Group member: What’s the second one
Chen Ling: Another person committed suicide yesterday, didn’t you know
…
… Shit, I didn’t know that! I’ll go look for information somewhere else.
The people in the group dispersed. Chen Ling pondered for a moment and expressed his first opinion: "Our family lacks a TV. From now on, we will sit in front of the TV at 6 o'clock every night to watch the local news."
Understanding current affairs and paying attention to local people's livelihood, Wu Weiwei thought this suggestion was great and agreed with both hands: "I will listen to Brother Chen."
Chen Ling slid his fingertips and pulled the chat history that had been dragged to the bottom back to the top, and carefully read the scary nursery rhyme from beginning to end several times in his mind.
He asked: "Where did this nursery rhyme come from? I have never heard of it before."
"I haven't heard of it either." Wu Weiwei scratched his hair in confusion, and suddenly he was startled. "No, I have heard of it. It became popular a few years ago. It was written by a horror writer. I don't like it, so I haven't read it carefully. I only heard it mentioned once in the group."
"Horror novel?" Chen Ling was a little surprised.
"Well, the author published it on the Internet, so no one has ever seen him in real life."
If it was a nursery rhyme that had been passed down from an even older era, and if it had been sung too often, it might have really become a real curse out of people’s fear. But since it has only appeared in recent years, there is no need to worry about this problem.
Seeing the young man remain silent, Wu Weiwei became nervous: "Brother Chen, is there anything wrong with the nursery rhyme?"
"Nothing, I just think the first sentence is somewhat similar to the first case." Chen Ling chewed over the weird nursery rhyme over and over in his mind again.
"It's quite creepy. Brother Chen, let's go back first. The sun is getting hotter and hotter."
Chen Ling looked up at the sky. It was cloudless, with only a bright and dazzling sun hanging in the sky. He took out his phone to call a taxi, and while waiting, he bought two ice cream cones on the street.
Wu Weiwei took a bite and grimaced. It was cold, but very refreshing. He masochistically wanted to have another bite.
Before the car arrived, Chen Ling had already finished his ice cream. He wiped his hands with a wet wipe and got in.
The driver was a local from his accent and he was not young. They often walked through the streets and alleys and knew more about the big and small things happening in the city than ordinary street aunties.
Chen Ling's eyes rolled, and he suddenly said, "Master, I want to change the destination temporarily."
"Okay, just control it on your phone wherever you want to go." The driver paid attention to the road conditions ahead and slowed down the car.
Chen Ling pretended to click a few times on his phone and said in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I forgot the name of the place. It was reported in the news some time ago that a girl committed suicide there."
After saying this, he felt that it was not very polite to the deceased, so he clasped his hands together in his heart and silently said a few words, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
The driver looked up at the rearview mirror and met the young man's gaze. "Are you talking about the Bayi Community?"
"Yes, it's here." Chen Ling smiled embarrassedly.
The master's expression froze. "Can I take you to that place? Don't laugh at me. I'm timid. What happened in that community recently is really horrifying. I really don't dare to go to the community."
The address had already been found out, so it didn't matter whether the driver went there or not. Chen Ling nodded sympathetically and said, "It's okay, just drop us off on a farther street."
The driver breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Are you going to visit classmates or relatives?"
Chen Ling followed up and said, "Looking for a classmate."
The driver kindly reminded them, "Then you should go home early after meeting your classmates. Today is the seventh day since the girl's death. It's the night of her return to the dead. It's best not to hang around in that community at night."
Chen Ling nodded frantically in fear, "I know, thank you uncle."
Wu Weiwei sat with his hands on his knees, saying nothing the entire time, his attention completely focused on his brother Chen's superb acting skills.
After getting off the car, he asked, "Brother Chen, why are we here? Are you interested in those two suicide cases?"
"I just felt something was not right, so I wanted to come and take a look." Chen Ling took a step forward, then stepped back, remembering what people in the group had said before: "Ordinary people can't handle it."
Said to Wu Weiwei: "Call Li Hongyu and ask him whether the Special Investigation Department has received the case transferred from the police."
Wu Weiwei asked casually, "What if there isn't one? Do you want to take this order?"
"It's impossible not to have it." Chen Ling said confidently, but it was just a guess. After urging, he walked towards the Bayi Community.
The community was very quiet, and it was noon, with the sun shining brightly, so there were almost no people on the streets.
The buildings on both sides of the street were once dormitories for a super large state-owned enterprise. The dark red walls have peeled off and there is little left, and each building has a smell of age and decay.
"Brother Chen."
Wu Weiwei hung up the phone and ran up to Chen Ling, who was standing in front of the fruit stall, staring at the boss packing the fruit baskets, and said, "I got some information. Shall we go over to the side and talk?"
It’s better not to talk about supernatural things in front of ordinary people in broad daylight.
Chen Ling paid the boss first, then walked with Wu Weiwei to the shade of a tree nearby: "You speak."
"Li Hongyu said that the police had indeed transferred the case data of the girl's suicide to the special investigation team. They also sent two people from the second team to investigate. The investigation results showed that the girl committed suicide because she was used as a scapegoat."
"Whose accidental death did she serve as a scapegoat for?" Chen Ling asked.
"Li Hongyu refused to elaborate and kept silent about the office worker's case, saying that they have internal regulations that case information cannot be leaked to outsiders." This is just the little information that Li Hongyu just shared because the two parties are barely partners.
Chen Ling: "If you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me. We will investigate it ourselves."
There are many sources for the claim that a scapegoat was found, but only one of them has been officially confirmed.
There are a few people who died accidentally or by suicide whose evil spirits and resentment are too heavy to enter the underworld. They wander in the world of the living, waiting for their destined person to appear.
The so-called destined person must be someone who died in the same way or committed suicide. If you meet that person, you can use him/her as your substitute, enter the underworld and reincarnate, and take the place of someone else's reincarnation.
If they don't meet that, there are always some who are driven crazy by their own resentment, and use vicious means to actively kill living people in order to get a substitute... This kind of people will be recorded as having bad karma, and after being caught by Taoist priests in the world of the living, they will be handed over to the underworld by the ghost messengers and taken to the underworld, depriving them of the chance to reincarnate, and they will be sent to the eighteen levels of hell and unable to be reborn.
Take the first girl who committed suicide.
Considering her personality and life experience, the theory of suicide doesn't make sense.
If a substitute is really found, it is very likely that the person was killed by an evil ghost who wanted to forcibly seize the opportunity to reincarnate.
As for the second office worker who knocked himself to death... Chen Ling carefully recalled the description of the stall owner's friend. The way he died was too tragic and painful.
Most importantly, this man did not want to commit suicide, otherwise why would he panic and call for help when he fell off the tracks
Chen Ling believed that the office worker was similar to the first victim, who had also encountered an evil ghost and was captured and forced to be a scapegoat.
"That's not right..." Chen Ling murmured.
Wu Weiwei looked at him: "What's wrong?"
Chen Ling expressed his thoughts, "According to the rule of scapegoats finding substitutes, even if the evil ghost forcibly finds a substitute, the victim's death should be the same as the evil ghost's death when he was alive."
"No problem. The girl died from having her neck cut by a kitchen knife, and the office worker died from knocking his head on the stairs."
"Yes, so they definitely did not encounter the same evil ghost." Chen Ling questioned, "Then why did these two people have the same smile on their faces after they died?"
It was this smile that made him feel that the "scapegoat" argument was not so tenable.
It makes people subconsciously feel that there is probably some kind of connection between the two deceased.
“I… I don’t know either…” Wu Weiwei was stunned by the question.
Death mostly brings fear, especially to young men and women who are just beginning their lives.
What kind of things must one encounter before death, and what kind of mood must one be in, so that one can still be happy and smile at the moment of his last breath.
The two of them fell silent at the same time, looking at each other, and saw the same confusion in each other's eyes.
Seeing Chen Ling withdraw his gaze and thinking with his eyelashes drooping, Wu Weiwei felt that he couldn't just stand there and do nothing, so he pointed to the community senior activity center not far away and said, "Brother Chen, I'll go to the activity center to ask for the address of the girl's home."
Chen Ling hummed softly. Thinking about the hot weather, he took out twenty yuan from his pocket and stuffed it into Wu Weiwei's pocket: "Buy two bottles of mineral water and two popsicles."
Wu Weiwei ran away with the money.
After entering the activity center, he first bought two bottles of water, opened one to quench his thirst, and then walked towards the only mahjong table inside.
Those who play mahjong are all permanent residents of the community. Some of them are brought in by their sons and daughters for elderly care, while others are retired employees of the unit. All of them are in good spirits, clapping the mahjong tiles loudly.
Who knew that as soon as Wu Weiwei opened his mouth, the sound of mahjong stopped, and the old men and women who were playing mahjong and watching the fun looked at him with condemning eyes.
Wu Weiwei was puzzled: "What's wrong? Is there something you can't say?"
"You are with that group of people, right?" One of the old men snorted heavily, took out the 80,000 yuan in his hand, and said coldly, "Go away. Don't ask about the dead. There will be retribution for disturbing the peace of the dead."
As soon as Chen Ling entered the room, he heard such harsh words. He walked forward and pulled Wu Weiwei behind him: "Grandpa, we are Xiaofan's classmates. We just want to come and see her."
The girl's name was blurred, and the news only said her name was Lin Moufan. Chen Ling was taking a risk. If someone present had really asked him what the girl's name was, he would have been exposed.
Fortunately, the old man who spoke didn't ask anything.
Seeing that the young man was good-looking, well-behaved, and had an indescribable temperament, the auntie sitting opposite the old man put down the mahjong tiles in her hand, smiled apologetically and said, "Sorry, little brother, we misunderstood you. We thought you were in the same group with that program group."
"What program group?" Chen Ling asked puzzledly.
"It was called the Zero Something Eight column." The old lady had gray hair and deep wrinkles on her face. She must be very old. She had a bad memory and couldn't remember, so she nudged the person next to her with her elbow.
"Tell me, what's it called?"
"Zero one eight zero one eight, look at your memory."
Chen Ling looked at Wu Weiwei and asked him with his eyes: Do you know
Wu Weiwei understood what he meant and shook his head like a rattle. He took out his cell phone and shook it, indicating that he would search it online.
The old man who had earlier bet 80,000 yuan cleared his throat and asked, "Are you really Miss Lin's classmates?"
"Well, she and I are classmates. I knew today was the seventh day after the death of the deceased, so I wanted to come and see her again." In order to show that he was not lying, Chen Ling shook the heavy fruit basket in his hand.
Chen Ling looks young and his clothes are not mature. When they say he is a high school student, the grandparents present actually believe him.
An old lady in a cheongsam adjusted her glasses and smiled: "I heard that the girl from the Lin family had a boyfriend. Little brother, is that you?"
"…No, no." Chen Ling quickly distanced himself from the matter, "She and I are just ordinary classmates."
Oh my god, it’s a good thing that the ancestor is not here.
Wu Weiwei glanced at his brother Chen, feeling that this clarification was a little hasty, as if he was afraid of being misunderstood.
Chen Ling was afraid that he would be exposed if he was asked any more questions, so he hurriedly said, "Grandpa and grandma, we are here on behalf of our classmates. If it is convenient, please show us the way."
"Go straight along the path in the activity center, pass a water tower, and the building ahead is their home." The old man thought for a moment and added, "Their home is Unit 3, Room 303."
After thanking the old man, the two quickly found the white water tower based on the description.
The fruit basket was a bit heavy, so Chen Ling changed his hand to carry it, unconsciously quickening his pace. As soon as he entered the corridor, the cool air hit his face, the coolness that was unique to old houses, so comfortable that it made him want to sigh.
Chen Ling took out a tissue and handed one to Wu Weiwei: "Wipe the sweat."
Wu Weiwei moved casually, put the tissue in his pocket after wiping it, and couldn't help asking: "Brother Chen, if this is not a scapegoat, what should we do?"
"Catch the ghost." Chen Ling said, "But I have to go back and get some weapons halfway."
If he were to encounter a powerful character, the two talismans in his pocket would not be enough to tickle the evil spirits.
Wu Weiwei always felt that Chen Ling was a little different from before. At the beginning, he was not keen on exorcising evil spirits. He was even willing to take Ding Junyuan's order only because Mr. Zhao mentioned the big financial hole in Yuhe Mountain.
Judging from Chen Ling’s performance today, he obviously didn’t come here for money.
What is that for
If you don't understand, ask. Wu Weiwei said, "Brother Chen, why did you come here today?"
Chen Ling didn't think about this question and just acted according to his inner wishes.
Now that Wu Weiwei asked him about it, he pondered for a moment, his expression quite serious: "Maybe it was touched by what happened to Mr. Tang. If we could discover the evil earlier and stop them before they committed murder, many things would be different."