In the great novel "Journey to the West," there is such a plot.
The Tang Monk and his disciples, on their journey to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures, passed through the Kingdom of Biqiu and discovered that the king of Biqiu was seriously ill. He believed in the deceptive words of demons and intended to use the hearts and livers of one thousand one hundred and ten boys as dicinal ingredients. For this, he issued a decree, instructing the citizens to send young children, placing them in goose cages, awaiting use.
Using human hearts and livers as dicinal ingredients for refining pills seems absurd, but in fact, during the Tang Dynasty, there were indeed such recorded incidents.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Tang, he believed deeply in Daoism and was obsessed with elixirs that he believed could grant him immortality. He sponsored many Daoists, asking them to refine elixirs for him.
It is said that there was a fake Daoist who presented Emperor Wu with an utterly absurd elixir formula, requiring the hearts of fifteen-year-old virgin boys and girls as dicinal ingredients, and it had to be one heart of a virgin boy and one heart of a virgin girl in order to refine the elixir. After taking it many tis, one could supposedly beco an immortal and achieve longevity and undying.
Emperor Wu believed it to be true and ordered certain areas to be designated as "Dao" districts. These places had to annually tribute the hearts of a pair of virgin boys and girls as dicinal ingredients.
However, Emperor Wu’s dreams didn’t co true, and he didn’t achieve the longevity he desired. Instead, he beca the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty to die from consuming too many elixirs.
Though this story sounds cruel and laughable, how could there be a thod of immortality in this world? Even as the emperor of the Great Tang, he couldn’t escape being blinded by the so-called immortality.
However, when Henry ntioned over the phone that the victims in the murder cases were all found with their hearts removed, Sun Yan intuitively felt that this matter might be related to the Longevity Pill.
’When all hope is lost, for the sake of life, soone will try any thod to survive, even if it ans breaking taboos.’
Could it be that the perpetrator of this murder case was soone with little ti left to live?
So they sought immortality, wanting to extend their life, and breaking taboos perhaps ant resorting to any ans to obtain hearts.
Sun Yan’s eyes brightened, and he urged softly, "Henry, quickly check the mysterious death cases in Shajiao District and even the entire Saint Anna City over the past few months. Also, investigate how many of these victims were missing their hearts."
"Alright, I’ll get on it right away. By the way, Father Jackson, when do you plan to visit the cri scene? I can drive you there." Henry agreed without wasting any words.
"I’m already here. You go ahead and do your thing; don’t worry about ."
Sun Yan hung up the phone and thought for a mont before heading straight for the door to the Celestial Platform.
Outside in the hallway, a white man was drawing water from the wall’s water dragon to brush his teeth and wash his face.
"Want one?" Sun Yan pulled out a cigarette and handed it over.
"Oh! Officer, you’re too kind." The white man, who had planned to brush his teeth, quickly put down his cup, took the cigarette, and lit it skillfully, exhaling a long stream of smoke: "I didn’t expect a police station in this district to hire an Asian. You seem much easier to get along with than those white officers."
In so cities in North Arica, Asians are sotis less respected than blacks, and bullying blacks could quickly earn you a discrimination label.
But bullying Asians might be as inconsequential as preventing a fish from riding a bicycle.
Sun Yan leaned against the doorfra and asked, "What’s your na?"
"Michael Pitt, just call Pete, officer. If you’re here to investigate the murder case in the apartnt, I’m afraid I won’t be much help."
Pete shrugged: "Although I live on the 7th floor, I rarely interact with the residents in the apartnt, and they don’t even know I exist. I know nothing about their situations. Frankly, the murderer’s thods are too cruel. But the good news is I might be able to use this situation to get the apartnt owner to lower my rent further next month."
Watching Pete grin mischievously, Sun Yan tossed the cigarette butt to the floor and crushed it underfoot: "Indeed, it’s very cruel. Let ask you sothing. Were you in the apartnt at 1 a.m. the night before last?"
"The night before last? Yes, when you ntion that night, I vaguely rember. I was sleeping soundly when I suddenly heard loud noises in the hallway, making it impossible for to sleep. I initially planned to go out and stop them, but then I rembered the apartnt owner instructed not to be discovered by other residents, so I didn’t go out. It took a while before the noise subsided." Pete thought for a mont and confird.
Sun Yan asked, "Them? There were many people? What were they arguing about?"
"Let think... Sorry, they weren’t speaking English; it sounded like an Eastern language to , but I couldn’t understand it. I was very sleepy at the ti, so I didn’t pay much attention. But there were indeed a lot of voices, maybe around a dozen people, both n and won." Pete tossed his cigarette butt to the floor and began brushing his teeth.
Sun Yan found himself even more puzzled after hearing this statent.
On his way up, he had been using the Celestial Eye to check, yet found nothing amiss, not even with the iron basin used for burning paper money, which seed entirely ordinary.
It appeared that this situation wasn’t that simple. No wonder this task was the most challenging one Sun Yan had ever taken on.
"Do you know who placed that iron basin in the hallway? I noticed a lot of paper money burned in it."
"Yes, it’s a second-floor resident, an elderly Asian woman. I always felt she was a bit unhinged, always coming up to the 7th floor alone to burn paper money in that basin, murmuring strange things, like spells. Every ti she ca up, I’d hide in my room, afraid to make any noise. To be honest, she creeps out; I’m kind of scared of her."
Pete kept talking while brushing his teeth, providing information not included in the files Henry had given.
It was unclear whether Henry had overlooked these details or if he hadn’t even noticed this 7th-floor resident, leading to this information being left out.
"Alright, thank you for cooperating, carry on with brushing your teeth."
Sun Yan nodded and prepared to leave; he couldn’t see any significant issues with Pete. It seed that to uncover the truth behind "the door," he’d have to revisit at night.
"Wait, officer. I think there’s sothing odd that you should know." Pete suddenly caught up, speaking mysteriously and quietly as Sun Yan was about to leave.
Sun Yan turned back to inquire, "What is it?"
"I suspect there’s a unit in this apartnt where sothing is being burned every night. The sll travels up the ducts, a peculiar scent that’s hard to describe."
"Alright, I’ll investigate that. Thank you for the lead."
"You’re too kind, officer. You’re the first officer I’ve seen offering a cigarette to the poor. I haven’t ntioned this to anyone else, only you."
Exiting the apartnt, Sun Yan stood on the roadside, looking at the 24-hour convenience store across the street.
The ti left wasn’t much, and to complete the ti-limited task, he needed to achieve more in limited ti to uncover the truth of the mystery.
"Tonight, I won’t return to the graveyard. I’ll keep watch in this store and see if that nonexistent door appears on the 7th floor of the apartnt at 1 a.m.," Sun Yan thought to himself.
Buzz, buzz.
At this mont, Sun Yan’s phone suddenly rang; it was Henry calling again.
"Hello, did you find any new clues?" Sun Yan answered and asked.
Unexpectedly, a rush of urgent pleas ca from the other end of the line.
"Father Jackson, can you rush to Krelev Hospital now? That officer with ntal issues is having a serious problem! Oh my god, this is unbelievable."
The call ended abruptly, taking Sun Yan by surprise.
Though uncertain about what had happened, Henry sounded extrely anxious over the phone, indicating a grave situation.
Sun Yan quickly flagged down a passing taxi and imdiately headed to Krelev Hospital in the city.
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