Chapter 36 Why should paper dolls stay in the human world?
Shi Can took the bamboo skewer and bit off the remaining candied haws. He had never been a fan of hawthorns, but he had to admit, candied haws with glutinous rice in them were quite delicious.
He threw the bamboo stick into the trash can on the side of the road.
The two entered the police station one after the other. Zhou Zhiyi was waiting in the lobby. He had no idea about the existence of the Spiritual Master and the Spiritual Master House. When his superiors asked him to follow up on the case, they only said that Lin Zhuyue and his group were special agents from a special branch of the National Security Bureau.
Although Zhou Zhiyi found it odd that a case he'd already haphazardly concluded was suddenly being dug up, he accepted the assignment without hesitation. He believed Wang Cuirou had been murdered, but for various reasons, he hadn't been able to bring Feng Hongyi to justice during his investigation, and he felt deeply frustrated.
When Zhou Zhiyi saw Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can, he was surprised at their youth. However, after looking at the birth dates on their special certificates and confirming that both of them were over 18 years old, he did not say anything.
He always knew that there were many secrets there that he had no right to know.
"Come up with me."
Zhou Zhiyi took Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can through the security gate, used the password to open the glass door that only police officers could enter, went up the stairs to the second floor, and entered the police office.
"In fact, there is not much video footage of this case. The surveillance cameras in Baixidi Community and the surrounding areas are not well maintained. There are many blind spots, and many of the cameras are broken."
Zhou Zhiyi turned on the computer, entered the public security system, entered the case number, and retrieved all the information about Wang Cuirou's disappearance.
Shican took the mouse and turned on the surveillance video.
This is the surveillance camera at the door of Unit 2, Building 6.
"We police officers actually started checking surveillance footage on March 1st, hoping to see if Wang Cuirou had run away from home as Zhou Zhiyi claimed. However, on March 1st, there was a power outage in Baixidi, and the time Zhou Zhiyi provided for Wang Cuirou's departure coincided with this time period."
So the first video footage captured by the police started at 8 a.m. on March 2.
On the computer screen, a man walked out of the corridor carrying two black garbage bags.
Lin Zhuyue frowned and said:
"She doesn't seem to be in here."
"Are you talking about Wang Cuirou?"
Zhou Zhiyi didn't know that Lin Zhuyue was a spiritual master with strong inspiration. He thought Lin Zhuyue was just guessing about the case and explained,
"We initially suspected he had moved the body by throwing it in the trash, as many criminals do this. But judging by the size of the garbage bag, he must have dismembered or dismembered the body, and there would be no way he wouldn't have left any traces in his home."
"There were sanitation workers and elderly ragpickers nearby, but they didn't find anything unusual in those days. We also searched the trash cans, but found nothing. Furthermore, our investigation revealed that Feng Hongyi threw out two bags of trash every morning when he left the house, and he had been doing so both before and after Wang Cuirou disappeared."
Shi Chan folded his arms and asked:
"Wang Cuirou disappeared on the evening of March 1st. When did Mr. Feng report the disappearance?"
"I reported the case on the evening of March 4th."
Zhou Zhiyi retrieved the case record and said,
"Before Wang Cuirou ran away from home, they had a big fight, so Feng Hongyi thought she was deliberately throwing a tantrum. Three days later, Wang Cuirou still hadn't returned, so he felt something was wrong and reported it to the police."
Shi Can pondered for a moment and said:
"Three days is enough to destroy the body and cover up all traces."
Shi Can's attitude towards the two matters of "Wang Cuirou is dead" and "Wang Cuirou died at the hands of Feng Hongyi and her body was dumped" was much firmer than that of the police.
The police must use clues to come to a conclusion about a matter.
But he and Lin Zhuyue didn't need it. They were spiritual masters, and their inspiration was excellent enough that they didn't need any clues to get the answers they wanted.
"Has this Feng Hongyi been anywhere else?"
Lin Zhuyue raised her hand, put it to her lips, and said,
"Has he been to the water...?"
Zhou Zhiyi clicked on another surveillance video.
The date was the afternoon of March 3rd. The camera was far away, but it could still capture Feng Hongyi's back. He was sitting by the river, fishing rod in hand. Judging by the speed with which he reeled in his rod, he must have caught a lot of fish.
"He was fishing on the evening of March 2nd, and even from the afternoon to the evening of March 3rd. He said he was upset after the argument, so he went fishing to relax."
Zhou Zhiyi pulled out two night videos and said,
"But the surveillance equipment is old and the footage is not clear."
Shi Chan asked, "Have you fished in the river yet?"
Zhou Zhiyi nodded: "We salvaged it, but no body was found."
"wrong."
Lin Zhuyue suddenly raised his head and asked,
"Did he bring any fish home those two days?"
"No, he said he fed all the fish he caught to stray cats because he and Wang Cuirou didn't cook much, let alone handle fish."
Zhou Zhiyi knew what Lin Zhuyue was suspecting, because their police had similar suspicions, but they were eventually overturned. Zhou Zhiyi patiently explained,
"Fish can eat meat, but given the ecology of this river, they can't dry out the bones of an adult. If Feng Hongyi dumped a body here, we wouldn't be unable to salvage even the bones."
Because the body could not be found, it was impossible to confirm that Wang Cuirou was dead. Even though the investigation and questioning of Feng Hongyi and his relatives revealed obvious contradictions between them and Wang Cuirou, the case could only be closed as "missing."
Lin Zhuyue looked at the computer screen in silence.
"Officer Zhou, thank you for your help."
Shi Can pulled Lin Zhuyue up from her chair and said,
"We will then submit our views on the case from our professional perspective. If our views are useful and desirable, the task force will be re-established."
Zhou Zhiyi escorted them out of the police station.
Shi Can pulled Lin Zhuyue back:
"You already know what's going on, don't you?"
They came to and left the police station on the east side of the road, but when they came, Shi Can was on the left side of Lin Zhuyue, and when they left, he was on the right side, always standing between Lin Zhuyue and the road where cars were passing.
Lin Zhuyue asked unhappily:
"You should know that too, right?"
Before she came to the Spiritual Master Academy, Shi Can's inspiration had always been to beat everyone in the department. It seemed like it happened a few days ago when Lin Zhuyue was in the bathroom and heard a classmate say that she and Shi Can were two Trisolarans.
"Don't let your mood get so bad."
Shi Can released Lin Zhuyue's wrist and said,
"It's easy to empathize when you're communicating with a psychic. There's currently no solution to this, so you can only control yourself. You're here to solve the problem, so you need to stay calm and don't let yourself get depressed."
Just then, their cell phones rang.
Wen Miyan and Ye Yangjia started a group voice call.
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can looked at each other, then simultaneously pressed the green answer button on the phone screen and swiped upwards.
"I found the refrigerator Zhuyue mentioned."
Wen Miyan's voice came from the receiver.
"The previous owner sold the refrigerator to a junk collector, who saw it was still usable and sold it to a university student. The university student said that when the refrigerator first arrived, he kept hearing 'bang bang' noises inside, but when he opened it, there was nothing inside."
"There's a supernatural reaction in the refrigerator, but it's not very strong. The ghost probably hasn't been in the refrigerator for a long time. I've contacted someone to move the refrigerator, and I'm waiting for someone to come."
"Wen Miyan and I acted separately."
Ye Yangjia also got important information.
"The previous landlord, that bastard, bought four bags of flour, two large pressure cookers, and a bag of pyrolyte at the supermarket in late February. He wore a thick coat, a hat, and a mask, leaving only his eyes exposed. He covered them like he was in Russia, and paid in cash."
"There must be something fishy going on. Aside from the elderly who can't use their phones, how many people pay with cash these days?"
“That way the information matches.”
Shi Can asked Lin Zhuyue,
"I say, you say?"
Lin Zhuyue suppressed his emotions and said, "Let me tell you."
Lin Zhuyue managed to calmly recount Wang Cuirou's death, prompting Wen Miyan and Ye Yangjia to curse. After a hearty greeting to Feng Hongyi's family and friends, the four young men agreed to meet at the victim's home later.
Wang Cuirou is very pitiful, but we can't just let her stay in this world, otherwise Tang Meili's body, which is possessed by her, will collapse sooner or later.
It has to be handled properly.
Shi Can put his hands in his pockets and said:
"It's a shame we both don't become detectives."
"But you don't want to be a detective at all?"
Lin Zhuyue turned around and glanced at Shi Can, then pointed out,
"You just want to be a spiritual master."
Shi Chan emphasized, “It’s to become the best spiritual master.”
They returned to Unit 2, Building 6. As the time grew later, the gloomy atmosphere in the corridor grew thicker. Shi Can and Lin Zhuyue walked through the foggy corridor and knocked on the door of Room 1407.
Footsteps soon sounded and Zheng Yan opened the door.
The room was dark, with only a small nightlight on in the living room. Tang Meili had already gotten up and was sitting on the sofa, absorbed in her phone, the light reflecting off it in her lifeless eyes.
Lin Zhuyue asked, "Is she shopping again?"
Zheng Yan nodded and replied:
"Yes, I asked Master Ye if he wanted to stop her. Master Ye said to let her buy it and let her handle everything first."
Based on the information currently known, the female ghost named Wang Cuirou who possessed Tang Meili died a miserable death and had a lot of resentment. Such ghosts are often very powerful.
With the power of Shi Can and Lin Zhuyue, they could forcefully expel the ghost. However, spiritual masters are human beings, and their hearts are made of flesh and blood. As long as the ghost hasn't harmed anyone, they still hope to treat her in a more peaceful way.
Wang Cuirou is very concerned about buying baby products. She is choosing a cream for her baby and carefully reading the product reviews. Once she thinks it is suitable, she will add it to the shopping cart and then look at a few more models for comparison.
Lin Zhuyue tried his best to restrain his spiritual power.
She walked to the sofa and sat down carefully, about forty centimeters away from Wang Cuirou who was possessed by Tang Meili.
Lin Zhuyue tried to strike up a conversation:
"You seem to like children very much."
"I want a blood relative."
Wang Cuirou lowered her head and stroked her lower abdomen with her palm.
"I dreamed of her. She was a very beautiful little girl. I would take her to buy the most beautiful dress, put star-shaped hairpins in her hair, and make her the happiest little princess in the world."
Lin Zhuyue suppressed the bitterness in his heart and said:
"You're a very good mother."
Wang Cuirou turned her head with a happy smile on her face:
"Really? I think I'd be a good mother too."
But soon, the happiness on Wang Cuirou's face disappeared. She seemed to realize something and became anxious and uneasy. She clutched her clothes with the hand covering her lower abdomen and looked left and right.
"My child... my child..."
She stood up and said in panic,
"My child isn't here. Where is she? Where is she?! Where did you hide her?"
In a short time, all the gentleness and calmness in Wang Cuirou disappeared, leaving only a hoarse cry. The thick yin energy in the house surged violently, filled with anger, and rushed towards everyone in the room.
Lin Zhuyue raised her hands to block her eyes, and the golden amber fire burned on its own, helping her block the evil energy that was about to invade her body.
Just then, Lin Zhuyue heard a nursery rhyme.
"Paper doll, paper doll, wood for the body, fire for the eyes, I don't know where my parents are."
Shi Chan squatted down, placed the little paper figurine in his hand on the ground, and chanted something that was either a spell or a nursery rhyme.
"Paper doll, paper doll, my parents are somewhere between heaven and earth, with clear eyes and a clear mind, I can find their traces."
Shi Chan's voice was gentle, as if he was coaxing a child.
The yin energy in the room gradually subsided like waves after a storm. Although it was still thick enough to make the compass needle jump, it would no longer cause the golden amber fire to burn itself to protect Lin Zhuyue's safety.
Wang Cuirou looked intently at the little paper man walking towards her, and her eyes gradually became as gentle as water.
She knelt down and held out her hand to the little paper figure.
When she spoke again, she continued Shican's spell:
"Paper doll, paper doll, with sugar for its body and honey for its eyes. Mother is here, Mother loves her, Mother is here between heaven and earth."
Shi Chan breathed a sigh of relief.
This paper doll is a substitute he made out of paper. Because of the blessing of the family-seeking spell, Wang Cuirou will be confused and subconsciously think that this paper doll is her child.
"You can't fool her for long."
Shi Chan took out the talisman from his travel bag.
"We have to send her away quickly, otherwise she'll find out I'm lying to her and it won't end without a fierce fight."
Wang Cuirou sat in the middle of the living room, her eyes closed, happily hugging the little paper figurine in her arms. Her attention was completely drawn to the little paper figurine, and she didn't even notice Shi Can placing the talisman around her.
Shi Chan quickly set up the talisman.
"Since you are already content, why should you stay in the human world?"
Shi Can said to the dead soul in the middle of the talisman,
"The dead, their obsessions gone, cross this lonely bridge, never to return. The dead, their obsessions gone..."
As Shi Can chanted the spell, wisps of golden light gradually rose from the talisman paper, then quickly dissipated. And in the center of those wisps of golden light, something seemed to have left.
Tang Meili fell to one side.
Lin Zhuyue reached out and supported her.
"Wife!"
Zheng Yan rushed forward and hugged Tang Meili tightly. He felt distressed, but also a little cautious. He confirmed with Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can.
“…This is my wife, right?”
"Yes, go ahead and hold him. He should wake up soon."
Shi Can hooked his index finger, and the used talismans on the ground stood up by themselves, walked towards him, and piled up in his outstretched palm.
"The possessed one has already left. She was actually a pitiful person. She was killed and then deceived by me. Don't blame her."
There was a knock on the door of room 1407.
Shi Chan walked over and opened the door.
Ye Yangjia walked in from outside.
"Did the Yin energy just explode here? Are you all okay? Your arms and legs are still on your bodies..."
As soon as Ye Yangjia entered the room, he saw Zheng Yan and Tang Meili hugging each other. He looked carefully and found that Wang Cuirou's soul was gone. He said angrily,
"...right? Shi Can, your uncle! How did you resolve the problem again! Every time you two started fighting, Wen Mi Yan and I were not around, which resulted in us only getting B grades! We've been getting B grades for a whole semester!"
Shi Can said lightly:
"I wasn't the first to do it."
"…………ah--!"
Ye Yangjia was devastated and complained,
"You must have angered someone!"
Shi Chan argued, “I didn’t.”
Maybe it was because he had been with Shi Can for so long that he had become a bad person. Lin Zhuyue knew that Shi Can was wronged, but she remained silent at this moment. She sat on the sofa, picked up a walnut in paper shell and began to peel it.
Wen Miyan arrived soon. After she learned that the matter had been resolved, although she restrained herself from going forward to grab Shi Can's collar, she chose to sit with Lin Zhuyue and watch Shi Can being pulled by Ye Yangjia's collar.
Shi Chan struggled, "Let me go! It's embarrassing!"
Ye Yangjia insisted, "I won't let you go! Swear to me! You won't do it in advance next time!"
The two noisy teenagers woke Tang Meili up abruptly.
Wen Miyan immediately put down the paper-shelled walnuts, opened the file bag she was carrying, and took out a confidentiality agreement:
"Mr. Zheng, Ms. Tang, although you don't need to know the details of this possession incident,... you two are also victims, so it's best to give you an explanation. Since you both have to sign a confidentiality agreement anyway, I'll just tell you what I can reveal."
Wen Miyan explained the incident to Zheng Yan and Tang Meili as concisely as possible.
Zheng Yan nodded: "So that's how it is..."
Tang Meili was a little scared about being possessed, but besides being scared, she also felt a lot of sympathy. She did not blame Wang Cuirou, but asked:
"Her husband will be brought to justice, right?"
“It’s a bit difficult…”
Wen Miyan sighed and said,
"It's been a while since this happened. The evidence we couldn't gather back then is definitely even harder to come by now. Things like this still depend on evidence. While our spiritualist's inspiration is accurate, it's just speculation, not proof."
Zheng Yan and Tang Meili signed a confidentiality agreement.
Before leaving, Shi Can said to Zheng Yan, who was originally planning to take them downstairs:
"Don't send her off. Your wife has just emerged from a possessed state and is likely to attract dirty things. You have a strong yang energy, so it's better for you to stay with her."
Zheng Yan was frightened by Shi Can. He could only say sorry and send Lin Zhuyue and his group to the elevator.
"Although this is just personal speculation, we should still help if we can."
Wen Miyan looked at Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can with a smile on her face.
"Can you two recreate the journeys Tang Meili took when she was home alone at night after being possessed?"
Lin Zhuyue replied: "You can try."
Shi Chan's counter-question rang out at the same time: "Why not?"
Half a month later, the Cangyi City police issued a statement, disclosing the whole story of Wang (the victim)'s "disappearance".
Feng's parents and Wang had a bad relationship. During the Spring Festival last year, the two elderly people came to the city to visit Feng and stayed there. Wang hoped that the two elderly people would move back to their hometown and stop interfering in her and Feng's small family.
At the end of last year, the two elderly people finally decided to return to their hometown. Unexpectedly, on the way home, Feng's father suffered a stroke and died on the spot.
Although no one expected his father's death, Feng silently put the "sin" on Wang and was determined to make her pay with her life, so he began to plan the murder.
On the evening of March 1st of this year, Feng strangled Wang with a rope, causing her to suffocate to death. He then placed the body in a refrigerator, froze it, and then dismembered it on plastic wrap. He then boiled the body parts in a pressure cooker until the bones softened, kneaded them into dough, and dumped the body using a fishing bait. Feng used all flammable tools to kill and dismember Wang, and treated any non-flammable items with alkali, making it difficult for police to find evidence.
"Is this a death sentence?"
Gong Yongyuan was playing with the newly bought mountain ghost coins and asked,
"Speaking of which, what does that female ghost do when she goes out at 11 o'clock every night?"
"The sentence he has to pay is too severe. He can't escape it."
Wen Miyan was painting her nails with pink apricot cat-eye nail polish and said,
"You know, some ghosts are always confused. Wang Cuirou is the same, but every midnight, she will wake up a little and re-walk the route where she dumped the body, looking for her own remains and those of her child. It's quite pitiful."
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can relied on their inspiration to completely recreate the route where the body was dumped. It was a very hidden route with almost no usable cameras on the road. If you hadn't lived nearby for a few years, you wouldn't have known that the road was accessible that way.
"The prisoner's psychological defenses are very strong."
Wen Miyan used a magnet to draw out a beautiful cat-eye luster on her nails, sighed, and said in a somewhat depressed tone,
"Even after we uncovered so many clues, he still refused to admit to the murder. It wasn't until his mother suffered a heart attack after learning that Wang Cuirou was pregnant at the time of her death that his psychological defenses finally broke."
"Wang Cuirou can finally rest in peace."
Zheng Yan and Tang Meili sent messages. The couple have been following this matter.
Although Wang Cuirou had left, the express deliveries she bought were still being delivered to the post station in Baixidi Community.
Zheng Yan did not continue to refuse to accept the packages. He signed for all the express deliveries. He burned the ones that could be burned at the intersection, and for the ones that could not be burned, he lit three incense sticks and dug a hole to bury them.
In the training hall, Lin Zhuyue pulled the bow to its full extent.
"By the way, Shican..."
Lin Zhuyue asked the man who was carrying water in front of the vending machine,
"Will there be any problem if you trick the ghosts like that?"
"In that situation, all I could do was lie or beat her. Tricking her into passing away was much better than beating her to death. She should understand that I was kind and won't make a fuss with me."
Shi Chan took the drink out of the machine and said,
"I bought electrolyte water, why did it spit out the Pulpy Orange?"
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