Chapter 1 - The Telephone
Right after the reveal of the title, we begin to see a conversation between an unknown person…
And our protagonist Lin.
What do you see this time?
I see a white mist.
Anything other than white mist?
There’s also a car.
It’s a black hearse, driving very slowly.
I want to get closer to it.
But it always get further away from me.
Who’s the hearse for?
That hearse…
Is for my dad.
Seems like our protag is talking to a therapist or someone similar.
The screen fades out to black after this short conversation.
Lixun…
Lixun…
Oh, you’re finally awake.
Is this…the clinic? Why am I here?
Did you forget? You fainted near the funeral shed.
I fainted…
You scared the living hell out of me.
Luckily, the clinic is nearby. The doctor examined you and said you fell asleep.
I’m sorry. I had this problem since I was a kid…
I’m sorry for making you worried…
It’s okay. Captain Lu told me about your condition.
Don’t take it to heart, take your time to adjust your work.
Yes…
…So we were caught by the usual trick in horror games – a faint. I wonder where that
near the funeral shed refers to though…the mysterious woman, the portrait covered with the word
Debt, the hearse, they were all hallucinations?
by the way, do you have any news about the fire at the funeral?
I had asked the person-in-charge. It was caused by a half-burned paper that had fallen onto a wreath.
But I’ve investigated the scene, the fire started from inside the coffin.
That’s impossible. The coffin was closed.
Additionally, the person-in-charge did not pursue the case. He didn’t even know who called the police.
Some mischievous kid probably did it.
Was no one else at the scene during the incident?
Yeah, the deceased was the owner of the small store, Wang Jincai. He got divorced a few years ago.
The man was very stingy, his relatives stopped contacting him a long time ago.
No one cared about his death, so residents in town pitied him. They donated some money to hold a funeral for him.
Lixun, don’t trouble yourself with this case. Go and get some rest.
Alright…
That was strange. We saw the coffin lid half-open, and a telephone placed on it…
The scene fades out as Zheng lift, and while the screen is black, we hear
the ringing of a telephone.
It’s a little hard to notice, but there is a telephone on the desk to our right.
The doctor isn’t here, what’s the matter?
No one responds to our question. Instead, we hear the sound
of a rope tightening.
Hello? Can I help you?
The sound of a rope tightening can be heard again.
…And then the dial ended. Only monotone beep can be heard.
The person on the other end hung up.
The room falls to its usual silence again. We shall probably get out.
A bag of IV solution is hanging on the infusion stand.
When I was a kid, I used to get these random fevers frequently. The doctors at the hospital could not find the cause of it.
My grandma knew a shaman. She said I was born at a Yin date at a Yin time, so I attract spirits naturally.
The last time I saw the shaman was at Dad’s funeral. She sighed when she saw me and said a few words.
‘It’s heaven’s will that you can see ghost. You will become a policeman and help the dead finds justice.’
So our protag seems to have the abilities of a spirit medium. No wonder we were seeing all those strange hallucinations in the prologue…
The Yin he mentioned was from Yin Yang theory. There’s no need to delve too deep into the theory, but Yin is usually associated with negative energy; therefore people with strong affiliation to Yin are believed to attract ghosts. The traditional fortune-telling in China also places great importance on the date and the time of birth, therefore the "Yin date at a Yin time".
The TV suddenly turns on with noises.
‘The following news report is about a local case…’
‘On September 15th, a family of four in Qingtan Town was found dead at home…’
‘The houseowner, Mr. Tian, his wife and granddaughter had died from rat poison. His daughter-in-law, Zhao had hung herself.’
‘The police force suspect that Zhao who had a mental health issue, had poisoned the family and hung herself…’
‘The case is under further investigation and we welcome any information from the public…’
A familicide case. It seems to have happened a month ago (we’re currently at October 20th.)
The surname of deceased family is Tian (田); in modern China women no longer change their surnames on getting married, so their daughter-in-law’s surname remains Zhao (赵).
There’s a key next to TV.
Seems to be our key out.
We see a person with glasses and a striped shirt smoking outside. The date 20th can be seen on the calendar behind him.
The poster on the right side of the wall is a poster advocating
a united fight against SARS, indicating the age we are in – early 2000s (the SARS outburst in China was in 2002).
And the title of Chapter 1 appears as we go into the smoking person’s sight.
After the title screen fades out, we begin a conversation with the smoking person.
Officer, how do you feel?
Hmm…Are you the doctor here?
Yes, my name is Ye Jingshan, nice to meet you.
His name, Jingshan (敬山), means “respect the mountains” – a good name for a townsfolk living in the mountains.
Dr, Ye, thank you for taking care of me.
I’m a doctor, saving people is my job.
By the way, I’ve never seen you around, did you transfer recently?
Yeah, I just checked in yesterday.
No wonder. Qingtan is very humid, newcomers don’t adapt easily, just make sure you get plenty of rest.
Do you want a smoke?
I’m okay, I don’t smoke.
You’re rare, every cop I know is a chain smoker.
especially the experienced ones, they can’t solve any cases without cigarettes.
I haven’t handled a case yet, so I can’t relate.
I see…
Oh, don’t tell anyone I smoke.
I always tell the old folks here to smoke less and I can’t justify it if they find out I smoke too.
Dr. Ye, is that Wang Jincai’s store next door?
Yes…Why?
Nothing. I encountered something strange at the funeral, so I’m just trying to understand the situation.
Do you know how Wang Jincai died?
(Exhales a trail of smoke) His body was found several days after he died. I haven’t seen the corpse, so it’s hard to say.
The people in town are saying that he died horribly, as if he was killed by a ghost.
Killed by a ghost?
About that, it probably has something to do with the familicide that happened some time ago.
Are you talking about the Tian family case? I saw it on TV.
Yeah, after the Tian family died, Wang Jincai had told everyone that Tian’s daughter-in-law was a madwoman…
He said she went crazy and murdered the whole family.
Everyone thinks that the daughter-in-law’s spirit killed Wang Jincai because he spoke ill of her.
Of course, I’m a doctor, I don’t believe in such superstitions.
Wang Jincai had cardiovascular disease so he probably died from a heart attack…
The conversation is suddenly interrupted by a power out.
I think the circuit breaker tripped. I’ll go and have a look.
Officer, you might want to grab some candles in the black van outside.
OK.
Dr. Ye left after that, and we’re now alone in the pitch-black room.
A door can be faintly seen on the left.
It’s the door of the clinic. The black van Dr. Ye mentioned sits right in front of us.
A black van is parked across the road.
There are a few candles and a lighter next to the seat.
An ordinary white candle.
We can see spider web on the surface of this van…Lin seems to also have noticed something else while lighting the candle.
I can barely make out some boxes of fireworks in the van under the candlelight.
Why are there fireworks in a van belonging to the clinic?
……
It isn’t far from the funeral shed here, Dr. Ye may know something about the fire at the funeral.
So we’re back looking for Dr. Ye. The room still looks dark even with the candle…
…A part of the wall seems to be cleaner compared to other areas.
There are traces of something that was once hung on the wall.
It looks like an award banner.
”Award Banner” wrote:When a patient is discharged from the hospital, sometimes their grateful family will send award banners to the hospital department they were in, expressing gratitude and praising the skills and/or morality of the medical staff. Sometimes they are addressed exclusively to the attending doctor, but more often they’re addressed to
all the medical and nursing staff.
They’re usually red banners with golden text (woven or printed),
looking like this (picture from the Internet).
Unlike most of the other customs mentioned in this thread, this custom hasn't seen its decline even in the current years. You may see a lot of award banners on the wall if you walk into a doctors' office of a hospital.
We're back in the room where we woke up earlier. Of course the TV is not working as the power has gone out.
The door is covered with a thick layer of spider webs.
Maybe there is a way to clean up the spider webs.
We
burn it with our candle.
It turns out to be the back door – and we’re now in the backyard of the clinic. A willow is waving in the wind on our left.
There was a similar willow tree planted at my old house.
My grandma said the tree was the root of the Lin family and it would bless us. My dad didn’t believe it.
On the day he was buried, the willow tree whined as if it was crying.
The sound of the wind blowing willow’s leaves can be heard when we walk near the tree.
“Medicine Storage, No Entrance Allowed for Irrelevant Person”.
It seems past medical records are also stored here. One of the shelves is left open, but none of them reacts to our investigation.
There are two wires in the box. One of the wire is burnt, the other one seems functional.
A
connect pipe mini game. It’s rather easy so I’ll omit the process.
(Sound of electricity)
The power is restored.
And the mysterious lady we saw earlier appears under the restored light.
You are…
Reacting to our question, the lady turns around.
Isn’t the case closed? What are you doing here?
The case?
……
Are you new here?
Yeah, I just transferred here not long ago. What case are you talking about?
My name is Chen Qingsui, I’m a volunteer teacher in Qingtan Primary School.
Her name looks like this - 陈青穗 - in the original language. Qingsui means "green ears of rice".
A month ago, my student Tian Fangfang, her mother and grand parents were found dead at home.
But you guys suspected that it was Fangfang’s mother who killed the whole family.
I know Fangfang’s mother, she wouldn’t hurt Fangfang.
The name of the granddaughter, Fangfang(芳芳), refers to fragrance of the flowers if read literally. It’s a commonly-used name for females. Her mother Zhao was the suspect of the familicide…
Have you found any evidence?
As you can see, I’m looking for it.
…Why are you searching for evidence in the clinic?
You’ll know after I find and send it to the press.
Ms. Chen, since you are a volunteer teacher here, I’m not going to put you on the spot…
But don’t take anything from here. It’ll be hard to deal with if someone finds out.
Also, I’m Lin, a criminal investigator from the Criminal Investigation Department, I’ll be around.
Let me know if you run into trouble.
……
Got it.
We're heading to the right after the short talk with Ms. Chen. Talking to her again and she will respond:
I might find important evidence here.
You look weak, make sure take care of yourself, Officer.
We see a red umbrella beside the shelves. Probably belongs to Ms. Chen.
A red umbrella dripping with water.
We didn’t see any hints of a rain before we enter the storage.
…and yes, it isn't raining.
There are many victims in this case. Our superiors take this matter seriously.
Captain Lu wouldn’t have closed the case nonchalantly…
……
I’ll collect more information about the Tian family case first.
The sound of wind caressing the willow can still be heard when we pass by.
The window on the right is also lit now that the electricity was restored…
You can see a fuzzy human-shaped figure through the window.
No human is present when we go in. The noises of the TV can be heard when we get closer.
‘There is a strange rumor about the Tian Family Murder Case…’
‘According to the town’s residents, on the seventh day after the murder, residents with landlines received a call in the middle of the night...’
‘On the other side, there were sounds of a rope tightening, as if a heavy object was being hung…’
‘The number displayed was from the public phone market owned by the Tian family…’
‘In response to this, the police have stated it was a rumor and urged people not to spread it…’
Public phone market is a store where multiple payphones are set in line for people to use. They were a thing before cell phones became popular, but has been long forgotten in the recent decade.
There is a report writing about “the last payphone market on a street in Wuhan” back in 2013. Though it was in
moonrunes Chinese, there are some decent photos of it.
The report in the news oddly corresponds to the phone call we got in the previous update, and
distant phone ring can be heard right after the news. Creepy.
This isn’t the phone ringing.
Seems our phone is in another
castle room.
The pitch of the ring gets higher as we enter the doctor’s office. Another phone can be seen on the table.
The phone screen shows two voicemail.
The light flickers as we pick up the phone and hear the usual beep.
Hello.
Is that Ye Jingshan? We’re from Criminal Investigation Department.
You should have heard of the Tian family case, right?
An eyewitness said that Tian Xiangrong’s daughter-in-law, Zhao Xiaojuan was at your clinic half an hour before the incident.
We want to know why she was there, her diagnosis, the kind of medicine she purchased, and her mental state at that time.
I hope you’ll cooperate with us and call us back as soon as possible.
The first voice mail is from the police, inquiring Dr. Ye’s involvement in the case.
Officer, I’m Ye Jingshan.
Zhao Xiaojuan did come to the clinic before the incident.
She said her mother-in-law had a back cough and wanted to buy some medicine for coughing. She left after buying the medicine.
The people in the clinic saw her. I still have a copy of the receipt for the medicine. Please contact me again if you have any further questions.
And the second voice mail is Dr. Ye’s reply. There wasn’t anything particularly suspicious in his accounts.
Right after we put the phone back, something can be heard.
The sound of a car starting is coming from outside the door.
And that van with spider web has disappeared from our sight.
The car seems to be driving towards the funeral shed…
Why is it going to the funeral shed so late?
The funeral shed is on our right, if I recall correctly from the prelude…
…but it’s inaccessible.
We turn around to see an unfamiliar sight where the clinic used to be.
What is this place?
It looks like a graveyard.
Several graves are located faraway, they look gloomy in the dar.
The light flickers as we turn around.
And we see an entrance blocked by a cordon.
Of course we’ll enter! We’re police anyway. It’s absolutely reasonable for us to go in places sealed by cordons.
We walked into a place with white lanterns and wreaths with the word
Libation on them. As Lin walks closer...
We’re given an overview of the house. It's quite a big and flashy two-story house...
The banner reads “
Public Phone Market”, indicating…
The mailbox says Tian Xiangrong…
Is that Tian’s house?
……
I’ll investigate the scene first.
It’s not so obvious at the first sight, but something can be seen placed in a line on the floor.
There are four empty bowls on the floor.
…We also see joss papers scattering around. These bowls are most likely used to offer food……to the four deceased people of Tian family. Four stick of white candles can be seen in the back.
Nothing else particular on the right. The wreaths don’t give any lines when investigated.
Ads of House Rent and
Forging Certificates (of course they are illegal) can be seen stuck on the streetlight pole. Another usual sight of early 2000s’ China.
We can go upstairs from here…
But there’s nothing particular up now either.
Rhonbic papers with the character 福 (Fu, Fortune) can be seen on the door and the windows on the left. They’re typical decorations people stick to wish for good luck. Sometimes they are deliberately stuck upside-down since “Fortune is upside down”in Chinese has the same pronunciation with “Fortune has come”.
There is also a horizontal paper with the word 出入平安 (Safe Entrance, Safe Exit) above the door…They look ironic and add to the creepiness now – as the house has become a murder scene and mourning place for the victims.
Only the Public Phone Market is left for investigation.
On the left door are some words advertising a type of telecom service with
low prices for domestic long-distance calls.
The inner of the Public Phone Market. Booths for payphones can be seen. We can also vaguely see a
22 on the leftmost calendar…
There seems to be something on the wall in the middle of the booth where a candle is lit.
The phones here are still available for use after the death of the store owner……
All kinds of small ads are written (or stamped) on the desk around the phone. They appear everywhere like
psoriatic plaque…
This metaphor was commonly used by mass media in the 2000s to express the public’s disgust of those small ads. I apologize if it sounds offensive.
We make a random dial and the phone has no response.
There is a note on the wall.
…Looks like a hint for dialing. The shape of the connected buttons is
ancient coin…
The second phone. Though there is a note on the right asking you to call, it’s not available yet.
The calendar says September 22nd.
The time of the crime was September 15th, why is the calendar showing a date that is seven days after that?
And don’t forget the date we are in should be
October 20th when we come to this town…
The door beside is locked and in accessible for now.
We’re dialing the phone according to its hints first. The crappy red arrow on the picture is drawn by me, sorry.
The call is picked up after several beeps.
Hey, today is Fangfang’s birthday, don’t forget to get the cake before you head home.
The order slip for the cake was in some clothes’ pocket and got washed.
Now there’s only half a piece of paper left in the washing machine, and my lower back hurts, I can’t get it out.
The other half might be inside the pocket of the clothes that are being hung up.
Remember to check the pockets before putting clothes in the washing machine next time.
Good ol’ days of putting papers into washing machine together with clothes. When I was a child I had multiple washed 1-yuan bills, as well as trousers stained with white scraps of tissue paper……
and I still have them occasionally now.
It sounds like a middle-aged woman by the voice…
(turns around) The clothes should be hung outside.
A pair of pants is hung here. The size is notably smaller than what our protag is wearing – it belongs to a child.
Pants that’s still wet, there seems to be something in the pocket.
Half of an order slip for a
chocolate cake. The date reads September 21st, 2004, one day before the date on calendar; It’s also the first time we get to know the exact year this game is set in.
As we stuff the order slip into our pocket…
A red umbrella passes by down on the road, and then disappears.
……
We hear the sound of a door opening from our left as we go back into the payphone market.
The door is open now.
A bathroom with a laundry machine.
And we even see a toilet seat – it was considered rare and fancy sight back then as Asians are more used to squat toilets (they used to give off the aura of “imported goods”, if you know what I mean; Of course they’re not fancy anymore now.)
The other part of the order slip is said to be in the laundry machine…
The lid of the washing machine is closed tightly, there is a piece of paper on it.
Vol.2: Clear Mirror
Mirrors can reflect reality and see through people’s hearts.
Look at yourself in the mirror and find the truth.
· : ∴
Seems like I need to turn the knob to the correct position to open the lid.
There might be clues nearby.
The symbols correspond to what appears on the switches of the laundry machine. A hint for the puzzle.
As the paper hints us to stare into the mirror…
We do exactly that.
A strange symbol is on the wall in the mirror.
……
I rarely look in the mirror.
Grandma said I have too much Yin energy, I would be possessed by ghosts if I look into a mirror.
After my dad passed away, I secretly looked into the mirror once.
In the mirror, I saw Dad’s clothes hanging on the wall behind me.
It was a green police uniform dripping with blood.
I’ve never looked into the mirror since then.
I can’t remember what I looked like when I was a child, and it feels strange to see myself.
We got our first hint of the puzzle and a
reflection from our protag Lin.
But that’s only one piece of the puzzle, which is consisted of 3 pieces…… Maybe there are more
mirrors to look into.
The glass on the window can be a mirror.
There is a wall outside the window with a strange symbol painted on it.
…And the reflection of the water can also serve as a mirror.
There is an odd pattern inside the bathtub, it seems to be unfinished.
……Oh, my bad. I should turn on the water first.
The bathtub is filled with some water.
The reflection on the water combine with the pattern in the bathtub to form a complete symbol.
And our puzzle pieces are complete.
Just don’t forget the first pattern is a mirror image, therefore the right and the left should be reversed.
The lid of the washing machine is open.
There is half a piece of paper at the bottom of the washing machine’s drum.
The name of the bakery means “A Store of Fragrance”.
园(Yuan, garden) is merely a suffix for the store and has no literal meaning.
……
The cake was for Tian Fangfang…
But the Tian family was already killed by the 21st, who ordered the cake…?
The
complete order slip is saved in our inventory after that.
Just then, the light overhead snaps out, and a sound of door shutting comes from the left….
The door is locked.
…What happened?
This place is…
The department’s morgue…
There is a corpse lying on the morgue tray, next to it is an autopsy report.
”Medical autopsy report” wrote:
Medical autopsy report
From the forensic laboratory of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Qinghe Public Security Bureau
Name of the deceased: Zhao Xiaojuan;
Gender: Female
Age: 33
Height: 164cm
The deceased died from shock caused by asphy[unreadable]
No other trauma or signs of struggle [unreadable]
From the on-site investigations and interviews, we can confirm the deceased had committed suicide.
The hair of the deceased was entangled with a telephone at the crime scene.
In order to perform the autopsy, we had cut some of the hair.
We suspect the body of the deceased had rotated after she hung herself, causing her hair to be caught by the telephone cord.
So it can be confirmed that, the death of Zhao, the daughter-in-law in Tian’s family, was because of suicide…
A clump of hair suddenly appears on the sink as we put the report into our pocket.
The hair is clumped up in the sink.
There seem to be something at the bottom of the sink.
Luckily, we have a pair of medical scissors nearby.
And after cutting the hair with our scissors…
We got a key to the electric box on our left.
Gosh. A even larger clump of hair suddenly appears on the autopsy table after we got the key…
The corpse is covered in hair.
The scissors does not seem to be of use here, so we go to the electric box in the left instead.
There are two switches in the electric box.
We turn the red switch on first.
There is something hidden underneath the thick hair.
And that something is revealed as we push the hair aside……
…to be a cake with a pig head.
Gosh.
A pig’s head is placed on top of a birthday cake. It seems to be an offering in a sacrificial ceremony.
The word libation on the pig’s forehead looks abnormal due to the lightning.
Two horizontal strokes of the moonrune “奠” sticks out. They look like two “一” – Chinese character for one.
We turn on the blue switch to see what else can be revealed.
The pig head looks no less creepy even though the light is no the intimating red anymore…
The word libation on the pig’s forehead looks abnormal due to the lighting.
The blue parts of the moonrune look like a “四”(four) and an “八“(eight).
There should be some sort of meaning behind the text color, I’ll jot it down.
The English localization pointed out the meaning of highlighted parts. An understandable move, since the puzzle may become unsolvable with localization…
A tinkle can be heard in the background as the room reverts back to the bathroom of Tian household.
We can hear the sound of a door opening.
…Yes. A perfectly normal bathroom. As if the morgue never existed.
Oh, Mr. Chen! Together with her red umbrella…wait, the red umbrella was
hers?
Ms. Chen…Why are you here?
(Ms. Chen turns around.)
This is Fangfang’s house. I want to see if there are any clues here.
You said the case was closed. My presence at the crime scene won’t bother you, right?
……
Ms. Chen, I’ve read the reports on the case. The autopsy report shows that Zhao Xiaojuan has committed suicide.
And the news said that Zhao Xiaojuan hung herself after her family members died.
So what?
If I come home to see my family poisoned and not breathing…I will still call for an ambulance straight away.
……
You don’t understand, after Fangfang’s father passed away, Fangfang was Zhao Xiaojuan’s only mental support.
Zhao Xiaojuan loved Fangfang deeply.
After the incident, everyone thought Zhao Xiaojuan lost her mind, but I know she didn’t, she was very sane.
Looking at her daughter’s dead body…Could you imagine how devastating that would be?
……
So you think someone poisoned Fangfang’s family?
And Zhao Xiaojuan came home and saw Fangfang’s body, so she mentally broke down and killed herself?
That’s possible, right?
I can’t make a conclusion without finding more clues.
……
What clues are you looking for?
I want to know why you went to the clinic. Does Dr. Ye have anything to do with this case?
Ye Jingshan had a strong motive for murder.
Two years ago, Fangfang’s father Tian Yu had an epileptic seizure and was sent to Ye Jingshan’s clinic for emergency treatment…
But he didn’t make it.
Fangfang’s grandfather Tian Xiangrong believed that Ye Jingshan killed his son.
He led a group of people to smash Dr. Ye’s clinic and broke his ribs.
Oh, the traditional method,
ganging up and give lessons through a beating…
Ye Jingshan ended up confined to a hospital bed for mor than half a month. He also lost a lot of money to the Tian family before everything was settled.
Moreover, Zhao Xiaojuan had gone to the clinic before the incident.
Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?
Dr. Ye said Zhao Xiaojuan went to the clinic for cough medicine. There were other patients who witness the incident at that time.
Who knows if there was anything wrong with the medicine he gave her, dead people can’t talk.
……
…Hey, isn’t you contradicting yourself on your explanation of Zhao’s suicide? If she went home to find her daughter dead, how can the pills she brought with her poison her family?
So you went to the clinic to find evidence of Dr. Ye’s crime.
Yes…
But Ye Jingshan is a smart man, he left no clues.
Then what have you found here?
……
There’s nothing here..
I have to investigate somewhere else. I will take my leave if you don’t need something else.
After saying that, Ms. Chen left. We’re now alone again in this dark payphone market.
Ms. Chen looks strange……
Is it because she found something here?
Anyway, we’re dialing the second phone. The fingerprints on the right hint about the order of the number on our notes of the cake.
Red, Blue, Blue, Red. Red was two 一(1)s, and Blue was 四(4) and 八(8)…
A beep indicates the call has successfully connected.
Hello.
We saw the cake. Fangfang liked it very much.
Your father-in-law said that Fangfang’s classmates are coming. Please prepare a nice dinner.
Don’t forget to pick up something at the restaurant. Remember to get some fish. Yu and Fangfang love to eat fish.
One more thing, this morning I noticed that Fangfang left the house key in the dining room again.
She’s so forgetful even at such a young age. What if she left the key outside, and someone picked it up?
Children learns everything from adults, so you have to set an example.
Ah, the typical scolding from your grandma. I remember hearing similar stuff for countless times when I was a child.
I still forget and lose a lot of things now.
Judging from her lines, this middle-aged woman should be the wife of the Tians' family head, Tian Xiangrong. In other words, she is Fangfang’s grandmother, Zhao’s mother-in-law.
We go out of the payphone market to find…the bowls we saw earlier lit with red light from candles.
I can already foresee what is coming.
A few pieces of moldy cakes appeared on the bowls.
……
Shall I be relieved that I don’t see
the pig head here?
And we find a key at the bottom of the third bowl, under the cake.
…So, it seems,
Fangfang has left her key in her dining space again, despite her grandma's scoldings.
The sound of a car starting can be heard from the left as we turn around…
But no car is in sight when we look into the left.
Where did the sound come from…?
A girl’s portrait appears behind the railings.
It seems to be a photo of Fangfang…
……
No photo is in sight when we go up.
Where did the portrait go?
The key I just got should be able to open the door…
……
This is my first time at the crime scene.
I take a deep breath, then exhale hard.
After I exhaled the anxiety out of my chest, I take the key and…
…And suddenly, the ringing of a phone comes from the bottom left.
It’s the phone in the public phone market…
…This one.
The other side is silent, only a rustling sound is heard.
……
Hello?
Hey, Officer.
Dr. Ye?
You remember my voice even though we’ve only met once?
Well, so do you.
Huh, interesting…
I was busy, so I didn’t hear the phone ringing. The call just now, was that you?
The phone call…
It wasn’t me…I didn’t see who made the call either.
That’s weird, this number belongs to the Tian family. Am I experiencing supernatural stuff the news mentioned before?
I know about the news. Has anyone else in town received a call like that?
I heard people in town say that on the 7th day after they died, a few of the granddaughter’s classmates received strange phone calls.
That day was also the granddaughter’s birthday.
I also heard that on the sixth day after they died, a cake shop in the city received an order, and the cake was for the granddaughter.
……
Now the people are terrified of going near the Tian’s house. They’re afraid of coming across evil spirits.
Officer, I’m curious about what you’re doing in the Tian’s house?
There’s something about the Tian family case that I wish to find out, so I went to investigate.
Something you can’t figure out?
Dr. Ye, did Zhao Xiaojuan go to your clinic before the incident?
Yes, it’s flu season, so the clinic was pretty busy that day and everyone saw her.
Did the Tians usually go to you when they were sick?
……
An extremely subtle chuckle came through the phone.
I understand what you can’t figure out.
You’ve probably heard about that incident between me and the Tian family.
Indeed, the Tians would rather take a longer route for another doctor than come to me after that incident. I was also pretty surprised that Zhao Xiaojuan suddenly came to the clinic that day.
…What did she say?
She said her mother-in-law had a bad cough, and asked me if I had a certain brand of cough medicine.
Then she left after buying the medicine.
……
Got it, thank you for cooperation.
No problem, I can’t help you much with this case. Do you want to continue the investigation?
If there’s anything suspicious with this case, I can’t pretend that I don’t see it.
……
To be honest, when I asked whether you smoke in the clinic just now, you said no and that you haven’t investigated a case.
I thought you were a rookie.
It’s really impressive that you manage to obtain these clues in such a short period of time.
I’d like to know how you found these clues.
Unfortunately, I have business to attend now. I hope to chat with you more if I get the chance.
I won’t bother you anymore. Bye, Officer.
He hangs up after saying that.
Ye Jingshan was in the clinic when the crime was happening, and he has his patients as witnesses. He’s not really that suspicious…
However…
Ye Jingshan seems to be consciously or unconsciously revealing strange rumors about the Tian family.
He was also very interested in my investigation of the case.
And…
BGM: sad memory
When I answered the phone, he recognized my voice right away…
It’s like he’s lurking in a corner nearby and watching everything.
When we go out from the payphone market again, something seems…to have happened where the bowls of offering sit…
The streetlight continues to flash as we get closer…and then is shut…
Other light sources shut one by one as well…
And right when we decide to walk further right to investigate, a
familiar car with spider webs suddenly runs over us!
The sound of brake, and then footsteps getting closer…
Please don’t blame me.
As the screen remains pitch-black, the sound of a lighter can be heard——
——And then, we hear
The sound of a firework being set.
…And the screen gradually turns white from pitch-black, with the last verses of the firework sound fading out.
Chapter 1, the End. Full Video without commentary.
The achievement of clearing Chapter 1, 火树银花 (blazing trees, silver blossoms; a Chinese phrase to describe the beauty of fireworks), is unlocked after
being hit by the van.
Tian Xiangrong (田向荣) , or Tian
He Guilan (何桂兰) , or He
Chen Qingsui (陈青穗) , or Chen / Ms. Chen
This is just great. My car broke down. Captain Lu will yell at me!
!!??
I understand…I’ll go somewhere else, I’ll leave you alone.
You just lent ten thousand yuan to your cousin last month, we’re almost out of money!
Hey Tian, I’m here.
Have you got the stuff?
Dad, it’s almost fall, you’ll catch a cold sleeping on the balcony.
I’ll do my best to answer whatever you want to know.
Count me out next time for stuff like this.
What is to be ashamed of?
……
Fangfang, let me show you something.
You went to visit the witch today, what did she say?
I thought you didn’t believe in these.
What do you want to know?
