Zhang Mingli took Fang Rui and the others to Beiyuan Garden Residential Area. It was an old residential complex built in the 1990s. The buildings were closely spaced, resulting in poor natural lighting. Upon entering the stairwell, there was an immediate sense of darkness and gloom.
Zhang Mingli lived on the fourth floor. Her apartment was a duplex with two levels, so despite being on a lower floor, the ceiling felt low upon entering, making the space feel somewhat cramped.
There was a bagua mirror hanging on the door, covered in dust, appearing to have been there for years.
"It was right here. He was lying here, covered in blood," Zhang Mingli pointed at the floor near the stairway entrance, speaking frantically. "I was standing upstairs at the time. I watched him roll down and fall here, where he slowly closed his eyes. He died."
Zhang opened the curtains and turned on the lights, but found nothing on the floor. The floor tiles were grayish-white and worn, with some even cracked, but there were no traces of blood.
Mu Mian sprayed luminol reagent on the floor, but no fluorescence appeared. There were no signs of chemical corrosion on the floor, ruling out the possibility that the perpetrator had used bleach or similar substances to clean up blood, indicating that there had never been any blood on the tiles.
"No blood," Mu Mian whispered to Fang Rui and the others. "No traces of bleach detected on the floor either, so we can rule out blood being cleaned with bleach. It seems there was never any blood on these tiles."
"The tiles look old, with lots of dust in the gaps. They don't appear to have been replaced recently," Wang said. "We can basically rule out tile replacement."
Mu Mian sprayed luminol reagent in every corner of the house, but found no fluorescent reactions except for some small spots on the white walls, which were from mosquitoes that had been killed.
As Mu Mian walked out of the room, she hesitated, feeling something unsettling about the house.
"Mu Mian, what's wrong?" Fang Rui asked.
"I think my OCD is acting up. Something's not right about this house!"
"Is it because of the tiles?"
Fang Rui noticed that the tiles in the bedrooms were different from those in the living room, with different patterns. Except for the bathroom, all other rooms had matching tiles. Normally during renovation, the living room and bedrooms would use the same tiles, but this house was different.
However, the living room tiles didn't look newly replaced either. They felt loose underfoot, with several cracked pieces, and the style and pattern weren't contemporary – they appeared to be from over a decade ago. The building itself was quite old.
"Yes. The bedroom tiles are different from the living room. That's why this house feels so uncomfortable to me," Mu Mian complained, then pointed to the large bay window in the second bedroom. "And why build such a platform in the house? It's difficult to close the windows, it's so high I can't even climb up there. The design of this house is so impractical!"
"I feel the same way. This house feels very gloomy!" Zhang commented. "It's so eerie, no wonder Ms. Zhang developed mental issues living here."
Zhang Mingli stood in the living room, visibly anxious. The murder scene seemed to replay constantly before her eyes, but she couldn't remember why she killed someone or who the victim was.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Zhang Mingli jumped in fright.
"Ms. Zhang, don't be afraid. We're still here," Zhang reassured her.
Zhang opened the door to find Zhang Mingli's uncle, Zhang Taotao, a man in his fifties wearing black-framed glasses and having a scholarly appearance. He addressed Zhang Mingli: "Mingli, what's wrong? How did you end up at the police station?"
Zhang Taotao was a high school chemistry teacher nearing retirement. He barely needed to work anymore, so when he heard about Zhang Mingli's situation, he rushed over immediately.
"Uncle, I killed someone! I pushed someone down the stairs, they fell to their death, but the body is gone," Zhang Mingli's eyes darted around wildly as she spoke in terror. "There's a ghost! Uncle, this house is haunted. I can't stay here anymore. I don't want to live here."
"Alright, you don't have to stay. Come live with your uncle," Zhang Taotao embraced her. "I told you before to come live with me, but you insisted on staying here. Now look what's happened – you ended up in a haunted house, and look how frightened you've become."
After Zhang Mingli calmed down, Zhang Taotao addressed Fang Rui and the others: "Officers, I apologize for my niece's behavior in making a false report. She told me earlier that this house was haunted. I told her not to stay here, but she insisted, and now she's been frightened out of her wits. How could a young woman like her possibly kill someone?"
"No, Uncle, I did kill someone!" Zhang Mingli insisted.
"Mingli, child, you say you killed someone, but who did you kill?" Zhang Taotao interrupted. "Haven't the police officers searched the entire house? Did they find any body?"
Zhang Mingli began to doubt herself, looking at her hands while mumbling, "Did I really not kill anyone? Uncle, am I going crazy like Mom?"
"Mingli, didn't you get checked at the psychiatric hospital last time? The doctor said you're fine, just under too much stress, which is why you're thinking too much."
Zhang Taotao turned to Fang Rui and the others, saying, "Officers, I'll take my niece home now. She's been under too much stress lately and might be having some mental health issues. She needs proper rest."
"Alright, take her home."
Fang Rui and the team thoroughly searched the house again but found nothing suspicious.
The house's decoration was old, apparently from many years ago, and the furnishings hadn't changed much recently.
There was a security camera in the corridor outside Zhang Mingli's apartment. They went to the security office to retrieve the footage from the past two weeks.
Back at the station, each person was assigned to watch several days of footage at 16x speed until around seven or eight in the evening. The surveillance footage showed that in the past two weeks, apart from Zhang Mingli's uncle, delivery personnel, and utility workers, no other men had visited her home. Only two women had visited, and everyone who entered had also left – no one had disappeared.
"There haven't been any missing persons reports recently either. It seems Ms. Zhang really is experiencing mental health issues," Zhang rubbed his tired eyes. "Still, it's good that there wasn't actually a murder."
Everyone went home after work. Fang Rui drove Mu Mian home, and she remained silent throughout the journey.
Seeing Mu Mian's deep contemplation, Fang Rui asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing!"
At 1:08 AM, Fang Rui was suddenly awakened by knocking at his door. He knew only Mu Mian would knock at this hour. He opened the door with messy hair, "Mu Mian, can't this wait until tomorrow?"
"Fang Rui, do you think the body could be hidden in the bay window?" Mu Mian asked with dark circles under her eyes, trying to keep them open. "Let's go dig for the body with some tools."
"Mu Mian, do you know what time it is?" Fang Rui could barely keep his eyes open.
"1:09 AM."
"So, go back to sleep now, and we'll talk about this tomorrow." Fang Rui grabbed Mu Mian's shoulders and pushed her to her apartment door, then turned to go back to sleep.
"Fang Rui, you can sleep tomorrow."
"This case hasn't been officially opened. If we go digging for a body now, we'd be illegally entering private property. That's against the law, understand?"
"I know. I understand the law. But..."
"Then go back to sleep now, and tomorrow we'll contact Ms. Zhang and check that bay window again, okay?"
"Okay."
Fang Rui closed his door, returned to bed, and was about to sleep when something occurred to him. He quickly got up and opened the door, finding Mu Mian still standing outside, as he'd suspected.
"Fang Rui, why aren't you going back to sleep?"
Mu Mian was happy to see Fang Rui come out again. She had been counting seconds, wanting to know how long it would take for him to return. The number would be her waiting time. It only took 18 seconds for Fang Rui to come back out.
She felt lucky – she only had to wait 18 seconds.
"Mu Mian, shouldn't I be asking you that question? Why aren't you going back to sleep?" Fang Rui asked with resignation.
"You said you'd only tell me the important thing tomorrow. But I can't sleep, so I'll just wait here." Mu Mian waved her hand at Fang Rui, "Fang Rui, you should go back to sleep. I'm not tired, so I'll just keep waiting here."
"Mu Mian, Miss Zhang is sleeping, we can't reach her right now. Besides, there might not even be a body there. So, please be good and go back to sleep. We can check it out tomorrow, okay?"
"That's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to say something else."
"What is it?"
Mu Mian looked at him with sincere eyes, "Fang Rui, would you marry me?"
