I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 76: Chapter 74: Dreamed Again

"What are you doing here?" Su Miaoyi asked, looking at Zhuang Yanzheng.

"I was already here," Zhuang Yanzheng said, glancing at her.

Su Miaoyi stared at him.

"He’s here on a business trip," Lu Zhishen explained.

Su Miaoyi glanced at Lu Zhishen again.

"It’s about Zhou Lei’s case. They’re reinvestigating what happened back then, and someone involved was transferred to Jiangcheng, so I came for a business trip," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "I’ve pretty much wrapped things up, so I came to see you guys."

Su Miaoyi nodded.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at Su Miaoyi. "What’s wrong with your foot?"

"Have you ever tried walking for over seven hours straight?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"No, I have a car," Zhuang Yanzheng replied.

Su Miaoyi shot him a look, walked over to Lu Zhishen’s side, and decided to ignore him.

"He has a car too," Zhuang Yanzheng added.

Su Miaoyi glanced at both of them, then strode into the police station, deciding to ignore them both.

"You’re back?" Kang Ting said upon seeing Su Miaoyi. Just as he was about to say more, he suddenly spotted Zhuang Yanzheng.

He stared at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng took a few steps forward and said with a smile, "Captain Kang, long time no see."

"Who’d want to see you?" Kang Ting frowned.

Su Miaoyi looked at Captain Kang. ’In less than half a minute,’ she thought, ’it’s like two new worry lines have appeared on his face. He’s aged a bit.’

"What a thing to say. *I* wanted to see you," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"Who have you poached now?" Kang Ting’s frown deepened.

"Look at you. It’s not like Lu Zhishen hasn’t been working for you all these years. You’re so petty," Zhuang Yanzheng said, a victorious smile on his face.

Kang Ting shot him a look and ignored him.

Su Miaoyi and Lu Zhishen exchanged a glance.

Lu Zhishen looked as if he was long used to this.

Su Miaoyi stood beside him and whispered, "He’s so brazen on someone else’s turf. If they decide to beat him up, let’s just run."

Lu Zhishen nodded. "Okay."

Zhuang Yanzheng’s gaze swept over to them.

Su Miaoyi immediately looked up, pointed at the ceiling, and said to Lu Zhishen, "That chandelier is really beautiful."

Zhuang Yanzheng walked over and followed her gesture. "Where’s the chandelier?"

Su Miaoyi looked at him. "Only clever people can see it."

Lu Zhishen nodded in agreement beside her.

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded too. "Right. So you’re playing ’The Emperor’s Chandelier’ with me, are you?"

Su Miaoyi didn’t say anything.

Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at her, then went to talk with Kang Ting.

After they finished talking, Su Miaoyi mentioned to Kang Ting the idea of checking out the Fengjiang Clubhouse.

Kang Ting was very cautious about the Fengjiang Clubhouse. After careful consideration, he decided it was best not to go there just yet.

It was just a suggestion from Su Miaoyi. After all, this was Jiangcheng, a place she wasn’t very familiar with. Besides, Kang Ting had dealt with the Fengjiang Clubhouse more often and knew the situation better.

"There are no new leads for now. I had them arrange a lounge for you, so go get some rest," Kang Ting said, a little worried her body wouldn’t hold up if she kept going without a break.

She had walked for over seven hours the night before last and had been busy all last night as well.

Su Miaoyi nodded.

However, she didn’t go to the lounge. Instead, she sat down at the spot assigned to her and started doodling on a piece of paper with a pen.

Lu Zhishen sat down next to her and watched the lines she was drawing. "What are you drawing?"

He had noticed last night that whenever she had a free moment, she would draw something on paper.

But he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was—just line after line.

Su Miaoyi looked at him and said, "The killer grabbed Shao Dong’s hand and made him slit his own throat. I think I might have seen a tattoo on the killer’s right hand."

Lu Zhishen looked at her but didn’t ask anything.

He knew that if she could describe it, she would have told him right away yesterday.

Su Miaoyi continued, "But his movements were too fast. It was just a blur, like an afterimage. I didn’t see what it was at all. I’m not even sure if there was anything on his hand; maybe it was just a shadow."

"Then why are you drawing these lines...?" Lu Zhishen asked.

"I don’t know. Whenever I think about that scene, I feel uneasy. I just have this feeling that there’s a connection I’m missing. So I can’t help but scribble randomly," Su Miaoyi said.

Lu Zhishen nodded. "Like when you were in school, and you couldn’t solve a problem, so you’d just write the formulas over and over again."

As Su Miaoyi spoke, she drew several more lines on the paper.

Lu Zhishen sat in his chair. "Call me if you need anything."

"Mhm." Su Miaoyi filled the entire sheet of paper with lines.

The more she drew, the more jumbled her thoughts became. She decided to just lean back in her chair and rest for a bit.

The moment she leaned back, she fell asleep.

And then, she started dreaming again.

She dreamt of an acquaintance.

An acquaintance she had almost forgotten.

Mo Xiaoxiao.

Her high school classmate.

"Miaomiao, you’re in Jiangcheng?"

"How did you know?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"Your IP address on your short-video app changed."

In the dream, Mo Xiaoxiao seemed to be right in front of her, yet at the same time, she was on the phone with her.

"Why the sudden trip to Jiangcheng?"

"Things weren’t going well at work, so I just quit. I thought I’d come here and relax for a bit."

Mo Xiaoxiao was thrilled to hear she was there. "I work at the Fengjiang Clubhouse, the biggest club in all of Jiangcheng. The benefits here are amazing! You should come stay with me. I can get you in, and you can eat and stay for free."

"I shouldn’t. I don’t want to bother you at work."

"Come on, come on! We haven’t seen each other in ages. Just think of it as keeping me company. You won’t be a bother. I never use up all my employee benefits anyway; they just go to waste. And it’s not often you come all this way."

In the end, Su Miaoyi went.

Mo Xiaoxiao met her at the side entrance of the clubhouse, and the two of them went inside together.

Then... the scene in the dream suddenly shifted.

She seemed to be outside a private room in the clubhouse.

The corridor was opulent and gilded, but it was in utter chaos.

There were so many people.

It was noisy and chaotic.

A man’s suit jacket, a very large one, was draped over her shoulders.

She was trembling. There was blood on her hands, sticky and already starting to dry.

Her hand clutched tightly at her collar.

Underneath the jacket, her own clothes seemed to be torn.

"Hello, I’m the manager here. My surname is Cao." A man suddenly appeared before her.

"I’m terribly sorry about what happened today. Let me have someone take you to the hospital first to see if you’re injured. Our Mr. Jiang said that he will ensure you receive a satisfactory resolution. The clubhouse will cover all your losses, and all compensation will be paid in full."

Su Miaoyi looked at the man in front of her.

It was the middle of summer. The man was wearing a white T-shirt and black dress pants.

His suit jacket, it seemed, was the one on her.

She saw the tattoo on his right arm.

A black snake was tattooed on his forearm.

The thin tail of the snake was positioned right in the web of his thumb.

Just as Su Miaoyi tried to get a better look, the scene in the dream changed again.

She dreamt that she was sleeping. She heard someone calling her name.

"Hey! Sleeping Beauty! Wake up! There’s a new development in the case!"

...

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