When she said that, Dai Yu looked so lancholic before she forced herself to turn her lips into a bitter smile. In that mont, I could see Dai Yu being a beautiful woman, she felt so fragile. Honesty was one of the most beautiful things about human beings. However, the next mont, Dai Yu started to scratch between her toes again. "I've already told you everything I know. By the way, kid, would you like to stay the night with ?" I realized Zhao Mingkun had said sothing similar to , instantly my body shivered and I quickly shook my head. "Thank you but I have a date already tonight. Let's have coffee next ti we et instead. Goodbye!" Then I escaped like the wind.
On the way back, I pulled on my hair as I ruminated over the stories Dai Yu told us. "Big Sister Queen, was Wei Er's gang in the neighbourhood 5 years ago? Would you know about that?" Logically speaking, Chu i was gangraped and then murdered, so her target should be her rapists and murderers, why would she instead target those who organized Minghun? Chu i should have no issue with them. Did this an soone was using Chu i's na to put a stop to the culture of Minghun around this district? Unfortunately the 6 rapists were wearing masks so Dai Yu couldn't get a good look at them. If she could give us a description of the 6 rapists, we could have compared them to Wei Er's gang.
On the other hand, who would be so against Minghun? Granted, Minghun was an obsolete culture but to kill to put a stop to it? Wasn't that a bit too over the top? One of the major components of Minghun was the dead bodies, or this was a sign that soone wanted people to stop disturbing the dead?
Zhao Mingkun thought about it and said, "Wei Er's gang did have their start at Lin Fen but I'm not sure whether they are locals of this place or not. However, if they knew the thing about the party after them, I believe they would have told us. Regardless, I think we should proceed with finding out how many cases related to Minghun have happened over the past 5 years." Zhao Mingkun placed her finger on her lips.
"How are we supposed to do that?" I asked.
Zhao Mingkun smiled. "Leave that to ."
That afternoon, Zhao Mingkun left her room carrying a stack of docunts and a large map with her. I looked closer and realized she had jotted down all the murder cases that happened at Ba Jia Zi district related to Minghun over the past 5 years. The docunts were all the information on those specific cases. Zhao Mingkun slowly filtered through them while I observed her quietly. How did she manage to do this? Without police help, she wouldn't be able to get these confidential docunts. Did that an Zhao Mingkun had soone working for her in the police force? Things were getting curiouser and curiouser. This woman appeared like she was capable of anything. Furthermore, why was she so interested in investigating this case, how would she benefit from it?
"Got them all!" Zhao Mingkun announced. Guan Zhenglin and I leaned over to check out the files. The tiline spanned for 5 years and it started with Chu i's case.
4 years ago, Luo family organized a Minghun. The day after, Ol' Luo and his wife were found dead in their ho. Cause of death was gas leakage, there was no sign of ho invasion. The police discovered footprints and they matched the shoes the dead bride was wearing during the Minghun ceremony; Similarly, 4 years ago, Ol' Zhang helped his son organize a Minghun. The very night of the wedding, Ol' Zhang drowned in a small river. The river was very shallow, the deepest part only reached one's calf but sohow Ol' Zhang drowned in it. When they salvaged Ol' Zhang out of the water, he was wearing a qipao, the sa one worn by the bride at his son's Minghun; 3 years ago, Wang To arranged a Minghun for his father so that his father could have so company in the afterlife. Several days later, the villagers found Wang To dead in the vats used to pickle salted vegetables; he was chopped into at pieces to fit into the vat. The vat was covered with a red veil, the exact wedding veil that the bride wore from his father's Minghun; 2 years ago, Uncle Wu arranged a Minghun for his younger brother. Several days after the Minghun, Uncle Wu's brother's carcass was found lying on the street but Uncle Wu himself had gone missing. The villagers decided to unearth the brother's coffin. They found Uncle Wu buried alive inside the coffin and the bride's body had gone missing. From then on, the villagers stopped arranging Minghun.
The last case happened the night before, at Zheng Family's Minghun. This ti, the victim Little Three was found inside the coffin ant for the groom. The bride's body also disappeared in the commotion. However, she did appear in our rental Siheyuan yesterday night for unknown purposes.
These were all the cases related to Minghun from the past 5 years.
Guan Zhenglin said worriedly, "Look at these cases, the victims are all the organizers of Minghun, does that an Ol' Zheng" Guan Zhenglin didn't finish the sentence but we knew what she ant.
"Ol' Zheng shouldn't be in any danger." Zhao Mingkun assured us. "Based on my knowledge, Ol' Zheng is still at the police station. They will probably keep him there for a while to protect him. If anyone wants to harm Ol' Zheng, they'll have to infiltrate the police station which isn't easy."
I nodded and began carefully. "It sounds like Big Sister Queen and the police" Before I finished, Zhao Mingkun lifted her head and shot a cold gaze. "I've told you, the clever ones know when to be quiet. The more you know, the more danger you expose yourself to, do you understand?" Then surprisingly, her voice softened, "You remind too much of my younger brother. Actually he'd be your age by now, I wonder if you" With a sigh, Zhao Mingkun changed the subject, "Never mind, forget what I said. Well, tell , what are your thoughts?"
For so reasons, I had a feeling that Zhao Mingkun had sothing that she wanted to tell or else why would she seduce to join her in the bedroom when she had just t and why bring up her family affair at such a curious timing? While I was testing Zhao Mingkun, was she testing too? She had secrets that she wanted to draw out from ? But what secret could I possibly possess that might interest her?
In any case, like she said, I better focus on this issue for now. I comnted, "Over the 5 years, including the most recent one, there have been 5 murders related to Minghun, and all of them have a similarity, I wonder if you've noticed it."
"The Minghuns were all arranged for males." Zhao Mingkun said, "And every ti after the deaths, the bride's body would disappear. Soone has stolen them away. After the person swiped the bodies, they went and killed the people who organized the Minghuns. Perhaps this is so kind of territorial ssage, sothing like you can't have the dead brides because they belong to ." I snapped my fingers. Zhao Mingkun basically read my mind. Why only steal the brides' bodies? And why kill the organizers? The only reason was so that the brides would not fall into these people's hands. For normal people like us, a dead body was sothing we'd stay away from but for certain people, they were like treasures.
"Were there any Minghuns arranged for dead daughters over the past five years?" I looked into Zhao Mingkun's eyes and asked.
"There is but one. No one died from it, other than the already dead." Zhao Mingkun answered. I closed my eyes and pulled my hair as I tried to think. If this was the case, the necrophiliac Ol' Six was indeed the most suspicious. "We need to find out more about Ol' Six." I said. Zhao Mingkun nodded.
At that mont, my phone rang. To my surprise, it was a ssage from Wei Er. Strange, I did not rember giving Wei Er my phone number. So it could only an that he had entered his number into my phone when he confiscated it from . But why would he do that? Unless he wasn't really being suspicious of but instead his suspicion was thrown towards his brothers whom he spent his days and nights with. In that case, he had no choice but to reach out to an outsider for help But everyone had a clear alibi, why would Wei Er suspect them? Had this got to do with their group's secret? Many questions exploded in my mind but none of them really made sense.
I clicked on the ssage. "Little Brother Wu, due to the urgency of the situation, I can't explain too much. We plan to hide in a tomb at Ba Jia Zi Mountain. Go along the western track from our base and you'll soon co across a hole. Chu Ye is back and has collaborated with soone among us. I cannot trust anyone but you, because you are an outsider and aren't involved in our past. I fear they might kill while we're inside the tomb. Little brother, my life is in your hands. Please co and save ."
With a severe frown, I told Zhao Mingkun and Guan Zhenglin what happened. I read the ssage out loud and told them it ca from Wei Er. The fact that Wei Er could still send the ssage ant that they hadn't entered the tomb for there would be no signal underground but they should be close. It would explain the tone and the mistyped words. Chu Ye should be Chu i.
Chu i is back and has collaborated with soone among us.' But how could a dead woman co back and collaborate with one of them? Furthermore, wouldn't this ssage prove indirectly that this group of 6 had done sothing wrong by Chu i? Was this a ssage of admission? They were the rapists from 5 years ago? Also why were they heading underground instead of just staying up the mountain where they could also have easily hidden from the police? There were so many puzzles.
"Should we go?" Guan Zhenglin looked at .
I answered. "I have no clue what's happening. This might be dangerous. How about this? You and Big Sister Queen should stay and I'll go there with Doggie Wang Er."
"I'll go with you." Before I could say anything else, Zhao Mingkun cut in. I looked troubled but internally I was overjoyed. This was because once Zhao Mingkun ca along with , Guan Zhenglin could et up with Captain Zhao.
"I am a much better fighter than you." Zhao Mingkun saw my hesitation and reasserted. "Plus, I wish to see what this group of grave robbers is up to."
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