring at me like that?"
"Nothing. I see dark circles under your eyes. Haven’t you been sleeping well while away?"
Xia Momo gave a wry smile.
"Don’t worry, it’s just that there’s a lot to deal with for the case, especially the need to recreate animations for the collision processes of every incident. Although software can handle it, each car accident is different, and the angles of impact are strange, so we can’t simply apply a particular program without some difficulties."
Zhou Ning kissed her lightly on the lips, then tousled Xia Momo’s hair.
"I’m glad you’re almost done. I thought it would take a long time before you could come back. I was even considering if I should go over and help sort things out. After all, it’s Zhu Xingxing’s first time going out with Director Xu, and I’m not sure how the autopsies went. Of course, you are what I’m most worried about."
The two chatted and continued holding hands as they strolled on the pebble path in the garden. It felt like there were endless things to say after not seeing each other for many days. Although they weren’t overly affectionate, Zhou Ning liked this feeling and wasn’t the least bit resistant to it.
When they were nearing the east side of the building, a shadow in sports attire appeared, wearing a peaked cap. The person clutched the railing, already hanging at the east side window, seemingly about to break in any second. Zhou Ning instinctively shouted out.
"Hey! Police! What are you doing there, come down!"
The shock of his voice startled the person, who just looked back at Zhou Ning before leaping away to the north side of the building. Zhou Ning pushed Xia Momo and yelled:
"Get inside the building fast, call the police, call Xu Dayuan, tell him to send someone over, hurry!"
Xia Momo paled, but instead of screaming like other girls might, she made a call, apparently already in touch with Xu Dayuan, and she hurried towards the building entrance. Zhou Ning quickly pursued in the direction the shadow had vanished, and spotting a brick on the roadside, he picked it up.
After a search, he didn’t find anything suspicious; there were no traps or surveillance devices around the building. Zhou Ning felt puzzled, even doubting if he was overthinking it, and took out his phone to call Mr. Qu.
"Mr. Qu, check the surveillance around my building. There was a shadow climbing up the east side window. I don’t know if he’s a burglar or what he wants to do inside. See if you can spot him on the footage."
Ending the call, he seemed to hear the sound of sirens. In the quiet of the night, it was so clear, gradually calming his agitated heart.
He walked towards the building, reached for the door, found it unlocked, which made Zhou Ning pause. Could Xia Momo have been too rushed and failed to lock the door?
Without giving it much more thought, the door was already open. In the dimly lit living room, a shadow stood with his back to the light, his face impossible to discern. However, the peaked cap stood out conspicuously; this was not the same person that had been at the window.
And he was grabbing Xia Momo’s neck, controlling her with one hand so she couldn’t scream.
It seemed that he noticed Zhou Ning entering, he raised his hand towards Zhou Ning and even laughed, his voice filled with scorn.
"Heh, you’ve actually found out, so there’s no need to hide anymore. Today, you can all die, along with everyone you know. You should have died seventeen years ago, it’s good that everything is getting back on track now. It’s just a pity that such a pretty girl didn’t even let me taste her."
As he spoke, an object in his hand aimed at Zhou Ning’s chest, and with a loud bang, Zhou Ning slowly fell down, Xia Momo struggled hard, crying and shouting in madness. The laugh from the man in the duckbill cap, and the sound of footsteps coming from the staircase, all seemed to be fading away.
Zhou Ning collapsed to the ground, the pain wasn’t as intense as expected, but he couldn’t move or breathe.
The duckbill-capped man was already clutching Xia Momo’s hair, holding her hostage in his embrace, stepping back and aiming a gun at the second aunt and grandfather rushing down the stairs. At this moment, footsteps also came from the entrance.
Zhou Ning couldn’t turn his head, but he knew the police must have arrived, perhaps Xu Dayuan had brought people with him. All he hoped for at that moment was for Xia Momo to be safe, for his grandfather and others to be unharmed. This was the only obsession left in Zhou Ning’s mind.
But it seemed as if the man in the duckbill cap could sense Zhou Ning’s thoughts, approaching him and slightly lowering his head, the dim light revealing scarred skin pockmarked and uneven on the man’s jaw and cheek.
"Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone go, no one can escape, let’s die together!"
With that, the gun in the man’s hand fell, and at some point, he had grabbed something resembling a remote control, pressing a red button. An eye-piercing white flash followed by a deafening explosion filled the room.
Zhou Ning’s eyes snapped open, and he rolled off the couch.
He was covered in sweat, his chest still seemed to bear the residual pain of being shot. Glancing around, he realized he was sitting on the living-room carpet, a breeze fluttering, the room eerily quiet.
After calming down, Zhou Ning got up from the floor and walked to the window, closing all of them.
He knew that it had just been a dream, but it was too vivid. The pain in his chest seemed real, and the uneasiness made Zhou Ning very uncomfortable. Thinking back, he could not see the face of the man in the duckbill cap clearly, but could vaguely remember the pitted scars on his chin and cheeks, not like acne marks, but seemingly connected scars.
In all his years at work, he had never felt such fear, not because he was killed in the dream, but because the threat to the people he loved most left him unsettled for a long time.
In the three years at work, he had encountered numerous cases. If any of the families of the perpetrators, or someone released, sought revenge to the extreme, Xu Dayuan was aware. However, he couldn’t afford to leave any security threats unaddressed.
With this thought, Zhou Ning hurriedly rushed to the third floor, found his phone, and saw that there were two missed calls - one from Xu Dayuan and another from an unknown number. Zhou Ning didn’t rush to reply; instead, he directly dialed Mr. Qu’s number.
"Boss? Is there a case?"
Zhou Ning exhaled, only then remembering that today was the last day of the May Day holiday, and calling at such an hour might make people think it was urgent. He adjusted his mood to sound as nonchalant as possible,
"No case, I just have a personal matter to consult with you."
On the other side of the phone, Mr. Qu obviously sighed in relief.
"You scared me. I’m picking cherries in Yingtaogou Valley. I thought there was a case. What’s up, boss? I’m listening."
Zhou Ning, feeling apologetic, glanced out the window and quickly said:
"It’s like this, I want to install surveillance cameras around my townhouse, as well as those anti-vandalism alarms that directly connect to the command center, not the community property management. Is there any regulation in the city against extra installs, and can I personally install security bars at home, even just on the inside?"
Mr. Qu was clearly surprised, exclaimed, and quickly asked:
"What’s wrong, boss? Do you feel threatened by someone, or are there other unsafe factors around?"
Zhou Ning paused, as he couldn’t say he was making precautions because of a dream— that would be too absurd to voice out.
"I don’t know how to explain it. Having handled so many cases, although the criminals have been caught, I’m worried about their families seeking revenge, which could endanger my family. Especially now that I live here and everyone around knows I’m a forensic doctor and I’ve appeared on TV, I’m concerned about my family’s safety."
Mr. Qu had an epiphany and after some thought, said:
"Boss, how about this: I’ve got someone to set up a security system for your house. We’ll install covert surveillance cameras all around, the wireless transmission kind, and fit every window with an alarm system that will signal if tampered with from the outside. Regarding the security bars, I’ll have someone take a look. If I remember correctly, your townhouse has a Chinese-style décor, so we can arrange something of the same style. I know a company that specializes in this; they’re registered with the police department."
Zhou Ning smiled with satisfaction.
"Great, let me know when it’s arranged, and I will go to Momo’s place in a bit, and I’ll be back in the afternoon; they can come over at any time."
"Okay, we’ll contact you by phone to set it up."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ning breathed a sigh of relief, took a bath, and changed into clean clothes before sending Xia Momo a WeChat message.
[Zhou Ning: Are you still busy?]
