At the Xixikeke Street Police Station, Lin Yilin sat on a sofa in one of the offices.
After a moment's wait, a handsome middle-aged man with a 70/30 split black hairstyle and stubble pushed open the door: "Sorry to keep you waiting. I found the information you wanted. It's indeed a recent matter."
He threw the file he was holding onto the coffee table in front of Lin Yilin.
"Thank you, Uncle Drake," Lin Yilin politely thanked him before taking the file.
"It's a small matter. Edman also asked me to look after you before he passed away. If you're going to inherit his business, then I'll continue to provide you with assistance, just as I did for him. Anyway, most of our Dadu police's work has already been taken over by you guys," Drake chuckled, taking a sip of the coffee in his hand.
Lin Yilin quietly thanked him again, then no longer stood on ceremony, reaching out to pick up the file and quickly flipping through it.
The content was about recent missing persons in Zhujin Residential Community apartments.
"Countless people go missing in the Grey District every day, killed by gangs, caught up by the Processing Bureau, resolved by agencies, kidnapped by strange companies for experiments, affected by Illusions, or even lost to different worlds... What kind of job are you taking on this time?" Drake asked, watching her flip through the file.
"I haven't actually taken on a job yet; you could say I'm just doing some preliminary research," Lin Yilin said, feeling a little awkward.
Drake was very perceptive and couldn't help but laugh: "Are you also going to do jobs that involve forced buying and selling?"
"I won't overcharge... for now," Lin Yilin retorted.
"Alright, alright, I watched you grow up, so I wouldn't distrust you. I know a little about your abilities," Drake said, waving his hand to reassure her.
Lin Yilin sighed softly.
Originally, she had only planned to wait for Mr. Chen Wen to be unable to bear it any longer and come to her, but Illusion seemed to have taken the initiative to follow him. This was indeed "forced buying and selling" in some sense.
She refocused and continued to examine the file in her hand.
"From mid-May until now, there have been four consecutive disappearances in Zhujin Residential Community, and the remains of one missing person have been confirmed. Is there something wrong with this community?" Lin Yilin summarized and asked.
Drake thought for a moment and said, "If cases like this were in the White District, they would be given great importance, but in the Grey District, it's just normal. We only reported it to the Processing Bureau, but the Processing Bureau probably doesn't care about this matter at all. After all, their function is only responsible for Illusion-related matters, but this matter isn't necessarily related to Illusion."
"Have you conducted an on-site investigation?" Lin Yilin looked at Drake.
"We've briefly interviewed the people there, but it was just a formality," Drake said, feeling a bit embarrassed. The Dadu police are basically slacking off due to the situation within the city, and many officers are earning extra money by providing information and convenience to various agencies, while other official duties are just perfunctory.
When Lin Yilin got into 'work mode,' he felt like he was being inspected by a superior; her aura was quite impressive.
Lin Yilin didn't care what Drake was thinking at the moment. After a casual reply, she turned to the interview content at the back.
The interview contents of some people living on the floors where the missing persons resided were all recorded.
Most of it was unhelpful, but Lin Yilin browsed through and found a familiar name: Chen Wen.
...
"From a certain night, I started hearing someone knocking on the door in the middle of the night."
"No, it wasn't knocking on my door, though my door might have been knocked on too. I first heard it one time when I got up in the middle of the night. The apartment's soundproofing is average, so the loud knocking at night was very clear."
"Then it sounded like people were fighting and struggling. I heard crying and someone calling for help."
"My reaction to this?"
"...I'm just an ordinary person. I only felt scared, and I hurried back to sleep without even finishing peeing."
"Now that you police are asking, it seems something really happened... My choice was correct."
"...Yes, more than once, the knocking continued."
"Direction? Maybe the same floor, or maybe... upstairs? No, I don't know, I really don't know. I don't have that much energy to care about all this."
"Am I trembling? What am I afraid of?"
"..."
"Officer, is it useful to tell you?"
"...Hmm."
"The knocking sounds are getting clearer every day and have been going on for over a week."
"Footsteps, shouting."
"The thing outside the door..."
"May be getting closer to me."
...
Lin Yilin finished reading the record of Chen Wen's words and looked up, saying, "Does this look like nothing's wrong?"
Drake took a sip of coffee: "That's right, so we did report everything to the Processing Bureau. Anything involving that domain is beyond our scope of duty."
Lin Yilin nodded, placing the file back on the table: "Thanks, Uncle Drake, but I'll have to trouble you again. Can I borrow your car?"
Drake looked embarrassed: "The last time I lent it to you, it just got back yesterday after repairs. That's my beloved car..."
"I can help you calculate your next romantic encounter."
"...Hiss, is it urgent?" Drake deliberated.
"From this gentleman's perspective, he mentioned hearing sounds more times than the recorded missing person cases in the community. Combined with my confirmation this afternoon that he's being targeted by an Illusion, there's reason to suspect that Illusion has already done something."
Drake mused: "Event distortion?"
"It shouldn't have reached that point yet, or it might have been my misjudgment this afternoon, or perhaps the police investigation was inadequate."
Saying that, Lin Yilin stood up: "That Illusion might have already taken over his body."
...
At Zhujin Residential Community, outside Chen Wen's home.
Zheng Fan tried knocking on the door, watching his hand pass right through it.
How could there still be a difference like this?
That ghostly thing just now could knock, but he couldn't?
He was standing firmly on the ground and couldn't float in mid-air, not a typical "ghost." He felt even worse than a "ghost."
Just as he was about to pass directly into Chen Wen's house to take a look, the door in front of him suddenly creaked open.
The door passed through Zheng Fan, who was standing right in front of it, bringing Zheng Fan face-to-face with the person inside.
It was Chen Wen, who had just hidden inside. However, Chen Wen's face was pale, his body was drenched as if soaked in sweat, and his clothes and hair were covered in a thick layer of dust. His eyes, for some reason—perhaps the night light or something else—were completely black, and he held a blood-stained machete in his hand.
Zheng Fan: "...Good evening?"
Chen Wen completely ignored Zheng Fan, passing through him and walking towards the next door.
Standing in front of the neighbor's door, he tremblingly raised his hand.
Thump... thump...
Knocking.
Not fast, not slow, but in the quiet hallway at night, it sounded very clear and loud. The motion-activated light also seemed to flicker faster and faster.
"There's a doorbell here," Zheng Fan said, coming up beside him with his hands in his pockets and pointing to the doorbell.
Chen Wen continued knocking.
Well, it didn't seem to be some kind of cold shoulder from a fellow 'ghost.'
Zheng Fan's face was almost touching his. Even if he were a "ghost," if there was still no reaction, his temper was a bit too good. It was clear that the other person really couldn't see him.
According to the known information, Chen Wen seemed to be possessed.
But Zheng Fan also seemed unable to forcefully take over Chen Wen's body like he had done earlier in the morning; the mechanism seemed a bit different.
So, the question was, what did Chen Wen want to do next?
"Who is it? Knocking on the door in the middle of the night," a voice from inside the room responded to the knocking.
Footsteps gradually approached, and the person looked through the peephole.
"Are you... the one from next door? Is something wrong this late?" the person asked.
Chen Wen nodded silently.
The other person hesitated for a moment but still opened the door.
"Is there a problem..."
Before the words were finished, a cold flash passed, and the machete struck the person's neck. The person fell into a pool of blood with an expression of disbelief.
Zheng Fan's eyelids barely lifted, showing little emotion.
"Don't move!"
Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from the stairwell.
Zheng Fan turned his head and saw Lin Yilin standing with her legs apart, holding a pistol, its muzzle pointed at Chen Wen... behind Zheng Fan.