“Nothing else, there really isn’t anything else! I haven’t done anything else!!”
“So what Su Zhouqin and Kong Rongde did, you don’t know?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know anything...my face hurts so much! Are my eyes really not injured?”
“Nope.”
April 15, 2006: The client was sent to the hospital for treatment.
April 15, 2006: The audio file was analyzed. Audio file 03520040415(1)G.wav.
“...SCREECH! What is that...the lamp that fell...BANG!”
CLICK!
“How is it?”
“Don’t make any noise.”
CLICK!CLICK!
“...SCREECH! What is that...BANG!”
CLICK!
“This...seems to be the sound of feet. A Ye, did you hear it, too?”
“No, I saw a shadow at that time, it was very blurry, I’m don’t know if it was a cat or a person.”
“Footsteps, is that a person’s?”
“I will listen again.”
CLICK!
“...Quickly get out of the way! Ah! BANG! Ah! AHHHH!....”
CLICK!
“I hear a sound here.”
“What is it?”
“Wait.”
CLICK! CLATTERCLATTERCLATTER…. CLICK!
“...Quickly get out of the way! Ah! BANG! ….ShaSha….ShaSha….Ah! AHHHH!....”
“I didn’t hear anything at all.”
CLICK! CLICK!
“....ShaSha...ShaSha….”
“Only the noise. Mushroom, what did you actually hear?”
“It seems like...like a person talking, but it also seems like a cat meowing. I need to deal with this file again.”
April 16, 2004: The client’s residence was investigated, nothing was found. The landlord was contacted. Audio file 03520040416.wav.
“Oh, you said those youngsters. I knew that they weren’t quite right. The people who lived with them have complained to me saying that they were catching cats or something. Anyways, as long as it was murder or arson, and even if it is murder or arson, go report to the police. Talking to me, your landlord won’t help at all.”
“In addition, to the cats, did they complain about anything else?”
“Nothing else.”
“Was there any unusual incident in this house? Such as murder, accident, suicide, etc.?”
“How could that be possible? My house is very clean. Missing, my ass, I bet they just ran away. Those workers, some gamble, some borrow from loan sharks, and others whatever, but anyways they were chaotic. Who knows if they offended someone and just ran away.”
“By that, you mean that there has been people who left just like that?”
“Well, there was quite a lot. The longest person who stayed was that Su Zhouqin for five years and that Fei Wen for two years. Kong Rongde was a bit short, probably like half a year.”
“When Fei Wen first came besides Su Zhouqin, there must have four more people, right? And they all moved out a year after Fei Wen moved in. Is this not normal?”
“No, it’s normal. The house leaks water frequently, so people like Su Zhouqin and Fei Wen are pretty rare. Those workers would live here today and find a new job the next day in another place, so they won’t live there for a long time.”
“So, do you still have the contact information of the past tenants?”
“I will look for it.”
….ShaSha….
“Hey, I’ve written down them here.”
“Alright, thank you.”
April 17, 2006: Su Zhouqin’s boss at the restaurant was interviewed. Audio file
03520060417.wav.
“Su Zhouqin ah, he has a good craftsmanship and worked at this restaurant for 5 years. A very practical and very cheerful person. Ay, he suddenly disappeared, I was shocked.”
“Does he do anything unusual usually?”
“No, there’s nothing unusual.”
“Did you know that he went drinking all night on April 14th?”
“Oh, he went drinking with the people here. Some of the people had shifts that time and on the 15th, they all had break, so they drank the night before.”
“May ask who they were?”
“It was just Xiao Sun and a couple others. Oh, they’re all at the restaurant and I call them over here. If you have anything, just ask them.”
“Alright, thank you so much.”
“I also want to ask this, in 2003, did you have two employees at your restaurant called Zhu Bin and Zhou Yanghui?”
“I’m thinking about it...2003 ah...please wait for a moment, I’m going to ask someone.”
CLATTER,CLATTER,CLATTER…
“Hey, Xiao Sun come here. During 2003, did our restaurant have two people called Zhu Bin and Zhou Yanghui?”
“That’s right! Xiao Bin and Yang Hui, that time didn’t Su Ge introduced them to a place where they can live? The three lived together.”
“Since you know, why don’t you talk with these reporters.”
“Ah? Talk about what? Ah, hello, hello, how are you?”
“Hello, Mr. Sun.”
“Ay, calling who Mr. ah….that, what do you want to ask?”
“It’s like this, we heard that Zhu Bin and Zhou Yanghui went back to their hometown last Spring Festival and have not returned since, do you know where they went?”
“Ah? This...this I don’t know. Our restaurant closes during the Spring Festival, how they arranged it, I’m not sure about it. They didn’t come back after the Spring Festival. I asked Su Ge and even called them. Su Ge didn’t know either and no one picked up their phones, too. They are a small worker and a waiter respectively and they would always leave after working for a few months. The people won’t come anymore and they couldn’t be contacted, so we didn’t look for them anymore.”
“Just now, the boss said that on the 14th, Su Zhouqin and you went drinking all night, is that true?”
“Yes, there originally was supposed to be two others, but after drinking for a long time, it was only me and Su Ge.”
“Did he mention anything? Or did he do anything?”
“I don’t think so. I said a lot that day, but he didn’t say anything. Seems like...he didn’t seem quite right. There was someone who lived with him that went missing, it’s probably because of that.”
“Does he usually mention his rented place and his fellow tenants with you?”
“Nope. Uh...never, never ever talked about it. Xiao Bin and Yanghui never talked about it either. Probably because the place isn’t that good, so they felt embarrassed to talk about it.”
“Ok, thank you.”
“Ah, that’s right!”
“Hm? Did you think of something?”
“That day when we went to drink, we were drinking at the barbeque stall on the side of the road. That day, a stray cat ran by and scratched Su Ge. Su Ge, he probably drank too much and suddenly took a bottle and threw it at it. I heard that, Su Ge has cats at their place? When Su Ge disappeared too, another cat died, right?”
“That’s right. How about that stray cat?”
“It ran away.”
“May I ask what time you guys drank that day?”
“At the crossroads there are barbeque stalls every night at 10 o’clock.”
“Alright, thank you.”
April 17, 2006: The barbeque stall was investigated. Audio file 03520040417(1).wav.
“Oh, that day ah, I remember just this man. He probably got high and threw a fit at this cat, threw a beer bottle and scared my customers away.”
“What did that cat look like?”
“Ah? Why would I remember that? It was dark and...it’s just stray? Those gray-black ones, anyways it’s quite common.”
“I saw that day, that man broke that cat’s head!”
“You were there that day, too?”
“Yeah, I was there. I was one of the customers who ran away. I didn’t eat full that day, so I came back today.”
“This is one of my frequent customers. Is it still three chicken drumsticks and five chicken wings?”
“Yes, also give me some beef and lamb and give me two of these bags.”
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