茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

In fact, although “Goldie” heard the sound, the judgement was made by “Xiao Pingguo” at home.

Even though “Goldie” could capture certain sensory information, it didn’t actually understand the meaning behind the information. It wasn’t until after “Xiao Pingguo” made an interpretation and provided feedback that “Goldie” could comprehend the meaning and know what to do.

The elevator stopped on the seventh floor. Under “Xiao Pingguo’s” instructions, “Goldie” fluttered its wings and also arrived at the seventh floor.

Then, just like before, it circled the building, eavesdropping from one window to another.

Soon, “Goldie” heard the conversation between Officer Xiao Wang and Officer Zhao and located their room. It perched on the windowsill, leaning its head against the window, listening to the voices inside.

“The food here is good, right? Whenever I have time, I go with my colleagues. Authentic local cuisine, generous portions, great value for money. The only drawback is the old decor.” The one speaking was Wang De’an.

The two first chatted about the food they had for dinner, then about the food in several places, then about fun experiences from their time in university, as well as the current states of old classmates.

“Xiao Pingguo” leaned her elbows on the table, supporting her head in her hands, focused on the officers’ casual chat.

Even though the information they were discussing wasn’t what she wanted to hear, she wasn’t in a hurry.

In the past, whenever she sent “Goldie” out to be her “eyes and ears”, she didn’t have a very specific goal. She just let it roam freely.

This was the first time she had purposely sent “Goldie” out to eavesdrop on information, and managed to find the exact people she was looking for. She was both thrilled and excited, with a slight sense of superiority. She felt as if she was strategizing within her command tent to win a battle thousands of miles away. She didn’t particularly care about whether or not she could obtain the information she wanted.

But the officers didn’t just reminisce and talk about food. Before long, they finally started discussing something that made “Xiao Pingguo” prick up her ears.

“What’s your opinion of Guo Tianxiang’s case?” asked Wang De’an.

“Indeed, there are quite a few questionable points. Our previous speculations may not be entirely impossible. What’s most suspicious is that he repeatedly hypnotizes people and always succeeds. It’s very simple, just normal conversation. The victims even saw some very realistic illusions… The illusions that the victims saw didn’t include the multi-armed monster, but the way in which the illusions were induced resembled the appearance of the multi-armed monster.” Zhao Feng, who came from Citong, said.

“That’s right. According to the investigation team, Guo Tianxiang didn’t have an education background in psychology and there’s no record of him deliberately studying psychology or hypnosis. His hypnotic abilities seem to be natural,” Wang De’an also chimed in.

“However, there’s not enough concrete evidence to prove that Guo Tianxiang is associated with the multi-armed monster. We only speculate this because of Chen Tianhua… Mijoe used to follow Guo Tianxiang, and was sighted not far from where the bodies were discovered in Zi Huan Mountain,” Zhao Feng said.

Several kilometers away, in a room, “Xiao Pingguo”, whose head is propped up in her hands, listens with her eyebrows tightly furrowed and is full of seriousness.

Guo Tianxiang, hypnosis, illusions, investigation team – “Xiao Pingguo” was initially puzzled as she listened, but gradually managed to conjure a rough clue from their conversations.

Now, both officers have joined an investigation team established to capture the suspect “Guo Tianxiang”, because Guo Tianxiang has committed crimes in this city before and has several victims. Hence, Officer Wang, who is more familiar with this area, volunteered and came together with Officer Zhao.

As for why they joined the investigation team, it seemed to be related to a woman named Mijoe they encountered in Citong.

As “Xiao Pingguo” took out her phone to record the keywords “Guo Tianxiang,” “Mijoe,” and other key terms on her voice memo to ask Xiang Kun about later, she heard the two officers mention herself. She immediately put down her phone and sat up straight.

“Do you think the girl named Li Jun could be related to the illusion of the multi-armed monster?” Zhao Feng asked.

“No, I don’t think it has anything to do with the girl. After carefully reviewing the situation when we arrived on the scene that day, as well as the footage from the suspect’s vehicle dash cam, the most likely connection to the illusion of ‘multi-armed monster’ would be the girl’s guide bird, the canary!” Officer Xiao Wang, Wang De’an, asserted confidently.

“So…our main target this time is that bird?”

“Yes, it’s that bird.” Wang De’an could sense the doubt in his partner’s tone and explained: “I’ve looked it up online. There’s no record of canaries being used as guide birds. In fact, the concept of ‘guide birds’ only exists in research papers and parrots are normally used instead. There’s no practical application in reality. The mere fact that the canary could help the blind girl Li Jun go from her home to the small park demonstrates its uniqueness. The footage recorded by the dash cam showed even more anomalous behavior from the canary. I’ve never seen a canary behaving like that before. Therefore, my theory is, in response to the potential threat to its owner Li Jun from the suspects in the car, it induced a stress response, making the suspects see the illusion of the ‘multi-armed monster,’ causing a persistent psychological impact and intimidation.”

Zhao Feng wondered: “In that case, what does the illusion of the ‘multi-armed monster’ symbolize? What’s the relationship between that bird and the monster? Why did this illusion appear in this city one day, and then appear in Citong the next day?”

“I don’t know for now, but I hope when we meet Li Jun’s ‘guide canary,’ we might find answers.”

“Do you think that girl would meet us?” said Zhao Feng, looking somewhat worried.

“If we say we’re investigating the illusion of the ‘multi-armed monster’ that the suspects saw, we definitely won’t get to see her. Not even she would reject us; we would be directly shut down by Brother Li. However, we’re using the excuse of helping your friend’s blind school learn how to train ‘guide birds’ this time, so there’s a fair chance we’ll get to meet her. I think she’s a kind-hearted person with a strong sense of justice and would be willing to help. Otherwise, she wouldn’t take the risk to stop an ongoing crime when she spotted it,” replied Wang De’an.

Upon hearing Officer Xiao Wang’s words, Xiao Pingguo chuckled a bit shyly, quickly covering her mouth. Overhearing someone praise her was a novel experience.

However, at that moment, she suddenly heard some unusual sounds through the “Canary”.

…

In the hotel room.

Upon broaching the subject, Wang De’an followed up with, “By the way, your friend’s school for the blind, does it really exist? You must have done some research right? We can’t give ourselves away after just a few questions. Not only would the investigation be over, but Brother Li might also have us interrogated … ”

“Don’t worry. I do have contact with a school for the blind that Citong is related to. Just before the year’s end, I and the other leaders from our department sent stuff over there. Whenever they face difficulties, I often lend a helping hand. As for the friend I mentioned, well, as you know, I’ve told you about her before – the one involved in environmental protection”, Zhao Feng said.

Wang De’an recalled, “The environmentalist? The one from Szechwan you spoke about two years ago who came to Citong as a volunteer? The kind-hearted and beautiful lady you were interested in and admired? Did she have the last name Wang or Huang?”

“Huang,” Zhao Feng replied, “I met her during her volunteering stint. Coincidentally, on my way home from work, I stopped two drunk men who were trying to make a scene. I admired her a lot at the time. I thought she was someone with real dreams and ideals, way better than a commoner like me. I guess you could say there was some affection, some admiration. So, after she had been an environmental volunteer for over 10 days and went to our city’s school for the blind to volunteer. I started to visit frequently to help out.”

Wang De’an asked curiously, “So, how did things turn out after that? It seems like you haven’t mentioned her since then?”

Zhao Feng gave a bitter smile, “She only volunteered at the school for the blind for five days before she left. She said she had some friends she was going to join in Africa to volunteer and protect wild animals. However, according to the photos she posted on her WeChat moment, she seemed to have spent less than a month in Africa. After that, she left for Europe, Switzerland or Sweden, I think. She might currently be in Japan. I haven’t contacted her for a long time, so I don’t know what she’s up to. But, that school for the blind, I kind of got to know the teachers and leaders there because I had gone twice to help out. My boss, Old Xu, often went with me to help out there. After a few of these trips, our department set up a relationship with the school, and the department leaders would go to visit every holiday.”

Upon hearing this, Wang De’an also gave a bitter smile, “This really is… I don’t know what to say.”

Suddenly, two tapping sounds came from the window, startling both of them.

Right after, there came another two knocks, this time it seemed from the window of the next room.

The two men rushed to the window, pulled open the curtains and looked out.

The person in the next room also pulled back his curtains to check, but on seeing both of them, he quickly retreated and withdrew his curtains.

“What could it be? A rock shot from the nearby construction site? Or did something fall from above?” Wang De’an checked around from the only half-open window, looking both up and down, but found no source of the noise, and seeing no damage to the window, he closed it.

“The person next door … seems a bit off,” Zhao Feng said, frowning.

“Why do you say that?” asked Wang De’an.

“That person’s gaze … was kind of strange,” Zhao Feng replied.

Just then, their window was knocked on again, followed by the window of the next room.

Both of them quickly turned around and opened the window to look outside, but yet again they saw nothing. Still, this time, no one pulled the curtains open on the adjacent window.

“He probably thinks it was us making the noise,” Wang De’an said, turning back to his companion.

Zhao Feng squinted and thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll go and check.”

With that, he headed out to knock on the door of the room next door.

After knocking for a while, a voice finally sounded from inside, “What is it?”

Deducing from the voice that the person was standing right behind the door, probably having observed him through the peephole, Zhao Feng said, “I’m sorry to disturb you. I live in the room next door. I was wondering if you heard any noise coming from your window just now?”

The person inside paused before replying, “I didn’t. I was sleeping.”

“Um… But I just saw you lift your curtains. Were you woken up by the noise?”

“Stop bothering me. I want to sleep.” After completing this sentence, the person inside didn’t respond anymore to Zhao Feng.