Han Province, Blue Water Township.
The sausages filled a few days ago are about to be smoked, but there are regulations in the village that they are not allowed to smoke in their own yard. They can only smoke collectively in the open space in the west of the village. Every household has sausages and bacon to be smoked, and there are only a few smoked barrels. If you go late, you will have to queue for two or three hours.
In order to reduce the queuing time, the girls get up before dawn.
In winter, when the sunrise is late, Blue Water Township, as its name suggests, has a small river that surrounds most of the village, with abundant water sources, and fog falls almost every morning.
Breathing in the wet cold air, the girl put sausages into the basket while shaking, then went to the kitchen to get a freshly steamed bun, and walked towards the west of the village in the dim light.
When I got to the place, I realized that I was still late. The elderly grandfathers and aunts had already arrived. At this time, they were chatting while adding dry branches to the smoker barrel.
"Xiaochen is here too!" An aunt said: "Little girl, why don't you sleep for a while? Join us old people for fun!"
The girl smiled embarrassedly and stepped forward to help.
After dawn, it was time to officially start smoking. The girl yawned several times, her eyes wet with tears from tiredness. As the sun rose, she wiped her tears and squinted at the illuminated mountains and the thinning mist.
She suddenly felt melancholy, not knowing when the fog surrounding her would dissipate.
There are more and more villagers, and the voices are full of people. The girl is glad that she came early enough.
At 10:00 in the morning, a village cadre in his sixties rushed over and shouted, "Xiaochen, where's Xiaochen? Is Zou Chen here?"
The girl's sausage was only half smoked, and when she heard the sound, she quickly got out of the crowd, her hands and face were blackened by the smoke, "Uncle Wang, I'm here!"
The village cadre held the girl, "Someone is looking for you, follow me."
The girl was startled, and her expression immediately became unnatural, "Who is looking for me?"
"Policemen."
The girl's fear froze in her eyes, and she shook her head vigorously, "I, my sausages haven't been smoked yet!"
"Don't worry about sausages, you don't have a household registration, maybe they are here to fill your household registration, do you want to be a 'black household' all your life?" After the village cadre finished speaking, they shouted into the crowd, "The police are here for Xiaochen. The household registration is completed, everyone help to watch her sausages!"
The aunt who talked to the girl before said enthusiastically, "How cool!"
The girl was almost dragged home by the village cadres. There was a police car parked in the alley where her house was, and two men without police uniforms were standing beside the car. They obviously heard the movement and turned around and looked in her direction.
She shuddered suddenly, and when she was still about thirty meters away from her house, she suddenly exerted her strength, broke free from the hands of the village cadres, and ran in the opposite direction.
The village cadre was stunned, "Xiaochen! Oh, what are you running for, Xiaochen!"
Fang Yuanhang chased after him, Mingshu still stood there and shouted, "Chi Xiaomin, don't run away."
The girl's footsteps paused slightly, Fang Yuanhang quickly caught up and grabbed the girl's arm.
The girl was forced to turn around, it was the familiar face in the system.
Mingshu stepped forward and looked at Chi Xiaomin.
Chi Xiaomin was very vigilant, her hands clenched into fists.
"Let's talk." Mingshu said, "about you, about your elder brother Lin Jiao, and... 'Ghost Cards'."
Chi Xiaomin's eyes widened all of a sudden, tears were pooling inside, as if they were about to fall in the next second.
Mingshu took out a pack of tissues and handed it to her, "Have you seen the news?"
After a few seconds, Chi Xiaomin nodded lightly.
"It's all over." Mingshu said, "The source of your fear and hatred has been eradicated."
After a pause, Mingshu said again: "Do you know who eradicated them?"
Chi Xiaomin raised her head, she actually already had the answer in her eyes.
"It's the police." Mingshu said: "The police are not as useless and weak as you think. We can protect you, and you can rely on and trust us."
Before he knew it, Mingshu had already raised his eyebrows and said very seriously: "The police will not be in trouble with evil!"
The tears in Chi Xiaomin's eyes fell, she hurriedly reached out to wipe them away, and said incoherently, "I'm sorry..."
The village cadres did not understand why she had to apologize, but Mingshu and Fang Yuanhang did.
"Let's go." Mingshu said, "Go to your house and sit down."
The two-storey small building is a self-built building that can be seen everywhere in the countryside, with white walls and concrete floors inside, which is very simple.
Before meeting Chi Xiaomin, Mingshu had already learned from the village cadres that Chi Xiaomin—her name here is Zou Chen—came here in mid-July this year and has no household registration.
"Black households" are all too common in rural areas, as long as they are human beings, almost no one will care. Chi Xiaomin is an honest girl, and no one cares whether she has a hukou or no hukou.
This house used to belong to the villager Zhao Dongnan. At the beginning of the year, Zhao Dongnan moved his family to the city, and the house was sold to an outsider for 20,000 yuan. After half a year, Chi Xiaomin moved in.
Chi Xiaomin went to the kitchen to boil water, and washed her face and hands along the way.
Fang Yuanhang wandered around in the upper and lower rooms, and saw the group photo of Chi Xiaomin and Lin Jiao.
Seeing that Chi Xiaomin's emotions had calmed down, Mingshu asked, "Did Lin Jiao arrange for you to live here?"
Chi Xiaomin nodded and said softly, "Brother let me, let me hide for a while."
Saying that, Chi Xiaomin buried her head even lower, "We did something wrong."
Mingshu naturally wanted to get Lin Jiao to let Chi Xiaomin leave Dongye City to escape temporarily, but he did not understand why it was in July.
"They are all your targets. You pretended to be female ghosts to scare them." Mingshu took out photos of Qiao Xuehua, Li Sijia, Lu Chao, and Yang Lilan one by one, and looked into Chi Xiaomin's eyes, "Because they all Bought 'Ghost Cards'."
Chi Xiaomin asked, "Don't they deserve to die?"
Mingshu said, "Did Lin Jiao ask you to do this?"
Chi Xiaomin's expression became complicated. She seemed to understand rationally that she should tell all the truth at this time, but emotionally she was unwilling to let Lin Jiao bear the burden.
"What's wrong?" Mingshu asked, "Uncomfortable?"
Chi Xiaomin shook her head, pounding her hands on her head.
She was really uncomfortable, there was a dull pain somewhere in her head, but she didn't know why.
Mingshu said, "You just need to tell me everything you know. As for Lin Jiao, I will find him to investigate again."
Chi Xiaomin seemed to be persuaded and hesitated to speak—
Chi Xiaomin couldn't remember anything before the age of 7. She only remembered that she grew up in a place called "Long'an Township" in the north. She had no parents and was raised by an old man. According to the old man, it was a man dressed in a city who handed her over to her. Please take care of her temporarily. .
Later, the old man died.
Chi Xiaomin did not have a registered permanent residence. After the death of the old man, she became a loner.
Soon, Lin Jiao came to Long'an Township.
In Lin Jiao's mouth, she knew the story that happened to her.
She was born in a sinful place, where baby girls will be made into "ghost cards" when they are born, and those who are not killed will become "reproductive resources" and face a more cruel life.
Lin Zhongguo - a brave and fearless reporter - once wanted to expose the darkness, but ended up falling victim to it.
And she was rescued by Lin Zhongguo.
Without Lin Zhongguo, she would have already become a pool of blood on the "ghost card".
Lin Zhongguo probably died for saving her.
"What can I do?" she asked Lin Jiao.
"Avenge my father." Lin Jiao said, "Are you willing?"
Back then, when she was still young, she looked at Lin Jiao in confusion, "What is revenge? How?"
Lin Jiao rubbed her soft hair, "Don't worry, we will discuss when you grow up and when I have the ability to protect you."
She called out "brother" ignorantly—after her grandfather passed away, she has been lonely, and she wants a family member so much.
Lin Jiao seemed to be stunned for a moment, then smiled: "From today onwards, I will be your elder brother."
After that, Chi Xiaomin still lived in Long'an Township. Lin Jiao often came to visit her, brought her the things she needed for life, and told her about Lin Zhongguo and the "ghost card".
As she grew older, she hated "ghost cards" more and more and pitied those innocent baby girls more and more. She asked Lin Jiao many times what we should do. Lin Jiao always told her that now is not the time.
Later, she was no longer a little girl, and Lin Jiao also became a police adviser.
She suggested, almost naively - why don't we call the police? My existence is the evidence, you know so many police officers, the police must have a way.
Lin Jiao showed a sarcastic smile, "If the police would help us, they would have helped us as early as the year you were born, why would you wait until now? Remember, the police are the most unreliable group of people in the world, they will only consider them Our own interests. We have our own revenge."
Chi Xiaomin seems to understand but does not understand.
Subconsciously, she was still willing to trust the police. She had an almost instinctive fear of what Lin Jiao said about revenge.
Revenge is... to kill
But she won't.
More than two years ago, Lin Jiao took her to Dongye City, gave her a fake ID card, and taught her how to avoid surveillance and hide in the crowd properly.
She gradually adapted to life in the city, worked part-time, and observed girls in the city. At first, she wanted to make friends, but Lin Jiao warned her not to contact people at will, let alone trust people.
Over time, she gave up the idea of making friends and developed a hobby - reading.
She has bought a lot of second-hand books, and her favorite is crime themes. She still can't imagine how she will avenge her benefactor. Is it a crime with high IQ as written in the book
She is self-aware and knows that she is not smart.
Last year, Lin Jiao handed a list to her and told her a plan.
She was horrified, "You, you want me to pretend to be a ghost to scare them?"
"Can't you do it?" Lin Jiao said, "Or, you don't want to?"
She shook her head quickly, "Of course I would, but..."
"Just what?"
"Is there really no other way? You've established that these people have 'bad cards' and we can..."
Lin Jiao interrupted impatiently, "Are you still counting on the police?"
She had to shut up.
"I told you, don't expect the police, they won't help us." Lin Jiao seemed angry, "We can only rely on ourselves! Who will survive!"
She responded and was in a state of panic for a short while.
Lin Jiao just told her the plan, but did not let her execute it immediately. While waiting, she saw that the newspaper was launching a series of country folklore reports. The angle of the report is very objective, not only affirming the enthusiasm of some folk customs, but also discussing that some folk customs are really dross and should not be continued in modern society.
The editor in charge of the report is named Wen Ling, who looks like a woman.
Chi Xiaomin suddenly had an idea.
Big brother always said that the police are unreliable. What about the media? Isn't Uncle Lin a media person? If the editor-in-chief is willing to report on "Ghost Cards"...
She dared not tell Lin Jiao, but secretly found Wen Ling, told the crime of the "ghost card", and asked her to expose this most inappropriate "folklore" in the newspaper.
Wen Ling agreed and took the list. She was full of expectations that she would see reports about "Ghost Cards" in the newspapers soon, but until the end of the folklore series, Wen Ling did not do what she promised her.
Losing hope feels like being pulled and sunk into the sea by a boulder.
She finally felt Lin Jiao's feeling - the police can't be depended on, the media can't be depended on either, the only one who can depend on is herself.
No one saw their suffering, no one heard their voices.
She doesn't want justice, she just wants revenge.
She concealed this episode, and Lin Jiao did not know that she had asked the media for help.
The first object of revenge was Qiao Xuehua, then Li Sijia, and then Lu Chao.
They are all rich people in this city, living a decent life, they are already "superior people", but they want to listen to crooked ways and use the blood of a baby girl to confuse their career and future.
The first time he played a ghost, Chi Xiaomin was very nervous, not sure if he scared Qiao Xuehua, but he scared himself anyway.
But she soon discovered that she was gifted at playing tricks. Those who "saw" her were all terrified, thinking that she was the soul of a dead baby girl who appeared to save her life.
If you are so scared, why did you do evil in the first place
She couldn't help but wonder, how scared and how painful the babies who died because of you were, did you realize it
Lin Jiao taught her to call women "Mom" and "Brother" or "Dad" to men, with a softer voice and a little more fluttering, and asked them why they didn't love her anymore.
She learned very quickly. Under her intermittent intimidation, Qiao Xuehua first developed mental problems. She left Dongye City and returned to her hometown, where she was hit to death on the way to her hometown.
What happened next was Li Sijia. This man who seemed to have a very successful career was actually very timid. He had the experience of "seeing ghosts" when he was a child, and he feared "ghost cards" more than he loved them. Business to a higher level.
After learning about his childhood experience, Lin Jiao immediately decided to attack him.
It is easier to scare Li Sijia than to scare Qiao Xuehua, but it is also possible that Chi Xiaomin is already familiar with it.
While doing these things, Chi Xiaomin made a friend, Li Hongmei, an English major at Dongye Foreign Studies University.
Of course, she was hiding it from Lin Jiao.
Li Hongmei was ugly and hated by her classmates, but Chi Xiaomin liked her and took pity on her.
On Li Hongmei, Chi Xiaomin saw herself.
They are all vulnerable people who have been rejected by this society. They can't find a real place to live. They all bear hatred, and they all yearn for change.
Li Hongmei has a household registration, she is a "black household", but when she is with Li Hongmei, she finally doesn't have that suffocating loneliness.
They are the same kind.
Only the same kind can comfort each other.
Li Hongmei confided to her the unhappiness of her life. She shared the books she liked with Li Hongmei, and chatted with Li Hongmei about the views in the books.
"Some people deserve to die - do you agree?" Li Hongmei asked after reading a book.
"Agreed." Chi Xiaomin said, "Why do people who have done bad things survive?"
"But there are laws. Are laws really useless?"
"The law doesn't sentence every bad person to death, but what they do has 'killed' a person."
Li Hongmei thought for a long time, "Should my roommates be damned?"
Chi Xiaomin asked, "What do you think?"
Li Hongmei shook her head, "I don't know."
The confused Li Hongmei finally broke out, answering the bloody question "Are my roommates damned?" with four lives.
At the same time, Lin Jiao discovered that she had made friends.
Lin Jiao has always been against her making friends. She has always been submissive, but she also needs company.
Before Li Hongmei's accident, around the beginning of June, she discovered that Lin Jiao was beginning to become restless.
She once thought it was because of Lu Chao.
Lu Chao was their third target, younger than Qiao Xuehua and Li Sijia. It is not easy to induce him to commit suicide by intimidating. She tried several times, but Lu Chao didn't respond much.
Later, Lin Jiao asked her to concentrate on dealing with Yang Lilan and not to worry about Lu Chao.
She suspected that Lu Chao was killed by Lin Jiao, and it was this unplanned incident that made Lin Jiao uneasy.
Yang Lilan is a good target to frighten. In July, Yang Lilan's spirit was on the verge of collapse, but Lin Jiao suddenly ordered her to leave Dongye City and go to Lanshui Township in Han Province to hide for a while.
She was very puzzled and asked the reason. Lin Jiao just said that he was a difficult person to deal with, and the plan might have to be changed.
"People who are difficult to deal with?" Mingshu understood what was going on after a brief thought. The "ghost" Yang Lilan saw suddenly disappeared, Lin Jiao asked Chi Xiaomin to leave Dongye City, and Lin Jiao used Xu Yin to construct "Chi Xiaomin". The illusion that Min is dead" is all due to a major change in the serious crime team - in June, when he returned from the special operations team, Xiao Yuan was airborne to replace Liang Zhao.
Lin Jiao was afraid of them, so he had to change his plan and let Chi Xiaomin go to Han Province to hide.
"I don't know..." Chi Xiaomin buried her head low, her voice getting lower and lower: "I don't know..."
Fang Yuanhang didn't understand for a while, "You don't know what?"
"I don't know that the police are not as useless as you think." Mingshu looked at Chi Xiaomin, "I don't know that the police will do everything they can to bring justice to the victims."
Chi Xiaomin cried, tears kept pouring out of her fingers. She choked: "If I knew you would save us, I would definitely ask you for help."
Mingshu sighed.
Chi Xiaomin grew up in a deformed environment. When she was 7 years old, she met Lin Jiao. After ten years, Lin Jiao kept instilling hatred, benefactors, revenge, and the uselessness of the police in her. It was inevitable that she would embark on the road of revenge with Lin Jiao. But it can be seen from the fact that she asked Wen Ling for help last year that even though Lin Jiao has influenced her for many years, she is still willing to trust the law and society.
until cornered.
"Wait, you admit that Qiao Xuehua and Li Sijia committed suicide after being insane after being threatened by you many times. You guess that Lu Chao was killed by Lin Jiao." Fang Yuanhang said, "What about Huang Yan?"
Chi Xiaomin wiped away her tears, her eyes were very blank, "Huang Yan?"
Fang Yuanhang asked: "She is also on the list, you haven't done anything to her?"
Chi Xiaomin shook his head.
Fang Yuanhang said, "You said that you came to Lanshui Township in July this year and did not return to Dongye City. Is it possible that Lin Jiao killed Huang Yan? And you don't know?"
Half a minute later, Chi Xiaomin worried: "Impossible. Big Brother said when he sent me here, now that the situation has changed, we don't think about revenge for the time being. He, he won't lie to me."
Mingshu stood up, walked a few steps in the room, turned to look at Chi Xiaomin again, his eyes were slightly different from before.
"Why did Lin Jiao kill Lu Chao himself?"
Obviously, Lin Jiao's plan is to use Chi Xiaomin as a tool, using the illusion of ghosts and gods and people's inner fears to create a terrifying atmosphere that is difficult to escape. way to end one's own life.
They did commit suicide, but they were led by others.
Lin Jiao is a psychologist, and this is the method of "killing" he is best at.
In this way, he can punish the wicked who buy "ghost cards" without getting his hands dirty.
Then he had no reason to attack Lu Chao, let alone Huang Yan's way of dying.
"It's my fault." Chi Xiaomin sobbed, "I didn't do it well, Lu Chao seems to have discovered me."
Mingshu nodded, it made sense.
Lin Jiao didn't intend to kill Lu Chao, but Chi Xiaomin revealed that, if Lu Chao was alive, their plan would be revealed, so he had to hurry up to get rid of Lu Chao, and use the fact that Lu Chao was traveling abroad for a long time to make Lu Chao disappear. illusion.
But the possibility of Huang Yan being killed by Lin Jiao is not high.
Chi Xiaomin suddenly raised her hands and stretched them out, "Take me away."
It was a position waiting to be handcuffed, and she knew she had committed a crime.
Fang Yuanhang looked at Mingshu.
Mingshu said softly, "Put it on for her."
"Wait a minute." Chi Xiaomin said suddenly, "Can I go upstairs to get something?"
Mingshu didn't ask what it was, "Go."
Ten minutes later, Chi Xiaomin came down, holding a box in her arms.
Inside the box is a "ghost card".
Fang Yuanhang said: "These are..."
Chi Xiaomin said, "I stole it from Qiao Xuehua, Li Sijia, and Lu Chao's house. I... I'm very good at doing this kind of thing."
The police have searched the homes of the three people, and the "ghost cards" were incomplete.
Mingshu said: "It turned out to be taken by you."
"I want to post them on the forum to warn those who want to buy 'ghost cards' - this is the end of evil." Chi Xiaomin said: "But I dare not, you will find me."
Fang Yuanhang had mixed feelings in his heart.
Mingshu asked Fang Yuanhang to bring Chi Xiaomin into the car first, and stayed in the room for a while.
There were no loopholes in Chi Xiaomin's confession just now, and his attitude was sincere enough, but he had to pay attention to some details.
It's like the gears are turning tightly, but a small piece of sand is suddenly mixed in, which does not affect the rotation of the gears, and it cannot be seen from the outside.
But with sand, it must not be as smooth as before.
Mingshu called Xiao Yu'an.
"Brother, I suddenly have a guess. Chi Xiaomin may not be the baby girl that Lin Zhongguo rescued back then."