Chapter 34 Part 1
The little white snake wasn’t ashamed at all and even raised its head, looking at the little ghost smugly.
Wang Jun and the other officers, initially somber, were amused. Would they have to act as goalkeepers next time?
Chuckling, Wang Jun turned to Wu Heng, who was still meticulously refining the mud ear.
“We searched the internal system all night and found him.”
Wang Jun handed a document to Wu Heng, with confidential information redacted, only showing what was permissible.
Wu Heng scanned the document, his expression unsurprised, as if he had known all along. The little ghost, unable to wait any longer, floated towards the document, looking at the words but hesitant, he couldn’t read and didn’t know what it said, but he instinctively knew it contained information about his parents.
Wu Heng patted the little ghost’s head, held the mud ear against its left side, a perfect fit, and inserted the teeth into its mouth.
He chanted a spell silently and, with his mud-covered fingers, tapped the space between the little ghost’s eyebrows.
The little ghost shuddered, reaching up to touch its formerly empty left ear, its chubby fingers encountering a soft ear.
It paused, then touched its gums, feeling hard teeth instead.
It seemed to have become a complete soul!
The little white snake marveled at the sight, murmuring, ‘Wu Heng, you should make prosthetics, a bright future awaits you as a prosthetist.’
The little white snake’s voice… The little ghost’s eyes widened, it could hear further and clearer now, it seemed someone was calling it, but it wasn’t sure if it was calling him.
Wu Heng placed one hand on the document, his deep gaze fixed on the little ghost, and a firm voice emerged from his throat, “Liu Ziyang.”
For spirits, names were incredibly important, the only symbol that could guide them back to their origins through their fading memories.
The little ghost froze, its dark pupils dilating in its already mostly black eyes, tears of blood streaming from its eyes, mouth, and left ear, its Yin qi surging, a wave of resentment filling the air.
Luckily Wang Jun and his colleagues were wearing their uniforms, their righteous qi protecting them, otherwise they would have fainted by now.
Liu Ziyang gritted his teeth, his childish voice now chillingly cold. ‘I want him dead!’
The little white snake darted forward, blocking Liu Ziyang’s escaping soul. It had easily dispersed the little ghost’s form earlier, but now it was being pushed back towards the clinic’s door.
The little white snake was shocked. This little ghost was so powerful?! Would it attack him for making him do chores earlier?
Wu Heng said, “If you cross the national border, you won’t be able to reincarnate as a Chinese citizen in the future.”
Liu Ziyang turned to look at Wu Heng, who asked gently, “Do you remember now?”
Wu Heng’s smile had a calming effect. The little ghost calmed down, nodding and crying.
Wang Jun and his colleagues had searched the internal system all night, assuming the little ghost was only four or five years old, so they focused on officers aged 27 to 45.
Police officers had excellent memories. Wang Jun had only glanced at Liu Ziyang once and memorized his appearance.
But they couldn’t find any matching family members.
Could they be… wrong? But Wu Heng clearly said he was the child of a police officer, that’s why he wasn’t afraid of their righteous qi.
Wang Jun immediately expanded the search, and as the first rays of dawn appeared, they found him.
Liu Jianguo.
He had been involved in a major international cultural relic smuggling case, recovering several rare artifacts, the amount involved exceeding 100 million yuan at the time, and arresting the ringleader.
In the early 1990s, Liu Jianguo was only twenty-eight years old, with a five-year-old son named Liu Ziyang.
With that single remaining photo, Wang Jun instantly recognized the little ghost.
So this wasn’t a recently deceased child. This little ghost was actually older than Wang Jun!
Wang Jun swallowed hard, asking Wu Heng, “Doctor Wu, I read in horror stories that ghosts who died unjustly remember how they died, why didn’t he remember before?”
Wu Heng glanced at Liu Ziyang’s new ear. “His soul was incomplete. He was killed by having his ear cut off and his teeth smashed, but more importantly—”
“His missing teeth and left ear weren’t buried with his body.”
Newly deceased spirits gradually forgot their past lives, retaining only precious memories. But an incomplete soul would forget everything, unable to even reincarnate, trapped as a lone ghost in the place they died, not even remembering who killed them.
Wu Heng scoffed. “As expected of an antique collector, he knew more than ordinary people.”
If an ordinary person committed murder, they would panic and bury the body hastily, creating a vengeful ghost who would seek retribution if given the chance.
Even if they disposed of the body, they would do it in pieces, but coincidentally, what was missing from Liu Ziyang were his left ear and all his teeth.
In the eyes of a shaman doctor, the ear was connected to the kidneys, the kidneys opened into the ears, and the kidneys were vital organs related to a person’s essence. Since ancient times, left was associated with male, and right with female. So the left ear, not the right, was taken.
Teeth resembled bones, enduring even after the flesh decayed, and in ancient times, were essential tools used by shamans in rituals.
Only someone knowledgeable in these matters would be so precise.
The little white snake wondered, ‘Then where did they throw the kid’s ear and teeth? If they were in a hurry, maybe on the other side of the mountain? Then the little ghost should be able to find them by scent.’
Wu Heng said firmly, “Liu Ziyang’s ear and teeth are with his father, aren’t they?”
Wang Jun nodded emphatically. “According to the document, they’re with Senior Liu Jianguo.”
Liu Jianguo had handled the case back then, arresting the ringleader. It was the early 1990s, a period of strict law enforcement, unlike the more lenient laws today, so the backlash was naturally fierce.
The next day, his child disappeared. Liu Jianguo and his wife frantically searched for him, along with his parents, neighbors, colleagues, but to no avail.
On the third morning, exhausted, Liu Jianguo and his family returned home, praying that Liu Ziyang had returned.
Liu Jianguo immediately sensed something was wrong with the lock. He quickly opened the door and saw a blood-stained white towel on the table, the smell of blood permeating his once warm home.
His arm around his wife’s trembling waist, he unfolded the towel and saw a bloody left ear and several small teeth, some still attached to bits of gum and flesh.
They clearly remembered every mole on their son’s body, even teasing him about the mole on his left earlobe. “Yang Yang has become a little girl, that mole looks like an ear piercing, we have another daughter!”
There was a small mole on that bloody earlobe!
His wife screamed, her legs giving way as she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Wang Jun and the other officers, having handled countless cases, couldn’t control their emotions, their bodies trembling.
“Those bastards are too cruel!”
Wang Jun hadn’t believed in ghosts and gods before, but after his daughter’s high fever was cured by the shaman doctor Wu Heng, he became a believer.
If this had happened before, he would have simply thought those bastards were retaliating against the police by harming their families.
But after hearing Wu Heng’s explanation, their uniforms were soaked with cold sweat despite the early morning hour.
It wasn’t just revenge against a police officer, but a sinister plot to trap the child’s soul at the burial site, unable to remember who killed him.
Because, as parents, they would definitely keep their child’s remains.
Truly vicious.
Xiao Li cursed, “I’ll find those bastards and send them to jail!”
They were also police officers, they also had families, especially Wang Jun, whose daughter was about the same age as Liu Ziyang when he died. They couldn’t help but feel empathy.
But remembering that Wu Heng mentioned a national border, had they escaped overseas? Everything would be easier within the country, but once they were abroad, it would be difficult.
Wu Heng said slowly, “No rush, he’ll come to me himself.”
The officers looked at each other. What did that mean?
Wu Heng smiled coldly, “He contracted a venereal disease from playing with ghosts. Ordinary hospitals can’t cure that!”
“!!!”
The officers’ eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
What?
Playing… playing with ghosts?!
Holy crap, they knew rich people played around, but they never imagined someone would be audacious enough to play with ghosts!
Lust was truly a double-edged sword. Weren’t they afraid of death?
Ordinary people couldn’t understand.
Wu Heng added, “He must already know, Southeast Asia has more practitioners of witchcraft, he’s probably consulted many and still couldn’t cure it.”
Otherwise, why would he seek help online?
Liu Ziyang listened quietly to their conversation, then asked, “Police uncles, where are my mom and dad?”
Wang Jun felt the address was wrong, he should be calling Liu Ziyang “older brother,” but considering he was a child when he died, it was fine.
Wang Jun hesitated, not knowing how to tell him, then said, “Your mother has passed away, your father… hasn’t, but he’s not well.”
Liu Jianguo’s wife had a mental breakdown after seeing her son’s ear and teeth but kept telling herself that many beggars on the streets were amputees, perhaps her son was still alive?
Clinging to this delusion, she kept searching for Liu Ziyang, until she couldn’t bear the emotional trauma and passed away.
Liu Jianguo refused to give up. He had to see his son, dead or alive, even if it was just his remains, he, as his father, had to find him!
If he didn’t find him, he would pretend that Liu Ziyang was still alive somewhere, happily married with children.
He waited, year after year, until his hair turned white, until he was bedridden.