Beneath the Dome, Sin within Sins - Chapter 59 - The Crime Scene

With questions about the bandaged man lingering in my mind, I slowly drifted into sleep.

It’s true what they say: what you think about during the day manifests in your dreams at night. My entire night was filled with strange dreams-visions of people wrapped in bandages dancing before my eyes. It wasn’t exactly absurd, but it was enough to make me laugh after waking up.

Of course, the urge to laugh only came after I awoke. Heaven knows how terrified I was in the middle of the dream.

When I finally woke up from the nightmare, it was only five a.m. Everyone else was still sound asleep at that hour.

I, on the other hand, was wide awake. After freshening up and getting dressed, I sat on the bed, staring blankly into space.

I hadn’t been sitting there for long when I suddenly noticed something moving outside through the gap in the curtains.

I frowned, stood up, and yanked the curtains open in one swift motion.

As the fabric slid aside, the bandaged man from my dreams appeared right in front of me!

His face was pressed tightly against the glass, grotesque and eerie. His lips stretched into a pale, ghastly smile that sent chills down my spine in the already unnerving atmosphere.

Terrified, I reflexively shut my eyes tight, my breathing becoming erratic in an instant.

It took a while to calm myself down, but when I finally opened my eyes again, the figure outside the window had vanished.

It wasn’t sheer terror I felt; it was something more sinister and unsettling. Every fiber of my being could sense the malice radiating from the bandaged man.

I got to my feet and cautiously approached the window. To my surprise, there wasn’t a single trace left behind. Only then did I realize-we were staying on the second floor. There was no way anyone could press their face against this window. Everything I saw must have been a hallucination.

My heart continued pounding wildly in my chest. Clearly, I had thought about the bandaged man far too much, to the point that I was now imagining things.

I pulled the curtains shut again and laid back down on the bed. Slowly, the tension that gripped me ebbed away, and before long, I slipped back into unconsciousness.

When a knock at the door woke me the second time, I realized I had fallen asleep after all.

Opening the door, I saw my younger sister, Lu Che, standing there.

She blinked in surprise at my fully dressed appearance and said, “You’re already up, huh? Breakfast is ready. Wait, you’ve been up for a while?”

I nodded, just about to reply, when she cut me off with a playful complaint, “If you were awake, then why didn’t you answer the door when I knocked? You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

“No,” I replied, a little sheepishly. “I got up, but I sort of fell back asleep again.”

Understanding dawned on her face. “Alright then. In that case, hurry up and get ready. Breakfast’s waiting. Zhang Yang is already prepared, and after we eat, he’s going to take us to the room where his father had the accident.”

With that, Lu Che turned and left. Not wanting to waste any more time, I splashed some water on my face and hurried downstairs.

After everyone finished breakfast, Zhang Yang led us to the room where his father had his accident.

When the door was opened, the room was immaculate, with everything neatly arranged. It was clear Zhang Yang’s father was a meticulous man. To avoid any mishaps, Su Mo instructed the women to stay at the doorway while Lu Xun, Su Mo, and I stepped inside to inspect the room.

I walked around the room, taking it all in, then turned to Zhang Yang, who stood at the door. “Are you certain that nothing in here has been touched?” I asked.

Zhang Yang gave a firm nod, confirming my question without hesitation.

“In that case, it would appear your father’s death was a suicide,” I said.

Zhang Yang froze for a moment before shouting, “That’s impossible!”

I let out a sigh, shaking my head slightly. “What makes you so sure?” I asked.

“My father valued his life too much to commit suicide! There’s no way he would end his own life! Plus, he had an appointment with a dentist! I don’t believe someone planning to kill themselves would bother to make a dentist appointment!” Zhang Yang argued passionately.

I nodded, acknowledging the validity of his point. However, he had already made it clear that nothing in the house had been disturbed.

This meant Zhang Yang’s father had died in the room, and the neat state of the space suggested there had been no signs of a struggle.

If it was a murder, his father would not have simply sat still and waited to be killed without putting up any kind of resistance.

Hearing my reasoning, Zhang Yang’s expression wavered, though he continued to mumble to himself, “This isn’t real. None of this is real…”

I was about to say a few words to comfort him, but before I could, Zhang Yang suddenly bolted from the room. His reaction caught all of us off guard.

Just as I was about to step forward to chase after him, Su Mo held me back. Puzzled, I looked at him and asked, “What are you doing? Why aren’t you letting me bring him back?”

“Let him calm down for a bit,” Su Mo replied. “Anyone would have a hard time dealing with something like this. Nothing we say right now is going to help.”

Su Mo’s reasoning made sense. I sighed in resignation, choosing not to pursue the matter further. At this point, there was no point in arguing; nothing I said could change the situation.

After Zhang Yang left, Su Mo checked us out of the room. Given what had happened, none of us were in the mood to continue with our trip. So, by unanimous decision, we packed up and headed home.

All the way back, Bigo seemed visibly unsettled. It wasn’t until the car entered the urban area that the tension slowly lifted from her face, and her expression finally relaxed.

Once I got home, I planned to take a nap to make up for the restless, nerve-wracking night I had endured because of the bandaged man. A good sleep was just what I needed to clear my mind and stop myself from overthinking.

But before I could drift into slumber, my phone-which I’d left on the pillow next to me-started vibrating. Frowning, I glanced at the screen and saw it was Su Mo calling.

At this hour, Su Mo was probably at home. Why on earth was he calling me out of the blue?

I ignored the call since my exhaustion was already weighing heavily on me, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I figured Su Mo would give up if I didn’t answer.

But just as I finally started dozing off, the phone buzzed again, jolting me awake. Clearly, whatever Su Mo was calling about must have been urgent.

Annoyed, I answered the phone, only for Su Mo’s voice to come through in a hurried, slightly panicked tone: “Something bad has happened, Lu Ying!”

Rubbing my temples, I replied irritably, “I’m fine, okay? What’s so urgent that you’d interrupt me when I’m this exhausted? Do you know how tiring that trip was?”

“I know you’re tired, but this time, it’s serious. It’s really serious,” Su Mo said in an uncharacteristically grave voice.

His words sobered me up instantly, wiping away much of the grogginess that had been clinging to me.

“What happened?” I asked, sensing the weight of the situation.

“The boss of Tianyun Group jumped to his death this afternoon!”

Tianyun Group…

The name struck a familiar chord in my mind. I quickly searched my limited mental catalog of major corporations and finally remembered what Tianyun Group was all about.

They’re a prominent real estate developer-a real estate magnate in our city, with money and power enough to dominate the local industry. Practically untouchable.

And now, someone like that-a person who had influence, wealth, and control in the palm of their hand-chose to end their own life?

What kind of unsettling storm was brewing in this city?