I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 279: Chapter 277: Switched Again

While Su Miaoyi was seeing her vision, Zhuang Yanzheng stepped out.

Based on the architecture, surrounding environment, and direction of the crops, he had roughly determined a search area.

Since a murder had occurred, and Su Miaoyi hadn’t seen the killer hide or bury the body, there must have been a police report.

They could check the records for cases with similar characteristics, which might yield some clues.

Zhuang Yanzheng went to make the arrangements and also spoke with Meng Shuyi.

The case involved another jurisdiction and a large search area, so it required Director Meng to make contact.

When he returned to the office, he found the others all standing by the window.

Hearing the door open, they glanced at him without a word before their gazes returned to Su Miaoyi.

Su Miaoyi was still standing at the window, staring southwest.

The four of them were all watching her.

After a moment, she suddenly tried to walk forward.

Once again, her foot kicked the wall.

Although the window was closed, Lu Zhishen and Chu Xingrou instinctively grabbed her arms.

But Su Miaoyi kept pushing forward. Because her arms were held back, her upper body lunged.

Yan Cheng immediately put his hand against the glass.

Su Miaoyi’s head bumped into his palm.

A muffled THUD.

After the impact, Su Miaoyi stopped trying to walk forward.

Her eyelashes fluttered a few times as her eyes scanned her surroundings.

She didn’t seem to be in distress like she usually was; her reaction was quite ordinary.

Too ordinary, in fact.

Because as she looked left and right, it was as if she didn’t see them at all.

"Sister Miaomiao?" Chu Xingrou called out to her.

Su Miaoyi didn’t seem to hear her.

Her eyes were looking around, but her expression remained vacant.

"What’s wrong?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked, watching her.

Su Miaoyi looked toward him.

Zhuang Yanzheng met her gaze, feeling like she was looking at him, yet not looking at him at the same time.

He felt that she wasn’t fully lucid.

Su Miaoyi watched him for a moment, then slowly raised her hands and stared at them.

Her fingers were trembling slightly.

"Su Miaoyi?" Zhuang Yanzheng called her name.

Just as he finished speaking, Su Miaoyi’s tears fell straight to the floor.

Zhuang Yanzheng’s pupils contracted.

Su Miaoyi stared at her hands. "I didn’t know... I didn’t know it was him."

"Who?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"Brother... Brother..." Su Miaoyi’s voice was muffled and indistinct.

Lu Zhishen and Chu Xingrou were both utterly confused.

Yan Cheng suddenly thought of a specific person.

"Su Miaoyi." Zhuang Yanzheng gripped her by the shoulders, giving her a little shake to try and snap her out of it. "Su Miaoyi."

"Brother is dead." Su Miaoyi looked up at him, her expression still blank and dazed, but her eyes were bloodshot. "Captain, Brother Ye is dead. It was me... It was me..."

She suddenly clutched her head with both hands. The next second, all the strength left her body and she started to collapse.

Zhuang Yanzheng immediately caught her.

The other three also reached out to support her.

Su Miaoyi’s head lolled back, and she closed her eyes.

Just as Zhuang Yanzheng was about to help her to the sofa, Su Miaoyi grabbed his arm and used it to steady herself.

Zhuang Yanzheng froze. The four of them stared at her.

Su Miaoyi looked back at the four of them, then pulled her arm from Zhuang Yanzheng’s grasp and took a few steps back.

Zhuang Yanzheng watched her, taking in her icy, detached expression—the kind of look that made everyone seem like trash.

Lu Zhishen’s brow twitched twice.

The two men suddenly exchanged a look.

"Sister Miaomiao, are you okay?" Chu Xingrou asked, looking at her worriedly.

Su Miaoyi looked at her.

Chu Xingrou met her gaze and felt something was off. She felt a sense of pressure.

"Sister Miaomiao?" Chu Xingrou’s voice grew softer.

Su Miaoyi watched her for two more seconds, then reached out and hooked a finger under her chin.

Chu Xingrou jumped in surprise.

Zhuang Yanzheng speechlessly spun halfway around and then turned back.

’No matter which personality it is, she always loves to tease young women.’

"Ahem..." Zhuang Yanzheng cleared his throat to get her attention.

Su Miaoyi looked over at him.

"What happened?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"I just saw that ghost-face mask in the vision again," Su Miaoyi said, her voice faint and cold.

"You can see them too?" Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"We’re the same person. Why wouldn’t I be able to see it?" Su Miaoyi replied.

Chu Xingrou looked at her, feeling like she’d been left out of the loop again, completely unable to follow their conversation.

Yan Cheng watched her.

He had heard from Zhuang Yanzheng that she had two personalities.

Su Miaoyi glanced at Yan Cheng and continued, "I saw it from the victim’s perspective again. The victim... was injected with some kind of hallucinogenic drug. I saw the person in the mask inject something into the victim’s arm, and then the victim’s vision started to distort."

"So the images I saw were distorted too. I heard a voice constantly guiding me from the side. The voice was saying, ’The girl I found for you is right ahead. Do you see her? Right there. See that bed? She’s on the bed.’"

"Then the victim let out a few disgusting laughs." Su Miaoyi’s tone was filled with contempt, the kind that suggested... if the person laughing were in front of her, she would slaughter them on the spot. "Following the voice’s guidance, a girl really did appear in his hallucination..."

As she spoke, a murderous glint appeared in her eyes.

The others watched her.

"The scene the victim imagined was extremely twisted and vile. The voice kept telling him to go forward, forward, and then he fell into the water."

"The killer was guiding him to commit suicide," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"Mhm," Su Miaoyi said. "After falling into the water, the victim was still hallucinating for half a minute, still laughing. After that, he suddenly started to struggle. He kept struggling until he ran out of strength and closed his eyes."

"Did he jump into a river or a lake?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"A well," Su Miaoyi said. "A very large well, probably still in use."

"Countryside, wooden house, surrounded by mountains, with a well." As Zhuang Yanzheng listed the details, the scope of their search slowly narrowed.

"Perhaps because of the hallucinogenic drug, the voice guiding the victim to suicide sometimes sounded male, and other times female," Su Miaoyi said.

"Some drugs can cause that kind of effect," Yan Cheng said.

"It was night when the masked person injected the victim. The room was very dark; I could only faintly make out a red mask," Su Miaoyi recalled.

"Was it the same mask you saw this morning?" Lu Zhishen asked.

"It looked like the same one to me." Su Miaoyi paused for a moment before continuing, "The victim was a man. Based on his lecherous laugh, he must have been fifty-seven or fifty-eight years old. When the masked person injected him, his hands and feet weren’t tied, but he didn’t resist. He didn’t seem scared or struggle when he saw the masked person either."

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