Chapter 3: Seeking the True Form

After some time spent reflecting, Xia Wuyou was now certain—the person she had seen was undoubtedly the victim of a murder. But what exactly had she gone through? Why had such terrifying scenes appeared before her eyes? Xia Wuyou felt it was time to visit the police station. The information she’d gathered was more than enough to prove that there was a case—one that had yet to be discovered, a death that no one even knew about.

“These are all the reports we’ve received recently. Take a look and see if any of them match what you described.” Xiao Wang handed her a folder, then sat down beside her. “Sister Xia, tell me what clues you have. I’ll help you look.” “It’s hard to explain in just a few words. Let me look for myself first,” Xia Wuyou replied as she flipped through the documents, trying her best to find a clue that resonated with her intuition.

Yet nothing matched. After searching for quite a while, she didn’t find a single case even remotely similar. “Haven’t you received any reports of missing women recently?” Xia Wuyou asked, somewhat disappointed as she set the folder aside and glanced surreptitiously at Su Tianmu, who had remained silent. Perhaps Su Tianmu was still embarrassed about his earlier outburst and didn’t dare meet her eyes.

“Um, I think there was a call a couple of days ago. Someone reported that he hadn’t been able to reach his sister’s family for quite some time. But since there was nothing else suspicious, we just told him to keep trying to contact them and to let us know if anything else happened. So, it wasn’t officially recorded,” Xiao Wang suddenly remembered and hurriedly told Xia Wuyou.

“Really? That does sound suspicious! It’s similar to what you described, isn’t it?” Su Tianmu seized on the detail, almost as if he wanted to avoid any other topics Xia Wuyou might bring up. “It is quite similar! Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go check it out!” Xia Wuyou clung to this lead as if it were a lifeline, eager to uncover the truth.

“You’d better go back to work. Leave this to us. Once we’ve established the basics, we’ll contact you if needed,” Su Tianmu said, seeing her anxiety and wanting to help as quickly as possible. Still, investigative work needed to follow procedure—it couldn’t begin on a whim.

“That’s fine. You go ahead and find out what you can. If I get any more clues, I’ll contact you right away.” Though she still didn’t know who the victim was, at least she had a lead. Xia Wuyou felt as if she had glimpsed the light at the end of the tunnel—perhaps now she wouldn’t have to relive those horrific visions in her mind every day.

After Xia Wuyou left, Su Tianmu immediately assigned Xiao Wang to start canvassing the area. The person who had called in the report was the missing woman’s younger brother. He had said that he hadn’t been able to contact his sister’s family for over a month. They were from out of town; the sister’s family ran a small restaurant here. Since everyone was usually busy, they didn’t keep in close contact. But this time, when their father’s birthday came and the sister didn’t return home, he tried calling her—only to find that neither his sister nor her husband could be reached. The distance made it inconvenient to visit, so he called the police.

“Captain Su, after asking around, here’s what I found about the family…” Xiao Wang, working with his usual efficiency, quickly gathered the basics. The family had moved here three years ago, opening a small restaurant in the city. Business was good and their life was comfortable. According to neighbors, they got along well with everyone. Currently, the restaurant was closed for renovations, so the staff had all gone home for the break. If there was any hint of discord, it was a minor spat with a rival restaurant over customers—but it never escalated beyond harsh words, nothing that would lead to a crime.

“When was the last time anyone saw them?” “About a month ago, someone saw the restaurant owner and one of the workers going out to buy renovation materials. After that, everyone was busy and didn’t really notice anything unusual,” Xiao Wang added.

“Keep checking—see if there’s any chance they went out of town. After all, people don’t just vanish into thin air,” Su Tianmu said, now convinced this case was more complicated than it appeared, and determined to help Xia Wuyou. Since it didn’t yet meet the requirements to open a formal investigation, all they could do was gather information from the outside.

Meanwhile, Xia Wuyou, instead of returning to work as Su Tianmu had suggested, followed her memory to the restaurant Xiao Wang had mentioned. It was a two-story building—somewhat aged on the outside, but clearly of a decent standard. The main doors were tightly shut, a notice pasted across them: “Closed for renovations.” Xia Wuyou went up to the door and pushed hard, hoping to peer inside through the crack. Even though it was daytime, the windows inside were tightly shut and curtained, so she could see nothing. She could just barely make out that things inside were piled up in disarray.

Just as Xia Wuyou was about to give up and turn away, she suddenly heard a familiar sound from inside the building. Of course, it was that fractured sense of consciousness again. “Mom…” A little girl’s voice seemed to call from the depths of the dark building. Xia Wuyou shuddered, a chill running down her spine. The whole place felt cold and haunted.

She forced herself to be brave and went back to the door. She was about to peer inside again when a large hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. “Ah!” Xia Wuyou screamed, crouching down and covering her head in fright.

“Who told you to come here alone?” a familiar voice chided, and Xia Wuyou, feeling as if her soul had just returned to her body, looked up. Su Tianmu reached down to help her up. Seeing how frightened she was, he was tempted to tease her, but before he could speak, Xia Wuyou clung to him, sobbing. “You gave me such a fright! Don’t you know you could scare someone to death?” she cried, pounding his chest as she wept—truly terrified. Su Tianmu could only laugh helplessly.

“All right, all right! I’m sorry, it was my fault, okay?” he apologized, patting her shoulder to comfort her. “It’s broad daylight and you’re making a scene in the street—don’t you think people will stare?” Hearing this, Xia Wuyou quickly pulled herself together, wiped her tears and nose, then said gravely, “I’m sure—the woman who guided me here is the mistress of this house.”