Chapter 73 The vest seems to have wings
This temple doesn't seem to have the rule of "not talking while eating".
Across from Jiang Xia and Amuro Toru, a few young monks quickly started chatting, and the topic unknowingly turned to an ancient legend.
——The legend about Mist Tengu.
In fact, it can’t be considered “unconsciously”.
Shanni Temple is located too remote and there are few tourists.
Every time a guest comes to stay, the old abbot will secretly turn the topic to "Mist Tengu" - this is also the selling point of their remote temple.
…
There has always been a legend about the "Mist Tengu" in this area.
But what really made it a hot topic was a murder case two years ago.
——Two years ago, the monk Zhongnian in the temple was suspected to be killed by the monster "Mist Tengu".
After this incident was published in the newspaper, the number of tourists visiting the temple surged, bringing in considerable income.
Now that the popularity has passed, the number of tourists has decreased again, but people are still attracted to Mist Tengu every now and then.
Some of these guests heard about these things from old newspapers, while others heard about them from monks in the temple and passed them on by word of mouth.
…
The old abbot felt guilty about the "Mist Tengu killing people" incident.
——Because the one who killed Chunen was not Kiri Tengu, but him.
But conscience cannot be eaten.
So he chose to increase his popularity without hesitation.
At this time, the old abbot said to the two new visitors in a gloomy tone:
"Mist Tengu are an ancient monster that can fly. On rainy nights, they sneak into the village like fog, break through the walls, and kidnap kind people. They then hang the bodies of their prey high up and store them for consumption."
At this point, the old host wanted to make a sudden thriller and go over to scare the two guests opposite.
But at this moment, he suddenly felt intuitively that this was not going to work - he always had a premonition that if he really scared someone, he would immediately be slapped on the head and pushed into the soup.
“…” And there’s no point in scaring two grown men.
The old abbot hesitated for a moment, and finally just stroked his beard.
He skipped the scary step and said the closing words directly: "But don't worry, this is just a legend when technology was not developed."
"...But it's not necessarily a legend." The third elder in the temple looked grim. He muttered nervously, "Didn't something very similar happen two years ago, Senior Brother Zhongnian..."
"Mu Nian!" The eldest senior brother frowned and interrupted him, "Don't tell the guests about this kind of thing."
"It's okay, tell me about it." Jiang Xia seemed very interested and looked up at them. "We are detectives, and we are best at solving strange problems."
"!"
"!"
"!"
"!"
“?!”
Four little monks and an abbot.
Five exclamation marks seemed to appear above the five people's heads, but the meanings were different.
The four monks looked at Jiang Xia.
The youngest one hesitated and said, "Actually, I've been wanting to say this for a long time. You look familiar. Are you the one who suddenly became popular recently...Jiang Xia? Is that your last name?"
"Oh, I've heard of him! A few days ago, I went to the city to buy some goods. While I was waiting in line, I happened to hear the girls next to me talking about this person." The third brother also remembered him. He said excitedly, "Since he is a famous detective, maybe he can really solve the mystery - two years ago..."
"Shut up!"
The old host slapped the table, interrupting his apprentice.
His expression was extremely ugly, and he glared at his four disciples: "Didn't I tell you not to mention this matter again?! Okay, meal time is over, go back and rest!"
He took a deep breath in anger, then turned to Jiang Xia and Amuro Toru, his tone much stiffer than before: "This is an internal matter of our temple, we don't need detectives to interfere."
After saying that, he stood up, frowned, and left with a flick of his sleeves.
The words "guilty conscience" are written all over his face.
…
The old monk became very unfriendly.
Fortunately, his apprentices still have a strong service spirit.
Several young monks cleaned up the restaurant.
Then he took Jiang Xia and the others to the guest room, found clean bedding, and even took out two sets of disposable toothbrushes and razors from somewhere.
…
Jiang Xia packed up early and prepared to go pick up ghosts.
Amuro Toru seemed a little curious about what happened "two years ago", but he didn't ask any more questions - detectives in this world seem to have the attribute of "never asking questions when someone keeps you in suspense". Perhaps this is some kind of intuitive professional quality born out of a desire to avoid losing their jobs...
Jiang Xia was not curious at all.
After all, he is a "prophet" who knows a lot.
——Legend has it that two years ago, the monk Zhongnian from this temple "hanged himself".
But in fact, he was killed by the old abbot.
The old abbot wanted his granddaughter to marry the heir of a large temple, but his granddaughter fell in love with Zhongnian and even wanted to elope.
The old abbot worried about this for a long time, but he still couldn't convince his granddaughter. Finally, he had an idea: as long as Zhongnian was gone, his granddaughter would not be able to "elope" anymore.
…
So the old abbot took advantage of the terrain of the temple and combined it with the legends nearby to come up with a method of murder.
——In Shanni Temple, there is a narrow confinement room about 10 meters high. There is a window on the top of the confinement room near the waterfall. The quality of the confinement room is very good and it does not leak water.
Two years ago, after the old monk killed Zhongnian, he sealed the doors and windows below with tape, and then used wooden boards to lead water into the confinement room, floating the body to the top and hanging the body on the top beam. Then the old abbot returned outside, broke the wall below, and the water gushed out instantly.
Since there were no signs of climbing on the top of the dusty beam, it looked like the corpse had flown up there by the Mist Tengu.
The police certainly couldn’t close the case by saying “Mist Tengu murdered someone,” so in the end, they had to treat it as suicide.
…
Jiang Xia briefly recalled the causes and consequences and was not very interested in them.
His attention quickly shifted to the new ghost fetus.
The guest rooms are large and all have tatami floors.
Jiang Xia dragged the bedding a little closer to the door and lay down.
After most of the little monks had fallen asleep and Toru Amuro next to them had stopped making any noise.
He was just about to let a few shikigami fly into the corridor through the crack in the door and construct a puppet.
But before that, Jiang Xia suddenly felt something approaching outside the door.
This aura... is it that new ghost baby coming?
“……”So proactive?
After a moment of confusion, Jiang Xia retracted his Shikigami, pretended to go to the bathroom, and stood up and walked into the corridor.
He closed the door and looked down, only to see the new ghost running towards him along the corridor.
It looked quite anxious, as if it wanted to find someone for help.
Jiang Xia looked around and found no one.
So he squatted down decisively, picked up the new ghost fetus, and took it to a place where there was no one.
…
The new ghost obviously needs help.
It can be seen that it was still very panicked when facing Jiang Xia, but it no longer kept hiding from him like it did at dinner.
As he got closer, Jiang Xia discovered that the bulge on the back of the new ghost fetus was shaped like a pair of wings.
It took the ghost to an empty bathroom and politely endured for two seconds, but finally couldn't bear it anymore, so it reached out and pinched the tip of the new ghost's wing under the trembling gaze of the new ghost.
With a little effort, Jiang Xia pulled the wings open. The new ghost fluttered in panic.
Jiang Xia let go of his hand.
The new ghost quickly hid behind the hand sanitizer, folded its wings sadly, and straightened its ruffled feathers.
Jiang Xia was watching from the side and felt it was very magical.
The appearance of the ghost fetus is actually the product of turning a real person into a Q version.
But when this monk ghost died, he must have been in normal human form, not with wings on his back - otherwise the Mist Tengu murder case two years ago would not have been so unnoticed.
…
Many of the rules of this world are different from what Jiang Xia was familiar with before.
He could only guess, based on those messy principles, that the sudden mutation of this new ghost was related to the legend of Mist Tengu killing people.
——That legend was once widely popular in this area, and it might be these mutterings that influenced the appearance of the monk ghost.
I don't know if the wings are just a decoration or if they can really fly...
Thinking of this, Jiang Xia tentatively poked the ghost in front of him, trying to make it fly.
The monk ghost instinctively dodged to the side.
But soon, it remembered that it still had something to ask the psychic in front of it for help, so it stood stiffly where it was and let Jiang Xia poke it.
"..." Because the ghost was too calm, Jiang Xia was unable to detect it.
(End of this chapter)
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