Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
After coming out of the detention center, I felt a bit disoriented. How should I approach this situation?
According to Jin Yang's theory, the Jin Family is haunted, and the old man was scared to death by a ghost. I scoffed at this; having played with ghost tricks for so long, how could I possibly believe in such things? There can't be ghosts in this world.
After pondering for a while, I decided to start with the Jin Family since everything began there.
First, I inquired about the happenings in the Jin Family. The death of Old Man Jin was a significant event that shook the entire Star City. People from all walks of life came to pay their respects, and the mourning hall for Old Man Jin was set up in the botanical garden in front of the Jin Family Villa. At this moment, the power of the Jin Family was evident as Chaoyang City was transformed into a world of white.
The rituals were conducted by Taoists from Lingxu Temple, the most renowned temple in the suburbs. Except for an old Taoist who was guarding the entrance, about ten other Taoists came over. According to Jin Zhenzhong, even if you couldn't perform rituals, you could sit nearby and meditate; it cost one thousand one for performing rituals and five hundred one for meditating. Damn it, being rich is great.
After learning this news, I called Qingfeng Daozhang, the head of Lingxu Temple, and brought Ding Fatty along to get a free meal. After all, Jin Zhenzhong wanted a lively atmosphere, and the more Taoists, the better.
Qingfeng Daozhang readily agreed and casually mentioned that he wouldn't be collecting the six hundred yuan I owed him from our last Mahjong game. That bastard took advantage of my situation; I wish him bad luck at Mahjong!
After changing into Taoist robes with Ding Fatty, we blended into the mourning hall of the Jin Family. There were many foreigners present, so we could only sit in a row facing the wall like other meditating Taoists.
The mourning hall set up by Qingfeng Daozhang was quite unique; it had a trapezoidal shape—wide at the front and narrow at the back—divided into two sections by thick black velvet curtains. The front half was spacious, about half the size of a basketball court, lined with wreaths and condolences from various dignitaries. Underneath the black cloth lay half of a coffin, with an altar table in front holding dishes and fruits for people to pay their respects and conduct rituals. The back half was smaller; aside from half of a coffin, there was just enough space for about ten Taoists to sit and meditate.
We sat in the back half of the mourning hall. To be honest, even if we lay down, no one would notice us. I suspected that Qingfeng Daozhang had specifically set up this area for his subordinates to rest. After sitting down with nothing to do, I was glad that my robe was loose enough to hide my phone so I could check it. Ding Fatty did the same; however, judging by how his hands trembled inside his robe, he was clearly chatting on QQ.
Around ten o'clock at night, most guests had left; only members of the Jin Family and some hired help remained. At this point, the Taoists began to get up and move around. Ding Fatty and I pretended to go to the restroom and slipped into the Jin Family Villa.
I had visited the Jin Family two years ago when I returned with Jin Yang to retrieve something. Honestly speaking, I was quite shocked at that time; this place was incredibly luxurious. Although it was my second visit, I was still awed by its opulence. The decorations and furnishings were all designed by top masters—intricate carvings and gilding with flowing lines in pure European style—every corner exuded an aristocratic aura.
Ding Fatty was even more dazzled; he gasped in amazement. I nudged him and whispered, "Don't get distracted!" This brought Ding Fatty's attention back as we quickly made our way upstairs. Jin Yang's room was on the second floor, and what I needed to know first was what strange things were inside his room.
"Ghost Brother, the Jin Family doesn't have bodyguards, right? Is there really no camera surveillance?" Fatty asked nervously behind me.
"If you were a Billionaire, would you want your subordinates to see you bringing a girl home? You know what? There are no cameras and no bodyguards!" I scolded Fatty, though I actually remembered that Jin Yang had told me before that his grandfather forbade installing cameras or hiring bodyguards at home.
The second floor was divided into two wings, each with four rooms. The left wing had the rooms of Jin Zhao and Jin Yang, plus two guest rooms, while the right wing had the rooms of Jin Zhenzhong and Jin Xinghua, along with a study and a game room. As for the bathrooms? Every room on the second floor had its own bathroom.
Jin Yang's room was the first one on the left wing. I turned the doorknob and thankfully found it unlocked. I glanced around and quickly slipped inside, while Ding Fatty gently closed the door behind us.
I casually pressed the light switch by the door, and the room was instantly brightened. Ding Fatty looked at me in astonishment: "Aren't you being too bold? Aren't you afraid of attracting attention from downstairs?"
"What’s there to be afraid of? People have a psychological tendency. If you see a dark building with one room lit up by a flashlight, everyone’s first thought is that someone is stealing. But in a brightly lit building, others will just think the owner has returned." I walked around the room confidently, completely unconcerned.
"But the owner, Jin Yang, is still in detention," Ding Fatty said, puzzled.
"Another tendency is that people are self-righteous. Subconsciously, when faced with a problem, they will immediately look for an answer. If they believe that answer is plausible, they won't think any deeper. For example, if the light is on in this room, Jin Zhenzhong might think it’s just the butler cleaning something inside. The butler might think it’s Jin Zhao looking for something... Once they have an answer, they won't dig any further; it's a kind of mental inertia." I walked over to the window and examined the glass closely.
"That makes sense, Ghost Brother. I increasingly feel that sticking with you is not a mistake; even stealing can be so scholarly," Ding Fatty chuckled as he joined me at the window to observe.
At first, I thought Jin Yang's Red Shadow was due to an issue with the glass. I knew there was a type of advertising glass that looks like regular glass but is actually an LCD screen capable of playing pre-recorded videos. Ding Fatty and I had pulled off this trick once in an elevator in Yuexiu District; we made ten thousand from it.
But I was disappointed; this was just ordinary glass, and upon closer inspection, it showed no signs of having been replaced.
Or could it be projected using a Mini Projector? The projectors I installed in Star City Building were just ordinary ones that could only project onto flat surfaces. However, this kind of projector that creates images in the center of a room belongs to naked-eye projection technology. Although no one has yet developed high-definition naked-eye projection effects in the world today, projecting a red shadow should definitely be possible.
For a shadow to appear in the center of the room, the projector would either need to be installed in the floor or near the ceiling light fixture. I looked at the floor; it was made of solid wood laminate flooring—there's no way to dig a hole to hide a projector there. I shared my suspicions with Ding Fatty, who squinted at the chandelier before scanning around and finally shook his head at me.
In this regard, Ding Fatty was an expert; he seemed to have an innate ability to determine where projectors or cameras could be installed—he could easily tell what could or couldn't be placed where.
The glass is fine, and there is no projector installed. So what exactly is going on?
Could it really be that Jin Yang got drunk and hallucinated? How do we explain Old Man Jin seeing a ghost in red clothes? According to Jin Yang's theory, the old man must have been frightened by the Red-Clothed Shadow before Jin Yang broke in, mistaking him for a ghost upon seeing him.
Could it be that they really saw a ghost? I was startled by my own thought.
I walked around the room again, and feeling uneasy, I opened the window to check once more. Still finding nothing unusual, I was about to call Ding Fatty to go out when the door opened. A tall and handsome young man stood at the entrance, dressed in mourning attire, holding a drawn Japanese Katana, glaring at us with anger. It was Jin Zhao.
Jin Zhao seemed hostile towards us both, pointing at us and shouting, "What are you two doing?"
"We're just using the restroom!" I said with a smile as I took a step forward.
"Stop right there!" Jin Zhao took a large step forward and shouted, raising his sword. From his stance and the way he held the sword, I was one hundred percent sure that this guy had trained before.
I immediately stopped and lowered my head.
"Step back, step back!" Jin Zhao yelled at us.
Step back? The window is right behind us! Are you asking us to jump out, Jin Da Shao? Ding Fatty and I stared at Jin Zhao in disbelief.
"Step back, do you hear me? Stay away from the window!" Jin Zhao roared. It finally dawned on us that he was afraid we would jump out of the window to escape.
Ding Fatty and I exchanged glances, turned halfway around, and backed away with our backs facing the restroom. Jin Yang's room is about fifty square meters, making it feel particularly spacious. We took several steps back until we reached the restroom door.
"Jin Zhao, what's going on?" A voice inquired from the doorway, followed by a tall man in his thirties walking in. Having mixed with the Jin Family, I recognized him as Shih Chih-Yang, the family steward. After greeting Jin Zhao, Shih Chih-Yang looked us up and down.
"These two Taoists are using the restroom; didn't you tell them there's one downstairs?" Jin Zhao lowered his raised sword but still held it firmly as he walked over to the window. He seemed to think that since Shih Chih-Yang was at the door now, he should guard the window.
"We've been sitting here all afternoon, and we definitely need to use the restroom!" Ding Fatty complained, "Can the restroom downstairs accommodate several people at once?"
Upon hearing this, Jin Zhao naturally understood Ding Fatty's point, and his expression relaxed even more. Shih Chih-Yang also smiled, walked over to Jin Zhao, and whispered something. I vaguely heard the words 'gift money' among other things. Jin Zhao seemed a bit warm; he leaned on his sword and took off the burlap cloth he was wearing, handing it to Shih Chih-Yang, who casually draped it over his shoulder.
Just when I thought this matter would pass without incident, Jin Zhao suddenly changed his expression dramatically, staring behind me with a look of horror. Shih Chih-Yang followed Jin Zhao's gaze and wore a similarly frightened expression.
What was going on?
The restroom was right behind me; what could possibly be in there that would scare them so much? Ding Fatty and I turned around almost simultaneously to look.
Turning around, there was nothing unusual—just a toilet, a bathtub, and a sink; everything seemed normal. What was happening? Just as Ding Fatty and I exchanged puzzled glances, we heard a swish followed by a thud. Something had fallen to the ground and rolled a couple of times; it appeared to be a spherical object.
Ding Fatty and I turned around again, and this time our faces changed drastically because we witnessed a gruesome scene.
Shih Chih-Yang's body stood next to Jin Zhao, but his head was no longer on his neck. The sound we had just heard was actually the sound of Shih Chih-Yang's head falling.
Jin Zhao stood nearby with a knife, seemingly in shock, making choking sounds until Shih Chih-Yang's headless body fell toward him. He hurriedly tried to catch it but forgot he still had the knife in hand, nearly cutting off Shih Chih-Yang's arm instead. He quickly withdrew his hand, resulting in Shih Chih-Yang's body collapsing onto him. As a result, both were covered in blood, creating an exceptionally bloody scene.
Comment 0 Comment Count