CH 11

Liang Shan was an employee of Shian Group stationed at the Municipal Public Security Bureau, which wasn’t a science post.

As a cultivator, Liang Shan’s ability was appalling, but he had a quick head and a good personality. He was usually only responsible for information collection and liaison. As soon as the Evil Spirit broke the seal, all non-science posts went to work overtime as combat powers, and he had to run to the scene to work part-time.

Right now, he was waiting at the door at Fanghua Apartments, ready to pick up a car.

Liang Shan sighed and looked at the old building towering beside him.

There were neat square windows embedded on more than a dozen floors, and only the smaller half of the windows were lit. The characters “Fanghua Apartments” stood at the entrance of the building with its gold coating falling off.

Just a few days ago, a girl disappeared from this apartment.

Gao Mengyu, 27 years old. She used to be a bank clerk but resigned at the beginning of the year to prepare for her postgraduate entrance exam. For this reason, she rented a single room in the Fanghua Apartments.

There was a picture of the girl in the police file. Gao Mengyu wore her hair in a high ponytail, had a square face with long eyes and a slightly big nose, all of which were ordinary features. In the photo, she looked at the camera blankly, with a slightly stiff expression.

Since four days ago, Gao Mengyu hadn’t contacted anyone.

Her family and friends only thought she was focusing on her studies, but it was actually Fanghua Apartments that found it abnormal…

In recent days, Gao Mengyu’s room had exuded an indescribable stench. She hadn’t responded to the knocks on her door from her neighbors, and the apartment manager couldn’t get in contact with anyone, so he simply opened the door with a spare key.

After seeing the condition of the room, the apartment manager called the police on the spot.

Fortunately, the police did not find Gao Mengyu’s body in the room, so this case was still considered a missing person case.

Liang Shan had heard that Shian wanted to send two probationary employees and wanted to refuse—though the case involved a missing person, the scene inside was brutal and wasn’t suitable for rookies.

The afterglow of the sunset had completely disappeared. Shian’s special car had just parked at the entrance to the apartments.

The one who came out first wore glasses. On his work ID was a stamped red seal. He had the temperament of a poor college student, which Liang Shian assumed was typical of a novice in the science post. The one who came out after… Wait, was this an employee of Shian or an evil spirit to catch?

He suspiciously glanced at the work ID, and his head almost exploded.

Shit, the work ID clearly showed: “For Medical Examination Only”!

Rather than newcomers, these two were still in factory settings, and looking at the temperament of “Yin Ren”, he was definitely not an orthodox cultivator in any way.

Liang Shan sighed and took two steps forward, showing his work ID with a black seal. “Shian. Here, here!”

“Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren, right? Take it. Inside is a three-piece set of gloves, shoe covers, and vomit bags. You might need to use it in a bit.”

He distributed the bag in his hand to the two of them as he spoke rapidly.

“We have to greet the police in advance. We’ll go to the missing person’s room later. Don’t take or move anything from the scene. If you find something suspicious, you must report it to me first… Hey, Xiao Zhong, where are you looking?”

Yin Ren was listening intently. When he turned his head, he found that Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes were wandering around.

He followed Zhong Chengshuo’s gaze and saw a large person…

It was an old man carrying a folding chair, sitting alone at the entrance to the apartments.

The old man was wearing a plain shirt. His eyes drooped, and there were dark circles beneath them, making him look extra creepy. He glared at the three of them and then looked straight back at the ground again.

Zhong Chengshuo observed the man for a while. “Who’s that?”

“Nearby resident, I think. This is the first time I’ve seen him. Don’t disturb him. If you really mind, you can mention it to the police.”

Liang Shan pressed the elevator button as he spoke with more emphasis in his tone.

Most newcomers were like this. They were curious about everything and considered everyone a suspect.

“Did you read the case information? You’ll be working as a third-party to assist this time, so think of this as field experience. Make sure to take good notes. You don’t need to solve the case… By the way, I hope you haven’t had dinner yet. If you did, you’re about to throw it all up now.”

Zhong Chengshuo nodded earnestly and even prepared the vomit bag, just in case. Yin Ren quickly followed suit, taking out the paper bag and squeezing it in his hand.

Gao Mengyu lived in room 1413 on the 14th floor. As soon as the elevator arrived, a trace of stench that no one wanted to invade their nostrils filled the elevator.

Yin Ren twitched his nose in disgust.

The stench of raw, rotten meat was something he was all too familiar with.

The elevator door slid open, and the stench wafted in. The smell instantly enveloped them, as if the three of them had slid into a sewer. Yin Ren quickly frowned, while Zhong Chengshuo took a half step back and covered his mouth and nose.

Liang Shan took the lead in stepping off the elevator and gave his introduction without changing his expression. “Fanghua Apartments used to be an office building. It’s a bit old, so the rent is low. Most of the tenants are young people, and despite the large influx of people, the surveillance is airtight.”

Zhong Chengshuo had pinched his nose, which made his voice sound muffled. “Why is Shian…?”

Since there was airtight surveillance, this matter shouldn’t be difficult to solve. This was the 14th floor. If someone wanted to bypass the surveillance system, the only way was to jump off the building.

“The police checked the surveillance already.”

The science post was quite quick, which made Liang Shan’s tense mood relax a bit.

“Gao Mengyu is the only tenant in 1413. She entered the apartment four days ago and hasn’t left since… You guys should come in and take a look first. The cops just finished taking photos today, so this place would be dealt with tomorrow.”

Liang Shan walked to the front door and put on his shoes and gloves. Finally, he grabbed the door handle and opened the door.

It was the height of summer, and it had just rained last night. If the stench was just wrapping around them before, the stench this time was like a punch in the face.

Yin Ren, who was repeatedly beaten black and blue by the stench: “…”

Is this job really reliable?

After making sure the two of them didn’t vomit, Liang Shan pushed the door all the way open. There was only a squeaking sound on the anti-theft door of room 1413 as it slowly opened.

Inside was a one-bedroom apartment of about 30 square meters. There was a toilet that was separated by sliding doors, and there was no space to hide anything.

The shoes were neatly arranged at the entrance, and Gao Mengyu’s phone and keys were all placed on the shoe cabinet. The kitchen and sink were clean, and the blanket on the bed was flat. A square table with a cat-patterned tablecloth was placed next to the bed.

There were only a few spread-out books on top of the table. A fountain pen with a broken cap was sandwiched between the pages of the book full of notes.

There weren’t many things in the house, and everything was orderly. Just looking at this scene, the owner seemed to take good care of herself.

At this moment, a fly flew over and stopped at the tip of the pen.

It crawled over the ink on the tip and rubbed its feet quietly. Around it, countless fat flies buzzed loudly. They formed a wave of shiny, insect fog that was flying and colliding about.

The flies weren’t the only “anomaly” in the room…

The floor was full of white, translucent plastic bags. They piled up quietly around the refrigerator and were swollen with whatever corrupted content was inside, like a giant bug sac.

Each bag was covered with squirming maggots, and murky, rotten juice was dripping everywhere.

Given his experience, Yin Ren could guess what was inside the plastic bag. Those were all carefully portioned, fist-sized pieces of raw meat.

They were wrapped in a mottled mass of maggots, and only their outline could be seen. Chicken, duck, and fish were easily distinguishable, but the other pieces of meat were so rotten that it was difficult to tell what animal they came from.

Near the pile of bags, the refrigerator door was ajar, and a large amount of vicious grayish-yellow liquid flowed out from the frozen layer. The mucus seeped into the cracks of the tiles and flowed through half the room, making the already strong stench even stronger.

Everything was incompatible with the neat environment, and this incongruity made people feel uncomfortable everywhere.

Seeing the situation inside the room, everyone was speechless for a while.

Yin Ren decided to take a more active lead. “What is that? That… grayish-yellow slime on the ground.”

That was the only thing Yin Ren wasn’t sure about. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what refrigerators were, so he had to temporarily change the term.

Liang Shan didn’t care about his small pause. He gave a bitter huff.

“It’s rotten brains.”

Zhong Chengshuo forgot to cover his mouth and nose as he inquired, “Brains?”

Yin Ren’s spirit lifted. “You can buy brains alone?”

In this weird atmosphere, the two newcomers showed a ton of resistance. Neither of them seemed to have any fear at all. Liang Shan suddenly had the illusion of being a tour guide at a farmer’s market.

It seemed that the two rookies weren’t as green as he imagined. Despite seeing such a scene, the vomit bag that they prepared didn’t come in handy.

Liang Shan pointed to a fairly clear bag and showed the two of them the logo displaying “Donghe Farmer’s Market”.

“The girl bought a lot of pig brains and all these meats. We have a record of her payment. There’s nothing here that’s not on the receipt. It’s a common item at the farmer’s market.”

It was just that the scene and situation were particularly wrong.

According to the police investigation, since preparing for her postgraduate entrance exam, Gao Mangyu’s life only had two main points—during the day, she would board herself up in the apartment and at most come downstairs to pick up deliveries. At night, she would take advantage of the closing specials and go to the nearby farmer’s market and buy vegetables.

The stall owners all had some impression of her; she didn’t seem to like meat very much.

However, in the last month, Gao Mengyu began to frequently buy all kinds of meat. In the past two weeks, she gave up buying randomly mixed items, and began to focus on buying fresh pig brains. In a day, she would buy about 10 kg.

This amount was clearly enough to open a little shop, let alone eat by herself. The butcher remembered it very clearly.

Looking at the surveillance, from Gao Mengyu’s abnormal behavior to her disappearance, there was no one that came in and out of her apartment. She also didn’t have items similar to luggage, cabinets, and other large items that could hide a person, and there was no possibility of quietly sneaking someone into the apartment. There were also no traces that the surveillance had been tampered with, so the matter was too bizarre.

Four days ago, Gao Mengyu walked into her apartment with a shopping bag and hadn’t left since.

It looked as if she had evaporated from this small room.

The Haigu police retrieved all nearby surveillance but still found nothing. The investigation hadn’t stopped, but because this may involve an evil sect, Liang Shan took the initiative to ask Shian to intervene.

Liang Shan tried to guide the rookies. “You’ve read the information, so do you have any idea? Xiao Yin, you can speak first.”

After all, their positions were similar, so he wanted to test the depth of this metaphysician of the younger generation.

Yin Ren tried to shrink to the window. “There’s no trace of her packing her luggage so it may be that a thief… or gangster kidnapped her.”

He wasn’t lying. Yin Ren had smelled the stench. There was no unique smell of ghosts here. In other words, there wasn’t a possibility that Gao Mengyu was possessed by something.

There were a few traces of miscellaneous evil qi, but he didn’t sense any hostility from it. There were a mix of fish and dragons* here, and these apartments changed owners frequently, so it was normal to have a bit of dirt.

*(鱼龙混杂) Idiom referring to the good mixes with the bad.

Thousands of years had passed, and the sea had changed. It was given that new evil beings would be born. Before determining the source of the evil qi, Yin Ren didn’t want to be too presumptuous.

Unfortunately, his modesty was a bit too much.

Liang Shan wiped his face vicariously. “Well, you and the police have the same view.”

Gao Mengyu didn’t have a phone on her when she disappeared, didn’t wear outdoor shoes, and didn’t have the ability to tamper with the surveillance. Her family was well-off, so the police were indeed biased towards kidnapping… But how could a metaphysician say this?

“What about Xiao Zhong? Do you have any other opinions?” Liang Shan turned his head hopelessly.

Zhong Chengshuo covered his mouth and nose tightly, carefully crossing the pieces of carrion, and paced around the room for a while.

“She may still be here.”

Liang Shan: “What?”

“It’s simple. Since there are no clues to prove that she left, she may still be here.”

The author has something to say:

Ghost King: I think it’s kidnapping.

High-end scientific research talent (facing the empty house): She may still be here.

Liang Shan: ? What’s wrong with these two?

——————

I responded to a few questions yesterday!

①The personalities of the two protagonists are different from the style of the title, “fierce and vicious*”.

*Clarity: As I explained in my Chapter 1 Kinky Thoughts, the idiom behind the title of the novel, which refers to particular fierce/vicious people. The comment is indicating this doesn’t seem very indicative of the two MCs… but we’ll see how that’ll go as the story pans out.

I won’t take the title of the novel lightly. If the name of the novel is chosen, there must be a reason why I chose it☆

②Why is Xiao Zhong’s name originally pronounced shuō but he is used to using yuè?

In the same way, in the first few books, I like to add spoilers to the protagonist’s name (???) Or some symbolic stems. It’s the same for this one——

③Adding on to a question that I’ve answered before:

This novel is not an orthodox supernatural worldview. There is no reincarnation system, and I personally don’t like the “reincarnation” theme very much, so I haven’t written about it and I won’t in the future. XD

Kinky Thoughts:

Since I haven’t read ahead, I’m unsure about how Zhong Chengshuo’s name fits in all this. 

Second note: I’ve explained the title of the novel and why it’s translated as so. You can read about it in my Kinky Thoughts in chapter 1.

To celebrate my 1-year anniversary of starting danmei translation, I’ve decided to release the rest of this arc. Happy reading.