Yan Shouyi sat in the back of the police car, turning his head to look beside him helplessly.
My goodness, Lin Zitong and Lu Caiwei were both here!
He asked in exasperation, "Why are you two in the car too?"
Lu Caiwei smiled, "You know who my dad is, and this case also involves us. What's so strange about us being in the car?"
Long Feicheng chimed in, "Exactly, exactly!"
Lin Zitong crossed her arms and said, "Don't think you can shake us off and take risks alone."
"That's not the right way to put it," Yan Shouyi corrected. "Bringing you along is what's risky. If I were alone, there'd be no danger."
Lin Zitong was fine, but Lu Caiwei and Long Feicheng, being so weak, couldn't help but agree with Yan Shouyi.
However, today they were only going to investigate the scene, not apprehend the killer, so there shouldn't be any danger. Therefore, Yan Shouyi let Lu Caiwei follow.
Xia Zhi was driving in front, her expression grave, and said,
"Yan Shouyi, I only told you half of it on the phone."
"What's the other half?" Yan Shouyi asked.
Xia Zhi replied, "The night Liu Weiwu died, the body of Zhou Mingyuan, which was in the morgue, disappeared. And according to the forensic department's latest news, Liu Weiwu's cell was covered in Zhou Mingyuan's fingerprints. Even more terrifying, three severed fingers belonging to Zhou Mingyuan were found in Liu Weiwu's stomach!"
Lu Caiwei and Long Feicheng, who had desperately insisted on coming along, suddenly felt a desire to get out of the car.
One was a death row inmate under strict guard, and the other was a villain who had been dead for many days. How did these two end up together again?
Could it be that Zhou Mingyuan wasn't completely dead and went back to seek revenge on Liu Weiwu, and in the struggle, Liu Weiwu bit off three of Zhou Mingyuan's fingers?!
Just thinking about it sent shivers down their spines and made their backs feel cold.
It was as if Zhou Mingyuan's pale corpse was hiding in the trunk of their car at that very moment.
Yan Shouyi rubbed his chin, his gaze not lost, but simply feeling a bit strange.
He looked at Lin Zitong and asked, "Smelly girl, what are your thoughts?"
Lin Zitong gave Yan Shouyi a disdainful look and then uttered three words: "Corpse handlers."
"My thoughts are the same as yours," Yan Shouyi said.
Long Feicheng, sitting in the front passenger seat, suddenly exclaimed, "Corpse handlers again? Didn't we just encounter a corpse handler a few days ago? Could this be the work of the same person?"
On the night Yan Shouyi and Lin Zitong became a couple, Yan Shouyi experienced the Meng Guohui fox spirit incident.
And in that incident, the villain Ding Li was already dead, but the mastermind behind Ding Li, the corpse handler, had not yet appeared.
Yan Shouyi hadn't gone looking for the corpse handler, but the corpse handler had inadvertently revealed himself.
Yan Shouyi frowned and said, "What strikes me as odd is how Zhou Mingyuan and the corpse handler became connected. Is it a coincidence, or intentional?"
The cases involving Zhou Mingyuan and Liu Weiwu were clearly the grave-burying case and the girls' dormitory case at Shanghang Art School. This Meng Guohui fox spirit incident had no connection to it.
But now the corpse handler controlled Zhou Mingyuan's body to kill Liu Weiwu. This made no sense and was illogical.
Lin Zitong thought for a moment and said, "Could it be that Zhou Mingyuan and the corpse handler knew each other, and the corpse handler did all this to avenge Zhou Mingyuan?..."
"The corpse handler could kill Brother Wei in countless ways. If the corpse handler was avenging Zhou Mingyuan, it would be even less likely for him to control Zhou Mingyuan's body. It would be too much of a hassle," Yan Shouyi shook his head.
Then, he suddenly thought of something, and a flash of inspiration crossed his mind. He blurted out,
"There's a connection between them..."
"What is it?" Everyone, including Xia Zhi, couldn't help but ask.
Yan Shouyi said in a low voice, "The Bai family."
Everyone fell silent.
It was unlikely that the corpse handler had a connection with the Lushhan Sect, so the greater possibility was the Bai family.
In the entire Rongcheng, there were three Ghost King families. Among them, the Liu family was the weakest. The ancestor of the Liu family, Liu Jingkang, was extremely frail and rarely went out, not wanting to stir up trouble.
Although the Li family was high-profile, they lacked powerful individuals; Gao Zizhen alone had them running in circles.
Only the Bai family, however, actively recruited experts and brought them under their wing, acting ruthlessly.
Especially the young man from the Bai family, Bai Yusheng, who committed countless heinous acts, all just to celebrate his family's ancestor's birthday.
If any strange event occurred in Rongcheng now, Yan Shouyi's first thought would be that someone from the Bai family was responsible.
Xia Zhi drove the four of them to the prison where Liu Weiwu had died. After identifying themselves, they entered the prison without any hindrance and arrived at the scene of the crime.
The cell was independent, located at the corner at the end of the corridor. The door was a heavy iron gate with only a small window, just enough to slide in a plate of food.
Inside the cell, there were no obstructions. The bed and toilet were visible at a glance. The walls were made of thick brick, and the ventilation ducts were very narrow, making it difficult to even fit a hand inside.
At this moment, quite a few detectives were standing outside the cell door. A forensic doctor in protective clothing was continuing to collect samples at the scene. Brother Wei's body had already been removed.
The detectives, seeing Xia Zhi bring a group of young people, couldn't help but frown and say, "Junior sister, this is a major crime scene. You can't bring random people in here. What if the scene is disturbed?"
Xia Zhi explained, "These are some peculiar individuals I know, and Liu Weiwu was sent to prison by them. Bringing them here might help discover something."
However, her senior colleagues were not convinced and blocked Xia Zhi, preventing Yan Shouyi and his group from entering the scene.
Just as a dispute was about to erupt, Lu Caiwei sighed loudly and declared, "My father is Lu Lixun!"
The scene immediately fell silent. Then, the senior who had been so adamant immediately made way for Xia Zhi, saying, "Oh, why didn't you say so earlier? Please, come in, come in!"
Yan Shouyi and Xia Zhi were speechless.
So, it turned out that background and connections were what truly mattered.
Lu Caiwei said in a low voice, "Actually, I don't like revealing my identity, but sometimes, my dad's name is just very effective. Who told us to live in a society based on relationships? Regardless, I just want you all to get into the scene quickly. Don't think of me as some ignorant second-generation official."
"What are you thinking? We would never think that!" the fawning Long Feicheng immediately replied.
Yan Shouyi said nothing. Although the method was questionable, at least the objective was achieved.
Not only did they let them enter the scene, but they even had everyone else withdraw. However, to prevent Yan Shouyi and his group from causing trouble, they still guarded the cell door closely, staring intently at them.
Xia Zhi reminded them, "Another group of experts will be arriving to investigate soon, so we don't have much time."
"Mm."
Yan Shouyi nodded slightly and said to Lin Zitong, "Smelly girl, try to see if you can retrieve Brother Wei's soul. The souls of the deceased often linger at the site of their death."
"You just know how to order me around."
Lin Zitong pouted in displeasure, then sat down on the floor, closed her eyes, and began chanting, shaking the soul-summoning bell.
Ding Ling!
The bell rings once, and lonely souls and wild ghosts depart with the wind.
Ding Ling!
The bell rings twice, and passing travelers must not linger.
Ding Ling!
The bell rings thrice, and the deceased hears the command and returns swiftly!
While Lin Zitong was summoning souls, Yan Shouyi looked around and sniffed vigorously.
There was indeed a strong smell of decay in the cell, indicating that Zhou Mingyuan had indeed broken in.
Lu Caiwei and Long Feicheng surveyed the interior of the cell, feeling chills. Although Brother Wei's body had been removed, there were still talismans drawn on the walls with Brother Wei's blood.
The entire cell seemed like a large altar, with Brother Wei's body as the sacrifice.
They couldn't help but imagine some evil and terrifying rituals.
Yan Shouyi also began to examine the "scribbles" on the walls.
Xia Zhi asked, "Before we called you, we had our colleagues in the team review many ancient texts, but we couldn't find any that matched the talismans on the walls. Can you understand the meaning of these talismans?"
Yan Shouyi was silent for a moment, then finally shook his head.
Xia Zhi was slightly disappointed, "Even you can't figure it out. This case might be difficult."
"That's not what I mean," Yan Shouyi said in a low voice. "It's not that I don't recognize these talismans. It's that these talismans are drawn randomly. They have no meaning or effect in themselves."
Xia Zhi was startled, "Could it be that the killer deliberately drew them randomly to confuse us, to lead us astray, and to slow down our investigation?"
"Not entirely."
Yan Shouyi refuted Xia Zhi's idea once again, then asked, "Did you get someone to make rubbings of the talismans on the walls? Can you give me a rubbing?"
"No problem."
A moment later, Xia Zhi brought the rubbings. These were scanned by instruments and were very accurate, no different from what was drawn on the walls. Big Wind Fiction
While Yan Shouyi marveled at the rapid progress of technology, he didn't forget to think.
He asked for a pen and began doodling on the document, spending a full five minutes.
During this time, everyone held their breath, afraid of disturbing Yan Shouyi and disrupting his thoughts.
As Yan Shouyi studied the document, he would frown at times and write furiously at others. Meanwhile, Lin Zitong also seemed to be facing difficulties, with both of them trying to overcome obstacles.
Finally, Yan Shouyi discovered the truth and put down his pen, saying, "Get me a map of Rongcheng!"
Xia Zhi quickly asked a colleague to fetch the map.
"Brother Yan, did you discover something?" Long Feicheng asked curiously.
Yan Shouyi held the document in his hand and said softly, "The talismans the killer left on the wall were not drawn randomly. Hidden within the scattered talismans is actually a map!"