“Well - if that happens, will I be pensated for the missi?” The middle aged woman followed the detectives into the townhouse.

  “I actually don’t know. It will be up to the city at that point.” Keryn shrugged: “But since you’re the nddy, your insurance should cover most of it, if not all of it. ”

  The nddy just shook her head with a wry smile, and did not answer.

  “You don’t have insurance?” Marcus frowned.

  “I - I - well - ”

  “Nevermind, we’re here to look into the man, not push anything or anyone.” Shrevas sighed: “Times are tough for everyone, huh?”

  “Yes - yes. ” The nddy started nodding profusely: “Thank you! Thank you very much officer. Yes iime’s tough right now, and everything’s getting expensive - ”

  “ you tell us a bit about this Luo Zhuge guy? What’s he like as a tenant? What’s his daily routine? ” Marcus waved his hand and asked.

  “And - you show us anything with his handwriting?” Keryn followed up: “Like your lease tracts, or an envelope. Do you have a picture of him as well?”

  “I - I just have a very simple lease tract. Let me see…” The nddy pulled out her phone and started scrolling through the pictures on it: “... sorry, sorry, I may need some time to find it. It was a couple of months ago…”

  “It’s okay, take your time.” Shrevas looked around the first floor - there was a small ste room uhe stairs, and a door leading to the garage. There was a simple bicycle ie room, a vacuum er and a small empty cardboard box. “Check the car.” Shrevas Keryn.

  Keryn opehe door to the garage. There was no car inside. A breath of slightly moist and pu smell poured out. Marcus could see some dirty shoes, some more cardboard boxes and a small thick pstic bag with some brown grains inside - fertilizers, it appeared.

  “We check ter.” Marcus started walking upstairs towards the living room of this pce, and where the bedroom could be. The living room upstairs was also empty. The carpet was , but worn. So was everything else - the sofa, the dining tables and chairs, the kit ware and the TV.

  “Hoeople are living here?” Shrevas asked the nddy as he walked up the stairs.

  “Only one. I was thinking of renting out both the bedrooms ohird floor and the one on the sed floor separately. But this maed the eownhome. So I gave him a dist.” The nddy sighed: “To be ho, if it weren’t for you tag me, I wouldn’t know anything.”

  “Oh, why?” Keryn asked: “Did he prepay the rent in advance? How many months?”

  The nddy stammered for a bit, then answered: “Actually - six months…”

  “But - if I remember correctly, he started renting four months ago?” Keryn chuckled: “Okay.”

  “Yes, yes. Normally I rent only on yearly basis, I just had to make an exception at this time.” The nddy put on another “I’m having a hard time” face: “Because, you know, times are tough.”

  “Do all of these e with the pce? Any of these things belong to him?” Marcus asked as he k down on some exposed hardwood floor and started knog on the floorboards. The carpet was not glued to the floor, so he could lift them up and check the floorboards underh as well.

  “Yes - yes, looks like it.” The nddy looked around and nodded, sounding relieved that she was not pressured about the terms of the rent: “I advertised on the fact that they could just bring their luggage in and start living right away.”

  “What about the chrysanthemums? Did you grow them?”

  “No - no, I used to grow vegetables there.” The nddy shook her head: “He’s actually the first rehat’s ever paid attention to that. Normally I’d have to hire weeding people to get rid of the weeds after the rent is up.”

  “Which bedroom did he live in?” Shrevas was about to go onto the stairs upward to the top floor.

  “I - I actually don’t know. I’d assume the main bedroom with the biggest window. It’s fag Northeast and has pretty good sunlight.”

  “Alright, Marcus, Keryn, I’ll go up and take a look. You keep on cheg here.” Shrevas he up to the top floor.

  Just when Shrevas was about to ehe top floor, a piece of floorboard made a hollow sound and moved a little when Marcus’ knuckles tapped on it. Keryn, who was cheg uhe coffee table, turned her head back, waiting to see what he had uhed.

  Marcus pulled out his key and jammed the thi key into the gap on the floorboard’s side, then pried the board up bit by bit.

  It was indeed a hollow spader the floorboard. It was something long, roughly with the width of Marcus’ palm, ed in a piece of slightly dirty yellow cloth.

  Marcus took a deep breath, then trated his Qi on his eyes. At the same time, he started utilizing some of the meditation and visualization tricks along with this.

  peared before his eyes almost made him jump. There were dark particles surrounding the object - not too dehat he’d feel uneasy to touch. But on the yellow cloth, a dark red handprint appeared out of nowhere, as if someone grabbed it while their hand was drenched in blood.

  “What is it?” Keryn walked over with lighteeps.

  “Something bad. ” Marcus looked around: “I’ll need something long - not wood or metal. preferably pstic or rubber.”