“The scene has been too heavily disturbed — there’s almost nothing useful to work with.” Bai Jin straightened up and rolled his stiff neck. “Both window latches were secured from the inside, and the front door’s brass padlock was intact with no signs of forced entry. I also had Da Liu check outside the windows — no suspicious traces were found.”

He swept his gaze across the dust-coated classroom, and something suddenly came to him. “A year ago, a girl hanged herself in this very classroom. Someone reported it to the Military Police Bureau, and Zheng Yun and I came together to handle it. No wonder it looked familiar — it’s the same room.”

“I remember that case.” E’Yuan hauled the body out of the fish tank and laid it wetly on the floor. Due to rigor mortis, the corpse remained curled in on itself, like a rigid plaster figure.

“That girl was a suicide — no family, no one to claim the body. Our bureau ended up burying her.” E’Yuan worked to break the rigor mortis as he spoke. “Based on the lividity and stiffness, the victim’s time of death was around ten o’clock last night.”

He then turned to Yan Qing for confirmation. “Master, am I right?”

“More precisely, it would have been nine-thirty last night.” Yan Qing pulled on the white gloves E’Yuan handed her, lifted the victim’s eyelids, then carefully examined the face and neck. “The signs of drowning aren’t obvious. We’ll need an autopsy to determine the cause of death.”

Shi Ting said, “This water vat stands roughly one meter tall. The victim appears to be about 160 centimeters. There are no ligature marks on her body, meaning she could have stood freely inside the vat. She showed no signs of struggle — the killer likely threw her in after she had already lost consciousness or was already dead.”

“I agree.” Yan Qing nodded. “Let’s take the body back to the Military Police Bureau. The autopsy will give us the answers.”

Just as she finished speaking, she noticed Shi Ting watching her with a peculiar expression.

Yan Qing stiffened slightly. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing. Just thinking that you’re starting to sound more and more like one of our bureau’s forensic examiners.”

Without realizing it, she had once again forgotten herself — slipping back into the role she’d had in S City.

But Shi Ting was only teasing. Before she could blush, he had already turned and walked away.

An elderly man in worn cloth clothing and a grey felt hat stood nearby, nervously answering questions from Military Police Bureau officers. His speech was halting, as though he was still in shock from discovering the body.

The old man in the felt hat went by the nickname “Jiuwan.” He had previously worked at a mahjong parlor, and in his old age had taken a job as the school’s gatekeeper. With no family, he lived around the clock in the gatehouse.

He was the one who had found the body.

“Room 104 is a haunted place — who would dare go near it?” Jiuwan was still trembling as he spoke. “If I hadn’t been looking for the fish tank, I never would have come here, and I never would have had the misfortune of seeing a dead person.”

“Is this the fish tank you were looking for?” the officer asked, gesturing into the room.

“That’s it. It’s normally kept in the principal’s office — had some pretty fish in it. This morning the principal discovered it was gone and called me in for a tongue-lashing, said if I didn’t find it, I could pack up and leave. I searched all morning, turned the whole school inside out and still couldn’t find it. In desperation, I thought of this room 104.” Jiuwan dropped his voice. “This classroom is haunted — every now and then you see a ghostly figure drifting about. I’ll bet that girl was killed by a ghost.”

“Stick to the point,” the officer said, frowning. “Then what happened?”

—