Chapter 343: Interrogation! The Mentally Deranged Third Person

‘From now on, she probably won’t be installing a regular air conditioner,’ he mused. ‘She’ll get central air instead.’

Until…

RUMBLE~

In her daze, a sound rang out. Zhang Min froze, her face flushing slightly.

‘She had been too distracted to eat much last night, and her frayed nerves had drained her energy. On top of that, she hadn’t eaten breakfast, and now it was noon…’

However.

“Here,” Wang Chao said, pulling out the steamed buns he had intentionally saved. “They’re a bit cold, but they’ll have to do.”

“Eat this to tide you over. Uncle will take you out for a proper meal later.”

Zhang Min paused for a moment, then took the bun and began to eat it in small bites.

The bun was cold, but the fillings in Jiangsan City’s buns were generous with sauce, giving it a unique flavor even when not warm.

A moment later, Zhang Min suddenly said:

“You’re not even older than me…”

Wang Chao scoffed.

“Heh. Niece, you have no idea. Back home, I have to call a kid in kindergarten ‘Auntie’.”

Zhang Min swallowed. After a long moment, she said nothing.

“Alright then.”

She kept her head down and continued to eat her bun in silence.

…

…

“This is one of Wang Wei’s three friends, named Qian Hao.”

“The police tried to contact him immediately after the incident, but unfortunately, they made no progress and were unable to reach him.”

“A visit to his home also turned up no trace of him.”

“Has the building been thoroughly searched?”

“Not yet. There hasn’t been enough time, and we’re short on manpower.”

「Meanwhile, in an urban village on the west side of Jiangsan City.」

Xu Huo and the others arrived at a small, two-story self-built house.

Just inside the door, they saw a dog chained up. It had already starved to death and lay on the ground, emitting a foul, rotting odor.

A few other police officers were also there, searching through the empty, deathly silent rooms, but they had found nothing.

This was a two-story, self-built house.

Although it was located in an urban village, it was as luxurious as a small villa.

“The house was built six months ago. The flow of funds is also highly suspicious. Although he owned the land, the money used to build the house is unaccounted for.”

“Not much different from the first victim, Wang Wei.”

At this, Li Jianye looked at the surrounding furniture, sighed, and spoke in a grave voice.

‘Another person has disappeared…’

‘And we can’t find them, don’t even know if they’re dead or alive.’

However…

Xu Huo’s nose twitched slightly.

The next second, he caught a scent—bitter, with a hint of something spicy mixed in.

“This isn’t just a two-story house. There’s a third floor—a small attic.”

Xu Huo said suddenly, surveying the surrounding structure.

“Did you guys check it?”

Everyone froze, glancing at one another.

Seeing their reaction, he knew they hadn’t.

Without another word, he went straight to the second floor, paced around, and finally settled on a spot.

“Pry open this part of the ceiling,” Xu Huo said.

Sun Jian found two chairs and stacked them. His burly frame stood atop them, just barely able to reach.

He gave a slight push with his hand, and the next second…

A section of the ceiling popped open neatly, revealing a space with what looked like a wooden floor.

“Get a ladder,” Sun Jian said quickly.

Li Jianye searched everywhere but found nothing. Qian Hao had most likely hidden the stool.

So he went and borrowed a ladder from a neighbor, then set it up.

CREAK~

As the entrance to the attic was opened, Li Jianye slowly climbed inside.

The attic had no lights, but thankfully, there was a window. The midday sun streamed in, illuminating everything clearly.

And in this attic, only two and a half meters high,

everyone…

saw a dead man.

“Temple was crushed, causing head trauma and immediate death. There’s a faint smell of decay, but the signs of decomposition on the body’s surface aren’t obvious. Time of death was approximately three days ago,” Li Jianye said gravely after a brief examination.

There was a corpse right in front of them.

Judging from the scene, half of the corpse’s head was wedged in the gap beneath a bed.

The bed was very low, and the gap beneath it was only a hand’s breadth wide. It appeared that while he was alive, Qian Hao had desperately tried to squeeze into this space, but couldn’t fit.

Judging by his hands, he had tried to lift the bed to get underneath.

But that very idea led directly to his death.

While holding up the bed with one hand and trying to shove his head underneath…

…the emaciated Qian Hao ran out of strength. His hand slipped, and the edge of the bed frame smashed down on his temple.

“Another one who tried to hide himself away…” Li Jianye murmured.

“What the hell is going on!?”

“Never mind that. Go search for the other two first,” Xu Huo said in a low voice.

“If both of them are dead too… then we’re in big trouble!”

Li Jian understood this and immediately notified the other search teams, telling them to speed things up.

Xu Huo used this time to observe the second death scene.

Just like the first one.

Other than the police, there was no trace of anyone else having been there—not even a scent.

The ladder to the attic was stashed in a corner. No doubt, this was the ladder Qian Hao had pulled up after he climbed into the attic to hide.

You could say,

if it weren’t for the bizarre circumstances of his death,

this would be a completely straightforward case of accidental death!

Killing someone by staging an accident is a favorite method for anyone contemplating the perfect murder.

The problem was, the victims didn’t die by accident. The moment they saw the ‘ghost,’ their fates were sealed. No intricate planning was necessary; the killer was more like a Hypnotist.

But a Hypnotist isn’t invincible.

The mental brand left by the brainwashing would fade over time. Unless it’s constantly reinforced, escaping it is just a matter of time.

And yet, the victims hadn’t met with anyone, but their conditions only grew more severe…