"I declare in advance that this is just a legend. Although it may make people feel unbelievable, I believe it is true."
Uncle Qingsheng rubbed his temples, closed his eyes and pondered, as if thinking about where to start. After a while, he slowly opened his eyes and told us an absurd myth and legend—
This legend was told to me by the master himself when I entered the industry.
According to legend, during the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, a vicious and inextinguishable evil god once appeared on the land of Shenzhou. Not only can he go to heaven and earth, call the wind and call the rain, but he also has the body of a vajra that is immortal and immortal. His power is very powerful, and he once ravaged the land of Shenzhou, so that all living beings were ruined.
It is said that he has the ability to manipulate corpses, and likes to use corpses as slaves. Everywhere he goes, he must kill all living things. Not only did he kill everyone, even livestock, insects, and even flowers and trees, he would not let go of all living things anyway. In my master's original words: wherever the evil spirits pass through, there are bound to be corpses everywhere, thousands of miles of bare ground, and no human, beast, flowers and plants are spared.
The gods in the heavens saw the mortal beings being destroyed, and they couldn't bear it, so they joined forces to deal with the evil gods. However, the evil god has an indestructible body, and even if the gods join forces, they cannot destroy him.
Just when the gods were helpless, Huang Di thought of a way to give up the hard and easy, and offered to the gods: Since the body of the evil god cannot be destroyed, then leave his body alone, just destroy his primordial spirit, and the rest will be left. Insufficient stinky sacs are infested.
After hearing the plan, the gods suddenly realized, and once again joined forces to deal with the evil spirits, during which time he led out his primordial spirit and captured him. When the gods were about to destroy the primordial spirit to end the matter, they found that the evil god even the primordial spirit had cultivated to the realm of immortality and immortality. Although the gods tried their best, they could not destroy the primordial spirit in the end, so they had to exile the primordial spirit outside the Three Realms and have a goalkeeper guard it.
The primordial spirit was finally resolved by the gods, but the body of the evil god still remained in the mortal world.
After losing the primordial spirit, the body of the evil god is not much different from an ordinary corpse, but because it is an inextinguishable body, it rots and does not rot, and rots but does not transform. And as time passed, the flesh absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the essence of the sun and the moon, gradually developed self-consciousness, and then cultivated into a corpse demon.
The body of the evil god after turning into a corpse demon, although the power cannot be compared with the past, but it is also enough to harm one side. Unfortunately, when the gods noticed this, it was too late. The Evil God knew that he was no longer the opponent of the gods, so naturally he would not rashly confront the gods.
In order to escape the pursuit of the gods, he not only fled everywhere, but also sprinkled his blood all over the land of Shenzhou. If a human corpse is buried in the soil polluted by evil blood, it will be affected by the power of the evil god, ranging from corpse not to rotting, or turning into a zombie, or even breaking out of the ground to harm one party.
The gods were exhausted by this trick, and the evil gods no longer raged everywhere in order to protect themselves. Therefore, the gods taught mortals the magic of magic, and taught them how to identify the land contaminated by evil blood, so as not to accidentally bury the evil land and turn the dead into zombies. The immortal arts taught by the gods have been passed down for thousands of years, and gradually evolved into the feng shui techniques of later generations, as well as funeral etiquette.
Although the gods no longer trouble the evil gods, it does not mean that the evil gods will become obedient.
The evil spirit has been trying to save his Yuanshen, because after losing his Yuanshen, his essence gradually drains, and even touches the foundation. Even if he has cultivated into a corpse demon, it will not help him. If his essence is exhausted, he will lose his immortal body. Then he will turn into dust and disappear between heaven and earth.
In order to keep the immortal body and restore the power that was enough to fight against the gods alone, the evil god took advantage of the ignorance and greed of some mortals to set up a cult, instructing the believers to do things for themselves. Of course, in order to avoid the eyes and ears of the gods, all this is done in secret...
After listening to the legend of the evil god Uncle Qingsheng, I felt at a loss. Because this absurd ancient legend seems to have nothing to do with the recent deaths of children surnamed Cai, I asked him to tell us the purpose of this legend.
"I tell you this legend because something similar happened sixty years ago..." Uncle Qingsheng told us another story with a solemn expression—
This is also what I heard from the master's mouth, it is the master's personal experience.
Sixty years ago, there were eight children surnamed Wang in this county who died in just one month. However, in those days, supplies were very short, people often starved to death, and the news dissemination channels were not as developed as they are now, so not many people knew about it, and of course not many people cared about it.
According to the old custom, children who die before they reach adulthood cannot be put into coffins like adults, but they must also do some rituals. At that time, the person who did the work for these eight children was my master.
Many people died in those days, even if eight children with the same surname died in a row, the master didn't care. However, when he knew the birth date of these children and the date of death, he felt that something was wrong, because their horoscope was all water, and they all died on the day of Hai.
The master felt that there must be something wrong with the deaths of these children, so he secretly inquired about his colleagues, who would have learned a terrible message from an old coward.
The old man is almost old, and he has been dealing with the dead for most of his life, but he knows almost everything about the dead. He not only told his master about the legend of the evil god, but also said that the evil god would instruct the disciples to hold a sacrificial ceremony for him every sixty years in order to make up for the loss of essence. To hold a sacrifice requires eight souls of the same ancestry, pure, and the eight characters belong to water, and they must be taken from Hai Ri...
"You mean, these eight children surnamed Cai were killed by cultists?" After listening to Uncle Qingsheng's story, I was shocked.
He nodded, "The eight children are all surnamed Cai, all of which belong to the horoscope of water, which meets the requirements for holding sacrifices. And one of the sisters and the girl who just passed away died on Hai Ri, and their deaths are probably related to the evil god. ."
"Did the other five children also die in Hairi?" I asked.
"I can't give you a definite answer to this question. Their bodies were found in the fish pond four days after they disappeared, and it is not clear when they died. However, although they had been soaked in water for a long time when they were delivered. , but in my experience, they should have died on the same day as the sisters from the neighboring village."
"Same clan, pure, belong to water, Hai Ri..." Zhen Zhen muttered these four words to herself, I asked her what she was thinking, she replied: "I know that the same surname means the same clan, but what is this 'pure' What do you mean?"
"It just means unmanned." Uncle Qingsheng explained to her with a smile, "Every newborn child has a pure soul, but after going through a relationship between a man and a woman, it becomes vulgar and becomes an unclean soul."
Hearing what he said, Zhen Zhen's face immediately turned red.
I hurriedly smoothed things out for her and asked Uncle Qingsheng if the evil god would grant the believers some kind of ability that was different from ordinary people? Although I don't know the circumstances of the other seven children surnamed Cai, judging from the current evidence, Cai Shaomeng probably died by accident, not human. Moreover, as such a hidden cult, it is not easy to maintain the sacrificial ceremony once every sixty years if it is not driven by extremely attractive interests. After all, sixty years is not a short period of time. There is a saying that "life is rare in seventy years." I think there should be few people who can hold two sacrificial ceremonies for the evil god.
"It should be that no one can hold two sacrificial ceremonies for the evil god." Uncle Qingsheng frowned.
"What's wrong with that?" I asked.
"I don't know if the evil god will give the believers special abilities, but one thing is certain, that is, the sacrificer who holds the sacrifice ceremony for the evil god must sacrifice his life."
Zhen Zhen said in surprise: "Who would be so stupid? In order to please this murderous evil spirit, you don't even want your own life?"
Uncle Qingsheng shook his head and said, "There will be gains and losses. To get the gift of the evil god, you must first sacrifice your life."
"What will the priest get?" This is the crux of the question.
"Eternal life!" Uncle Qingsheng's words were succinct but powerful, and he immediately explained to us: "Although the evil god has lost his primordial spirit, he still has the ability to manipulate corpses, allowing the sacrificer to gain immortality in the form of a zombie. Of course, if you want to get the evil god Immortality given, must first become a corpse."
For thousands of years, immortality has been the eternal pursuit of human beings, and even obtaining immortality in the form of a zombie is a dream for some people. I think the reason why this cult has been passed down is for this reason.
However, even if the sacrificer can obtain immortality in the form of a zombie, from the perspective of the murder scene, even a zombie may not harm Cai Shaomeng unconsciously.
"There's something I didn't tell this kid's family..." After hearing my question, Uncle Qingsheng was silent for a while, as if he was thinking about something, and when he spoke again, he looked very serious, "This It was told to me by the guy who put on makeup on the child, so I didn't dare to tell her family so they wouldn't be sad."
"What's the matter?" Zhen Zhen asked anxiously.
"When this guy put makeup on the child, he found that there was a small red and swollen spot on the back of her head. It should have been knocked hard when the accident happened. But because it was covered by hair, it was not easy to find if you didn't look carefully."
The information provided by Uncle Qingsheng immediately reminded me of the scene where Shaomeng was in the phone booth before the incident—she climbed up on a steel pipe for some reason, and a dark shadow suddenly appeared behind her and knocked hard on the back of her head. a moment. The sudden knock made her lose her balance, and her little head burrowed into the loop of telephone wires without any bias...
If Shaomeng was really knocked and her head stuck on the phone line, it would explain Zhou Qiong's doubts. The perpetrator must have calculated the right angle before giving Shaomeng this fatal blow, making her head just fit into the telephone coil.
This is extremely important evidence. Unfortunately, the colleagues who dealt with the case before did not find it. At this moment, the body of the deceased has been cremated and cannot be verified. But it doesn't matter, as long as you know that there is such a thing, the next investigation will have a clearer direction.
I asked Uncle Qingsheng for information on the other seven children surnamed Cai, and then I said a few polite words and said goodbye to him. Just as we were about to leave, the phone rang in the hall, and Uncle Qingsheng hurriedly stepped forward to answer it.
"Yes, this is a funeral home. Um, um... I still need to order a coffin, right? No problem, I'll send a car to you right away. Your address is... " Uncle Qingsheng gave us a weird smile after answering the phone. He said mysteriously, "I didn't lie to you. If you hear the sound of the coffin at night, there must be business coming."
The next day, after I reported the progress of the investigation to the boss, he squeezed his small eyes and asked slyly, "Do you believe the nonsense of this funeral home old man?"
"Although there is no evidence that what he said is true, there is also no evidence that he lied, and lying to us will not do him any good." I lit a cigarette leisurely, and continued: "The most important thing is , he gave us a very important piece of information, if Cai Shaomeng really has a small red bump on the back of her head, then she can be sure that she died of homicide."
"Just be the guy who handled this case before, I didn't notice the redness and swelling on the back of the deceased's head, but the old man's words about evil gods and cults are too ridiculous! Let's put aside those insignificant myths and legends, if this cult really exists, and It's been around for so long, do you think I'll be ignorant?"
"If there are frequent cult activities, of course, it is impossible to escape the boss's eyes. If this organization only holds sacrifices every 60 years, and usually does not do any bad things that may attract the attention of others, then it is not necessary to avoid the attention of the police. Difficult. After all, it is impossible for us to verify whether something similar happened 60 years ago, or even 120 years ago."
The boss put his hands in front of his lips and stared at me with deep eyes, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking. After a long silence, he finally said: "Okay, I'll assume that this cult really exists, so what do you think we should do now? To continue investigating the case of the telephone booth, we should first investigate the cause of death of the other seven children surnamed Cai. "
"Maybe the two aspects can be carried out at the same time." I handed the eldest the information about the seven children surnamed Cai that I wanted to come with Uncle Qingsheng.
Although only the names, dates of birth and death, and addresses of the seven children were written on the document, the eldest brother immediately noticed the clue and frowned. I added: "Uncle Qingsheng told me that these seven children live in two adjacent villages, of which five children living in Wang Village are brothers and sisters from the same family, and the other two are Liang A pair of sisters in the village. First, the fifth sister and brother disappeared. Three days later, the two sisters drowned. On the fourth day, the bodies of the fifth sister and brother were found in the fish pond. Although no formal autopsy was performed, according to Uncle Qingsheng's judgment, They should have died on the same day."
"What did you think of?" The boss showed a sly smile.
I seriously analyzed: "Assuming that these seven children were all deliberately murdered, then there should be more than one murderer. Because it is easier to deal with the two sisters, but to deal with the five sisters and brothers in Wangcun, even if the other party is only a child, just relying on It's hard to do with the strength of an adult. After all, these children are attacked, even if they can't resist, at least they know how to escape."
"Is that all there is to it?" The eldest's small eyes rolled.
I smiled and said, "Seven children live in two adjacent villages, and their deaths one after another will more or less attract the attention of others. Once the police intervene, they will definitely target the murderer's activities in these two villages. If I were the mastermind, I would definitely find another target that has nothing to do with these seven children, but meets the conditions of sacrifice. This will disrupt the police's sight and distract us from our attention. Cai Shaomeng is completely It meets the requirements of the murderer. So, I think the murderer's nest is in these two villages?"
"Your reasoning is not unreasonable, but the reasoning is not sufficient." The boss rolled his eyes and immediately refuted my reasoning: "If I were the mastermind, I would first go far and then close, so as to be more confusing. "
"I have also considered this situation, but I think it is more likely that the murderer is hiding in the countryside." I analyzed the boss again: "It is not difficult to know the birth date of one person, but to know the birth date of seven people, it is necessary to It can't be done in an instant. It will take a while for the murderer to verify the birth time of these children. Moreover, the murderer's time is not only spent on these seven children, they need to find suitable targets among many children. . If it is done in a place outside their normal range of activities, it will be more difficult to operate.”
For my point of view, the boss did not express an opinion, just looked at me silently. From the look in his eyes, I knew he still had reservations about my reasoning. But that's okay, because I have other reasons.
"Among the seven children, five are siblings, and the other two are sisters. As I said just now, if they stay together, it will be very difficult to catch them all. But if an acquaintance commits the murder by means of deception, That would be much easier. More importantly, if the five siblings were murdered on the third day of their disappearance, the murderer must find a place to imprison them. If the murderer was an outsider, it would be easy for the locals to find out."
"These are just your inferences, without any substantial evidence to support them." The boss still does not agree with my inferences.
I smiled triumphantly and said, "If there was no substantial evidence to support it, I would not have nagged you for so long. The proprietress of the stationery store told me that the first person who found out about Cai Shaomeng's accident was a teacher named Wang Xi. And the place where this Teacher Wang teaches is 'coincidentally' the Wang Village where the fifth sister and brother live."