Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 264: Investigation

Chapter 264: Chapter 264: Investigation

That night, Bai Yanliang had a dream, a very strange dream.

A very familiar figure stood in front of him, but he couldn’t see the person’s face clearly.

Although he tried hard to get closer, the distance between them never shortened in the slightest.

"Who are you?"

Bai Yanliang asked in the dream.

However, although he could feel the person was looking at him, too, the person in the shadow wouldn’t speak.

"You are... who are you..."

A flash of white light suddenly appeared, causing Bai Yanliang to open his eyes in a daze.

It was morning.

What woke Bai Yanliang was a streak of morning light climbing onto the windowsill, piercing through the thin mist, and shining on his face.

Bai Yanliang stretched lazily, slowly got up, and leaned against the windowsill to look out.

Everything around was shrouded in gentle morning light, the willow trees by the road hung low, swaying their branches gently in the breeze.

A long-lost tranquility and elegance made Bai Yanliang feel like he was in another world.

Xu Zhifei had good taste; the area around this apartment was completely devoid of any noise, allowing one to relax completely.

He glanced back, and saw that Xu Zhifei had already left.

Because she had left some change on the table, along with a spare key.

Though she seemed eerie, Bai Yanliang realized that apart from being a bit cold, Xu Zhifei wasn’t a strange person.

What Bai Yanliang appreciated most was that she was very reasonable.

After putting away the key and the change, Bai Yanliang went to the bathroom to wash up.

The cold water stimulated his skin and brain.

Perhaps it was because he hadn’t rested well for too long, or perhaps the tranquility of this apartment was too rare, Bai Yanliang unexpectedly slept soundly until over nine o’clock, without even hearing Xu Zhifei leaving home.

However, to feel so at ease letting a man stay at her place, she really had quite the nerve.

Pulling his thoughts back, Bai Yanliang soon left the apartment as well.

...

Ye City Police Station, Jiangbei Branch.

As an expert, Xu Zhifei naturally enjoyed very high treatment, but when the branch’s officers found out she came into the office today, they each greeted her warmly, but Xu Zhifei only nodded indifferently, without even making eye contact, heading straight to the archives room.

"...Miss Xu!"

A man’s voice sounded behind her.

Xu Zhifei, who was walking quickly, turned her head, her gaze slightly cold.

"Xu... Expert Xu..." the man quickly corrected himself.

The one who stopped her seemed to be a forensic doctor, looking somewhat familiar, but Xu Zhifei didn’t remember him.

"Is there something you need?"

If two words could express it clearly, she would never use three words, Xu Zhifei always spoke concisely and clearly.

"...I wanted to ask..." Gao Fei’s expression was complicated, he rubbed his hands, hesitating to say, "Do you know... where Brother Bai went?"

A strange emotion surged in Xu Zhifei’s heart, her cold gaze fixed on Gao Fei, "Why are you asking me?"

Gao Fei thought he had made her unhappy, hurriedly apologizing: "Aren’t you two online friends? When handling cases previously... I saw you seemed quite close, so..."

Online friends...

This seemed like something Bai Yanliang would say, when he didn’t want to answer a question directly, he would use such a seemingly odd yet technically honest answer to deflect.

Thinking of this, Xu Zhifei turned her head back and continued walking towards the archive room, but her voice floated over, "At my place."

At her place?

Gao Fei didn’t immediately grasp the meaning of Xu Zhifei’s words; once Xu Zhifei’s figure disappeared, he suddenly widened his eyes, "Brother... Bai!"

The surrounding officers were also looking at each other in bewilderment; their conversation hadn’t been intentionally quiet, so everyone heard it clearly.

"Advisor Bai... is quite impressive..."

"Yeah... in various aspects..."

...

Unaware of his own "reputation being tarnished," Bai Yanliang was eating steamed buns while standing on the pedestrian sidewalk of Qiujiang Road.

There must have been something unusual in that alley at Mercury Night last night; Bai Yanliang wasn’t sure if it’s safe now since... he’s lacking self-defense capabilities, and risking his life every time is really inappropriate.

But sometimes, investigating a case doesn’t necessarily require going to the "crime scene," collecting information from the surroundings is very important too.

And around here...

With a bun between his teeth, Bai Yanliang opened his phone to look at the map.

There were two cameras capable of capturing the alley.

One was traffic monitoring at the intersection, and the other... was the small supermarket where the taxi driver bought water last night.

Bai Yanliang finished the bun in a few bites and walked into the store.

"Knock knock—"

Xiao Xie was in a daze when someone tapped on the glass counter a couple of times.

She looked up, and before she saw who it was, a credential flashed past.

"Police, badge number 015386, I hope you cooperate with the investigation."

Confused and surprised, as Xiao Xie came back to her senses, the person had already put the credentials away while starting to look around.

Before she had a chance to question, Bai Yanliang asked, "Have you seen any strange people lately?"

Xiao Xie’s heart tightened, strange people?

She temporarily forgot her previous doubts, and her thoughts began to follow Bai Yanliang’s words in retrospection.

No matter how she thought, she couldn’t think of any strange person, if truly speaking of something strange, it would be...

Xiao Xie glanced at Bai Yanliang; before she could say you seem a bit strange, Bai Yanliang pointed at the store’s surveillance camera.

"A murderer has sneaked into the vicinity of Qiujiang Road recently; pay attention daily, remember to check the surveillance every day, and contact the police if you notice anything strange."

Having said that, he didn’t delay and was about to leave.

A murderer?!

Xiao Xie’s eyes went wide, Qiujiang Road was just this big, having a murderer sneaking in would be terrible!

She felt goosebumps all over, and quickly pulled Bai Yanliang: "Officer, please check, see if you captured that person..."

Bai Yanliang nodded seriously, looking at the computer from which Xiao Xie had pulled up the surveillance footage.

As time passed, there weren’t many people appearing in the footage, but definitely not few either, Bai Yanliang carefully scrutinized each person until... he showed up.

Dressed in a suit, wearing a fedora, missing a pinky.

It was him.

This wasn’t the first time Bai Yanliang had seen him; clearly, this strange man was also a member of Dark Abyss, but it was unclear what his code name was.

"Officer... did you capture him?"

Seeing Bai Yanliang staring at the screen for quite a while, Xiao Xie felt a little uneasy.

Bai Yanliang withdrew his gaze, finally showing a smile: "It seems he hasn’t been on this street, don’t worry."

Xiao Xie breathed a sigh of relief, at that moment, Bai Yanliang received a phone call.

"No. 9 Xiangxie Road."

Xu Zhifei’s voice was easily recognizable, not to mention, she mentioned the place where they first met.

"Thank you."

Bai Yanliang expressed gratitude.

Xu Zhifei had gone to the police station early in the morning to help him investigate the cases that happened in the past month; though they were neither relatives nor friends, it was natural for Bai Yanliang to be grateful for her help.

Yet Xu Zhifei didn’t seem to acknowledge it.

Bai Yanliang barely said the words "thank you" before the call was already hung up on the other side.

"Indeed, still quite a strange person..."

Bai Yanliang retracted his earlier evaluation that Xu Zhifei was not odd, greeted the store clerk, and left Qiujiang Road.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.