The ultimate master in the city

Chapter 22 Midnight

Zhou Fengchen was startled awake and sat up abruptly. He found the room pitch black, indicating it was late at night. Upon closer listening, he realized the shouting was coming from downstairs in front of him.

Two sentences involuntarily flashed through his mind: "Be careful, there's a powerful guy in the neighborhood..." and "If someone calls your name in the middle of the night, never answer..."

Someone actually called out a name! But who is Song Xiaofeng?

He got out of bed, barefoot, opened the bedroom door, and quietly walked towards the balcony. He'd only gone halfway when he heard a scraping sound of glass coming from the second floor below, followed by a sleepy, impatient voice: "Who is it? What do you want?"

"Hehehe..."

A strange woman's laughter came from downstairs, then faded into the distance.

Song Xiaofeng seems to be the boy among the three new neighbors downstairs!

Zhou Fengchen sensed something was wrong. He couldn't just stand by and watch someone die, so he rushed to the balcony, opened the glass window, and looked down.

The crescent moon was setting in the west, and the earth was cold and quiet. Downstairs, it was quiet, and a pile of peanut shells that an old lady on the first floor had peeled was being blown around by the wind.

There was nothing unusual in the vicinity.

*Click!* The second-floor window slammed shut again. Song Xiaofeng muttered irritably, "What a lunatic! It's so late at night!"

Zhou Fengchen was puzzled. The shout just now was definitely not made by a human, but Song Xiaofeng was completely unharmed. What was the point of this evil spirit doing this?

He thought for a moment, then opened the door and went downstairs.

He circled around, observed the second-floor window, and finally reached out to smell the air. He vaguely sensed that the woman from before was incredibly malevolent, far more powerful than the two ghosts he had encountered recently.

Is she that "powerful guy"?

At that moment, he glanced casually at the old lady's house on the first floor and was taken aback. The little girl's thin body was standing in the darkness under the eaves, staring wide-eyed at the ground. She was not easy to spot without careful observation.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Zhou Fengchen asked.

The little girl ignored him, muttering something to herself.

Zhou Fengchen moved closer and heard the little girl repeatedly say, "She's out again, she's out again..."

"Who came out again?" Zhou Fengchen asked curiously. "Did you see her?"

The little girl looked up at him and said coldly, "Why are you down here instead of sleeping?"

"Uh..." Zhou Fengchen paused for a moment, then said, "I couldn't sleep, so I came down for a walk."

"You're really tough!" The girl glared at him, turned around and went back into the house, slamming the door shut.

Zhou Fengchen blinked, feeling that there seemed to be something wrong with the little girl and her grandmother. It was all too strange. He looked around again, then turned and went upstairs.

……

The next morning, when I arrived at the food stall, the proprietress and Lao Li were already there.

The four people were looking at him strangely, like they were looking at a panda at a zoo. Zhou Fengchen couldn't help but feel uneasy. "What... what kind of looks are those? What's wrong?"

Old Li and his two female helpers exchanged a glance, then went to the kitchen with ambiguous expressions.

The proprietress was dressed very brightly today, her face slightly flushed. She came over, grabbed his hand, and said, "Xiao Zhou, quickly throw away your clothes, they're so unfashionable. I bought you new clothes."

As she spoke, she pulled out several bags from behind the cashier. "Inside are two sets of leather jackets, leather pants, and high boots. They'll match your skills perfectly, absolutely awesome!"

Zhou Fengchen was made a little nervous by the excessive enthusiasm and said awkwardly, "Why are you buying me clothes for no reason? It's not payday yet, is it?"

The proprietress leaned closer and whispered, "My sister likes you, she wants to eat you up."

"Hehe..." Zhou Fengchen distanced himself, his lips twitching, speechless.

Old Li and his two companions then poked their heads out from the kitchen, grinning strangely, and said, "Just put it on, don't be shy, hurry up and put it on so we can see."

The proprietress also said, "Yes! You are a great contributor to our store, you deserve a reward. Hurry up and change into it, let me see if it fits."

"If that's what you say, then I won't hold back." Zhou Fengchen was also shameless. To be honest, he had never worn new clothes since he was a child; they were all hand-me-downs from his father.

After changing his clothes, Zhou Fengchen felt a little uncomfortable, but the four women, including the landlady, stared at him. Zhou Fengchen was already tall and slender, and now, dressed in a leather jacket and pants, with his long flowing hair and fair skin, he gave off a cool vibe.

"My goodness, I never knew Zhou could be so handsome!"

"Wearing these clothes makes me look like a completely different person!"

Several people started praising it in unison.

"You're too kind, you're too kind. I'm just a country bumpkin! Thank you, landlady!"

Zhou Fengchen waved his hand modestly.

That being said, I couldn't bear to take it off after a day's work.

The food stall was empty of customers early in the evening, allowing Zhou Fengchen to finish his shift early. He came out of the kitchen, glanced at his proprietress with her watery eyes, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back, his heart skipped a beat, and he grabbed another set of clothes and ran off, shouting, "I'm off work now, bye-bye!"

The proprietress's furious voice came from behind: "You brat, Zhou! I was just about to take you out for Western food!"

……

Around 8 p.m., it was the busiest time of day on this street, with throngs of pedestrians and numerous stalls selling small goods and late-night snacks. Zhou Fengchen strolled around, bought a skewer of candied hawthorns, and ate them as he hurried toward his rented room. When he reached the vicinity of that alley, he realized something was amiss.

Three police cars were parked at the entrance of the alley, and a crowd of people had gathered outside. Police officers were constantly going in and out of the alley.

The rental apartment complex is about thirty years old. It is surrounded by renovated buildings, and there is only one alleyway for access. So, something must have happened in the complex.

Zhou Fengchen frowned, squeezed into the crowd to look inside, and saw that another stretcher was being carried out of the alley, with a person lying on the stretcher covered with a white cloth.

As the stretcher approached, the front of the white cloth was blown open slightly. Although it was quickly pulled back up by the forensic doctor in a white coat, Zhou Fengchen, with his sharp eyes, recognized the person at a glance—Song Xiaofeng!

Song Xiaofeng is dead!

Although it was just a fleeting glimpse, he noticed that Song Xiaofeng looked very strange, with wide eyes, hands making grasping motions, and a strange smile on his face.

Zhou Fengchen remembered the shouts from last night, and his heart skipped a beat. He wanted to take a closer look at Song Xiaofeng's body, but seeing the situation, he was afraid it was impossible, so he squeezed out of the crowd and walked into the alley.

Two policemen stopped him and shouted, "Martial law is in effect, you can't come in!"

Zhou Fengchen said, "I live inside."

The two policemen exchanged a glance before waving them away.

Zhou Fengchen quickened his pace and ran inside. When he got downstairs, he found that the stairwell of his building was blocked off with several yellow strips, and there were several policemen standing outside.

He told them he lived upstairs, and they led him to the second floor, pushed open the doors to the three new neighbors' rooms on the right, and let him in.

Zhou Fengchen walked in with a puzzled look, and saw that it was indeed lively. There were four policemen, an old lady and a little girl downstairs, two of the three new neighbors, and several strangers, all gathered together.

The policeman who brought Zhou Fengchen in pointed at him and said, "Captain! This man claims to live upstairs."

A middle-aged policeman nodded, gestured for Zhou Fengchen to sit down, and continued questioning the two girls, "Song Yao, Zhang Bi, you say the deceased Song Xiaofeng was murdered. What is your basis for this claim?"

The two girls were pale and tearful, clearly deeply affected by Song Xiaofeng's death.

The short-haired girl, Song Yao, gritted her teeth and said, "Last night, in the middle of the night, a woman called out to Xiaofeng. Then this morning, Xiaofeng woke up complaining of dizziness and asked us to call in sick for him. When we came back from get off work, we found...we found Xiaofeng dead. His stomach was rotten. What else could this be but murder?"

Another girl, Zhang Bi, cried and said, "It must have been that crazy woman who yelled at him last night! Everyone in this neighborhood is crazy!"