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墨書 Inktalez
Both of them held their breath, especially Yuan Jun.
Since the beginning of his assignment, Yuan Jun had thought that the tasks of the police department were nothing more than catching a criminal or apprehending a thief. He never imagined he would face such a scene. Yuan Jun would rather engage in a direct fight with several armed assailants than confront these ethereal entities.
He saw Jiang He approaching a face that seemed to float in the air, and he couldn't help but admire Jiang He's courage.
At that moment, Jiang He moved slowly, one hand gripping a flashlight while the other rested on the dagger at his waist. As he drew closer, his heart began to settle. This was not some ghost; it was a human head, placed atop a stone tablet.
Jiang He reached the head and shone his flashlight on it, observing carefully.
The head had been severed from the neck, and judging by the jagged cut, it appeared to have been hacked off with a dull blade. The layers of skin indicated that the person who did this had swung the knife multiple times.
The head had long hair and lacked an Adam's apple. Jiang He initially deduced that this head belonged to a woman.
From the facial features of the corpse, her eyes were wide open, but due to the cloudiness of her pupils, they appeared grayish-white, making it seem as if only the whites of her eyes were visible. Especially with her large eyes, they could easily startle someone from a distance.
The nose of the corpse was sunken in. When Jiang He reached out to touch it, he could feel that the nasal bone was broken. As he touched her nose, he accidentally brushed against her lips and felt an unsettling sensation. He quickly pried her mouth open gently and discovered that she had no teeth left at all.
Teeth are among the strongest parts of the human body, and given her appearance, she should have been between twenty and thirty years old—there was no way all her teeth could have fallen out naturally. Jiang He was ninety percent certain that her teeth had been lost due to external force.
There was no blood on the head nor any signs of bleeding, indicating that it had been severed for some time. However, Jiang He did not see any clots around the neck, and the entire head appeared quite clean; there wasn't even a speck of dust on its face.
A bold hypothesis formed in Jiang He's mind: this head must have been cleaned by someone.
Thus, the woman's scream could not have come from this head; she had been dead for quite some time. A corpse could never produce such a piercing scream. So who had made that scream? And who had placed this head here?
Jiang He furrowed his brow, holding a flashlight in one hand while cradling a human head in the other.
Yuan Jun watched Jiang He walk back with an expressionless face, the head still in his hand. Goosebumps crawled all over him, and the eerie feeling made Yuan Jun feel utterly uncomfortable. "Jiang He, are you okay?" he asked.
As Jiang He approached, still holding the head, he replied, "There's no need to be afraid; it's just a human head."
At four in the morning, the gentle summer breeze felt like a multitude of hands brushing against one's skin. The open space was filled with tombstones covered in talismans, as if sealing away malevolent spirits waiting to emerge from underground. Under the faint moonlight, Yuan Jun looked at the man standing before him, who was holding a human head.
Yuan Jun felt his heart racing, yet Jiang He seemed completely unfazed.
"It's just a human head."
The way Jiang He said it made it sound as ordinary as saying, "This is a cup of milk tea," or "This is a watermelon."
"Aren't you afraid?" Yuan Jun asked.
Jiang He shook his head. "Fear of the death of one's kind is a common feeling among most higher animals. But a head is merely a part of a dead body, much like a braised fish on the dining table or a whole roasted lamb. If you're not afraid of braised fish or roasted lamb, then you shouldn't be afraid of this head."
Yuan Jun indeed wasn't afraid of braised fish or roasted lamb, but after hearing Jiang He's words, he decided he would never eat either again.
As they spoke, a sudden rustling sound emerged from the surrounding cornfield. The corn stalks began to sway violently, and soon figures started to appear from all directions. Each flickering light resembled birds escaping from their cages.
Jiang He and Yuan Jun turned to see that behind each light was a villager holding a flashlight. Compared to police flashlights, the villagers' lights were significantly dimmer; however, with dozens of beams shining on their faces, both Yuan Jun and Jiang He squinted against the brightness.
The beams of light gradually converged, ultimately illuminating the severed head in Jiang He's hands.
"A head."
"How did it end up here?"
"What happened?"
"Her!"
Upon seeing the head, the villagers buzzed with murmurs, like mosquitoes flitting around their ears. They still held onto their tools from earlier, yet none dared to approach. Jiang He turned off his flashlight, shielding his eyes from the blinding light as he squinted at the crowd.
"Shut the hell up!" Li Sanhan's voice rang out.
At his booming command, the villagers fell silent.
Li Sanhan slowly walked up to Jiang He and looked at the severed head in his hands. "Did you kill her?"
Jiang He shook his head and replied, "I didn't kill anyone. Look for yourselves; this head has been dead for some time. We just arrived in the village today, which means the person who killed her must be one of your villagers. If you don't believe me, go check for yourselves."
With that, Jiang He offered the head to Li Sanhan.
Li Sanhan did not take it but instead pushed aside the hair that hung over the head's ears, carefully examining it. Suddenly, his expression turned ashen.
Just a moment ago, the face of the severed head was obscured by hair, but now everyone could see it clearly.
All were silent as if frozen in place.
The head was held calmly in Jiang He's hand.
Li Sanhan turned to a villager and said, "Ermazi, go fetch Lao Gao."
Ermazi nodded and quickly ran out of the cornfield.
In a daze, several others emerged from the cornfield as well; it was Old Shao accompanied by Wang Chao, Xu Yiman, and Er Dan.
"What happened?" Old Shao asked.
Li Sanhan knew that Old Shao was the leader of this group. He approached him and said, "Your student decided to dig up a severed head in the graveyard in the middle of the night."
Old Shao frowned and stepped forward to Jiang He.
Xu Yiman was also examining the head. After a moment, she said, "This head has clearly been severed for quite some time. Jiang He can't be the murderer. But the question is, whose head is this? Who cut it off? Was it done while the person was alive or after death?"
Xu Yiman's probing questions left Li Sanhan at a loss for words. He snorted and replied, "In any case, until we get to the bottom of this matter, everyone is a suspect. You all need to conduct your research in the village anyway; it won't hurt to wait until we clarify things before leaving. Dogzi, take the head back."
Dogzi shook his head. Looking at the severed head, anyone would feel a bit frightened. While many present could remain as calm as Jiang He while holding such a thing, they were all members of the special task force...
"Dammit," Li Sanhan said, "look at your courage."
With that, Li Sanhan took the severed head from Jiang He's hands.
As Li Sanhan lifted the head and started to walk away, he suddenly turned back near the cornfield and warned, "I’ll let you all go for now, but no matter what you hear tonight, don’t come out. You’d better listen to me; otherwise, who knows who will be the next to die!"
It was a veiled threat.
Jiang He replied, "You managed to find this place because you heard a woman screaming. Who does that scream belong to? And you found a severed head in the village; whose head is it? We haven’t seen a single woman in the village—where are the women from your village?"
"This is all men's business; why would we let women get involved?"
Li Sanhan glared fiercely while holding the head. "Mind your own business regarding our village. Once everything is cleared up, you can go wherever you want!"
"Will you call the police?" Jiang He asked again.
At this question, all the villagers stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Jiang He.
The atmosphere grew tense.
"Of course," Li Sanhan said. "This is a society governed by law. However, it takes at least four or five hours for the police to reach this village. I’m the village chief, so you don’t need to worry about these matters. Er Dan, take these people back; do you understand?"
Er Dan chuckled foolishly in response.
In the meantime, Li Sanhan led the villagers away.
Old Shao looked at the vast empty space and slowly spoke, "I think this village is far more complicated than we imagined."
After that, Old Shao turned to Er Dan and said, "Er Dan, let's head back."
Er Dan nodded and suddenly walked up to a few people with an air of mystery. He pointed at Jiang He and said, "He definitely didn't kill her."
A smile appeared on Old Shao's face as he replied, "That's right, we wouldn't kill anyone."
However, what Er Dan said next left everyone in shock.
Er Dan continued, "Because I saw them burying that woman. You only bury someone when they're dead."
"Are you sure it's this woman?" Old Shao pressed for clarification.
Er Dan nodded, "It's her. I even had some braised pork afterward..."
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