22:47.
Tengcha at night was still relatively quiet, but as they walked into the clinic, many doctors and patients gathered together discussing animatedly, all of them wearing shocked and unsettled expressions.
The cameras floated past them, always catching words like “ghost,” “woman in red,” and “life-stealer.”
【In such a small town, with our thirty or forty cameras, not a single one caught the killer?】
【This town produces talents. Such outrageous things can happen here—it’s like a master criminal at work.】
【If we don’t count that stranger from a year ago, three people have died now. The pressure on the pursuit team must be huge.】
Alert lines had already been set up at the stairwell entrances on both sides of the second-floor corridor.
Qin Wensu had already arrived at the scene and was putting on shoe covers. When she saw Fang Si Ting and the others, she nodded in greeting and went in first.
The murder scene was in a ward in the middle of the second floor, Room 207.
Medical care outside was much better now, so any serious illnesses were basically treated in the county city. Even minor illnesses didn’t require hospitalization, so there weren’t many inpatients at the clinic. The director had cleared out all the patients on this entire floor and moved them upstairs.
The ward was narrow and long. One side held four beds, separated by bedside tables and curtains. The middle two beds had their bedding neatly folded and pushed against the headboards, clearly unused. The first bed by the door had messy covers and was piled with daily necessities—it seemed the occupant had just been asked to move to another room to recover.
On the bed farthest inside, a human shape lay on the snow-white sheets.
The elderly person’s face and limbs were all intact, dressed in the hospital’s striped patient gown. The body was curled toward the window side, huddled on the bed as if asleep.
But when they lifted the damp top, from the torso down below the neck and up above the thighs, the fresh red of flesh and the white of tendons and fat were glaringly vivid.
The skin had been peeled off.
Ou Yu’s face turned rather unpleasant.
Anyone would struggle with seeing a real corpse for the first time, especially one in such a gruesome state.
Xiao Fen told him to stay at the door and went in with Fang Si Ting.
Not long after, after Ou Yu finished vomiting up his dinner, he followed them inside.
“Boss.” Tang Shen was busy working. When he saw them arrive, he immediately stood up, his expression uncharacteristically grave. “There aren’t many traces.”
In other words, it had been handled very cleanly.
“The killer’s methods are getting cleaner and more proficient,” Xiao Fen said.
Tang Shen pulled out a transparent bag. “This might have been dropped by the killer.”
Inside the bag was a triangular fold made of yellow paper.
“Why couldn’t it be something the victim dropped?” Ou Yu’s first thought was Lu Kaiyu.
As the president of the Five Directions Divine Temple Committee, Lu Kaiyu was surely superstitious. It wouldn’t be strange for him to carry one.
“No, this talisman paper isn’t damp,” Tang Shen said.
Ou Yu hadn’t dared to get close, so he didn’t know why the dryness of the talisman paper meant it wasn’t Lu Kaiyu’s.
Xiao Fen unfolded the triangle. The messy patterns on it were familiar, as expected.
It was the same kind of peace talisman he had seen at Zhong Houwang’s place.
Xiao Fen puzzled, “If the killer cleaned up the surroundings so thoroughly, they shouldn’t have been careless enough to drop a talisman.”
Tang Shen refuted him. “Not necessarily. I spotted this triangular talisman in a seam at the bedside. Unless you’re searching the crime scene as meticulously as we are, you wouldn’t notice it at all. Dumping a body in a ward with patients carries a huge risk of being spotted by another patient at any moment. The killer probably didn’t have time to notice it then.”
“It could have been dropped by the previous patient,” Zhang Jian said.
“No, the paint on this bed is very fresh, and the smell is new too. It must have been bought not long ago,” Ou Yu said. He was getting more proficient at using his sense of smell.
They asked a clinic nurse, and sure enough, it was true. Half a month ago, the program crew had sponsored the town with various donations. The clinic had bought new beds, replaced equipment, and renovated everywhere. This bed had arrived just the day before recording started and no one had stayed in it yet.
【The program crew scores big this time. Finally, a crucial clue.】
【This killer was careful about everything but slipped up with this talisman left at the scene.】
【That’s Locard’s exchange principle. As long as someone was there, they’ll exchange some material or information with the scene and the body. The difference is just whether it’s discovered. With modern forensic tech, even the tiniest clues can be found. No escaping it.】
【Too bad the forensics team’s instruments are broken. They can only rely on Tang and the others’ naked eyes, which greatly reduces efficiency.】
“We still need to pay Zhong Houwang a visit.” Meanwhile, Fang Si Ting had already sent action team pursuit officers to ask around town who had these peace talismans.
“That’s too broad a net,” Xiao Fen disagreed. “Given how superstitious they all are, everyone in town plus five or six surrounding villages could have one.”
“There are a few fingerprints on it. We’ll head back and work overtime to run comparisons,” Tang Shen said, calling over the rest of the forensics team and parting ways with them.
They had collected fingerprints casually during previous visits and interviews, which they could use now for matching.
The coroner finished the initial examination and said softly and mournfully, “Death from excessive blood loss. Peeled alive.”
At those words, a chill ran down everyone’s spines.
The coroner’s voice sharpened a bit, as if detaching his emotions would make it easier to bear. He pointed at the body. “There are restraint marks on the hands and feet. These cuts were made with a knife about 10 centimeters long and 2 centimeters wide. The skin from here to here was torn off by hand—clean and efficient technique, experienced hand. Based on the bleeding and healing around the wounds, we can tell the person was alive when it was done.”
“But the face doesn’t look that agonized or distorted,” though frowning, the expression wasn’t twisted.
“So it’s highly likely they were knocked out cold first,” the coroner said. “Further tests needed.”
“Why are there only water stains on the sheets and so little blood?” Ou Yu wondered.
The coroner explained, “The body was soaked in water, which washed away the blood, and it was also frozen. Exact time of death will come from the post-thaw autopsy.”
“There are freezers at home,” Xiao Fen said. “This posture fits the dimensions of a freezer perfectly.”
Fang Si Ting frowned. “If it was a grudge killing, the killer would wake the victim and torment them to death in agony. For other motives, normal people wouldn’t choose such a technically demanding and tedious method.”
Cruel, cold-blooded, utterly inhuman.
Any normal-minded person would regret, hesitate, or break down after the first cut.
“Plus, heavily sedating someone first seems like something a novice would do,” Xiao Fen also puzzled. “But the technique was clean and decisive right from the start, like an experienced serial killer.”
The two of them felt this killer was full of contradictions no matter how they looked at it.
No leads.
Peng Xiaoxiao said, “Too few clues to profile the killer’s appearance. All we can say is they’re slim and small in build, plain-looking, local, lives alone in a remote house, introverted personality. This isn’t your typical psychological deviant—it’s someone fanatically obsessed with superstition. So even as a newbie, their fanatical beliefs gave them unnatural resolve, overcoming fear and making them seem like a pro.”
That made sense, but the scope was still too wide.
“As for the human skin, I need to go back and research Y Country’s local folklore.”
“Keep it to Tengcha locals,” Fang Si Ting said.
“No problem. I’ll set aside the program guests for now—this is more important. I’ll dig deep,” Peng Xiaoxiao said. With such a brutal method and so many deaths involved, this was no simple murder anymore.
“But I have a preliminary judgment on the killer: he’s sick, maybe with some terminal illness,” Peng Xiaoxiao added.
“How do you figure?” Zhang Jian wondered.
“From what the shaman said,” Xiao Fen chimed in. “This person was clearly unhappy with their fate. They’d lived that way for years before—why suddenly decide to kill and change fate in the last year or so? Either a sudden setback in love or career, or they got a death sentence illness. If it was a sudden emotional or career blow, in a town this small, everyone would know about any drama. But we haven’t heard anything, and that type would lash out impulsively for revenge, not plan this meticulously.”
“Exactly, so we start with medical records.”
“Great minds think alike.” Xiao Fen held out his palm, and Peng Xiaoxiao slapped it in perfect sync.
At that moment, two sharp gazes landed on her simultaneously.
She looked at the two of them calmly and smiled faintly, saying nothing.
Fang Si Ting assigned people to check the clinic’s medical records and glanced around. “What about the roommate?”
Peng Xiaoxiao took a few people to a ward on the third floor.
It started pouring outside again, as if dumping all the rain for the next few months in these few days.
The TV in the ward was playing the weather forecast, saying the downtown area including Tengcha would have typhoon weather recently, with heavy rain lasting three or four days.
This was definitely not good news.
Inside lived a woman in her sixties. When she saw their pursuit officer badges, she immediately got agitated.
“You finally came! A malevolent ghost is killing people! Are you going to do something about it or not!”
Xiao Fen tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Again with this. If it was going to kill, shouldn’t it be the ghost from the Substitute Life Well? Then someone else goes missing.”
That would fit the Substitute Life Well principle.
“No, this ghost is even stronger than the one in the well. Old Lu died here, so it must be that evil ghost in the well who couldn’t compete and got taken out.”
The townsfolk sure knew how to make their stories fit.
“Is Lu Kaiyu some kind of ghost bait? Every ghost wants a piece?”
Like a ghost-beguiling Daji.
“Don’t say such disrespectful things,” the old lady said. “The legend of Bed 4 in Room 207 is really creepy.”
Xiao Fen tiredly rubbed his forehead. “Doesn’t your town have a bit too many weird legends?”
Making everyone so neurotic.
“Not many, just a few: the Substitute Life Well for changing fate, the upside-down man in Guiwu Forest, the TB ghost in Room 207, Midnight Stove Granny in the refectory hall, the shadow devouring ghost you meet if you go out at nine on rainy nights…”
“…” And this wasn’t many?
【Good grief, worthy of Y Country.】 The live stream chat griped.
【They can’t solve cases themselves, so they make up ghost stories all day. Can they stop deluding themselves?】
【Mind-blowing. So many weird things in one rundown town.】
【Can’t blame them for believing. A few days ago, everyone followed Brother Fen into the forest and was scared half to death. Plus, before the direct highway, getting to the city was a hassle—news doesn’t flow freely, education lags.】
【Who to blame? That do-gooder Mayor Guo got taken out.】
【Respect others’ fates. These townsfolk deserve their ignorance.】
Seeing the old lady about to launch into that weird legend, Xiao Fen cut her off quickly. “Just tell us if you saw or heard anything last night. Stick to the facts, no embellishments.”
He was tired of the tall tales.
The old lady sighed. “How else to put it? Tonight, I actually ran into that ghost from the bed.”
Fang Si Ting ruffled the fluffy head sitting at the bedside. “Granny, don’t hold back. Just tell us everything you saw, one by one.”
Xiao Fen scratched his hair and glared behind him.
His hair was messed up now.
The old lady slowly recalled.
“It was almost 9 p.m. I was leaning against the bed, watching TV on my phone. Then a scream came from outside the door. I looked through the door’s window— the corridor lights were flickering on and off. I knew something was wrong.”
The old lady had dark skin dotted with age spots large and small, like a moldy walnut kernel. Her pupils contracted sharply, eyes bulging with most of the whites showing—she looked more ghostly than the ghost she described.
“I cracked the door to peer into the corridor. No one was there, not even the duty nurse. The corridor lights went on and off, super scary. I looked toward the light switch—no shadow of anyone, but it was like someone kept pressing it nonstop.
“I got scared and dove under the covers, pulling them over my head, not daring to make a sound. Some room light still seeped through the blanket. I waited and waited, then suddenly, the room light started flickering like the corridor’s—dark, then bright. Soon after, a head-banging sound came from outside the covers, but not from outside the room—from inside, at the foot of my bed. Then came a few coughs. That TB ghost was in the room, couldn’t get out…”
Recalling this point, the old lady shrank back her feet and said, “Anyway, it was too terrifying. I’ll never stay in Room 207 again.”
“How long did this phenomenon last?” Fang Si Ting asked.
“About ten or twenty minutes, I suppose.” The old lady said, “When I couldn’t take it anymore and there were no more noises, I lifted the blanket and saw Old Lu lying there. I called out a few times, but got no response. Feeling it strange, I went over to check. Unexpectedly, his face was waxy yellow, without a trace of blood color. When I touched him, his limbs were stiff as boards, cold as if he weren’t alive.”
“Was that bed empty before?”
“The entire ward had only me staying there.”
That bed had been empty.
This was all the information they obtained.
After leaving the ward, Fang Si Ting immediately instructed Bai Zhu to take the Forensics Team to the clinic’s electrical room.
Zhang Jian asked why.
Xiao Fen said, “No one in the corridor doesn’t mean no one tampered with the circuits. To play tricks and scare people without switching lights manually, it’s highly likely they flipped the circuit breaker in the second-floor corridor. There might be fingerprints in the dust there.”
Although nothing was found on the deceased, it showed he was very cautious and probably wouldn’t leave fingerprints.
“So, the killer first created the illusion of a power short circuit, scaring off the duty nurse in the corridor and keeping patients inside their rooms from coming out. Then, he boldly walked into the room and placed the corpse on Bed No. 4?” Ou Yu found it hard to believe and questioned, “Is the killer really this bold?”
“There should have been some disguise too,” Peng Xiaoxiao said, “for example, made up as a doctor, pushing the corpse on a mobile bed to the ward door. That fits his cautious yet bold personality.”
Unfortunately, in a township clinic, surveillance existed only in the pharmacy. All this was mere speculation.
“But how did that Peace Talisman get dropped?”
“That must have been something very important to him, so he carried it on his person.” Xiao Fen proposed, “We don’t know who dropped it yet. Assuming it was the killer, if he realizes his Peace Talisman is missing, might he go get another one?”
“Possible.” Fang Si Ting said, “I’ll have someone watch Wang Wenfang’s house.”
“Don’t forget to notify the Vice Squad Officers at the Shaman’s place.” Xiao Fen reminded.
“The banging from inside the room was probably the killer moving the corpse and causing collisions. Unfortunately, the old lady mistook it for a ghost knocking on the door.” Ou Yu sighed, “If it had been someone who doesn’t buy into superstitions, they would’ve confronted him face-to-face and shouted for others to help catch the killer, wrapping up the case right then.”
“So it must be a local, someone who understands the extent of local superstitions so well and fully exploits that superstitious mentality.” Peng Xiaoxiao said.
“But since they knew the Pursuit Team was here investigating the case, they should’ve laid low. Why be so bold?”
Xiao Fen said, “Guo Dongying went missing a year ago, meaning the killer had planned to strike on the night of this year’s Temple Fair even back then. From the leather shoes in the well, he originally intended to continue the Substitute Life Well legend. But now, with Vice Squad Officers sealing the crime scene, he couldn’t proceed there. And something disrupted his schedule—like an illness—making him unwilling to wait a full year. He had to act ahead of time, leading to these consecutive murders.”
“Guo Dongying and Lu Kaiyu confirmed dead, Purple Gold Village Shaman possibly dead. After committing so many murders, the killer is highly likely to strike again.” Fang Si Ting’s cold and stern words echoed in everyone’s ears.
Yet they still had no real leads.
————
After the inspection finished, Fang Si Ting checked his watch. It was already early morning, and the rain was still pouring heavily.
Qin Wensu and several Vice Squad Officers took the body back to the Inspection Office first for an overnight autopsy.
Peng Xiaoxiao handed her umbrella to Fang Si Ting, just in time to catch their ride.
The seats in the office vehicle were all taken, and several Vice Squad Officers wanted to get out to let Fang Si Ting sit.
Peng Xiaoxiao sat steadily in the car like Mount Tai and whispered to them, “Don’t worry about him. He prefers walking.”
Then they heard Fang Si Ting politely and distantly refuse from outside the car.
“We’ll head out first then.” With that, the car drove off toward the Inspection Office.
“Do you want to stay at my place?”
Xiao Fen and Ou Yu were discussing how to get back—they hadn’t brought umbrellas when heading out—just then, they heard Fang Si Ting ask this.
“I’m fine where I am. Your dorm…”
“You and Teacher Ou sharing a room would be inconvenient,” Fang Si Ting said. “My dorm room happens to have an extra bed.”
