Stepdaughter of a wealthy family? The little darling of a Beijing tycoon

Seeing that Zhang Xiao was serious, the viewers in the live stream stayed, eager to see the final result.

"Okay, then let's keep the stream going and see if it's accurate or not!"

Zhang Xiao didn't hang up the live stream; instead, she picked up her phone from her workstation and prepared to call the police.

It was just after get off work hours, and her colleagues left one after another, leaving her alone in the office soon.

She took a deep breath, dialed the police, clearly stated the community, building, and apartment number, and stated that she suspected there was a body hidden in the next room.

The dispatcher initially thought it was a prank and sternly reminded her: "Ma'am, making a false police report is illegal and wastes police resources. Please verify that the situation is true."

"It's true!"

Zhang Xiao said with certainty, "I've been smelling a strange odor, like a rotting corpse, and hearing strange banging sounds lately. It's definitely not a prank."

The dispatcher listened to her detailed description and followed procedure to dispatch officers: "Okay, ma'am, the local police will arrive at the scene within 20 minutes. Please cooperate with the investigation."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Xiao quickly packed her things, switched the live stream from her tablet to her phone, grabbed her bag, and hurried out of the company, riding her electric scooter home.

Her company was very close to home, only a ten-minute bike ride away, but she remained silent and heavy-hearted the whole way. The thought that she might have been neighbors with a corpse for so long gave her the creeps.

Shen Jingshu sat quietly in front of the camera the whole time, without saying anything extra, and waited quietly for the result.

When Zhang Xiao arrived home, the police had not yet arrived. She was too afraid to go inside and squatted alone in the stairwell, feeling both nervous and scared.

Not long after, the police car arrived. After the two police officers got out of the car, they immediately saw Zhang Xiao squatting in the corner.

"Are you Ms. Zhang Xiao?"

"it's me."

"Were you the one who called the police?"

"right."

"You suspect there was a murder next door?"

"Yes."

"We have contacted the landlord next door, and he is on his way. Please wait a moment."

No sooner had the police officer finished speaking than the landlord came running up, panting and covered in sweat: "Officer, I'm so sorry I'm late. What happened?"

"Your house has been empty and never rented out?" The police officer looked at the landlord.

The landlord quickly waved his hand: "No, it's not like that. I rented it to a young man who worked nearby and lived alone. But he moved out six months ago, and the house has been vacant ever since."

The more he talked, the more absurd it seemed: "Officer, if there really was a murder, it would have been six months already. The body would have been rotting so badly that the whole building could smell it. How could it only be discovered now?"

"Which one of you called the police?" the police officer asked, turning around.

Zhang Xiao immediately stepped forward: "It's me, I live next door."

"Since we've received a report and you, the landlord, are here, please open the door and let us in to check," the police officer said sternly.

"Alright."

The landlord reluctantly took off a large bunch of keys from his waist and searched for a long time before finally finding the key that matched the empty room.

The live stream chat instantly became lively:

"Wow, this landlord's keychain is outrageous! He's definitely a landlady!"

"With so many houses, no wonder I can't remember the details."

Zhang Xiao kept holding up her phone to livestream, with earphones in her ears, glancing at the comments every now and then.

The police officers noticed she was live-streaming, but didn't interfere much, simply indicating, "You can open the door now."

The landlord inserted the key into the lock and turned it. As soon as the door was opened a crack, a strong, pungent, and putrid stench rushed out.

"Cough cough cough—" The people present were instantly choked and coughed repeatedly, their brows furrowed.

"Why does it smell so bad?"

The landlord's expression changed. "This shouldn't be! I checked when the last tenant moved out, and the place was spotless, with nothing left behind. Could it be a dead rat?"

He muttered to himself as he walked in, but the deeper he went, the stronger the stench became. It wasn't noticeable when the door was closed, but once the door was open, it was suffocating.

Remembering Shen Jingshu's words, Zhang Xiao immediately pointed to the tightly closed bedroom door, her voice strained: "Officer, the stench seems to be coming from the bedroom!"

The two police officers, enduring the stench, quickly walked to the bedroom door and pulled it open.

As soon as the door opened, the stench reached its peak, several times more pungent than canned herring, making people dizzy.

The landlord's face turned green, and he couldn't help but complain, "What on earth did the previous tenant hide in the house? This smell just won't go away; the house is definitely not going to be rented out anytime soon!"

The live stream chat instantly shifted its tone; the initial teasing and skepticism vanished, replaced by astonishment and disbelief.

"Wait a minute... why does it really smell so bad?"

"This smells like a dead rat, it's more like..."

"Could it be that the streamer was right?!"

The police officers, who were on duty all year round, immediately became serious upon smelling the odor and signaled the landlord and Zhang Xiao to step outside and not enter the house.

The two walked straight to the bedside and accurately determined that the stench was coming from under the bed. After exchanging a glance, they quickly took out disposable gloves from their bags and worked together to lift the mattress.

As soon as the mattress was lifted, a tightly wrapped black plastic bag came into view, its outline vaguely resembling a human figure.

The two police officers felt a chill run down their spines, realizing something was wrong—a murder had really occurred.

They didn't touch the plastic bag rashly. They carefully closed the mattress, quickly left the bedroom, and immediately picked up the walkie-talkie to report the situation to their superiors in detail.

Seeing this, the landlord and Zhang Xiao felt a chill run down their spines and hurriedly asked, "Officer, what's inside? Is it really a dead rat?"

The police officers guarding the door looked serious and said to Zhang Xiao in a deep voice, "It's a body. A murder has indeed occurred here."

"What?!"

The landlord was so frightened that he took two steps back, his face pale, and kept muttering, "Impossible... How come I didn't know anything about this? Someone died in this house, how will I ever rent it out again!" He was so preoccupied with the loss of his property that he completely forgot about the horrifying nature of the case itself.

Zhang Xiao stood frozen in place, her mind blank.

She was prepared to be criticized for making a false police report, but she never expected that Shen Jingshu's words would actually come true.

She held her phone up to livestream the whole time, and as instructed by the police, she did not point the camera at the inside of the house. Instead, the camera was pointed at the ground, but the audio in the livestream was clearly recorded throughout.

The moment the police officer uttered the words "Someone has died," the live stream chat exploded, with comments scrolling wildly, almost completely covering the screen.

"Someone really died?!"

"My God! That streamer got it all right!"

"This isn't a script! It's a real murder!"

"That's terrifying! The young anchor is incredibly accurate!"

The police officers nearby noticed that Zhang Xiao was still live-streaming and immediately stopped her sternly: "Please turn off the live stream immediately. This is a murder scene, and related information must not be leaked."

Zhang Xiao then snapped out of her daze and hurriedly hung up the live stream. She then quickly sent Shen Jingshu a private message: "Host, I have an urgent matter to deal with. I'll contact you later."

After sending the message, she leaned against the wall, feeling weak all over. There was a corpse hidden just next to her, and she had been its neighbor for so long. Thinking back on the sounds of impact and the strange smells of the past week, she felt a chill run down her spine.