Chapter 87 Living People Can Lie, but Dead Bodies Can’t
The rainstorm seven years ago still seems to be roaring in my ears.
In the archives room, Lai Yun stroked the yellowed files, and the distorted face of Grandma Chen before her death appeared before his eyes again.
He was supposed to be the key witness who brought the criminal organization to justice, but he was poisoned under the close care of the military hospital.
The black blood flowing from the corner of his mouth coiled around the snow-white sheets like a poisonous snake.
That night when the shrill long beep of the monitor pierced through the rain, Lai Yun knew that someone was controlling everything in the dark.
Accidents happened one after another - key evidence disappeared, the informant suddenly changed his confession, and the police officer who was tracking the clues got into a car accident.
All the strange things are a silent warning: don't pursue this any further.
Is it God's will that they retreat?
On the day Lai Yun took off her police badge, Fang Changling and Qin Xiyang stood at the door of the police station to see her off.
The rain wet her eyelashes.
"I'm going to the military hospital. Perhaps I will never be a police officer or investigate cases again."
Her voice was firm but choked with sobs. Her back gradually blurred in the rain as she turned away.
Qin Xiyang took off his gloves, and the cold air in the forensic room made him shiver.
The criminal police who once charged into battle now talks to corpses all day long.
"Living people can lie, but dead bodies cannot."
He held the scalpel in his hand, his eyes grim.
He wants to dig out bit by bit the truths that have been deliberately covered up from the cracks in his bones.
Fang Changling stood in front of the French window of the serious crime unit, looking at the energetic figures of the young police officers downstairs.
The partners who once fought side by side have gone their separate ways, and now the case files he has taken over have piled up like a mountain.
"Times have changed."
He sighed softly and locked the old case file from seven years ago in the deepest part of the archive room. The phone next to him rang and he heard a gentle female voice.
"Changling, your nephew is preparing for the high school entrance exam. He said he wants to take the police academy entrance exam. Can you help him with some advice?"
"Sister, let Qihao think about it himself. What's so good about being a policeman? It's exhausting and there's no reward."
He picked up the application report transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department and walked out of the office. The sunlight from the window slanted in, giving the old traces a layer of gold.
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The locust tree in the alley behind the police station cast a mottled shadow in the twilight. After Shen Qing confirmed that there was no one around, he twisted the talisman paper with his fingertips and exhaled lightly.
A dark purple spiritual light suddenly exploded, and thick black mist emerged from the shadow at the base of the wall, transforming into the figure of a child half the height of a man.
The little kid had a messy ponytail and mud spots on his gray face. When he saw him, he immediately jumped over with a "wow" and hugged his legs tightly.
"Ma'am! I'm so glad you're okay!"
The little ghost cried with a sobbing tone, and his nails scratched a few wrinkles on Shen Qingze's trouser legs.
"After I came out of the magic circle, I couldn't find the human, so I had to get into the body of a random policeman and try my best to imagine Officer Fang in his head!"
The black mist coiled up along the trouser legs, like a frightened young animal seeking shelter.
"Fortunately, that person really ran to the police station..."
Shen Qing squatted down, placed his palm on the back of the little ghost's cold head and gently patted it, the talisman paper glowing faintly at his fingertips.
"You did a great job."
He looked at the kid's ragged coarse clothes.
"Where have you been these days?"
The little ghost raised his head with sobs, and his eyes suddenly glowed with a faint green light.
"I'm back in the underworld! But... but it's completely different!"
He clutched Shen Qingze's sleeves tightly, his voice trembling.
"Outside the Yin-Yang Gate, there were many Yin runners holding chains and arresting anyone they saw! I told them the name of Lord Black and White, but they said that without a pass from Lord Black and White, you can't even get through the crack of the gate!"
The branches of the locust tree moved without wind, and a few dead leaves fell on the little ghost's shoulders.
"The ox-headed and horse-faced guards of the city gates are gone, and the current ghost messengers... have eyes as fierce as those of evil spirits!"
Shen Qing frowned, it seemed that the underworld was even more chaotic than he had imagined, and that group of people were becoming more and more rampant.
"Then why are you back again?"
The little ghost scratched his head, as if he was embarrassed.
"I met Lord Bai, but I didn't dare tell him and the master about your injury. Lord Bai said that the master told me to stay with you, and he was busy right now, and he was afraid that you would be in danger in the world of the living."
Shen Qingze's heart suddenly surged with warmth, and his eyes were filled with deep affection.
Just as Shen Qingze was about to speak, he heard footsteps approaching from a distance, and Lai Yun's cold voice floated over with the breeze.
"Why is Counselor Shen talking to himself here alone?"
His muscles tensed instantly, and his fingertips formed a seal as fast as lightning, pushing the struggling little ghost into the shadow of the corner.
The damp musty smell mixed with the scent of acacia flowers hit him in the face. He pretended to be calm and turned around, his Adam's apple rolling unnaturally, "Uh... I was just organizing my thoughts."
“I see…”
Lai Yun narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and her high heels made a crackling sound as they rolled over the fallen leaves.
She raised the report in her hand, and Shen Qing's pupils shrank slightly.
"The toxins in your body have not been cleared yet, so it's best not to run around."
Before he finished speaking, a cloud of black mist suddenly exploded in the corner, and a little ghost with frizzy hair jumped out, pointing at Shen Qingze with a green face and fangs.
"Madam, are you poisoned?!"
Then he turned around and looked at Lai Yun fiercely.
"Who are you? Why are you following us?"
Lai Yun's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints, and he instinctively reached for the gun on his waist.
But she forgot that she had stopped holding a gun many years ago. She just reached out and felt nothing. There was even only a pen in her pocket.
The moment the cold metal touched her palm, her back hit the brick wall hard, and a suppressed gasp escaped from her throat.
She raised her pen in panic, frightened.
"You!! What are you!"
The little ghost was floating in the air, its claws made of black mist glowing with phosphorescence in the moonlight, its wet eyes wide open, looking exactly like a young animal protecting its food.
Lai Yun's hands were shaking violently, and cold sweat was running down his neck into his collar.
Shen Qing hurriedly stood in front of the little ghost and raised his hands to indicate that it was harmless.
"He is the spirit boy I rescued from the suppression array!"
His voice was rapid, and his Adam's apple rolled restlessly.
"Whether you believe it or not, I am not a living person in the strict sense."
Lai Yun felt his temples throbbing and his hands trembling uncontrollably.
"What did you say?"
It's not like she hasn't heard of this kind of superstitious stuff, but in the 21st century, in an era of atheism and rule of law, how could anyone believe in this kind of theology?
She still looked at Shen Qingze warily.
Shen Qingze's pupils glowed with a faint blue light. He had never revealed his half-ghost side in the world of the living. He continued indifferently.
"He is an innocent soul trapped in the magic circle. He has no ill intentions."
He paused.
"Neither have I, please believe me."
Lai Yun staggered back half a step. The breeze blew up the corner of Shen Qingze's clothes, and she was surprised to realize that there was no shadow under his feet.
"So you..."
Lai Yun's voice was so hoarse that it didn't sound like her own. The pain of her nails digging deep into her palms made her sure that this was not a dream.
"I basically maintained my human form, so no one noticed anything was wrong with me. You are the first one."
Shen Qingze looked at Lai Yun's pale face and added softly:
"My existence can balance yin and yang. Because of this, I can detect abnormalities that ordinary people cannot see."
"I'm afraid there are more than just living people behind this case."
Lai Yun took a deep breath and nodded tremblingly.
A chill ran down my back, soaked in sweat.
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