"Found it?" Xu Dingjia's face was filled with joy. He immediately ignored Guo An and ran directly towards Ren Zhifei, asking hurriedly: "What did you find? Where is it?"
Guo An also heard something strange, so he had to suppress his intention to capture Xu Dingjia and looked at Ren Zhifei.
Ren Zhifei pointed to the wall behind the counter, where a very ordinary electronic clock hung, and he said, "There's something wrong with this clock!"
"What's the problem?" Xu Dingjia looked at the clock on the wall and whispered, "Is that really the case?"
At this time, the time displayed on the electronic clock was eleven forty-five. Jiang Cheng just took a look and couldn't help but said in surprise: "I clearly remember that it was exactly 12 o'clock in the evening when I heard the woman screaming. It has been at least more than an hour now, but why is the time on this clock actually 11:40? Five points!”
When Guo An heard this, he felt very strange. As a police officer, of course he noticed the time of the crime, which was indeed twelve o'clock. Although Guo An was doubtful, he still said: "Maybe the clock is broken. Of course, it is not ruled out that the murderer deliberately reset the time like this in order to satisfy the sense of ritual in his heart."
"If that's all, how do you explain this?" Xu Dingjia took out his mobile phone, and the time displayed on it was also eleven forty-five.
Jiang Cheng looked at his watch and said, "Mine too."
Guo An suddenly felt an inexplicable panic in his heart. He calmed down and looked at his watch. The next second, Guo An's mind was greatly shaken, and he couldn't help but exclaimed.
At this time, the time on the watch is also eleven forty-five!
"This is impossible!" Guo An trembled: "I obviously saw the time as twelve o'clock before, how could I remember it wrong?"
"That's not all the impossible things." Xu Dingjia suddenly became energetic again and turned to ask other people present, "When you heard the scream, did you check the time?"
Ren Zhifei shook his head, "I was in a daze at that time, and it was Lao Fang who woke me up."
The girl with heavy makeup also shook her head, "I was so frightened that I couldn't possibly notice the time."
"What happened?" Feng Ye's voice came from the corridor, accompanied by a burst of footsteps.
The three people found nothing upstairs and had already turned back.
Hearing Guo An's story, Feng Ye was also shocked. He looked around at the watches or mobile phones of everyone present, and the times on them were surprisingly consistent. Even so, he still couldn't believe this strange fact.
"What's going on?" Feng Ye was confused and looked at Xu Dingjia involuntarily.
Xu Dingjia did not answer directly, but asked the remaining people the same question again, "When did you discover the crime?"
Feng Ye replied: "It's exactly twelve o'clock."
Chu Xueying replied: "When I got dressed and went out, I looked at the time and it was also twelve o'clock sharp."
Lao Fang said calmly: "Twelve o'clock sharp."
Xu Dingjia nodded after hearing this and confirmed again: "Not bad at all?"
Everyone nodded.
Xu Dingjia said: "Don't you think it's strange?"
Guo An shook his head blankly. He felt that he could no longer think.
"It's indeed strange." Jiang Cheng said at this time: "Each of us reacts differently, and the reaction time after noticing the crime is also different. In addition, it is impossible for us to notice the time at the same time. For example, Chu Xueying was in I checked the time before going out, and it was twelve o'clock sharp at that time. I checked the time after arriving at the scene. Chu Xueying had already come out, but the time was still twelve o'clock sharp... "
Guo An tried hard to regain his thinking ability and said: "I looked at the time after I was woken up by the scream. It was also twelve o'clock at the time. This... what on earth is going on?"
"A sense of ritual." Xu Dingjia said to Guo An, "It's not easy for you to notice that there is a sense of ritual. However, it is not that the murderer is deliberately creating a sense of ritual, but that we In this ceremony!”
"Ritual?" Jiang Cheng suddenly thought of the fear he had experienced before, and couldn't help asking in a trembling voice: "Could this be a conspiracy of the ancient god's messenger?"
Xu Dingjia replied: "There are various signs that the messengers of the ancient gods are lurking around us. To be precise, they are not the messengers of the ancient gods, but the Guixu believers!"
Jiang Cheng and Chu Xueying were both shocked when they heard this. They took a step back almost simultaneously and distanced themselves from everyone.
Guo An said in confusion: "What on earth are you talking about? What messengers and believers of the ancient gods are they some kind of cult organization?"
Xu Dingjia shook his head and said, "I'm afraid they are more terrifying than the cult organization you understand."
"Is there really any supernatural theory?" Guo An murmured, then shook his head and said flatly: "Impossible! I have experienced so many bizarre cases, and the so-called supernatural phenomena are just the murderer's tactics to confuse the police."
Seeing that the other party was still so persistent, Xu Dingjia simply asked: "Then how do you explain everything you are facing now."
Guo An stopped talking. He really didn't know how to explain it. Although he didn't want to believe it, he was already a little shaken in his heart.
"What kind of ritual is this?" Jiang Cheng asked, "Is there a way to break it?"
Xu Dingjia frowned and seemed to be embarrassed, and said: "I can only confirm that it is the Guixu believers who are responsible, but I still don't know what their specific methods are. This requires me to further observe."
While talking, Xu Dingjia started walking around the field, as if he was looking for something.
Everyone watched silently, and even the two policemen did not interfere. They all expected to know the truth of all this.
Jiang Cheng accidentally glanced at the time. It was already eleven fifty, ten minutes before twelve o'clock. An idea flashed in his mind, and he seemed to have thought of something, and said to Xu Dingjia: "Could this twelve o'clock be the key to this ceremony?"
Xu Dingjia's eyes lit up when he heard this and said, "Speak out your thoughts!"
Jiang Cheng said: "When we became aware of the incident, it was twelve o'clock. But when we started investigating, the time returned to before twelve o'clock. I always feel that once the time reaches twelve o'clock again, something else will happen occur!"
Xu Dingjia nodded repeatedly, "You are right, twelve o'clock is indeed the key point of this ceremony! But just knowing these is not enough. There are too many evil spells among the Guixu believers, many of which are not recorded in the classics. I still can’t figure out exactly what they’re doing.”
"But you already have a direction to solve the problem, don't you?" Chu Xueying said suddenly.
Jiang Cheng was very surprised by these words. Until now, he had only seen Xu Dingjia walking aimlessly and had not noticed the deep meaning behind his actions.
Xu Dingjia smiled at Chu Xueying and said, "Since we can't find the truth through observation, we must take some other actions."
Jiang Cheng didn't understand what the other party meant, but found that Xu Dingjia had unknowingly moved closer to the girl with heavy makeup. He was talking to Chu Xueying when he suddenly turned around and showed a strange smile towards the girl with heavy makeup.