Volume Ten: Crossroads Chapter Two: A Peculiar Testimony

The car stopped at the bottom of the traffic police headquarters. Everyone got out and walked inside.

“Traffic police?” Huo Mingkun was momentarily confused, then quickly understood. “Ah, I get it! The overloading and drunk driving cases were handled by the traffic police, so there must be statements. Ha, Captain Chu, you’re brilliant.”

Chu Tianyou smiled and walked in. “Hello, Chu Tianyou from the Sky Sword Special Criminal Investigation Unit of the Ye City Public Security Bureau. I’ve contacted you earlier.”

“Hello, the captain is over here. Please follow me.” A traffic officer led Chu Tianyou and his group into an office.

“Captain Chu, long time no see! Please, have a seat.” The traffic police captain, He Mingchen, stood up with a smile and shook hands with each of them.

“Captain He, you’re as dashing as ever,” Chu Tianyou said courteously.

“Oh, come on, no need for formalities. Don’t forget, back in the day at the traffic police headquarters, we were the closest of friends!” Captain He laughed.

“Absolutely, absolutely,” Chu Tianyou laughed.

“Alright, enough reminiscing, we’ll have plenty of time for that later. Here’s the information you wanted.” Captain He handed over a folder, which Chu Tianyou immediately passed to Yaoguang. Yaoguang opened it and began to read. “Whoa, these statements are straight out of a supernatural novel.”

“It’s true. The overloaded truck driver is easier to explain—his truck stalled at the intersection, couldn’t restart it, and the patrolling traffic officer found him. While educating him, the driver kept muttering that the truck always stalled at that intersection, could never get it started, tried for half an hour before giving up. The officer found he was overloaded and wouldn’t let him proceed, so he had to call another truck to redistribute the cargo before he could leave. But the strangest case is the drunk driver. When we found him at the intersection, he was passed out, completely unconscious. Yet as soon as he arrived at headquarters, he woke up, clear-headed. He claimed he’d only had half a bottle of beer, and when his car reached the intersection, it suddenly stalled and he inexplicably fell asleep, deeply. He didn’t even know how he got to headquarters. Our alcohol test showed his blood alcohol level was low—just a mild drunk driving case. We were puzzled because, at that level, he shouldn’t have been so out of it. But rules are rules; he was detained and is now in the holding facility. The strangest part: when his family came to handle the paperwork, we asked about his drinking habits, and they said he’s never drunk—can drink two cases of beer and never gets drunk. How could half a bottle knock him out cold? At first, we thought maybe he was just exhausted and the alcohol tipped him over, but with all these messy posts on Weibo recently, we started to wonder. We were about to reach out to you, and here you are.” Captain He finished, shaking his head in confusion.

“Can we make a copy of these documents?” Yaoguang asked.

“No problem. This set is for you,” Captain He nodded.

“Is Ming Cheng’s car still at headquarters? We’d like to see it,” Yaoguang said.

“Certainly.” Captain He led them to the back lot. “That white Corolla.”

Huo Mingkun nodded and went over, opened the door, activated his Golden Eye: a black magnetic field, very weak, no resentment but traces of ghostly energy. He walked back and nodded to Yaoguang.

“We’d like to meet Ming Cheng,” Yaoguang said.

“No problem. I’ve already notified the holding facility. Come, I’ll take you over.” Captain He led them out.

At the detention center, after meeting the drunk driver, Yaoguang observed that he seemed to be in good spirits.

“Hello, we’re from the Ye City Public Security Bureau. We’d like to learn more about your drunk driving incident,” Yaoguang said.

“No problem, officer. My name is Ming Cheng. First, I want to apologize for my drunk driving—I promise it won’t happen again, I’ll follow the rules. Here’s what happened: seven nights ago, after working late, I stopped by a friend’s house to drop something off. He was drinking, and I couldn’t resist, had three beers—small cups, like those at beer stalls, just a mouthful each. I had three, then realized it was late and went home. That intersection is the only way home, and since it’s a remote crossing, I gambled, drove through. It was almost midnight, no cars or pedestrians. I knew I’d drunk, so I drove slowly. When I stopped at the red light, my car suddenly stalled and wouldn’t restart. The window was open, and suddenly a gust of wind blew in—I fell asleep instantly, knew nothing. When I woke up, I was at the traffic police headquarters. The strangest part: I asked the officer how he found me, and he said someone called to report it. He showed me the call log, and the report was made from my own phone! But my phone has no record of that call. Isn’t that strange?” Ming Cheng said.

“When was the report made, and when did you fall asleep?” Yaoguang asked.

“I checked my phone after the car stalled and I tried to restart it. It was 11:55 p.m. Then the wind came, and I fell asleep,” Ming Cheng replied.

“The report came in at 12:05,” Captain He said.

“So the police received the report ten minutes after you fell asleep,” Yaoguang clarified.

“That’s right. Strange, isn’t it? And I’m someone who never gets drunk—I can drink four jin of liquor, two cases of beer, no problem. How could three sips knock me out?” Ming Cheng said. “I definitely encountered something abnormal.”

“Mr. Ming, may we take your fingerprints and those on your phone?” Yaoguang asked. “We want to find out who made that call. No matter how much you drank, it was still drunk driving. Whoever called—however you look at it—saved your life. If something had happened, you'd have regretted it forever. That person is your benefactor.”

“Officer, I understand. I’ll cooperate. If you find them, please let me know—I want to thank them in person. Ah, I’ll never take chances again. There are gods above—I always thought I was a law-abiding person, but even I made such a rookie mistake. Lesson learned—I'll remember it,” Ming Cheng nodded helplessly.

“Thank you.” Yaoguang glanced at Jiang Yun, who carefully collected fingerprints.

“Captain He, isn’t Ming Cheng’s case a minor drunk driving offense? Why was he detained? If I recall, shouldn’t his penalty be six months’ license suspension and a fine between one and two thousand yuan?” Huo Mingkun wondered.

“He was unlucky. There's a crackdown on drunk driving now, so the penalty is six months’ license suspension, a two thousand yuan fine, and seven days' detention,” Captain He said, making a helpless gesture.

“Punishment is deserved—I broke the law,” Ming Cheng sighed.

“To recognize and correct a mistake is the greatest virtue. Remember this lesson,” Captain He said.

“Thank you,” Ming Cheng replied.

“Ming Cheng, your paperwork’s done—you can go. We don’t want to see you again. Safe travels,” a police officer came in and handed over a file. Ming Cheng signed, collected his belongings, and left with Yaoguang and the others.

“Ah Cheng, are you alright?” A woman greeted him.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Don’t cry, officer, sorry—this is my wife,” Ming Cheng said bashfully.

“Sorry, officers, we’re so grateful for your help,” the woman said politely.

“No need to be so formal. Go on,” Captain He waved. Ming Cheng nodded and left with the woman.

“Ah, this really is peculiar. Captain He, we’re off—we plan to visit the truck driver. If anything happens at that intersection, let us know right away,” Chu Tianyou said.

“Take care,” Captain He replied.

“Let’s go to the truck driver’s home,” Yaoguang glanced at the address on the file. “Did you notice anything in the car?”

“A black magnetic field, very weak, no resentment but ghostly energy,” Huo Mingkun replied.

“So there really are spirits involved. We need more clues,” Yaoguang said.

The car sped off and arrived near a warehouse. Following the address, they found the truck driver, Old Li.

“Hello, we’re from Ye City Public Security Bureau. We’d like to ask you some questions,” Yaoguang showed her badge.

“Officers, please come in,” Old Li ushered them inside. “Is this about my overloading? Is there any other penalty?” Old Li looked nervous.

“No, we just want to understand why your truck couldn’t start that night,” Yaoguang said.

“Oh, I see. It was strange. I work in logistics, mostly transporting fruit. This truck was just bought this month, and that night was its first trip. The destination was Dong City, which is normally accessible by highway, but since the fruit was nearly ripe, I wanted to haul more—so I overloaded, taking the lower road. To get to Dong City by that route, you have to pass Xiyang Street and that intersection. As I neared the crossing, I saw a shadow flash by and instinctively hit the brakes. I thought I was seeing things, so I got out to check—nothing there. When I got back in, the engine had stalled. When I stopped earlier, I just parked with the gear engaged, didn’t turn off the engine. Then I tried to start it, but it wouldn’t turn over, tried for half an hour, nothing. Then a patrolling traffic officer found me. I had no choice, called a small truck to redistribute the excess cargo. The officer said I had a good attitude, gave me a stern warning, and let me go, but registered my truck and said next time they’d be strict. After the officer left, I tried starting the truck again—and it worked. Isn’t that strange?” Old Li finished and lit a cigarette.

“Better not overload in the future—it’s dangerous,” Huo Mingkun said.

“Yes, yes, I won’t dare anymore. All these years, I’ve never overloaded—first time, got caught. A lesson learned. Luckily the rules are humane now, otherwise this trip would’ve been wasted,” Old Li said.

“Mr. Li, we’d like to see your truck,” Huo Mingkun said.

“Of course,” Old Li led them to the back warehouse where a Dongfeng truck was parked.

Huo Mingkun walked around, then climbed into the cab, activated his Golden Eye. Same black magnetic field, no resentment. He jumped down and returned to Yaoguang. “Same.”

Yaoguang nodded, bade farewell to Old Li, and took the group back to Sky Sword headquarters.

“At this stage, we can preliminarily conclude this is a supernatural incident. Kun, Xu, Yun, you three visit the intersection and try to find other witnesses. Xuanchen, you pull up all traffic accidents at this intersection from the past six months. Tianyou, let’s go take a look at the intersection ourselves,” Yaoguang said, and everyone set off on their tasks.