Chapter 12: The Clash Between Forensic Science and Metaphysics. ...
The next morning, the group got ready to set off.
Lin Jianyu glanced at the others wearing the same Taoist robes, then at herself wearing overalls and a wool sweater, and said to Lin Jinshui, "Master, I think I should also have a Taoist robe."
“Sure,” Lin Jinshui said. “Once your third uncle returns from Haishi, have him have someone make one for you. Would one be enough?”
"Two pieces." You can alternate wearing them.
“There’s no need to wait for my master to return. If my junior sister wants it, I can take her to have it custom-made later,” Zhu Jin said.
"Thank you, Senior Brother Zhujin."
"You're welcome."
The family who commissioned them to exorcise the ghost lived not far away; it would take about half an hour to walk there, or even faster by bus. However, because Lin Jianyu was prone to motion sickness, they didn't take the bus but walked, arriving more than half an hour later.
The other party also lived in a garden villa that blended Chinese and Western styles, complete with a water feature garden. The villa was enormous, estimated to be three or four times larger than their own. The people living there were not only rich, but also very wealthy.
Lin Jianyu was somewhat surprised that such a family would believe in demons and monsters.
But then she thought about it again, and realized that the higher one's position and power, the more likely one is to be superstitious. Just like the emperor who unified the six kingdoms, as her master had told her, he was still obsessed with finding the elixir of immortality.
Moreover, this family was not entirely superstitious; in addition to hiring the Taoist priests, they also hired a forensic doctor and a Taoist master.
This job was different from what Lin Jianyu had imagined; it not only involved feudal superstition but also two lives.
The two victims died on the night before last and last night, respectively.
Based on the forensic autopsy and eyewitness testimonies, the cause of death for the first victim can be basically determined to be suicide.
However, because the deceased's death was extremely gruesome and the cause of suicide was unknown, the head of the household felt that something was amiss. In order to put his mind at ease, he asked someone to find Shen Siming and Huo Chenyin, who were quite famous in the industry and were Lin Jinshui's second and third senior brothers.
Unfortunately, Shen Siming and Huo Chenyin went to Hong Kong and Shanghai respectively, and even their prized students went with them, leaving only a few young boys at home.
However, the owner of the house initially only wanted peace of mind and did not really believe that there was any evil spirit causing trouble, so he asked Zhu Jin and the others to come and take a look.
Upon closer inspection, they indeed discovered an evil spirit.
Zhu Jin, together with Xuan Su and Xuan Lie, fought against them but were no match, so they had to return home to discuss countermeasures.
The owner of this house couldn't see any evil spirits and had suspected they were faking it, but last night another person died, and the death was even more gruesome and terrifying than the previous one.
The deceased's body was covered with scratches of varying depths, some just shallow, others deep enough to expose bone, with flesh and blood under her fingernails, suggesting that she had scratched herself.
This morning, a forensic doctor was called in for an autopsy. The cause of death was excessive blood loss, and the preliminary determination was suicide.
One suicide could be due to a momentary lapse in judgment, but two suicides, both with such gruesome deaths and unknown causes, inevitably lead one to consider directions that science cannot explain.
In addition, after Zhu Jin and his group came to visit yesterday, they said that there were indeed evil spirits causing trouble in their house.
Even though the owner of the house initially suspected they were faking it, after another person died, he became seven or eight parts of the believer.
Fearing that someone else might commit suicide, or that they themselves might be the next to die, they didn't even dare to continue living in the house and quickly moved elsewhere, even bringing in three sorcerers.
The three monks were all dressed in yellow Taoist robes, but the style was different from what Lin Jinshui and his companions were wearing. It was only after being introduced by the owner of the house that they learned that they were Taoist priests from the Minyue and Minnan regions.
Comparing the Taoist priests on both sides, how should I put it?
The youngest on the other side looked to be in his thirties or forties, while their oldest was only seventeen and the youngest was six. There wasn't a single adult among them, so they were completely outmatched in terms of experience.
Fortunately, the owner of this house doesn't value experience, or you could say he's not short of money. Also, the fact that Zhu Jin and his group were able to detect the evil spirits yesterday shows that they do have some skill.
Before Lin Jinshui even entered the house, he sensed the aura of the sea creature's spirit, and it was quite strong. Worried that Lin Jianyu might be in danger, he immediately took off the whale-shaped sword he was carrying on his back and gave it to her.
After Lin Jianyu took it, he asked, "Why are you giving it to me?"
“There might be danger, just in case,” Lin Jinshui said.
"Oh." Every time he gave her the whale fall, he said almost the same thing. Lin Jianyu didn't pay much attention to it at first, but after she learned that two people had died in this family in two days, and the deaths were particularly gruesome, she hugged the sword tightly.
It wasn't that she genuinely felt there was danger and that Jingqi could protect her; it was simply out of reverence for the deceased that she wanted to hold onto something tightly.
The body of the person who died the night before last has been sent to the ancestral hall. The burial was originally scheduled for today, but it has been postponed because another person died last night. There are concerns that the two deaths might be related.
The body of the person who died last night has not yet been sent to the ancestral hall. When they arrived, the forensic doctor had just finished the autopsy, and the Taoist priest was performing a ritual on the side. How should I put it? It was a bit like a collision between science and metaphysics.
Fortunately, the two sides remained at peace and did not clash.
It's unclear what either side was thinking about their arrival, but on the surface, they both remained calm, seemingly each doing their own thing and not disturbing the other.
Lin Jinshui and Zhu Jin went forward to examine the body of the person who died last night. Lin Jianyu and the three younger ones, Zhu Jiang and Zhu Liu, did not follow. Instead, they stood aside and watched the monk perform the ritual.
It was Lin Jianyu's first time watching a monk perform a ritual, and he found it quite novel, watching with great concentration.
At first, she thought this skill was not difficult to learn. Apart from not being able to understand what they were chanting, everything else seemed quite simple. But when they started to form a formation, one darting back and forth at such a fast speed that it dazzled her, and she was afraid they would collide several times, she realized that being a sorcerer was not as simple as she thought. At least the movement and coordination alone would take her several years to practice.
"Do people in our sect also perform rituals?" she asked Zhu Jiang.
Zhu Jiang shook his head: "No, although we are both cultivators, our methods of exorcising ghosts and capturing demons are completely different."
"Oh." Lin Jianyu became interested and continued to ask, "Then how do the people in our sect exorcise ghosts and capture demons?"
"Just go for it," Zhu Jiang said.
Lin Jianyu: "???"
Lin Jianyu suspected there was something wrong with his ears.
"Go straight to it? No preparation needed?"
"What preparations? To find the location of the evil spirits?"
"almost."
“You can find it by feeling, no preparation is needed,” Zhu Jiang said. “However, if the other party is very good at hiding, or if they are stronger than you, you still need to prepare some auxiliary tools, such as a compass or talismans.”
Lin Jianyu: "..."
Lin Jianyu felt that compared to the sorcerers who were performing rituals on the other side, the methods used by his sect members to deceive people were somewhat unprofessional, just like their age, and they looked very unreliable.
"Does anyone really believe that?"
"At first, most people were skeptical, and business wasn't very good. Later, my second master's reputation spread, and business started coming to us on its own. This current business deal came to us by the other party themselves." If business hadn't been difficult at first, his master wouldn't have gone into business, even though he quite enjoyed it.
"It seems that Second Uncle Master really has some skills." Otherwise, with their unreliable methods of exorcising ghosts and catching demons, it would be hard for ordinary people to believe them.
"More than just a little, Second Master Uncle is the number one in our sect, a walking billboard. He doesn't need to do anything; just standing there, all sorts of demons and monsters tremble in fear," Zhu Jiang said proudly, raising his head.
Zhu Liu, standing beside him, also straightened his back at the opportune moment, feeling proud as well.
Lin Jianyu didn't know how skilled Shen Siming was at exorcising ghosts and catching demons, but judging from their appearance, she could at least tell one thing: his ability to pretend to be a god and deceive was definitely very strong.
"Where is my master? Is he strong?"
"The sect leader's junior uncle is quite strong too," Zhu Jiang said.
"Your swordsmanship is quite impressive," Zhu Liu added. "May I touch the sword of our junior master?"
In Lin Jianyu's view, touching the sword was no big deal at all.
She had touched Lin Jinshui's two natal swords no less than eight hundred times.
In order to find the mechanism that would draw the swords, she had touched every part of both swords except for the blades hidden in their scabbards.
But looking at his expectant little expression, she suddenly became a little unsure whether her master's sword could be touched by just anyone.
Just in case, she didn't agree immediately, but instead tentatively asked, "Doesn't my master allow you to touch his sword?"
"No, it's just that I felt embarrassed to let him touch it, since it's his natal sword," Zhu Liu said.
"You can't just let anyone touch your natal sword?"
"It's not impossible, it mainly depends on the sword's owner. Some people really dislike others touching their swords, like my second master uncle. Others don't care, like my master, whose sword has been sitting at home collecting dust." Zhu Liu gave an example.
From her daily interactions with Lin Jinshui, Lin Jianyu could tell that he cherished his two swords quite a bit, but he always gave them to her very readily, not as if he disliked others touching his swords. Lin Jianyu was a little undecided.
"Wait a minute, I'll go ask my master." After saying that, she ran straight towards Lin Jinshui.
As she ran closer, she remembered that Lin Jinshui was examining the body.
The thought of the corpse made her feel resistant, but her gaze involuntarily drifted toward it. Just as she thought she was about to see a horribly mutilated female corpse, a cool hand covered her eyes.
Before she could react, her body had been turned around, and then she heard Lin Jinshui's voice in her ear.
If you want to eat lunch, then don't watch it.
Is it scary?
"It's alright, just a bit bloody."
Even though he didn't mention the blood, Lin Jianyu didn't notice the bloody smell permeating the air around them.
"Junior brother wants to touch the whale, can I?"
"It's up to you to decide," Lin Jinshui said. "I need to go to the family's ancestral hall to see the other body. You stay obediently by your fellow disciples' side and don't wander off."
"Can't I go with you?"
"Yes, but it's unnecessary."
"I want to go."
"Then let's go."
The ancestral hall was very close, only a two or three-minute walk away. Since Lin Jianyu was going there, the others went with him.
The body had not yet been placed in the coffin; it was covered with a white sheet and placed in the middle of the mourning hall. Lin Jinshui, Xuan Su, and Xuan Lie went forward to check on it, but the others did not follow.
Lin Jianyu looked at the direction of the mourning hall from a distance, and could only vaguely make out an outline, which looked like a male corpse.
Out of curiosity, she turned to Zhu Jin beside her and whispered, "How did this person die?"
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