Chapter 199: [Gold Medal Salesperson] So That Was Why
Fortunately, there were no terrifying entities lurking beneath the bed.
The police officer peering under the bed let out an instant breath of relief.
Truth be told, regarding the scene they had just witnessed in the kitchen, they had truly drawn upon every last drop of their lifelong professional code of conduct to refrain from screaming out loud.
Remaining here right now was merely a matter of biting the bullet and holding out, primarily because Bai Cha acted with such total composure, which left their skin crawling.
Because it was hard for them not to ponder whether Bai Cha was human or ghost.
Even if she wasn’t a ghost, she likely wasn’t entirely human either.
Holding this thought in his mind, just as the officer made to straighten his back, the peripheral vision of his eye caught a sudden glimpse of a face.
He whipped his head sharply toward the mirror—the bathroom mirror.
The bathroom door stood open, situated diagonally across from this room, allowing a partial view of the mirror right from his position.
Though it wasn’t particularly distinct, he was absolutely certain that a face had been inside the mirror just a moment ago.
His reaction was far too blatant, causing the other two officers to look over instinctively as well.
Well, there was nothing inside the mirror now.
“What’s wrong?” A faint, subtle tremor laced the female officer’s voice.
“No… my eyes were playing tricks on me. Let’s go check the master bedroom. If there’s still nothing, we’ll head back first and look into the surveillance footage around your place.”
The officer refrained from telling his colleagues about that face.
What if talking about it alerted that entity?
Besides, strictly speaking, even though it was merely a peripheral glance that lacked absolute certainty, that face had felt somewhat similar to… Li Yun.
He couldn’t help casting a glance at Bai Cha standing right there, his inner mind already screaming hysterically.
Bai Cha was examining the interior of the room as well.
That stale, decaying scent within the room had turned exceptionally pronounced.
In fact, it was bordering on foul.
The stench somewhat resembled a dead rat, or boiled eggs left out for several days in the summer heat.
It wasn’t overwhelmingly intense yet, however.
There were quite a few items inside this room, including a wardrobe.
Upon hearing the police officer’s voice, Bai Cha hesitated briefly before turning her gaze toward the wardrobe.
“Could you please inspect a bit more? I’m really terrified.”
Truth be told, the positioning of that wardrobe was rather delicate too—strictly speaking, the person taking the photo ought to have been standing right by that wardrobe.
Had it not been set to timed automatic capture, a person might have even been standing directly inside the wardrobe.
The officer looked at her, ultimately turning around in silence to bite the bullet once more, yanking the wardrobe doors wide open in a single swift motion.
A dull thud echoed out as something tumbled from the upper compartment inside the cabinet, landing squarely outside on the floor.
Every officer flinched, focusing their eyes to take a close look, only to discover it was a dead dog.
In that single instant, they let out a collective breath of relief first.
Examining the dog further, it was a small breed, having been dead for at least a week—maggots had already infested its body, particularly around the eye sockets.
Because its eyes were gone, looking as though they had been gouged out by someone.
This was a black mongrel dog—pure black.
Bai Cha looked at the black dog, whose four limbs were tightly bound with ropes; it had clearly fallen down earlier because the rope securing its front limbs had snapped.
Speaking of which, she had encountered a black dog over at Zhao Qun’s place today as well, though that one wasn’t pure black like this one.
Why keep a black dog—was it used to perform some kind of ritual?
The officer crouched down to examine it, then raised his eyes toward Bai Cha.
“Do you know what’s going on with this dog? Looking at it, it’s been dead for at least a week.”
Although they weren’t professional forensic examiners, considering the degree of decomposition on this dog, it certainly hadn’t died within the past few days, given that the maggots had already grown rather substantial.
Bai Cha shook her head.
“I had zero idea there was something like this in the house. I was just wondering why I kept sensing an odor…”
Once this dog tumbled out, the odor clearly intensified significantly.
The officers didn’t particularly believe her words, in truth.
Yet they held no desire to engage in further conversation with her either, deciding to go through the motions of basic questioning.
The group searched the room a bit further, confirming no places for a person to hide remained, before heading over to the master bedroom.
They inspected all potential hiding spots in the master bedroom as well, comparing them against the photos and the positions where the eyes had appeared.
In truth… aside from the eyes beneath that bed, the positions where the eyes appeared in the other selfies weren’t places where a person could hide at all.
Some were clearly standing right against the base of the wall.
Or standing directly behind her frame.
And if the owner taking the photos held zero awareness regarding that person… recalling the scene from moments ago, all three officers fell into heavy silence.
They paid another visit to the living room, leaving only the bathroom uninspected.
Sensing that something was amiss with the bathroom, the officer who had caught that glimpse stepped up to intercept his two colleagues directly.
“There definitely isn’t anywhere for a person to hide inside the bathroom either. Wasting time here is just a waste of effort. We’ll go conduct inquiries in the neighborhood, and check around your building while we’re at it. For now, there’s definitely no one inside your home, so don’t worry. Hurry up and find a locksmith to replace your lock.”
Bai Cha looked at him; the man was visibly nervous.
That was completely normal—no one would remain unaligned with fear upon encountering something like this.
Yet much like how Bai Cha would pretend she hadn’t seen anything when encountering such occurrences, they were doing the exact same thing right now.
Bai Cha offered a nod.
“Let me see you out. I still have a few words I’d like to share with you.”
The three officers exchanged looks and nodded.
Upon stepping out of this apartment, all three felt their shoulders relax significantly at the exact same moment.
It was only after making it downstairs that Bai Cha spoke up.
She adopted an expression of letting out a breath of relief laced with lingering dread, frequently raising her head to glance upward while tugging at the officers, gesturing for them to walk further away with her.
Seeing her like this, the three officers froze.
Upon reaching an open area—though devoid of sunlight and chilled by a biting breeze—a few human figures were visible in the distance.
Bai Cha finally assumed a look of complete ease.
“I’m really sorry. You saw it inside the apartment, didn’t you?”
Bai Cha opened her mouth, bit her lip, clearly wanting to utter the words my mother, yet refrained in the end.
The officers exchanged glances.
“You…”
“I’m truly very sorry. I was actually telling you all along…” Bai Cha paused, saying: “That is, I prepare a day’s worth of food every day, those statements…”
Exercising extreme caution, she refrained from even using a specific pronoun like she.
The female officer suddenly experienced a burst of realization.
“So you were hinting to us all along that there was something wrong with your home?”
Bai Cha offered a bitter smile; though she didn’t nod, her expression clearly indicated tacit affirmation.
“Except you seemed to just take me for mentally unstable, so I had no other choice…”
These words sounded as though she had run out of options, which was why she visited the police station once more to have the three of them accompany her back to witness it together.
Truth be told, had she gone straight to the police station to state something like this outright, no one would have believed her indeed.
The three suddenly understood Bai Cha, shedding their fear and suspicion toward her in an instant.
Because everything had turned entirely logical.
A woman living alone who had long realized she was haunted, attempting to seek help, yet fully aware that stating such things outright would only lead others to treat her as a lunatic.
Taking advantage of last night’s incident—where someone indeed broke into her home with criminal intent—she mustered the courage today to report the matter regarding the eyes, having them accompany her back to witness it firsthand.
As for the composed behavior Bai Cha had displayed throughout, she had likely been haunted for several days by now—in reality, much like how they were pretending to be perfectly calm as well.
Because upon encountering such things, everyone’s initial reaction was if the enemy doesn’t move, I don’t move.
Particularly in folk legends, if you pretended not to see a ghost or monster upon encountering one, it might not be able to harm you, because it couldn’t confirm whether you could actually see it.
“You… sigh, forget it. Honestly, even if you had told us… we wouldn’t have believed it either!”
Dropping their guard against her, the officers displayed expressions of lingering dread and bitter smiles matching hers.
This entire affair was far too absurd beyond belief.
“I’m really sorry. Ah, right—it happens to be lunchtime, so let’s find a place where I can buy you lunch. I have a few things I’d like to tell you, and I want to ask for your help.”
“Sure, but no need for you to buy us lunch—we’ll just go Dutch and take our time talking.”
They needed time to digest everything as well.
It was far too intense.
