I stared at the one-way glass in the interrogation room, daydreaming about all sorts of possibilities. Before I knew it, I dozed off again.
I don't know how much time had passed when I was woken up by the sound of someone knocking on the table. I opened my eyes, and there were the two criminal policemen from before.
"Asleep again? You've really got a big gut," the middle-aged criminal policeman sneered.
"I didn't kill anyone. Of course, I'm not afraid."
"Whether you killed someone or not isn't up to you. We rely on evidence. Cooperate with us honestly, and you'll suffer less."
"I'm cooperating, but I really didn't kill anyone."
"Stop talking nonsense. Name?"
"Chen Feng."
"Gender?"
"Male."
"Date of birth?"
I quickly gave my date of birth.
"What time were you born?"
"What?" I was immediately stunned. I could understand them asking for my date of birth to verify my information, but what did it mean to ask me what time I was born?
"Answer when you're asked! Where do you get so many questions?!" the middle-aged criminal policeman snapped.
Just as I was about to open my mouth to answer, I suddenly noticed that the young criminal policeman in charge of taking notes had a contorted face, as if he was in great pain.
His face was covered in cold sweat, and big drops of sweat kept rolling down his face.
"What's wrong with him? Is he sick?"
"What do you care about him? Hurry up and answer my question," the middle-aged criminal policeman said sternly.
I immediately became suspicious. As a colleague, with his assistant sweating profusely and looking seriously ill, he was still pressing me about what time I was born.
What did the time of my birth have to do with the case? It was such a strange question.
I loved watching crime dramas in college and knew a lot of common sense.
For example, when the police interrogate a suspect, they might ask some seemingly boring questions, like what's your name and what's your gender.
These seemingly stupid questions are actually used to establish a baseline for truth-telling and lying. When a suspect lies, an experienced criminal policeman can tell if they're lying.
But the time of birth has nothing to do with the case and can't help determine if I'm lying. Why such a strange question?
While I was thinking and hesitating, the middle-aged criminal policeman across from me was already impatient. He slammed the table hard and shouted,
"Tell me! What time were you born? If you don't say it, don't blame me for being rough on you."
The more he acted like this, the more suspicious I became. Why was a criminal policeman not asking about the case but constantly hounding me about the time of my birth?
Just then, a hand suddenly landed on my shoulder. "Hey, wake up."
I jolted awake and found that it was the young criminal policeman from before, but this time he was alone.
"You're really something, falling asleep again," the young criminal policeman couldn't help but sneer.
For a moment, I felt completely disoriented.
"Y-you... didn't interrogate me just now?"
"Are you still half-asleep? I came to bring you your meal. Eat it while it's hot. It won't taste good when it gets cold."
After the young criminal policeman left, I looked at the boxed meal on the table and smelled the aroma of the food. Only then did I come to my senses: what was in front of me now was real.
It's true that grief and fear are energy-consuming. I'm really starving now.
I was eating the boxed lunch while recalling the dream I had just had.
Why did I dream that two criminal policemen asked me about my birth date and time?
They even insisted on asking for the exact birth time. It didn't make any sense.
Birth date and time?
Suddenly, I had a jolt: Isn't this the birth date and time?
I couldn't help thinking of the scene of the wedding ceremony in the previous dream. That dream was also incredibly real. I almost completed the ghost marriage ceremony in the dream.
My fingerprints were forcibly pressed on the white betrothal letter with our birth date and time written on it...
Wait a minute. I suddenly remembered that on that white betrothal letter, the birth date and time of the groom were not mine, but my cousin's.
Then, I recalled the half - sentence that Jiang Lixin shouted out at that time, and the young criminal policeman I saw in the dream just now, with a distorted expression and a sweaty face, insisting on something.
Suddenly, I understood everything: From the very beginning, the female corpse had been after me, trying to make me complete the ghost marriage.
Those two criminal policemen interrogating me in the dream must have been transformed from those ghosts.
Since they forcibly entered my dream in a place like the police station, the one who transformed into a young criminal policeman must have been lacking in power, which was why he had a struggling expression and a sweaty face.
After figuring this out, I couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief: Fortunately, I was smart in the dream just now and didn't obediently tell my birth time. In this way, the birth date and time couldn't be completed.
The next moment, I was stunned again: The other side already had my real birth date, and only the exact time was uncertain.
There are only twelve time periods in a day. They only need to test twelve times at most to get the correct birth date and time and complete the ghost marriage ceremony.
I lost my appetite for food. I stood up from my seat and called out, "Hey! I want to go out."
A moment later, the young criminal policeman who had brought me the meal just now walked in again. "What are you yelling about? Don't give me any trouble. Do you really think I can't handle you?"
"I'm not making trouble. The female corpse is going to come after me. I have to go out and find a solution quickly."
"You're crazy!" The young criminal policeman gave me a dirty look and turned away.
I slumped back into my seat, feeling dejected: The police would never believe all this. What should I do?
Just when I was in despair, the door of the interrogation room opened again.
This time, it was the middle - aged criminal policeman who came in. "Chen Feng, you can leave now."
"Has my suspicion been cleared?" I was overjoyed at once.
"Kind of. It hasn't been completely cleared. You can't leave the city during this period and must be available for questioning at any time."
"Got it."
"Don't waste the boxed lunch. Finish eating it before you leave."
With my suspicion cleared, I had an appetite again. I quickly gobbled up the rest of the boxed lunch, cleaned up the trash, and left the interrogation room.
I walked along the corridor towards the gate. When I passed by an office, I suddenly heard two voices chatting.
"Have you heard about the case today?"
"No, I've been really busy today. What's up? Another strange case?"
"It's not just weird. It's spooky."
"How spooky is it?"
"A young woman died. Her boyfriend reported the incident. All the evidence and clues we found pointed to her boyfriend. We initially thought it was a murder due to infidelity. But then the forensic doctor's autopsy completely shattered our initial assumption."
"What exactly happened?"
"The young woman's tongue was sticking out. At first, we thought her hyoid bone was broken during strangulation. But when the forensic doctor dissected her, we found that her tongue was literally torn off."
"Torn off? How could that happen?"
"That's not all! Guess who tore off her tongue?"
"Who? Wait, haven't we caught the killer yet? Without the killer, how do you know who tore off her tongue?"
"It was herself who tore off her own tongue."
"Come on! That's impossible. Who would tear off their own tongue? And there's no way to exert enough force!"
"That's not all. According to the inference of the colleagues in the trace department, she tore off her own hyoid bone and then stuffed her tongue back into her mouth, blocking her trachea and causing suffocation."
Hearing this, I suddenly recalled that when Xinyi and I had an intimate moment yesterday morning, she kissed my right earlobe.
That earlobe had been licked by the tongue of the female corpse.