Fake Human Case

"Xuan, let’s go!" Ruan Xun pulled Xuan’s hand, leading her outside. The man remained impassive, but Xuan kept her head down the entire time, afraid to look at him.

Mr. Bai could easily take care of the paperwork. He could spin a story about a robber breaking into the house, a fire starting during the struggle, and the robber getting trapped and burned alive...

"This doesn’t seem very plausible..." Ruan Xun smiled awkwardly.

Xuan couldn’t stop crying, her tears endless. After crying for so long, her throat was dry, and her voice became hoarse. "But... where did my mom go?"

"It’s okay. I’ll keep looking into it," Ruan Xun reassured her, though his words lacked certainty.

Since he’d been paid, Ruan Xun was determined to see things through.

He led Xuan to the security office and knocked on the door. Inside, Sun Yuqiang screamed in shock, his voice trembling. "Who... Who’s out there?!"

"It’s me, open the door!" Ruan Xun realized, only now, that his jokes earlier in the day might have been a bit much.

Hearing Ruan Xun’s voice, Sun Yuqiang rushed to open the door and immediately hugged him. "Ruan Ge, I knew you wouldn’t leave me! You’re so good to me!"

Ruan Xun shoved him away in disgust. "Who said I came to see you? Move aside!"

Sun Yuqiang was pushed aside, noticing Xuan following Ruan Xun into the office. He asked in confusion, "Why is there a little girl? Ruan Ge, the captain said no strangers should be let in."

"How can you be a security guard like this?!" Ruan Xun dragged him over to the window, pointing in the direction of Xuan’s home. "The place over there just caught fire. Didn’t you see it?"

"I... I saw it, yeah. I even opened the gate for the fire truck. I wanted to follow, but then I realized no one would be watching the security office, so I stayed here."

Sun Yuqiang paused for a moment, then whispered, "But what does that have to do with the little girl you brought in...?"

Ruan Xun lit a cigarette, exhaling a slow stream of smoke. Only then did he begin to relax a little.

"Her name’s Xuan. She’s the daughter of the family over there."

"Ruan Ge... What exactly happened over there?"

In the past, Ruan Xun would’ve made up some scary story to frighten him, but now, even if there were a terrifying tale to tell, he lacked the energy to share it.

"Don’t ask. We’ll leave at dawn," Ruan Xun extinguished his cigarette and tossed some empty snack bags, sunflower seed shells, and stinky socks onto the floor. He found a clean blanket and laid it out. "Xuan, you can sleep here for tonight."

"I... I’m too scared to sleep."

After such a long time under intense stress, Xuan’s nerves were shot. Any small noise made her flinch in fear.

"If you don’t sleep, how are we going to investigate tomorrow? Be good, I won’t leave you tonight. I’ll stay right here with this brother," Ruan Xun assured her.

Sun Yuqiang, not fully understanding the gravity of the situation, chimed in, "Yeah, kid, we don’t sleep during the night shift either."

"Okay..." Xuan, still so young, couldn’t handle the constant strain. Her eyelids grew heavy, and within moments, she had fallen into a deep sleep.

"Don’t talk about what happened tonight. If anyone asks, just say it was a kitchen fire, understood?"

Sun Yuqiang had never seen Ruan Xun like this before, and immediately nodded. "Got it, but honestly, I don’t know what happened anyway..."

The night was far from peaceful. Though the fire had been put out, the residents couldn’t sleep. They had gathered in the small square outside, gossiping and murmuring.

"Whose house was that? So careless!"

"Exactly, no fire safety awareness at all."

"If it were me, I’d go demand an explanation!"

The residents’ chatter buzzed in Ruan Xun’s ears, and his head felt like it was going to explode. "Yuqiang, go calm them down."

"Got it!" Sun Yuqiang grabbed his security cap and hurried out.

Ruan Xun took another cigarette from the pack, about to light it, but when he looked down and saw that Xuan had already fallen asleep, he sighed and put the cigarette back.

Opening his laptop, Ruan Xun logged into the familiar forum and started a new thread. If he wanted to investigate this, relying solely on his own abilities wouldn’t get him very far. To gather more clues, he’d need the help of others.

"Hey everyone, I’m not telling a ghost story today... because something strange and important just happened to me..."

He typed quickly, recounting everything that had happened over the past few hours. As soon as he posted it, he was bombarded with replies.

<Real event? When was the last time this wasn’t your line?>

<This is classic from the OP. Don’t tell me people still believe this?>

<Yeah, last time the OP said a school in the south was haunted, I went there myself and found nothing!>

<Group beat-up of OP (1/100)>

<1 to send to Hell Fire...>

<11111, is the big bro really sending it?>

Ruan Xun sighed, scrolling through the ridiculous responses. None of them seemed remotely believable. He was about to close the page when one reply caught his eye. The user’s name was Xiao Fang572.

<What the OP is saying might actually be true… My boyfriend’s been acting strange lately! I thought I was just overthinking it, but after reading this post, I’m sure I’ve experienced a supernatural event.>

"This looks interesting..." Ruan Xun scrolled down to read more.

<About a month ago, he had a little accident and lost the pinky on his left hand. Since then, he’s been wearing a bandage. I felt sorry for him and didn’t think much of it. But a few nights ago, he took off the bandage while showering and put it in the laundry basket. I picked it up to check, and there wasn’t a single drop of blood on it! After he came out, the first thing he did was re-wrap it.>

<I thought it was strange, so I asked him if he changed bandages often. He didn’t respond, saying he hadn’t changed it. And he really hadn’t. Since coming back from the hospital, he never bought a new one, and there weren’t any extra ones at home.>

<I couldn’t shake the feeling, so one night, when he was drunk, I pulled off the bandage. His finger... wasn’t severed! There was no wound at all where his pinky used to be—just smooth skin, as if the finger had never hurt!>

<I’ve been really anxious about this, not knowing what it meant, until I saw the OP’s post.>

Unfortunately, the other users mocked her in the replies:

<Are you a plant sent by the OP?>

<This isn’t the first time the OP has done this. What’s so strange about it?>

<Wow, so creepy, I’m scared now!>

<Maybe the wound just healed up?>

Ruan Xun didn’t pay any attention to the nonsense and clicked on the profile of Xiao Fang572...