Chapter 1 A Case
Chen Xuan knew that there were no ghosts in the world.
Ghosts are an alternative creation of the humanities, a profile of the human inner world, a means of expression, and a form of metaphysics.
There are always people who commit crimes under the guise of "ghosts". Chen Xuan's existence is to prove that "ghosts" do not exist.
But this time.
Chen Xuan didn't know how to prove it.
…
The car sped through the silent night, with only the flashing warning lights on the roof making sharp shrieks.
"This is really weird. How can such a strange thing happen?"
The police officer driving the car complained and stretched his waist. He received the report at three o'clock in the morning and had to rush to the scene.
Chen Xuan, who was sitting in the back car, glanced at the rearview mirror and responded:
"There's nothing strange about it. It all depends on human effort. There are so many strange things."
"Could it be just a prank?"
Chen Xuan has seen many more bizarre cases, which were eventually proven to be man-made.
This is nothing serious.
Thanks to the traffic conditions in the early morning, Chen Xuan's three-member team quickly arrived at the crime scene. Standing at the door of room 1201, the police officer entered the six-digit password of the room. After the password was correct, the door made a "beep beep" confirmation sound, followed by a clicking sound from the lock core spring, and the door quietly opened a gap.
The loud noise made the police officer who opened the door hesitate. He tried to cover the smart door lock to reduce the volume, but it was obviously unnecessary.
Slowly pushing open the door, the dark living room appeared quiet under the moonlight. It was a well-decorated living room with a sofa and a coffee table.
At this moment, a man was sitting upright on the sofa. In the moonlight, Chen Xuan could see that the man had his eyes half-open, his body leaning forward, one hand on his thigh, and the other hand suspended in the air, as if he was attending a lecture. In his hand, he held a black pen, which was suspended in mid-air, motionless. The moonlight shone on the moving dust, otherwise Chen Xuan would have thought the picture was frozen.
The sound of the door opening did not cause the silent man to change. Instead, the door on the other side quietly opened a crack, and a trembling sound came from the room.
A woman peeked out with one eye from the gap and cried out:
"Officer..."
"I'm here."
Looking at the man who showed no signs of movement, Chen Xuan did not act rashly. He left a police officer to watch the scene, and Chen Xuan walked around the living room and headed towards the room.
Walking into the woman's room, as soon as she entered the room, the woman could no longer suppress her voice and said tremblingly:
"Officer, you're finally here! I was scared to death!!"
"What happened? What happened to the man in the living room?"
"How should I know what happened to him? I don't even know him!"
The woman answered hastily, explaining the whole incident.
The woman's name is Li Qiqi, she is 24 years old and has just been working for two years. She thought she had more money so she moved into a single apartment. Women always care more about the safety of living conditions. Li Qiqi felt very at ease living there for the first two months.
But tonight, when the woman got up to go to the bathroom, she was drowsy and suddenly found... there was someone sitting in the living room.
There was suddenly a strange man in the house. The woman was so scared that she quickly retreated back to the room and called the police.
"Are you sure you don't know him?"
Li Qiqi was obviously much bolder under the escort of the police officer. She licked her dry lips and looked towards the living room with a vigilant look. Then she retracted her head and said with certainty:
"I definitely don't know him, I've never met this man."
"Besides, my passwords are all new and only my best friends and parents know them. How could they possibly give my room password to a stranger?"
"The most important thing is that there is a sound when the combination lock is opened, but I didn't hear any sound at all."
The woman's thoughts were relatively clear, but the more she explained, the more confused the young police officer became.
"Then how did he get in?"
"How should I know!"
Chen Xuan walked out of the room and went to the side of the living room, carefully observing the man's expression.
His eyes were not completely closed, leaving a slight slit. Looking through the slit, the man's eyes were unfocused.
"Is he sleepwalking?"
The woman asked in surprise, and when she turned around, her hands were already on the young policeman's arms.
"Ma'am, this is not appropriate..."
"I'm not scared!"
"Did you see his condition clearly when you opened the door? Was he sitting upright on the sofa like that?"
Chen Xuan asked, and the woman lowered her head, thinking for a moment, then raised her head uncertainly and said:
"He was sitting on the sofa at the time, but I didn't know he was asleep. I just knew he didn't notice me."
"He was still moving, and seemed to be writing something on his hand."
"What's written..."
Chen Xuan's eyebrows twitched, and he looked at the man's hand again. There was no paper underneath, and the man's arm was also suspended in the air. He had no idea what he had written at the time.
Chen Xuan put the recorder on the table and patted the man on the shoulder.
"Sir, hello, sir? Wake up?"
With each slap, the man didn't react at first, but after a while, his body began to tremble, and a supporting force seemed to be removed. Then the man slowly opened his eyes, and his unfocused eyes flashed with a moment of confusion. After seeing everything around him clearly, he became a little panicked and shocked.
"What's going on?"
"Who are you?"
The man was shocked and put down the pen in his hand. He looked around with a puzzled look and said with a frown:
"Police, police? Why are you in my house?"
"That's what we wanted to ask you."
The young police officer asked seriously:
"Why did you suddenly appear in this lady's house?"
"What? This isn't my home? This really isn't... I, I don't know. I was just sleeping at home. How did I get here?"
"You really don't have any memory at all?"
" No ……"
The man's eyes revealed confusion and helplessness, and Chen Xuan looked at him and it didn't seem like he did it on purpose.
"What's your name, where do you live, what do you do for a living, and what did you do before going to bed?"
As time went by, the man's expression became less tense, and he responded somewhat listlessly:
"My name is Wang Sanbei. I live in Chaonan District and work as a clerk. Before going to bed... before going to bed, I read a novel. There's nothing else to do."
"Towards the south district?"
The young policeman paused and frowned.
"You're kidding, right? This is the Happiness District. One is in the south, and the other is in the north. Are you saying... you sleepwalked all the way from the South District to the Happiness District?"
The two districts are twenty kilometers apart in a straight line. How did they get there?
"Happiness Zone... How did I end up in the Happiness Zone?"
"Have you ever had symptoms of sleepwalking before?"
"No... I've never heard of me having this symptom before."
"Then you should get yourself a good physical checkup. Sleepwalking into someone else's house... this is the first time I've seen that."
"I'm so sorry, so sorry... I really don't know what's going on. Is this this lady's home? I'm so sorry!"
"I don't know what happened. I'll give you some money and I'll settle this privately. I really didn't mean it..."
Wang Sanbei's sincere look soothed . Li Qiqi was not an aggressive person to begin with, and seeing Wang Sanbei's expression, Li Qiqi did not pursue the matter any further.
"That's really strange... Did I not close the door properly?"
Li Qiqi thought to herself and sighed.
But Chen Xuan looked at the door, feeling a little strange.
How did Wang Sanbei get into this room? When he first entered, the door was still locked. Even if it was not locked, a sleepwalker would not lock the door again.
And the electronic lock will make a sound when opening and closing the door.
There is also sleepwalking from Chaonan District to Xingfu District.
Is Wang Sanbei lying?
"Okay, it's getting late... Let's contact each other tomorrow if there's anything."
By now, there were signs of dawn in the community. In order not to cause a commotion, Chen Xuan ended this investigation and would follow up later.
But Chen Xuan didn't expect that three days later...
