Ghost Says - Chapter 3.1

When they arrived at the agreed-upon place, Xiaoyu was very punctual.

This was also one of the reasons he liked her. She never put on airs like other girls and was always on time.

Today, she was wearing a light green spaghetti strap dress, looking fresh and cute.

After looking at the house, Qiao Gang was quite satisfied.

It wasn’t far from where he worked, only a fifteen-minute ride. The house conditions were good, with three bedrooms and a living room, great lighting, and nearby shops just a five-minute walk away.

The furniture was also complete. The owners hadn’t taken much with them, and the master bedroom even had a large bed.

But the house was too good, which made him feel troubled.

His budget couldn’t afford such a house. Such a large house in the city center would have a considerable monthly rent, and the facilities were so complete. Without sharing with someone, it was simply unaffordable.

After hearing his concerns, Xiaoyu smiled and hugged his neck, saying, “Silly, what’s mine is yours, isn’t it? Besides, Aunt told me to come and stay often. You don’t know, but there’s even a room here that’s mine! Aunt is so good to me, treating me like her own daughter.”

Qiao Gang smiled bitterly as he held her waist, “We can’t just move in like this, can we? What if they find out?”

Xiaoyu punched him lightly, “Whose fault is that? I’ve wanted to tell my family for a long time, but you wouldn’t let me. Are you still afraid I’m not good enough for you?”

Qiao Gang held her hand, “It’s me who’s not good enough for you. You’re still in college. If your family finds out you’re with a useless guy like me, they’ll surely object. Wouldn’t it be better to tell them after I’ve earned enough money and become worthy of you?”

Xiaoyu leaned on his chest, pouting, “You and your reasoning. My parents aren’t materialistic people. You have a good heart and are ambitious. They’d be more than happy to have you. How could they possibly look down on you?”

Qiao Gang smiled inwardly.

What a silly girl, he thought. In others’ eyes, I’m useless and have no future, but in her heart, I’m perfect.

How could he not like someone so naive and foolish?

In the end, Qiao Gang moved in, and together with the enthusiastic Xiaoyu, they cleaned the house thoroughly.

It wasn’t really dirty at all, so they finished in no time.

After bringing his few belongings, this would be his new home from now on.

“Mine too!” Xiaoyu protested, hugging a pillow.

Qiao Gang pacified her, saying, “Alright, alright, it’s yours too, my little princess.”

The little girl smiled contentedly, declaring that she would come to stay one day every week from now on.

Unable to do anything about it, Qiao Gang could only let her have her way.

Xiaoyu quite enjoyed the feeling of establishing a new home. She even brought back an abandoned kitten from somewhere, using all her charms, coaxing and pleading for him to keep it.

Not sure if he was moved by the kitten or her pitiful look, Qiao Gang agreed.

Then came another round of hustle and bustle, buying cat food, cat litter, cat shampoo, cat toys, and whatnot.

The kitten wasn’t even a month old and couldn’t eat dry cat food or other solid foods. Milk wasn’t digestible and would give it diarrhea, so they could only feed it baby rice cereal mixed into a paste. Xiaoyu treated it like her precious baby, wanting to hold it in her arms all day long.

She wasn’t allowed to keep pets at home, so she could only come here to see it.

When the weekend came, she eagerly brought a change of clothes and ran over, telling her family she was staying at a classmate’s house. Although Qiao Gang felt it wasn’t quite right, he couldn’t bear to dampen her enthusiasm.

The two spent a day at home playing with the cat. The kitten was naturally sleepy and, after playing all day, it couldn’t take it anymore and fell asleep. Xiaoyu was still full of energy. Seeing it was time to cook, she took out the vegetables they had bought earlier, washed and cut them, heated the pan, and prepared to cook up a storm.

Qiao Gang had eaten her cooking before, and to be honest, it wasn’t very good. Some dishes weren’t even as good as Jian Xia’s. But he always had to show support, eating everything clean each time. This made Xiaoyu beam with joy, and she became even more enthusiastic about cooking.

After dinner and feeding the kitten, the two cuddled on the sofa to watch a rented DVD.

The movie was a boring youth idol drama. When they saw the male lead asking the girl what she liked about him,

Xiaoyu laughed and poked his chest, “So what do you like about me?”

Qiao Gang thought for a moment, then patted her head, “I like everything about you.”

Despite this cliché and unoriginal sweet talk, Xiaoyu was still very happy to hear it, her big eyes curving into crescents.

Later, Xiaoyu got tired and fell asleep on him. Qiao Gang was very careful not to disturb her. When he got up, his legs were so numb he couldn’t move.

At midnight, they prepared to wash up and go to bed, but Xiaoyu discovered the kitten was missing. They searched everywhere but couldn’t find it.

Qiao Gang comforted her, saying not to worry, it must be hiding in some corner of the house and would come out when it got hungry tomorrow. Xiaoyu was truly tired and nodded, heading to her own room.

In the middle of the night, Qiao Gang suddenly heard a “drip-drop” sound of water falling.

He looked out groggily and saw a faint light coming through the curtains, vaguely outlining a black shadow that looked like something long hanging outside, swaying gently in the wind from time to time.

The “drip-drop” sound was coming from outside.

Qiao Gang’s room was the master bedroom, with a large balcony outside the floor-to-ceiling windows where they usually hung clothes to dry.

He vaguely remembered that Xiaoyu had worn a dress today, and thought she must have washed it and hung it there.

Having figured this out, he turned over and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Qiao Gang woke up at seven as usual.

Passing by Xiaoyu’s room, the door was still closed. There was no one in the kitchen or living room either, so she might still be asleep.

He took a carton of milk from the refrigerator in the kitchen. While drinking, he walked out, keeping an eye out for where the kitten might be hiding. After searching all possible places, he still couldn’t find it.

Could it have escaped?

Although cats are the least constrained of domesticated animals, and even after living with people for many years, they might leave without any attachment, those are usually adult cats. A kitten this small shouldn’t be able to get out on its own.

Could it have run into Xiaoyu’s room? Thinking this was likely, Qiao Gang went over and knocked on the door.

After knocking a few times, there was still no response from inside even after a long while.

Qiao Gang felt a bit strange. Xiaoyu wasn’t the type of girl who liked to sleep in, and they hadn’t gone to bed late last night. There was no reason she shouldn’t be able to get up.

Remembering that she had a habit of keeping her phone by the bed while sleeping, he tried calling her mobile.

The call went through, and her ringtone, specially set for him, sounded from inside the room.

The ringtone rang for a long time, with no one answering or hanging up, and without Qiao Gang hearing Xiaoyu’s expected complaints.

The room was completely silent, as if no one was there. This eerie silence reminded him of that night.

The night Jian Xia died.

Qiao Gang gave a dry laugh. How could that be possible? Surely the girl was just in a deep sleep. When she wakes up, he’d have to give her a good spanking.

After standing there for a long time, he finally walked over with the key.

When he inserted the key into the lock, his hand was so sweaty that the key slipped.

The door opened. The room was dark.

The curtains were still drawn, with sunlight filtering in from outside, but there was no sense of warmth.

The room was filled with a strange smell.

Someone was lying on the bed, he could see the outline beneath the blanket.

Qiao Gang first called Xiaoyu’s name softly. He didn’t know why he was speaking so gently, as if afraid of disturbing her peaceful sleep.

There was still no response from the bed. He slowly walked over to the bedside.

She was sleeping deeply, not even bothered by the blanket covering her head.

“Little lazy pig… If you don’t get up… the sun will shine on your bottom…”

He didn’t realize his voice was trembling. His outstretched hand took a long time to touch the blanket.

Slowly pulling back a corner of the blanket… he could already smell the strong odor…

The stench of blood.

When he saw the body on the bed, the blanket slipped from his hand. For a moment, his heart seemed to spasm…

What was this… in front of him?

Was this… a person?

Who was it?

Could this be… Xiaoyu?

No…

How could this be Xiaoyu…

It’s impossible…

This is a dream… right?

This must be a dream.

He’s dreaming.

Why isn’t he waking up?

Why is everything still so red?

Why is it looking at him with Xiaoyu’s eyes?

No…

Don’t…

Don’t… look at me…

Don’t—

Don’t look at me—!

Wang Yi was smoking. This was his second pack of cigarettes today.

There had been a murder case in a certain residential area in the city. The victim was female, unmarried.

Murder cases weren’t uncommon, especially in big cities like this. They were used to it.

But this case was different. After learning who the reporter was, he became highly attentive to this case.

The person who reported the case was Qiao Gang, a person of interest in the two previous murder cases.

It seemed that such incidents kept occurring around him.

This time, the victim was his girlfriend, a university student who had come to his place for the weekend.

When discovered, preliminary examination indicated she had been dead for over five hours. Moreover, the state of her death was extremely brutal.

The killer was either a psychopath or someone who held an extreme grudge against her.

The forensic expert Xiao Zhou from the department had finished examining the body. His usually unchanging baby face was unusually pale.

Wang Yi quickly extinguished his cigarette and asked for the results.

“Cause of death is heart attack.”

Wang Yi frowned, “That’s impossible, it’s clearly a case of torture and murder.”

Xiao Zhou tossed down the autopsy report and lit a cigarette.

“The victim is female, aged 20 to 25. The entire skin was removed. The perpetrator likely has professional medical knowledge, the technique was very skilled, the skin was peeled… very completely.”

He considered his words, speaking somewhat anxiously, “Do you know why I use ‘completely’ to describe it? Simply put, if I took that skin, I could still ‘put it on’ her.”

The sound of vomiting came from outside the door.

Wang Yi’s face turned slightly pale. He understood why Xiao Zhou, who had quit smoking for a long time, was breaking his resolution this time.

“Judging from the perpetrator’s method, their psychology is extremely distorted. Upon examination, they peeled off the victim’s skin while she was still alive.”

Chaotic footsteps were heard from outside the door.

He took another heavy drag, his face growing even paler.

“Moreover, the peeled skin was hung on the balcony of the victim’s boyfriend’s room. From this point, it’s highly likely that the perpetrator has a grudge against the victim’s boyfriend.”

Wang Yi was silent for a moment, “The perpetrator did so much without waking the victim’s boyfriend, could he be…”

Xiao Zhou shook his head, “I don’t know. I’m just reasoning from the perspective of the corpse. Also—”

He handed him a small transparent plastic bag, which looked like it contained some animal hair.

“What’s this?”

“Cat hair.”

“Did they keep a cat?”

“I don’t know. Do you know where I found these cat hairs?”

Wang Yi shook his head.

Xiao Zhou took back the bag, “In the victim’s oral cavity.”

Wang Yi didn’t speak again, just looked at him with questioning eyes.

“I opened the victim’s stomach, inside… there was a cat.”

“…What do you mean?”

“It means there was an intact cat in the victim’s stomach. Note, not in pieces, but a whole cat.”

“How is this possible?” Wang Yi was increasingly confused.

Xiao Zhou said with a cold smile, “It means either the victim’s mouth and throat were large enough to swallow a whole cat, or this perpetrator is a genius who could stuff a cat into her stomach without damaging the victim’s body.”

The room fell into sudden silence.