Ghost Breath

In the gloomy room, through the light shining through the window, one could barely make out the sharp chin of the woman. She kept smoking, and the ashtray on the table was almost full of cigarette butts.

The woman wore a navy round hat, long hair, and a grey plaid shirt. She looked a little rustic.

From the moment she entered the room until now, she had been fiddling with the ring on her finger, looking very anxious.

Opposite her sat another man.

Compared to the women, the men were dressed very elegantly. They wore a black suit and a pair of black sunglasses.

The woman's name was Chai Hong, 34 years old, local.

"Do you live in this kind of house?" Chai Hong asked.

"What kind of house is this?" the man asked.

"It's pitch black. There are no lanterns."

"Yes."

"Always?"

"Every once in a while. Besides, the house is rented."

"Oh, why not light it?"

"I don't like places that are too bright."

Chai Hong went silent and puffed out a mouthful of smoke. She did not understand how the person in front of her could have such a hobby.

"It was your friend who introduced me. What's your name?" Chai Hong asked again.

"Zhang Nan, Zhang Gong, to the south, you can just call me Nan."

"It's a very special name."

"It's quite common."

"You seem to like black. Black room, black suit, black sunglasses. "

"Indeed."

"You're not asking me why I'm looking for you?"

"You just said that my friend brought you here."

"But you don't know what made him introduce me to you."

"Go ahead."

Chai Hong nodded, stubbed out her cigarette and cleared her throat.

Zhang Nan carefully observed Chai Hong. As a psychic who spent all her time dealing with darkness, he was able to see through even the darkest of environments, especially when it came to capturing ghosts.

He discovered that the woman in front of him should have a certain level of culture and should be very shrewd and cautious.

"The cause of this matter is my husband." Chai Hong began to talk business.

"What happened to your husband?"

"My husband disappeared, just over two weeks ago."

"It sounds like my friend is the one who should help you with this. I don't need to help you."

"It's not that simple." Chai Hong shook her head, looking very dispirited.

"Then tell me, how did your husband disappear?"

"The reason is very complicated, and I guessed it, so I asked for your help. But my husband's disappearance is a fact. "

Zhang Nan knocked on the table, meaning to let Chai Hong continue.

"Hmm, just listen to me slowly." "My husband didn't treat me well in the past, he would sometimes scold me and even beat me up. However, there is a saying in China, if one wants to marry a chicken, then it's a chicken. If one wants to marry a dog, it's a dog.

"Do you have children?" Zhang Nan interrupted.

"No, I was found out before we were married. I was born with a defect in my womb, so I won't get pregnant."

"Understood, continue."

"In those years with my husband, I didn't feel very happy, but I slowly got used to it. Then my husband is an insurance salesman, he doesn't make much money and is often out of the house. "

"What was the cause of the matter?" Zhang Nan realized that Chai Hong had been talking about irrelevant things the entire time, and didn't get to the main topic at hand.

"I wanted you to know more about my situation and my experiences, so I said too much. I'm sorry. I think it happened three months ago. "

"Why do you think?"

"I just said that everything was speculated by me. You can help me judge after I finish speaking."

"Fine."

"At that time, I met a man."

"How?"

"One night, my husband and I quarreled so fiercely that I went to a bar to drink when I was angry. It's funny, I loved going to bars before I was married, and going there every now and then. Who knows, I didn't go there even once before the night of the wedding. I really missed the bars so much that I drank a lot that night and got to know a man. "

"And then? A relationship has occurred? "

"Well, I haven't been home all night, and I'm completely smitten with him."

"Tell me about that man."

"He was handsome and manly, although he had very little hair and was a little balding. He used to wear a red jacket, the most coquettish kind. At first, he impressed me so well, gentle and caring, that we met almost every day. But I never knew his name. "

"To conclude, you cheated." Zhang Nan said casually.

"Yes, but it was an accident."

"Indeed." Zhang Nan thought at the same time: Drunk is the best excuse to make a mistake.

"At first, it was really good to be together, but then more and more I realized that something was wrong with him."

"What's wrong?"

"First of all, it's his habits. He came out almost at night, and we never saw each other during the day, as if we were afraid of being seen. Then he didn't like to talk much. He always had a weird look on his face. And the way he looks at people, will make them feel very uncomfortable. "

"That doesn't mean anything." Zhang Nan shook his head.

"I know, the important thing is at the back. One night, I followed him out of the hotel, and when we passed an alley, I saw it. I finally saw it! " Chai Hong suddenly looked very excited.

"See what?"

"His teeth! I noticed that his teeth were very sharp and had a tinge of blood in them. like the vampires in American movies. "

"How did you react?"

"I was scared, but I forced myself not to say it, and his face suddenly changed into that fierce expression. There were a lot of wrinkles on his face, and he was not the same person from before!"

"How did you get out?"

"I can't remember. It should be an excuse to slip away."

"Did you even meet him afterwards?"

"Of course not! How would I dare to? That man, it should be said, was not a human at all! And I was horrified at the thought of being with him for so long. I must have run into something evil, to have come across something that is neither a human nor a ghost! "

"Are you sure what you saw that night wasn't an illusion?"

"It's very certain, because this is not the end of it! "I remember that night, I stayed at home every day, scared to death. He called to find me, but I didn't dare to pick up. One day, I realized that something was wrong, so I went to the hospital …" Chai Hong paused for a moment and took a deep breath on her cigarette, her face turning gloomy, "The hospital's examination result is, I'm pregnant!"

"You just said …" Zhang Nanxin's head throbbed, "You are born with a flaw in your womb, you cannot become pregnant."

"Yes, my husband and I haven't gotten pregnant in so many years, but when I met this man, I got pregnant instead."

"The child belongs to that man?"

"Definitely."

"Then do you think …" Zhang Nan paused, "What are you carrying?"

"I don't know! At that time, I only felt my scalp tingle. Think about it, that man is a human? Was it a ghost? Was it a monster? I feel so bad that I can't wait to die. "

"I guess you didn't hesitate to give birth."

"Yes, I don't care what's in my stomach. I immediately went to the hospital and did some work. It went smoothly. But from that day onwards, I discovered that the man had actually appeared near my home. I never told him where my home was, but he was able to find me! I'm going to break down! At night, the man loitered near my house, sometimes standing downstairs, sometimes hiding behind a telephone pole, sometimes sitting in the little garden in front of my house. Can you imagine that? "

"Yes."

"My house just happens to have a small telescope, once when I looked at him with the telescope, he also looked at me! Still smiling at me, that face, I guess I'll never forget it for the rest of my life! The wrinkles on his face, the blood-red fangs, the wide and tall forehead, and his eyes. At that time, his eyeballs were completely yellow and bulged out exaggeratedly, like a balloon that was about to explode. "His face changed completely from the first time we met at the bar."

"What do you think he should be?"

Hearing Zhang Nan's question, Chai Hong was suddenly stunned. She waited for a few breaths of time before replying: "Demon! I think he's a demon! "

"This description of a demon is too westernized."

"I don't know how to describe it, but it's probably something similar to a zombie."

"Go on, did he go upstairs to look for you?" And he comes every night? "

"No, he never went upstairs. He just watched me from below. At first, he came every night, which made me afraid to go out at night. I thought he was going to let me go, but who knew he was waiting for his revenge in the dark! He was angry at me for not seeing him, angry at me for abandoning him, that must be it! And not long after that, something even more horrifying happened. "

Zhang Nan did not speak, he only stared at Chai Hong.

"I'm pregnant again!" Chai Hong was extremely excited, she felt that her Qi was flowing extremely fast.

"Whose is it this time?"

"Let me tell you, after the first pregnancy, I didn't have any relationship with anyone, and the operation was very successful, but I got pregnant again! There's no way to explain it! "

"Did you go to the hospital to investigate?"

"Yes, it's confirmed that she is pregnant. Moreover, the possibility that the previous crowd was not clean was also excluded."

"That's strange." Zhang Nan also admitted that, as a psychic, he had experienced many strange things, but this was his first time hearing of such a thing that violated physical laws. Especially since Chai Hong almost never left her house, she was basically isolated from the outside world.

"I am so scared that every day I live a life worse than death. I guess the demonic man left it in my body, but the little thing was also a demon. After doing so many things, it actually grew back on its own! It was like a tumor. Perhaps he had planned it from the beginning! I don't know what kind of thing I'll be born with, or whether I'll be responsible for it or not! " Chai Hong was already incoherent.

Zhang Nan took out a bottle of mineral water and gave it to Chai Hong, allowing her to drink.

Chai Hong finished drinking the entire bottle of water in one go, and then continued: "At that time, I was too pressured, and I didn't want to stay at home anymore. So I simply went out every night. And then every night I was exercising and running in the gym, and I even had the idea to strangle the fetus in my stomach to make it disappear! "

"Well, what happened next?"

"Later on... And then … And then my husband went missing, and I guess that man must have done something to catch my husband while I wasn't home, to take revenge on me! Revenge on me! He wants me to live a life worse than death! It is better to die than to live! "

The more Chai Hong spoke, the more agitated she became, and only then did Zhang Nan realize that Chai Hong's eyes were bloodshot.

Zhang Nan tapped on the table with his finger, waiting for Chai Hong to adjust her emotions.

"So the conclusion is …" After a moment of silence, Zhang Nan spoke up first, "That man kidnapped your husband, but you don't even know where he is. "Right, your stomach is …"

"It's still there!" Chai Hong suddenly slammed the table and roared hysterically, "Yes, it's still in my stomach! I want to take a knife and cut open my stomach to see what the hell is inside! "

"Calm down." Zhang Nan made a gesture.

Then the door opened and a tall man came in, dressed in police uniform.

"What's wrong? What happened?" The policeman was flustered.

"It's fine. She was just a bit excited." Zhang Nan said.

"Oh, don't be so excited. Take your time." The police said to Chai Hong.

"Mm, I'm sorry." Chai Hong took a deep breath, trying her best to maintain her composure, she raised her head and looked at the police, "Thank you, Officer Wang, for helping me."

The police officer's name was Wang Zili, and was a leader of a department called the National Serious Crimes Unit. He was also Zhang Nan's good friend for many years.

Chai Hong had been introduced to Zhang Nan by him, and because the situation was strange, she wanted Zhang Nan to help him resolve it.

"How was your conversation?" Wang Zili looked at Zhang Nan.

"I know most of what happened, but I can't come to a conclusion yet." Zhang Nan said.

"Why?" Wang Zili asked.

"Miss Chai, it's like this." Zhang Nan ignored Wang Zili and directly said to Chai Hong, "Give me two days, we will discuss this again. I will give you an answer in two days."

"Should we wait two days? "Then what do I need to do in the next two days?"

"There's no need to do anything. Just wait for my news."

"Fine." Chai Hong sighed.

After that, Chai Hong went home. Zhang Nan and Wang Zili escorted her to the taxi. After looking at it for a while, Wang Zili could not wait and asked: What's the situation?

"Let me ask you first, your felony squad has such a broad range of operations, you even want to manage such a trivial matter like a disappearance case?" Zhang Nan asked.

"No no no, this woman was introduced to me by a former colleague of mine, Old Gu. I happened to be working at the station that day, and Old Gu just told me that this woman is a thorn, she often comes to report in, and now her husband has mysteriously disappeared, and asked if I dare to accept her case. I said Old Gu, what the hell are you doing here, aren't you provoking me, there are cases in this world that I, Wang Zili, don't dare to accept? So I immediately took over her case, and when I heard what she said, it was too outrageous. You just so happened to be in Shanghai, so I brought her here to find you. " had never avoided speaking with Zhang Nan.

"Hmm, you're a pushover. I knew you weren't interested in these kinds of cases."

While they were talking, the two of them slowly walked forward and arrived at a bridge.

Zhang Nan stared at the Huangpu river water beneath the bridge, and once again, filtered the important parts of what Chai Hong had told him just now in his mind.

"What do you think of the woman?" Wang Zili also took out a cigarette and held it to his mouth.

"More emotional, more emotional, a little neurotic. "Oh right, don't smoke anymore, my head is full of the smell of smoke right now." With that, Zhang Nan pulled the cigarette hanging from Wang Zili's mouth and threw it onto the bridge.

"Yes, she's a bit nervous, and I think this woman is not simple." Wang Zili said with a profound tone.

"What makes you say that?"

"Based on my feelings." Do you know, we generally divide prisoners into three categories when we interrogate them? The first kind of prisoners were the type that acted carelessly and foolishly, often committing crimes on impulse. They were the easiest to deal with. They would scare him, coax him, and confess to everything. The second kind, more shrewd, more shrewd, he will play tricks with you, we call them scheming criminals, they are more difficult to deal with than the first kind of prisoners, but it is also easy to understand the pattern. As for the third kind of prisoners, they appeared simple, but were actually very meticulous and thoughtful. These prisoners were the hardest to deal with because they were at a higher level and knew how to hide themselves. They knew more about the human heart than the first two types of prisoners. That woman called Chai Hong, I feel like she's in the third category. "

"You're funny too, comparing that woman to a criminal." Zhang Nan ridiculed, as he had obviously agreed with Wang Zili's analysis.

"It doesn't have to be a criminal. Everyone can basically be divided like this."

"I agree with you. Let's not talk about the role that this woman plays. I always feel that she is hiding something from us. There must be something that she has not told us."

"You saw it too?" Wang Zili laughed, "Otherwise, do you think I would be bored enough to accept such a case?"

"Oh right, you said that woman is a thorn in the head and often goes to report. What kind of case did she report?" Zhang Nan asked doubtfully.

"I'm not sure. I heard that it's just a small matter. Maybe the husband and wife are arguing."

"We need to get to the bottom of this, right? You can ask him out tomorrow and we'll talk. "

"Well, what else?"

"What else?"

"What do you want me to do!"

"It's temporarily gone, but I just noticed a detail and wanted to use you to confirm my guess. Think about it carefully."

"Memories?"

"Hmm, didn't that woman tell you the whole story before she saw me? When she said she met that devilish man, listen carefully, did she still tell you about her husband after meeting that devilish man?"

Seeing Zhang Nan being so cautious, Wang Zili suddenly became nervous, the two looked at each other for a long time, then Wang Zili asked: "What do you mean?"