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The sound of Abacus Beads being played echoed through the antique shop as Xu Wenshan focused on the purple sandalwood prayer beads on Zhou Huaisheng's right wrist, noticing that each bead was intricately carved with miniature Comb Teeth patterns. When the beads slid to the "forty-nine" position, a hidden compartment in the corner of Duobao Pavilion suddenly sprang open, rolling out a bundle of tung oil thread entangled with long hair.
"Mr. Xu, are you interested in this dressing table from the late Qing Dynasty?" Zhou Huaisheng asked, using a feather duster to brush off the dust from a rosewood box. The box's surface, engraved with a Rebirth Knot, suddenly seeped with Black Blood. "What’s most remarkable about this box is the hidden drawer..." He pressed his index finger on the Tong Niu, and twelve hairpins sprang out in response, each pin adorned with a scalp bearing Hair Follicles.
Xu Wenshan pretended to admire it closely, catching a whiff of Formaline lingering among the hair. He discreetly pointed his phone's camera at the hidden drawer's compartment, zooming in to reveal a silk lining printed with the number from Qinghe Funeral Home—the same number used for the shroud when Li Xiuyun's body went missing.
"Does Zhou Huaisheng often source goods from Zhenxi Coffin Shop?" Xu Wenshan asked, picking up a piece of Sophora Wood Shavings with tweezers. "The burn marks on this Thunderstruck Wood seem to have been made using a Huo Lian from the Republic of China era."
Suddenly, the wood shavings ignited, and amidst the blue smoke appeared an image of Zhou Huaisheng's grandfather combing his hair in the ancestral hall, his braids tied with Widow Lin's jade thimble. Zhou Huaisheng's expression changed dramatically as he slammed the abacus down on the table. The Guanyin Statue in Duobao Pavilion suddenly turned, revealing a bloody ledger behind it.
Xu Wenshan caught sight of an entry under "Bing Shen Year, March Third," which read: "Received seven taels from Xushi Shengren for Yin Fa; paid Rebirth Formation forty-nine guan for incense money."
Midnight struck.
Chen Yu’s tactical flashlight pierced through the thick fog in the antique shop's backyard, its beam sweeping over piles of Sophora Wood. The cross-section of tree rings retained dark red resin; as he scraped a sample with his police knife, the blade was suddenly caught by what seemed like wood grain—except it wasn’t wood grain at all but blood-drawn Rebirth Knots.
The infrared thermal imaging device indicated that there was a hidden layer in the West Wall of the storeroom. When Chen Yu kicked open some loose bricks, a foul odor mixed with moldy paper money surged out. In the center of the dark room lay Incense Altar, surrounded by Forty-Nine Blood Combs arranged in a Bagua Formation, each Comb Teeth adorned with a Birth Chart Tag.
As he picked up a Wooden Plaque marked "Bingzi Year, Hai Hour" with tweezers, an incense burner suddenly toppled over, revealing half of a blood-stained Police Badge among the ashes—its number belonged to an auxiliary police officer who had gone missing twenty years ago.
"This is a sacrifice for the Continuation Array," Chen Yu shouted into his earphone as his flashlight illuminated scratches at the bottom of Incense Altar. The varying depths of those marks formed the character "Zhou," with the final stroke deeply embedded in a brick seam where a piece of tattooed skin was stuck—identical to the tattoo on the neck of a charred corpse from a fire.
Xu Wenshan's voice crackled through the intercom: "The ledger shows that Huang Mu is restocked every third day of each month; each time it’s..." Static suddenly drowned out his words as Chen Yu heard scratching sounds coming from above in the dark room.
Looking up, he saw seven Headless Corpses hanging upside down from the beams, each corpse’s right hand gripping a Carved Wooden Comb. Xu Wenshan scanned the ledger with an Ultraviolet Lamp; invisible ink revealed a Cipher: "Borrow Yin Fa to continue Yang Shou; Forty-Nine Calamities for one Reincarnation."
When he flipped to the last page, he unexpectedly felt something in a hidden compartment—a Kodak Film—showing footage from 1996 captured by tea house surveillance cameras. In it, Zhou Huaisheng was pouring tea for Chen Guohua, several Gray-White Strands floating in the tea.
The video abruptly skipped frames and displayed Zhou Huaisheng again in 2016 at the same spot, stuffing a Jade Thimble into Widow Lin’s hand. More eerily, both versions of Zhou Huaisheng turned simultaneously to look at the camera, their lips curling into identical smiles.
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