hotmtlnovel Chapter 44: The Man Who Was Already Dead
Chapter 44: The Man Who Was Already Dead
Black liquid gradually spread across the walls of the technical department.
But it didn't spread to other places until a few minutes later, when Zhang Ze slowly put it away, without actually dragging the police station into the world behind the door.
He heard the computer make a crisp startup sound.
"Beep~"
No one touched the computer, but it turned on by itself. Zhang Ze walked up to the computer, and his face was reflected on the screen.
On the computer desktop, most software was unusable, and the status bar at the bottom showed no signal and no internet connection. Zhang Ze's gaze was focused on two folders numbered 008 and 009.
First, click on file number 008.
The extracted file contains a video.
"Another surveillance camera?"
"No, this surveillance footage is... from the police station."
Zhang Ze narrowed his eyes slightly.
The video showed the police station corridor, which looked familiar to him; he recognized it immediately. While typical surveillance footage includes a time stamp in the upper right corner, this video lacked one. However, the changing light outside the window indicated that the recording was taken after 23 PM, after Zhang Ze and Kuai Liang had been on duty.
Everything in the video is normal at this point.
The police station was quiet. The lights were on in the middle of the corridor. Although there was no one there, the atmosphere was still quite dignified. Two rows of honor rolls for model police officers were posted on the wall, with banners that read "Serving the People". At first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Master Guan came out to get a cup of coffee, then went back to the technical department, seemingly to work.
"If this video, numbered 008, is from one of my videotapes, wouldn't that mean the damaged tape contains police station surveillance footage from tonight?"
"Are you kidding me?"
Zhang Ze was surprised once again.
Just like when I encountered Zhu Xiu at Hanjiang City People's Hospital, could it be another case of a lost media outlet that claims to be able to predict the future?
Keep reading.
Master Guan diligently repaired the videotape.
After a while, he suddenly heard a sound, stood up and walked to the outside corridor, looking towards the hall.
At first, looking around, he didn't see anything. Master Guan looked puzzled, somewhat like he was hallucinating. But soon, Master Guan seemed to see something on the wall. His expression changed drastically, and he scrambled back to the technical department.
"What's on the wall?"
"It can't be a ghost, can it? If it were something beyond scientific explanation, Master Guan wouldn't have reacted like this."
"The more likely reaction would be to run to the armory, pull out a Type 95 police rifle, and empty the magazine."
Zhang Ze rewound the video to the point when Master Guan was looking at the wall.
Because of the high angle, it was impossible to see what was on the wall in the video. Judging from Mr. Guan's horrified reaction, it must have been something terrifying.
Master Guan has worked at the police station for over twenty years.
He's seen plenty of dead bodies, corpses, or severely wounded people. Anyone who can frighten him so much that he turns pale and runs away in a panic is definitely not an ordinary person.
Zhang Ze pressed the pause button.
Turning away from the technical department, I went to the corridor myself. In the video, Master Guan looked at the location of the corridor, and I imitated Master Guan's actions by looking at the wall.
A list of honors hangs on the wall.
Zhang Ze had seen honor rolls before; they were used to commend police officers who performed outstandingly and were dedicated to their work, with their headshots, professional resumes, and life mottos printed on the wall.
This is a very common practice; many schools also display headshots as a common way to strengthen a sense of belonging and honor within the group.
Zhang Ze was no stranger to the people on the honor roll.
Kuai Liang, Li Sanbao, Captain Yan...
Seeing familiar faces, Zhang Ze didn't notice anything amiss at first, until his gaze fell on the text explanation next to the headshots.
"Kuai Liang, an outstanding model police officer of Hanjiang City, was stabbed three times in a fight with a criminal three years ago. He died heroically despite all efforts to save him. He is posthumously awarded the title of outstanding model police officer, and his family will be treated as a martyr's family."
"Li Sanbao, an outstanding model police officer of Hanjiang City, was attacked by criminals in the March 3.19th incident. He suffered multiple injuries all over his body and heroically sacrificed his life, demonstrating the qualities that a people's police officer should have. He is hereby posthumously awarded the title of Outstanding Model Police Officer..."
Zhang Ze: ?
What do you mean by "these people are all dead"?
Looking around, the honor roll on the wall included almost all the police officers in the Xicheng Police Station. Kuai Liang, Li Sanbao, Captain Yan, none of them could escape it, they were all listed on it.
And all these people are described as having sacrificed their lives heroically.
In other words, this wall is essentially a wall of honor to commemorate the police officers who sacrificed their lives!
"If Kuai Liang is already dead, who was the person who went out with me just now?"
"No, it can't be a dead person. If it were, my crows would have noticed."
Zhang Ze stared intently at the words on the wall.
He was quite certain that Kuai Liang was not dead.
He was even more convinced that Li Sanbao and Captain Yan were not dead.
After all, he still needs to work with Chen Ge later. If he dies now, Chen Ge might question his existence if he sees it.
Since these police officers aren't dead, there must be something wrong with the description on the wall. Master Guan might have been terrified because he saw those words.
Zhang Ze returned to the technical department.
Continue playing the video.
After returning to the technical department, Master Guan sat in his chair, sweating profusely as he made phone calls, but judging from his repeated dialing, his attempt to make calls must have failed.
next second.
A knocking sound came from the video.
It looked like half a face was sticking out from near the door.
But then the scene shifts, and the camera returns to the police station lobby.
Zhang Ze rewound the progress bar back to the last frame. He could only see half a face at most; any more than that and it was impossible to make out the face, so he had no idea who the face belonged to.
"The video isn't over yet."
"Compared to other lost media, this video is already quite long."
"There's not much valuable information, unless there's something else coming up."
Zhang Ze continued reading.
The video was clearly sped up. In just a few minutes, a car's high beams could be seen outside the police station, indicating that Zhang Ze and Kuai Liang had returned.
Several crows flew into the police station.
This was just an attempt by Zhang Ze to send crows to investigate the inside of the police station.
After it was all over, Zhang Ze walked in alone in the video, but Kuai Liang was nowhere to be seen.
This is normal.
Because Zhang Ze knocked Kuai Liang unconscious and put him in the passenger seat of the police car.
But it was precisely this scene that made Zhang Ze feel a little uneasy. After all, he couldn't see Kuai Liang, and he was starting to wonder how Kuai Liang was doing.
Just as Zhang Ze was hesitating...
The video progressed to Zhang Ze inspecting Wan Yan's office and entering the technical department.
Zhang Ze's eyes widened immediately.
He wanted to see where Master Guan was hiding, but he couldn't find him even after searching for a long time.
……
……
In the video, Zhang Ze is standing in front of the computer, also looking at the videos on the computer.
Like Russian nesting dolls, Zhang Ze was watching Zhang Ze watching the computer in the video, a very strange scene, as if the time of the video recording overlapped with real time.
The only difference from reality is that...
Zhang Ze in the video was not alone. When Zhang Ze was intently staring at the computer screen, there was someone standing to his left.
A man in a police uniform, with gray hair and a slightly hunched back.