Chapter 106: The Spread of Ghosts
After comparison, the small and medium-sized slippers were found to match the shoe prints at the crime scene and the foot prints of the media company's young boss.
The interrogation started and ended quickly because the young boss confessed very quickly, but the content was very simple.
"I don't know. I've been feeling dizzy these past couple of days," the young boss said. "I went home last night and fell asleep straight away. In my dream, I was running around, like I was playing a computer action game."
Li Ao narrowed his eyes and asked sternly, "Where did the key to Li Yuanzhi's house come from?"
The young boss sighed and said, "Officer, I really don't know. I've probably been too exhausted these past two months. I keep getting stunned and then having trouble remembering what happened before. My memory often goes blank. I've never seen the key ring you mentioned. Maybe I picked it up somewhere during this period of memory loss."
Tu Lanxun and Wen Chong exchanged glances in the observation room, both faces looking a little tense. This young boss did have some traces of strange possession, but they were not severe, indicating that it happened very rarely.
It doesn't match his confession.
But what is certain is that the strangeness of the crime scene may be right next to the boss.
"I think he's only telling half the truth." Tu Lanxun said, "What were the results of the search?"
Wen Chong said: "We found the murder weapon. It was in another trash can in the community, but there were no fingerprints. However, based on the shoe prints on the window frame in the corridor, we can verify that he is the murderer."
There is currently no corresponding law regarding the judgment of whether a living person is strangely manipulated to commit a crime, and the observation room fell silent again.
The interrogation room was filled with the rustling of notes. Li Ao asked again, "The fruit knife used to kill Li Yuanzhi had a pink handle and a six-centimeter blade. It was yours, right?"
The media company's young boss made a bitter face. "Yes, officer, I bought a fruit knife during a promotion at Life Supermarket two years ago. But is that illegal? Why don't you just give me a psychiatric exam? I suspect I'm mentally ill."
According to him, his mental state has been very bad recently. He suspects that he has developed Alzheimer's disease early and is preparing to go to the hospital for a check-up.
Tu Lanxun said: "We didn't find any strange traces in his house, which is very strange, but there were strange fingerprints on his body."
On the shoulder of the media company's young boss, there were two black and red fingerprints, which were found to be the same as those left mysteriously at the crime scene.
He must have had contact with that weirdness. It is not certain whether he knew of the other party's existence, but the weirdness played a decisive role in this matter.
"I don't even know that kid named Li. I've lived here all year and haven't had much interaction with the students and parents who accompany their children to school," the media company owner said. "You can't say I harmed him with my hysteria, can you? I'm puzzled too."
He acted like a victim being exploited, and the interrogation ended there. The media company owner was taken back to the detention center. Tu Lanxun suddenly said, "Doesn't he own a media company? Can we go take a look at his company?"
The group set off immediately. The media company was located in a two-story shop in the district. The storefront was not even as big as the chain milk tea shop next to it. There were only five or six employees inside, and they were all surprised by the arrival of the police.
The boy who was slacking off playing games at the front desk said, "Our company is not big, but we operate four internet platform accounts, and the account traffic is quite large."
Like many small media companies, the employees of this company often have multiple roles. For example, the guy at the front desk also takes charge of prop management, the girl in charge of platform operations also does data monitoring and directing, the photographer and post-production subtitler are the same person, and these people will be called out on camera from time to time.
Tu Lanxun was looking at their fresh costumes and props when he heard Li Ao ask, "What's the latest project for your company's operations account?"
The female director took out a thick folder, which contained mostly emotional and plot-based content, as well as interest-based plans such as Lucheng scenery and store exploration, all of which were very common media content.
N suddenly appeared beside Tu Lanxun and said, "This place has a strong eerie aura."
Tu Lanxun was a little puzzled: "Why don't I feel anything?"
Her sensitivity has reached a very high level now. As long as she is in the scene, she can detect the breath of most ghosts. She can be called a "detector" among the living.
N pointed upwards: "Over there." The grid ceiling panels are similar to those in all offices.
After informing Wenchong, the media company employees were taken away from the scene first. A nimble police officer climbed up, removed a ceiling panel, and then screamed, "Ouch!"
Before anyone could ask, something heavy fell from above, wrapped in a black plastic bag. You could feel that the contents were very moist, and the plastic bag was stuck smoothly to it, giving a wet feeling.
Wen Chong put on gloves and opened the bag. He found a dead mouse inside. It must have died not long ago. A fishy smell came out as soon as he opened the bag. It must have been stuck in there for a day or two.
The ceiling was like a reversed sewer. Once opened, a faint, bloody stench continued to settle downward. The officer on the ladder shone a flashlight inside, covered his nose, and said, "There's still a lot in there. None of the crime scenes I've been to smell this bad."
All the items wrapped in black plastic bags were cleared out. The smell at the scene was terrible. Wen Chong led his men to open them one by one, and found more dead rats, other dead animals, and raw internal organs of cattle, sheep and pigs that were obviously bought from the vegetable market. The oldest ones had already become a mess, and the whole thing had settled into a brown-green color. The smell was like washing your nose with soapy water.
"Who got these things?" Wen Chong asked the man in charge of office cleaning.
The male employee shook his head vigorously. "Officer, I really don't know." He couldn't help but bend over and vomit. He took the tissue handed to him by the officer, his face covered in snot and tears. He coughed and said, "If I knew I would have to carry these things on my head every day at work, I really... I definitely wouldn't work here anymore."
The room was covered in multiple layers of black plastic bags, and the ceiling was sealed well, so the smell didn't get in. There was an occasional odor, and everyone thought it was a problem with the bathroom drain, so they had a professional come in and clear it twice.
Tu Lanxun walked around the office and pointed to the computer in the corner and asked, "Who uses that computer?"
The boss's office had been searched thoroughly, and nothing was found in the computer except some contract documents and unhealthy browsing history. The computer ghost went in and searched around, but found nothing.
The vomiting male employee said, "Oh, that computer also belongs to our boss. He sometimes stays here at night. His office on the second floor is next to the clothing room. He thinks the clothes hanging there are scary, so he uses the computer here."
As he spoke, the male employee gestured for them to look at an air mattress in the corner, which had a folding stand and an air pump underneath.
"Your boss is quite a workaholic," Wenchong said.
The male employee covered his nose with a tissue and stood by the window for some fresh air. He said, "Not really. He wasn't like this before. He only started working overtime in the last month or so. He often stays up all night. We were afraid to leave work at first, but the boss actively advised us not to work overtime because we don't get overtime pay anyway."
Wen Chong was a little wary. This change coincided with the start of the young boss's "hysteria" in his confession. She asked, "Have you had any major projects in the past month?"
The male employee replied, "Haven't you seen them all? The winter caramel-themed beauty promotion, the early winter urban street photography in Lucheng, and also, with New Year's Eve coming up, we've planned a family-themed drama series. These are the latest three."
None of them are reliable.
The useful information is still in this mysterious spare computer.
The computer had a startup password, so Wen Chong called the media boss to ask. The boss, who had been cooperative at first, suddenly changed his attitude and first said he had forgotten it, then said he didn't have a spare computer at all. Anyway, he cried, made a fuss, cursed and lied, but refused to tell the truth.
Wen Chong was about to ask the network technical police officer to unlock the phone, but Tu Lanxun pressed her down and asked the computer ghost to crack the power-on password.
Fortunately, the password is only four digits: dstg.
"The big rock is high? But it can pass? The TV station rolled?" The police officer next to him tried to complete the meaning of these four letters, but had no idea at all.
The mysterious computer was opened, and Tu Lanxun and others found something different in the encrypted folder.
It is a series of videos with bloody and dark content. They are nothing more than the bodies, internal organs and blood of dead animals arranged into strange shapes in front of the shooting background. There are also some seemingly plausible background songs, which are all the unpleasant voices of the boss himself, and there is another weird atmosphere.
"This guy wants to make a cult movie." Xiao Zhang exclaimed in amazement.
They also found a strange icon in the corner of the folder called: Format Converter.
The computer ghost leaned close to Tu Lanxun's ear and said, "The bitrate of that video isn't right. Can I see the original device that filmed it?"
All the filming equipment was found by the staff in charge of post-production and placed on two tables. The computer ghost followed the technicians and looked at each one. After checking, she frowned at Tu Lanxun and said, "All of this stuff has been modified."
Tu Lanxun asked, "What does it mean?"
The computer ghost said, "Remember that old digital camera from Bi Hai Chao Sheng?"
Tu Lanxun said, "You mean, these cameras have also been modified to record ghosts instead of living people?"
The computer ghost replied: "That's not entirely true. This modification is more complex. It should be able to capture both living people and the weirdness of being in the same frame with living people."
The most recent video footage was retrieved, but they were all normal media short videos, with only a few employees in the frame, and there was nothing weird at all.
Tu Lanxun thought of the "format converter" and he and Wen Chong looked at each other and understood what he meant.
After being rewritten by the format converter, the originally normal video protagonist began to become overexposed, with faces replaced by white light. In the background that appeared dim due to the overexposure of the human body, a dark shadow emerged.
It's weird.
The strange creature was dark red in color, but its face was as white as paper, its eyes were dark and sunken, and it showed an upturned smile to the camera.
Everyone present was shocked.
"I don't know. All the equipment was purchased by the boss, and he is also responsible for the daily maintenance." The photography employee was scared out of his wits. "I, I want to go to the bathroom." His legs were shaking.
Tu Lanxun suddenly thought of something: What exactly was the purpose of filming these videos of these ghosts coexisting and sending them to online platforms?
"Please check the information of format converters on the entire network." Tu Lanxun said to the computer ghost.
The results are disheartening. The so-called format converters have begun to circulate in the corners of the Internet. They gather in small circles and private forums, and leave meaningless comments in the comment sections of various platforms, forming a channel of curiosity - search - join - spread.
In addition, a series of media companies are marked in the list. They all operate normal marketing accounts on the surface, but their content becomes distorted after being converted through format converters.
Weirdness is an unlucky thing for human beings on Earth, but there is always a small group of people in the group who are born to seek bad luck.
Their purpose may be pure curiosity, or to scare classmates, friends and people they dislike, and there are also deeper but more extreme thoughts slowly forming.
"This is an extremely dangerous signal," said Wenchong.
Soon, some of the media company's videos this month were also found to have problems. These videos had one or two frames of horrific images inserted in the middle, such as dead rats, internal organs and blood.
It is difficult for the viewer's naked eye to capture it. They may see it for a moment, but it passes by before their brain can process the information.
But this will create an illusion that the video as a whole is very impressive.
"If you watch videos like this that are smuggled with malicious content for a long time, it may cause psychological problems," Wenchong judged.
The boss of the media company, Shen Xiangqian, was indeed involved in more than just the case of Li Yuanzhi's victimization.
Tu Lanxun suddenly looked up: "They wouldn't kill Li Yuanzhi for no reason, if..."
What if the process of Li Yuanzhi's murder became part of the same bloody visual material, added to normal videos or circulated in underground circles?
After another in-depth search, they found a set of wearable miniature cameras in the fuel tank of Shen Xiangqian's car. The cameras were wrapped in a sealed bag and recorded the scene of his brutal murder of Li Yuanzhi.
——The scene begins with him entering Li Yuanzhi's bedroom, where he is sleeping. Shen Xiangqian raises the knife with his gloved hand and stabs Li Yuanzhi in the chest.
"Look here." The technician paused the footage and looped half a second. "His knife was originally at this angle." The technician gestured, "But in the next frame, the angle shifted instantly, and then it pierced Li Yuanzhi's ribs with great precision."
"It was as if something had suddenly disturbed him."
This scene obviously did not conform to the laws of kinematics. Everyone could imagine that it was the strange person present who took action and corrected Shen Xiangqian's originally crooked movement.
After the first stab, Li Yuanzhi woke up briefly, but because he was seriously injured and had just woken up from a deep sleep, his struggle was not violent. After twisting under Shen Xiangqian's hand for two seconds, he was stabbed a second time.
Li Yuanzhi could not do anything except cover the wound stiffly. He opened his mouth and wanted to shout, but because his lungs were punctured, it was difficult for him to make any sound.
Tu Lanxun said: "I think Shen Xiangqian was not controlled by the ghost during the crime. The ghost was present, but not in his body, but nearby. At least in the first half of the crime, when he entered the house and committed the crime, his thinking and consciousness were independent."
"I think so." Wen Chong sighed, "Let's bring him back for another trial."
#
Shen Xiangqian was taken to the interrogation room again.
"Officer, what do you want from me this time?" He looked much more haggard.
Li Ao was again the interrogator this time. He slammed the table and said in a cold voice, "Shen Xiangqian, the entire contents of your computer with the password dstg have been cracked by the police. And what you did to your photographic equipment? Do you think you can escape legal punishment?"
Shen Xiangqian looked distressed again. He lowered his head and scratched his eyebrows, saying, "Officer, I've already said it. I really don't remember some things. I'm mentally ill, or I'm possessed by a ghost..."
Li Ao snorted coldly, "Stop pretending! Your wearable camera has been found in the car. The evidence is irrefutable that you murdered Li Yuanzhi. Don't try to use other factors to exonerate yourself!"
Shen Xiangqian frowned and squeezed out tears, crying, "I really don't know. It's so unfair. I was completely controlled..."
Li Ao pressed, "Who controls you?"
Shen Xiangqian said aggrievedly, "I don't know either, officer. There are so many strange intrusions happening now..."
Li Ao placed the developed photos on the table. There were six photos in total, two copies. They were the photo of humans and ghosts coexisting in the video, the bloody scene of dead rats and animal viscera, and the corner of a red skirt next to the bedside table that was accidentally captured by the wearable camera.
The same red dress as the one worn by the white-faced, crimson ghost in the photo of the human-ghost coexistence.
Shen looked forward with his eyes wide open, and after five seconds he suddenly lowered his head, wrinkled the corners of his eyes, and grinned and laughed.
Wen Chong and the others in the observation room initially thought he was pretending to be possessed again, but Shen Xiangqian raised his head and, with a terrifying and mysterious smile, turned to Li Ao and said, "I have nothing more to say. I plead not guilty. You can sentence me if you wish."
This person's transformation was faster than changing his face. It was the first time that Tu Lanxun saw such a cold-blooded killer take off his disguise, which made her feel cold in her heart.
Shen Xiangqian refused to say another word. His crimes would inevitably be judged, but the question was, why did he commit such a series of illegal and criminal acts, and who was the strange person beside him?
Tu Lanxun felt a headache and said speechlessly, "What's the point of him hiding? Don't we know who is behind this strange incident in Lucheng?"
It's just that Shen Xiangqian's thinking has been distorted. He doesn't know what orders he received from others, or whether he did all this on his own initiative. It may be that he was bewitched or spontaneously fanatical, which made him loyal to this "cause" until death.
Considering the Heavenly Kingdom Group's planned violation of the Fourth Treaty, Tu Lanxun gradually came to an idea.
Wen Chong nodded in agreement and replied, "I heard that your white and black ones have both been resurrected?"
Tu Lanxun received the hint: "I understand."
#
Summoning Yan Hailing and Yu Yehua has become a skill that comes with practice.
They rested for a short while before being pulled out again by Tu Lanxun. Looking around the dazzling convenience store, Yu Yehua asked, "What is this place?"
Yan Hailing took a look and replied, "Maybe it's a department store from this era."
Two ghosts stood in the convenience store, twice as tall as the shelves. Yan Hailing asked, "What's going on this time?"
Tu Lanxun took out the eerie photo of the woman with the white face and red skirt and said, "Look for this ghost."
Yan Hailing took it and looked at it. She needed a moment. Tu Lanxun turned to Suoniya, who was sitting at the cash register, shaking her fish tail, and sent her away. Then he brought Wen Chong's news, "You and the others in Bi Hai Chao Sheng can have the recovery surgery. As long as you are willing, you can replace your fish tail with human legs at any time."
"You can talk to Xianyu Qingyun about this." Sonia was not interested and went to get the chocolate lava cookies on the shelf. "I'm fine like this."
Tu Lanxun was a little surprised. Didn’t Sonia hate the time when she was raised as a captive?
Sonia said, "This way the combat effectiveness is higher. I don't care if they are human or not. It's more satisfying to be able to hit someone in the face with my tail."
Mikhail exclaimed from behind his cigarette box: "That's right!"
Then the atmosphere became dull.
The computer ghost girl helped a lot this time. Tu Lanxun simply asked her to invest in technology stocks and gave her a small portion of the money earned by the convenience store. She could spend it or exchange it for all the goods in the store at the purchase price. The expiring goods could also be discounted by 50%.
The computer ghost became even more dedicated, tirelessly trying to recover Shen Xiangqian's deleted communications and chat records, even faster than the cyber police. Tu Lanxun thought that sooner or later, he would find a position for the computer ghost in the Gaming Administration Bureau.
Yan Hailing had a result. When Tu Lanxun returned to her side, the kitten, Ghost Potato Pancake, was already rolling around in her arms, rubbing his face against hers. Tu Lanxun was slightly surprised. "I thought most ghosts would be afraid of you."
Yan Hailing smiled and said, "You haven't done anything bad, why are you afraid of me?"
The location of the red-skirted, white-faced ghost has been determined. It has left the urban area of Lucheng and is at a certain point in the southwest direction. The estimated distance should be to the surrounding towns.
Tu Lanxun thanked Yan Hailing and Yu Yehua with snacks. These two "antiques" were very interested in modern food. They took it apart and evaluated it one by one. They concluded that the beef jerky was delicious, the seafood instant noodles were a bit fake, and the chocolate was not as mellow as that of Yan Hailing's era.
Yan Hailing was working hard to dismantle the boxes, but Yu Yehua wasn't very interested. He just sat beside her and watched her silently, staring at her with a gaze that seemed both desolate and gentle, as if traveling through time. However, the atmosphere was broken in the blink of an eye by the snacks Yan Hailing stuffed into her mouth.
Tu Lanxun discovered that there was an advantage to finding an organization. She no longer had to work alone. She could just make a report to Wenchong and someone would come to take over the matter.
"Be prepared. If the people from the Tourism Administration fail, you will have to take over," Wen Chong said.
Tu Lanxun laughed: "I won't be your trump card, will I?"
Wen Chong raised his eyebrows and said seriously, "What do you think? Otherwise, why would I train you?"
A leisurely evening passed like this. At nightfall, Wenchong sent a message asking Tu Lanxun to wait at the convenience store door in ten minutes, and someone would come to pick her up.
Tu Lanxun was almost asleep. "What's going on?"
Wen Chong's background sound was like someone driving or riding in a car at high speed, with sirens and the noise of the outdoor environment interspersed. She said in a serious voice, "Do you remember the strange incident of the serial coma?"
"Remember?" Tu Lanxun sat up. "Didn't we confirm that the Shen Xiangqian case and the serial coma case were two different investigative directions targeting the same criminal group?"
Wen Chong said quickly, "You know it's probably the same criminal gang. If something goes wrong, bring at least three days' worth of spare clothes."
Tu Lanxun rolled over and packed up, "Didn't you catch that ghost in a red skirt and a white face? Did he hurt anyone?" She patted N, who came to the living room after hearing the noise, and said with gestures and mouth shapes: We should go.
Wen Chong took a deep breath on the other end of the phone before answering, "I'm not sure, but there's been a sudden surge of widespread coma cases in villages and towns in the same direction, and it's causing panic!"
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