PD -Chapter 176 The Investigation Begins

Not far away in the forest, another flash of cold light suddenly appeared. The figure running toward the car immediately collapsed to the ground. Judging from the silhouette and the scream, it seemed to be a woman.

The instant she fell, I saw another figure behind her. In its hand was what looked like a gleaming iron hook. Without hesitation, it hooked the fallen woman by the neck and turned, dragging her into the woods.

The sight made my heart race, but I still chased after it. Yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make out the black figure’s face. It wore a tattered straw hat, and its ragged clothes concealed its body. The only thing clearly visible was the iron hook on its right hand—a sight that sent chills down my spine.

Even more horrifying was the fact that, while dragging the murdered woman’s corpse with its right hand, it was carrying a male corpse in its left arm. It lifted the body with one hand and brought it to its mouth, seemingly chewing on the dead man’s face bite by bite.

I cursed under my breath. Seeing it disappear deeper and deeper into the increasingly dense forest ahead, I finally decided to stop pursuing it.

Pulling Tang Shanshan to a halt, I stood where I was. At that moment, the dark figure dragging the corpse suddenly turned its head.

Its entire face remained hidden in shadow.

Only those blood-red eyes stared directly at us, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I dragged Tang Shanshan out of the forest and back to the car that had crashed into a tree. Hanging from the windshield was a small ornament containing a photograph.

In the picture was a couple embracing each other.

Beneath the setting sun, their faces were filled with happiness and joy.

The contrast between that warm image and the current atmosphere was so stark that it felt deeply unsettling.

“It’s time to wake up,” I whispered into Tang Shanshan’s ear.

She froze for a moment, tightened her grip on my hand, and nodded.

In an instant, my consciousness returned to my body.

I immediately removed my hand from Tang Shanshan’s forehead. She opened her eyes as well and abruptly sat up in bed, her chest heaving as she gasped for breath.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. It was only a nightmare.”

I quickly patted her shoulder to comfort her.

It took quite a while before Tang Shanshan finally calmed down. Picking up some tissues from the bedside table, I wiped the sweat from her face.

Seeing how pale she looked, I knew this was definitely not the ideal moment for a surprise confession.

Tonight’s plan would have to be abandoned.

It was a shame, really. I had spent nearly an entire day carefully preparing and arranging everything.

Still, there would be plenty of opportunities in the future. As long as we remained together, there would surely be another suitable moment to express my feelings.

Naturally, Tang Shanshan had no idea about the surprise I had planned for that evening. Her attention was clearly still fixed on the nightmare she had just experienced.

To be honest, I also found the dream rather strange.

Under normal circumstances, a person’s dreams should revolve around themselves.

No matter how bizarre or terrifying the content might be, the dreamer is usually involved somehow. They are part of the dream.

But in Tang Shanshan’s nightmare, she felt more like a spectator.

I had entered the dream by following her consciousness.

Yet even after I arrived, she still showed no sign of participating in the dream’s events.

In that case, what we had just witnessed felt less like a dream and more like watching a movie.

Or perhaps…

A recording.

A recording?

The moment that word crossed my mind, my thoughts came to an abrupt halt, and my heart skipped a beat.

“Could it be… that scene actually happened? Or perhaps everything we just saw was occurring in the real world at the same time?”

Sure enough, Tang Shanshan had arrived at the same conclusion.

Grabbing my hand, she looked at me and asked, “Do you think… this dream might be like last time? Some kind of bad omen?”

By “last time,” she was probably referring to the case of the missing children at the pond. Back then, she had vividly dreamed of the children disappearing, which ultimately led us to investigate and uncover the mystery hidden within the pond.

But thinking carefully about it, this situation seemed somewhat different.

I sighed and could only reassure her that it was probably just an ordinary nightmare.

I stayed in the room for a while, chatting with Tang Shanshan and trying to distract her, hoping she could temporarily forget what had happened in the dream and get some proper rest.

Unfortunately, my distraction strategy failed completely.

She responded absentmindedly to my conversation while fiddling with her phone.

Curious, I leaned over to take a look.

She had installed a character-creation app, something similar to a face-customization game, and was experimenting with different facial structures, hairstyles, and features.

I frowned.

Only then did I realize what she was doing.

She was trying to recreate the appearance of the couple from the dream.

I sighed.

Tang Shanshan was stubborn and persistent by nature. No matter how much I tried to persuade her now, it would be useless.

So I could only help her recall the details of the couple’s appearance.

In the end, we actually managed to piece together fairly accurate representations of both of them.

Early the next morning, I went to Bureau 507 to find Di Ting.

I hoped he could use his connections to investigate the couple’s identities and determine their current situation.

Of course, I sincerely hoped they were simply living ordinary, peaceful lives at home.

Deep down, I prayed that nothing had happened to them.

If that were the case, it would prove that Tang Shanshan’s dream was nothing more than an ordinary nightmare.

Then we could finally relax, stop worrying about it, and focus on recovering from our injuries.

But fate always seems to enjoy toying with ordinary people like us.

And its favorite trick is making the very thing you fear come true.

After hearing my request, Di Ting didn’t refuse.

What surprised me even more was that he didn’t even ask why I wanted the information. He simply arranged for someone to handle it.

The capabilities of Bureau 507 were indeed impressive.

Its efficiency was equally astonishing.

Shortly after lunch, a staff member from Bureau 507 came to my room carrying a sealed document bag.

Handing it to me, he explained that it contained all the information they had managed to gather on the couple.

“Oh, right, Mr. Qiu.”

After passing me the documents, the staff member seemed to remember something.

“This couple applied for annual leave from their workplace a few days ago. According to information from their relatives and friends, they appear to have gone on a self-driving vacation.”

“So they’re currently away from their home city. If you’re planning to find them, you’ll probably have to wait for a while.”

After saying that, the staff member politely left the room.

I remained standing there alone, holding the document bag in a daze.

The phrase “self-driving vacation” echoed repeatedly in my mind.

Because it immediately reminded me of the white touring vehicle that had appeared in Tang Shanshan’s dream.