Ghost Says - Chapter 5.1

After returning home, Qiao Gang discovered that Lin Xian had already come back. A stack of documents was piled on the coffee table, presumably indicating a fruitful harvest.

“Why are you back so late?” Lin Xian glanced at him and asked nonchalantly.

“Mother Song wasn’t home. I spent some time waiting for her, but in the end, I couldn’t meet her,” he said, feeling somewhat dejected.

“…Where were you waiting for her?”

“At her home. Song Yuan’s cousin happened to be there.” Although puzzled by Lin Xian’s question, Qiao Gang answered honestly.

Lin Xian pulled out a stack of documents in front of him and flipped through a few pages.

“As far as I know, Song Yuan’s parents are both only children. They have no siblings.”

Qiao Gang was momentarily speechless.

“Moreover… due to Father Song’s poor health requiring overseas treatment, their entire family left last week.”

“How… how is that possible…”

Qiao Gang didn’t want to believe it, but the entry and exit records of the Song family were there in black and white, undeniable.

Indeed, Song Yuan wouldn’t have any cousins.

“Impossible! That person was with me all day. Why would he need to lie to me?”

“There’s one possibility. Could it have been a thief?”

Qiao Gang was stunned for a moment. It wasn’t unheard of for thieves to impersonate homeowners.

But… was that person that type? The person who called himself “Song Yao” didn’t seem like the type to steal things, and he gave the impression of being very familiar with the house’s layout.

Besides, if he were really a thief, why would he need to open the door for him?

All these signs indicated that he probably wasn’t a thief.

Then… who exactly was he?

It was clear that pursuing this now wouldn’t yield any answers. The only solution was to find Song Yao and ask him in person.

“I’m going back right now to ask him what’s going on!”

As Qiao Gang prepared to leave, he accidentally knocked over the files on the table, scattering papers everywhere.

As he knelt down to pick them up, he suddenly saw an ID photo attached to one of the pages.

The name on it was Song Yuan.

And the person in that photo had the same face as the person he had bid farewell to half an hour ago…

How… was this possible? Qiao Gang picked up the photo, staring at the face that was identical to that person’s.

The only difference was that the person in the photo had a more somber look between his brows, and his black eyes were like bottomless abysses.

The person he had met earlier—

Was it Song Yuan?

Could it be that he had really seen a ghost in broad daylight?

Seeing his unusual expression, Lin Xian inquired, and Qiao Gang told him about his discovery.

“…If he was Song Yuan, that means you spent the whole day with someone who’s already dead, and even ate food he personally cooked?”

Qiao Gang’s face turned pale. He knew no one would believe him if he told them about this!

Qiao Gang silently cursed himself for not recognizing him, hadn’t he seen his photo before?

At his funeral…

Or was it because his demeanor was so different from what he remembered that he didn’t realize?

“Don’t misunderstand… It’s not that I don’t believe you. This case has been unusual from the start. At this point, even if more strange things happen, it wouldn’t be surprising,” Lin Xian explained. His calm tone helped the agitated Qiao Gang to regain his composure.

“Well then, let’s go and see who this Mr. Song Yao really is.”

The two quickly got into Lin Xian’s car and drove towards the Song residence in the twilight.

Song Yuan, Song Yao…

Lin Xian, while driving, silently repeated the two names.

Yuan and Yao, these two characters essentially meant the same thing.

If the person Qiao Gang met today… Could it really have been Song Yuan himself?

When Lin Xian took on this case, he already knew it was completely different from any cases he had handled before.

This series of events was shrouded in an incredibly eerie and mysterious atmosphere. No matter how times progress or how technology advances, when faced with things that seem beyond human capability, people tend to attribute them to the supernatural.

Lin Xian was a highly capable person who valued reason over emotion. Such people only believe in what they see with their own eyes.

So he only half-believed what Qiao Gang had said.

Standing once again at the entrance of the Song residence, Qiao Gang felt a sense of unfamiliarity.

Unlike the scene he had witnessed during the day, the Song house at night had an air of desolation and decay…

Lin Xian noticed that in the large house, there wasn’t a single light on.

From the outside, the interior was pitch black, nothing could be seen…

There wasn’t even a single open window.

The two stood outside knocking on the door for quite a while, but there was no response from inside.

Qiao Gang furrowed his brows and did something rather childish—he pressed his ear against the front door.

A bone-chilling coolness came from the iron-cast door, and on the other side was a deathly silence…

After listening quietly for a while, Qiao Gang finally confirmed that there was indeed no one inside. Just as he was about to move away, suddenly—a sound came from inside!

Two soft thumps, it sounded like… someone was gently knocking on the door from the inside.

That person was so close, Qiao Gang even felt that if not for the door, that person’s cold breath would be blowing directly on his neck.

Lin Xian, who had been watching Qiao Gang, saw him suddenly take two steps back, his face turning pale, his eyes fixed on the door with uncertainty and fear.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just… I think I heard a sound from inside.”

“Oh?” Lin Xian stepped forward and listened for a moment, but didn’t detect anything unusual.

“Did you hear anything?”

“No, not a sound.”

Qiao Gang pressed his lips together, knowing that the sound he heard earlier wasn’t his imagination.

This house, which he had visited just during the day, now stood silently in the night, emanating a dark and ominous aura that wasn’t present in the daylight.

“Let’s go in.”

Watching Lin Xian casually take out a key and open the door as if it was the most natural thing in the world, Qiao Gang was completely stunned.

What had they been doing outside all this time then?

Qiao Gang didn’t know where Lin Xian had gotten the key from, nor did he know if entering like this was legal. All of his attention was focused on the interior of the house.

The layout and furnishings inside the house were exactly the same as when he had visited during the day.

The only difference was… all the furniture in the house was covered with white cloths.

There was even a slight layer of dust on the white cloths.

All of this indicated that no one had been here for some time.

But Qiao Gang knew someone had been here, if he wasn’t just having a daydream.

Lin Xian didn’t seem surprised by this situation. He looked around the surroundings.

The water and electricity in the house hadn’t been cut off and could be used normally.

Except for the absence of people, everything else was here.

Qiao Gang specifically checked the kitchen. The trash can was clean, and the sink was dry without a hint of moisture.

If someone had cooked here today, it couldn’t possibly be this clean.

But Qiao Gang clearly remembered the aroma of the food. If those weren’t real, then what had he been eating today…

With his face turning slightly pale, Qiao Gang walked out of the kitchen. The bathroom for this floor was right ahead.

The toilet wouldn’t flush. It was indeed broken.

That person hadn’t lied to him.

Everything today wasn’t just a dream.

It was all real.

Lin Xian was on the second floor of the house. He was standing in front of a painting, one that Qiao Gang had also seen.

The face of the person in the painting wasn’t clear, but it gave a familiar feeling.

No longer looking at the painting, Lin Xian picked up a book from the bookshelf and turned to the last page. In the lower corner of the page was a mark resembling a snake, which upon closer inspection looked like the letter ‘S’. Not just this book, but all the books on the shelf had this mark, like how some people like to stamp their personal seal on books.

Lin Xian casually flipped through the book and pulled out a volume titled “Western Modern Sculpture”. When he opened it, inside was a thick stack of sketches.

On hundreds of pages, only one person was drawn.

Seeing this sketchbook, Lin Xian finally knew who the person in the wall painting was.

The person in the drawings was either sitting or standing, smiling or angry, all vivid, natural, and lifelike.

He was naturally familiar with that person.

If you see someone every day for a month, you’d also be very familiar with their appearance.

Although the face looked a bit younger, he was certain that person was Qiao Gang.

So many sketches couldn’t have been drawn in just a day or two. This must have taken a considerable amount of time and effort. If it was just for practice, it wouldn’t be possible to have an entire book filled with portraits of just one person.

Closing the book, Lin Xian looked at the painting on the wall with a strange expression.

“Did you find anything?” Qiao Gang, who had come upstairs at some point, asked from the doorway.

Lin Xian casually glanced at the book in his hand, “I just happened to find a book I wanted to buy before.”

Qiao Gang nodded, watching him put the book back.

The two spent half the day searching the house but didn’t find anything unusual.

The entire house was as quiet as a tomb.

Qiao Gang felt as if they were dead people wandering in a mausoleum.

When they finally left, Qiao Gang sighed as he closed the door himself.