Chapter 26: Requesting a Ghost Fetus
Tu Lanxun walked up to Tang Weining and frowned, "You killed three people. Besides Bai Chao and Bai Xiaoju, who was the third one?"
Tang Weining's mouth was covered with tears, snot, and blood. He couldn't speak for a moment. Tu Lanxun wiped it with a tissue, glanced at his gloves with disdain, and pulled out a wet wipe. "Speak."
"I didn't kill... there wasn't a third person... I killed Chaochao and also caused the death of Xiaoju. My crime is unforgivable..." He was about to cry again. Tu Lanxun didn't understand why he was so stubborn. What difference did killing two people make from a sentencing perspective?
But no matter how she asked, Tang Weining refused to give in and refused to reveal the information about the third victim.
A bad premonition rose in his heart. Tu Lanxun grabbed Tang Weining by the collar, but felt that his momentum was not enough, so he turned to pull on his tie behind his head and asked, "Have you killed Xiaobao?"
The man cried endlessly, and Tu Lanxun ignored him. He walked around N who was visiting with his arms folded, took his phone back from Tang Weining's car, unlocked it with his fingerprint, found the contact "Xiaobao" directly in the list, and called him.
"Ding ding ding ding ding..." The phone rang in the living room.
Tu Lanxun's scalp tingled. She ran over to see a white phone tucked into the crack of the sofa, a messy blanket thrown on top. That's why she hadn't seen it earlier. The screen lit up, and the caller ID read "Weining."
Xiaobao’s cell phone is here. Modern people carry their phones with them all the time, so where is Xiaobao?
The white phone was cleaned very quickly. There were no apps on it except for a chat software. There were two contacts in the software list, one was Tang Weining and the other was a string of numbers: 10110101.
The chat records with Tang Weining were just as the computer ghost had found out. The two of them were very affectionate with each other, either saying sweet words or talking about the baby in Xiaobao's belly. Tang Weining also sent pictures of the baby products he had chosen. The last picture was the white teddy bear. Xiaobao replied: My husband is so thoughtful.
There is no chat history for 10110101.
Tu Lanxun felt something was wrong. This didn't seem like a normal person's phone. Even though Tang Weining had uninstalled all of Xiaobao's apps and deleted all of his contacts, the two most common forms of communication between pregnant couples were still missing.
——What you (I) ate today, as well as the X-rays and indicator records of the prenatal check-up.
There was only verbal communication between the two of them, back and forth, and to be honest, it was quite plastic, like... they were playing a game of cosplaying pregnant parents.
Tu Lanxun stared at the picture of Xiaobao with long and slender hair and holding a bouquet of flowers. At this time, Tang Weining was already hitting the back of the chair with the back of his head in extreme pain, again and again, unable to face all this, not knowing whether he wanted to knock himself unconscious or kill himself.
N happened to be strolling into the living room wine cabinet, admiring the collection inside. He tilted his head towards her, his eyes slightly odd, and said, "Let me remind you again, the three deaths that occurred here weren't just one or two days ago."
Tu Lanxun continued to check Tang Weining's phone. His phone was fully equipped. She searched the chat app list and found a contact named 10110101.
Opening the chat log, Tu Lanxun was genuinely surprised. There were a lot of messages between Tang Weining and 10110101, most of which were photos Tang Weining sent unilaterally to the other person. There were pictures of a long-haired woman in a pleated skirt sitting by a window, a long-haired woman in high heels stepping on a blackboard, and even a picture of a woman holding a bouquet of flowers... the exact same flowers as Xiaobao's profile picture.
Tu Lanxun almost wanted to hit him: "You sent your girlfriend's photo to someone else?"
Although no one’s face is shown, what else can you do by sending it to others? Is it to appreciate their beauty?
Of the few text messages, 10110101 and Tang Weining each accounted for half. Tang Weining called that person "Master" or "Great Immortal", and the message sent by that person was very brief:
Drink a glass of water under the moonlight, close your eyes and pray for ten minutes.
Sing a lullaby to the fetus.
In addition to these instructions, there are a few words of dialogue -
Did you buy the knife?
Remember to find a quiet and enclosed ceremony venue.
Don't keep thinking about how you killed your wife and daughter. It's not good for the plan.
It just happens to correspond to the sentence Tang Weining sent to 10110101: Master, can Xiaobao really invite a ghost fetus?
Tu Lanxun walked into the living room and saw N already holding the remote control, watching someone else's TV projection screen in a good mood. It was playing cartoons from the children's channel, and the colorful light reflected on his gloomy handsome face was very incongruous.
She whispered, "What does it mean to invite a ghost fetus? Has Tang Weining been infected with a cult?"
N took the phone and just as he touched it, he became interested: "I haven't heard of this before, but this contact... is not human."
Tu Lanxun immediately thought of what N had said before, that ghosts can access the network of living people with a little effort, but they cannot leave any traces, although she has seen two exceptions so far, one is N and the other is the order placed by Bai Xiaoju.
The former can be explained by being too powerful. How can a boss be a boss if he's not skilled enough? As for Bai Xiaoju, N said, "You posted an advertisement on the underworld forum. It's normal for your store to have a connection with ghosts."
Tu Lanxun thought to herself, "The biggest connection between my shop and ghosts must be you, the lingering spirit." But she didn't dare to say it, still humbly asking, "Since 10110101 is a ghost, is he also a fierce ghost? How did he manage to create an account and send messages?"
N glanced at Tu Lanxun with a hint of pity, his upturned eyes narrowing slightly. This glance from him was more foul than a curse, and he said, "Just put on a shell."
"You mean reincarnation?"
N laughed and said coldly, "You can borrow a body, but it's impossible to revive the soul. Even if you put on a shell, you have to pay a price. Do you really think the dead can live a second time?"
Tu Lanxun's thoughts were correct. If N could "transmigrate" into another person's body without injury, he would have already taken over the body of some celebrity, wealthy, or powerful figure. Why would he be confined to her small temple? If that were possible, all the invading monsters in the world would have a home.
She returned to Tang Weining, who stammered, "What were you talking about... Is there anyone else here?"
Tu Lanxun smiled. "You've been in contact with a fake immortal. Let me guess. It was him who asked you to kill Bai Chao and Bai Xiaoju. It was also him who asked you to attack Xiaobao. You sent Xiaobao's photo to that person 10110101 so that he could inspect the goods, right?"
Tang Weining struggled violently and shook his head: "No, it has nothing to do with the Master. The Master knew I had committed murder the moment he arrived. The Master knew the details and the whole process long ago. It was the Master who performed the ritual for me. The Master said I could still be saved—"
"Your master isn't human," Tu Lanxun interrupted, ruthlessly saying, "He's a ghost, maybe even a spook. Have you ever seen him in person?"
As she asked, she had the computer ghost check the account number 10110101. The result was blank. No history, no real-name verification, as if it had appeared out of thin air. As expected, N sneered.
The computer ghost also discovered another shocking fact.
Xiaobao's account was also fake. Nothing in it had been deleted by Tang Weining. He and Master were the only two people he had added from the beginning to the end.
Because the identity information associated with the real-name authentication is Tang Weining, Tang Weining used another mobile phone number to register Xiaobao's account.
Tu Lanxun picked out a long strand of hair from the collar of Tang Weining's robe and held it up to the light. It was real hair. Xiaobao's account was fake, but the hair was real. She turned and went upstairs, coming down after more than ten minutes, clutching a long wig of the same color and texture as her hair—a more expensive hand-woven wig made of real hair.
Following the clues, the pleated skirt that "Xiaobao" wore in the photo was found in the closet. It was a women's XL size, and Tang Weining was a thin man.
There was no Xiaobao, it was all Tang Weining from beginning to end.
Tu Lanxun suddenly felt a headache. "You disguised yourself as a woman to deceive that 'master'? Do you know that you tricked a ghost?"
This person even acted out a small dialogue, took screenshots, and sent them to the master. Tu Lanxun was at a loss for words: "Are you doing all this just to get the master to summon a ghost fetus for you? You're just fooling around. Tell me, what's the point of you wanting a ghost fetus? To suppress the resentment of the two people you killed?"
Tang Weining was still stunned, finding it hard to accept the reality that the "master was a ghost." However, Tu Lanxun's actions today seemed even more mysterious, which made him somewhat convincing. After a long while, he seemed to have returned to school and spoke seriously in the tone of a conversation with the research team:
"I was a little emotional just now. To be exact, I only killed my wife. Although I didn't have any subjective intention in the dream, it was definitely me who did it. I didn't kill Xiaoju on my own initiative. She died because of my stupidity. I feel guilty towards them. How could I possibly suppress them?"
The second half of his sentence referred to melatonin gummies. Tu Lanxun understood, but she wasn't convinced by the first half. "You said you had no subjective intention to kill Bai Chao. So, may I ask, how did you manage to perform such a difficult operation as murder and dismemberment when you were completely blackout drunk that day? As a university professor, you should at least use some scientific logic, right?"
N was watching the TV and laughed not far away. Without turning his head, he said, "Who knows, maybe that master has already set his sights on him."
Tu Lanxun felt a shock behind him, and a series of thoughts instantly came to his mind. That master was a ghost who borrowed a human body. Since he could borrow this body now, why couldn't he borrow Tang Weining's body before?
In other words, it was Tang Weining's body that killed Bai Chao, but was it really Tang Weining himself inside that body?
When questioned by Tu Lanxun, Tang Weining said with certainty, "I was the one who killed him!"
Tu Lanxun had never seen anyone so eager to confess, so he pressed on, "How can you be sure?"
Tang Weining's neck was very straight: "I saw it!"
Tu Lanxun kept chasing after him: "Aren't you drunk? How did you see that?"
Tang Weining: "What I saw in my dream when I was half asleep had a complete beginning and an end, which means I did the right thing."
Tu Lanxun asked, "Did you see yourself killing someone from your first-hand perspective? Holding a knife, cutting up the body?"
Tang Weining thought for two seconds and shook his head, "No, it was from a third-person perspective. It was my back that was killing Chaochao."
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