Chapter 120: Code
"Hey? What is this?" Luo Mei saw a piece of paper under the leg of the chair closest to the storage room door. She squatted down and picked it up. There was an Arabic numeral "8" written on the paper, and the word "Gu" was next to it.
"8 ancient? What does that mean?" Luo Mei frowned.
"This should be the message that Vina Yun secretly left for us. 8 Gu..." Linlang supported her chin and thought for a while, "What time is it now?" she asked.
Luo Mei looked outside. Although it was cloudy, he could tell it was almost noon. "I guess it should be around noon."
"I guess what she meant by '8 Gu' is that we should meet at a doorway with a cross on it at 8 o'clock in the evening. She must have some important news to tell us."
"Ah? Wait a minute - I can understand that '8' represents eight o'clock, and the word 'ancient' represents a door with a cross on it... Oh! I see, you judged it based on the appearance of the word 'ancient'." Luo Mei suddenly realized.
"But... there's still a problem." Linlang's brows didn't relax. "There's more than one door with a cross on it. For example, there's a cross on the church gate, a cross on the fenced door of the confessional, a cross on the main entrance of the hospital, and a cross at the back door... Which one is she referring to?"
The two were in a dilemma. If they couldn't determine the exact meaning of Vina Yun's hint, they would most likely be discovered by the Ghost-Faced Man and captured again. But if they didn't go, perhaps the message Vina Yun intended to convey would be lost.
"Do you know how many doors with crosses on them there are here?" Luo Mei asked.
"From what I've observed over the past few days, there must be at least four, the four I just mentioned."
Luo Mei pondered, "Logically speaking, since Vina Yun left you a note, the hint should have been somewhere you remember. So, the meeting place must be one of these four."
"But the question is, which one?"
The two fell into silence again.
After a long while, Luo Mei spoke again, "Well, I've been thinking about it and I still can't figure it out. How about I go and take a look at those two limbs first? You continue to think."
After saying that, she stood up and went back into the storage room, leaving Linlang alone in the room clutching the note, lost in thought.
More than an hour later, Linlang saw that it was still early for eight o'clock in the evening, but if she really couldn't guess the specific location, she could only take a risk and guess.
I think if Yin Chuan was here, he would definitely be able to deduce the real answer to Vina Yun's puzzle, but we can't always rely on him to save the situation, we still have to rely on ourselves!
"Linlang! There is an unnatural mark under the armpit of this arm. Have you noticed it?" Luo Mei asked in the storage room.
"Hmm... I saw it. I think the victim must have had a cross tucked under his armpit. Perhaps it was required by some kind of sacrificial ritual."
"Doesn't this explain the problem? Since it's a requirement of some kind of sacrificial ritual, it's nothing more than an evil ritual of Satanism!"
"We can't jump to conclusions yet. Just because there's a cross doesn't mean it was done by a Satanist. It could also be a copycat crime."
"Copycat crime? What do you mean?"
"In other words, the real murderer deliberately imitated the methods used by others to commit the crime, with the purpose of framing others and diverting attention. This cross mark... eh? Wait..." Linlang seemed to have thought of something. She looked at the chair where Vina Yun had left the note and asked casually, "Luo Mei, where did you find the note?"
Luo Mei was confused by the question, "Where? Isn't it just under the chair?"
"Was it trapped under the leg of a chair?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
"Which chair leg?"
"Um...it's the left back leg."
"Is this the one?" Linlang turned the chair over and pointed to the left leg on the side of the chair back for Luo Mei to see.
"Yes, this one."
Linlang slowly put down the chair and murmured, "I think I know where Vina Yun is hinting at."
At exactly eight o'clock in the evening, Linlang and Luo Mei appeared at the corner of the wall near the back door of the hospital on time. Not long after, the back door was gently pushed open from the inside, and Vina Yun appeared in front of them.
"Thank God, you're finally here!" She seemed to have relaxed from her extremely nervous mood. "I thought you couldn't understand the note I left. I asked Chen Yi and Kate to deliver the two severed limbs. Did they notice you?"
"Are they on good terms with you?" Linlang asked.
"They have been in the hospital for several years and I get along well with them."
"And Tess, who was with you during the day?"
"I heard that Tess hasn't been in the church long. She was only assigned to the hospital yesterday. I'm not familiar with her."
Linlang nodded thoughtfully.
Luo Mei snorted coldly, "Why make it so complicated? If we don't see the clues, you're going to screw us over badly, aren't you?"
"I couldn't help it. Tess was right there, so I couldn't leave a very clear message. Even if she found the note, I could have used some medical terms she wouldn't understand."
"Fortunately, Linlang is smart and saw the clues."
Linlang smiled. "Doctor Yun, your suggestion is quite abstract. The word '8 ancients' is easy to understand, but the fact that you put the note under the left rear leg of the chair gave me some pause. If it weren't for the cross that sparked an idea, we'd really just be guessing. You used the banyan tree in the middle of the garden as the center of the cross, and the church and hospital gates as the front. Thus, the four gates with crosses that I know of are divided into the left front - the hospital gate, the right front - the church gate, the left rear - the hospital back door, and the right rear - the confessional fence door. By putting the note under the left rear leg of the chair, weren't you telling us that this was the meeting place?"
Vina Yun clapped her hands softly. "When I first met Miss Lin, I had a feeling you were no ordinary person, and I was right. You are indeed extremely intelligent, and I'm sure you'll understand my hints."
"Tell me, you asked us to meet here. What news do you want to tell us? Why don't you go back and meet us?" Linlang asked.
Vina Yun sighed. "I'm sure you've guessed it. Clark and the others hurriedly called Tess and me away because they found a fourth limb. That's—" She looked up at the cross on the door, "the leg that was hanging there during the day. Of course, they've taken it away now. And together with the arm in the garden, the two hands and feet we found together are just enough to make up a person's four limbs."
"To be precise, those are a child's limbs!" Luo Mei added in a muffled voice.
"But we can't be sure that these limbs belong to one person yet," Linlang corrected.
"No matter what, this is undoubtedly a horrific murder," Vina Yun said. "It's just that the Satanists refuse to admit they were responsible, which is a bit puzzling. In this remote village, apart from a few local villagers who dare not leave their homes, the only ones who could do such a thing are the Satanists."
"What's so hard to understand?" Luo Mei waved his hand dismissively. "Those people do all sorts of evil things, yet pretend to be righteous. They commit such heinous murders but dare not admit it. Isn't that normal?"
"But now we don't have any evidence to prove they did it. Not to mention we haven't even found the child's body..." Linlang said, then asked Vina Yun, "Apart from these limbs, have you found anything else? For example... uh... a head, ears, nose, etc.?"
Vina Yun shook her head. "Nothing else. But..."
"But what?"
"But Clark and the others didn't seem to care about the limbs they found. Even when I stole a left arm and a right leg, he didn't even ask. He seemed more concerned about whether there were strangers around the hospital and the church. That's why I didn't dare go back and meet you guys casually, for fear that he would find out and secretly follow me."
When she said that, Linlang was immediately shocked.
"No... why didn't you tell me earlier?" Linlang asked, "When you came here from where you live just now, could it be that you were already being spotted by their spies?"
Vina Yun waved her hand and said, "No, I decided to meet you at this time because I was sure that they would all go to church for worship and no one would be watching the area near the hospital."
"I see. Then I feel relieved." Linlang breathed a sigh of relief.
"Are you relieved now? This place is full of dangers!"
Suddenly, a voice was heard from outside the back wall of the hospital, which frightened the three people present.
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