Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
I and Qin Hai stared with wide eyes. This was undoubtedly a case of temptation; it didn't matter that she was beautiful, but with such a stunning figure and wearing a police uniform... The police station really had some nerve to recruit such a voluptuous and attractive officer. Initially, we had no intention of committing any crimes, but seeing such a beautiful police sister, it was likely that we would be tempted to get closer.
Long Nan seemed used to the expressions on men's faces. She smiled and said, "Hey, hey, leaders, if you have any instructions, please hurry up."
Both Qin Hai and I were in our twenties, and in Long Nan's eyes, we probably still looked like inexperienced kids.
Qin Hai quickly spoke up, "Um... Hehe, Sister Long, I'm Qin Hai from the Donghai City Criminal Police Team. I'm an upright person with no bad habits and no girlfriend. By the way, Sister Long, are you married?"
I kicked Qin Hai in the rear and hurriedly said, "We need to get down to business. Sister Long, please gather your things and your gun; we need to head to Xiangwa Village for a case."
"Xiangwa Village?" Long Nan frowned slightly. "What kind of case? You should let me know; Xiangwa Village is a bit special..."
Upon hearing Long Nan's words, both Qin Hai and I felt a bit overwhelmed.
What worried me most was hearing anything about 'special' matters. If this case turned into a complicated one, I would truly be at a loss. I had only commissioned Chen Team for a gun; if I had to pay for it myself and ended up risking my life because of this case, that would be a huge loss.
Qin Hai seemed unfazed; he was looking at Long Nan with shining eyes. "Here's the thing: we have a case in Donghai City involving a female student named Wang Cuihua. Her three roommates have been murdered..."
Qin Hai quickly laid out the details of the case and continued, "Now we need to go to Xiangwa Village to find Wang Cuihua. The problem is that we can't find Xiangwa Village on the map, so we thought you could lead us there."
Long Nan nodded upon hearing this. "I see. If it's just about finding someone and coming back quickly, that's fine. But you must not stay overnight in that village. Of course, as a police officer, I shouldn't say this, but that village is really quite strange."
"What happened in the village?" I asked.
Long Nan nodded. "Actually, ten years ago, Xiangwa Village was the best-developed village in our town. At that time, there weren't many incense-making workshops around; Xiangwa Village was the first place to produce incense. Their incense-making techniques were quite good—Indian incense, Thai incense, various herbal incenses—they made them all. But one night, there was a Great Fire in the village. During that incident, half of the villagers perished in the flames. Because it was such a big deal and coincided with leadership changes at the time, the matter was suppressed; no media dared report it, and not many villagers filed complaints. Eventually, everything just faded away naturally. However, since then, there have been frequent reports of people going missing from Xiangwa Village; generally speaking, once someone enters at night, it's hard for them to come out again. My... my husband is one of them..."
"Ah?" Both Qin Hai and I were taken aback as we looked at Long Nan.
Long Nan forced a smile and said, "My husband used to be a detective. He chased a thief all the way to Xiangwa Village, and after spending a night there, he never returned. It's been three years now. If you hadn't brought it up, I might have forgotten. Also, there are often people who enter Xiangwa Village and never come out, so we generally avoid going there. Everyone around here knows about it, so nobody goes to that village."
After listening, I frowned and asked, "How can it be so eerie?"
Long Nan shook her head. "I don't know. The village is quite remote, and not many people go there. Nothing significant happens, so everyone has stopped asking about it."
Qin Hai thought for a moment and said, "Then let's take our weapons and go. We must find Wang Cuihua. Three people have been killed; we can't just let it go."
Long Nan returned to the police station to request firearms, then got into our car and directed us toward Xiangwa Village.
After about ten minutes on the mountain road, the weeds grew dense along the path, making it nearly impossible to see the original road. Fortunately, since it was a police vehicle, we didn't mind scraping the undercarriage.
"Is this really the road to the village? It's so desolate; no one seems to have walked here," Qin Hai muttered.
Long Nan explained, "The villagers of Xiangwa rarely leave their homes. In fact, there aren't many villagers left; they live in almost complete isolation. We don't dare come here often, and over time, the roads have become like this."
As the three of us talked, we felt more relaxed. After walking about a thousand meters, we finally spotted a village in the distance. To my surprise, from afar, the village looked quite nice—row after row of villas with wide roads. As we moved closer, we could see various shops, supermarkets, internet cafes, restaurants, and bathhouses.
Both Qin Hai and I were astonished. I asked, "Are you sure this is a village? There are so many facilities."
"Back in the day, this place was indeed thriving—more so than our town. If it weren't for that Great Fire, this village would definitely be a great place. It may not compare to Huaxi Village, but it's far better than an average rural area," Long Nan replied.
As our car continued deeper into the village, smoke began to swirl outside the window. The smoke carried a scent of incense ash mixed with a hint of something fishy. I didn't like this smell at all. Looking around suddenly made me exclaim, "Hey? Why is it so deserted? Is this village completely empty?"
Qin Hai noticed the same issue and said, "Could it be a ghost village?"
Long Nan shook her head and said, "There should still be more than half of the population living here—at least several hundred households. I don't know what's going on."
With no one around and smoke everywhere, we had no way to inquire about Wang Cuihua's whereabouts.
I felt a sense of unease. Even though it was Big White, I still felt quite panicked. I said, "Why don't we just go outside first?"
At that moment, Qin Hai couldn't care less about avenging his childhood friend Tang Yi. He quickly replied, "Yes, yes, let's leave the village first."
Just as Qin Hai was about to turn around, a gust of wind blew by, and suddenly the fog in front of our car began to dissipate.
At that moment, we saw a gigantic incense stick burning more than a hundred meters ahead of us. This incense stick was as thick as two people and stood over five meters tall, resembling a thick tree planted in the middle of the road. Below it was a massive incense burner, which was currently emitting waves of fragrant smoke. It turned out that the mist enveloping the entire village was coming from this smoke.
Qin Hai hesitated for a moment, then drove the car toward the rising smoke. In fact, it was only a little over a hundred meters away; we arrived almost instantly. Soon, our car was right beneath the incense stick.
To the right of the incense stick was a house with its front door wide open. Occasionally, voices could be heard coming from inside. The architectural style of this house was completely different from the others in the village; it resembled an old-style courtyard house from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
I frowned, hesitating whether to get out of the car to ask about it. Just then, a woman suddenly walked out from the doorway—it was none other than Wang Cuihua!
Wang Cuihua was holding a basin and pouring water.
“Wang Cuihua!” Qin Hai called out, immediately turning off the engine, shifting into neutral, pulling up the handbrake, and pushing open the car door to run down.
Long Nan and I also opened our doors and jumped out of the car, rushing toward Wang Cuihua.
Upon seeing the three of us, Wang Cuihua clearly froze for a moment and instinctively began to retreat back into her house. Seeing her reaction only confirmed my suspicions—there was definitely something wrong with Wang Cuihua, and she had to be connected to what happened to Tang Yi and the others.
“Wang Cuihua, don’t run away! Come back with us to the police station. We already know about your involvement in the murders of Tang Yi and the others.”
“I didn’t do it! I didn’t! It was the ghost’s doing; I’m also a victim!” As Wang Cuihua retreated to the middle of her yard, she began to defend herself.
“Alright, we will investigate thoroughly. You need to come back with us to the police station first,” I insisted.
Just then, an old man walked out from inside the house. He coughed lightly and said, “Cuihua, why don’t you invite your friends inside instead of leaving them out here?”
Wang Cuihua glanced at the old man and lowered her head. "Yes, Father." Her father was indeed quite old.
The old man walked over, smiling at the three of us. "You three, welcome! No matter what, come inside and sit for a while. My daughter here may be a bit timid, but she's not someone who would break the law. Let's go inside and chat."
I looked around the house, somewhat surprised. This place had a history of over a hundred years and was quite large, with rooms in every direction. It seemed to be divided into a front yard and a back yard, totaling at least thirty rooms.
In the center of the courtyard stood an incense burner, with smoke rising from it.
I glanced at Qin Hai, who hadn't spoken yet, but Long Nan chimed in, "Since that's the case, let's just be straightforward. I also believe that Cuihua isn't someone who would commit a crime."
I frowned and looked at Long Nan. "Sister Long, maybe we should step outside first..."
Long Nan replied, "Why don't you two head back to the car or leave the village? I'll stay here and talk with Wang Cuihua. I have a general understanding of this case, and besides, I want to ask about my boyfriend's situation."
Comment 0 Comment Count