False evidence

Chapter 180 Foreseeing Death
The person I'm looking for hasn't arrived yet, but Gao He has.

His eyes were also red. After entering the room, he said, "I was handling a case in a neighboring city yesterday and couldn't see Uncle Cheng one last time."

I asked him, "Are you going to work today?"

"What are you saying? I was also born of parents. Why should I go to work if I don't finish handling Uncle Cheng's funeral arrangements?"

I thought for a moment and said, "Could you help me find two people?"

Gao He was quite surprised: "Who are you going to look for at this time?"

I shook my head: "Anyway, I want to find these two as much as possible. They should both be in the hospital. A man and a woman, both around twenty-five or twenty-six years old. The woman was wearing casual clothes, had long hair, and her appearance... I don't know what she looks like, I only know that she has a noticeable mole between her eyebrows."

Gao He's eyes lit up for no apparent reason: "Where's the man?"

"He had a buzz cut, was very thin, with sunken cheeks, a pointed chin, and looked like a praying mantis. Oh, and he had an earring in one ear. He was wearing a hospital gown from this hospital, so he must be a patient here."

"Could you explain this more clearly?" Gao asked.

I shook my head: "Brother Gao, you know my situation. It's not like we're at the last minute. There's no point in saying more."

"Okay, I'll go find those two now."

Not long after Gao He left, Liu Hong arrived.

"Are you OK?"

Liu Hong sat down on the edge of the bed.

I said it was nothing, and told him frankly that I had come to ask him for a favor.

Liu Hong first said to me, "Thank you for helping me cover up that matter. For this one thing alone, I would do anything you ask of me in my lifetime."

I didn't want to be sentimental with him, but I didn't know how to start the conversation.

Liu Hong seemed to sense something and slowly said, "Why don't we start by telling the whole story from the beginning?"

"I had a nightmare last night."

Inspired, I decided to recount everything that had happened since I received the devastating news yesterday, including my dream.

"A murder case? A man and a woman died."

Liu Hong remained expressionless. "I feel like you haven't gotten to the point."

I took a breath. "The important thing is, I saw what the killer looked like. He was my classmate, one of my best friends."

Liu Hong nodded: "Where is your friend now?"

I told him he had already gone back to school.

Liu Hong smiled slightly: "What you've said is all what you foresaw, and it might happen tonight. If you book him a train ticket now and let him leave this city..."

"No, there's a detail I'm not clear about. If we let him leave, things could get worse."

Liu Hong nodded thoughtfully.

At this moment, Gao He returned.

I gave him and Liu Hong a brief introduction.

Gao He said to me, "I have done a general search and did not find the man and woman you mentioned, but I have called for reinforcements to conduct a comprehensive investigation."

"Reinforcements?" I was taken aback.

Gao He said, "It's a coincidence, I suppose. Yesterday, I handled a case in a neighboring city. The female victim had the same characteristics as the woman you were looking for; she also had a mole between her eyebrows." "Another serial murder case?" I was a little confused, but at the same time, I felt somewhat relieved, because from yesterday to this morning, Meng Chao had stayed at the hospital and hadn't left the city.

Gao He said, "It's a series of cases, but not a murder case. A year ago, a strange case occurred in this city. A female college student was so frightened in the apartment she shared with her boyfriend that she was sent directly to a mental hospital."

Yesterday morning, I received a call from an old friend in a neighboring city… Two cases in different cities, strikingly similar. In just one night, a normal person suddenly became mentally ill.

You might think this doesn't seem like a criminal case. But the similarities between the two incidents, a year apart, are highly suspicious.

First, the two women were about the same age; second, they both had a mole between their eyebrows; and third, they had something in common: they were both very superstitious.

After the incident, both were disoriented and unable to communicate normally. However, they kept telling everyone they met, "The dead are alive!"

"Who is alive?" Liu Hong interjected.

Gao He said, "According to the doctor, the two of them are so mentally confused that it is difficult to recover. Apart from this sentence, they can't say anything else."

By evening, Gao and the people he had brought had not found a man or a woman who matched the description.

After having dinner together, I simply sent Meng Chao a video call.

In the video, he was leaning against his bed in the dorm, looking a bit dejected. After a long silence, he suddenly asked me:
"If I hadn't kept talking to Uncle Cheng about Sister Ling yesterday afternoon, would Uncle Cheng have survived?"

Seeing his guilty look, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't be silly, this has nothing to do with you."

The two chatted for a few more minutes, then hung up the video call. I checked the time and said to Gao He and Liu Hong, "Let's go outside for a smoke."

Liu Hong smiled and shook his head: "I don't drink or smoke."

Pidan and Gao, along with their partners who arrived in the afternoon, went to another ward to take care of Fang Ling.

Only Gao and I came outside.

Once in the stairwell, Gao He lit a cigarette and asked me while smoking, "We're buddies now, right? Couldn't you have explained some things to me beforehand? Were you afraid of revealing secrets?"

"What secrets? You have to take responsibility for what you say. I myself feel like some things are just dreams... In fact, some things are just dreams. What's the point of saying them? Like this time, you transferred people over out of professional instinct, but if nothing happens, how are we supposed to explain ourselves?"

Gao He frowned, but said, "While taking the blame and filing reports is not a good thing, preventing crimes from happening is the most important thing."

He was about to say something more when a hoarse voice suddenly came from the side: "Can I have a cigarette?"

Turning my head, I saw that the person who came in was an old man in his sixties or seventies, wearing a hospital gown.

The old man was somewhat blank, with a hint of pleading in his eyes.

Gao He flicked out a cigarette, which the old man took. Gao He lit it for him, saying, "Old man, if you're not feeling well, smoke less."

The old man seemed to have a heavy heart. He only said thank you to Gao He and then silently started smoking.

After finishing one, he asked for another. He smoked two more and then went outside.

Gao He patted me on the shoulder: "Hey, what's wrong? You've been spacing out for a while now."

Watching the old man's figure disappear down the corridor, I turned around and said, "Didn't you tell me to speak frankly? If I said that this old man would die tonight, would you believe me?"

Gao He frowned, stubbed out his cigarette, and walked out.

Outside the doctor's office, Gao He came out and looked at me, saying, "I've looked up this old man's information. A few days ago, his daughter died in a car accident, and he was hospitalized because of the emotional distress. Just like you yesterday. He doesn't have any serious medical history, and his current health is very good."

"But I saw him covered with a white sheet and taken to the morgue, just like Uncle Cheng..."

(End of this chapter)