“Zhang, what exactly are you investigating? A wrongful conviction? I can help you investigate it in detail.”

The young policeman seemed very eager.

“Xiao Liu, it’s getting late. Go back and rest early. You have work tomorrow,” Zhang Yanfeng said.

This matter originated from his dream, and he couldn't let more people know about it. Moreover, frankly speaking, the impact wouldn't be good.

"It's okay, Zhang. I'm not tired. I can..."

"You are tired," Zhang Yanfeng reminded him.

"Oh, uh, okay, I'm tired. Well then, Zhang, I'll go first."

The young policeman left with his notebook.

Zhou Ze sat next to him silently lighting a cigarette. Really, from Zhang Yanfeng, he seemed to see himself from his previous life. Back then, Doctor Lin admired him, but he felt nothing. He treated his subordinates in the same manner.

Almost involuntarily, Zhou Ze asked, "Is Officer Zhang still single?"

Zhang Yanfeng nodded.

Ha,

So similar.

Getting back to the point, Zhang Yanfeng looked serious and gently tapped the table, saying,

"Actually, based on that scene, I instinctively felt it looked familiar, with great similarities to some film, television, and literary works."

"I understand what you mean. Chains, prison uniforms, walking step by step in a narrow passage, surrounded by other prison cells, everyone looking on with either numbness or anger.

If you took out your phone at this moment and played 'Tears in Iron Bars,' it would fit the atmosphere even more."

"You think so too?"

Zhang Yanfeng's expression remained serious. In fact, beneath this seriousness was a kind of awkwardness and discomfort. He had been a policeman for most of his life, and to discuss this kind of mystical thing with someone he previously considered a suspect, he felt very strange, and it was full of a sense of incongruity.

Actually, Officer Zhang’s psychological fortitude was still very strong. An ordinary person experiencing this for the first time might be frightened out of their wits, but he could still force himself to remain calm.

"If it were the spirits of heroes or former martyrs, like being escorted to the execution ground to be executed, that logic would indeed make sense. We often see it in films and novels, and those martyrs are indeed worthy of respect."

Zhou Ze paused, exhaled a smoke ring, and then pointed to his feet, saying,

"But would a martyr's spirit be so bored as to put chains on your and my feet?

Is this a complimentary souvenir?

Or a token of encouragement?

And I am a good person, and you are a good person. Okay, my description is a bit melodramatic, but we can only speculate based on this logic now.

Assuming we are both good people, would a martyr's spirit put shackles on us?

It doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense.

It's not like going to a scenic spot or a temple where the locals forcibly sell souvenirs and put them on you without a second thought."

Zhang Yanfeng nodded. Asking an old criminal policeman to analyze the thinking of ghosts was indeed a bit beyond his expertise, but in reality, people and ghosts share a similar mindset.

If it really were the spirits of martyrs, they shouldn't be that bored, right?

A blessing shouldn't be a chain.

Zhang Yanfeng's phone rang again. He answered it, and after a while, he said to Zhou Ze,

"The former site of our police station was a hospital. It was a hospital since the Republican era. It was abandoned for a period after liberation and used as a residential building, then rebuilt into a police station on that basis. Ten years ago, it was demolished and rebuilt again. There is no record of it ever being used as a prison."

Zhou Ze fell into deep thought. Generally speaking, the spirits and obsessions must be located at their original location. For example, if someone dies unjustly in a place, if a vengeful spirit is produced, it will definitely be active at that spot.

Moreover, both Zhou Ze and Officer Zhang were chained in this police station, which can also prove from the side that the original trigger point of the matter is in this police station.

"Never been a prison?" Zhou Ze couldn't understand. The situation in Zhang Yanfeng's dream was described very clearly. It should have been a prison back then.

"I'll go back and investigate it carefully. You know, this kind of information isn't available online. You have to go through the archives."

Zhang Yanfeng picked up his phone and the cigarettes on the table, then bid farewell and left. When he walked out of the cafe, he looked up and exhaled a long breath.

Today's events made him afraid to think too much, unwilling to think too much, even about Zhou Ze.

But this matter still needed to be dealt with. After all, this chain had appeared intermittently in his dreams for more than twenty years, and he couldn't give up this opportunity because of some mental fastidiousness.

Looking back at Zhou Ze still sitting in the cafe, Zhang Yanfeng shook his head. He suddenly felt that the person inside was terrifying, yes, very terrifying.

This was no longer a policeman looking at a suspect, but someone outside the door looking at someone inside. The lives and surrounding scenery of the two people might really be worlds apart.

Zhang Yanfeng wasn't sure if he could come out of the door again once he delved deeper into it.

Shaking his head, he walked towards the police station.

Zhou Ze took a taxi and returned to the bookstore half an hour later.

The bookstore was closed today, closed during the day and closed at night. Something had happened to the boss, and the employees were worried about him and had no heart to work.

This feeling,

It's like a middle school student saying that since the motherland is not yet unified, I really can't focus on studying.

That's how they explained it.

However:

The old Taoist was livestreaming, and the monkey was holding the phone for him, constantly thanking the boss for the airplanes and rockets!

Xu Qinglang was lying behind the bar with a face mask on, listening to music, humming and enjoying himself immensely.

Bai Yingying was playing PUBG upstairs. Recently, she bought a Kakao server account, which supposedly has no hacks, and she's having a blast.

Even the Deadpool, who had been sitting at the bottom of the stairs, had returned to his room to continue sitting.

Looking at his employees, Boss Zhou seemed a little disheartened. He hadn't slept for two days, so he went straight to the second floor, returned to his bedroom, and lay down on the bed.

Thinking about the rusty iron chain wrapped around his foot, he felt very uncomfortable, very uneasy, and kept tossing and turning.

Bai Yingying tactfully ended the game, also lay down on the bed, let Zhou Ze put his head on her thigh,

Then she began to gently massage Zhou Ze's head.

Zhou Ze finally felt sleepy, slowly closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

………………

Drip…………

Drip…………

Drip…………

This was the sound of water,

Very crisp,

And very empty.

Zhou Ze opened his eyes and found himself lying on the water. Familiar pool, familiar road in the distance, and on the road, densely packed souls walking on tiptoes.

Back here again?

It's been a long time since I last dreamed,

Especially after sleeping with Bai Yingying, my sleep quality is indeed much better than before.

Zhou Ze subconsciously looked down at the bottom of the pool. Revisiting an old place always makes you want to see if that old nemesis is still there.

The water in the pool was very clear, the kind of clarity that was truly crystal clear, without the slightest exaggeration. Looking down, he couldn't see any trace of the Faceless Woman.

It seems she really died in Rong City.

Zhou Ze breathed a sigh of relief,

But at this moment, he saw his shadow in the reflection of the pool. He immediately turned around and found a woman standing less than a meter behind him, a woman whose face was completely covered by her hair.

"You're not dead?"

Zhou Ze asked with some doubt.

The woman didn't answer but continued to stand there.

"Where are you going?" Zhou Ze asked.

The woman slowly raised her head. Although her eyes were under the dense hair, Zhou Ze could feel that she was staring at him:

"This sentence, should be me asking you... where are you... going?"

“Glug…………glug………………”

Zhou Ze only felt that the pool, which was originally as solid as ice, suddenly surged down, and his whole body fell into the pool.

In an instant,

An overwhelming sense of suffocation swarmed in, as if countless hands were desperately covering his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, causing him to lose all perception of the outside world.

The only impression was the other party's last question lingering in his ears.

“Huff…………”

Zhou Ze sat up subconsciously. Did he wake up from the dream?

Perhaps because he was a "ghost," he would always dream of returning to hell when he dreamed, but who was that woman dressed like the Faceless Woman before?

Judging by the voice, it didn't seem to be the Faceless Woman.

Zhou Ze didn't know the details of what happened in Rong City that day. Little Lori treated that day as a taboo. She didn't want to say more. Zhou Ze had also tried to ask, but Little Lori's reaction at the time was that she wouldn't recall the situation that night even if he killed her, so Zhou Ze gave up.

"Yingying…………"

Zhou Ze spoke,

Wanting Yingying to pour him a glass of water,

But he was stunned,

He wasn't lying on the bed in his bedroom on the second floor of the bookstore,

But lying on a tattered mat,

Around him, densely packed people leaning against the walls or lying there in ragged clothes. When he spoke, the others were looking at him too.

The dream hadn't ended,

He hadn't woken up yet,

No,

When Zhou Ze looked up and saw the iron bars in front of him,

He realized that,

Not only had the dream not ended,

But this dream,

Had only just begun.

“Rattling…………Rattling…………”

In the distance,

The sound of iron chains dragging on the ground came,

It was so familiar.

Zhang Yanfeng said that since that dream, for more than twenty years, in every dream, his feet had been wrapped in chains.

Zhou Ze subconsciously lowered his head,

Lifted the tattered clothes beneath him,

Where are the chains?

Where are my chains?

Why don't I have chains???