Chen Shi checked the tableware Wei Yi normally used and checked the cigarettes he smoked. While investigating it, Tao Yueyue pulled the corner of his clothes. "There’s a milk box outside."

A glance at the door showed that there was a small box for delivering milk. The box was made up of wooden boards nailed together and had a lid with a lock on it. Chen Shi asked Wei Yi to open it. Wei Yi said, "Is there any problem with this milk? I drink it every day."

Chen Shi said, "I will take it to the Public Security Bureau to test it!"

"Mr. Chen, I also wondered if I had a strange disease or got a virus. I’m very cautious of the things that go into my mouth. Even if it’s milk, I only drink it after heating it up every day. I think there shouldn’t be a problem.”

"Wait for the test results to come out in two days. Wait patiently at home."

"Ah? Then I have to suffer from nightmares for several more days."

"Relax, I think the one who is secretly causing mischief doesn’t plan to kill you. Ah, yes, don't drink the milk tomorrow. Put it in the refrigerator and wait for me to get it."

"Okay, thank you!"

Chen Shi returned to the bureau without stopping. Peng Sijue was busy and as soon as he heard that he had to help him with the test, he was very impatient. Chen Shi said a lot of nice things before Peng Sijue put some of the leftover milk in the bottle under the microscope.

He immediately concluded, "There’s something in the milk. Like bacteria... No, it’s bigger than bacteria. It seems like a kind of creature."

"Let me see!" Chen Shi walked over to see that there were many cells in the form of bacilli swimming under the microscope. The number was extremely large. That shouldn’t be the normal probiotic bacteria in milk. He saw Tao Yueyue looking curious next to him. He asked, "Do you want to see it too?"

"Is it okay?" Tao Yueyue looked at Peng Sijue’s serious face in fear.

"It's okay, come over!"

Chen Shi asked Tao Yueyue to stand on the chair and she watched it in excitement. Peng Sijue's face became more and more tense. "I need to work. Take the child to play elsewhere!"

"Aiya, have some love in your heart, okay?”

"Get out!"

"Old Peng, take the time to help me test it. I’ll invite you to dinner later.”

"I have to be able to make time for it. Do you know how busy I’ve been recently?"

"Can't you work overtime? Look at your hair. It's still a long way from being completely bald. Work some overtime!" Chen Shi said as he moved his hands and feet around.

"That's the door. Get out!"

After being chased away, Chen Shi still begged him, "Please! I’ll invite you to eat Japanese food later on."

Upon leaving the bureau, Chen Shi called Wei Yi and told him that the milk was indeed tampered with. In order to prevent him from alerting the other party, the milk should be kept every day going forward, and the empty bottle should still be placed in the box.

Then, he contacted kk and asked him to investigate the milkman. If convenient, he could install a spy cam in an inconspicuous corner of Wei Yi's door.

After eating something simple, the two went to the spot where Wei Yi witnessed the zombie. This was a secluded street. To be precise, it was a road that connected a certain housing district to the road, so there weren’t many people at night. There were small shops on both sides of the road. They were basically all closed at night. Only the Fumanduo Supermarket’s lights were lit. Through the glass door, the owner could be seen playing Dizhu[1] on the computer.

Chen Shi opened the map on his phone. "There aren’t any banks or gold shops within half a kilometer."

Tao Yueyue immediately understood what he meant. "Uncle Chen, do you mean to say that they may not be robbers?"

"Yes, I don't think it's a robber. According to a robber’s mentality, they won't dress up before they reach their destination. There are surveillance cameras on the road that would photograph them. It's too conspicuous to wear a zombie mask on the passenger seat unless their goal is this small supermarket."

"This is a tobacco and alcohol supermarket. It’s worth stealing from."

"But the other party wasn’t wearing the clothes like that of robbers. Wei Yi said that the woman he saw was a long-haired woman in red clothes. This image appeared repeatedly in his dream. He shouldn’t have lied to us. Except for robbers, what else do you think is possible?"

Tao Yueyue thought for a while. "It was the corpse itself?"

"Yes, this corpse wasn’t placed in the back seat, nor in the boot, but was carefully dressed and put on the passenger seat. This explains two points. First, the back seat and the boot may have more important things placed there, but what is more important than the corpse? Perhaps the driver wasn’t going to throw the body away, but was just transporting the body. Second, since they dared to put the body on the passenger seat, it indicates that they aren’t afraid of being caught by surveillance cameras. There may be no surveillance cameras along the way."

"Or perhap Wei Yi lied! He may not have seen it in the passenger seat, but in the back seat."

"It was so dark. How could he have seen a well-dressed corpse sitting in the back seat?”

Tao Yueyue looked at the car parked on the side of the road. "Maybe he dived into the car. For example, the driver got out of the car and left their phone there with the window open. He wanted to take advantage of that, but saw the ‘person’ sitting in the back seat.”

"Haha, you’re thinking too specifically."

"Isn't it right?" Tao Yueyue was looking forward to Chen Shi's evaluation.

Chen Shi patted her head. "It’s not entirely impossible. After all, all our reasoning is based on Wei Yi's own narrative. It’s well-known how unreliable people's memories are. People can close off their memories to defend themselves and doubting the objectivity of the other parties is also understandable.”

"Listening to your tone, you don't plan to adopt my reasoning!"

"We’ll adopt it! But our investigation needs to go from what’s close to what’s far. Let’s investigate this housing community first and then expand out, okay?”

Tao Yueyue nodded.

This small road connected the east and north gates of the housing district. Chen Shi went to the north gate of the community and asked the security guard in the duty room for information on the rental houses. The security guard didn't know much about it. Chen Shi gave him 300 yuan and asked him to help.

Chen Shi asked again, "Right, this door doesn’t have a surveillance camera, right?"

The security guard replied, "It hasn’t been installed yet, mainly because the owner felt like going to the supermarket on the north side was a massive inconvenience if they had to take the long way, so they temporarily opened this door. So, the monitoring hasn’t been installed yet."

"Okay, I understand. I’ll trouble you regarding this matter then."

"Of course, of course!"

Chen Shi pulled Tao Yueyue away and Tao Yueyue said, "I think I may not be able to be a police officer. I have to talk to strangers when investigating a case. I may not be able to."

"Investigations are originally very boring. Sometimes, after a long time, you’d find that it’s a dead end. You can’t bear that sense of frustration without an iron heart."

"But you always find the key immediately."

Chen Shi shook his head with a smile. "It might seem easy to others, but whether it’s easy or not can only be known by that person. Let's go to the next housing district."

"Across the road is the community where Wei Yi lives, right?"

"Yes, I was thinking that the person who transported the body might live in the same community as he does! Are you tired?"

"Not tired. I feel very happy to investigate the case together with you." Tao Yueyue smiled.

1. Card game in the genre of shedding and gambling. It is one of the most popular card games played in China. Dou dizhu is described as easy to learn but hard to master, requiring mathematical and strategic thinking as well as carefully planned execution. The game starts with players bidding for the “Dizhu” AKA "landlord" (地主) position. Those who lose the bid or do not bid enter the game as the "peasants" (農民).