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墨書 Inktalez
We were puzzled, not knowing when we had gotten involved in a murder case. The officer said, "We are from the Yunde Town Police Station. This afternoon, a murder occurred; an elderly man named Lin Minyou was found dead in the temple. Villagers mentioned that you had previously visited Lin Minyou. We checked the surveillance footage and saw you coming this way. If you were driving a police car, there wouldn't have been such a misunderstanding."
I took out my Police Badge and showed it to them before saying, "Let's go to the scene and see what happened." As I spoke, I struggled to suppress my shock; the others seemed to feel the same way. We had just left Lin Minyou's residence at noon, and now he was dead by the afternoon. The thought of it made it impossible for me to feel calm.
"The scene is sealed off, and it's already late at night. How about we check it out tomorrow? We need to go through some procedures..." the officer from the station suggested.
We returned to the Police Department dormitory, and the night passed in silence as I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. When I closed my eyes, I could almost see myself in a confined space, surrounded by thick fog, with poisonous creatures everywhere—scorpions, venomous snakes, lizards, and more. These creatures scurried across a flat expanse of land when suddenly, two arms shot up from the ground, with long nails. The earth began to rise, and a woman crawled out from it. She lowered her head, her black hair covering most of her face. I stood before her as she approached me step by step; in what felt like an instant, she was right in front of me, just a centimeter away.
She lifted her head; her face was pale with a large hole in her forehead filled with poisonous insects. I recognized that face—it was the little girl from Grandfather's family. She looked at me with eyes full of resentment and spoke in a hoarse, terrifying voice: "Why do you like someone else?"
I jolted awake from the nightmare, still shaken and confused about why I would have such a dream. I walked to the balcony for some fresh air but found the little girl from Grandfather's family exercising downstairs, looking vibrant and youthful. When she saw me on the balcony, she greeted me enthusiastically, and I smiled back.
Mary's head popped out from another balcony as she said, "It seems Xiaocao really likes you!"
"Xiaocao? Isn't that what she's called?" I asked.
"Yes! Her name translates to 'little grass' in Chinese," Mary replied. "You're in trouble now; Sister Juan won't let you off easily!"
"You little brat, hurry back and get ready; we need to head out to the scene soon," I said helplessly.
Before long, members of the Special Investigation Team gathered downstairs. To my surprise, Xiaocao was also there. Director Wang looked at me with an expression of resignation and quietly said, "You have to show some respect; you know how it is. Besides, Xiaocao is considered backup for our officers; just take her along for the task." I shook my head helplessly; there was nothing I could do—policy issues couldn't be taken lightly.
Last night, Lin Minyou's body had already been taken to the morgue. We first went there where Juan Juan conducted an autopsy. Just looking at the body revealed a deep penetrating wound in his abdomen that seemed to have pierced straight through to his back.
"This fatal wound is right here on his abdomen; it appears he was stabbed by something large resembling a sword. The internal organs are severely ruptured—he likely died almost instantly. The time of death should be about an hour and a half after we left!" Juan Juan stated. We all nodded; just looking at the wound showed it was nearly ten centimeters long, extending from his upper abdomen to his chest at an angle.
"What kind of weapon could cause such a large wound?" Yan Junde remarked as he examined the body.
"I already have an idea of what the weapon is; we just can't confirm yet whether Lin Minyou committed suicide or was murdered. Let's go check out the scene!" I said while tapping my temple with my fingers—the impact of that nightmare still lingered in my mind, giving me a headache even now.
Driving once again to Yunde Town, we saw that the entrance archway had already been adorned with mourning banners. Below them were silver trees and silver flowers, with wreaths placed on either side of the wall, stretching for an unknown distance. The officers from the Yunde Town police station greeted us as promised. One officer said, "Lin Minyou was a good person; he fed almost all the stray cats and dogs in the village. Be careful when you go up the mountain."
"Careful?" I asked.
"That's right," he replied.
When we reached the temple entrance, we understood why the officer had warned us. A number of stray dogs and cats were gathered at the entrance, wandering around and baring their teeth at any strangers. The cacophony of barking and meowing made it impossible for us to approach. The officer said, "Yesterday, we had a hard time getting the body out. Follow us, but keep a low profile and watch out for bites."
The officer led us on a long detour before we climbed a ladder to enter the temple from over the courtyard wall. He joked, "Those stray dogs and cats serve as a natural barrier; no one can get close..."
The doors of the rooms were tightly shut. The officer took us directly to the room facing the temple door, where three statues were displayed. As soon as we entered, a strong smell of blood hit us. Looking down, we saw large pools of blood that had already congealed on the floor. Following the trail of blood, we noticed that the sword held by the statue on the left was stained red, and its fierce expression sent chills down our spines.
I suddenly recalled a saying: when someone with heavy karma enters a temple, they often feel an indescribable sense of oppression and fear, wanting to leave. Lin Minyou had been in this temple for five years since his release; I wondered if he felt this way too. Now he truly lived in a world of dim lights and ancient Buddhas, free from fear of any vengeful spirits.
The officer continued, "Yesterday afternoon, we received a report that Master Lin Minyou had locked himself inside the temple. Normally, he would be welcoming villagers for prayers and chanting, but after receiving just one group yesterday, he locked himself in and refused to open the door despite knocking."
"The villagers sensed something was wrong and called the police. When we arrived, we found that both the temple door and his room were locked from within. We had to force open the door to discover that Lin Minyou had been pierced through by that steel sword, with blood everywhere." As he recalled what happened yesterday, he told us, "His eyes were wide open; he still had prayer beads in his hands and looked terrified as if he had seen something horrifying. What puzzled us was that this statue is over two meters tall, and that sword is even taller. How could the killer have thrown him onto it?"
We surveyed the scene around us. Juan Juan remarked, "The murder weapon must be this one. From the wound on his body, it seems Lin Minyou first made contact with the tip of this steel sword with his back before it pierced through him from behind and exited through his abdomen, causing his death. He must have been perpendicular to the sword's handle at first and then fell under gravity's influence, creating a long diagonal wound."
The officer added, "When we found him, he had already slid down towards the sword handle. It took several of us using ladders to get his body down..."
I nodded and then looked along the direction of the steel sword; opposite it was a beam painted red, but one section perpendicular to it had been scraped off. I shook my head and said, "This case isn't murder; it's likely suicide. First of all, both doors were tightly locked—especially this room's door—there were no signs of forced entry before you arrived?"
"No," the officer replied firmly.
"Exactly. To enter the main hall, there was only this one door. Secondly, I think Lin Minyou climbed up that beam and then jumped down facing away from the statue, landing on that steel sword." I analyzed the scene further.
"Suicide?" The police officer seemed somewhat incredulous. He said, "How could someone choose such a complicated way to end their life? It would be much easier to just hang themselves!"
I didn't respond to him but turned to Yan Junde and said, "Dezi, can you get up to that beam? Check if there are any ropes or anything up there that could help him climb onto the beam." The beam was over four meters off the ground. The police officer said, "I'll go outside and bring in that ladder, but it might not be enough."
Yan Junde shook his head and replied, "There's no need for that."
With that, Yan Junde walked between a pillar and the wall, observing carefully. Then he stepped back a few paces, took a running start, and leaped onto the pillar. Using it for leverage, he pushed off against the wall and then back onto the pillar several times in quick succession. In the blink of an eye, he was already on the beam. We watched in astonishment, our hearts racing with excitement; indeed, he was quite skilled. The police officer from the station stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend how Yan Junde had reached the beam so effortlessly.
Ignoring our admiration, Yan Junde said, "There's a thick rope on the beam and a large stone. It looks like Lin Minyou used this to hang himself." His words essentially confirmed my suspicions. The police officer still couldn't believe it: "I still maintain my point—if someone wants to commit suicide, why would they choose such a complicated method? You found the rope; why didn't he just hang himself?"
I shook my head and said, "That's the problem we need to solve."
Why did Lin Minyou want to commit suicide? Why did he choose to do it after we left? Was there some connection in all of this?
"I think he must have been cursed," Xiaocao suddenly said.
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