Free Web NovelChapter 44: Chapter 44: The Bleeding Wall
Jiang Li was munching on some chips when her movements suddenly froze. A few seconds later, she resumed eating. Once she’d had her fill, she lay down to sleep.
A suffocating sensation washed over her, and she snapped her eyes open. It was pitch black all around. Her nose was pressed against a rough, uneven surface, and her entire body was pinned down, unable to move. The smell of concrete filled her nostrils.
’Where am I?’
Jiang Li tried to open her mouth to call for help, but it felt like it had been sealed shut with something.
As time ticked by, her breaths grew fainter and more difficult. Blood rushed to her head, bringing a wave of dizziness. It was so agonizing she just wanted to die.
But in the next second, CLANG. Something seemed to have fallen to the ground. She strained to look down and saw an old flip phone.
The time displayed on it was July 8th, twenty years ago.
’Twenty years ago?’
Jiang Li was completely stunned. ’Did I just dream about something from twenty years ago?’
’Is this supposed to be a clue about something?’
"Jiang Li, Jiang Li! Wake up!"
Lu Xingye had come early to bring Jiang Li breakfast, but when he pushed open the door, he found her sleeping like the dead. He couldn’t help but think of the last time this happened, and his heart sank.
"Jiang Li!" He rushed forward, calling her name. Seeing that she still wasn’t waking up, he grew terribly worried.
"Move!" Hearing Lu Xingye’s voice, Huo Qing hurried in. He looked at the unconscious Jiang Li and raised his hand, preparing to take more drastic measures.
But in the next second, his hand was seized in a death grip by Jiang Li, who had woken up at some point. A pair of sinister, cold eyes stared grimly at him.
Huo Qing’s mind blanked for a moment. His heart constricted, as if it were being squeezed by a giant hand, making it hard to breathe.
"Officer Huo, did something happen?"
Jiang Li’s calm, questioning voice pulled Huo Qing back to his senses. He looked at the confused expression on her face and wondered if he had just been seeing things.
"It’s nothing. Lu Xingye couldn’t wake you, so I came to see what was wrong." After speaking, Huo Qing sat down on a nearby stool, his mind replaying the look in Jiang Li’s eyes.
’That look... it was like she wanted to kill me.’
Huo Qing looked toward Jiang Li. ’She’s so strange.’
If he hadn’t learned a few things from Zhou Tiancheng beforehand, he would have run a thorough background check on this Jiang Li to see if she had a criminal record.
Huo Qing stood up. ’No, I should still check her out myself, just in case.’
Jiang Li narrowed her eyes at Huo Qing’s retreating back, then shifted her gaze to Lu Xingye.
"I dreamed I was in a cramped space, crushed so hard I couldn’t breathe. There was a flip phone by my feet with a date on it."
Jiang Li told Lu Xingye everything about her dream.
Lu Xingye hadn’t expected her to just start talking. He fumbled around, looking for a pen and paper. ’I should have listened to Zhao Shuo and carried a notebook and pen with me at all times.’
After jotting it down, Lu Xingye looked up at her. "Here’s breakfast. Eat it while it’s hot. I’m going to have someone look into this date."
Jiang Li held the warm soy milk, thinking about the scene from her dream. It was so dark, so cramped and dark. She had been so suffocated and oppressed that the only thing she’d noticed was the date.
Lu Xingye took the date to Huo Qing. "This is the date Jiang Li gave me. Have your people check for anything that happened around that building at that time."
Lu Xingye recalled that Jiang Li’s previous dreams had all been related to cases. This meant it was probably connected to the Xiong Wangtian case, so starting the search from that building should be the right move.
Huo Qing was looking over Jiang Li’s detailed file. At age seven, she was "adopted" by the human trafficker Jiang Dewang. She grew up under his watch until age sixteen, when she escaped the village and came to B City for school. She stayed until a few months ago, when she left for C City after a conflict with her ex-boyfriend.
Jiang Dewang had been involved in abductions since he was twelve. It was a testament to his skill that he’d evaded capture for so many years. And Jiang Li was somehow the only survivor among the many children he had trafficked.
But according to her file, there was nothing particularly special about her, aside from some minor psychological issues.
Lu Xingye saw him holding Jiang Li’s file. "Brother Huo, what’s the meaning of this?"
As he spoke, Lu Xingye pulled his phone from his pocket, ready to call Zhou Tiancheng and the others over.
"Hey, hey, hey! Look at you, so impatient. I’m just looking!" Huo Qing grabbed Lu Xingye’s hand. ’This kid, why does he always want to call for backup over every little thing?’
Huo Qing glanced at the notebook in his hand. "Ahem, any new developments from Jiang Li? Let me see."
Huo Qing took the notebook from him. On it was a date from twenty years ago.
"You look into it. Contact me if you find anything. Jiang Li and I have things to do."
With that, Lu Xingye turned and went to find Jiang Li. He planned to take her with him to Building 11 again.
When Lu Xingye returned, Jiang Li was already ready, waiting for him with her bag on.
"Let’s go. Should we call Wu Ming to come with us?" Lu Xingye asked Jiang Li.
Jiang Li nodded and took out her phone to call Wu Ming.
After hanging up, Jiang Li saw the 99+ messages in her chat with Qiao Siyuan, glanced at them, and pretended she hadn’t.
About ten minutes later, Wu Ming arrived in her little car.
"Jiang Li! Jiang Li! Over here!" Wu Ming waved excitedly at her.
Jiang Li got into the passenger seat of Wu Ming’s car and fastened her seatbelt. Lu Xingye followed behind on his motorcycle, and the three of them headed for Building 11 once more.
There were still police officers guarding the building, and a few forensic pathologists in white coats were gathered together, deep in discussion.
"This smell is definitely a decomposing body!"
"We’ve been searching here for a whole day and night without a single clue. We’ve checked the sewers and every other possible hiding spot, but we haven’t found so much as a fragment!"
As Jiang Li approached, she could hear their animated discussion.
Suddenly, Jiang Li’s sharp eyes spotted the lady from yesterday. She walked over to her.
"Ma’am, yesterday you said whoever rents this place must be looking for trouble. Why is that?"
The lady glanced at her, then a strange expression appeared on her face. "This building is haunted. It’s restless. It’s not a good place."
Her family sold milk, and she’d made deliveries here several times. Every time she went home afterward, she would hear eerie noises. She had come yesterday to tell the tenants here that she wouldn’t be delivering to this building anymore, and that was when she ran into the two of them on her way down.
Wu Ming, standing nearby, smiled, revealing two sweet dimples. "Ma’am, you can’t say that. There are no such things as ghosts in this world."
Hearing Wu Ming say that, the lady was instantly displeased. "How can you say there are no ghosts when I’ve heard them myself? At night, there are KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK sounds, and crying. If that’s not a haunting, what is?"
"Oh, is that so? Well, thank you, Ma’am. You’re such a good person. No wonder you look so kind and beautiful. If it weren’t for you yesterday, we would have rented the place. You’re truly a lifesaver!"
A torrent of compliments poured from Wu Ming’s lips.
"Oh, my. This young lady really knows how to sweet-talk someone. I don’t mind telling you, if there was nothing wrong with this building, it would’ve been renovated long ago."
"I have some hot soup at home, so I’ll be heading back now." Flattered by Wu Ming’s words, the lady left in high spirits.
Jiang Li stared at the building in front of her, puzzled. The feeling of suffocation from her dream came to mind. ’Could someone be sealed inside a wall?’
"Blood! There’s a lot of blood in that corner of the wall!"
A cry of alarm rang out. Jiang Li turned to look and saw a long streak of blood on the peeling wall.
