what's in the depths

The boss's eyes widened, panic almost overflowing: "No, it's impossible, I read it several times when I collected the money, it's indeed real money, see... hell...!"

Zhu Yuhan pulled the boss up and patted the ashes off his clothes: "Boss, what happened, please speak slowly."

The boss rubbed his eyes vigorously, looked at the Ming coin again, and retreated to the corner tremblingly, shaking his head in fear, but couldn't say a word.

Fear spread, and the diners around stopped their chopsticks and looked this way.

The waiter ran over and supported their boss. He looked at the Ming coin, his pupils constricted violently.

"I, I have been delivering food for the past few days, and all I receive are cash, but when the accounts are settled at night, the money will become ghost coins..."

As soon as these words came out, everyone in the store felt a chill down their backs, and they didn't eat any food, and they all gathered together to watch the fun.

"Where did you get it?" Zhu Yuhan frowned.

"Longfu Garden..."

Zhu Yuhan and Zhou Xiaoran looked at each other, put on their coats: "Go to Longfu Garden."

The police car roared, and went straight to Longfu Garden following the guidance of the waiter.

The waiter got out of the police car tremblingly, and staggered on the steps with his exaggeratedly weak legs.

Longfu Garden is a project contracted by a real estate developer in the city in recent years. However, after the building was completed, due to its remote location and inconvenient transportation, the houses have not been sold. Many of them are rough houses, and there are very few people living here.

When he came to the door of the resident ordering food, Zhu Yuhan first knocked on the door politely. He knocked on the door for about ten minutes, but no one responded.

"Break open the door with me." Zhu Yuhan waved his hand to signal the waiter.

The gate is a relatively new style, and it is not very easy to hit. The two of them worked together for a long time and the door did not budge.

So Zhu Yuhan used the old method and asked the waiter to buy a copper wire and poke it into the keyhole.

"The door is locked from the inside." Zhu Yuhan pulled out the copper wire and called the criminal police team to inform them to come quickly.

When the master lockpicker picked the lock off, everyone almost couldn't wait to break in.

In the rough room, the floor is still made of cement, and the walls are dirty, covered with yellowish-brown liquid, no substance can be seen.

In the center of the living room, there is an automatic mahjong table surrounded by four women sitting in four corners.

The dim chandelier swayed above the head, making everyone's hair stand on end.

Zhu Yuhan walked over cautiously, stretched out his hand and pushed one of the women, and the woman fell down on the table with a "bang".

Zhu Yuhan was startled, subconsciously took two steps back.

Several criminal police rushed forward and went to observe the situation of the remaining few people.

"These people are all dead..."

Fear gradually spread, and the chandelier above the head was still swinging regularly, and the light hit everyone in sequence, reflecting the corpse spots on their faces.

"You... are you sure you delivered the food to this family?" Zhu Yuhan murmured with empty eyes.

The waiter stared at the four corpses with wide eyes: "Yes... that's right, they ordered takeaway for three days, but every time I came to collect the money, they only opened a crack in the door and handed out the money... ..."

----------

At ten o'clock in the evening, there were no cases recently, and Chu Rong was about to wash up, thinking that it was rare that he could go to bed early.

As soon as his head touched the pillow, he was woken up by knocking on the door, which was like knocking down a house.

He hurriedly put on a cardigan and went to open the door. As soon as he opened the door and saw Zhu Yuhan and a group of criminal police, he knew he was busy again tonight.

Several criminal police carried the four bodies in.

"So many." Chu Rong frowned.

"You...do you believe in ghosts?" Zhu Yuhan raised his head, and his pale face was reflected by the cold light.

Chu Rong was startled by his appearance, quickly helped him in, poured a cup of hot water and handed it to him.

"Do you believe that there are ghosts in the world?" Zhu Yuhan raised his head, repeating this sentence still confused.

Chu Rong smiled: "I don't believe it, but the spirit of ghosts has always penetrated into every part of life."

After Zhu Yuhan calmed down, he recounted the incident to Chu Rong in detail.

A forensic doctor who dealt with corpses every day couldn't help but shudder after hearing this.

"Don't add fuel and vinegar to your words." Chu Rong waved his hand.

Zhu Yuhan stood up: "Forget it if you don't believe me, I'll go first."

Chu Rong grabbed him and said, "Don't go."

As soon as he turned around, he saw Chu Rong looking at him expectantly, just like their family Adu.

"what."

Chu Rong laughed dryly: "It's not the ghost story you told."

Zhu Yuhan scratched his cheeks, avoiding his hand in embarrassment: "Then, you go to the autopsy first, and I will wait for you here."

A few criminal policemen came out, exchanged some pleasantries, and hurried back to the police station with Zhou Xiaoran.

Zhu Yuhan was the only one left sitting in the huge research institute, staring at the closed studio door in a daze.

The monkey cried, and Zhu Yuhan fell off the sofa in fright.

He took out his mobile phone and saw that it was Fu Huaiyu's call.

"Did you tell me in advance before the next call?" Zhu Yuhan's temper exploded as soon as he answered the call.

"Why are you scolding me?" Fu Huaiyu asked aggrievedly on the other end: "I can inform you in advance what else to call."

"Okay, I'm busy now, hang up."

"When will you be back?" Fu Huaiyu hurriedly asked before Zhu Yuhan pressed the call to end.

"I won't go back tonight, I have taken on a difficult case."

Fu Huaiyu made a "hmm" sound, and continued: "Then shall I go to the police station to bring you supper? If I don't see you, Adu is almost depressed."

"No, I'm not at the police station, that's it, hang up."

Fearing that Fu Huaiyu would continue to question him, he hung up the phone mercilessly after saying this, and turned off the phone by the way.

While continuing to be in a daze, he saw Chu Rong's mobile phone flickering outside.

Go over and pick it up.

Fu Huaiyu called Chu Rong all the time.

Inexplicably, there is an illusion of being caught cheating.

Let him admit defeat.

When he picked up the phone, there was an extremely cold and arrogant voice: "Zhu Yuhan is with you."

Not an interrogative sentence, but an affirmative sentence.

"Yes, on my side, we're going to sleep, don't call anymore."

Hang up the phone, and turn off Chu Rong's cell phone by the way.

Unexpectedly, the impulsive action caused a big trouble.

After sitting for less than half an hour, there was a hasty knock on the door outside.

As soon as he opened the door, a convenience bag with a supermarket logo on it stuck into his arms.

The person carrying the plastic bag was Fu Huaiyu, who was panting heavily and frowning.

"How did you come."

"I'm afraid you'll be hungry." The subtext is "I'd like to see what you adulterers are up to."

Fu Huaiyu looked around and found that Chu Rong was not here, so he sat down on the sofa with his long legs: "Where is Chu Rong?"

Zhu Yuhan tapped the studio with his chin: "Autopsy."

"What case."

"It's a bit weird to say. I delivered food at a restaurant for three consecutive days, and the cash collected by the delivery staff turned into ghost coins when I brought it back to the store."

"Is someone deliberately playing a prank?"

Zhu Yuhan shook his head: "It's hard to say, we raided the ordering users in the afternoon, and found that four women were sitting at the mahjong table, dead, and there were corpse spots on their bodies, it seemed that they had been dead for a while."

"Improbable. There should be no such technology now. The delivery man is sure that he can see clearly?" Fu Huaiyu pressed his chin and said thoughtfully.

Zhu Yuhan nodded: "Today, the boss delivered it in person, and I was also there. That's true."

Fu Huaiyu sneered: "Don't think too much, maybe it's the hallucinogens."

As soon as the voice fell, the door of the studio was opened.

Chu Rong came out with a tired face, and was stunned when he saw Fu Huaiyu who looked like a gentleman.

Without saying hello, Chu Rong took off his gloves and went straight into the bathroom.

"How is it?" Zhu Yuhan hurriedly followed.

Chu Rong frowned, looking very puzzled:

"Judging from the distribution of the dead body spots, the time of death was more than a week, but the food residues in the four people's stomach bags were left in the past three days."

Zhu Yuhan took a breath: "Are you sure?"

Chu Rong nodded: "The deceased died of carbon monoxide poisoning."

"It is possible that I found a stove at the scene, and the charcoal in it had been burnt to powder."

Chu Rong took out his pocket: "And, this was found in the body of one of the deceased."

A one-yuan coin shone coldly under the chandelier.

The two looked at each other, and Zhu Yuhan couldn't help but hugged his arms as the cold came.

"So, the deceased was poisoned by carbon monoxide while playing mahjong, died unconsciously, and ordered takeaway after death, and... ate takeaway?"

Chu Rong stared into his eyes: "If nothing else, it is indeed the case."

"It's May now, do you need to burn a stove to keep warm?" It was Fu Huaiyu who spoke.

As soon as the two turned their heads, they saw him leaning against the door, his face as cold as ice.

"It's a rough house over there without a heating system. Although it's a lot warmer now, it's still very cold in the morning and evening." Zhu Yuhan tried to give a reasonable explanation, otherwise he couldn't claim that ghosts killed the four of them.

"And the four of them were still sitting and standing after their deaths. The most terrifying thing is that we asked the neighbors who live next door to them. The neighbors said that they had heard the sound of playing mahjong in the past few days, and they were still wondering what these people did. I don’t have to work and play mahjong every day.”

Chu Rong put the coin into his pocket and faced the two of them: "After people die, the digestive system will also stop working, but according to the digestion of the food in their stomachs, it takes about half an hour to an hour after eating. The internal digestive system is still functioning."

"Don't say it, don't say it." Zhu Yuhan waved his hands again and again: "If you talk about it any more, it will really become a ghost story."

"Speaking of strange stories, there is really such a theory that can explain this matter." Fu Huaiyu, who had been silent all the time, suddenly said.

"Tell me."

Zhu Yuhan covered his ears, feeling his hair stand on end.

On the other hand, Chu Rong was full of energy, as if he wasn't the one who held him back just now.

"The four of them died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and this is a kind of unconscious death. Some people say that after death in unconsciousness, people don't know that they have died, and they still maintain the behavior and thoughts of their lives."

As Fu Huaiyu spoke, he smiled charmingly: "The police broke into the door tonight and interrupted their abnormal actions after they died."

Seeing Zhu Yuhan's pale face and cold sweat on his forehead, Fu Huaiyu shrugged: "Of course, it's just hearsay."

"Don't spread superstition here." Zhu Yuhan pushed him out: "You go back first, I will stay and study tonight."

Fu Huaiyu leaned against the door frame, turned around and smiled: "No."

------------

Three big men squeezed together on a single bed, the quilt was torn back and forth, yelling about the cold and complaining about being crowded.

Chu Rong was already sound asleep, breathing steadily and regularly.

Fu Huaiyu tried his best to get inside, and stretched out his arms to grab Zhu Yuhan and hug him in his arms.

In the darkness, a thief who couldn't see clearly smiled: "Hey, come to my side, Chu Rong is tired after working all night, don't squeeze him."

"Hands off."

Fu Huaiyu was unmoved, and even pinched Zhu Yuhan's slender waist teasingly: "Why do you think you have lost weight recently, but I don't see you eating less."

Zhu Yuhan patted his hands away: "Go to sleep on the sofa if you move your hands and feet again."

Fu Huaiyu clutched the wound on his right shoulder and moaned softly: "Take it easy, I'm a wounded man."

"Stop pretending, it's been more than a month, and any injuries are healed." In the darkness, Zhu Yuhan's white eyes were exceptionally clear.

Fu Huaiyu put his index finger to his mouth and made a silent gesture: "Be quiet, don't disturb Chu Rong."

After finishing speaking, Fu Huaiyu stretched out his right hand that was still screaming for pain just now, pulled Zhu Yuhan into his arms, put his mouth between his forehead, and kissed his forehead lightly: "Good night."