This situation gave me a bad feeling. Maybe I had encountered ghosts so many times that I always thought the worst.
The taxi driver said that this old store has a shop outside and a living room inside. Could it be that the door was not locked and left open for a family member to come back
I didn't rule out this possibility, so I knocked on the door. So I raised my middle finger and knocked on the shutter a few times. The knocking sound was very clear in the quiet street.
After knocking, we waited for five or six minutes, but no one answered. I felt that my premonition was correct, and something might have happened inside. I bent down and pulled up the shutter door. There was an old-fashioned two-leaf wooden door with carved window patterns inside, which was ajar at the moment. The light from the street lamp outside shone in through the gap, casting a weak and sharp light on the ground, like a sharp sword piercing the darkness, which was frightening to watch.
I reached out and gently pushed open the two doors, making a "creaky" sound that made your scalp tingle.
The light from outside could only illuminate the counter, and most of the room was still in darkness. On the counter were rows of exquisite jades, which looked very old in the dim light. It felt like the store was an ancient tomb, and the jades were burial objects, and we were tomb robbers.
"Is anyone there?" I shouted loudly at the door.
The cry echoed faintly in the house, but no one answered for a long time. Shen Bing turned on the flashlight and looked deep into the house. The shop was not big, only about 17 or 18 square meters. Behind the counter was a shelf filled with gold, silver and jade, mostly jade. Outside the counter, under the window, there was an old blackened round table with rattan chairs on both sides. On the table was a purple clay teapot and several exquisite small tea bowls.
There is nothing worth being curious about, but there are two tea bowls placed on both sides of the table, each filled with tea and emitting a wisp of steam, which arouses people's imagination.
The steaming tea meant that someone had just sat here drinking tea and had been gone for no more than a few minutes. Although the temperature here in winter was not very cold, it was not warm either. If there was no stove to heat the room, the temperature would probably be around 10 degrees. The heat of the tea would soon be dissipated and no steam could be seen.
Shen Bing followed my gaze and saw this situation, and whispered: "There was someone drinking tea just now, could it be that they saw us coming and hid on purpose?"
I rubbed my nose and didn't answer, thinking that we didn't know the antique shop owner, and he didn't know our purpose, so why should we hide? Besides, what was the point of leaving the door open
Thinking of this, Shen Bing pointed to the shelf and turned the flashlight over there. There was a door on the east side of the shelf leading inside, and the door was also ajar.
I walked over, lifted up a movable countertop on the east side of the counter and walked in. When I was about to reach the door opposite, I heard a "Ya" sound from inside, as if the door or window was opening. There was someone inside, so I stopped and called out again, "Is anyone there?"
After two or three minutes, there was still no movement. I couldn't hold my breath anymore, so I took two steps forward and pushed open the door. Shen Bing followed me and shone the flashlight inside. It was not a yard, but a bedroom directly connected to the store. Maybe for safety reasons, even the bed was placed behind the wall of shelves.
But the bedroom was completely empty, with no one in sight. The bed was empty, but judging by the messy bedding, someone had just slept there. In addition to the bed, there was an old-fashioned color TV on a table opposite the bed, and a sofa.
The sofa towel was dragged on the floor in a mess, the coffee table was tilted, and there was a slipper in the middle of the room. The cleanliness and furnishings of the room were quite neat, and the owner did not seem to be a sloppy person. The mess seemed to have been vandalized. Suddenly, I saw a trace of blood on the corner of the table. My heart skipped a beat and I rushed over in a hurry.
This table was also old-fashioned, with a cabinet underneath. There was a streak of blood on the left corner. I squatted down, dipped my hand in it, and took a look at it. It was fresh blood!
Shen Bing gently pushed me on the shoulder. I turned around and followed her finger. There was a window on the left side, open to the outside. There were no doors or windows elsewhere. This reminded me of the sound I heard outside just now. Someone committed a crime here and just opened the window to escape. But then I thought, it's not right. Why is there no body? If the murderer heard someone coming outside, it's impossible for him to run away with the body, right
I stood up from the ground, waved to Shen Bing, and we walked to the window together. There were footprints on the windowsill, but no blood. Outside was a dark alley. Shen Bing shone the flashlight, but didn't see anyone.
"Should we chase after them and see what happens?" Shen Bing asked for my opinion.
I shook my head. No matter if it was the murderer or the boss who escaped, or whether he had committed a crime, it had nothing to do with us. It was the police's business. Why should we try to catch the rat? I turned around and walked out. The boss was not there, so it was better for us to go out. I had only taken two steps when I suddenly heard two "clicks" coming from the direction of the table.
Shen Bing trembled, grabbed my arms with both hands, and shone the flashlight on the table.
I turned my head quickly and saw the cabinet door trembling slightly, as if there was a living thing hidden inside. I exchanged glances with Shen Bing, and we both rushed over, one on the left and one on the right, and opened the cabinet door.
With a "gulp", a black shadow rolled out from inside.
Shen Bing was afraid that he was a thief or some other bad guy, so he stepped forward and held the guy down, then bent his right leg and knelt on top of him, crossed his arms and twisted them, and no matter how powerful he was, he couldn't move.
"Hehe..."
The man was lying face down, making a muffled cry from his throat, and blood was flowing from under his face. I thought something was wrong, this didn't look like a thief, so I quickly pushed Shen Bing away and turned the man upside down. I was horrified when I saw him, and I almost fell to the ground.
The man's face was covered in blood, and his eyeballs had been dug out, leaving two bloody eye holes. His mouth was open, and when the flashlight was shone into it, it was found that his tongue had also been cut. Damn it, who is so cruel to do such a cruel thing to this man? This man has completely white hair, is an old man, has only one slipper on his feet, and is wearing pajamas. He looks like the owner of the store.
I couldn't help but wonder, why did the murderer want to kill the old man? If he had a grudge, why not just kill him? Why leave him half alive? If he was robbing, the antiques on the counters and shelves outside were neatly arranged, with no signs of being moved, so the murderer's purpose seemed particularly strange.
The old man held my hand tightly, and suddenly opened his mouth and bit the back of my hand. Damn, I was thinking about something, and was caught off guard. The old man bit off a piece of my flesh, and the bones were exposed.
I hurriedly opened his hand, and then I noticed a ferocious smile on the old man's face, as if he was having a revengeful look. I was stunned, thinking that the old man had mistaken me for the murderer. How damn unlucky.
“Ho ho…” The old man opened his mouth and let out two muffled screams, then his head tilted and he died.
At the same time, I felt numbness and itchiness on the wound on the back of my hand, and then my eyes went dark, and then I knew nothing.