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墨書 Inktalez
Living Funeral
The sun was shining brightly at that moment, and I asked, "What?"
Fatty Zhang replied, "Don't investigate this matter anymore. He is very dangerous right now and could harm you at any moment."
I said to Fatty Zhang, "Not investigating? Are you still trying to cover up the secrets from back then? Fatty Zhang, let me tell you, Jiang Changsheng appeared last night."
After I finished speaking, there was silence on the other end of the phone. I moved a bit farther away, estimating that Fatty Zhang was probably stunned, shocked by Jiang Changsheng's appearance.
After a while, Fatty Zhang spoke up, "Did something unexpected happen to you last night?"
I asked, "How did you know?"
Fatty Zhang murmured on the other end, "That's right!"
I inquired, "What do you mean?" Fatty Zhang continued, "Chen Fei, I will meet with you soon. However, you should not investigate Li Qiang's matter any further."
I urged Fatty Zhang not to waste time; if we didn't take the initiative to investigate, what would happen when Li Qiang came looking for us?
Fatty Zhang fell silent for a moment before saying, "Let's discuss it when we meet."
I responded with an "Mm," and hung up the phone. Fu Yan was still waiting for my explanation. I mentioned that I had seen something at his uncle's house before but didn't understand its significance.
Gao Ling wasn't foolish enough to reveal her uncle's affairs either. Fu Yan asked about it, and Gao Ling only said that her uncle had passed away.
I looked around the scene; aside from that pattern, there were no other clues to be found.
After a while of looking around, we were about to leave when a child approached us, appearing to be around ten years old. He looked at us, seemingly a bit timid.
I asked, "Do you need something?"
The child nodded and walked over to me, then handed me something, saying, "Someone asked me to give this to you."
I took the item from the child's hands; it was a long rectangular box, about three fingers wide. I opened the box and found a note inside. When I pulled it out, it read: "Aged, I remembered."
At that moment, Fu Yan asked me, "What does it say?"
Fu Yan looked at me, and I felt compelled to show him the note. After reading it, Fu Yan turned to me and asked, "Aged is who?"
The child pointed at me and said, "It's him."
I was taken aback.
I had no choice but to explain, "I'm not Aged. If you don't believe me, I can show you my ID."
Fu Yan surely knew my identity information, so he said to the child, "Did you deliver this to the wrong person?"
But the child insisted he hadn't. Fu Yan gave me a suspicious glance. At that moment, Gao Ling interjected, "Chen Fei is just Chen Fei. When did he become Aged? Come on, stop with the nonsense and go home; your mom is calling you for dinner."
The child replied, "Anyway, I've given you the item." With that, he walked away, and I watched him as he entered an alley.
I looked inside the long wooden box and found nothing else inside.
Fu Yan looked at the note, unable to make sense of it.
Gao Ling said, "It must be this ghost playing tricks." That was the only explanation left, Fu Yan thought, as Li Qiang had disappeared again.
I didn’t know what was going on; it truly felt like there were no traces to follow. Perhaps I could find some clues when I met Zhang Fatty tonight?
Fu Yan sighed, thinking that we would soon be able to leave this place. I hadn’t heard anything substantial; Li Qiang was like a ghost, elusive and impossible to catch. Without any leads, I felt helpless.
The note Li Qiang had given me lingered in my mind. Did it mean he was planning to do something next?
After returning home, I sat for just a few minutes before standing up again. The image of that child flashed in my mind—was there something he hadn’t finished saying?
By now, it was already five in the afternoon, and Zhang Xun still hadn’t returned. Gao Ling and I went out for dinner, and then I suggested we head back to the place we visited earlier that afternoon. Gao Ling asked me what we were going there for. I replied that I had some matters to attend to because I sensed something was off with that child.
"What kind of problem? You don’t think that child is a ghost, do you?" Gao Ling reiterated, reminding me how bright the sun had been at that time; it was impossible for it to be a ghost.
It was certain that the child wasn’t a ghost, but there had to be some issue at play. I explained this to Gao Ling. Since he didn’t know what Fu Yan and I were investigating, he was like a headless chicken running around aimlessly. So, I briefly shared some information with him about a corpse desecration case that had occurred nearby. That was why Fu Yan and I were here investigating.
The note from the child likely came from the murderer.
Once Gao Ling heard my explanation, he immediately became interested. "A corpse desecration case? That’s pretty twisted." I nodded in agreement while Gao Ling’s eyes darted around as if he were deep in thought.
We arrived at the basketball court around six o'clock.
Since it was summer, night fell slowly. After reaching the old town area, I went straight to look for the child instead of heading to the basketball court. The buildings in the old town weren’t very tall—about six or seven stories—and they stood neatly together. This area had many narrow alleys, each only two or three meters wide.
I clearly remembered which alley the child had entered, so my goal was straightforward.
I stopped a passerby and asked where the child lived. I briefly described the child's appearance, but the passerby waved his hand, indicating he didn't know. I asked several more people, but none of them had any idea.
I felt that the child must live around here.
Gao Ling said to me, "Fei, you're still too young. Why ask adults when looking for a child? You should ask other kids!"
With that, Gao Ling walked over to a nearby child. Sure enough, this time the question was answered correctly, but the child's response surprised me. The child said, "You're looking for Shan, right? He’s been missing for a week."
"Missing for a week?"
At that moment, another child spoke up, "You guys aren't bad people, are you? You're not human traffickers, are you?"
I hurriedly explained that we weren't. The first child added, "Shan was taken by traffickers." After saying this, he was called away by a woman.
Taken away a week ago, but I had seen Shan not long ago. Could it be that Li Qiang had kidnapped him?
After being called by the woman, the child ran off. The woman shot us a wary glance and then told her child, "Next time you talk to strangers, I'll sew your mouth shut."
Once the woman left with the child, Gao Ling and I exchanged wry smiles. Following the directions from the passersby, we eventually found Shan's home.
Shan lived on the fourth floor. The hallway was dimly lit. Upon entering, we saw a woman with tear-streaked cheeks, crying uncontrollably, while a man sat smoking and trying to comfort her.
The man looked at us and said, "You two need to leave; we’re not buying insurance."
I pondered for a moment and said, "We are private detectives. I heard your child is missing, and we can help you find them for free."
After I spoke, the man looked at me with suspicion and asked, "Really?"
I affirmed with a nod. Our detective agency had just been established, and we needed to solve a case to build our reputation. The man seemed to believe me and began providing some information. He mentioned that he had taken his child out to play cards that night and hadn't paid attention to the child, which led to their disappearance.
There had been many instances before where nothing happened, but this time it was different.
I asked several people, and they said a person dressed in black had taken the child away. Moreover, the child had willingly followed them, which was quite eerie.
The man led me to the child's room. However, upon entering, I was taken aback because the walls of the entire room were covered in drawings.
There were so many of them. The man sighed and said that ten years ago, the child had gone somewhat insane and started drawing these things on the walls. He even admitted to having beaten the child once for it. Now he regretted it; he wished he had let the child draw back then. Now that he wanted to see those drawings again, they were no longer there. The man began to wallow in self-pity.
At that moment, I was drenched in cold sweat.
The man continued, saying he had discovered a secret about these drawings; they were quite interesting.
"What secret do these drawings hold? I can't make sense of them," I replied.
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