The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 58 Difficulties
"What's the difficulty?" Qi Fei asked immediately.

"At that time, everyone said that our apartment building was a dangerous building. They said that once it was confirmed to be a dangerous building, we would have to move out. We didn't want to move. If the news of the gas leak in Lao Lin's house got out, we were afraid that the dangerous building would become a foregone conclusion. Besides..." Wang Dakang looked at Zhong Kui, "Did Lao Lin really say that his little daughter was still alive? That Chen Liangdi who just died, she used to work in the pharmacy. They checked four people and said that we would only..."

"You just said that Lao Lin was picking on you alone, so that means no one else in the building has encountered a similar situation?" Zhong Kui did not directly answer Wang Dakang's question, but instead said.

Wang Dakang said: "I've told everyone in the building about this, but they don't believe me."

"The accident at the Lin family back then wasn't a good thing after all. Everyone avoided talking about it. I think people would get annoyed if I talked about it, so I didn't mention it much after that."

"Didn't you go upstairs to take a look?" Qi Fei asked.

"Alas! Back then, when we took care of Old Lin's funeral, everyone was in a mess. The whole family was cremated, and once the door of Room 301 was closed, the matter was over. A couple of years ago, I wanted to go upstairs to check on the situation. I asked a few people in the building, and they all said that Old Lin's key to the house wasn't his own, and no one knew where it went. My theory of a haunting doesn't hold water. You said there's no key, so there's no need to pick the lock."

As they were talking, there was a knock on the door behind them.

After opening the door, Zhou Li appeared from downstairs. She was surprised to see Qi Fei and the others, then she thought of something and said, "Well, I see the fire downstairs has been put out. It shouldn't be serious, right?"

When Zhao Xiaozhen saw Zhou Li, she immediately said, "Oh, I forgot about that!" Then she ran to the kitchen and came out with a knife. Qi Fei was startled and kept his distance and asked, "What are you doing?"

Zhao Xiaozhen hurriedly explained: "Don't get me wrong, I borrowed Zhou Li's knife and returned it to her."

"Yes, yes, I came to get the knife. I just remembered it was at Xiaozhen's place when I was cutting fruit." Zhou Li said as she took the knife from Zhao Xiaozhen and ran downstairs.

Wang Dakang started complaining again, "You're so confused every day. You can't even find your kitchen knife. You have time for superstitions, but you don't even have time to buy a new one."

"I've been using this knife for more than ten years. Recently, I've been so preoccupied with things happening in the building that I don't have the energy to do anything else. It's really strange. I clearly remembered putting it back on the knife holder, but it disappeared." Zhao Xiaozhen muttered.

Zhong Kui frowned when he heard this, feeling that this matter was not simple.

When leaving Room 201, Qi Fei looked at the door number of Room 202 opposite. No one lived there now, and he couldn't help but sigh.

When she reached the corridor entrance, Zhou Li had already changed into her sportswear and started running. It seemed that what happened in the building had little impact on her.

Qi Fei and Zhong Kui followed Zhou Li's jogging route and crossed the bridge over the creek at the north gate. They said, "What you said about Old Lin's youngest daughter was nonsense, wasn't it?"

"Well, it's the same old saying. If you don't do anything wrong during the day, you won't have to worry about ghosts knocking on your door at night. Judging from their guilty look, they probably did something shameful with the people upstairs. It seems that because of the house, the family in Room 301 missed the chance for treatment." Zhong Kui said.

"They didn't call the police, and we don't have the first-hand information from the scene at that time. It is difficult to determine by inference whether the death of Lao Lin's family was caused by gas poisoning or their delay." Qi Fei said with a lot of emotion, "You said..." He suddenly stopped here.

Because Zhong Kui stuffed something into his mouth.

A fresh, sweet and sour smell rushed into Qi Fei's nostrils. It turned out to be a candy.

"Lemon candy, it's very effective to eat when you are in a bad mood." Zhong Kui said, "The scent of lemon, a citrus fruit, is rare and can have a two-way regulating effect on people's emotions. It will make you happy when you are unhappy, and it will help you calm down when you can't calm down." Qi Fei's mood was indeed much better, not because of the scent of lemon, but because of Zhong Kui's action of feeding him candy.

"You interrupted my train of thought." He chewed the candy, speaking in a disapproving manner but acting in a righteous manner.

"Is there any need to interrupt your train of thought? Aren't you just trying to say, what I've seen and heard recently at Guiyue Apartments? Is it the despicable nature of the people in this building, or is it just human nature?"

Looking at Qi Fei's incredible eyes, Zhong Kui knew that what he said was almost the same as the questions in his mind. Then he lowered his tone and said, "Qi Fei, promise me, don't ask these questions again."

"Hmm?" Qi Fei was confused by Zhong Kui's sudden deepness. "Why?"

"You have chosen this job, and you are destined to walk in the quagmire of darkness. You must always keep your eyes on the truth ahead and cut through the thorns. Kill gods and Buddhas who stand in your way. Once you stop to question human nature, you will be swallowed by the darkness." In the gloomy night, the dim light of the street lamps could not illuminate Zhong Kui's eyes, as if there was deep and endless darkness in his pupils, sending a warning to Qi Fei from hell.

Qi Fei was a little dazed. He always felt that no matter how intimate Zhong Kui was towards him, at this moment, it was not love, but more like protection.

"Zhong Kui, why are you approaching me? You..." Qi Fei didn't say that in the end.

Zhong Kui looked at the building behind Qi Fei: "There are only a few buildings with lights on now."

Qi Fei looked back and saw that there were indeed eight households in Guiyue Apartment. Yue Fengsheng in 401, the Lao Lin family in 301, and Chen Liangdi in 202 were all dead, but the light in 402 was not on either. Now only half of the families were still living there.

"The cephalexin that Chen Liangdi lost became the poison that killed Yue Fengsheng." Zhong Kui stared at the building and continued, "So what about this time? Did Zhao Xiaozhen really lose her knife herself?"

Qi Fei was startled by Zhong Kui's words, and the rosy feelings he had just felt disappeared in an instant.

Zhong Kui is really an expert at fighting against pretentiousness.

As they were talking, they vaguely saw a person walking towards them under the street light not far away. It turned out to be He Zhixin who lived in Room 101.

When he saw Qi Fei and Zhong Kui, he took the initiative to come forward and say hello.

"Thank you for your hard work, police comrades. You are still here with us so late." He Zhixin said politely.

"She is a consultant, not a police officer." Qi Fei was really persistent in distancing himself from the matter.

Zhong Kui didn't care. She smiled as usual and said to He Zhixin, "What are you doing here so late?"

He Zhixin said embarrassedly: "These things have made me feel anxious recently. My wife had to go out for a run, so I came here to wait for her..."

(End of this chapter)