Jian Jing didn't hesitate any longer, picked up the utility knife, inserted it into the gap and pried it out.
"Mr. Jian, are you going to pry the floor?" The PD heard the director's instructions and did not stop him. Instead, he said, "I'll go find a tool."
"Please."
PD called the prop master using a headset and started using the tools directly.
The professionals were much better than her. They just stuck the screwdriver in and hammered twice, and the wooden floor was pried up, revealing the cement underneath.
Jian Jing: "It's smashed."
The prop master didn't say anything, he just picked up the hammer and started smashing.
Unexpectedly, this layer of cement was not as solid as imagined. It was only a thin layer. After hammering it hard for a while, a hollow partition was exposed.
"Teacher Jian is amazing, there is a mezzanine here." The PD motioned the photographer to come over and take a picture.
Jian Jing waited for him to shoot a few shots before asking, "Do you smell anything?"
"A bit... smelly?" The PD girl said, her face pale, obviously thinking of something very scary.
Jian Jing gently pulled her arm and put the girl behind her: "Stay away."
PD immediately stepped back three steps.
Pushing aside the cement debris that was in the way, Jian Jing put on latex gloves and slowly reached her hand in.
The cold air blew through the fingers, pushing them to touch something.
It is round, three-dimensional, has a bottleneck, and looks like a vase.
She adjusted her posture and carefully held out the bottle.
When the light was turned on, it was not a vase, but a wine jar, with the opening sealed with red paper and dull yellow talismans and chains densely attached around the jar.
When the sealing paper was opened, a pungent and strange smell came out.
Everyone started to dry heave at the same time, with acid in their stomachs rising to their throats.
"So disgusting." PD was about to vomit.
Jian Jing held her breath but didn't dare to reach out. She took down the prop hanger in the closet, bent the wire and hooked it out.
A tiny hand emerged from the water, its surface covered with a layer of grayish-white waxy substance.
"Oh my God." The taciturn photographer also exclaimed, "It's a child."
Yes, anyone could tell that this was a child's hand. The tiny fist was about the size of a golf ball, with distinct fingers and intact nails. It was extremely lifelike and definitely not a man-made work of art.
How did he get soaked in the jar
What happened
The air suddenly became heavy, as if a lead block was pressing on my heart, making it hard to breathe.
Jian Jing took a deep breath and said calmly, "Call the police."
PD hesitated and said uncertainly: "We need to ask the director."
She called the director and explained the situation. The director was extremely shocked. Although he had a vague premonition when Jian Jing came to ask if she could search the hotel, he never expected this to happen and hesitated for a while.
But then I thought, with so many staff members and guests involved, I might not be able to cover it up, so I had to call the police.
After receiving a positive response, Jian Jing said, "Let's go to other rooms and have a look."
"Anything else?" PD was stunned.
Jian Jing didn't answer and walked into room 201.
The production crew made some changes to the room, but after removing the carpet, the different colored floors still allowed one to quickly identify where the bed used to be. After prying open the floorboards and breaking open the thin cement, the same wine jar came into view.
There was also a small corpse inside.
Then came 202, 203... the same result every time.
Jian Jing, the PD, the cameraman and the prop master all maintained a strange silence. Two people smashed the objects silently, two people recorded silently, and no one spoke.
There's something heavy stuck in my chest and I can't breathe.
Finally, seven bodies were dug out.
Jian Jing observed their skulls and determined that the youngest of the seven children was about 2 years old and the oldest was only about 4 years old. All the bodies were soaked in a special liquid, and some organs had corpse wax.
After doing all this, her ability to endure reached its limit. She ran out of the hotel and vomited in the backyard. Her stomach seemed to be emptied in an instant and her throat was burning badly.
"Teacher Jingjing, are you okay?" Jiang Baiyan handed over the water, wondering and curious, "What happened? The director suddenly asked us to go back."
Jian Jing rinsed her mouth with water before asking, "Then why didn't you leave?"
"I'm not in a hurry to go back." He said frankly, "If there is anything, you can help the teacher to talk about it."
Jian Jing couldn't help laughing. Jiang Baiyan was extremely timid in the haunted house, but he was surprisingly reliable at other times. He was afraid that she would have a conflict with the program crew, so he actually stayed here to wait for her.
"In the hotel..." She paused and said softly, "There is a body."
Jiang Baiyan took a breath and turned pale: "Really?"
She nodded: "Go back, I'll wait here for the police to come."
Jiang Baiyan hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping himself.
"?"
"Teacher, let's call Mr. Kang." He lowered his voice. "This kind of thing happened on the show, and I don't know what to do next. I won't leave either. Let's see what happens first."
"Ah." Jian Jing held her forehead and began to have a headache. "You are right."
She quickly called Kang Mucheng.
At 1:30 in the morning, the call was still connected quickly. Kang Mucheng's calm voice came: "What's wrong?"
"Uh..." Jian Jing hesitated when the words came to her lips. She didn't know where to start. Should she say, I went to record a haunted house program, and ended up digging up seven children's bodies on the scene
She hesitated, so Kang Mucheng naturally misunderstood and immediately said, "Don't be afraid. No matter what happens, I will help you solve it. Just tell me the whole story."
As he was talking, he could hear the rustling sound of someone getting dressed from the other end.
Jian Jing felt warm in her heart, and the exhaustion from working until late at night was almost gone. She said, "I'm fine, there was something wrong with the show."
"I'm glad you're okay." Kang Mucheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief and slowed down his tone, "What happened to the show?"
Jian Jing: "…There is a dead body at the recording site."
"Does it have anything to do with you?"
"I dug it out..."
Kang Mucheng was speechless for a moment.
Jian Jing quickly explained the whole story to him.
"I'll fly over right away. Don't agree to any of their conditions before I come." Kang Mucheng cut the Gordian knot. "If you encounter anything you're unsure about, ask Jiang Baiyan. He's very friendly to you."
"I know." She smiled, "I'm not a child."
Kang Mucheng said: "Yes, the child is not very capable."
Jian Jing: “Art comes from life.”
"You must have worked hard to get the material." Kang Mucheng sneered and said nothing more, "Okay, I'm hanging up."
Jian Jing: "Bye..."
Before he could finish, he heard a busy tone.
It was an old case, and the police would not arrive soon. The production team held a meeting overnight, but Jian Jing was lingering in the living room.
She had asked the prop master to help move all the stuff from the production crew away and try to restore the original appearance. She also asked them to take photos of everything they found inside and send them to her to see if there were any clues.
"Teacher Jian, this is the photo taken at that time." The prop master handed her the iPad, "There is a picture of the Big Dipper hanging on this wall."
"Right in front of the bed?"
"Yes."
Jian Jing thought about it and decided to seek help from outside.
The corpses were buried according to the direction of the Big Dipper, which was definitely not a coincidence, and it seemed like some kind of ritual. But she knew nothing about religious spells, so it didn't seem necessary to draw a card for this (?).
Ask someone first.
The first person to consult was naturally Ji Feng, but his phone was turned off. Then Kang Mucheng was contacted, and he provided a candidate for questioning—a writer signed by Jinwu Publishing House, who was a Taoist priest by profession and wrote books on Feng Shui on the side.
What a talented person.
She took the phone, said sorry quietly, and resolutely became the bad person who called in the middle of the night.
I called three times before the call was connected.
"Hello?" The other party was sleepy and spoke with a strong nasal tone.
"Mr. He?" she smiled apologetically.
"Well, yes, it's Jian Jing, right?" Taoist He yawned, his tone lazy and hoarse, "Boss Kang called me, ask me if you have anything to say, I still want to sleep."
Kang Mucheng is always so meticulous and considerate. Jian Jing felt relieved and asked without any hesitation.
Taoist Priest He was so sleepy that he didn't even know what he was listening to. But as soon as his ears caught sight of the Big Dipper, he immediately perked up.
"They are all children's corpses, buried in the order of the Big Dipper? Interesting." He rubbed his face and pondered, "It's a bit like a sorcery I know, but I need more information."
Jian Jing said: "I was at the scene, what do you know?"
"Can you get me an aerial photo of the hotel?" Taoist Priest He asked loudly.
Jian Jing asked the PD a few words and said affirmatively: "Okay, wait a moment."
In order to capture the entire hotel, the production team brought a drone, so they could shoot wherever they wanted. The photographer was very generous today, taking several megabytes of photos and sending them over.
Taoist Priest He quickly replied, "This is an evil art called the Seven Star Sealing Coffin. There is a mnemonic saying: 'The Seven Stars seal the coffin, the bright moon shines on the river, time passes, and the mountains and seas of happiness and longevity are formed.'"
Jian Jing: "What's the use? Immortality?"
"Tsk, you really are clueless. Look at the map. Doesn't this hotel look strange? It's so square. What does that make you think of it?" asked Taoist Priest He.
Jian Jing shuddered: "Coffin?"
"That's right. The coffins in the past were different from those now. It was not just an urn, but generally divided into a coffin and a coffin. The coffin is a large coffin that is placed outside the coffin. The coffin is for the dead." Taoist He said, "This hotel is a coffin, in order to hold the coffin inside, and the seven children are nails."
A flash of inspiration came to me.
"In other words, there should be a corpse in this coffin?" Jian Jing's thoughts were extremely clear.
The program team said that the owner's whereabouts were unknown and he was never found. Perhaps they hit the jackpot and guessed the truth correctly, and the body was indeed still in the hotel.
Taoist Priest He said: "Of course there is, the coffin has been sealed."
"Then what's the use of this? Resurrection from the dead?" Jian Jing was curious.
Taoist Priest He sneered: "Have you ever chosen a grave? Feng Shui is important for ancestral graves, not for the dead, but for the living. The purpose of the Seven Star Sealing Coffin is to ensure that the descendants have many children and longevity."
Jian Jing: "... Feudal superstition is a bummer." The boss's whereabouts are unknown, and the hotel has been passed on to distant relatives. How can there be any descendants
"Thank you very much." She thanked Taoist He, "You are a great help."
"It's a small matter. If you really want to thank me, take a picture and show it to me. I have never seen such a crazy guy." Taoist Priest He said.
Jian Jing agreed.
The watch showed three quarter to five.
She was too tired to move, yet she was so energetic that she couldn't fall asleep.
Now that we are here, it would be a pity if we don't find the last body. Jian Jing ate a recovery candy to eliminate her fatigue and sleepiness, and continued to wander around the hotel.
The production crew was having a meeting in the car, and when they saw a shadow with long hair walking back and forth in the room, they all felt it was a bit creepy.
Assistant Director: "Teacher Jian is so brave. I don't even dare to enter the room now."
Cameraman: "That's right. You can't judge a person by his appearance. I didn't expect this delicate little girl to be so amazing."
Director: "Tsk, the boss said, if it weren't for Fei Niao's cooperation, and Xiao Bai rarely recommends anyone, I would not have considered her. I didn't expect to find a treasure, I'm lucky."
Assistant Director: "It's a shame that he doesn't stay here permanently, as he has a nice face and can do reasoning."
The director smiled in an ambiguous way and asked, "Do you think I don't want to?"
The assistant director understood the meaning of the music and smacked his lips without saying anything.
Cameraman: "I just discovered something, it's a bit scary."
He pulled up the video: "Look, the first time Teacher Jian entered 201-207, she was looking at the marbles. The props department said that the marbles were originally from the hotel."
Director: “Damn it, did she see a ghost?”
Assistant Director: “Did the camera capture anything?”
Cameraman: “No.”
"It's okay if there isn't one." The director stroked his chin, "Remember to edit this in later and put a trailer."
Others: “Hey, we’re going big this time.”