“The talisman paper ignited without fire because white phosphorus was added. The weather was good today, and it was the afternoon, so the outdoor temperature was sufficient. I saw the box of talisman paper under your table, and there were ice packs at the bottom to prevent them from igniting spontaneously.
“And that so-called blood was just ginger turmeric water you applied to the boy in advance, which dried under the sun, making his skin look waxy yellow, as if he was on the verge of death. His parents wouldn’t find anything wrong with it. Later, what you sprayed on the wooden sword wasn’t plain water, but alkaline water, which reacted immediately with the ginger turmeric on the boy, turning into that so-called red ‘blood water.'”
The live stream chat directly had someone list out the chemical formula, and even started a little chemistry lesson.
【As expected, study math, physics, and chemistry well, and you’ll fear nothing in the world.】
【In other words, isn’t this a new career path for chemistry students?】
【Brother Fen protects us—no ghosts can invade!】
【Mom doesn’t have to worry about me being afraid of ghosts anymore, haha. I was scared to death just now, but it was just a chemical reaction. I even went to school and had no idea.】
“If you believe it, then it’s real. If you don’t believe it, no matter what I say, you’ll think it’s fake. Belief or disbelief is up to you. It’s just like how the old you believed this world was real, while the current you thinks this world is manipulated by some will that can change it at whim.”
The shaman did not get angry because of this. He looked at him with calm eyes and said slowly, “You want to break free from this constraint, but if you act rashly, not only will it backfire on you, but it will also collapse the order. All things in the world have their own laws of operation. What you experienced before was like this, and so is what you’re experiencing now. It’s better to speak cautiously and see things clearly. Everything has its fate—arrogance and conceit are not good things.”
Xiao Fen’s eyes flickered, and his gaze toward him carried a hint of wariness.
Fang Si Ting noticed that his mood was off and grabbed his hand, watching the shaman warily.
The shaman smiled and said to Fang Si Ting, “Sometimes people don’t die because of bad fate, but because their fate is too good, so others take notice of them. It’s like carrying a treasure that others will steal.”
“Could it be that someone can change a person’s birth time and thus alter their bazi?” Ou Yu wondered. “But President Lu is already so old.”
“Some people can’t change their own bazi or their own fate, so they act like rats and steal others’ fates.” The shaman said, “Guo Dongying became the town chief at such a young age. His fate carried official destiny, red mixed with purple—he should have risen steadily, soaring to the skies. What a pity.”
“You mean Guo Dongying was targeted and murdered because his bazi was too good?” Ou Yu found it unbelievable.
“Keep a close eye on him when you go back,” the shaman said toward the end, his eyes also becoming uncertain. He just repeated, “Keep a close eye on him.”
People in this line always spoke in a mysterious and vague way, leaving listeners in a fog, but they still understood that Guo Dongying’s murder and Lu Kaiyu’s disappearance were indeed related to bazi and fate.
If it were anywhere else, they would think it was utter nonsense, but the people here always had this mysterious vibe. After seeing it so much, it was no longer surprising.
However, Fang Si Ting was somewhat worried about Xiao Fen’s condition.
“What did that shaman mean when he talked to you earlier? Something about the old you and the current you, believing in fate or not—talking in circles.”
“It’s nothing.” Xiao Fen tugged at the corner of his mouth and let out a light laugh.
This shaman was just like a charlatan. He seemed to say something, but actually said nothing important. People just had the habit of projecting themselves into it, so it felt like he had hit the mark.
In truth, those words could apply to anyone.
“Inspector Fang, do you believe in fate?”
“Of course I don’t believe in that nonsense.”
“But sometimes it really makes a person have to believe.” Xiao Fen couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “However, I prefer to call this thing ‘fortune destiny.'”
Each world had its own fortune destiny, and each protagonist had their own fortune destiny—vast and unimaginable.
“You haven’t been brainwashed after staying here too long, have you?” Fang Si Ting said.
Xiao Fen couldn’t explain it clearly to these natives. “This is called the empathy method, got it? Since we’re cracking cases here, we naturally have to empathize with the locals’ mindset, speculate on the killer’s motives from the killer’s perspective, no matter how absurd. But that’s the truth.”
Even these ordinary people had their own fortune destiny, however minuscule.
Who made this a world from a book? They were all just background characters to set off the protagonist.
This was the helplessness of their predetermined fate as cannon fodder.
“What are you thinking about? Last time at the snack shop, I taught you without charging tuition. You didn’t take my words seriously, did you?” Xiao Fen shook his head with a sigh, speaking in the tone of a senior. “I’ve killed more of those things than the salt you’ve eaten. Listen to my advice, alright?”
Fang Si Ting: “……”
What things? Chickens or fish? Could they even be compared to people?
He looked at Fang Si Ting and said seriously, “Since they committed murder, they’ve crossed the moral bottom line of being human. Don’t try to understand them with a normal person’s mindset, or you’ll never get the answer.”
Xiao Fen’s words were full of temptation.
“Don’t deliberately suppress your nature. Try empathizing with the killer, feel that carefree, unrestrained pleasure, understand their inner world, and follow their train of thought. Imagine holding Guo Dongying’s life in your hands—just a gentle push, tossing him into the well, and you control his life and death. He’s the town chief here, and in that moment, your power surpasses his…”
His voice had a strange charm. Fang Si Ting smelled the cliff cypress scent on him and felt his heart stir slightly.
Indulge your emotions and immerse yourself in it.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Xiao Fen felt an urge to step back under his gaze.
“Looking for a study subject.” Fang Si Ting said.
His gaze was clear and upright. “When you ‘killed’ and set up the scene, did you imagine in your mind how you would actually kill him if it were real?”
“Unfortunately, it was all fake.” Xiao Fen shrugged.
Fang Si Ting looked at him with gentle eyes.
Xiao Fen felt goosebumps from his stare, but Fang Si Ting just wouldn’t speak.
He rubbed his burning earlobe and looked toward the distant barren dirt road.
“Actually, human joys and sorrows don’t connect…” After a long pause, he spoke with a bitter smile, lost in thought. “Even between the old me and the current me…”
Even if he had his memories, how could he truly empathize?
“I’ll study it well,” Fang Si Ting thought it was a good method. “Try empathizing with the victim.”
“I know who it is.” Ou Yu, who had been spacing out, suddenly said.
“Who?” Xiao Fen snapped out of his thoughts.
“That ‘folded person”s face—it was that shaman just now!”
“What did you say?”
Ou Yu’s face was full of shock, finding it inconceivable. “I’m sure it was the shaman. Unless that person had bone-shrinking skills or some other special ability, on the night of the 24th, the shaman was already dead.”
How could a normal living person tilt their head completely backward, letting the people behind see the full front of an upside-down face?
“Then the person we just saw—is he human or ghost?”
“Describe in detail what you saw that night.” Fang Si Ting said gravely, his thick, sharp eyebrows habitually furrowing toward the center. “There must be something fishy.”
“No mistake.” Ou Yu said. “That night, even though the face was upside down, I remember now—that person looked exactly like the shaman.”
Fang Si Ting immediately thought of something and said, “You said that person was smiling that night, which means he had no beard.”
Ou Yu looked at him in surprise. “Right, no big beard, so I didn’t recognize him right away.”
“How could a person’s beard grow that long in a short time?”
“You’re saying this shaman now is fake?” Zhang Jian said. “Impossible. How could he be fake? His skills in exorcism and ghost-catching…”
Halfway through, he remembered how Xiao Fen had exposed the trick in front of everyone.
“Ten to one, he’s a fake.”
“I knew it—our shamans have real skills and wouldn’t play tricks…” Zhang Jian muttered, but he was also dumbfounded. “So this shaman is fake, the real shaman was killed by the killer, and on the night of the 24th, his body was even hoisted to the Substitute Life Well. But how did the corpse become Guo Dongying’s? And why is the missing person Lu Kaiyu?”
The people involved in the case were increasing.
“Let’s go back and ask him.” Fang Si Ting said. “As a fake, he’s very likely the killer. Grab him first and interrogate.”
“No, you can’t…” Zhang Jian tried to stop them. The shaman was the most sacred figure in their area—how could he be so disrespected?
Fang Si Ting silenced him with a single look. After he struggled for a while, they had already returned to the village.
The shaman’s front door was tightly shut.
The villagers saw them coming aggressively, and many slowly gathered, staring at them with malice.
Five, ten, twenty…
Elders, women, men, kids, youths.
The later arrivals already held hoes and machetes, slowly closing in.
Fang Si Ting and Xiao Fen stood in front of the tightly shut door, caught in a dilemma.
The atmosphere was tense, the scene on the verge of erupting.
An elder emerged from the crowd, looked at them, and asked knowingly in a hoarse, aged voice, “Who are you looking for?”
Fang Si Ting was about to speak when Xiao Fen timely pulled his hand and subtly shook his head.
If this icy-faced Fang Yama opened his mouth, the conflict would escalate immediately.
Xiao Fen showed a warm, spring-like smile and pushed Zhang Jian in front of him. “Grandpa, we came earlier to consult the shaman about some matters and left something behind. We’re here to get it.”
The villagers all looked toward Zhang Jian.
“What matters?” the elder asked.
“There was a murder case in town recently. We wanted to use the shaman’s divine powers to help catch the culprit.”
“Is that so?” They looked at Zhang Jian, clearly trusting this local more.
Zhang Jian hurriedly chattered in the local dialect. The villagers exchanged glances, showing hesitation.
“So it was a misunderstanding. The shaman has gone into secluded cultivation. Come find him again in a few days.” The elder coughed a few times, his body trembling, and waved his withered, branch-like hand. “It’s fine now. Everyone, go back.”
The aggressive crowd gradually dispersed but didn’t go far.
They were like vultures circling not far from the courtyard, waiting for any suspicious move to pounce.
In their eyes, village rules and customs were their law, and the trickster shaman was their supreme authority.
“Twenty minutes ago, we just saw that so-called shaman, and he showed no sign of wanting to cultivate then.” On the way back, Ou Yu said quietly. “This speed—he spread the word about secluded cultivation right after we left. He clearly doesn’t want to see us again.”
“Vice Squad Officer Zhang, go to the station and dispatch a few vice squad officers disguised as ordinary people to secretly monitor this house in the village over the next few days.” Fang Si Ting said.
“I’m worried now that the local vice squad officers might blindly support the shaman like the villagers.” Xiao Fen shook his head, not agreeing.
“My people will also be stationed at the village entrance perimeter for surveillance, though they can’t enter the village.” Fang Si Ting said.
This shaman was very likely the killer, but without solid evidence, arresting him would be difficult.
They were outsiders. Even with authorization to arrest, it would be easy to hurt innocent villagers, leading to endless disputes.
“That shaman earlier smelled like Wang Wenfang.” Ou Yu suddenly spoke up again.
“What do you mean? How are they connected?” Zhang Jian was a bit dizzy.
“I don’t know, but Wang Wenfang had the shaman’s scent on her, and the shaman had hers on him,” Ou Yu said. “At least from last night until this morning. No one else’s scents lingered on each other as strongly or for as long.”
“No wonder. When we visited Wang Wenfang, she was made up. If she’d come straight from the pig farm, she wouldn’t have put on makeup,” Xiao Fen said. “Even if you love beauty and wear makeup at work, a pig’s nose is sensitive to smells and could easily freak out.”
“If she was going to meet certain people, then makeup makes sense.” Ou Yu agreed.
“So those two have an affair? We notified about Lu Kaiyu’s disappearance yesterday, and after learning that, Wang Wenfang came out a night early to meet the shaman?”
“It doesn’t look like she acted at all. She didn’t think it was just the Program Crew faking a murder. She knew from the start that he was really missing.”
Fang Si Ting pondered. “Could it be a crime of passion?”
“It’s also possible she went to ask the Shaman about President Lu’s whereabouts. The Shaman’s divinations for missing people are quite accurate.” Zhang Jian didn’t find it suspicious. It was just his first time seeing such an extraordinary person, so he said in surprise, “Teacher Ou, you can even smell the scent on someone from last night? You’re better than a police dog. It’d be a real shame if you didn’t become a Vice Squad Officer.”
“I just have a good nose.” Ou Yu laughed helplessly. “That’s why I usually don’t wear perfume or go to crowded places.”
Xiao Fen sniffed himself. He usually burned some Cliff Cypress Incense at night, which must have had a big impact on his nose.
————
That evening, Ou Yu came out of the bathroom after his shower and saw Xiao Fen throw the Cliff Cypress Incense into the trash can.
“Why’d you throw it away?”
“It’s not great for your nose, so better not to burn it.” Xiao Fen said, “It doesn’t matter anyway.”
Everything about the original body was slowly vanishing completely from the world. Sooner or later, he would fully replace it.
A trace of nostalgic sadness flashed in his eyes.
“If you like it, then keep burning it. The scent of Cliff Cypress soothes the mind and helps with sleep. I still like smelling it.” Ou Yu fished the incense out of the trash can, only for Xiao Fen to stop him.
“No need. I burned it before because Xiao Fen often couldn’t sleep and suffered from insomnia all night long.” He laughed indifferently, then his expression faded as he curled his lip. “Later, he listened to some street-side con artist’s words that said Cliff Cypress helped with sleep, so he bought a ton of it. I still haven’t used it all up. That fool believed whatever anyone said…”
“Are you cursing yourself?” Ou Yu said.
“Yeah.” Xiao Fen’s expression brightened as he stood up. “But I don’t have any sleep issues, so this stuff isn’t useful to me. We can stop burning it from now on.”
Anyway, those things, along with the past, would eventually be erased from his life. He would slowly replace them all.
Ou Yu felt like something important had vanished from him.
“People in the entertainment industry really do face much more pressure than ordinary folks. Good thing you’re doing alright now.” He comforted.
“Yeah, but that’s not enough.” Xiao Fen looked at him and slowly revealed a smile as he murmured, “Far from enough.”
In that instant, Ou Yu sensed a wisp of killing intent emanating from him.
It wasn’t directed at him. It was as if he was looking through him at someone else.
It was like a murderer with blood on his hands stood before him.
“Little Fen.” Sister-in-law Jinlan called from downstairs. “Someone’s looking for you.”
“Coming!” Confusion flashed across Xiao Fen’s face. “Who’d come looking for me this late?”
The moment the other man looked away, the tension in Ou Yu’s body finally relaxed.
He let out a secret sigh of relief, though doubt crept into his eyes.
Xiao Fen ran downstairs and saw a strange man.
But he exuded a familiar aura.
It was a Vice Squad Officer.
Ou Yu followed close behind and came to stand beside Xiao Fen.
“Brother Fen,” the Vice Squad Officer approached and whispered, “We found Lu Kaiyu.”
“So fast?” The other man didn’t look calm or relaxed, which gave Xiao Fen a bad premonition.
“Where?” Ou Yu asked.
“At the clinic.”
