Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 210 - 210 207 Skeleton (Third Update)

Chapter 210: Chapter 207: Skeleton (Third Update) Chapter 210: Chapter 207: Skeleton (Third Update) “What’s wrong?”

Shen Zhi went to check the house number, while Zhou Youming walked back to Xu Qian’s side. Seeing her face growing increasingly pale, he immediately turned serious, “What have you remembered?”

He glanced up at the gate locked with a rusty padlock and was about to push against it to peer through the crack when Xu Qian suddenly turned and stared intently at the glossy black door diagonally across from them, with a brand-new door god pasted on it.

After a long moment, she tremblingly lifted her arm, pointing at the ferocious door god, her teeth chattering, “It’s here… it’s this place…”

Shen Zhi was about ten meters away from them, looking at the faintly visible house number on the wall and making a phone call. He didn’t hear Xu Qian’s voice, but he noticed her actions.

Shen Zhi hung up the phone and came over, asking, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Youming also looked towards that door and slowly said, “She seems to have remembered the place she escaped from before.”

Was that where Jiajia had been locked up?

“Are you sure?” Shen Zhi asked.

Xu Qian took a moment to calm herself down before she turned again to look at the not-too-large stone lion, “In my memories, I ran out of the main gate and turned right following my mother’s instructions. There was a light coming from inside the courtyard, and that’s when I saw this stone lion missing its nose and one eye. At that time, this door was also locked, and it seemed like nobody was home.”

Zhou Youming instructed Shen Zhi, “Check this house as well.”

Shen Zhi nodded, and then both of them turned back to look at the house with the door god.

Shen Zhi stepped forward to knock on the door—after several loud “bang bang bang” sounds, there was no movement inside. Shen Zhi continued to knock, and it was a while before they heard intermittent coughing and swearing from within, “Want to die, do you? Knocking in broad daylight? Everyday pestering, always pestering; I just won’t move, let’s see what you can do about it…”

She thought it was the demolition office coming to urge her to move.

“I’ve already said, no amount of money will make me move. I won’t move, just won’t move, damn it…”

No amount of money will make her move?

Just to wait for her son?

Zhou Youming exchanged glances with Shen Zhi. The latter retreated two steps and leaned against the wall. As the old lady approached to open the door, Zhou Youming leaped up, easily catching the top of the wall, and with a little effort, he was over it.

Having been a drill instructor for over ten years, his agility wasn’t for nothing.

As the old lady opened the door and walked out, Zhou Youming jumped in without making a sound.

“Cough cough cough…”

The old lady coming out was hunched over, her face crisscrossed with wrinkles, her white hair tangled in unkempt strands, suggesting it hadn’t been washed for many days. As soon as she got close, an odd smell hit Shen Zhi, making him involuntarily step back.

He regretted not switching with Zhou Youming; after all, when it came to investigations, he had more experience.

“What do you want? Cough cough cough…”

Shen Zhi forced a smile, “Grandma, are you ill?”

“What’s it to you?”

The wrinkled face glared fiercely at Shen Zhi, “Get lost. I already said I won’t move. If you dare, just bury me in the yard.”

“Grandma, the street office said there is a letter from your son. Why don’t you go and get it?”

The old lady’s coughing was severe. The breath she exhaled had not just bad odor but also a heat to it. Combining her murky and occasionally unfocused eyes with her wrinkled, dried skin blushed with a faint red, Shen Zhi deduced that she had a fever.

So, by telling her there was a letter from her son at this time, she was quite likely to believe it.

Indeed, as soon as Shen Zhi said that, the old lady was startled, but what was strange was that there was not a hint of joy on her face. Instead, after a while, she lowered her head and murmured with a tinge of blame, “Why did she write a letter? Didn’t I tell her not to write or call? So disobedient, she’s asking to be shot…”

She didn’t finish her last sentence before she suddenly snapped out of it, staring at Shen Zhi, “I know, I’ll go get it later. You can leave now.”

Shen Zhi: ….

It looked like her mind was indeed muddled enough to believe that. But that was not important. What was important were those few sentences she had muttered.

If she was waiting for her son, why wouldn’t she let him write letters or make phone calls?

And that last sentence, what about getting shot? Shot with bullets?

Shen Zhi’s eyes suddenly narrowed, a flash of sharpness in them, quickly concealed.

He glanced sideways at Xu Qian. She shook her head slightly at him; she didn’t remember this old lady. She was interested in seeing the yard, but even though the old lady’s mind wasn’t very clear, she was still cautious.

The door only opened wide enough for her thin frame to pass through, and she even closed it again as she stepped over the threshold.

It was as though her home contained some rare treasure that outsiders were not allowed to see.

“Granny, have you had your health checkup this year?”

Seeing the old lady about to go back in, Shen Zhi quickly spoke up, “All seniors over sixty can get a free checkup, have you been yet?”

The old lady stopped in her tracks, confused, “A free checkup? Since when?”

Since when?

It’s definitely going to be available years later.

He said seriously, “It started last month. If you haven’t gone yet, you should hurry. It’s already December….”

He kept on talking nonsense, peering through the narrow opening of the door until he saw Zhou Youming appear in his view. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and stopped talking.

Zhou Youming came out of the yard with a stern face, opened the double doors all the way after following behind the old lady. As she stared in surprise and was unable to react, he said to Shen Zhi, “Human remains have been discovered under the ground in the west room. It doesn’t seem like just one person. Have the medical examiner take a look for the details.”

Shen Zhi made a phone call to notify his team, then pushed past the blocking old lady and strode in.

“Hey, what are you doing? Damn it, cough cough cough… Who allowed you to enter…”

The old lady shuffled her feet, following closely behind the two men, watching them enter that room. Suddenly, as if frozen in place, she stopped moving, her face clearly displaying shock and despair.

Xu Qian also stopped and showed a look of fear.

After stepping into the courtyard, a familiar sensation washed over her, just like the feeling she got when she saw the stone lion.

Perhaps out of guilt, the yard hadn’t been touched much in over a decade. Aside from some wear and tear on the ground and walls, everything else was pretty much the same as it had been years ago. Of course, it was also possible there was no money for changes.

“What are you doing? What are you doing…” the old lady kept repeating the line as if dazed.

Xu Qian turned her head, her eyes reddened as she glared at the old lady, “They’re police officers. What do you think they’re here to do?”

“…Police officers?”

After uttering these words, the old lady suddenly rolled her eyes back and fainted.

In the west room, a wooden bed that had been against the wall was now moved to one side. On the ground, there were scattered fallen ash and candles, next to which lay a damaged basin of indistinguishable color, clearly containing partially burnt paper money like Ingot.

The bricks on the floor were pried up, and in the shallow part inside, a bone shone with a chilling light in the cold and damp room…