Thriller Night Talk

Chapter 12: Or do you have a better idea?

Translator-Rhapsodite

Editor-simpforlife, Proofreader-Ghostie

“Well, there is some truth in this conjecture.”

However, Bei Quan sighed.

“But it’s a pity that among the other survivors, there is no one of the same age as Mr. A.”

At the time of the fire, a total of six households were living at 44 Jinyuan Road.

Among them, four families lived alone, including Ye Jia— the deceased, Liu Fei and Lin Xue, as well as a female graduate student of biology who lived on the third floor.

But at that time, the girl escaped in a timely manner, only choking on a few mouthfuls of smoke. Later, the apartment was burned and one person had died, so the girl moved back to the school dormitory.

“Zhu Ling has also gone to investigate the girl. Although she is still scarred by last year’s fire, she has a fairly good mental state. She doesn’t seem to have been entangled by Hui Gui. ”

Wei Fuyuan nodded, “There are still two households left?”

“Two old people were living in Room 102 on the first floor, with a grandson who had just gone to primary school. They all went back to their hometown after the fire.” Bei Quan replied.

Wei Fuyuan noticed that Bei Quan seemed to have a reliable memory.

Because when he gave this information, he, in a way, proved that he didn’t need to look up the information prior.

“Next door to Liu Fei is a couple from Beipiao who work nearby. The husband is nearly 40 years old and can’t match Mr.A’s age.”

Wei Fuyuan, “So it seems that these people are not likely to be Mr.A.”

After a moment of thinking, he suddenly tapped his thigh, “By the way, it was mentioned in the information regarding the fire that 119 went out very quickly, but was blocked at the intersection by private cars parked everywhere? According to this, the car owner can also be regarded as one of the killers who led to Ye Jia’s death?”

Wei Fuyuan thought of another possibility, “Do you think Mr.A is the owner of a private car in a traffic jam?”

Bei Quan was slightly surprised.

At first glance, Young Master Wei looked like a brawny husky with his teeth and claws, but in reality he was quite careful and clever.

“It is indeed possible.”

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Bei Quan nodded.

“Anyway, let’s rule that out for the time being.”

Bei Quan’s attitude was quite natural, as if it was very simple to find a random car parked at a certain intersection half a year ago.

Wei Fuyuan thought that Bei Quan knew someone ‘above’, but he knew that this was not something that should be investigated, so he didn’t ask any more questions.

The discussion between the two ended here.

Bei Quan decided to return to Fèng Xīngchéng city the next day. After saying good night to Wei Fuyuan, he climbed into his bed, covered his head with a quilt and soon fell asleep.

Wei Fuyuan had tossed around all day and was dead tired at night. He felt physically and mentally exhausted.

But Wei Fuyuan couldn’t fall asleep no matter what. Maybe it was because of an unfamiliar bed or because he slept too much in the afternoon. Wei Fuyuan rolled around for three hours until his mobile phone ran out of power and fell asleep in a daze at 2:30 in the morning.

———————————

The next day, April 25th, Sunday.

Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan returned to Fèng Xīngchéng city.

When they walked into the Sāntúchuān Broadcasting Company, the police records and traffic monitoring of the fire truck on the day of the fire had been sent over.

“Well, it turned out to be more complicated than we thought.”

Bei Quan spread out the data and studied it carefully.

“It doesn’t seem to be the doing of a single person.”

Wei Fuyuan had already placed himself in the position of the ‘assistant’ unknowingly, and came forward to take a look.

“Look here.”

Bei Quan turned sideways, letting Wei Fuyuan move closer.

According to the police records, on September 23 last year, right after 119 received the alarm, they drove to No. 44 Jinyuan Road, where the fire had broken out in a minute and a half.

However, at that time, both intersections of Jinyuan Road were under construction, half of the driveway was blocked, and in the dead of night, the roadside was full of parked private cars of nearby residents. The fire trucks were stuck in place, unable to move. When the firefighters finally got to the scene, the fire had engulfed the whole building, and Ye Jia, who failed to escape in time, was burned to death.

“The streets in the old city are already narrow. In addition to the construction, the residents living nearby are used to parking their cars at the roadside. ”

Bei Quan said, “These three factors are the main reasons why the fire trucks couldn’t arrive in time. If these people were all related to Ye Jia’s death, then at least a hundred more people should have been caged by Hui Gui.”

Wei Fuyuan understood, “However, Hui Gui chose Mr. A alone.”

“Yes, that is true.” Bei Quan nodded.

“So Mr.A must have done something that the other people didn’t do, thus being hated to the bone by Ye Jia’s ghost.”

Wei Fuyuan took the complex data from the table and turned it over and over again, reading it three times attentively, as if to engrave every word in his brain.

But even after reading it thrice, he still didn’t find any particularly suspicious people.

“… We can’t wait for Mr. A to die before we know who he is, can we?”

Young Master Wei was a little frustrated.

They were already so close to solving the case and he was not willing to give up just yet.

“Maybe the ghost has already killed Mr.A and ran away?”

Bei Quan’s expression was solemn.

“It’s been a month since March 30, when the fourth victim, Lin Xue, died. Given the time interval between the first four kills, it’s almost time for Hui Gui to kill its next prey.”

Wei Fuyuan didn’t realize that he had completely accepted Bei Quan’s unscientific ghost theory and officially joined the ghost extermination team. In a stupor, he asked, “What should we do now?”

Bei Quan put his chin on one hand and thought about it for a while.

“There is no clue for now.” He frankly admitted, “It seems to me that we can only wait until after dark to have a look at burned down 44 Jinyuan Road, to see if we can find any clues.”

———————————

No. 44, Jinyuan Road, which had caught fire half a year ago, was located deep inside the Hutong alley of the old city, not too far from Sāntúchuān.

Considering the poor road conditions along the way, Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan decided to take a bus.

On the way, Wei Fuyuan asked his boss why he decided to investigate at night. Bei Quan replied that it was only at night that he could find the traces left by the Hui Gui.

Young Master Wei was at a loss.

So Bei Quan gave him a detailed explanation, saying that he had a ‘tool’ in his hand, which was similar to luminol used in forensic medic for occult blood reaction tests, and could detect the weak psychic/metaphysical traces left by Hui Gui after its recent activities.

It’s just that the light was strong in the daytime, and as a result the Yang was strong too. The props couldn’t work. They could only be taken out in the dead of night for effective usage.

Wei Fuyuan was about to exclaim, ‘how futuristic’ when Bei Quan shrugged, “However, you can not hold too much hope.”

He added, “Hui Guis, after all, are Yin ghosts who thrive on resentment, anger, hatred and other such extreme emotions. As long as their residual energy disappears rapidly in the environment of strong Yang energy, there are few opportunities for my little tool to come into use.”

Wei Fuyuan frowned, “How many days’ traces can be detected?”

“It doesn’t necessarily work like this— for example, if it’s a rainy day or a place with a heavy overcast atmosphere, such as a cemetery or a basement, it’s no problem for it to last for about three to five days.”

Then he pointed out the window of the car.

“However, given the current condition, if the sun is shining high and bright in the daytime and the environment is open and airy, the traces left by the Hui Gui will probably disappear in less than a day.”

Wei Fuyuan’s eyes suddenly widened, “It’s been nearly half a year since the fire. What else can we hope to find?”

Bei Quan tilted his head and asked with a smile, “Or do you have a better idea?”

Wei Fuyuan tactfully stopped talking.

He really couldn’t think of a more reliable investigation direction, and could only use the most dumbass method ever and accompany Bei Quan to find Mr. A.

When the two finally arrived at their destination, it was about 8:30 in the evening.

For the young generation who was very much accustomed to nightlife, this could not be considered ‘night’ yet, but for people living in the alleys of the old city, it was time to close their doors and go back to their homes.

Jinyuan Road could only accommodate a maximum of two cars sideways.

At night, there was no traffic police to monitor, resulting in all the private cars parked carelessly on the side of the road, squeezing the two separate lanes into a one-way street.

Fortunately, the traffic on this road was scant at night. If there happened to be two cars going across from each other, one of them would consciously pull over and pass the other car diagonally, leaving enough space for the oncoming vehicle to pass through.

“No wonder the fire trucks weren’t able to reach on time.”

After seeing the actual situation, Wei Fuyuan was furious.

Judging from the tacit understanding of the traffic on the road, it would take not more than a day or two for private cars to stop following the regulations and park their car in disorder around this area. Even if there had been a serious fire nearby not long ago, which took a person’s life, it still wasn’t enough to shake up the residents.

Coming to think of it, if Ye Jia wanted to find revenge from the car owners, Wei Fuyuan was afraid that she would have to kill more than a hundred people, as Bei Quan said.

While Young Master Wei was still pondering over this, the two had reached the old site at No. 44 Jinyuan Road.

The reason why it came to be called the ‘old site’ was because most of the dilpliated four-story buildings had been blackened by thick smoke, and most of the walls in places where the fire had been severe were burned through, making it impossible for human inhabitation. It’s just that the old building hadn’t yet been demolished, and sturdy iron gates had been installed at the entrance to keep out trespassers.

Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan stood at the foot of the property and looked up.

The abandoned building appeared deserted and pitch dark, it rather looked like a huge tombstone.

Bei Quan pulled out the spray bottle containing cow’s tears from the suitcase he was carrying and instructed his assistant to begin the preparations. Then he grabbed a bamboo tube, ripped out the yellow silken plug on top, and made a ‘dumping’ gesture.

Wei Fuyuan was afraid he would miss something important, and hurriedly sprayed the cow tears.

Immediately, he saw a white shadow surrounding Bei Quan’s feet, spinning steadily and swiftly in perfect circles.

Bei Quan pointed to the white shadow around his feet and said with a smile, “This little one is called Guan Hu Su Ying, and it’s a fox.”

Wei Fuyuan observed it attentively and discovered that it was a palm-sized fox.

“This, is precisely the ‘tool’ that can detect the residual spiritual power of the Hui Gui.”

——Well, my boss doesn’t use luminescent ammonia gas, but police dogs. No, forget dogs, this is something even better— ghost foxes!

Young Master Wei thought so until he noticed that the small white fox had already bolted and ran to the end of the street.