Chu Lingyun stood just beyond the police cordon surrounding the Lake District, her knuckles white where she gripped her phone. She desperately wanted to get closer, to confirm the details from her dream, but a powerful force suddenly yanked her back towards a flower bed.
"ID." The man's voice was like an ice pick chipping stone.
Chu Lingyun looked up, plunging into the depths of his fathomless eyes. His police uniform was smudged with soot, the badges on his shoulders gleaming coldly in the morning mist – a young detective with a stern, unyielding expression.
"Gao Muyang. Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division." He flashed his badge, his gaze like a searchlight raking over the crumpled fabric of her clothes clenched in her fist.
"A slip of a girl like you. Everyone else is running *from* a fire scene, but here you are, pushing *towards* it. Talk. What are you doing here?"
His words were sharp, merciless, interrogating her like a suspect. Chu Lingyun opened her mouth to explain, but the sheer aura of lethal authority radiating from him choked her words.
In the distance, a fire truck's siren suddenly wailed, sharp and piercing. Instinctively, she stumbled back half a step. Her heel hit the flower bed. "It's... it's me... I... I had a dream..."
"A *dream*?!" Gao Muyang let out a derisive snort, casually pulling out his bodycam. "What? Dream about the arsonist?"
...
Watching the girl stammer incoherently only deepened Gao Muyang's suspicions. He'd had his eye on her from the start – skulking around the fire scene was inherently suspicious.
Past experience screamed that perpetrators often returned to the scene of their crime, driven by a twisted need for stimulation or to gloat over their handiwork.
This case hadn't officially been declared a homicide yet, but since he'd been assigned to investigate, duty demanded he leave no stone unturned. No lead, however small, could be ignored.
And this person acting so strangely? *Was* she the culprit? Or someone connected to the crime? Either way, a thorough interrogation was definitely in order, Gao Muyang decided.
He stroked the coarse stubble on his chin, lost in thought, completely oblivious to the girl beneath his gaze who had turned sickly pale and was trembling like a leaf caught in a gale.
Chu Lingyun was timid by nature, prone to buckling under pressure.
Faced with that stern visage looming close, coupled with the intimidating aura inherent to a homicide detective, her psychological pressure was immense. She tucked her chin down like a frightened quail, practically ready to drop to her knees on the spot.
Gritting her teeth against the tremors, she stammered out her defense, her words thick and slurred. But the more she protested, the deeper Gao Muyang's suspicion grew.
Her display of sheer terror and weakness registered in his eyes as the most direct evidence of guilt. In his mind, she seamlessly ascended to the position of prime suspect.
Gao Muyang knew the principle – "Never judge a book by its cover." Anyone could be a hidden criminal.
Yet, looking at this pale, delicate, utterly fragile girl standing before him, he couldn't suppress the internal doubt:
*This little thing? Can't lift, can't carry, refined and fragile, looks pitifully meek... How could she possibly be connected to something as brutal as arson? It just doesn't make sense!*
What Gao Muyang thought, he acted upon. With lightning speed, he hauled her over to a patch of greenery near the fire scene, ready to commence the interrogation proper.
Chu Lingyun, lacking backbone entirely and intimidated by this large, rough man, was desperate to spill everything she knew and bolt.
She practically willed him to hurry up. Before he could even pose a question, she launched into her explanation, the words came pouring out of her, babbling nonstop.
Chu Lingyun frantically spilled everything she knew to Gao Muyang, words tumbling out in a desperate torrent. She was terrified that if she spoke too slowly, she'd be rewarded with a complimentary pair of "shiny bracelets" – handcuffs.
Her gist was this: she'd had a precognitive dream the night before, which perfectly foretold this very apartment building fire. That's why she'd specifically traveled across districts early that morning.
She vehemently protested her innocence. She insisted she truly only wanted to see the state of the scene, harbored no ill intent, was absolutely *not* the perpetrator, and this was all one colossal misunderstanding.
Gao Muyang snorted coldly. "You say you're not, so you're not? Criminals don't wear name tags, and they sure as hell don't confess unprompted. Evidence is the only thing that talks here."
As a staunch materialist and an exemplary Party member, talk of "precognitive dreams" and other supernatural mumbo jumbo was something he fundamentally rejected.
He saw it as feudalistic dregs, tools used by the manipulative to brainwash others, all for the sake of lining their pockets.
Moreover, honed by his detective instincts, he even suspected some might exploit so-called "mysticism" or the "occult" for political ends – to disrupt social order and endanger lives.
Therefore, he dismissed every word from the girl before him. He began to suspect Chu Lingyun had deeper motives; perhaps he could dig up something unexpected from her.
In his experience, few young people bought into ghosts and the supernatural. This girl spoke elegantly and reasoned clearly; she didn't seem like someone with little education, easily swayed.
Judging by her appearance and demeanor – quick-witted, composed – she bore no resemblance to someone mentally unstable either.
*What would make an educated young woman spout nonsense about 'precognitive dreams'?* Gao Muyang was baffled. The confusion in his eyes solidified into a layer of frost.
"And," Gao Muyang mused aloud, his voice turning even sharper,
"with so many people gawking at the fire scene, why did I single *you* out? Because you were the only one acting shifty and suspicious!"
"Alright, let's say you're not the arsonist," he pressed, leaning in slightly. "Maybe you're a thief, casing the place last night? Out with it! Confession will earn you leniency; resistance guarantees the harshest penalty!"
Faced with this stubborn officer who wouldn't let go, Chu Lingyun felt a wave of profound exasperation. She couldn't help but roll her eyes hard at him before retorting,
"Officer! How can you just slander the innocent like this? I've told you, it wasn't me! Even if you drag me to the station or haul me before a judge, my answer stays the same!"
"And," she countered, seizing the flaw in his logic, "just like you said, you haven't found a shred of evidence proving *I* started the fire, have you? So what gives you the right to detain me?"
"*You're* the one liable here! Slandering a citizen! Expect a formal complaint!" Chu Lingyun lashed out, her sharp tongue leaving him momentarily speechless.
Being dressed down so pointedly by this sharp-tongued girl ignited Gao Muyang's notoriously short fuse. He drew a sharp breath through his nose, visibly struggling to contain his temper.
"Fine. Fine. I won't argue with you," he said through gritted teeth, his voice clipped. "Just know this: the loudest voice isn't always the right one. Don't get comfortable. Once I've finished my investigation, you *will* see the inside of a holding cell!"
"Citizens absolutely have the right to file complaints against the police," he conceded, his tone ice-edged. "But they also have the obligation to cooperate with investigations. Right now, all I require is for you to remain calm and keep your answers civil..."
This was Chu Lingyun's first encounter with a homicide detective. Initially terrified, the repeated accusations finally ignited her temper.
*Even a cornered animal lashes out,* she thought fiercely. *Gao Muyang better not push me too far!*
She braced for a full-blown shouting match, but to her surprise, he slammed on the brakes at the critical moment, reining in his temper.
This unexpected move left her off-balance and uncertain, forcing her to back down and take the offered way out.
She recognized the olive branch. If she didn't take it now, she'd face the full brunt of his storm.
So, she took a calming breath and stated evenly:
"I don't know how it happened. Last night, I just… had this dream out of nowhere. Tsk tsk tsk, seven whole lives… it nearly scared me to death!"
Gao Muyang's ears instantly locked onto the critical detail. His pupils constricted violently. He grabbed the front of her shirt, his voice sharp as a blade.
"What did you say? *Seven* lives?! How do you know that?!"
Seeing his intense reaction, Chu Lingyun panicked again. She stammered, her voice barely a whisper, "I… I told you… I dreamt it! What's wrong?"
Gao Muyang's expression turned grave, his voice low and dangerous. "The exact death toll hasn't been released to the public. How could you possibly know it?"
"And according to the preliminary scene assessment," he pressed, leaning closer, his gaze burning into hers, "only *six* bodies have been recovered. Where is this seventh victim you're talking about?"