Chapter Five: A Knock at Midnight

At the Xixikoke Street Police Station, Lin Yilin sat upright on the sofa in one of the offices.

After a brief wait, a handsome middle-aged man with a side-parted hairstyle and stubble pushed the door open. "Sorry to keep you waiting. The information you requested has been found. It is indeed a recent matter."

He tossed a file onto the coffee table in front of Lin Yilin.

"Thank you for the trouble, Uncle Drake," Lin Yilin said politely before reaching for it.

"Small matter. Before Edman passed away, he entrusted me to look after you. If you intend to take over his business, I will continue to provide you with the same help I gave him. Besides, most of our police work has already been carved up by your lot anyway," Drake joked with a smile, taking a sip of his coffee.

Lin Yilin thanked him again in a low voice and, dropping the formalities, picked up the file and began to flip through it quickly. It concerned the recent disappearances of residents at the Zhujin Apartment Complex.

"Countless people go missing in the Grey District every day—murdered by gangs, swept up by the Handling Bureau, resolved by agencies, snatched by strange companies for experiments, affected by hallucinations, or even lost to different worlds... What kind of job did you take this time?" Drake asked, watching her scan the pages.

"I haven't actually taken a job yet; you could say this is just a preview," Lin Yilin replied, feeling slightly awkward.

Drake, perceptive as ever, couldn't help but chuckle. "Are you going into the business of forced sales too?"

"I won't be overcharging... for now," Lin Yilin countered.

"Alright, alright. I watched you grow up; I have no reason not to trust you. I know a thing or two about your abilities," Drake said, waving his hand to reassure her.

Lin Yilin sighed softly. She had originally intended to wait for Mr. Chen to seek her out when he could no longer bear it, but "Mr. Hallucination" seemed to have followed him on his own. In a sense, that certainly qualified as a "forced sale."

She refocused and continued reviewing the file.

"From mid-May to now, there have been four consecutive disappearances at the Zhujin complex, and one of the victims' remains has already been confirmed. Is there something wrong with that complex?" Lin Yilin asked, summarizing the situation.

Drake pondered for a moment. "If a case like this occurred in the White District, it would be given great importance, but in the Grey District, it’s just the norm. We reported it to the Handling Bureau, but they probably don't care at all. After all, their jurisdiction is limited to hallucination-related matters, and this might not necessarily be connected to that."

"Have you conducted an on-site investigation?" Lin Yilin looked at him.

"We did some brief inquiries, but it was just a formality," Drake admitted, looking a bit ashamed. Because of the situation in the city, the Metropolitan Police had largely given up; many officers earned extra income by providing intelligence to private agencies, while other official duties were handled perfunctorily.

Once Lin Yilin got into her element, she carried a presence that made him feel like a subordinate being inspected by a superior.

Ignoring Drake’s thoughts, Lin Yilin flipped to the records of the interviews conducted on the floor where the missing persons lived. Most of the content was trivial, but she soon found a familiar name: Chen Wen.

...

"Starting from one night, I began hearing knocking at the door in the middle of the night."

"No, it wasn't my door, though I think mine might have been knocked on too. I first heard it when I got up in the middle of the night. The soundproofing in the apartment is average, so the knocking was very clear at night."

"Then it sounded like there was a scuffle or a fight. I heard crying, someone calling for help."

"My reaction? I’m just an ordinary person. I was terrified. I didn't even finish peeing before I ran back to bed."

"Now that you police are asking, it seems something really did happen... My choice to ignore it was right."

"Yes, more than once. The knocking continues."

"Where from? Maybe the same floor, or maybe... upstairs? No, I don't know, I really don't know. I didn't have the heart to pay that much attention."

"Am I shaking? What am I afraid of?"

"Officer, is it even useful to tell you?"

"The knocking gets clearer every day. It's been over a week."

"Footsteps, shouting."

"The thing outside the door... it might be getting closer to me."

...

Lin Yilin finished reading Chen Wen's recorded statement and looked up. "Does this look like nothing is wrong to you?"

Drake sipped his coffee. "That's why we reported it to the Bureau; it has exceeded our jurisdiction."

Lin Yilin nodded and placed the file back on the table. "Thanks, Uncle Drake. But I need one more favor—can I borrow your car?"

Drake looked pained. "You borrowed it last time, and it only got out of the shop yesterday. That’s my beloved car..."

"I can help you calculate your next romantic encounter."

"Hiss... is it urgent?" Drake weighed the options.

"From Chen Wen's perspective, he heard the sounds more often than the reported cases. Combined with the fact that I confirmed he was being stalked by a hallucination this afternoon, there is reason to suspect that the hallucination has already taken action."

"Phenomenon distortion?" Drake mused.

"It shouldn't have reached that point yet. It could be my misjudgment from earlier, or the police investigation was simply incompetent."

As she spoke, Lin Yilin stood up. "That hallucination might have already taken over his body."

...

At the Zhujin Apartment Complex, in front of Chen Wen's door, Zheng Fan tried to knock, only to watch his hand pass right through the door.

How could there be such a difference? The monster from earlier could knock on it, but he couldn't? He was tethered to the ground and couldn't hover; he wasn't a standard "ghost," and he felt even less effective than one.

Just as he prepared to phase through the door to check on Chen Wen, the door creaked open.

It passed right through Zheng Fan, who was standing there, bringing him face-to-face with the person inside.

It was Chen Wen, but his face was pale, his body drenched in sweat, and his clothes and hair were coated in a thick layer of grey dust. His eyes were pitch black—whether due to the dim lighting or something else—and he was brandishing a blood-stained machete.

Zheng Fan said, "Good evening?"

Chen Wen ignored him entirely, passed through him, and walked toward the neighbor’s door. He trembled as he raised his hand.

*Knock... knock...*

He knocked. It wasn't fast or slow, but in the quiet of the night, the sound was piercingly loud. The motion-sensor lights seemed to flicker faster and faster.

"There's a doorbell, you know," Zheng Fan said, hands in his pockets as he stepped beside him, pointing at the button.

Chen Wen continued to knock.

Well, it seemed this wasn't some case of workplace bullying or cold violence. Zheng Fan’s face was almost touching his, and if the man didn't react even to a "ghost," then his temperament was far too good. It was clear the man truly couldn't see him.

Based on the intelligence, Chen Wen had clearly been possessed. But Zheng Fan couldn't force his way into the body like he did earlier; the mechanism seemed different.

The question was, what was Chen Wen planning to do next?

"Who is it? Knocking in the middle of the night," a voice responded from inside.

Footsteps approached, and the resident looked through the peephole. "Is that you, from next door? What's the matter this late?"

Chen Wen nodded silently.

The neighbor hesitated for a moment before opening the door. "What's the problem..."

Before the words were finished, a cold glint flashed. The machete struck the neighbor's neck, and the person collapsed into a pool of blood with a look of disbelief.

Zheng Fan’s eyelids flickered, his expression unchanging.

"Freeze!"

Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed from the stairwell. Zheng Fan turned to see Lin Yilin, legs spread in a combat stance, a handgun leveled at—not him—but Chen Wen behind him.