RTEW Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Rainy Night Ghost

The rain outside pattered endlessly. Wang Mei, holding a flashlight, pushed open the door of a private room to perform her routine nightly inspection. The hotel where she worked was located near a remote national highway and had an imposing name: the “Shengshi Grand Hotel.” It was a five-story, self-built structure. The first and second floors served as restaurants, while the third to fifth floors were guest rooms. The neon sign on the roof stayed brightly lit all night, making it the most “high-end” establishment in the immediate area.

After finishing her inspection of Room 201, Wang Mei backed out and closed the door. When she looked up, she shuddered, goosebumps erupting all over her body.

At the end of the long, quiet corridor stood an old man dressed in a Mao suit. He was short and lean. Above him was a motion-sensor light, fitted with the lowest wattage bulb to save electricity. Cloaked in the dim, yellowish glow, the old man’s face was indistinct.

But Wang Mei knew his expression had to be ferocious—brows pinched and face stern—just as many of her night-shift colleagues had previously described. His cloudy eyes would be shooting sharp glints, as if searching for a target.

Rumors of the Shengshi Grand Hotel being haunted had been circulating for over half a month. At the stroke of midnight, when Yin energy was at its peak, an old man in a Mao suit would quietly appear in the hallway, only to vanish in the blink of an eye. Several colleagues had seen him with their own eyes and had been terrified out of their wits. Two female waitresses had even quit their jobs voluntarily, too scared to continue working there.

Wang Mei froze in place, her hands and feet turning icy cold and her palms sweating. Her flashlight slipped and fell to the floor. The sensor lights flicked off one by one, plunging the corridor into sudden darkness. She let out a shrill, piercing scream. That single shriek triggered all the sensor lights in the hallway to flash back on—but the figure at the end of the corridor was already gone. Aside from her, the hallway was completely empty.

Hearing the scream, a security guard ran upstairs. Wang Mei was trembling violently, clutching his arm so tightly she could barely stand.

“A ghost, there’s a ghost! It’s that old man!”

————

Driving his car, He Wei could see the alternating flashes of red and blue police lights and ambulance lights from several meters away. Visibility was extremely poor in the rain. Just as his wipers swept across the windshield, another sheet of rain washed over it, forming wavy ripples and turning the distant lights into blurred, double images.

He parked his car in front of the Shengshi Grand Hotel’s courtyard gate and stepped out, opening his umbrella. Police tape had already been set up around the scene. A dozen or so onlookers craned their necks to peer into the courtyard, some even wearing their pajamas as they joined the crowd. It was the dead of night, a time when everyone should be sound asleep, yet every surrounding small building had its lights on, clearly kept awake by the deadly incident.

Holding his umbrella in one hand and having already fished his police badge out of his pocket with the other, He Wei skirted the edge of the crowd. He lifted the police tape, ducked under, and slipped through the gate. Just as an officer from the local precinct was about to speak, He Wei raised his hand, flashing his ID—

Captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, Shengzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau: He Wei.

The officer opened his mouth, then quickly saluted, watching the young man walk into the crime scene.

A rain canopy had already been erected inside the courtyard, and the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) colleagues were busy collecting evidence. Zheng Youqing, wearing a face mask and holding a camera, was taking photos of a shoe print in the mud. Seeing He Wei, her eyes crinkled into a smile. “Captain He, you’re here.”

He Wei nodded, glanced left and right, and asked, “Where’s the body?”

Zheng Youqing pointed toward the five-story building behind her. “Around the back, you have to turn the corner. Captain He, do you like Sichuan food?”

“It’s alright,” He Wei replied. By this time, he had put away his umbrella, slipped into a clear raincoat handed to him by a colleague, and snapped on a pair of plastic gloves.

Zheng Youqing stuck out her tongue. “That’s good. Sister Lan’s got ‘Mapo Tofu’ over there. Brother Chong had a late-night snack before he came and almost threw it all up.”

The corners of He Wei’s lips twitched slightly into a smile. He put on his face mask and walked over. As soon as he rounded the corner, he bumped into Xia Liang from his team, who was leaning against the wall wiping the corner of his mouth. Looking up and meeting He Wei’s gaze, Xia Liang’s face twisted as he complained, “Damn it, Sister Lan told me the scene wasn’t that ugly. That’s not ugly? For some parts, we’re going to need a shovel to scrape them up.”

He Wei looked up, visually estimating the height of the building, and then glanced at the flowerbed not far behind Xia Liang. A ground covered in red and white was highly probable. Depending on which part of the body hits the ground and the geographical location of the impact, fall victims end up in all sorts of bizarre conditions. Some fall from over ten stories and only break their limbs, while others fall from just a few meters and are beyond saving. Based on Zheng Youqing and Xia Liang’s reactions, tonight’s victim had definitely died on impact. The ambulance was redundant.

“Usually, victims of high falls suffer light external injuries and severe internal ones, so it really shouldn’t look that ugly. You’ve been working field scenes for three months now, how are you still not used to it? If you can’t stomach it, think of something else to distract yourself,” He Wei said, patting his shoulder. “Like strawberry yogurt.”

Xia Liang’s face changed drastically. His stomach, which had just been emptied, began to spasm all over again. He Wei told him to go rest for a bit and drink some water, before walking over to the flowerbed himself.

The scene at the flowerbed wasn’t actually all that gruesome. All he saw was a pool of blood and a corpse covered by a white sheet. The “Mapo Tofu” and “strawberry yogurt” were splattered across the stone steps of the flowerbed, trickling down the colored bricks onto the ground. Thanks to the constant washing of the drizzling rain, the metallic stench of blood was significantly diluted, making it look much less stomach-turning.

“You missed the most exciting part. Do you regret going home tonight instead of staying at the bureau?” Du Ruanlan stood off to the side, peeling off her blood-stained gloves and handing them to her assistant, Luo Ying. “But that’s okay, I can call you in when we do the autopsy back at the bureau.”

“I’m fine. I don’t share your hobby of admiring corpses. Running into a case on my way out for a business trip is seamless enough,” He Wei crouched down and lifted the white sheet to take a look. “What’s the situation?”

“The deceased is male, height 175 cm, weight around 65 kilograms. Fell while still alive, time of death is 12:20 AM. Skull deformation, two lacerations and contusions on the occipital bone, extruded brain tissue, and minor bleeding from the mouth, nose, and external ear canals. There’s a contused laceration on the right elbow with exposed bone. It matches the characteristics of a high-altitude fall injury. We’ll have to wait until we get back to the bureau for the autopsy to know the specifics.”

“This building is five stories high, about 13 to 15 meters. If he jumped on his own, the distance between his landing spot and the building should be roughly one meter. The fact that he landed here in the flowerbed suggests he had some external help,” He Wei said. Wearing his gloves, he shifted the collar of the victim’s shirt. “The tear marks on the clothing also don’t look like they were caused by the pressure of a high fall.”

“Correct. To cause this level of tearing from a fall alone, he would have had to drop from at least twenty stories up,” Du Ruanlan pointed toward the roof. “Chong Zhen and Hu Songkai are up there. They should be able to find some clues.”

“Are there any witnesses at the scene?” He Wei covered the body with the white sheet again.

Du Ruanlan pulled down her mask, revealing a beautiful, elegant face, and gave a faint smile. “Yes. That is the main reason I called you here. Do you know what she said?”

“Hmm?”

“She said…” Du Ruanlan’s smile widened, “…that this is the work of a ghost.”

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly turned eerie. The night wind swept past carrying an unnatural chill. He Wei frowned, feeling that this falling case was not going to be that simple.

———

“It’s true! There really is a ghost!”

Wang Mei held a paper cup of water, shivering violently as she sat on a wooden chair in the hotel’s first-floor lobby. Yun Xiaoxiao comforted her while taking notes: “Tell me again, the exact situation when the incident occurred.”

As He Wei walked into the hotel lobby, he saw the witness shaking like a leaf, describing the scene of the crime:

“I was supposed to be on the night shift today, but I ran into a ghost while I was checking the private rooms! I was so scared. By midnight, I really couldn’t handle it anymore, so I asked the manager for time off, wanting to go home early. But just as I reached the back gate of the courtyard, I heard a massive ‘bang’ behind me. I turned around and saw someone had smashed into the flowerbed. I walked over to look, and it… it was the manager… His head was bleeding so much, there was white stuff sliding down the side of the flowerbed, and his eyes even rolled around a few times…”

She abruptly squeezed her eyes shut, clearly terrified by the memory of the gruesome, brain-splattered image. Yun Xiaoxiao gently patted her back. Wang Mei took a sip from her cup and continued, “Then I looked up, and there was an old man standing on the roof! It was the ghost I ran into earlier tonight! He definitely killed the manager. This hotel isn’t clean; there really is a ghost! I quit, I want to go home!”

She became agitated and stood up, trying to bolt for the door. Yun Xiaoxiao and another female officer quickly grabbed her, comforting her in soft voices, and led her into a private room to rest.

He Wei called Yun Xiaoxiao over: “Got the whole statement?”

“Yeah, they all claim it’s a ghost causing trouble.” Yun Xiaoxiao pointed toward two other hotel employees in the lobby who wore panicked expressions. “According to them, most of the people in the hotel have seen that old man with their own eyes. Just now, the security guard even came up with a wild theory, saying that because it’s raining, the Gates of Hell weren’t closed properly, so the old man just ‘conveniently’ took the manager away with him.”

“Conveniently?” Xia Liang’s eyes widened, utterly speechless. “This is a human life! How can you just ‘conveniently’ take it? He thinks the ghost was out grocery shopping?”

“How can there be so many supernatural incidents? Have they never watched Approaching Science?” He Wei instructed, “Xiaoxiao, record the physical characteristics of this ‘ghost’ they’re talking about. Ask for as much detail as possible.”

Yun Xiaoxiao acknowledged the order. He Wei and Xia Liang found the stairs. This self-built building had no elevator; the layout was simple, with only a single staircase leading up. He Wei looked up, noticed a security camera, and turned his head. “Little Xia, go find the security guard and pull the surveillance footage. Let’s see who went upstairs during the time of the incident.”

He climbed up to the fifth floor alone and pushed open the door leading to the rooftop. A rain canopy had been set up here as well. Two CSI colleagues were meticulously collecting all suspicious traces. Chong Zhen was pinning Hu Songkai down near the railing, simulating the scenario of the victim’s fall.

“Look, we’re in hand-to-hand combat, and I press you against the railing,” Chong Zhen said, grabbing Hu Songkai by the collar and forcing his back tight against the metal bars. “Try moving. Move left and right.”

“We’re working a case, what kind of wild talk is that? If that scratch mark came from this, then what about the fingerprints on the railing?” Hu Songkai grabbed the rusty railing behind his back with both hands. “The index and middle fingerprints are on the lower part of the bar, and the ridge patterns face inward. That means it was a forward grip. Even if he grabbed it with a reverse grip, the position of the fingerprints would be different.”

Hu Songkai pushed Chong Zhen away, and the two swapped positions. He had Chong Zhen face the railing directly, and then placed his hands on Chong Zhen’s back in a pushing posture. “It should be like this—facing the railing. The victim looked down, leaving the forward-grip fingerprints, and then someone shoved him from behind. Think about it, doesn’t that make sense?”

“Think about what? There’s also half a shoe print on the step. Based on your deduction, does this posture mean he was about to hurdle over it?” Chong Zhen turned around, spotted He Wei, and waved at him. “Old He, come be the judge! Er-hu here suspects the victim hurdled his way off the roof!”

“…Did I say he was hurdling?! I’m making a preliminary judgment based on the traces at the drop point!”

“Don’t look to me to judge, I have no desire to join your debate club.” He Wei pulled out a small flashlight and clicked it on. “Have you finished checking the entire scene?”

Chong Zhen replied, “Look at this rooftop. There’s no cover at all. Aside from this stairwell structure and the ventilation ducts up there, you can see straight from one end to the other. We finished a long time ago; didn’t miss a single corner.”

Holding his flashlight, He Wei walked over to examine the drop point marked with a yellow tag. On the heavily rusted railing, there was a scratch mark about ten centimeters long. Half of a blurred, muddy shoe print was stamped on the concrete step below it. Crouching down, he saw a set of fingerprints that the tech team had already highlighted. The rooftop was made of concrete, and because it was raining, the floor only retained half a heel print, pressed into a small pile of dirt accumulated at the base of the wall.

“The door lock is completely intact. There are signs of a struggle at the drop point, but no one was injured—no blood reactions were detected,” Hu Songkai waved a hand, and Little Chen from the tech team handed over a ziplock bag. “Looked for ages, and the only thing of value we found is this single button, which has half a fingerprint on it.”

He Wei took it and inspected it. “The victim’s shirt has white buttons, and his pants have black ones. This one is navy blue, and it still has some thread attached. It might have been torn off while struggling with the killer.” He looked up, scanned the rooftop, and pointed to a hemp rope tied across the roof between two thin bamboo poles. “It’s also possible it accidentally fell off someone’s clothes while they were hanging laundry. Let’s take it back to the bureau and run a fingerprint comparison first.”

He stood by the railing and looked down. The wall on this side happened to be completely unobstructed; falling from here meant a smooth, unimpeded drop straight to the ground. The rain canopy hadn’t been dismantled yet, so he could only see a portion of the flowerbed. He Wei sighed inwardly; if the man had just fallen a tiny bit further forward and landed squarely in the dirt of the flowerbed, he might have kept his life.

Right at that moment, Xia Liang’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie: “Captain He, come down and take a look. There really might be a ghost!”

Support me on Ko-fi