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As the mud was cleared away, a half-broken blue brick revealed an eerie pattern, which turned out to be half of a Yang-carved Bagua Mirror, with dark brown stains still clinging to the fracture.
"This spot is exactly where the Lin family's cargo ship docked back in the day," Old Zhang said, the glowing tip of his cigarette flickering in the rain. "Fifteen years ago, during the Lin Family Massacre Case, all seven bodies were recovered from downstream."
Chen Mo carefully placed the Bagua Mirror into an evidence bag when he suddenly heard a faint jingling sound behind him. Turning around, he caught sight of a figure in a red wedding dress standing beneath the willow trees on the embankment. The pale face bore two spots of rouge that glimmered like blood in the rainy night.
Just as he was about to chase after it, his phone erupted with a piercing notification sound. The forensics department had sent news: two tiny engraved characters were detected on the inner wall of a silver ring found on a severed finger—Jia Shen. This was the heavenly stem and earthly branch corresponding to Lin Qiuyu's birth year.
Suddenly, the shadowless lamp above the autopsy table exploded, and amidst the flying shards of glass, Chen Mo saw Forensic Doctor Zhou trembling violently while holding up the severed finger. Beneath what should have been pale skin, spiderweb-like purple veins emerged, as if countless worms were writhing within the blood vessels.
"This... this is livor mortis!" Forensic Doctor Zhou exclaimed as his tweezers clattered onto the metal tray. "But this severed finger still has living cells!"
A thunderclap echoed outside as a gust of wind blew open Chen Mo's notebook, scattering photographs from the Lin Family Case across the floor. In the yellowed images, seven corpses had red string copper bells tied around their wrists, and their wide-open eyes reflected seven paper figures dressed in wedding attire.
Water droplets condensed on the metallic edge of the autopsy table as Chen Mo watched Forensic Doctor Zhou point at the projection screen with a laser pen. On an enlarged photo of the inner wall of the silver ring, the characters "Jia Shen" were clearly visible, with dark red grime embedded in the engravings.
"This is human blood," Forensic Doctor Zhou's glasses glinted coldly. "Moreover, it matches perfectly with samples taken from the offering table at the Lin Family Ancestral Hall."
Old Zhang suddenly burst through the iron door of the archive room, causing a draft that sent old newspapers flying off the table. The front page of the 1998 Jiangzhou Evening News blared: "Lin's Trading Company Seven Deaths Case Solved; Police Confirm Revenge Killing." In the accompanying photo, a stretcher draped in white cloth was being carried out from an ornate doorway, with a paper effigy of a young boy leaning awkwardly against the threshold.
"The case was closed back then without any regard for human life!" Old Zhang slammed his fist down on the yellowing report. "Old Lin had a paper cutter stuck in his heart, but only his youngest daughter's fingerprints were found on it!"
Chen Mo's fingertips absentmindedly brushed against the fragments of the Bagua Mirror in his evidence bag when he suddenly felt fine engravings like hair strands in a groove on its back. Adjusting it under the overhead light revealed half of a verse: Seven Stars Reflecting Shadows, Soul Returns! The latter half vanished along with the break.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor as intern officer Xiao Wu rushed through the door with a pale face. "The mortuary... has reported that evidence from the Lin Family Case has been stolen! What’s missing... is those Seven Strings of Copper Bells from around the corpses' wrists!"
The torrential rain lashed against the windows of Jiangzhou University’s archives as Chen Mo stared at Lin Qiuyu's borrowing record in the ledger. Titles like Jiangzhou Folklore Investigation, Mingqing Funeral Atlas, and Xiangxi Corpse Transport Record formed an eerie index linked by their borrowing dates. The last entry was from three days ago: Tongrentang Pharmacopoeia Volume Two, with dark red ink smudged beside its borrowing number.
"Classmate Lin has been preparing her paper on Folklore," the archivist adjusted his reading glasses. "However, she suddenly asked last week if the School History Museum has any records of the Earth God Temple from before the school's establishment."
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