“You didn’t know, huh.” Peng Xiaoxiao laughed.
Several people gathered together, unceremoniously reaching out from outside Bai Zhu’s window to grab snacks.
“You didn’t notice last time you were lurking in our group? Inspector Fang used to call me Professor Peng, but everyone else calls me Sister Xiaoxiao. So kind.” Peng Xiaoxiao stuffed some beef jerky into Qin Wensu’s hand, signaling her not to stand on ceremony.
Tang Shen said, “Yeah, he calls me Deputy Team Leader Tang too. Not troublesome at all. At first, I thought he was throwing shade at me.”
“And me, Captain Bai.” Bai Zhu shook his head with a sigh, looking heartbroken.
He hadn’t been a captain for many years.
Good grief, one form of address had offended everyone.
“Huh, so none of you like being called that? But he calls me Expert Xu, and I love it.” A voice came from Bai Zhu’s phone. It turned out he had been video calling Xu An since earlier.
“Chuunibyou teen, don’t butt in.”
“You’re the fanboy ringleader—no say in this.” Tang Shen said.
Peng Xiaoxiao said, “That title’s the only one that doesn’t sound awkward to you.”
“Xu An, Xu An, Xu An—” Xiao Fen enthusiastically reached for the phone.
Xu An’s face stiffened. He bolted out of frame, chair and all.
Xiao Fen: “…”
This Little Brat was tricky.
“In summary, our Inspector Fang has some social anxiety and isn’t great at interpersonal relationships.” Peng Xiaoxiao shook her head. “It’s all that idol filter—made it sound normal. Now if he called me by name, I’d get goosebumps all over.”
Qin Wensu said admiringly, “Sister Xiaoxiao, you’re amazing. You figured that out from a title. I’ve known him for years and just thought he was a bit cold.”
“How many years have you known him?” Tang Shen asked.
“To be honest, it wasn’t really ‘knowing’ him back then. I was working and studying my way through university in M Country. He found out and sponsored me all the way through grad school. Last year after graduating and returning home, we ran into each other on a case investigation. We’ve kept occasional contact since—mostly when he has a tricky case needing forensic help, and I go assist.”
“That’s it?”
Qin Wensu looked at their stares, puzzled. “That’s it. What else could there be?”
Tang Shen said to Xiao Fen, “That’s it.”
Xiao Fen was baffled. “What are you telling me that for?”
He hadn’t suspected anything between Qin Wensu and Fang Si Ting.
Well, maybe a tiny bit before.
But those two clearly weren’t close, and Fang Si Ting had explained their relationship from the start.
Wait—did Tang Shen think he was jealous of Qin Wensu and Fang Si Ting, that they’d argued in the office?
Was this his way of explaining now?
He glanced around. Tang Shen, Peng Xiaoxiao, Bai Zhu—all three were watching his face.
“I…” He had nothing with Fang Si Ting anyway. Who he liked was his business.
“Xiao Fen.” Fang Si Ting called from the doorway.
“I’m going back to my room to sleep.” Xiao Fen grabbed a bowl of half-eaten ice cream and bolted.
“What do you mean sleep—it’s so early!” Bai Zhu grumbled, but Peng Xiaoxiao stuffed snacks in his mouth.
“What about that lead on the perp?” Tang Shen only cared about the case.
“I’ll send it to your phone in a bit.”
The group gathered again, staring at the tightly shut door.
“We suspected before, but now we can confirm it.” Tang Shen rubbed his chin.
“No doubt.” Peng Xiaoxiao adjusted her glasses.
“Confirm what?” Xu An popped up in the video again. “What happened while I was gone?”
“If you were here, the show would’ve wrapped ages ago. You pick the worst times.” Bai Zhu took the phone into his room. “Game over? Game over, come to City A for drinks.”
“I’m a minor. Have some decency.”
“Who said drinks? Got soy milk for you. Same color white, domestic brew.”
“…”
The others returned to their rooms too.
The hallway fell completely quiet.
————
The next day, Tang Shen arrived at the Inspection Office and saw Fang Si Ting already in the conference room, the table covered in case files.
“Boss, what time did you get here? Where’s Little Fen?”
“Still sleeping.” Fang Si Ting rubbed his temples and stood to brew himself another cup of tea.
“You’re up early.”
Tang Shen yawned, eyeing the organized case info.
The top of the whiteboard had changed from “Skinning Murder Case” to “Wu Lifu Missing Case.”
“Couldn’t sleep much.” Fang Si Ting said.
Last night, besides tucking Xiao Fen in, he had a dream.
Not sure if it was from immersing himself in the case lately, or Xiao Fen talking it up in his ear so much, but last night he really dreamed he was the Skinning Case killer.
In the dream, he struggled to hoist the Shaman’s corpse, clambering up steps toward a back alley.
Why hoist it?
Because the body was fully rigid, couldn’t bend.
That meant when Ou Yu saw the “Folded Person” around 10 p.m., the corpse had been dead 6 to 24 hours.
He awkwardly carried the corpse—dream-him was kinda short, but luckily the Shaman wasn’t burly. He staggered along, eventually getting it to the Substitute Life Well.
But not to dump it in.
He had Guo Dongying ready. Randomly showing up with a Shaman corpse didn’t fit the legend.
He’d called the Shaman for the ritual.
But for some unknown reason, he hacked the Shaman to death.
Now, carrying the Shaman’s corpse, he hadn’t reached the well when a tourist spotted him.
Ou Yu shrank back into the alley in fright. He panicked too, fleeing, hopping on the e-bike he’d arrived on, planning to take the corpse home.
On the road, he spotted Zhong Houwang, who had just parted from Lu Kaiyu.
Dream-him had a brainstorm. The townsfolk were all superstitious about ghost stories. If he used that, had Zhong Houwang spread rumors—wouldn’t outsiders think he’d seen a ghost, not a man and a corpse?
So he went out of his way, strutting right past Zhong Houwang, recreating the scene.
Zhong Houwang was terrified, as expected. And he got an unexpected bonus.
Lu Kaiyu.
In the chaos, he somehow dragged Lu Kaiyu home and dosed him with sedative.
Then he hauled the unconscious Guo Dongying to the well and shoved him in.
Why from the abandoned house?
If from home, Guo Dongying would’ve been skinned already. Only from the abandoned house was he still unskinned when he died.
He saw tourists active nearby that night, and the Pursuit Team paying extra attention to the Substitute Life Well. If Guo Dongying woke and got found, all his efforts would be for nothing.
Hauling Guo Dongying back was too risky, so he dealt with him on the spot, planning to skin later.
…
Bai Zhu came in with several Vice Squad Officers. “Boss, 37 abandoned houses around the Substitute Life Well—all searched. Only one showed recent activity traces. Program Crew confirmed it was where guests did a task before. Nothing else.”
That was where Xiao Fen and Ou Yu had taken the guests to shelter from rain.
Everything in the dream was a reassembly and deduction from his existing clues.
“We didn’t see Wu Lifu there.” Bai Zhu said.
Disappointment flashed in Fang Si Ting’s eyes. He shared his deductions, to see where the flaw was.
“Probably not hiding in an abandoned house.” Tang Shen analyzed. “If Guo woke while he was gone, or someone stumbled in, all his efforts would be for nothing.”
Peng Xiaoxiao nodded in agreement. “Too risky. Doesn’t fit his cautious personality.”
“E-bike.” Fang Si Ting pulled the photo from the pile. “You said it tested positive for blood. Plenty of room to transport the Shaman’s corpse and Guo Dongying temporarily.”
“DNA results pending, but yeah, he drove it that night for sure.” Tang Shen pondered. “Bloody Eight Characters on the wall, calling the Shaman—all for some ritual. Logically, no skinning after that. Why risk going back to the clinic to skin?”
“Because the ritual didn’t complete. The blood writing dripped early, Shaman died.” Fang Si Ting said. “Substitute Life failed, so he fell back on skinning.”
“And he needed more than one human skin.” Peng Xiaoxiao spoke up.
“Found any references?”
Peng Xiaoxiao shook her head regretfully. “These evil arts aren’t written down much, and they’re niche. I can only infer from clues.”
“He meant to skin alive on site originally—planned to flay Guo Dongying alive by the Substitute Life Well.” Fang Si Ting suddenly recalled. Xiao Fen had offhandedly said Lu Jin’s only use was substituting for the real victim.
Why sub a program guest’s “death”? Because the real victim wasn’t dead yet.
Wu Lifu painstakingly dragged live victims there, just like with Guo Dongying.
Both alive, both with bazi.
Lu Kaiyu’s case at the busy clinic—conditions didn’t allow. Du Yutong and the Shaman were long dead. Not sure if skinned alive, or if there were Bloody Eight Characters.
They discussed from morning till evening, no conclusion even at mealtime.
“Per Forensic Doctor Qin’s estimates, skinning order: Du Yutong, Shaman, Lu Kaiyu, Guo Dongying.” Fang Si Ting recapped all cases again. “Du Yutong’s suspicious—why move a buried body elsewhere?”
Tang Shen shoveled a big bite of rice. “Soil on the corpse confirms prior burial in Guiwu Forest.”
“Guiwu Forest to roadside—location matters.” Peng Xiaoxiao said. “Ritual tied to sites.”
Tang Shen grabbed his phone excitedly. “Brother Fen sent me a perp lead last night. Thought he was making up stories to mess with me. But now it clicks.”
“What story?” Peng Xiaoxiao asked curiously.
“Tao Fu Takes a Wife.” Tang Shen said. “Doesn’t it match Du Yutong’s scene?”
Fang Si Ting’s eyes widened slightly.
Zhong Houwang had mentioned that tale to him and Xiao Fen before, but he’d glossed over it then, and he hadn’t paid mind.
A guy who spent over a grand on a dream—zero credibility.
But Xiao Fen remembered.
“Each scene matches a local weird tale—I know that. But tons of rumors in town. How’d Wu Lifu pick?” Peng Xiaoxiao said.
Xiao Fen had raised that too.
Fang Si Ting went to the whiteboard, listing victims, death sites, matching legends.
“Wood, water, fire…” Peng Xiaoxiao said, surprised. “Five Elements?”
“What about the clinic?” Fang Si Ting had considered it, but clinic didn’t fit, so dropped.
“In Five Elements arts, clinics count as metal.” Peng Xiaoxiao said. “Lu Kaiyu buried at clinic: metal. Shaman hung in Guiwu Forest: wood. Guo Dongying drowned in Substitute Life Well: water. Lu Jin ‘died’ in Refectory Hall: fire. Du Yutong buried on Yellow Springs Road: earth.”
“Five Elements complete. What’s missing?” Tang Shen puzzled.
They didn’t know.
Logically, if Wu Lifu was setting an array, it was done.
Where Xiao Fen hid him—still a fog.
“Wrong.” Fang Si Ting reviewed carefully, musing. “Shaman and Lu Kaiyu died in town, close times. Clinic burial works fine. Why go to such lengths hanging in forest? Why not Lu Kaiyu there? And Du Yutong was already buried in forest—fits burial site. Why dig up and rebury?”
Tang Shen snapped his fingers. “Bazi!”
“Right. If borrowing fate via bazi, burial sites should matter too.” Fang Si Ting said. “Ask the fake Shaman about the victims’ bazi.”
Time to drag him here whether he liked it or not.
Tang Shen called the Vice Squad Officers patrolling Purple Gold Village, told them to bring the Shaman.
Nearly an hour later, the officer called back, excited. “Professor Tang, the Shaman’s gone!”
“What?!”
“We’ve searched everywhere, even asked the village chief. He was shocked too, saying what to do now that the person’s gone missing? Now he’s wailing and crying hysterically, surrounding us and demanding we compensate him for the man.”
Tang Shen hung up the phone. Fang Si Ting said, “How could he go missing?”
“Couldn’t the one Wu Lifu abducted be him?” Peng Xiaoxiao said casually. “Wu Lifu killed him once. Who’s to say he won’t kill him a second time?”
“Very possible.” Fang Si Ting’s eyes lit up. “In outsiders’ eyes, the shaman is ageless and immortal, but in Wu Lifu’s eyes, he already killed the shaman once. If he sees him again, wouldn’t he feel guilty?”
“So Wu Lifu wanted to kill him again!” Tang Shen got it. “The one Xiao Fen replaced with Lu Jin was the fake shaman!”
“And this time, he didn’t bury the shaman in the forest, but in the refectory hall. Bazi corresponds to the five elements—could it be that he got the shaman’s bazi fate wrong before?” Peng Xiaoxiao said with a laugh.
“Possible. He thought burying him in the forest brought him back to life, so this time he changed locations to continue the burial.” Fang Si Ting was a bit speechless too, but then he said seriously, “In that case, the so-called five elements formation is missing a piece. That spot was where Wu Lifu planned to kill someone else to fill it.”
“Wu Lifu—Xiao Fen hid him in Guiwu Forest!”
————
The Action Team, which had just wrapped up the day before, set out again overnight, conducting a massive search of Guiwu Forest.
It was about as dark there during the day as at night. Flashlights made little difference, but the group had grown somewhat familiar with the paths inside.
White beams of flashlights danced chaotically through the forest.
Fang Si Ting came along too. He asked, “Checked the cabin yet?”
“Not yet.” Bai Zhu followed behind him toward the cabin. “He couldn’t possibly be in there, right? Too obvious.”
“No, extremely likely.”
Fang Si Ting quickened his pace.
The day before yesterday, when Ou Yu returned ahead of them, the search team had already left the cabin, combing the forest path toward Purple Gold Village like a carpet before looping back to town via the village’s main road.
From then until now, the cabin had been unguarded.
If Xiao Fen wanted to punish Wu Lifu, he very well might have locked him up here.
After ten minutes, they opened the cabin door. The scene inside was the same as what they had seen a couple days ago.
He poked around a bit, then suddenly lifted the basement board. A faint cry for help came from below.
Fang Si Ting and Bai Zhu hurried to the basement and saw Wu Lifu and the fake shaman, both bound hand and foot.
————
Xiao Fen sat bored in the Inspection Office corridor, watching the Pursuit Team members come and go in droves. He was about to burst out laughing when he turned and saw Fang Si Ting and Tang Shen walk in with beaming smiles.
“You found him?”
The mud on their shoes looked about right too.
“Caught him.” Fang Si Ting said, “Locked in the cabin. Wasn’t it obvious?”
Xiao Fen scratched his head. “Damn, I wanted to play a bit longer.” Then he laughed.
It wasn’t hard to guess that Tang Qin Xin would decide to lock Wu Lifu and the shaman in the cabin.
After catching the culprit before, he hadn’t known where to hide him. The town was small, and he needed someone to watch him to prevent escape. Once he learned Tang Qin Xin was back, he left the man with her for safekeeping while he went to handle Lu Jin.
After letting Tang Qin Xin vent her rage on the culprit, he instructed her to hide him in Guiwu Forest—any corner would do, as long as she didn’t kill him or let him die.
As expected yet reasonable, Tang Qin Xin chose the cabin basement, aiming to recreate Guo Dongying’s suffering.
“He’s still alive, right?”
“He took a severe beating, starved for three or four days, totally out of it mentally. If I’d been a day or two later, he would’ve starved to death.”
That wasn’t likely. Tang Qin Xin would’ve fed him just enough to keep him alive, perpetually hungry but not dying.
As long as her resentment hadn’t faded, there was no way she’d let him die.
Fang Si Ting grabbed his hand and compared it to the scratches on Wu Lifu’s face and body. “You don’t have long nails either.”
Xiao Fen raised his fingers in an orchid gesture and reached toward his chest. “Maybe the shaman mutated.”
Fang Si Ting chuckled and brushed his hand away. “Don’t disgust me.”
“Don’t you like Xu Nuo a lot… Fine, fine, I won’t mention him.”
Seeing his face darken, Xiao Fen shut up and followed behind him.
After a few steps, Fang Si Ting said, “Even if it’s a fake persona, it still shows your real personality and preferences.”
Even if acted, it was Xiao Fen acting it.
