The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 64 No one has ever dreamed of pliers! Never!

"Police in a dream! This is ridiculous..."

Cheng Tan's hand trembled as he gripped the body camera. "402... there's no old man there! The door was sealed shut, and inside was just a rope from a hanged person... Liu Li hanging herself!"

"Look again..." Cheng Jing sighed and said.

...Upon closer inspection, the outline of the dark wall could be clearly seen, and the muscles on the old man's withered face seemed to twitch very slightly. In his cloudy eyes, a complex emotion suddenly flashed across his heavy expression.

"We're investigating a case... not dreaming!" Cheng Jing, seemingly bewildered by these nonsensical words, explained, "That house... a murder case!"

Suddenly, the old man's withered hand, covered with age spots and blue veins, gripped the doorknob and tightened its grip.

The door was opened a little wider, revealing his hunched and thin figure.

He stood in the shadows behind the door, wearing an old work jacket with badly worn cuffs, like a weathered stone statue.

"Oh! You came because of that room...that dream?" The old man's voice was even lower, like a sigh from the depths of a grave. His gaze returned to Cheng Jing's face, like an X-ray, trying to see through her inside and out.

Cheng Jing's heart skipped a beat. This old man knew about "dreams"? Could it be that he also...?

"Tonight... there's a case where someone dreamt of murder during a live stream..." Chen Ming continued, trying to gather more information. "We suspect someone is using live streaming to recreate or... imitate the murder case from thirteen years ago."

The air in the hallway suddenly froze.

Behind the crack in the door, the old man's cloudy pupils suddenly contracted, as if they had been pierced by a red-hot needle!

His wrinkled face froze instantly, solidifying into a look of astonishment!

The withered hand gripping the doorknob began to tremble violently, causing the entire old wooden door to creak.

"You...what did you say?!" The old man's voice suddenly rose, becoming sharp and distorted. His cloudy eyes stared intently at Chen Ming, a turbulent sea of ​​emotions churning within them. "Dreamed about...who?!"

"Thirteen years ago, that woman..." Chen Ming was also startled by the old man's reaction, his voice trembling slightly, "...died...in this house..." His gaze involuntarily fell again on the door of 403, on that dark stain. "Tonight someone here...performed a murder ritual...live-streamed it..." He paused, but still uttered the word, "...using ice picks, pliers..."

"Clang!"

The old man dropped a rusty little tin tea canister from his hand, which crashed heavily onto the cement floor in front of the door!

The lid popped open, spilling out the dried, blackened tea leaves, which looked particularly glaring.

As if struck by an invisible bolt of lightning, the old man's hunched body swayed violently, and he leaned back sharply, barely managing to steady himself by gripping the doorframe tightly. The color drained from his face instantly, and his cloudy eyes bulged out, filled with an indescribable, immense terror!

He stared intently at Chen Ming, his lips trembling violently, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Several seconds passed... The old man's emaciated body trembled like a leaf before he seemed to regain a bit of strength. He stiffly bent over, stretched out his trembling hand, and groped for the pocket of his old work jacket.

He pulled out a gleaming iron cigarette case and an old plastic lighter. His fingers trembled so much he could barely hold it, and after several attempts, he finally managed to strike it with a "snap" and produce a flame.

He shakily pulled out a cheap cigarette that was already bent slightly, and lit it over the flame.

The orange-red flames lit up in the dimly lit stairwell, illuminating his pale face.

He took a greedy drag, and smoke immediately billowed up. He then slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.

"You..." The old man's voice was filled with smoke and fear, "You...who exactly are you people?" His gaze locked onto Chen Ming again, "Pliers...the police...never told anyone about this back then..."

He took another deep drag of his cigarette, the embers flickering briefly. "They only said it was a blunt instrument...only a blunt instrument! Everyone in the building...all they dreamed about...was sticks, hammers, bricks...vague things...nobody...nobody dreamed of pliers! Never!"

"Boom!"

A thunderclap exploded in Cheng Jing's mind!

Inside the building? Everyone's dreaming!

Dreaming of sticks and hammers? Only Cheng Tan dreamed of pliers clearly?!

And... the pliers are a detail the police have never revealed before?!

This old man knows!

He not only knew about the case from back then, but also about the dreams of the other residents!

He even knew details of the case that the police had not made public!

Who exactly is he?! A resident from back then? A witness? Or... someone with a deeper connection?!

"Grandpa, are you saying that more than one person in this building has dreamed about what happened back then?" Cheng Jing stepped forward, her heart filled with overwhelming shock.

The old man took another drag of his cigarette, his eyes behind the smoke filled with complex emotions. "We dreamt of the police... but... you're too late..." He shook his head and didn't finish his sentence.

"Do you know about the live broadcast that happened here tonight? Someone is trapped in room 403..." Chen Ming pressed.

A flicker of confusion crossed the old man's cloudy eyes. "Live stream? What live stream? I go to bed early... but just now... I thought I heard a lot of noise upstairs and downstairs... I thought... it was those people coming to watch the excitement again... or..." He paused, his voice lowering, "...or, it was 'they' coming back..."

"Them?" Cheng Jing seized on this word. "Who are they?"

The old man abruptly shut his mouth, as if realizing he had said too much. His eyes darted away, he took a few deep drags on his cigarette, and stopped answering. His grip on the doorknob tightened, as if he wanted to close the door immediately.

"Slap!" "Slap!" "Slap!"...

A series of crisp sounds, like a circuit breaker tripping, suddenly erupted in the hallway!

Several people looked up in shock at the same time!

The faint light that had been emanating from under the doors of all the apartments on the fourth floor and the floors above and below suddenly went out!

The entire long, narrow corridor was swallowed up by inky darkness in the blink of an eye! Then the old man slammed the door shut.

In the hallway, I vaguely heard the sound of other rooms closing!

The only light source in the darkness came from the few powerful flashlights in their hands, their beams sweeping frantically, illuminating the bewildered faces and the mottled walls.

The power's out?!

No, this isn't a normal power outage! It's a precise cutoff of all power to this entire side of the building! Not even the emergency lights are on!

"Something's wrong! Quick, get ready to break down..." Cheng Jing hadn't even finished saying the words "break down the door"—

"Squeak—"

A rusty, grinding sound came from in front of them as a door hinge turned.

The sound was coming from room 403!

The stained door was now slowly opening by itself from the inside!

A ray of bright light streamed out from the widening crack in the door, illuminating a small patch of dusty ground near the entrance and the astonished faces of Cheng Jing and the others.

The lighting... is so warm and inviting!

It wasn't the cold light of a flashlight, nor the stark white of an emergency light, but the warm yellow light emitted by an old-fashioned incandescent bulb!

The door to room 403 was fully open.