"Dead people? You're not seeing things?" I was a little surprised.
"Don't believe me? Go see for yourself!" Ye Shiwen yelled at me angrily.
I called out, "Let's go, Wang Dali!"
When we went in and looked, there really were two corpses. One was lying not far from the door, and the other was lying next to the window. The bodies were pitch black all over, and the skin on the surface had been completely charred. My first reaction was that these were burnt corpses that had been abandoned, as burning is the most effective way to destroy evidence and DNA. But what was astonishing was that the two corpses were still wearing clothes, and the clothes were completely undamaged.
Wang Dali cried out in fright, "Yang Zi, they really are corpses!"
"It's not strange for a place like this abandoned cottage in the suburbs to be chosen as a body dumping ground. Let me call Huang Xiaotao," I said.
Just as I picked up my phone, Ye Shiwen and Zhang Yan poked their heads in to take a look. Ye Shiwen lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing the corpses, and said, "Are you crazy? Why call the police? Let's get out of here!"
I ignored him.
Ye Shiwen went on, "The police are quite unreasonable nowadays. If they can't catch the murderer, they might make us take the blame."
Zhang Yan chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, don't call the police. Let's just get out of here. Minding our own business is best."
I thought to myself, where did they hear these rumors? The police are still quite fair in investigating cases. It's true that sometimes the person reporting the case gets detained, but that's because the reporter is genuinely suspicious. At this point, the call went through and Huang Xiaotao lazily said, "You little scoundrel, why are you looking for me in the dead of night? I just barely fell asleep."
"Looks like you won't be sleeping tonight," I replied. "I've discovered two corpses here."
There was a sudden crackling noise from the phone, and I asked what happened. Huang Xiaotao irritably said, "Damn, I knocked over my cup trying to turn on the light switch. It was my favorite mug too!"
I laughed. "I'll buy you a new one later. Hurry up, the address is..."
I looked at Wang Dali, and he used his phone to pinpoint our location and told me the address. I passed it on to Huang Xiaotao.
"Got it, I'll call the station to send someone right away. You stay there and protect the scene!" Huang Xiaotao said hurriedly.
After hanging up, Ye Shiwen's and Zhang Yan's eyes were wide open. Ye Shiwen stuttered, "You really know the police?"
"Would I lie to you?" I couldn't help smiling.
Ye Shiwen looked embarrassed. "Then...then I'll be going first."
"Your car's broken down. Where can you go?" I said. "Stay here. You'll probably have to give a statement later."
"What? We have to give a statement too?" Zhang Yan said in shock. "We didn't do anything. You have to testify for us!"
I felt like laughing. Ordinary people get scared as soon as they hear "give a statement" and "go to the police station." Actually, the police handle things impartially. To reassure her I explained, "Don't worry, I'll testify for you."
I also said to Wang Dali, "Looks like we'll be busy tonight. Go back to school and get my stuff."
"Got it!" Wang Dali readily agreed. "I'll bring you some food too. We'll probably be up all night."
"Go quickly and come back quickly. Be careful on the road," I instructed.
"I know!"
After Wang Dali left, Ye Shiwen asked me, "Song Yang, what are you anyway?"
"Same as you, a student," I said evasively.
Ye Shiwen looked doubtful. Perhaps being with the two corpses made him nervous, and he wanted to smoke. I told him not to smoke here, that dropping ash and cigarette butts at the scene would be very problematic and he might get taken to the police station. After my scare tactics, he gave up the idea.
Before Huang Xiaotao arrived, I examined the corpses again carefully. From the surface features, they were clearly burn victims, but I still couldn't determine if they had died accidentally or if this was a case of murder by burning the bodies. I was afraid of leaving fingerprints, so I didn't move them with my hands.
Judging by their clothing and build, both corpses were male, one about thirty years old and the other about forty years old. Not only were they wearing clothes and shoes and socks, they even had watches and gold rings on their bodies, which left me puzzled about the killer's intent.
I searched each room and found two sleeping bags in one room, with a backpack beside them. Just as I was pondering this, I suddenly heard the sound of a door closing behind me, followed by Zhang Yan's sharp scream.
Only then did I realize these two scaredy cats had been following me the whole time. Zhang Yan stuttered, "Who...who closed the door?"
"Probably the wind," I said.
I went to open the door, but there was a wall across from it, so the wind couldn't have blown it closed. Also, the atmosphere in the hallway was eerie, and a continual "creak creak" sound kept coming from one corner, sounding just like someone chewing beans. I thought, this house really is a bit strange!
When I turned around, I saw Ye Shiwen and Zhang Yan were so frightened that they were clutching each other's hands tightly, eyes bulging out. Their appearance made me laugh. "It's okay, I'm here," I said.
"Did you hear any sounds?" Zhang Yan asked cautiously.
"Don't think about it too much. If you have nothing to do, play on your phones. The more you let your imagination run wild in a place like this, the more frightened you'll feel," I reassured them.
"How...how are you not scared at all?"
"What's there to be scared of? Don't you watch horror movies?"
After a while, I heard the wail of police sirens outside, and a crowd came up. When Huang Xiaotao saw Ye Shiwen and Zhang Yan, she asked, "Are these your classmates?"
"I guess so. Give me a pair of rubber gloves," I said.
I put on the gloves Little Zhou from the tech team handed me, then prepared to examine the corpses. Ye Shiwen and Zhang Yan watched me with eyes wide, as if they might pop out of their sockets. Earlier, Ye Shiwen had even bet me that if I knew a detective, he'd call me Dad a hundred times. I was planning to make him pay up on the spot, to burst his cocky bubble! But I was too curious about the charred corpses and didn't bring it up.
As I moved the corpses around, I gave Huang Xiaotao a rough account of how we discovered them. Ye Shiwen and Zhang Yan were also taken downstairs by the police to give statements. I said to Huang Xiaotao, "Oh right, that kid's car broke down. Lend him a bottle of water if you have any in your car. It'll be too late for him to get back to school otherwise."
"Heh, you little scoundrel, having a mixer with girls behind my back!" Huang Xiaotao reached out to twist my ear. "Confess properly, you're looking for your dream girl with long hair, aren't you?"
Huang Xiaotao was very gentle, so I played along and pleaded for mercy. "Could you focus? I already said today was purely to help Wang Dali make a move, don't go saying anything about a mixer. I don't even know how to write those three characters."
"Hmph, Sis knew a wimp like you wouldn't have the guts even if you had the intention," Huang Xiaotao said, shaking her dainty fist.
I started examining the corpses and found the joints were all intact. It was just that the whole body had been charred. Looking at their expressions before death, it seemed they had suffered enormous pain and torment before dying!