Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Claws of Darkness!

I shared my analysis with Elder Lin.

Elder Lin agreed that the possibility was high, since the phone might contain the killer’s contact information. If the phone was so important, the murderer would surely return to retrieve it.

He immediately called the investigation team, instructing them to revisit the location where Officer Wang had died, focusing on whether anyone had returned to the “suicide scene” and if there were any signs of a search.

Then, we asked Tian Fei’er to take us to her house to look for Officer Wang’s phone.

Tian Fei’er nodded in agreement.

We quickly obtained the phone.

She told us that Officer Wang had instructed her to remove the SIM card and keep it safe, warning her not to delete anything from it.

“You haven’t deleted anything, right?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No.”

Relieved, I asked her to bring the SIM card, inserted it into the phone, and checked the call records.

Among them, we found a contact named “Devil.” In the days leading up to Officer Wang’s death, “Devil” had called him five times. On the day he died, “Devil” called twice again.

But Officer Wang’s phone was already switched off then, so the calls came as SMS notifications.

It was easy to imagine: after killing Officer Wang, the perpetrator tried to locate the phone by calling it, hoping it would ring and reveal its location.

But the SIM card had already been removed.

There was also a message from “Devil.”

“I’m waiting for you at No. 16 Jingjiao Road.”

No. 16 Jingjiao Road!

What kind of place was that?

We turned to the armed police officer assigned to protect us. He was a local and knew the area well.

“It’s a demolition zone,” he replied.

“Let’s go there!”

Just as the words left my mouth, the phone rang. Tian Fei’er let out a startled cry.

“What’s wrong?” I asked quickly.

“It’s… it’s him calling.”

The screen flashed with the name “Devil,” almost pulsating.

“Stay calm,” I comforted her. “Take a deep breath. When you answer, say you found the phone. If he asks you to return it, agree, and arrange a meeting place.”

Tian Fei’er nodded with difficulty, took a deep breath to steady herself, and pressed the answer button.

“Hello?” she said.

Silence on the other end; no one spoke.

She hesitated, then continued, “Hello? Are you the owner of this phone?”

Still no response, just heavy breathing.

“I found this phone. I’m a local cleaner. I can return it to you, but you’ll have to pay me a little for it,” Tian Fei’er said.

The other side remained silent.

Tian Fei’er looked at us, unsure what to do.

I hurried outside and secretly called the commander, urging the police to quickly locate the caller’s phone number.

When I returned, the caller finally spoke.

“One.”

We were taken aback, not understanding.

“Two.”

“Three.”

The caller recited numbers methodically, leaving us bewildered.

“Excuse me, what do you mean?” Tian Fei’er asked.

“Four, five, six, seven!” The voice was calm and steady. After reciting seven, the call ended.

We were left confused by the strange counting.

“We’re seven in total,” Li Xingchen said. “He can see us.”

A chill swept through everyone.

Li Hong and the armed police rushed to the window, scanning outside carefully.

Only through the window could someone observe us.

“The phone’s ringing again,” Tian Fei’er exclaimed in panic.

Suddenly Li Hong shouted, “Quick! Throw the phone out the window!”

We didn’t understand, but he acted with lightning speed, hurling the phone outside.

Bang!

A deafening explosion resounded—the phone detonated in midair.

It was a phone bomb.

“Why didn’t anything happen when we answered before?” Tian Fei’er asked, still shaken.

“Could it be related to the SIM card?” Li Hong speculated.

Tang Jingjing disagreed.

“Is there such a hacking technique?” Elder Lin asked Li Xingchen. “Could the phone be programmed to explode only when a specific number calls, or be detonated remotely?”

Li Xingchen nodded. “It’s possible, though extremely complex. Only professionals can do it, and they could remotely operate the phone to perform various functions, like activating the camera.”

Elder Lin insisted that must be the case.

I said, “Elder Lin, there’s another possibility.”

He nodded.

“Could it be that the murderer had already tampered with the phone before we arrived?”

Elder Lin agreed this was possible.

The explosion caused mass panic, with people fearing terrorists. But seeing no further danger, the crowd quickly gathered around the blast site.

“Look! Something’s moving in the phone fragments!” someone shouted.

“It’s a bug—disgusting! What kind of bug is that?”

We exchanged glances, then rushed downstairs to surround the phone debris.

Five corpse worms lay scorched on the ground. Only one still clung to life, stubbornly crawling from the shattered screen.

I quickly used tweezers to place the corpse worm into an evidence bag.

“Even an explosion can’t kill it—how tenacious these corpse worms are,” Xingchen said with a sigh.

Tian Fei’er burst into tears. “Is this… a corpse worm? I’ve been carrying a phone with corpse worms these past days?”

Elder Lin shook his head. “Impossible. The phone’s interior is so cramped—how could it hide corpse worms for so long?”

I said, “So, before we came, the murderer must have already tampered with the phone?”

Elder Lin agreed it was highly likely.

“Outrageous,” I cursed angrily. “The killer is utterly brazen, trying to kill us outright!”

Elder Lin said, “Collect everything and send it to the lab. Let’s go to No. 16 Jingjiao Road first.”

The armed police officer immediately spoke up, “Elder Lin, I request to deploy more comrades to accompany us. Li Hong and I alone can’t guarantee everyone’s safety.”

Elder Lin agreed, but repeatedly warned the young officer to be extremely cautious and not let word get out. The main force should only approach after we entered, to avoid alerting the enemy.

The officer nodded and called his superiors. Once arrangements were made, we sent Tian Fei’er to the nearest police station for temporary protection.

She had been exposed, and the killer might target her.

Tian Fei’er nodded and hurried off, while the rest of us drove toward No. 16 Jingjiao Road.

No. 16 Jingjiao Road was in a demolition area. The demolition had stopped halfway, leaving the place bizarre: half-demolished buildings alongside others still standing, with people living and doing business amid the ruins.

The young officer told us the area was once designated for development, but after developers received government subsidies, they absconded, leaving the project abandoned. Now, residents were still embroiled in lawsuits with the demolition office.

Elder Lin asked what kind of people lived here.

The officer explained that most were migrant merchants, relocated from the nearby urban village because rents here were cheap and the environment less cramped—popular among migrant workers.

Elder Lin nodded thoughtfully.

No. 16 Jingjiao Road was a residential house. Its courtyard wall had been demolished, leaving only a duplex building inside.

At that moment, a group of young men and women emerged from the first floor, laughing and chatting as they passed us.

I approached and greeted them, asking if they lived here.

They said yes—they all lived on the first floor.

“Who lives upstairs?” I asked.

“A woman,” one replied. “A rather strange woman.”

My interest was piqued. “Oh? In what way is she strange?”