I glanced beyond the police tape. Two girls stood there—one was chubby, the other slender. The one who had spoken earlier was the thin girl, covering her mouth, tears streaming down nonstop.
Detective Huang Xiaotao walked over and asked, "Do you know the victim?"
The chubby girl replied, "Of course, we do. Fangfang and Zhang Kai have been dating for two years."
Fangfang was sobbing uncontrollably. Huang Xiaotao called for a folding chair, but Fangfang refused to sit, just kept crying. After she calmed down a bit, Huang asked, "When did you last see Zhang Kai?"
"Last night. We were together," Fangfang said through tears. "But I'm sure... the one who killed him was a ghost."
She then told us what happened that night—
Fangfang, Tiantian (the chubby girl), Zhang Kai, and another guy named Deng Chao were inseparable friends. Deng Chao recently earned a spot in a prestigious graduate program, so last night he treated the group to dinner outside campus. They had some drinks and started talking about the legend of the abandoned teaching building.
Ten years ago, a campus beauty had died there. Her body was dismembered and hidden inside a piano. Since then, every night, eerie piano music would mysteriously play from the building.
Musicians who listened closely were shocked to find it was the Moonlight Sonata — her favorite piece.
Some disbelieving security guards went to check at midnight, only to scream in terror and go mad. They muttered endlessly, "The ghost is playing the piano... the ghost is playing the piano..."
The building was soon sealed off officially for "safety reasons," but everyone knew the real reason was the haunting.
Fueled by alcohol, Zhang Kai and Deng Chao made a bet: if Deng Chao dared spend a night in the building, Zhang Kai would pay him 5,000 yuan.
So the four of them sneaked into the abandoned building at night. Sure enough, they found the legendary piano in a music classroom. Deng Chao sat down proudly, ready to claim his prize.
But Zhang Kai insisted he had to stay the whole night for the bet to count. Deng Chao, competitive by nature, agreed without hesitation.
No one could stop him, so the others left him alone.
Just as they stepped away, the chilling notes of the Moonlight Sonata began to play.
They rushed back and saw a woman in white with long hair playing the piano. Deng Chao stood beside her, as if hypnotized.
Zhang Kai tried to rescue him but was cut on the hand by invisible sharp strings swirling in the room like ghostly hair.
When the final note fell, Deng Chao suddenly collapsed, his head rolling on the floor. The three friends fled in panic.
Fangfang and Tiantian were terrified, hiding under their blankets all night. This morning, they planned to report to the police, only to hear a body was found on campus.
They assumed it was Deng Chao—but it was Zhang Kai who had died by hanging.
Fangfang was shattered. Seeing the woman's palm print on Zhang Kai's body, she became convinced the ghost forced him to take his own life. An older student told her that anyone who interrupts the ghost's piano playing faces deadly consequences.
"The first was Deng Chao, then Zhang Kai," Fangfang sobbed. "Next will be me and Tiantian. No one can escape... no one."
Detective Huang Xiaotao asked, "You saw Deng Chao's head fall off?"
"Yes!" Fangfang nodded fiercely.
"Is his body still in that building?"
"Probably."
"Song Yang, come with me. Let's check it out."
"Can I come too?" Wang Dali asked.
"Who are you?" Huang Xiaotao snapped.
"I'm Wang Dali, Song Yang's—"
I elbowed him. "Assistant."
"Right, I'm his trusty assistant. Song Yang can't live without me!" Wang Dali bragged. I just laughed; that sounded like something else entirely.
Huang Xiaotao agreed to let him join but laid down the rules:
"First, no leaking info before the case is closed. Second, no sharing progress with anyone else—even other detectives. Third, no hiding clues or information from me."
"Yes, sir!" Wang Dali saluted awkwardly, imitating a Hong Kong movie.
I thought her strictness was justified—we were outsiders suddenly involved, and any mistake would be her responsibility.
I was excited to take part. Though I had solid theory, real practice was rare.
Huang Xiaotao gathered a team to head to the building, leaving Fangfang and Tiantian behind. I stayed to examine the body further.
I pressed my ear to the victim's chest, tapping the ribs lightly. Wang Dali babbled about lunch and Huang Xiaotao's love life, but I motioned him to shut up.
What I was doing is called "bone echo listening," a secret skill from the Song family's Chronicles of the Corpse Whisperer. By tapping ribs and spine, you get echoes from inside the body, like sonar, revealing internal details.
From the echoes, I estimated the death happened seven to eight hours ago. The lungs showed signs of contraction, and the spine had multiple tears. Cause of death: suffocation.
I flipped the body and pulled the right hand out of the sheet. Earlier, I noticed a thin cut on the back of the hand, with some leftover adhesive from a bandage removed by the medical examiner Qin Xi.
Looking closer, the wound was definitely from a sharp object. Could it be, as the girls said, a piano string?
I closed my eyes, then opened them wide, activating my Spirit Sight. Wang Dali nearly fell, yelling, "Yang, your eyes just glowed red! Are you too tired? Want me to get eye drops?"
I chuckled and told him to stop distracting me.
Under my vision, the wound enlarged—the skin was sliced deeply, with tiny rust-colored metal fragments embedded inside.
The injury was definitely caused by metal. If it was a piano string, rust was possible.
But strangely, the cut's angle was shallow on top and deep below—almost like the victim cut himself.