Chapter 1 Back to the Police Station

Round and round, they were back at the police station. Boss Zhou wasn't one to meddle, but now that things had come to this, he couldn't pretend not to see what fell under his jurisdiction.

If Huang Mao's hanging and the other one's drowning could still be explained as genuine mental breakdowns leading to suicide, or even murder to silence them, what about the two locked up in the police station?

Surely these petty tomb raiders couldn't be so well-connected as to have a massive protective umbrella, one that could reach into the police station to eliminate them?

This wasn't a police drama.

The old Daoist followed Zhou Ze, a little flustered. After a cursory examination of the brother who had bitten his tongue and committed suicide, the old Daoist's face grew paler and paler. He was terrified.

He'd seen ghosts, yet he was scared by this kind of scene. It sounded unbelievable, but it was actually easy to understand.

To commit suicide by biting one's tongue, one had to bite it off completely at the root. An ordinary person might accidentally bite their tongue while eating and be in pain for half a day. Imagine how horrifying it would be to bite it clean off?

The cause of death was either excessive blood loss or suffocation caused by the remaining tongue blocking the airway. Excessive blood loss could also lead to insufficient oxygen intake. In any case, it was a very courageous way to die, and also a very painful one.

The most ridiculous thing was that these petty tomb raiders, who weren't exactly selfless martyrs dedicating themselves to some lofty ideal, had suddenly acted so "death before dishonor" in prison.

Was that even possible?

"Help me arrange a meeting with the remaining one."

This was what Zhou Ze said to Zhang Yanfeng.

Zhang Yanfeng was a little reluctant, but he still arranged it. Although he didn't want to admit it, Zhang Yanfeng understood that Zhou Ze might be the key to breaking this deadlock.

This case was gradually slipping out of human control.

Finally, after waiting for two hours, until dawn had broken, Zhou Ze finally met the young man in the room next to the infirmary.

The young man's eyes were unfocused, and his body twitched from time to time. Even though the "culprit" who had arrested him was sitting right in front of him, he acted as if he didn't see him.

Zhang Yanfeng dismissed the other police officers, but he himself stayed behind.

"Can you still talk?"

The old Daoist waved his hand in front of the young man, but the young man still didn't react, not even moving his eyeballs.

"Gone crazy?"

Zhang Yanfeng nodded, "He's heading that way."

As a veteran criminal police officer, Zhang Yanfeng had seen too many seasoned veterans in the police station who liked to "perform," claiming to have mental illness, epilepsy, and all sorts of other strange ailments in an attempt to get away with things.

But the person in front of him, Zhang Yanfeng really couldn't judge whether he was faking madness, because the initial interrogation had started with him precisely because everyone thought he was young and inexperienced, so they had tried to find a breakthrough with him first.

Zhou Ze reached out and gently patted the guy's cheek, but he still didn't react.

He was breathing,

His heart was beating,

He had body temperature,

But it was as if he was completely isolated from the outside world, trapped in a thorough self-imposed isolation.

At this time, let alone interrogation, even if you beat him with a chair, he wouldn't scream in pain.

"What do we do?" Zhang Yanfeng looked at Zhou Ze, "The bureau has already sent people to invite psychological experts as consultants."

Zhou Ze shook his head.

It was useless.

This wasn't simply a psychological illness.

"Where did he try to commit suicide?"

"In the detention center, he tried to swallow a metal ornament from his clothing while eating."

"Take me to the detention center."

"Okay."

............

Boss Zhou was no stranger to the bureau's detention center. He had stayed there for a night before. Zhang Yanfeng had arrested him, and it was because of that night that the iron chain had appeared on his leg, triggering the subsequent series of events.

There weren't many people in the detention center today, and the young man was in a separate cell, separated from the other cells.

Zhang Yanfeng gestured for the police officer managing the area to open the door. Zhou Ze didn't rush in, but looked inside through the bars.

In the corner,

Squatted a young man,

He hugged his knees,

Shivering.

Like a frightened quail, living in constant fear.

The cell door was opened, and Zhou Ze walked in, squatting directly in front of the young man.

His fingernails slowly grew out a little and waved in front of the other man's face. The other man's originally unfocused eyes refocused, and his body trembled even more visibly.

All亡魂类 (wang hun lei - souls of the deceased) had an innate fear of Zhou Ze's fingernails.

"Tell me, who wants you dead?"

The old Daoist and Zhang Yanfeng exchanged glances,

Both a little confused.

But the old Daoist at least had some experience now, and immediately took out niu yan lei (cow's tears, a folk remedy said to allow one to see ghosts), rubbing some on his eyes.

Immediately, the old Daoist felt a natural sense of superiority, took out a small notebook, and squatted down next to Zhou Ze, looking like he was concentrating on being an adjutant and taking notes.

From time to time, the old Daoist would deliberately look up and glance at Zhang Yanfeng,

He he,

You can't see it, you can't see it.

Zhang Yanfeng reached out and poked the old Daoist, then held out his hand, signaling for the old Daoist to take out that thing and let him use it.

The old Daoist shook his head,

No way,

If I let you use it,

I'll lose my sense of superiority.

Besides, do you think niu yan lei (cow's tears) are cheap?

"Officer Zhang, leave this matter to me." Zhou Ze turned to look at Zhang Yanfeng, "Some things, once you see them, are hard to forget."

From the bottom of his heart, Zhou Ze still hoped that Zhang Yanfeng would be a good police officer and serve the people.

Moreover, with paranormal events, if you really saw a ghost with your own eyes, then your understanding of this world, even your previously good values, would be a terrifying blow, even a destruction.

It wasn't necessary.

Zhang Yanfeng hesitated for a moment, then turned and left, standing outside to wait.

About a quarter of an hour later,

Zhou Ze and the old Daoist walked out from inside.

Zhang Yanfeng looked at Zhou Ze, then at the notebook in the old Daoist's hand, and asked:

"Can I see this?"

"Arrange a car, we need to go to the woods." Zhou Ze said.

"Okay."

............

The West Tree Woods were located next to a stretch of shore, and were one of the few areas within Tong City that hadn't been extensively developed, with a few villages and towns nearby.

Zhang Yanfeng was driving. He had changed into plain clothes, as he insisted on coming along.

After getting out of the car,

Zhou Ze immediately frowned.

The old Daoist also frowned, looking like things were very棘手 (ji shou - thorny) and serious.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Yanfeng asked.

"Such heavy怨气 (yuan qi - resentment)!"

The old Daoist replied extremely solemnly.

"What?" Zhang Yanfeng asked in surprise.

"It's so stinky."

Zhou Ze waved his hand in front of his nose. There were many piles of garbage stacked on the shore not far away, emitting bursts of stench in the summer. Some of the garbage from upstream would be left here as it passed by, slowly accumulating into a small garbage mountain.

"............" The old Daoist.

"............" Zhang Yanfeng.

They took the lead in walking into the woods. Because of the recent heavy rains, the ground was a little muddy. Zhou Ze walked in the front. Zhang Yanfeng said that he could lead the way. Although he hadn't found where the tomb was, he could at least lead them to the location that the tomb raiders had identified during the day.

Zhou Ze refused. He had already asked everything he needed to ask himself.

As the saying goes, people speak kindly when they are about to die.

If a ghost dared to play any "ghost tricks" when facing a ghost enforcer, then he could really be awarded a little red flower for his courage.

The reason for not letting Zhang Yanfeng lead the way was also because the young man was walking in front of Zhou Ze.

This was his亡魂 (wang hun - departed soul), but not all of it.

There was a saying to describe being overly frightened, which was popular in many places, that "the soul has been scared away."

In fact, this young man belonged to this category. He hadn't succeeded in killing himself, but a part of his soul had indeed been scared out of his body, which had caused his body to fall into a state of "self-imposed isolation."

Strange tales often spoke of the元神出窍 (yuan shen chu qiao - astral projection), and the image of the Iron-Crutch Li was also based on this principle, but there was a difference between being "active" and "passive."

"Boss, he couldn't find it before."

The old Daoist, who was smearing牛眼泪 (niu yan lei - cow's tears), could naturally see who was leading the way, so he came over and asked.

This young man had led the way during the day as well, but the police had been busy all afternoon and most of the night, and still hadn't found anything.

"Finding it as a human and finding it as a ghost are different."

Zhou Ze explained.

Human eyes could give people a window to see the world, but in reality, human eyes were also easily deceived. But it was different when they died and became ghosts.

You're trying to trick a ghost?

This was also a common saying,

But in fact, ghosts really weren't that easy to fool.

After walking for about twenty minutes, it was quite far. Boss Zhou was a little helpless. His leather shoes were already covered in mud, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

Fortunately,

The young man in front stopped, standing still.

"Are we there?" Zhou Ze asked.

The other man nodded.

Zhang Yanfeng followed behind the team alone. Honestly, he felt like an outsider, but at this moment, he heard Zhou Ze's question and immediately said:

"This isn't the place from the day, it's far away."

Zhou Ze raised his hand,

Signaling 老张 (Lao Zhang - Old Zhang, a term of familiarity) not to make noise.

老张 (Lao Zhang) felt a little uncomfortable being choked up.

"Old Daoist, search around here."

"Okay."

The old Daoist immediately started searching around, and although Zhang Yanfeng was a little confused, he also joined in the search.

Everyone's goal was to focus on the ground, hoping to directly find the entrance to the tomb.

Zhou Ze found the mud and fallen leaves on the ground too dirty, and casually wandered around the side.

Wandering around,

Zhou Ze saw that the tree in front seemed a little strange,

Because it gave people a very clean feeling, as if it had just been cleaned up not long ago. This wasn't the work of a cleaner.

Rather, the tree's bark was tender, and the tree's leaves were lush and翠 (cui - verdant),

Like a暴发户 (bao fa hu - nouveau riche) standing in the middle of a group of bitter fellow villagers, appearing a little bit, out of place.

Zhou Ze walked up to the tree,

Reaching out and gently scraping the bark with his fingernail,

Zhou Ze didn't know why he was doing this, nor did he understand the meaning of doing so, he just had this kind of impulse.

Then,

Beneath the scraped-off bark,

A human face,

Slowly appeared............