After finishing his long story, Manager Hu let out a breath and sneered: “The ones who first turned No. 29 into a haunted house were the people from Guan Yinli… Since that’s the case, they can’t blame me for doing a little more for them, making sure this house can never be sold.”
Manager Hu’s eyes behind the glass were utterly wooden, but I only felt a wave of sorrow.
After my mother’s death, there was also a period when I hated my father intensely, hated him so much that I wanted to become a wastrel. I skipped classes every day to go to internet cafés, originally planning to become completely addicted to online games so my father would act like he’d never raised a son like me. But man proposes, heaven disposes—
Just as I decided to become a wandering wastrel, a really good cake shop opened next to the internet café. Later, I played games terribly, but my monthly allowance actually increased instead of decreased. By the time my sister found me at the cake shop, this child laborer had almost become the temporary shop manager.
And I still remember my sister angrily throwing an entire plate of cake in my face, pointing at my nose and cursing: “What kind of revenge is ruining yourself, huh? Yang Zi, if you hate him, hate him for bullying Mom, fine, then there are only two paths to take. Either become more domineering than him and take away everything he has, or if you’re soft-hearted and can’t face him, then go do what Mom didn’t finish, fulfill Mom’s wishes, so he can never completely erase Mom’s existence… There are only these two paths, no others. Do you understand?”
From childhood to adulthood, my sister rarely got so angry with me, so that time I really cried miserably in the street. Although afterward my sister, to coax me, covered my sweet expenses for an entire semester, it was also then that my sister and I made a formal agreement.
No matter what it cost, the two of us would absolutely never let my father get his way.
As Manager Hu said, taking revenge on a giant who’s more powerful than yourself is very difficult, and people like my sister who can directly become giants are extremely rare. I understood this clearly, but—
Degrading oneself for revenge, cheapening more lives in order to seek justice for a life that was cheapened.
Could this kind of revenge really be called revenge?
Thinking of Bai Liu’s murderous appearance back then, I felt a bit dazed for a moment. At this time, the sound of He Jian tapping the table with his pen in the interrogation room pulled me back.
He Jian said indifferently: “So your way of taking revenge on the official Guan Yinli was to kill every previous tenant, wanting to completely ruin this place’s reputation?”
Manager Hu laughed: “I just wanted them to remember the sins they’d committed, it’s that simple.”
He Jian snorted coldly: “I’ve heard plenty of reasons for murder, but your explanation is quite fresh. However, weren’t the people you killed also ‘ants’ in your own words? You felt your mother’s life was insignificant to Guan Yinli, so when you killed them, weren’t these people’s lives equally meaningless in your eyes?”
Hearing this, Manager Hu lowered his eyes without speaking. After a long while, he said softly: “Are you trying to ask about the process? Want to ask how I did it?”
He Jian crossed his arms: “When did you start building that secret passage?”
Manager Hu said nostalgically: “Almost from the first day Guan Yinli handed over the keys, I’d say? The person with the keys was responsible for daily cleaning of the air-raid shelter, and of course they were all unwilling to do it, which gave me a lot of time. You know, when I was little and still lived in that house, the nearby air-raid shelter already existed. Back then, we kids always talked about wanting to dig a cellar that would connect all the way to the air-raid shelter… Anyway, we ants can only do this kind of unsavory work, can’t we?”
“Such a big project, you did it alone?”
“Of course, it took me over a year to complete. At first I was worried the air-raid shelter would get rented out halfway through, but later I discovered that not even one person came to look at it… I really have to thank them for refusing to budge on price, which gave me such an opportunity.”
“How did you do it?”
“The keys were with me, I’d dig at night, then use my own car to transport the dirt out… This damn place had no one renting it, so how could they possibly keep surveillance running?”
“You dug the tunnel from the beginning to kill people?”
“That wasn’t my original idea. At first I just wanted to make some noise, make people remember this house was haunted, but later I discovered that killing was fastest… I warned them too. Every time someone came to buy the house, I reminded them it was haunted, but they wouldn’t listen, so they can’t blame me.”
“Tell me about the process.”
He Jian, whether from having seen too much of this sort of thing, didn’t even furrow his brow upon hearing such chilling words, saying: “We’ve already searched No. 29 thoroughly. You’re quite the digger—there’s even a passage in the storage room that goes upstairs. I’ve only seen this kind of skill in drug dealers from Southeast Asia before.”
Manager Hu smiled: “No one knows that house better than I do. It’s just that this time I went in and out too frequently, which was indeed easy to discover. When there were fewer people before, it was much easier than now.”
I shivered, suddenly remembering that when I first viewed the house, there was even a reclining chair for people to rest on. Back then I naively thought everyone came in through the front door.
“Alright, now tell me how the people died.” He Jian coldly interrupted him.
Manager Hu let out a breath: “The first three really aren’t worth talking about. The first one was pushed down by me, the second died of gas poisoning—I switched his exhaust pipe, and the third, well, I tampered with the aging stairs… Back then didn’t Guan Yinli use this same trick to burn my mother to death? You police couldn’t investigate it either, so it’s hardly any rare method.”
He Jian narrowed his eyes: “What about Yang Juan? Why did you disguise hers as suicide? Weren’t you afraid of greater risk? Also, you’ve been acting more and more urgently—why?”
Manager Hu laughed: “This is actually one question. It’s precisely because I was getting more and more urgent that I couldn’t wait to disguise anything as an accident… I wanted to see how much longer Guan Yinli could keep this up, suppressing news every time someone died. What if enough people died? Can paper really contain fire? I just wanted things to get bigger, so I put sleeping pills in her cup and then ‘helped her commit suicide.'”
“Almost every victim discussed ideas about renovating No. 29 with people before dying. Is this why you decided to kill them?”
“Of course… After all, if they renovated, the risk of me being discovered would be too great, and besides, this was Mom’s house—I didn’t want others changing how it looked.”
“What about Bai Yang? He was the first person in all these years to actually buy this house. You obviously spent different energy on him than the others, even spending time scaring him early on. Why? Did you actually not want to kill him?”
He Jian asked something I’d always been curious about. I couldn’t help but stare intently at Manager Hu’s face, wanting to see some clues.
Soon, Manager Hu’s face showed a trace of helplessness: “Officer, what a question. I may be eager for quick results, but I’m not stupid. There were four people in your house, and you were all highly alert. If I acted directly, it would be too easy to get caught. The best scenario would naturally be to scare him away and have someone else come instead.”
“What did you do to scare him?”
“Sent newspapers about previous accidents, put fake hair and chicken blood in the drains, snuck into the room wearing a mask at night, climbed while wearing a mask?”
He Jian frowned: “Then why did you finally act against him?”
Manager Hu said helplessly: “That was naturally a last resort. Originally, it was quite good that he could spread word that No. 29 was haunted—I wasn’t planning to act against him anymore. But not only did he start investigating the previous cases, he also wanted to renovate the house. For self-preservation, I could only act against him. I didn’t want to either.”
So it really was me who hooked him in!
Hearing Manager Hu’s words, my vision went black. If I’d known renovation was really a trigger point, I should have pulled everyone into a pajama party that night instead of stupidly going downstairs to get chocolate!
He Jian repeatedly turned his pen in his hand, poking and dotting on the table for a while, then asked: “If you only wanted to scare him, why did you go to Song Nanshi’s room? Wouldn’t reducing appearances be the wise thing to do for self-preservation?”
Hearing this, Manager Hu just lowered his eyes nostalgically: “The room she slept in used to be my mother’s bedroom… Speaking of which, Boss Bai is actually a decent person. After the haunting incident last time, I saw some media reports saying he refused to go home and inherit the family business simply because he wanted to fulfill his mother’s wishes. In this regard, he and I are actually quite similar, so if he hadn’t mentioned renovation or investigated those past accidents, I almost didn’t want to kill him.”
After speaking, as if remembering something, he raised his head and looked toward the one-way glass, as if he knew I was standing on the other side.
Manager Hu said indifferently: “Thinking about it now, being able to hand this house over to the right person isn’t bad either. At least, he’ll treat this house well and give it a better ending.”
Afterward, He Jian interrogated more details about the first four victims. Manager Hu answered everything smoothly, his expression so calm it seemed he’d long known this day would eventually come, and his obsession had already been released.
After his mother’s death, No. 29 became Hu Wei’s mother.
As the child of No. 29, he was born here, grew up here, and ultimately, would die here.
No. 29’s serial accidents suddenly became serial murders. Having achieved this breakthrough, He Jian as deputy captain naturally couldn’t get away. Coming out of the interrogation room, he only had time to pat me and toss me a line—”I’ll come talk to you about the resignation matter face to face later, boss”—before turning and disappearing into busyness.
Wang Wei offered to drive me back, but just as we reached the precinct entrance, I saw Bai Liu leaning against her eye-catching red BMW waiting for me.
“No need to trouble you, officer. My little brother—I’ll take him back.”
Bai Liu walked over and didn’t forget to hand Wang Wei twelve cups of iced milk tea: “This incident really troubled you all. At least cool off in this hot weather.”
In matters like this, Bai Liu was always more thoughtful than me—no wonder she made more money than I did. Getting in the car, before I could even fasten my seatbelt, Bai Liu had already pulled me into a hug: “I’ve been watching you look like you were about to cry since just now. Still holding back in front of your own sister?”
With her saying this, I actually felt my eyes getting a bit sour. I said helplessly: “I really wasn’t… Don’t provoke me anymore. If I cry, won’t you have to comfort me?”
Bai Liu let me go, and only after confirming my face was dry did she laugh: “What, getting tough this time? I got Officer He’s WeChat message and came over. He said your emotional state wasn’t quite right. When encountering such a big incident, not many people can calmly accept it right away.”
Hearing this, Bai Liu indeed had been in contact with He Jian early on. I rolled my eyes irritably: “Did you figure out his identity when you investigated Old Han last time? Then you kept deceiving me along with Old Han?”
Bai Liu shrugged and started the car: “Han Laosan probably discovered it even earlier. He just sensed that He Jian’s identity was unusual, which is why he wanted to stage that big show during the day haunting to run away early… But thanks to having a police officer around, you didn’t get hurt, right? I’m planning to treat Officer He to dinner to thank him later.”
Along the way, I explained the No. 29 situation to Bai Liu. Except for occasionally raising an eyebrow, Bai Liu didn’t give much reaction. Finally, when I said everything was Manager Hu’s revenge for his mother, she said indifferently: “I told you back then that revenge isn’t done that way.”
I took a deep breath: “I was just luckier than him… After all, if I didn’t have you behind me, I wouldn’t be able to easily fulfill Mom’s wishes in a more dignified way, would I?”
Hearing this, Bai Liu just smiled bitterly and said nothing more. She drove me straight back to Huangliang Yimeng. By now, No. 29’s surroundings had been cordoned off with police tape, and all our household belongings including large and small luggage had been temporarily moved out to facilitate their further search of No. 29.
Seeing that business was temporarily impossible, I wanted to give Han Sha and Song Nanshi short vacations, but then Bai Liu grabbed me.
“Don’t rush, it’s not over yet.”
She pointed to a coffee shop not far away and winked at me mischievously: “Having survived this ordeal, I still have a gift to give you all.”