Chapter 12

The evil thought discovered her intention and, flustered and furious, began cursing at her.

“You coward. The moment something happens, all you think about is hiding behind Shen Juan.”

“What can you accomplish? You don’t know how to do anything. You’re practically useless!”

“Staying in the mortal world is nothing more than delaying the time before you reincarnate!”

As it spoke, it was accompanied by a sharp headache. Gu Shuge endured the humiliation and burden, running outward at her fastest speed. Once a ghost became fast, it was far faster than a human. Before long, she saw the police station’s main entrance.

The evil thought was still cursing her. “You were a waste of resources while alive. That murderer did such a beautiful job!”

Gu Shuge got angry. She drifted out the door, saw Shen Juan’s car, and relaxed. Then she said sternly, “If you curse me again, I’m going to tell my sister.”

The evil thought also sensed that Shen Juan was nearby, and its endless chatter came to a humiliated stop.

Gu Shuge pressed her advantage. “It’s not true that I can’t do anything. I’m very good at studying.”

When she passed through the car door and sat beside Shen Juan, the headache disappeared completely. The evil thought sank into silence.

The police station was somewhat far [bailiantales.com]from the hospital. After Gu Shuge sat down, she grew a little dispirited.

She was thinking about what the evil thought had said. When she said she was very good at studying, she had not been lying to the evil thought. Her ability to study really was strong. She could take first place in almost every exam. In primary school, there had been one time when she got sick and failed to take first place. She had cried sadly for a very long time.

Shen Juan had comforted her for a very long time too, saying every nice thing she possibly could.

“Our Xiao Ge is the best. This time was only an accident. Next time, we’ll take first place back again.”

“Stop crying. How about I let you watch cartoons for an extra hour today?”

“Xiao Ge, smile a little. If you keep crying, you won’t be pretty anymore.”

While crying so hard she could barely breathe, Gu Shuge had sobbed, “Pretty. Still pretty even if I cry.”

Seventeen-year-old Shen Juan had actually laughed, yet still had to seriously agree with her. “Yes. No matter what, Xiao Ge is the prettiest.”

No matter when she thought of this memory, Gu Shuge could always smile, both embarrassed and happy. This time was no exception. But before the smile could reach her eyes, she could no longer smile.

What use was being good at studying? She still could not do anything, and she still could not help Shen Juan. Shen Juan and her older brother had both started coming into contact with family affairs in high school, while she was twenty-two and still studying.

Because aside from studying, she knew nothing.

Gu Shuge felt that the evil thought was right. She really was rather useless. And what was with that director? [stolen content]He could not even investigate the case properly, and when something happened, he wanted to shift blame. He even said if the body was gone, then it was gone. Was that any way to speak? It was too disrespectful toward the dead!

A surge of resentment shot upward from the bottom of Gu Shuge’s heart. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. The people in this police station were all too outrageous. They had no idea what it meant to serve the people. All they thought about was perfunctorily shirking responsibility and brushing off the case!

They even dared to brush off her case. When she had been alive, she had been the heir to Gu Group. Gu Group worked hard all year round to drive the domestic gross product, worked hard to create jobs, and worked hard to do charity and give back to society.

Their Gu Group worked this hard, so what right did Director Huang have to be so perfunctory with her case?

The more Gu Shuge thought, the angrier she became. Black energy rose from her head, black veins filled the whites of her eyes, and a ball of rage burned fiercely in her chest.

She was burning with fury, but halfway through, she suddenly froze. Weren’t these thoughts exactly what the evil thought had poured into her?

Gu Shuge pressed her lips together and silently moved closer to Shen Juan, leaning nearer to her. The black energy gradually disappeared, and the black veins in her eyes also faded. The fury in her chest was doused with cold water and went out.

Gu Shuge was very dejected. Last time, when the evil thought had appeared, it had kept slandering Shen Juan, so she had not been afraid, because Shen Juan’s image in her heart could not be shaken.

Who would have known that the evil thought did not only target Shen Juan? It could curse anyone. And since it had taken root inside Gu Shuge’s consciousness, it could easily influence her.

All of a sudden, Gu Shuge did not know what to do.

In this world, there were only two people she trusted absolutely and unwaveringly. One was Shen Juan, and the other was Gu Yi’an. Gu Yi’an had already passed away, so now she only trusted Shen Juan. As for everything else, she would even doubt herself, feel that she was not outstanding enough, and feel certain that she was holding Shen Juan back.

If the evil thought started with someone other than Shen Juan, it might really succeed.

Gu Shuge did not want to become an evil ghost. She did not want to hurt people. She also did not want to reincarnate, did not want to leave this world. If she could only remain a ghost forever and could never regain life, then she only wanted to stay beside Shen Juan like this.

They arrived at the hospital. A group of people stood outside the main entrance.

The person in the center was around forty or fifty, dressed in a perfectly straight suit, carrying the aura of someone long accustomed to a high position. The deputy director Gu Shuge had seen last time outside the morgue stood beside him. Gu Shuge guessed that this person was the director of the hospital.

Sure enough, when the director saw Shen Juan’s car, he clearly became a little more restrained. He came forward and briefly introduced himself.

Aside from these doctors, Gu Shuge also saw Liu Guohua. Lin Mo had probably notified him to come over.

Shen Juan’s expression was frighteningly cold, and the hospital director also had some misgivings. He briefly explained the situation. “There have always been two doctors guarding the outside of the mortuary. There were no problems with the people going in and out either; they were all hospital staff. An hour ago, a patient in the hospital failed to survive surgery. He had no family, so according to usual practice, we sent him to the mortuary first. Only when we went inside did we discover that Miss Gu’s remains were gone.”

There were clearly people guarding the door, yet the body had vanished without a sound. Even in broad daylight, the hospital director shivered.

“We didn’t dare touch the scene. We left people guarding it and waited for you and the police to arrive. After all, investigating cases is police work. We doctors are all laymen when it comes to this.” In his words, he also tried to shift responsibility somewhat.

Shen Juan ignored him and asked, “What do you think?”

Her eyes faced forward, her steps long and urgent. She had not added any form of address to her words, but everyone knew whom she was asking.

Liu Guohua had listened to the situation and analyzed, “As far as I know, the police had already decided to define the case as an accidental traffic bailiantales.com collision. The theft of the remains is equivalent to telling everyone that this case was man-made. Once the case is reinvestigated, the killer has placed himself in danger. We just don’t know what his motive is. My preliminary guess is that there are three possibilities. First, he is provoking the police. Second, there is something in the remains that interests the killer, something he had to take away. Third…” Liu Guohua paused, deliberately looked at Shen Juan’s expression, then said the rest in one breath. “He is tormenting the family.”

Everyone froze.

The Gu family was a wealthy family, and matters involving wealthy families always interested the public. The Gu parents had passed away suddenly, leaving behind two underage children and an adopted daughter they had treated as their own. Everyone knew a little about the deep bond among the three of them. With the remains missing, there was only one person left in the entire world who could be tormented by it.

Gu Shuge’s heart sank to the bottom.

The mortuary appeared ahead. Two people were still standing guard before the door, but this time, they were not doctors. They were police officers.

Shen Juan’s face was dark. No one could tell what she was thinking.

“Go in and take a look,” she said.

The criminal police team was nearby. After receiving Chen Xingfeng’s notice, they had immediately dispatched officers. So they had arrived more than ten minutes earlier.

When Shen Juan arrived, there were several officers inside, taking photographs, collecting evidence, and examining the traces at the scene. The mortuary was not large. Once several officers stood inside, it appeared crowded. Shen Juan had the hospital staff remain outside, while she brought Lin Mo and Liu Guohua in with her. Gu Shuge did not take up space, so she followed inside too.

The leader saw them enter and guessed who they were. Lin Mo stepped forward to negotiate. The officer hesitated for a moment but ultimately did not stop them.

Liu Guohua looked around and also spoke with several of the officers.

The mortuary was cleaned every day and was very tidy. There was only one thing on the unauthorized copy floor that should not have been there—a bouquet of white daisies.

Shen Juan walked over. She did not pick up the flowers, merely looked at them quietly. Shen Juan had personally cut these flowers from the flower room at home yesterday, and because they had been in the freezer, not only had they not withered, they were still fresh. Now, they had fallen to the ground and had been stepped on, showing a scattered, desolate sadness.

Gu Shuge’s expression grew heavy. With one look at the flowers, she knew this matter was becoming more and more complicated.

Liu Guohua carefully inspected the scene, not even letting small corners go, and also learned about the situation from the police. Then he came over and stood behind Shen Juan, reporting the information he had obtained. “There have always been people guarding the outside of the mortuary. For the first two days, it was doctors, but doctors are already short-staffed, so the hospital switched to having security guards stand watch instead. There were still two of them, and the ones chosen were physically strong veterans. Twenty-four hours a day, there was absolutely never a situation where no one was outside the door.”

Although the hospital had been very diligent, it was not because they were worried something would happen. After all, who would be so idle as to destroy remains? It was only because Shen Juan had given instructions that day, and afterward, she had personally come almost every day.

A locked-room missing-corpse case, Gu Shuge thought to herself.

Liu Guohua hesitantly put forward a guess. “I spoke with the officers. There are no useful traces left at the scene. Could the person who killed Miss Gu and the person who stole the remains be different people?”

Gu Shuge immediately denied it. “No.”

“No,” Shen Juan said. Her gaze still had not left the bouquet. She crouched down and reached out to pick it up. “You were right. This is aimed at me.”

The flowers were ruined. Not ruined as if someone had accidentally stepped on them once, but in the miserable state of having been deliberately trampled underfoot and ground down. The killer had done it on purpose. He knew who had sent this bouquet.

Liu Guohua’s expression also grew solemn.

“Have the surveillance cameras been checked?” Shen Juan asked.

“Several officers are checking them right now. I’ve already asked them for a copy. Unfortunately, there are no surveillance cameras installed inside the mortuary.” Out of some kind of feudal superstition and fear, no cameras had been installed inside the mortuary.

Shen Juan nodded.

The police were still investigating. Letting her enter was already an exception. After a while, an officer came over and apologetically asked her to leave.

There was no need to say anything more on this side. If there was any progress, they would definitely notify her. And investigating cases was not Shen Juan’s specialty. If she stayed, she would only interfere with the police.

She left the scene. Liu Guohua said, “If it’s convenient for you, you can compile a list of suspicious people for me.”

Since the killer was targeting her, she should have at least some idea.

After Shen Juan returned home, she entered the study. She took a blank sheet of paper and planned to list the suspicious people. But after thinking for a long time, many names appeared in her mind, yet not a single one was someone she could be certain of.

In business, offending people was inevitable. But businesspeople pursued profit; they were not fanatical criminals. Murdering Xiao Ge to cause internal turmoil within Gu Group and thereby obtain certain benefits could still be understood. But stealing Xiao Ge’s remains in order to torment her—no matter how she thought about it, that made no sense. Because doing so brought no profit. It was merely emotional venting.

Shen Juan propped her forehead with one hand and put down the pen in her other hand. Aside from business competitors, she could not think of anyone else. Other than work, she had basically no leisure or recreation. In private, she did not even have a single friend.

If this was aimed at her, then Xiao Ge had very likely been implicated because of her. Yet she did not have the slightest clue. She could not even protect Xiao Ge’s remains, leaving her departed spirit unable to rest in peace.

Gu Shuge could only see Shen Juan go from picking up the pen, to putting it down, to closing her [stolen content]eyes, her expression exhausted. She did not know what Shen Juan was thinking.

Several hours passed, and the sky had gone dark. Shen Juan still did not move. Gu Shuge watched with an aching heart. She went over and touched Shen Juan’s shoulder. “Sister.” Naturally, her hand passed straight through Shen Juan’s shoulder.

“What are you thinking? Is it that you can’t write any names?” Gu Shuge asked. She knew that outside of work, Shen Juan was a very tolerant person. As long as no one stepped on her bottom line, she would not fuss over things. It was just that no one dared touch that bottom line either.

Shen Juan did not hear her and did not respond. Gu Shuge was silent for a while, then smiled and said, “Are you thinking about where my body went?” Although no one had said it aloud, everyone knew that even if the corpse was found, it would most likely no longer be intact. First, because the body would decay. Second, since this was meant to torment the family, the remains would definitely not be treated with respect.

“It’s just a corpse. It doesn’t matter. I can’t use it anymore anyway,” Gu Shuge said to Shen Juan lightly.

A tear slipped from Shen Juan’s eye and fell onto the white paper.

Gu Shuge froze. Her voice softened. She lowered her head, not daring to look at that tear. “It really doesn’t matter…”

As her words fell, Shen Juan suddenly raised her head. There were still tears in her eyes, the watery light flashing with surprise as she looked straight toward Gu Shuge. Gu Shuge was startled and stared at her blankly.

“Xiao Ge…” Shen Juan called her name.

Before Shen Juan’s eyes was no longer empty air, but a faint human figure. Because the lights were off, and only the weak glow of the streetlights outside shone in through the window, that figure was very faint and transparent, even trembling slightly. It carried a gloomy, frightening air, and its face could not be seen clearly.

But Shen Juan recognized her.

She had been thinking of her even in her dreams.