Chapter 2 – Red Shadow

Opportunity is something that we need to create for ourselves.

Li Hao needs an opportunity, and he needs to create one himself.

In a blink of an eye, Li Hao finished compiling a set of documents, stood up, and started walking towards a small office.

Knock Knock Knock!

The knocking on the office door resounded.

Beyond the door, the Chief of the Confidential Chamber’s voice could be heard, “Come in!”

……

Li Hao pushed the door open.

“Chief!”

“It’s you, Li Hao!”

The middle-aged Wang Jie uncontrollably broke into a smile when he saw that it’s Li Hao.

This is a child who knows manners and does his work, after all, he was educated at the Silver City Ancient College even thou he dropped out of school on his own accord, he is someone he’s concerned about.

Li Hao also smiled back and quickly voiced out, “Chief, I have something to report.”

“Take a seat!”

Wang Jie greeted, the workload at the Confidential Chamber isn’t overwhelming, there aren’t any problematic matters too as those are usually taken care of by the Inspection Division Team that works in the frontline. Overall, the Confidential Chamber is kind of peaceful.

For Li Hao to report about work, Wang Jie made a guess, could this young fella be trying to get a promotion via connections?

However, the duration is too short, other than him being a dropout, he was just converted into a permanent staff half a year ago. It is impossible to promote him anytime soon.

Still in thoughts, Li Hao who was sitting in front of him started to look solemn, and his voice sounded a little glum, “Chief, my main responsibilities at the Confidential Chamber are organization of files for suspicious and unresolved cases. Being there for a year, I’ve reorganized some documents from the past 10 years and recategorized them…”

Wang Jie immediately broke into a smile and nodded, “I’m aware of that, you are indeed a scholar! In the past, the files were in a mess, there were also some old documents that were nearly destroyed by bug infestation. Although I’ve also ordered someone to reorganize them previously, we still can’t locate the files we want quite often. After you come, any case files that we want can be found immediately. You have contributed to this…”

Li Hao shakes his head in a hurry, “Chief, I’m not here to boast or to ask for credits.”

Is he not?

Wang Jie lost his smile, is he genuinely here to report about work?

He didn’t say anything, nodded his head, a sign to que Li Hao to continue what he wanted to say.

Li Hao took out a document and passed a copy to Wang Jie, then flipped open another copy for himself. Although he is young, he sounded calm, “Year 1720, 16th September, there was a self-combustion case at a small neighborhood within the Silver City Settlement. The witness saw the victim self-combusted on the spot, there were sparks that suddenly appeared from within the body and burned the victim alive.

At this moment, Wang Jie has started to look at the documents in his hand before looking at Li Hao again.

A case from 10 years ago, besides, it’s a closed case. It was an accident, not a homicide, why is this fella bringing up a 10-year-old closed case?

Li Hao continued, “Year 1723, 22nd September, Silver City Commercial Centre, a salesman’s head burst into flames all of a sudden, and his whole body was quickly engulfed in fire, he was burned to death on the spot.”

Wang Jie nodded, “I know about this, the case was under me at that time, I even visited the scene, it was an accident caused by the tremendous static electricity in the centre.

Li Hao did not refute, and continued reading, “Year 1725, 18th August, Silver City Citizens Hotel, a hotel guest checked into the hotel, but was found dead a day later in the hotel, he died from self-combustion too.”

It has been 5 years since the first self-combustion case, and 2 years since the second case.

Within five years, there were three self-combustion cases although all of them were accidents. The Silver City has tons of cases to manage on a daily basis. Statistically speaking, three accidents in five years aren’t something serious, and there aren’t many who care about it.

Unless all these three cases are orchestrated by a single person, it might generate some attention.

There are countless case files in the Confidential Chamber, the usual Wang Jie did not pay much attention to them, but now, after hearing that few reports, he unconsciously felt something and looked at Li Hao with a frown.

Li Hao continued, “Year 1727, 16th February, Silver City Dongfang Avenue, there was another person who died from self-combustion again. The reason given was that there was a ball of lightning that appeared near the scene, a ball that looks like lightning was the cause that triggered the human body to self-combust. The time since the last accident was 1.5 years!”

Wang Jie’s expression changed, from 5 years to 2 years, then from 2 years to 1.5 years, another self-combustion accident happened in Silver City again!

“Year 1728, 12th August, Silver City Suburban Inspection Department reported that a person went missing from their zone. After which, they found a corpse that was burned that looks like being hit by lightning during a thunderstorm, and the case was closed after it was concluded as an accident.”

It’s another 1.5 years again!

Wang Jie looked at Li Hao instead of flipping through the case files on his hand and spoke in a deep voice, “An accident in 3 years, another in 2 years, then another 2 have a time gap of 1.5 years, is there another self-combustion accident in September 1729?”

Year 1729, which is last year.

Wang Jie tried to recall, did something similar happen last year?

Is the time gap 1 year?

If it really did happen, it meant that there were a total of 6 self-combustion accidents that had occurred in Silver City!

Logically speaking, it isn’t much, average at about once every two years. Silver City is huge, and it is being managed by multiple departments that’s spread out. It is possible that a department will not even come across one in 10 years, who will care about this?

Li Hao nodded, “Another accident happened again in Year 1729, and it took place in Silver City Ancient College. Furthermore… the victim was my classmate who stays adjacent to my room! This is part of the reason why I left the college. I witnessed the whole incident, and I started to fear the college. On top of that, it is weird that my classmate self-combusted. That is why I wanted to find out, why did he self-combust?”

Li Hao looks grim, “That is why I joined the Inspection Division, part of the reason is because of that, outsiders do not have the access to the case files, but I do! I’ve looked through all the cases with regards to self-combustion from the past 10 years, and I discovered… there’s a possibility that those aren’t accidents!”

Wang Jie quickly scanned through the documents on his hand, a while later, he looked at Li Hao and said, “Tell me your opinions.”

“It occurred a total of six times in 10 years, no, strictly speaking it should be nine years as we have yet to receive a similar report this year.”

Li Hao spoke in a dignified tone, “Chief, because of my classmate, I take this matter very seriously. It’s already July, and if those accidents aren’t coincidence, the time gap since the last accident is already almost a year! The self-combustion time gap shortens every time. If it’s not an accident, it might happen anytime soon.”

“Not an accident?”

Wang Jie looked through the files repeatedly. No matter what, he’s also a veteran inspector. He was transferred over to the Confidential Chamber because of his old age.

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If Li Hao did not reorganize and combine the various individual case files together, nobody will care about it.

However, when all the six self-combustion case files are put together, anyone is able to vaguely sense that something doesn’t seem right.

Wang Jie lightly exhaled, “Looking from the current perspective, there is no way to confirm that this is a conspiracy, but… there are too many coincidences, and they might not simply be coincidences!”

Wang Jie still retains his keen discernment and reacted immediately, “I’ll communicate with other departments, especially the Inspection Team with regards to this matter. The Confidential Chamber does not partake directly in crime solving, but for the self-combustion accidents to happen one after the other, I’m afraid we have to put more attention to this, should this happen in the near future…”

Wang Jie’s expression changed when he stopped there, “It’ll prove that your analysis is right, they might not be simply just accidents!”

He looked towards Li Hao, his serious expression suddenly relaxed, with a smile, “Of course, there’s no reason to be overly tense! Even if it’s a real homicide or something worse, for you… you’ve done well!”

Wang Jie can’t keep up his serious expression for long.

Not to mention that this is something unconfirmed, even if it has been confirmed as homicide, it’s not a big deal either. He had seen and heard too much, six dead in 10 years is not a big deal.

He is comforted with Li Hao’s persistence in this matter, in addition, he had a better understanding of Li Hao’s decision to drop out from college.

Classmate?

More like a best friend!

Otherwise, there isn’t a need for Li Hao to dropout from college.

……

Li Hao, who was sitting on the opposite side, didn’t say much either.

Homicide?

If this is really a homicide, why did he drop out, why did he escape from the college?

He witnessed the whole incident, it’ll be better off if it’s just a simple homicide.

Self-combustion?

No, he was burned to death by the red shadow. However, none of his other classmates who witnessed the incident saw the red shadow!

Did they lie?

No, there’s no reason to lie.

Li Hao knows that he’s the only one who saw the red shadow. The others did not even notice the presence of the blood shadow, or logically speaking, they can’t see it.

Furthermore recently, he can sense it again. Last night, he even vaguely saw the blood shadow again.

What if…… there is more than one!

“It’s fine if nobody notices it, but when the Investigation Division catches wind of it and confirms that they aren’t accidents, the division will pass the case over to the Night Watcher if they determine that it’s something they can’t handle.”

If nobody notices, these cases will be concluded and closed as accidents, and their case files will be thrown into the Confidential Chamber as white elephant.

However, the Investigation Division will play their role when someone notices it.

“Night Watcher!”

Li Hao muttered in his heart again. On the opposite side, Wang Jie stood up, “I’m going to discuss with the Enforcement Team, might need you to follow-up later on to provide some assistance, besides, you are the one who reported this case…”

Li Hao quickly nodded his head and felt relieved from the bottom of his heart.

It’s great to hear what he wanted to hear.

The things he did thus far is to get himself involved. Not directly, but as someone who noticed the accident. With that, if the Night Watcher were to be involved, he’ll have the chance to be acquainted with the Night Watcher.

Obviously, being acquainted doesn’t mean being able to join them, even if he’s able to join them… Li Hao might not have the courage!

Over the past year, he had seen too many case files.

There are some matters that were reflected between the lines. An example would be him being able to see the red shadow, and it seems that he is not the only one who is able to see them. Li Hao had checked the case files and there are records of it in Silver City.

However, those people were either killed or went missing. Not even one was spared!

Li Hao did not speak about this matter as it carries a high level of risk. He did not dare to tell anyone about him being able to see the red shadow for fear that even the Night Watcher might not be dependable too.

“No matter what… I have to take a normal route to approach this mysterious power!”

Li Hao took a deep breath and walked out of the office.

It’s not about finding the truth; the key is to be liable to his own little life.

Those who can see the red shadow are dead. Li Hao doesn’t know if there’s any other people who are able to see it, but there’s one thing that he knows, anyone who revealed that fact has died, which is really unusual.

“I can’t throw away my life that easily. Dropping out of college to join the Inspection Division is not to escape.”

With a bright smile on his face, Li Hao lightly exhaled and walked out of the office.

The best conclusion is for the Night Watcher to deal with the problem. The best case is I’m able to gain something from it unexpectedly. Being an administrative staff, if he can join the Night Watcher, he wants to join their administrative team.

As for the Enforcement Institution, Li Hao doesn’t think he’s capable enough, besides, it’s dangerous too. Li Hao managed to bait information from Professor Yuan Shou over a meal the other day, and the casualty rate for Night Watcher… is not a small amount!

“Let’s take a step at a time!”

Li Hao watched Wang Jie leave in a hurry, with a smile, he had finally taken the first step.

“Red shadow…”

Muttering in his heart, what is that thing?

Why am I able to see it?

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