CH4 - Villa-02

{{Who are you}}

Ye Huairui never dreamed that he would discover a secret room in his newly moved-in home.

This was a space that didn't exist on the architectural plans.

Not even the real estate agent or the renovation team discovered it.

Ye Huairui instinctively swallowed.

He felt his heartbreak quicken.

If it were anyone else in this situation, they would probably pick up the phone and dial 999 to call the police.

But Ye Huairui had an inexplicable feeling—a strange sense that some "person" or some kind of force was guiding him to find this secret room—a mix of shock, fear, curiosity, and uncontrollable excitement.

He took a deep breath, then turned on his phone's flashlight and bent down to crawl into the dark entrance.

Behind the "door" was a staircase leading downward.

Ye Huairui carefully descended while counting the steps.

There were thirteen steps in total, roughly the height of one floor.

After descending the thirteen steps, Ye Huairui confirmed that his feet were on solid ground. He then raised his phone and shone the flashlight around the area.

The basement wasn't large, barely over ten square meters, and the end could be seen at a glance.

There were few items inside.

From Ye Huairui's current position, he could see a single folding cot against the wall directly opposite the stairs. To his left was a desk with drawers and a chair, while the right wall had two shelves of two different heights, with several corrugated boxes stacked beside them.

Near the head of the cot was a vent window that protruded above ground level. Whether the glass was broken oe the window frame was deformed, rainwater was trickling down the wall, staining the wallpaper and floor with dark, damp marks.

Ye Huairui's:"!!"

He suddenly realized that someone had once lived in this secret room.

—So that's why the police found Yin Jiaming in this area!

—So,when Yin Jiaming fled into this villa after being shot, it wasn't a desperate, random choice!

—This place was his hideout!

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Over the next five days, Ye Huairui thoroughly cleaned the small basement inside and out.

He find out traces of someone having lived there.

The folding cot was a heavy model from thirty or forty years ago, and the thin mattress had long been ruined by rainwater, exposing the rusty springs inside.

On the shelves were a few pieces of clothing. Judging by the material, style, and degree of decay, they were old items from about thirty or forty years ago.

Ye Huairui held them up and compared them to his own size; they were one size larger indicating that the person was a tall and robust man.

On the desk was an oil lamp, its fuel long dried up, the shade blackened by soot and covered in dust.

A fountain pen had rolled to the edge of the desk. It was from an imported brand and quite expensive, but unfortunately, the nib was bent and unusable.

On the wall directly opposite the desk was an old-fashioned calendar, whitevwith red characters, the kind wherevyou tear a page each day.

Although the pages were moldy and deteriorated, the writing was still clear. At the top, it read "SEP 1982 September," and below that was a bright" 18"–the exact day Yin Jiaming was shot and fell into the sea.

As for the desk drawers, they were stuffed with old newspapers, weeklies, and magazines.

Ye Huairui went through them one by one. The earliest date was July 22, 1982, the day after the incident, with the front page featuring a large headline about the Great Heist of Jin City, along with the wanted posters for Yin Jiaming and the driver.

Some of the newspaper pages had markings on them.

In a special issue of Zhengbao  about the heist, someone had forcefully underlined the title "Yin Jiaming Armed Robbery and Murder" with a pen, pressing so hard that it tore the paper. Next to it, in bold, flamboyant handwriting, were five traditional Chinese characters—"我唔係兇手!!" ("I am not the murderer").

Seeing all this, Ye Huairui was now one hundred percent certain of his hypothesis.

The person who secretly lived in this hidden basement was none other than Yin Jiaming, whom the Jin City police had been desperately searching for over two months.

The mechanism of the secret room was so well concealed that even when the police seached the entire house afterward, they couldn't find the hidden door and staircase entrance tucked away in the corner of the antique cabinet.

Although Ye Huairui didn't know how Yin Jiaming learned about this secret room, it was clear that someone was helping him.

The amount of leftover food, water, and household waste in the secret room was minimal.

On the floor were two grease-stained paper bags, stuck to the floor by dirty water, likely used to hold food.

The kettle on the shelf only had a little water left, and the enamel cup was covered in dust.

In the corner of the room was a spittoon with some dried, unidentified stains, but it was generally clean.

These supplies were far from enough to sustain an adult male hiding in a cramped secret room for two months.

So, Yin Jiaming either had to sneak out to find foom himself or wait for someone to bring him food and water.

Given the remote location and the fact that a wanted man with distinctive features couldn't frequently go out, Ye Huairui leaned more towards the latter possibility.

Ye Huairui carefully collected the old items left behind by Yin Jiaming.

He didn't move the other furniture but had someone repair the broken glass of the vent window, fix the floor, and install electrical wiring, transforming the basement into an independent and hidden room.

July 23, Friday, 10:25 PM.

Ye Huairui opened the mechanism of the antique cabinet, then, carrying a book, a cup of tea, and a small plate of butter cookies, crawled through the hidden door into the basement.

Although the basement now had electricity and a ceiling light, it didn't have air conditioning, only a standing fan making it somewhat stuffy in the height of summer.

But when Ye Huairui had nothing else to do, he liked to spend some time here.

For some reason, this place had an inexplicable attraction for him.

The secret room was quite, hidden, and enclosed.

It felt as if by staying here, he could somewhat sense the feelings of that man who had been doubted and isolated by the whole world years ago.

Of course, this didn't mean that Ye Huairui believed the words Yin Jiaming had written on the Zhengbao, claiming his innocence.

It was just that the words Yin Jiaming left on the newspapers and weeklies seemed to be written casually, akin to musings or diary entries, usually inspired by his feelings at the moment. They weren't intended for others to see and couldn't serve as courtroom evidence.

In fact, Yin Jiaming simply stuffed them haphazardly into the desk drawer and never took them out of the secret room until his death.

If this wasn't a setup by Yin Jiaming to exonerate himself, then Ye Huairui had to consider the authenticity of these "confessions."

—Could it be possible, as in the movies, that Yin Jiaming was framed and took the fall for someone else?

...

Ye Huairui was deep in thought, lifting his mug to his lips and taking a shallow sip.

At the moment, a flash of lightning illuminated the vent window, followed by a deep rumble of thunder, and then the sound of raindrops pattering against the window glass.

Ye Huairui suddenly snapped back to reality, realizing it was raining outside.

"Boom!"

Another clap of thunder.

Almost at the same moment the thunder sounded, the newly installed ceiling light in the basement flickered off without warning, then came back on.

Starled, Ye Huairui's hand shook, spilling some of the Pu'er tea from his mug.

"Hiss!"

The tea splashed onto Ye Huairui's hand, slightly scalding him, but fortunately, it wasn't hot enough to cause injury.

Ye Huairui put down the mug and realized he forgotten to place a box of tissues here.

Too lazy to go upstairs for such a small matter, he rubbed his wet fingers together and then used the moisture on his fingertips to write the  character "殷" (Yin) on the desk.

Since childhood, Ye Huairui had been made to practice calligraphy by his mother, who was a teacher. He wrote beautiful, elegant small regular script, and even a casually written character was neat, slender, and graceful.

However, the character "殷" had many strokes, and after writing just one character, the tra on his fingertips dried up. He then dipped his fingers in the water droplets on the desk and finished writing "嘉茗"  (Jiaming).

Looking away at the name on the desk, he somewhat obsessed with this old case.

"... There's no evidence at all. What's the point of all this idle speculation?"

Ye Huairui said to himself.

He raised his hand, intending to wipe away the name on the desk.

However, before his hand could touch the desk, the three characteristics suddenly disappeared.

It wasn't the natural drying of the water stains; It was more like someone had wiped the (—) away with something.

Ye Huairui:"!!"

He widened his eyes, staring intently at the desk, wondering if he had just imagined it.

But then, something even more shocking happened.

In the exact spot where he had just written, new water stains beagn to appear.

Unlike the bright red Pu'er tea Ye Huairui had used, the newly appeared water stains were transparent and colorless, standing out clearly on the light brown desk surface, stroke by stroke.

It formed a single character:【你】

Ye Huairui:"!!?"

He pushed himself and the chair back a step, nearly toppling over.

The scene before him was utterly baffling, so bizarre that it made him question his own eyes.

Yet the water stains continue to form, creating the second, third, and fourth character.

【係】【邊】【個】

Together, in traditional Chinese character and Jin City dialect, it spelled out, "你係邊****個?"

(Who are you).

Ye Huairui sprang to his feet, looking around.

As a well-educated intellectual and a forensic pathologist who was the least superstitious, Ye Huairui's first reaction to such an anomaly was that someone was playing a prank on him.

The moment this thought crossed his mind, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Because this would mean that someone had installed surveillance in his house without his knowledge and set up such a frightening mechanism.

To Ye Huairui, this hypothesis was far more terrifying than seeing a ghost.

Instinctively, he reached for his phone, intending to call the police.

However, he reached for his phone, intending to call the police.

However, just as he swipe open the screen in those two seconds, the writing on the desk was wiped away by an invisible hand, and new characters appeared.

【答我】("Answer me").

This time, he saw it very clearly.

The disappearance and writing of the characters were very natural, not at all like they were controlled by a mechanism. It was more of an invisible person was standing in front of his desk, dipping their finger in water to leave him a message.

The author has something to say:

Don't worry. Xaio Gong is still alive, and this story doesn't involve ghost~

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