Although Kuang Feifan had considered the possibility of such suspicion, having Xu Hui state it outright still felt strange in his heart.

Xu Hui offered a comforting word. "Forget it. You need to realize that not everyone knows you and He Shaoqing are sworn brothers. If he didn't mention you constantly when he was busy, I might have suspected you too."

Kuang Feifan shrugged helplessly. "Alright, so you don't suspect me now."

Xu Hui shook his head. "I didn't suspect you, but right now, I'm intensely curious about what happened that night."

Kuang Feifan reached out, asked Xu Hui for a cigarette, lit it, took a drag, and sighed. Slowly, he recounted the story of how he encountered the purse-snatcher, how they ended up in the haunted building, and the terrifying experiences within.

Xu Hui listened intently, his brow furrowed, his expression serious. Kuang Feifan noticed that Xu Hui was not as crude as his outward appearance suggested; at least when listening to a narrative, he was an excellent listener, never interrupting, though his smoking never ceased.

Only after the story concluded did Xu Hui flick his cigarette butt away, teeth clenched as he asked, "Is all of this true?"

Kuang Feifan nodded.

Xu Hui frowned in confusion. "That's strange. How come I never noticed such a small building?"

"Noticed what?" Kuang Feishan inquired.

Xu Hui offered a strained smile. "To be honest, after you guys had your incident, my buddies and I did a near-carpet search of that area, but I have absolutely no recollection of the haunted building you described. And from what you said, the place where you were found wasn't far from that building, was it?"

Kuang Feifan thought for a moment and nodded. "It should be. After escaping the courtyard, I just followed the path until I hit the main road—only a few hundred meters?"

Xu Hui paused, then suddenly waved his hand. "Let's go. Take me there."

"Wait a second," Kuang Feifan quickly stopped him.

Xu Hui seemed to understand his hesitation. Before Kuang Feifan could speak, he added, "Relax. I just want you to take me to the gate for a look. I won't drag you in with me, and I certainly won't go in myself. But I need to know the exact location so I can investigate what's going on with that building."

Kuang Feifan involuntarily let out a breath of relief. He immediately realized this was for the best; having an insider in the police force help with the investigation could only benefit things. Moreover, he was genuinely glad to encounter someone who believed him.

Truthfully, Xu Hui was able to trust Kuang Feifan’s account partly because he knew the closeness between He Shaoqing and Kuang Feifan, and partly because he had witnessed He Shaoqing’s injuries and Bai Ru’s efforts in treating him. Of course, he still held a degree of skepticism.

However, when Kuang Feifan drove him directly to the street opposite that small building, he finally believed.

The reason for his belief was quite simple: even observing the building from outside the courtyard gate, it exuded a strong, bizarre aura. The strangest thing was that if one did not deliberately focus their attention on that spot, it was incredibly easy to overlook the building entirely. Even people who occasionally passed the gate seemed completely unconcerned with what was inside the courtyard, as if they hadn't seen it.

Kuang Feifan had naturally noticed this too. He also found it strange. He knew the small building was right across the street, but it took a significant mental effort for him to focus and truly notice it. This sensation made him feel unsettlingly weird, as if when you are trying to find something you desperately need, it’s right before your eyes, yet you simply cannot see it.

Furthermore, it took Kuang Feishan considerable effort to even get Xu Hui to notice the small building.

"Don't you find it strange that neither of us could properly focus on the building just now?" Kuang Feifan asked as Xu Hui finally managed to see it.

Xu Hui scratched his head. He didn't understand what was happening either, but this only convinced him that something peculiar was definitely at play.

The two got out of the car and slowly walked toward the courtyard gate. Before they were even close, Xu Hui shivered involuntarily and blurted out, "I feel a cold wind constantly blowing across me."

As he spoke, he glanced up at the sky. At some point, the previously clear blue had turned cloudy, giving an immediate sense of oppression.

Although Kuang Feifan also felt a breeze brush against his body, he felt no chill. However, at that moment, he felt a slight warmth radiating from his wrist. Startled, he instinctively grabbed Xu Hui’s arm and shook his head. "Don't go any closer. There's something wrong."

The sudden pull made Xu Hui stop in his tracks. He couldn't help but say, "It is weird. Damn, I really don't want to move forward anymore."

Even though Kuang Feifan didn't share that feeling, Xu Hui’s comment made him realize that stopping was the wiser course of action. The two quickly glanced at the house number next to the gate, then turned back toward the car.

Once in the car, Xu Hui said, "I'll go back to the precinct and look up the * records for this building."

Kuang Feifan responded with a noncommittal "Mmm." "I need the hospital surveillance footage from when He Shaoqing went missing. You should have that, right?"

Xu Hui nodded. "Of course. They still use tape format. I already requested the master copy. I was planning to take it to the forensics center anyway. Just as you called, if I recall correctly, you're an expert in electronics, right?"

Kuang Feifan shrugged. "Sort of. I didn't expect you to think of requesting the master tape?"

Xu Hui gave a low huff. "After reviewing the footage, I realized something was off. If getting the master copy hadn't been such a hassle—requiring the director's approval—I would have had it last night."

The two sped away from the location as quickly as possible and returned to the precinct. By this point, they had completely disregarded standard protocol for handling evidence handover. Their sole focus was finding out the reason for He Shaoqing's disappearance and his possible whereabouts.

Kuang Feifan drove to the forensics center. Due to the case, he couldn't officially cancel his leave or resume work, but that didn't stop him from using the center's equipment. Under the pretext of visiting colleagues, he made a few rounds until he reached the Electronic Evidence Inspection and Identification Department—his usual workplace. After greeting a colleague and chatting for a while, he discovered the department head was in a meeting. He let out a sigh of relief, turned around, and headed straight for the audiovisual evidence processing facility.

Fortunately, it was a private room. He locked the door and inserted the videotape into the machine. Xu Hui had managed to secure quite comprehensive footage; essentially, all the surveillance from the entire floor where He Shaoqing's room was located had been retrieved. Kuang Feifan started by playing the tape from He Shaoqing's room.

As expected, there were issues with the footage between 8:00 and 8:10. However, it wasn't the static interference Xu Hui had initially described; instead, the ten-minute segment showed horizontal distortion and speckles resembling film degradation from age.

It appeared an external signal had interfered with the surveillance during that period. Kuang Feifan checked other surveillance feeds, and indeed, all showed image distortion. But one thing was odd: the timing of the image failure wasn't synchronized. When the feed from He Shaoqing’s room malfunctioned, the corridor camera outside showed no problems. But three minutes later, the corridor footage also began to distort. After that, other cameras started showing issues sequentially, until 8:10, when all feeds, starting from the room, sequentially returned to normal.

Kuang Feishan rubbed his slightly throbbing forehead and dry eyes, deciding to start the recovery attempt with the tape from the patient room.

Thankfully, it was only a ten-minute segment, and he primarily focused on repairing the initial part of the distortion. He isolated about a five-minute time slot and loaded the latest proprietary restoration software, which had been imported directly from abroad. It was rumored that the Jefferson Experimental Center, one of the world's top technical labs, used this very software.

The restoration ran automatically on the computer. Because it worked frame-by-frame, it required a considerable amount of time. Kuang Feifan leaned back in his chair, idly playing with the prayer beads in his hand, before eventually pulling out his phone to play a game.

A series of sharp beeps emanated from the computer, signaling the image appeared to be fully restored. Kuang Feifan pressed the play button. The image, previously so distorted that nothing could be discerned, finally became visible. While the restoration wasn't perfect, it was enough to show the scene inside the patient room.

The camera captured He Shaoqing lying motionless on the hospital bed, covered by a thin white blanket. But after just a second or two, the scene underwent a startling transformation.