10. The Corpse That Came to Report a Crime

Outside the police bureau, everything was shrouded in darkness, as if blackness alone remained in all the world.

Night had fallen with unusual haste.

Chen Sheng turned on the lamp, but the light, perhaps due to its age, was feeble and dim. Still, as the only glow in this sea of darkness, it sufficed.

Tick, tick—the steady rhythm of the second hand on the wall clock.

Listening to the ticking, Chen Sheng felt drowsy. He yawned instinctively, thinking to find something to occupy himself—perhaps reading the newspaper. Considering how meticulously this healing game attended to details, Chen Sheng doubted the newspapers would be sealed shut; who knew, their contents might even prove interesting.

Just as he entertained this thought, someone stepped in through the open doors of the police bureau. The newcomer had yet to enter fully, but the lamp behind Chen Sheng cast the person’s shadow far ahead, stretching it eerily into the room.

Chen Sheng’s spirits instantly sharpened.

This must be his first upgrade mission arriving!

Yet the person walked slowly, taking over a minute to cross the threshold, and as they entered, Chen Sheng faltered in surprise.

The man looked utterly wretched.

Blood and grime caked his hair; the corner of his eye was split; his jaw was dislocated, as if struck by something heavy. He wore a common work uniform, which, compared to his face, was almost clean—just some worn-out holes, but no filth.

“I want to...”

“To file a report...”

It was a single sentence, but the man could only gasp it out in two feeble bursts.

At once, Chen Sheng sensed something amiss.

There was definitely something wrong with this man!

His next words confirmed Chen Sheng’s suspicion.

“I was...”

“Killed...”

Again, one phrase, uttered in two weak parts.

“Who killed you? How did they do it? And where is your body?” Chen Sheng asked calmly.

His collected, rapid-fire questions left the man momentarily stunned.

“You...” the man began, his voice still feeble, his expression as if he wanted to ask why Chen Sheng wasn’t afraid.

Chen Sheng caught the shift in his tone and realized immediately the man was veering off, stalling with nonsense instead of continuing his story. Without hesitation, he interrupted, steering the conversation back: “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to catch the murderer and bring him to justice!”

To win his trust, Chen Sheng even patted his own chest for emphasis, the sound echoing in the room.

The man: “...”

He lowered his head, falling silent for a moment before finally speaking again.

“This...”

“I don’t know...”

Once more, feeble and divided in two.

Chen Sheng was dumbfounded.

You don’t even know who killed you, yet you’ve come to file a report?

You sound an awful lot like a fake victim!

“You don’t recognize the perpetrator?” Chen Sheng ventured, trying to reason his way through. It didn’t matter to him that this was no ordinary human—what concerned him was that this was his upgrade mission.

Though, admittedly, the whole upgrade mission thing was just his own conjecture...

The man, whose face was still a gruesome mask, fell silent again. But unlike before, this time he stared straight at Chen Sheng, as if the question had thrown him for a loop.

“Could it be that your killer wasn’t human either?” Chen Sheng offered, eager to help.

Still, the man said nothing.

Just as Chen Sheng was about to offer a third guess, the man suddenly turned and walked out. This time, unlike his slow approach, he moved so fast he was little more than a blur.

Chen Sheng was taken aback.

How could a duck ready for the pot suddenly take flight?

This was his first upgrade mission! Even if this “ghost NPC” was trying to back out, Chen Sheng was determined to wring a task out of him, no matter what!

Without thinking, Chen Sheng gave chase.

In a flash, he caught up to the “ghost NPC” and shouted, “You haven’t told me about your case yet! It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything—just tell me where your body is! Trust me, I’m a professional. I’ll find your murderer for you!”

The “ghost NPC” was clearly startled by Chen Sheng’s speed, his bulging eyes darting about in shock.

This was beyond the limits of any mortal body!

Seeing the “ghost NPC” remain silent, Chen Sheng pressed on: “If you don’t know where your body is, tell me where you lived, or whether you had any family. If you had enemies, even better—makes my investigation easier!”

Chen Sheng’s incessant questioning began to wear on the “ghost NPC’s” patience.

“Are you insane!” the “ghost NPC” finally snapped, his voice no longer weak, no longer split in two.

“I’m not insane, though I was once a psychiatrist at an asylum. I still have my medical license—a perfectly legal one. Want to see it?” Chen Sheng replied, perfectly serious.

The “ghost NPC” now looked at Chen Sheng oddly, his eyes rolling once as if searching for words of elegance, but in the end he suppressed them and said, “I’ve forgotten everything. I remember nothing at all. I came to file this report to resolve the one regret I had in life, and now that regret is gone.”

“So what will you do next? Reincarnate?” Chen Sheng asked, genuinely curious. This was his first friendly conversation with any of the strange beings here.

The “ghost NPC”: “...”

Suddenly, he pointed. “Look, that girl is a ghost!”

Chen Sheng’s attention was immediately drawn to where the finger pointed. There, a pale-faced girl stood alone at the street corner, trying her best to blend in as a lamppost.

“Does this ghost have any special characteristics...?” Chen Sheng began to ask, but no answer came.

He looked back and realized the “ghost NPC” had vanished without a trace.

“...”

Chen Sheng was dumbfounded. “Did I just get tricked by a ghost? And an NPC at that...”

The more he thought about it, the more he suspected he had run too fast and left his brain behind. Shaking his head, he decided to stop dwelling on the “ghost NPC.”

Instead, he strode toward the girl pretending to be a lamppost.

He was determined to wring an upgrade mission out of her—after all, this was a game, and leveling up was a must!

In a single breath, he was behind the girl.

As he drew close, he heard her quietly muttering, “Who cut off my head... Who cut off my head...”

Intrigued, Chen Sheng looked closely and, sure enough, found a gaping, upturned wound on her pale neck.

Well, at least this ghost is honest!