"You've found yet another murder case?" Inspector Lee's tone on the other end of the phone was puzzled to say the least.
"Four years ago, a female student by the name of Zhang Ya jumped out of the building, but there is more to her death than suicide!" Chen Ge said firmly.
"Wait a minute, let me go look at the files first. If the victim's family had asked for an autopsy, we should have the record of it somewhere." Inspector Lee didn't hang up as he turned on the lights of the records room to search for the files. He finally found something five minutes later. "Wait, why does Western Jiujiang's Private Academy sound so familiar? Xiao Chen, get out of that school now!"
"I'm already heading for the gate, what's wrong?"
"That school is just weird; I can't explain it to you in just a few sentences, but I can give you a number. Six people committed suicide within the span of two weeks at that school, and their deaths were all very weird."
The sound of paper flipping could be heard through the phone as Inspector Lee looked through the files.
"That sounds about right! That number fits what I'm thinking." The school gate was within Chen Ge's view—he could exit the place soon.
"Fits what you're thinking? What exactly is happening over there?"
"Don't mind that, check whether the name of the first suicide victim is Zhang Ya or not." Chen Ge was in a hurry to confirm his suspicion.
Inspector Lee double-checked the records before replying. "Indeed, the name is Zhang Ya, but she did die from a fall. It is a suicide because the mortician did not find any other wounds on her body. On the day of the discovery, the police did visit the crime scene for investigation. The girl fell from the fourth floor's dance studio; the window she fell from was undamaged, and the soundproof foam around it wasn't showed no signs of cleaning. So, from this, we confirmed Zhang Ya jumped out of the building without outside influence."
"Without outside influence? Inspector Lee, have you considered that she was forced to do so? If she didn't jump, she would have been raped!" Chen Ge relayed the scenes he had seen in the mirror.
"We considered that as well, and there are testimonies from Zhang Ya's roommates in the records. All five girls said that they didn't know anything. Zhang Ya jumped off the building after their class was over, so Zhang Ya was inside the studio alone. According to their testimonies, Zhang Ya had always suffered from high stress, was prone to solitude, and was perhaps even mentally unstable. To confirm their testimonies, the police at the time even verified their accounts with the girls from the class, and everyone agreed."
"Zhang Ya is definitely not the person they described; they all banded together to frame her!" Zhang Ya was feeling indignant on Zhang Ya's behalf. He did not expect that the whole class would gang up on Zhang Ya; the girl didn't even do anything wrong.
"What kind of person Zhang Ya was, you and I will never know, but the evidence doesn't lie." Inspector Lee didn't understand why Chen Ge was so agitated. "In any case, get out of that school as soon as you can. We're sending our men to come fetch you."
"They were all lying! Take a closer look at Zhang Ya's time of death, it should be before the class was over! They lied on the time of death, so those five girls were accomplices!" The volume of Chen Ge's voice inadvertently increased.
"That's where you're wrong. Zhang Ya's time of death was between 6 pm and 8 pm. Those five girls left school at around 5.30 pm, their usual time of departure." Inspector Lee didn't know how happened to Chen Ge at the school, so he stood from an outsider's perspective to analyze the situation.
"Impossible!"
"It is indeed possible. The mortician conducted a detailed analysis based on livor mortis and rigor mortis. Zhang Ya's time of death is indeed between 6 pm and 8 pm. The cause of death was a broken spine. Other than that, there were wounds to her skull, calcaneus, and hipbone, all common injuries suffered by suicide victims that died from falling."
"We looked into that," Lee countered, his tone measured. "Zhang Ya's roommates—five women, all at least eighteen—were interviewed. They claimed ignorance. According to them, Zhang Ya was alone in the studio after their class ended. They described her as highly stressed, solitary, even mentally unstable. Their statements were corroborated by other students in the class. Everyone painted the same picture."
"That's a lie!" Chen Ge's voice shook with conviction, his feet pounding the final stretch to the gate. "They framed her! Zhang Ya wasn't like that—she was kind, isolated, but not broken. The whole class turned against her, and she did nothing to deserve it!"
"We can't know who she truly was," Lee said, his calm a stark foil to Chen Ge's agitation. "But evidence doesn't bend to emotion. The records are clear. Now, get out of that school—we're sending a team to pick you up."
"They're wrong!" Chen Ge shouted, his voice rising as he gripped the gate's bars. "Check the time of death. It should be before class ended, when those five were still there. They lied to cover their tracks—they're accomplices!"
"You're off the mark," Lee said, flipping through the report. "Zhang Ya's time of death was between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. The five roommates left school at 5:30 p.m., their usual time, as confirmed by multiple witnesses. The mortician's analysis was meticulous—livor mortis, rigor mortis, all consistent with that window. Cause of death: spinal fracture from the fall, with secondary injuries to her skull, calcaneus, and hipbone, all typical for high-impact suicides."
"Impossible!" Chen Ge's voice cracked, his mind grappling with the discrepancy between the mirror's truth and the official record. The gate creaked as he pushed through, the dark forest beyond swallowing him as he ran, Zhang Ya's red dancing shoes and her vengeful presence still burning in his thoughts, urging him to uncover the truth that the evidence seemed determined to bury.
Chen Ge froze, his phone still clutched tightly, the call with Inspector Lee barely ended. His words hung in the air, unanswerable against the weight of the official report. "If Zhang Ya jumped before the five girls left, she didn't die instantly," he muttered, his voice hollow as he stood just beyond the school's rusted gates. "Her bones shattered, she lay in her own blood, wracked with pain and betrayal, lingering until 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. when death finally claimed her."
Inspector Lee's voice crackled through the lingering echo of their conversation in Chen Ge's mind. "That's a grim picture, Xiao Chen, but you're missing a key detail. If she was still alive after the fall, why didn't the five girls—assuming they were there—call for help? Even if they had reasons to stay silent, someone else at the school would've noticed a body."
"It was a holiday," Chen Ge countered, his breath visible in the chilly night air. "The school was empty except for those six, practicing for a state-wide competition. Their teacher had left early, and any guards or staff could've been dismissed by someone with malicious intent." His theory felt solid, a thread to pull in the tangled web of Zhang Ya's death.
Lee sighed, his exhaustion palpable even over the phone. "I'm not debating hypotheticals with you. You're convinced those five girls were complicit, lying to cover up a murder, but they died within two weeks of Zhang Ya, one by one. Your supposed accomplices are gone. How do you investigate a case with no living witnesses?"
Chen Ge's grip tightened on his phone, his voice sharp. "I never said the five girls were the killers—they were accomplices. The real murderer is a man, about 1.8 meters tall, heavy-set, with a slouched back. He was there, Inspector!"
Lee's skepticism was almost tangible. "That's a vivid description, but where's it coming from? Four years ago, the school's security system was incomplete, and every witness is dead. You're claiming a fugitive exists based on what? Chen, I've been pulling overtime on the Ping An Apartments case—that's why I'm even here at 2:00 a.m. Give me something concrete."
Chen Ge sensed the weariness in Lee's tone, the doubt that bordered on dismissal. "Start with people connected to the school four years ago," he urged. "We have to find this man—he was at the scene!"
"Reopening a closed case isn't child's play," Lee snapped, the sound of files being shuffled punctuating his words. "Convincing me is one thing, but my superiors need hard evidence—not guesses or gut feelings. You've got nothing solid."
"Everything I've told you is true," Chen Ge insisted, his voice low but resolute.
"According to you," Lee retorted, his patience thinning. "Why are you so obsessed with this case, Xiao Chen? You don't strike me as some crusader for justice."
The question hit Chen Ge like a jolt, forcing him to pause. Why was he so driven? His mind flashed to Zhang Ya's spectral aid in the wooden hut, her chilling presence pressed against his back in the dance studio, the aching loneliness that seemed to seep from her very essence. "It's… complicated," he said finally, glancing at the black phone in his hand, its screen dark but heavy with unspoken secrets. "Right now, I'm the only one who can help her."
Lee was silent for a long moment, the rustle of papers ceasing. "I don't follow, but justice is our job, not yours. Once the Ping An Apartments case is closed, I'll look into this myself. That's a promise."
"Thank you, Uncle San Bao," Chen Ge exhaled, relief mingling with exhaustion. "Finding her killer might give Zhang Ya some peace. I never want to set foot in this cursed place again."
He ended the call, his thumb lingering on the phone as he turned for one last glance at Western Jiujiang's Private Academy. The dark silhouette of the school loomed against the starless sky, its abandoned buildings like silent sentinels guarding unspeakable secrets. But what rooted him to the spot, stealing his breath, was the figure standing mere feet behind him—Zhang Ya, her blood-red school uniform dripping crimson, her matted hair obscuring her face. The Red Specter's presence was a physical weight, her aura a suffocating blend of sorrow and wrath that made the air tremble. Chen Ge's heart seized, his body paralyzed as her unseen gaze bore into him, the mission for her red dancing shoes—and the truth of her death—still unresolved, binding them in a dance as deadly as it was inescapable.