Gao Mingqiang, Xia Hou, and Xiao Yuande continued to search near the post office. Theoretically, we shouldn't have found anything, but none of them were willing to give up, as if obsessed with the matter. In reality, we were influenced by my uncle; he took the lead in searching the vicinity.
However, I noticed his reaction was a bit too anxious. When he couldn't find the person in the post office, he grabbed a staff member's clothes and yelled, "Didn't you see this woman?"
"Officer, please calm down. We really haven't seen her. If we had, we would have told you immediately. How would we dare to deceive you!" The post office employee whose clothes were being grabbed was terrified.
I quickly pulled my uncle over and comforted him, "Don't get agitated. I'm sure they don't know."
"Shut up! How long have we been searching and we haven't found a single person!"
This was the first time my uncle had ever spoken to someone like that, which left me momentarily speechless. Seeing my distressed expression, he seemed to realize his behavior and coughed, "He Sheng, I apologize. My tone was too harsh just now."
"It's alright, Uncle. Everyone knows you're worried about Officer Du, but aren't we too? However, anxiety won't help us solve this. We need to be calm!"
"I understand, He Sheng. It's all my fault for being impulsive. This has been dragging on for too long. If we really can't find her, let's put it aside for now. I don't want the entire police force to be busy with my personal matters."
Although my uncle said that, I saw a look of disappointment on his face. I said, "We'll find her soon. Didn't she appear just now? She shouldn't have gone far!"
My uncle glanced at me and continued searching. Just then, his phone suddenly received an email. He picked it up curiously and his eyes widened.
I leaned in. It turned out to be another email from Du Yuting: "I saw you just now, haha, you're still looking for me, how naive! Did you really think I'd be so easily found? Alright, especially you! Old and clumsy uncle, you're clever to have figured out my mailing pattern, but this is just the beginning. I'll continue to play with you and offer you the next round of challenges! Come over now to this place called the Central Funeral Home. Ever heard of it? Come on!"
"Du Yuting, are you done playing? But I've run out of patience. Why are you doing this?" My uncle clenched his phone, almost crushing it, but his anger was still palpable. I comforted him a few times and looked at the address: Central Funeral Home? This was the largest funeral home in our city, Fuming. The email also included a detailed address.
My uncle murmured as he looked at the address, "Why does she want us to go there? Does she have an ulterior motive?"
"It's probably not good, but if we don't go, we won't even have a chance to find her. She might even continue to do more harmful things to force our hand!" I said.
"That's right. Then I'll go alone this time. You all shouldn't take this risk!"
"No, Uncle, that's too dangerous. How about I go with you?"
At this moment, Liu Yuning walked over. We didn't mention Du Yuting's matter and pretended as if nothing had happened.
Liu Yuning found us a bit strange and asked, "What's wrong? If you can't find her, just go back. Are you planning to stay at the post office all day?"
"No, we have some personal matters to attend to. Why don't you go back first? This is between my uncle and me!" I explained.
"Uh, then take your time. You're being so mysterious!" Liu Yuning didn't press further and left with her people. Fortunately, she didn't ask any more questions, or we wouldn't have known how to explain.
As my uncle and I walked out of the post office, he asked me again, "Are you sure you want to come with me?"
"Of course. We agreed, we'll handle this together!"
"Alright, then let's take a taxi."
We didn't drive this time. When we arrived at the funeral home, I expected it to be busy with hearses coming and going. But upon arriving, I realized an issue: this was not the current address of the Central Funeral Home; it was its old site. The new funeral home had long since moved.
"I knew it. It couldn't be a public place, as that would be too dangerous. Du Yuting!" My uncle muttered after getting out of the car, looking towards the funeral home. I told him to stop and go inside to take a look.
Night was falling rapidly. When we first arrived, there was still sunlight. Because the journey took quite some time, we reached our destination at around 9 PM.
As we entered the old Central Funeral Home, my uncle and I both drew our guns, on guard. Funeral homes are inherently eerie and terrifying, especially at night. The dark, quiet building appeared exceptionally imposing and deep. Through the grimy glass windows, it seemed as if spirits were peering out at us two visitors.
The main building was almost collapsing, its walls riddled with cracks. The low eaves were protected by shards of glass, and a few lazy crows perched on the sturdy walls. Upon noticing our presence, they suddenly became alert, cawing strangely, their deep red eyes fixed on us, as if ready to attack at any moment.
In front of the main building stood a tall, yellowed iron gate. This heavy door appeared to have been unopened for a long time, tightly shut, concealing unknown horrors within. If Gao Mingqiang were here, he'd be terrified. My uncle, however, showed no fear and tried to push the gate, but it seemed to be locked.
"Let's check other areas. There should be a back entrance," I suggested. My uncle scanned the surroundings, then followed me as we quickly went around a corridor, soon reaching the back of the main building.
There were many railings and wooden planks here. From a distance, I mistook them for tombstones, but a funeral home wouldn't have tombstones, only nearby columbariums. However, those ashes would have likely been moved long ago.
As I passed through the corridor, I discovered a large hole in a wall. This place seemed to have been deliberately smashed. Seeing this hole reminded me of past reports about the old Central Funeral Home. It was said that a bizarre explosion had occurred here, killing many staff members, which led the director to decide on relocation. The explosion likely happened right here.