A shrill doorbell rang, piercing the long silent night.

"Huh? Why is it so noisy?...... Alas, really! Who is the third watch in the middle of the night?...... Ah! It's almost three o'clock, alas! ”

This is an apartment building located on Dongshan Street in Dongzhou, and the wife of the floor manager is chattering and lazily getting out of bed.

Wearing a pair of slippers and wiping her hazy sleepy eyes, she came to the gate full of resentment.

"Who is this...... It's time for ......"

The caretaker's husband, who was still lazy in bed, asked while yawning.

"I don't know...... However, if you come to the door so late, you must have come to ask Dr. Peng. ”

Dr. Pang is listed to practise on Tung Shan Street.

"Looking for Dr. Peng? Hum! Want to wake him up so late? You tell them that the doctor is not at home. ”

After the caretaker finished his sentence in fidgetiness, he sunk his head deep into the pillow and fell back to a sweet sleep.

"Don't do that...... Maybe there is a seriously ill person in the family who comes to call a doctor......" The caretaker's wife walked to the door with heavy steps.

"Hey! Feed! Please don't slam the bell like that, okay! Floors full of people have woken you up. ”

"May I ask, which floor does Dr. Peng live on?" A man's voice came from outside the door.

"Ah...... 4th Floor ...... However, Dr. Peng doesn't see a doctor at night! ”

"However, my family's condition has deteriorated, and I have to let him see it anyway...... Please, please open the door, okay?"

The caretaker's wife, though very annoyed and dissatisfied, was a little unbearable, so she unhappily pulled the deadbolt.

I saw a man rushing upstairs quickly, and he didn't have time to see his face clearly.

The caretaker's wife grumbled, complained incessantly about the faux pas, and then returned to her room and climbed back into the comfortable bed.

"That man is weird...... At least he should thank me......"

"What kind of person is it?"

"He slammed through the door, and I didn't even have time to see his face...... However, according to this situation, his family is indeed in critical condition, because he went upstairs in a panic, confusion and anxiety. ”

The man rushed up to the second floor in a fit of rage...... I passed the fourth floor where Dr. Peng's house was located and went straight to the sixth floor.

He took the key out of his pocket and tentatively reached through the keyhole.

"Ah, that's amazing! This key has finally come into use. That way, my work can start smoothly.

"Before I can start my operation, though, I have to find an escape route, otherwise it will be too dangerous...... By the way, I had to pretend that I was rejected by the doctor, and pretend to be very frustrated. ”

After mentally calculating the time of his dealings with the doctor, he went downstairs, and then came to the door of the room of the caretaker and his wife, and said:

"It's too bothering to you. You're right, he's reluctant to go out at night. Alas! That nasty doctor, no matter what I have to say, he just won't go to see a patient. Alas! What a wasted effort, so late...... I'm sorry, but please close the door again! ”

He shouted at the door, then turned and walked out the door. The caretaker's wife grumbled out of bed again and staggered the door shut.

However, because she was sleepy-eyed, she did not notice that the man had put a small piece of iron into the keyhole of the door as he passed by him, so that the caretaker's wife could not lock the door at all.

The man hid in the doorway until the caretaker's wife returned to her room, then quietly opened the door and climbed the stairs lightly. Then, he took out the key again, opened the door in the hallway, and then he crawled into the room at the entrance of the hallway.

He turned on his flashlight, and by the light he saw a drawing on the floor, which was the floor plan of the residential building.

"This is the room at the entrance to the corridor where I was.

"The room faces the street, and in addition to the hall, there is a bedroom and a dining room...... The house is just too spacious. However, this is not unusual, because Mrs. Shin Shin lives here.

However, this Mrs. Xinxin is not a woman with a refined eye. The carpets, and the painting on the wall, are all bargains...... However, it has nothing to do with me at all, I only have one purpose.

"Huh? It's weird, where is that thing placed? According to rumors, Mrs. Shin Shin put it in a place where no one could find it.

"But for me, it doesn't matter at all. Because as long as it's something I love, no matter how secret it is, I'll find it without much difficulty.

"Oh? It doesn't seem to be in this room, nor in the halls where there is a lot of traffic...... In that case, it should probably be in the back of the bedroom or closet! ”

The man folded the floor plan and put it in his pocket.

He extinguished the light of the flashlight and tentatively made his way into the hall. When he came to the hall, he listened quietly with bated breath.

Mrs. Shin Shin was the widow of a wealthy gentleman, and she lived alone in this house. The man had secretly investigated carefully, and in addition to Mrs. Xinxin, she had also hired a manservant, a maid, and a female cook.

The servants' bedrooms, though on the other side of the corridor, were in a critical situation if they were awakened. He listened with bated breath, but there was not even a single movement in the room.

The man stretched out his hand again and groped his way forward, approaching Mrs. Xinxin's bedroom step by step. He reached out and grabbed the handle of the door.

"This house must be a place where black pearls are hidden, and if you come here, you will be safe, and I can't go home empty-handed."

He quietly opened the door.

Mrs. Shin Shin seemed to be in the habit of turning off the bedside lamp when she went to bed, and the room was pitch black.

He listened attentively, but he couldn't even hear Mrs. Xinxin's breath clearly.

The man looked around at the room, and then remembered the floor plan he had just seen.

In this room, Mrs. Shin Shin's bed is placed by the window, and there is a round tea table and two easy chairs in the middle.

"Hmmm! On the small cabinet at the head of her bed, there was a box with a lid. It is said that she had a habit of taking off her necklace and earrings every day before going to bed and putting them in that small box. It can be seen that the black pearl must be preserved in it.

The man seemed to nod confidently.

He leaned over the ground and crawled forward step by step. It didn't take long for his hand to touch the table leg. He fumbled as he crawled forward, his hand touching the easy chair again.

"It must be a bed beyond that, and the top of the bedside table ......"

He reached out to rub the carpet, and suddenly he touched something hard. Maybe it was a candlestick that had fallen from the table, he thought.

He probed forward again, and after a while he touched something cold and hard.

“…… This is the clock. ”

The hour hand of the luminous watch stopped.

"What the hell is going on?"