On the way back to the Public Security Bureau, Chen Shi suddenly said, "That girl isn’t Hanmeng."

"Oh?" Lin Dongxue was taken aback. "I think so too. Captain Peng has checked her. She’s an ordinary little girl. Hanmeng can’t be of this age."

Chen Shi stared at his face in the rearview mirror and said, "She said in the interrogation room just now that a person cannot tell that it’s a dream when inside a dream. Just like now, although you all said this is reality, but it may not be reality."

"Hey, you haven't recovered yet?" Lin Dongxue was nervous.

Chen Shi smiled and shook his head. "Don't be agitated and listen to my theory... Those people and I were all hypnotized. If this little girl did it, her deliberately mystifying remarks should have had an impact on me, but it didn't. This proves that she isn’t a hypnotist! She appeared in order to divert the attention. Hanmeng wanted to kill all her classmates, but only three died today. I think the suspect still has big plans ahead... After Xiaodong’s incident last night, the surveillance was corrupted and these people were hypnotized. It’s that woman. She’s Hanmeng! Yes, the age is consistent!"

"So who’s the little girl?"

"If I’ve guessed correctly, she should be Hanmeng's biological daughter. It’s very possible that the daughter would look like her mother when she was a child."

"That’s way too similar, right?!"

After coming to this reasoning, Chen Shi couldn't wait. He turned the steering wheel and went straight to the old house.

The alley was still very quiet. There weren’t many people on the street. Xu Xiaodong’s car was still parked here. Lin Dongxue went over and knocked on the window. Xu Xiaodong, who was listening to music, took off his headphones and said in surprise, "Why are you here?"

"Has anyone come out of the house today?" Chen Shi asked.

"No, that woman has been watching TV upstairs the whole time. Look, you can still see her back from the second-story window!"

"Let’s go up and see!"

"Do we knock directly on the door?"

"There’s no problem with this procedure, right?" Chen Shi asked Lin Dongxue.

"Since the little girl is suspected of murder, it’s justified to investigate her family members."

When the three arrived at the old house, Lin Dongxue was about to knock on the door. Chen Shi made a gesture to stop her. He took out the tools to pry the lock open and opened the door to see that the first floor was still deserted. The big iron cage was empty.

Xu Xiaodong said in surprise, "I didn't see this man coming out!"

"Go upstairs!" Chen Shi said.

The three of them went upstairs. It turned out that the "female owner" who was watching TV with her back turned to the window was Liu Tao. He was wearing a full set of women's clothes and a wig. When someone broke in suddenly, he was shocked and asked, "Who let you come up?"

"Why are you pretending to be your wife here? Where is she?" Chen Shi interrogated.

"I don't know! I don't know!" Liu Tao was shaking his head.

"Who exactly is your wife? Is she called Hanmeng?!" Chen Shi asked.

Liu Tao's eyes widened and he denied mechanically, "I don't know. I don't know anything!"

It seemed that he was reluctant to say anything. Chen Shi called Lin Dongxue aside and asked, "Where are the people from the reunion?"

"The hypnotized people are temporarily under control, and the others are of course gone."

"Get in touch with them and see."

Chen Shi only had the class representative’s number. He dialed it, but he couldn't get through. He vaguely guessed something was wrong and said, "Locate them through their phone numbers!"

Lin Dongxue notified the bureau to investigate this, but the result was that all of those mobile phone numbers couldn’t be located.

"Maybe those detained right now know of their whereabouts!" Lin Dongxue said.

"Let's hurry back!"

The three hurried back to the bureau. The detention room was almost full. It was full of Hanmeng’s old classmates. Lin Dongxue asked one of the men, "Did the class representative mention where you’d go after the party today?"

The man sat in the detention room playing cards with himself. He raised his head and said with a grin, "I won't tell you!"

"He thinks he’s still dreaming, just like you were just then." Lin Dongxue whispered.

"I wasn’t so naive in my dreams..." Chen Shi said to the man in a coaxing tone, "Do you want to eat anything? Tell us and we'll buy you some delicious food!"

The man looked at Lin Dongxue and said, "Tell me her three measurements."

"Enough!" Lin Dongxue glared. "Forget it, let's ask others!"

"Okay, okay, I’ll talk..." The man relented. "The class representative booked a bus and prepared for us to go back to our alma mater at the end of today’s party. We were going to spend the night there... It was said to be until tomorrow night, because I’m still sleeping right now, hehehe!"

"Number on the plate!"

The man knocked on his head. "Who would deliberately remember the numbers on the license plate? I can't do it!"

They asked a few other people, but they didn't know, so they could only call the bus chartering company to find out.

The police immediately went to the traffic control station to check the surveillance footage. It took nearly three hours to find the traces of the bus. It left the hotel at noon. After passing a few roads, it was now parked next to an abandoned factory in the suburbs.

Lin Dongxue said, "Don't you think it's weird? If something like that happened in the morning, would they still go back to their alma mater to play as originally planned?"

Chen Shi said, "After the reunion was over, this bus has indeed been driving around on the roads. It may be a guise, just like the little girl. It might just be a smoke bomb that diverts our attention. Let's not all rush there. Let’s confirm with the three of us first!"

The three drove there. At sunset, they found the bus that was abandoned on the side of the road. The bus was empty. Chen Shi got on and checked. The bus was very clean and there shouldn’t have been anyone on it except the driver.

Taking into account the possible danger, Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong both brought their guns this time. The three walked into the nearby factory, where there were overgrown weeds, abandoned lathes, and car parts everywhere. It was pitch black when they entered the workshop area.

Suddenly, a few shots alarmed Lin Dongxue and Chen Shi, and they rushed toward the noise. Xu Xiaodong stood in the abandoned factory building, staring in front of him in a daze. The gun in his hand was still smoking. He said in astonishment, "There was something just now that jumped out. I was shocked and shot!"

"Don't shoot randomly!" Lin Dongxue reprimanded him.

"It wouldn’t... have hit someone, right?"

Chen Shi saw a knife and a line of blood on the ground. He said, "You’re very quick to react. That person was trying to kill you!"

Xu Xiaodong gulped in fear.

The three of them followed the blood trail on the ground. The blood was getting fainter and fainter, and finally disappeared around a corner. Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong nervously pointed their guns there, only to hear a squeaking sound, which seemed to be coming from some kind of animal.

The three exchanged glances with each other in surprise, and Chen Shi said, "Do you guys have anything to eat?"

"I have an unfinished bag of biscuits here." Xu Xiaodong said.

Chen Shi threw the biscuits on the ground and signaled the two to back away. The three of them held their breaths and watched. The thing hiding there probably thought they were gone, and so it ran out after smelling the scent of the biscuits. At first glance, the three thought it was an alien. It turned out that it was a shaved monkey. It had been shot in the shoulder, but still couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food, so it picked up the biscuits on the ground and stuffed it into its mouth.

"Notice its hands!" Chen Shi pointed out.

Lin Dongxue found suture threads on the monkey's wrists and its hands were strange. That... that looks like two human hands!