Fog City Detective

Chapter 29: Curse

Liang Xi glanced at Poppy, retreated down the stairs, and walked to the first-floor living room. He bent down, feeling the wooden floor with his hand, and detected moisture. Liang Xi tested it with his fingers and then sniffed it: water. How could there be water?

Glancing sideways, Liang Xi saw traces of water on the floor leading into the last room. Liang Xi checked the two doors again but found no signs of them being opened.

Poppy slowly descended from upstairs, reached out to touch the water on the floor, and said thoughtfully, "Clearly, you've become its target. If you sincerely beg me, I can save your life."

"Pretending to be mystical." Liang Xi followed the water stains into the last room. On the back of the wall beside the window was a mirror with red words written on the back: Don't look in the mirror at midnight.

Liang Xi looked at the red words on the back of the mirror, slowly reaching out. Poppy warned, "This is a curse. I advise you not to touch it." After saying that, Poppy left the room, heading towards the stairs. As he climbed the wooden stairs to return to the second floor, a scream echoed from the room, followed by the sound of someone falling.

Poppy sighed, "I told you not to touch it."

Poppy returned to the second-floor hall and sat quietly. Ten minutes passed, a faint sound of a closing door came, and Poppy remained seated, listening to the footsteps approaching the stairs. The footsteps reached the last few steps and stopped.

After an unknown amount of time, Poppy spoke, "Yali, I know it's you."

A figure in a raincoat ascended the stairs, standing at the staircase entrance, holding a wrench in hand.

Poppy sighed, "It's fake again, it's fake again." Very regretful.

The person in the raincoat removed the faceless male mask, took off the raincoat hat, revealing that it was the real estate agent, Yali. Yali asked, "Where's Sherry?"

Poppy pointed down the corridor, "Ate my talisman, lying over there."

Yali glanced at the corridor, seeing a motionless dog lying at the end, "Did you kill it?"

Poppy disdainfully didn't answer Yali's question, saying, "From the beginning, I knew it was you playing tricks, because you lied to me. You didn't want to sell the house; you wanted to buy it. You used your dog and wrench to scare and knock out many people, without exception, all of them believed the house was haunted. Oh, and the metal mirror you stuck in the socket."

Yali asked, "How did you find out?"

Poppy, proudly and gracefully, responded, "Because I called Lily, and she told me you wanted to buy her house. I happened to know you had a dog and coincidentally knew what this dog liked to eat. Outside, you used the gaps in the windows to pretend to be mystical and trained your dog to cooperate with you. Right? You, the so-called champion of haunted house sales, Yali. You've been using the haunted house rumors to buy properties at a low price, then hiring a medium to exorcise the ghosts before selling the houses again. The medium gains fame, and you reap the profits."

Yali said, "You know too much," and walked towards Poppy.

"I know this much, how could I not know that you might use force?" Poppy reached into his pocket, took out an air conditioner remote control, and said, "I'll give you a chance to surrender to the police... Wait, where's my emergency call button?"

Yali grinned, approaching Poppy. Poppy patted himself, wondering where his emergency call button was.

Yali said, "Die, little ghost."

"Wait, am I afraid of you?" Poppy stood up, faced Yali, and suddenly pushed the nearby window, shouting outside, "Help, help!"

Yali, in a panic, rushed forward with a wrench. Poppy dodged to the side. Yali kicked Poppy's leg, and Poppy fell to the ground. Yali raised the wrench, saying, "You think you're a clever little ghost. Did you happen to know I used to be a martial artist?"

"No, don't." Poppy covered his head.

With a bang, Poppy waited for a moment, then looked up to see Yali turning his head to look behind him at Liang Xi. Liang Xi held a metal object shaped like a mirror and ruthlessly struck Yali's head. Yali stared at Liang Xi for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground, motionless.

Poppy, not very pleased, stood up, "I was about to subdue him. What are you doing here?"

Liang Xi raised the metal object in his hand, and Poppy quickly changed the subject, "You didn't get shocked?"

Liang Xi disdainfully looked at Poppy, making Poppy feel pierced in his self-esteem. Liang Xi said, "Although I don't understand why there are water stains and why there's an extra mirror, I know that the back of the mirror has an electrical outlet."

Poppy extended his left hand, "OK, we jointly captured the criminal, the mastermind behind the haunted house. Come on, give me a high five."

Liang Xi took out zip tie handcuffs and dialed a phone, "He's a criminal, but he's not the mastermind."

Poppy was taken aback, "No, he is. He used haunted house rumors to buy properties at a low price and then resold them."

Liang Xi said, "He is not. You can ask him yourself. Hello, I am Liang Xi from the Rose Detective Agency. I have captured a suspect. I would greatly appreciate it if you could send a detective over... The location is... Alright, see you soon."

While making the call, Poppy had already awakened Yali. "Why did you pretend to be a ghost to scare people?" Yali found himself handcuffed. "Didn't you already know?"

Poppy looked at Liang Xi, "You see."

Liang Xi said, "You didn't ask the right question. Yali, why did you frighten Lily?"

Yali was a bit anxious, "No, I didn't scare Lily. Don't wrongly accuse me. Lily found me, and I only knew about the intruder because of her. I seized the opportunity to buy the house, but Lily didn't want to sell. She even posted a distress message with a reward on the internet. Several people have confirmed the haunting to Lily through me. As long as I scare you away, I can smoothly acquire the house at the lowest price."

Poppy encouraged, "Don't fear his threats. Brave admission of your crimes is your only way out."

Yali was indignant, "I admit to attacking you. Why not admit scaring Lily?"

Poppy said, "Because you're afraid of aggravating your charges."

Liang Xi spoke objectively, "Didn't you notice the surveillance cameras? How did Yali sneak into Lily's room?"

Poppy pondered for a moment, "A dog."

Liang Xi corrected, "No, it's a pig. You're a pig. Even if a dog is trained to behave like a human, it can't escape surveillance." Liang Xi had already figured out the truth of the case, but he didn't anticipate that Yali's ghostly acts would genuinely frighten him. It wasn't until he saw the mirror that Liang Xi was completely sure someone was pretending to be a ghost. However, Liang Xi didn't have the information Poppy had, so he didn't deduce Yali. Thus, Liang Xi pretended to be shocked by electricity and waited for the unfolding events.

Poppy was unwilling, "Are you suggesting that Lily has a mental illness? Otherwise, with so many cameras, the intruder would have been discovered. But you surely don't know that I've already hired a professional psychologist to assess Lily's mental state. He believes Lily is completely mentally healthy. A comprehensive physical examination was also conducted on Lily, revealing no physiological causes for hallucinations."