Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

A moment later, Jiang Li stared at the stitched-up face before her and could barely bring herself to look.

’It’s so ugly. They shouldn’t have even tried.’

The thought had barely passed when she picked up the scissors again and snipped the face to pieces.

"This is so ugly. It’s not worthy of my darlings at all."

She tossed the object in her hand onto a nearby cart, then turned and returned to the living room. Her mood lifted the moment she saw the dolls there.

Then, an idea popped into her head: she would find some handsome eye-candy for them.

"Mommy will definitely find some very handsome boys for you."

The next second, Jiang Li was shaken awake.

Wu Ming looked over at the now-awake Jiang Li. "Jiang Li, it’s time to eat."

"Okay." Jiang Li sat up. In her peripheral vision, she glimpsed the dollhouse and dolls in the transparent display case nearby, and a chill shot up her spine.

She quickly got out of bed, washed up, and then headed out of the room without a backward glance.

’Just as she’d feared, now that she was awake, she could no longer bear to look at the dolls she’d once adored.’

"After we eat, I need to make a trip to the police station," Jiang Li said, sneaking a peek at Yu Huannian.

Yu Huannian paused mid-bite. Seeing the undisguised eagerness on Jiang Li’s face, he said, "Then I’ll go with you."

"Okay!"

Soon, Jiang Li was walking into the police station, a place she hadn’t visited in a long time. Stepping inside felt almost like coming home.

"Jiang Li, what are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be at home recovering?"

Lu Xingye spotted Jiang Li and immediately rose from his desk to greet her. He’d actually been feeling relieved lately, thinking Jiang Li was finally getting some proper rest since her absence usually meant there was no trouble.

But it hadn’t even been that long, and here she was again.

Jiang Li smiled. ’It’s not like I can control it.’ "This new case is a little... unsettling."

Lu Xingye gave her a helpless look. "Come with me."

"Have you ever heard of ’doll raising’?"

Lu Xingye nodded. Of course he had.

Seeing how quickly he agreed, Jiang Li knew he’d gotten the wrong idea.

"Not *that* kind of ’raising.’ I mean... this kind!"

Jiang Li found a few pictures of a dollhouse to show him. It was a large house, fully furnished, and could even seat two little figures.

Lu Xingye glanced at the pictures, then back at her. "This... I’ve seen things like this while scrolling online. Is the case related to this?"

Jiang Li nodded eagerly. "A life-sized dollhouse. Get what I mean?"

When he nodded, Jiang Li launched into a vivid description.

Lu Xingye listened intently. "Sounds like the other party is a plastic surgeon."

Recalling the face that had been snipped to pieces, Jiang Li opened her mouth, but for a moment, she wasn’t sure if "plastic surgeon" was the right term.

"I suppose so. Maybe their technique is just a little lacking."

Hearing the doubt and reluctant agreement in her voice, Lu Xingye couldn’t help but crack a small smile.

"A vintage-style villa. I’ll send a message telling everyone to keep an eye out." Lu Xingye sent a broadcast message to a group chat. These days, they had connections all over the place.

*A case served up on a silver platter. Let’s see who gets lucky.*

The moment Lu Xingye sent it, a flood of "Got it" replies appeared.

Huo Qing saw the message and immediately sent his people to start investigating.

Meanwhile, Cheng Xiangyu saw the message in the group chat and turned his head to look at Feng Dong.

"Feng Dong, any thoughts?"

"Huh?" Feng Dong paused, mid-slurp of a soup dumpling. "Captain Cheng, Miss Jiang isn’t here. What’s the point of daydreaming?"

Cheng Xiangyu ignored him, his mind on the clue Lu Xingye had posted.

Feng Dong pouted. ’I should’ve gotten Miss Jiang’s contact info when she left the other day.’

Cheng Xiangyu looked at Feng Dong, who was still eating nonstop. He was about to lecture him, but in the next instant, he saw that Feng Dong was about to finish everything on the table. He quickly grabbed his chopsticks and scraped the remaining food into his own bowl.

Feng Dong glanced at the empty serving dishes, not quite satisfied, but he had to admit he was getting pretty full.

Once he’d had his fill, Cheng Xiangyu put down his chopsticks. "Feng Dong, doesn’t your cousin and his friends go exploring a lot? To remote, abandoned places?"

"I’ll give him a call." Feng Dong took out his phone and dialed his cousin.

"A haunted house? Cousin, since when are you interested in this stuff?"

"Just answer the question. Why all the chatter?"

"Fine, fine. But actually, cousin, we’re planning to explore a haunted house in the next few days. I heard it’s a hundred years old, and that a bunch of people who went exploring there never came back.

Just thinking about it is a rush."

Feng Dong glanced at Cheng Xiangyu, then asked into the phone, "Got any pictures?"

"Uh, not on me. I’ll take some for you when I get there. Gotta go, cousin, I need to get ready."

"Hey! That little brat." Feng Dong grumbled, staring at the disconnected call.

"That sounds a lot like what we’re looking for. Captain Cheng, what if I tag along and check it out?"

Feng Dong was pretty curious himself.

"He must have the location, right? Tell him to send it over."

Cheng Xiangyu had Feng Dong get the location from his cousin, but all they received was a vague approximation.

They would have to go in and find it themselves. The cousin said there was some kind of magnetic field that blocked all cell signals.

The vaguer it sounded, the more it fired up the passion of the hot-blooded young men.

Cheng Xiangyu posted the information in the group chat. *Sorry, everyone. Looks like I’m one step ahead on this case.*

Feng Dong glanced over at Cheng Xiangyu’s smirking lips. ’So cocky,’ he thought.

Lu Xingye saw the message from this Cheng Xiangyu and had to think for a moment to recall how he’d ended up in the group.

Everyone in this group knew about Jiang Li. The reason he’d created it in the first place was a gamble.

He’d reasoned that Jiang Li wouldn’t bring up Kun Sha for no reason. If Kun Sha really did return, they would need allies.

As for the risk of them being traitors, he just had to think about what happened to Wang Xiangming and the others.

Lu Xingye exited the group chat and went to update Jiang Li.

"There really is strength in numbers. Before, they would have had to search and make inquiries city by city."

Jiang Li looked at the words "haunted house" in the message. ’A haunted dollhouse... Maybe this really is the place.’

She glanced down at her hand. For now, she’d just have to focus on recovering.

"Jiang Li, a friend invited me to hang out. I’ll be gone for a few days, so don’t miss me too much, okay?"

Wu Ming planted a quick kiss on Jiang Li’s cheek, then shouldered her packed bag and prepared to head out.

"Where are you going?"

"A classmate I’m pretty close with. She knows I have a few tricks up my sleeve and asked me to come along for backup.

I don’t know the details yet. But don’t worry, I’ll be fine."

"Is it the haunted house? It might not be safe. I don’t feel right about you going alone. Why don’t you take Xiao Nian with you?"

The moment Jiang Li spoke, Miao Anji’s eyes lit up beside her. "Yes, yes! Yu Huannian is a great fighter. He can definitely protect Wu Ming."

’That way, I can work on my relationship with Sister.’

"I’m not going."

Yu Huannian refused without a moment’s hesitation. ’I’ve only just managed to get Jiang Li’s health to improve a little. What if something happens while I’m gone?’

"Oh, come on, just go! I can take good care of Sister."

Miao Anji stepped forward and physically pushed Yu Huannian out the door. He looked at Wu Ming. "What are you still standing around for, Wu Ming? Hurry up and go!"

"Eek!"

Wu Ming shivered the instant she heard him call her that. She was much more used to Miao Anji’s deathly gloomy demeanor.

Miao Anji slammed the door shut with a CLANG and turned to sit down next to Jiang Li.

"Sister, don’t you worry," he said. "I definitely won’t let you get bored!"

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