The needle tip would occasionally point to the stain inside the car, then suddenly veer towards the bloodstains on the rear bumper, and finally even point towards the outside of the repair shop.
“Zhou Ming,” I asked without turning my head, staring at the compass, “When you parked at the entrance of Willow Alley last night, did the woman hear or see anything unusual after she got out of the car? Including in the alley and the surrounding area.”
Hearing me suddenly call his name, Zhou Ming was startled at first, then paused before speaking:
"Motion? I was so scared I almost fainted, how could I dare to look closely!"
All I remember is her getting out of the car and walking into the dark alley, the sound of her high heels clicking away, but it seemed like she stopped after a few steps! Like she was swallowed up by something! Then, I saw her in the rearview mirror…”
I interrupted him, saying that what he said was completely irrelevant:
"Besides the shadow you saw in the back seat! What about outside the car at the time? For example, was there any noise from the car, or did you feel the car being lightly bumped?"
Hearing me say this, Zhou Ming tried hard to recall, and suddenly he slapped his thigh:
"Yes, there really was! Master, you are truly a genius! When that woman walked into the shadows of the alley, I thought I heard a soft 'plop' sound from behind the car, but I didn't think much of it at the time,"
Bloodstains at the rear of the car, a soft thud, the woman vanished.
I had a vague guess in my mind.
I put away the compass and took out three polished Qianlong Tongbao coins.
This is what I asked my master for when I last visited him.
This thing can be considered a kind of money for asking for directions. It has been blessed with incense, and in some cases, it can give you some vague information, which is more straightforward than a compass needle.
I held three copper coins in my palm, silently recited an incantation, and then gently scattered the coins into the carriage, trying to land them as close as possible to the stain.
The copper coins landed on the seat with a dull thud. Two of them landed face down, while one strangely got stuck in the gap of the seat cover, looking like it was about to fall over.
I immediately frowned. Was this a positive or a negative sign?
A coin standing upright indicates a dead end; two reversed coins and one upright coin signify an entanglement of yin and yang, with bloodshed lurking in the shadows—none of these are good omens.
I frowned, bent down to pick up the few copper coins, and wanted to toss them again.
Just as my fingers touched the copper coin...
“Ee...ya..”
A very soft, ethereal woman's hum suddenly rang in my ears without warning.
The melody was mournful and poignant, with strange twists and turns.
It was the old opera that Zhou Ming had mentioned!
But the sound clearly didn't come from the radio; it rang in my mind, or rather, it seeped from the depths of that stain!
My scalp tingled instantly, and I jerked my hand back. In a daze, I saw that dark red stain, the color of which seemed to have become even more intense.
"Master, Master, look at the lights inside the car!" Old Zhang outside suddenly screamed, his finger trembling as he pointed to the roof of the car.
I looked up and found that the reading light on the ceiling of the carriage had turned on by itself, making the stain on the seat look even more grotesque and terrifying.
This thing was more ferocious than I had imagined, and it seemed to have been provoked by my actions.
I quickly took out a mixture of glutinous rice, cinnabar, and iron filings, and then carefully and evenly sprinkled it onto the humanoid stain, starting from the head and working out to the limbs and torso.
As the stains were covered, the flickering overhead lights in the carriage suddenly went out, and the faint humming stopped abruptly.
But I know this is only temporary, a temporary fix, not a permanent solution!
I took two steps back, closed the car door, and gasped for breath.
"Master, how is it?" Zhou Ming asked, trembling.
"It's stable for now." I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead. "But the thing on you is clearly not simple. It's not some ordinary wandering ghost hitchhiking. You probably ran into someone looking for a substitute last night!"
"Find, find a substitute?" Zhou Ming's legs went weak and he almost fell over, but Old Zhang, who was standing nearby, caught him quickly.
Li Huai and Luo Tianhe also frowned. They had been through so much with me, so they naturally knew what I meant!
Especially Li Huai, who was almost caught and made a scapegoat in Building 14. His fate would have been worse than death!
“That’s right!” I nodded to Zhou Ming and pointed to the rear bumper of the car. “The bloodstains are human blood. It didn’t take long. I guess the woman in red didn’t get out of the car and walk into Willow Alley at all. Instead, she bumped into it herself when you stopped the car and your attention wasn’t on her! Or she used some other method to get the blood on you. The soft sound you heard was from that moment.”
Zhou Ming's eyes widened in disbelief and terror:
"She crashed into my car herself, why?"
“There are many reasons. It could be to leave a mark, or to create the illusion that you are the murderer, making everything she did seem reasonable,” I said in a deep voice. “If there’s a reason for everything, her spirit is more likely to haunt you, making you her substitute. She wants to drag you into filling her void!”
My grandfather once said that people who die violently, especially those with grievances or strong obsessions, have restless souls and sometimes wander near the place of life and death, searching for a substitute.
The red-clad female ghost appeared in the western suburbs late at night, precisely targeting Zhou Ming, and leaving bloodstains in this eerie way; it's most likely this type.
After hearing what I said, Zhou Ming turned pale and his jaw started chattering.
"What do we do now? But you have to save me! Can I sell the car? I don't want it anymore!" Zhou Ming cried out.
He knows he's been framed by someone, and he'll be framed by a ghost.
"Sell?" Old Zhang smiled bitterly. "Xiao Zhou, how's your car doing now? Who would dare to buy it? Selling it to a scrap yard is considered bad luck. You can't keep it from them, that would be harming them, wouldn't it?"
“As long as there’s profit to be made, there will always be someone bold enough to take the plunge! I’m offering this car for ten times the market price, and I refuse to believe no one will make a move!” Zhou Ming gritted his teeth and said fiercely.
"You're overthinking it; the car isn't the key issue."
I interrupted them, saying with a hint of helplessness,
"The key is that she's fixated on you. Unless you completely end her obsession or get rid of her, even if you throw the car into the river, she might still find another way to come after you! You probably have elderly people and children at home."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ming shuddered violently, his eyes filled with despair.
"Master, I beg you, please show me the way, I'll pay any price!" He knelt down on the ground with a thud.
Based on my performance just now, he has already concluded that I am a capable person!
Perhaps only I can solve his problem.
After all, I can still try to get my hands on it.
The man the repair shop owner had called during the day glanced at the car and ran away like a coward.
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