Chapter 38: This Murderer You Speak Of…
Indeed, when the fire axe was in hand, its weighty feel made one want to chop at something.
He carried the axe and entered the house where the entire family had died.
With his gas mask on and blood-stained axe, even Qin Liu couldn’t help but retort.
“Aren’t you really the murderer returning to the scene of the crime to admire your masterpiece?”
“How could that be?” Liu Haoyu, wearing the gas mask, said in a muffled voice. “I’m a five-star good citizen, how could I be a murderer?”
“Why don’t you take a look in a mirror? Do you think your current appearance is really convincing?”
After Qin Liu muttered this, she returned to Hong Yu.
Liu Haoyu didn’t pay attention to the little ghost’s words. He held the axe and prepared to go downstairs.
This red residential house had only three floors. Liu Haoyu descended from the roof and naturally went to the third floor first.
This floor looked like the family’s bedrooms and storage rooms.
Liu Haoyu entered a bedroom.
As soon as he opened the door, he was greeted by bloodstained bedsheets.
From the struggle marks all over them, it appeared a fight had taken place here. After all, who would have thought that a sweet and peaceful sleep could suddenly be attacked by a fierce ghost?
Looking at the room, which resembled an empty, desolate dwelling, it was clear that Zhu Xingxue’s family was not well-off. However, there was nothing unusual in the room, so Liu Haoyu could only turn and leave.
The flashlight’s beam illuminated the darkness before him. But the light wasn’t very strong; anything a bit further away couldn’t be seen clearly at all. After searching, Liu Haoyu saw a set of footprints. The footprints were a bit messy and very fresh. Judging from the tread pattern on the soles, there were about two people.
Liu Haoyu frowned. These freshly made footprints meant that those two people were still inside the house. Thinking of this possibility, Liu Haoyu gripped the fire axe in his hand tightly. And he walked downstairs step by step.
Entering the second floor, the rotten smell became even stronger. Even with the gas mask, it was a bit difficult to mask the smell. Although it’s true that a vacant house where people had died would have a smell, this particular smell was truly unbearable.
The second floor seemed to be the living room for entertaining guests. But since Zhu Xingxue was just an ordinary farmer with no extensive social circle, this living room was even more dilapidated, having become a place for storing杂物. There were grains, as well as various farming tools, but logically, in such an old house at night, rats should be present. However, it was eerily quiet now. The air became heavy, and the smell of death grew more intense. Liu Haoyu, looking at the unusually bright burning candles, raised his guard.
“Drip drip drip!”
As Liu Haoyu was on alert, he suddenly heard footsteps from the stairs. The footsteps were unusually hurried and panicked, as if being chased by something. Liu Haoyu shone his flashlight towards the top of the stairs. Soon, two people who looked like university students appeared before them. Because they were hit by the strong light, these two couldn’t see Liu Haoyu’s appearance clearly. Perhaps because they saw the light from the flashlight, they immediately exclaimed excitedly.
“Wang Qiang! Someone’s here! Quick, look, someone’s here!”
Before Liu Haoyu could speak, another person named Wang Qiang raised his hand and said.
“There really is someone?! Sima Cai, we’re saved!”
As they spoke, they approached Liu Haoyu.
“Quick, get us out of here! I can give you money, lots and lots of money!”
Liu Haoyu looked at these two people who seemed like university students and recalled the old man’s words. It seemed these were indeed the two young men who had broken into the house seeking supernatural thrills. At this moment, both of them were covered in sweat, their eyes filled with urgency and panic.
“Brother, how did you get in? We don’t know what happened to the door on the first floor, it locked itself after we entered!”
Seeing them trying to approach, Liu Haoyu held up a hand to stop them.
“Stop, are you students from Jiangcheng University?”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
Because of the student ID requirement, both of them had student IDs. They specifically took them out to show Liu Haoyu before continuing.
“Hurry up and leave here. According to the university’s regulations, this house is really haunted!”
Before Sima Cai could finish speaking, after he clearly saw Liu Haoyu’s appearance, the smile on his face and the joy of being rescued instantly froze. Fear once again occupied their hearts. They saw a sturdy figure in a black trench coat standing before them, with the shadow of the hood completely obscuring his appearance, along with a worn-out gas mask. And beneath the mask, icy, terrifying eyes were sizing them up. Even more horrifying was that in his hand, he held a fire axe stained with blood.
“Hiss…”
For a moment, the brains of the two university students went almost blank. Trembling, they said.
“We’re sorry to have disturbed your murder. We’ll leave now.”
For these two, entering this place and encountering all sorts of strange things was already terrifying enough. To then run into such an unlucky murderer, their despair deepened. Under the effect of fear, the students’ calves trembled involuntarily, and they couldn’t even speak clearly.
Yes, in such a grim and terrifying place, how could there be normal people?
“Don’t be scared, I’m a good person.”
Because he was wearing a gas mask, Liu Haoyu’s voice was a bit low.
“What good person would carry an axe in a haunted place in the middle of the night?”
“Didn’t I hear that there was a murder case here, where the victim’s intestines were ripped out, and the death was extremely tragic? As a five-star good citizen, it’s only reasonable for me to come and investigate, to help the police uncle find the murderer, right?”
Hearing Liu Haoyu’s words, Sima Cai was even more scared, taking a few steps back, secretly swallowing a mouthful of saliva. He really wanted to gather the courage to ask Liu Haoyu, “This murderer you speak of… is it you?” But he was so terrified that he didn’t dare to speak.
On one hand, there was a haunted house, and on the other, a suspicious five-star good citizen. No matter how they chose, it seemed like a dead end. So, after weighing the pros and cons, Sima Cai chose one of the paths and gritted his teeth.
“Big brother murderer! This house is really haunted! Let’s go quickly!” After all, no matter what, a murderer is still a human, and they would probably be afraid of ghosts.
However, contrary to their wishes, upon hearing the word “ghosts,” Liu Haoyu not only didn’t get scared, but he also raised the fire axe in his hand and smiled.
“Oh, it’s the 21st century. How can there be ghosts in this world? Don’t be superstitious, believe in science, understand? It must be that you saw it wrong. Come on, follow me downstairs.”
