Chapter 211: Chapter 174: The Painted Skin!
Translator: 549690339 |
Xu Yang also walked into the won’s restroom.
He “saw” the stall where the incident occurred.
In the stall, there was a young woman, dressed in cool sumr clothes and with a head of non-mainstream light blue hair. She should be pretty young. She was sitting on the toilet.
Her bag, broken makeup mirror, and lipstick were scattered on the floor. Her face had been gruesoly cut off, and her bloody features were oozing blood non-stop.
“Bizarre case!”
Bai Wei glanced briefly and imdiately made a judgnt, saying, “Wang Lin, notify the Public Security Bureau, let them send people to seal off the scene, and get in touch with the mail’s managent to request the surveillance footage!”
Wang Lin imdiately took out his cell phone and made a call.
Xu Yang was sowhat surprised and asked, “How did you determine that this is a bizarre case? I didn’t detect any Yin energy residue at the scene! ” Indeed!
Xu Yang’s eyes may not be able to “see”.
But his spiritual power senses were even more powerful than his eyes.
As soon as he entered the restroom, he scanned it but found no trace of Yin energy residue. In his heart, he even ruled out the possibility of a bizarre case.
Bai Wei replied, “I judged based on the eye expression and ti of death of the corpse. I have studied forensic dicine, and the body temperature of the corpse can roughly estimate that her ti of death did not exceed 15 minutes. This is Wanda, the busiest mall in Wu City.”
“The fourth floor of Wanda is all sorts of food stores and cinemas. The buffet seafood restaurants on this floor don’t have restrooms, so people are constantly coming and going in this public restroom. If it wasn’t a bizarre event, it would be impossible to make no noise at all.”
Xu Yang nodded.
Bai Wei’s judgnt made sense, but it was not enough to determine that this was indeed a bizarre case.
However, when Xu Yang “saw” the corpse’s eyes, he understood why Bai Wei was so certain!
There was not even a trace of fear or pain in the dead woman’s eyes; instead, her eyes exuded faint joy!
Bai Wei found the woman’s ID in the bag on the ground and said, “Zhang Li, 22 years old…”
“Zhang Li?”
Xu Yang was slightly taken aback.
This na… sounded familiar!
He leaned over to “see” the ID card and imdiately rembered. This was one of the two girls that Ma Long had picked up when he just returned to Wu City. She was the one who sent him back to his funeral ho when he was drunk. She had also harbored malicious intentions against him, but was then scared off by Liu Shishi.
She had left behind a black lace at his place.
Soon enough,
Mall managent arrived.
A homicide in the mall was a big deal, so the managent was very cooperative. In no tune, Xu Yang and the others saw the surveillance footage of the corridor outside the restroom.
According to the surveillance, Zhang Li entered the restroom at 12:28 p.m. on July 20, 2023.
At 12:38 p.m.,
She walked out of the restroom and even deliberately looked up at the cara with a strange smile on her face before walking away.
“Sothing’s wrong!”
“We entered the restroom at 12:42 p.m., and Zhang Li was already dead by then… What’s going on with her appearing in the surveillance footage?”
Wang Lin clearly rembered the ti.
At that mont, Yang Yin, who was standing beside Xu Yang, said, “That’s not Zhang Li!”
She was very certain and said, “When Zhang Li entered the restroom, she had a bag on her back. Her bag remained in the restroom. The person who ca out was a man. He entered the restroom 28 seconds before Zhang Li. He just wore Zhang Li’s face!”
Wang Lm and Bai Wei had been focusing on the faces of people entering and leaving the restroom, not noticing this detail.
They rewound the surveillance footage and watched it again, only to find that Yang Yin was indeed correct.
Moreover, Yang Yin continued, “We had encountered this man before when we left the phone store. I found him strange even then… He had the stature and manners of a man, yet he had a woman’s face… Now it seems that he cut off Zhang Li’s face and wore it on his own.”
Xu Yang couldn’t help but think of a term in his mind – Face Painting!
The earliest appearance of “Face Painting” is in “Mysteries of the Obscure,” which tells the story of evil spirits transforming into beautiful won to ‘ seduce lecherous and greedy n. The lecherous n were deceived, and the Daoist priest saw through it.
Later, it was recorded in Pu Songling’s “Strange Tales From a Chinese Studio” and had even been adapted into several big-screen movies.
Upon learning about the ability of this “ghost,” Wang Lin and Bai Wei’s faces grew solemn.
Regardless of the combat power of such a ghost,
Since “it” could peel off soone else’s face and impersonate them without revealing any Yin energy, it was extrely terrifying. In the vast ocean of people, as long as “it” killed soone, changed their face and disappeared into the crowd, how could one find it?
Now that a case had occurred, Wang Lin and Bai Wei could no longer focus on eating.
Xu Yang returned to the seafood buffet restaurant with the ladies and filled a big table with dishes.
At the dinner table, the group discussed the case.
Miss Yates said, “I never imagined Yang Yin’s observation skills would be so impressive.”
“When I was learning to paint, my teacher often said that if one were to paint well, it would require paying attention to details. Maybe we painters observe things from a different perspective than others!”
Xu Yang then asked with a change of expression, “Sister, you are the Ghost King and command nurous underworld soldiers with extensive connections and intelligence, and you are also relatively familiar with the ghost world of Xi Xia. Have you ever heard of such a ghost with these abilities in the Xi Xia region?”
Miss Yue shook her head and said, “In recent years, the number of Yin spirits and fierce ghosts has been increasing, and those that were once dormant are gradually awakening. Dead people or places where Yin energy gathers are also giving birth to new lost souls.”
“These lost souls have varying abilities, and so of them don’t even know of the Ghost Market’s existence. They wander around all day, either harming people, hiding in a certain place, or being devoured and refined by stronger Yin spirits and fierce ghosts… It’s normal for them to give birth to strange ghosts that I don’t know about.”
Yun ngxi, who was standing beside, also said, “During the Song Dynasty, there was a face-changing ghost that caused great disturbance among the ’ living. Although the face-changing ghost did not have strong abilities, it possessed unparalleled skill in hiding. When this kind of ghost was weak, it only cut off people’s faces and transford into their appearance, but its body could not change.”
“As it killed more people, the evil energy in its body beca stronger, and the Yin energy beca heavier. Its power grew deeper, and after killing people, it would peel off their entire skin, completely transforming into their appearance and even obtaining their mories, living as another person in the human world!”
“I rember that the face-changing ghost had caused trouble among the living for more than sixty years before it was finally subdued and killed by a Heavenly Master from Dragon Tiger Mountain who happened to witness it committing a murder.”
Shaking her head, Yun ngxi sighed, “If the Spirits Managent Bureau doesn’t find this face-changing ghost as soon as possible, I’m afraid many people will die this ti!”
As it turned out, Yun ngxi was not mistaken.
Around 12 o’clock on the night of July 20th, Xu Yang received a call from Feng Zhaoqing.
On the other end of the phone, Feng Zhaoqing helplessly said, “Master X11…I need your help again.”
“Has the face-changing ghost killed soone again?”
Upon hearing this, Xu Yang thought for a mont and said, “Where is the cri scene? I’m coming over.”
“Under the Yellow River Bridge.”
Feng Zhaoqing gave the location.
Xu Yang took a taxi and quickly arrived at Wu City’s Yellow River Bridge, where he saw police tape under the bridge. In the middle was a corpse covered in a white sheet.
“Master Xu!”
Feng Zhaoqing, a Grandmaster in the Innate Realm and captain of the Xi Xia branch of the Spirits Managent Bureau stationed in Wu City, personally greeted Xu Yang. He opened the police tape and walked towards the corpse while introducing the scene to Xu Yang, “This is the fourth homicide case today… We have investigated, and the face that the killer used at the beginning was also obtained by murder!”
“After killing the woman at Wanda at noon, he killed another man at 6 pm…” “This body was discovered 30 minutes ago. According to the information left on the body, the victim is a 27-year-old male who was likely killed while fishing.”
Xu Yang lifted the white sheet and took a glance.
The body had the sa death expression as Zhang Li.
There was joy in the eyes.
There were no other injuries on the body, and it seed as if the person’s face had been cut off while alive. There was no trace of Yin energy left around, making it impossible to find any clues… As for the surveillance, there was no need to check.
Since the person could “change faces,” checking would be futile.
Moreover, Xu Yang discovered…
The “wounds” on this body’s face were smoother than those on Zhang Li’s face… This ant that the face-changing ghost was getting better at cutting faces!
Of course.
This was not the main point.
The main point was that there was another case!
An idea flashed through Xu Yang’s mind, and he asked, “Grandmaster Feng, what was the ti of death for the other victim you ntioned?”
Feng Zhaoqing said, “The first victim was Ma Haiping, a decoration master. He was laying floor tiles for soone’s house when the incident occurred. We received the alarm call at 3 pm, and according to the forensic’s identification, the ti of death should be between 7:30 am and 9 am.”
“Morning, noon, afternoon….”
Xu Yang muttered to himself.
He took out his cell phone and took a glance at the ti with his spiritual power.
It was just past midnight.
Upon hearing Xu Yang’s mutterings, Feng Zhaoqing quickly asked, “Master Xu, have you discovered any clues?”
Xu Yang pondered for a few seconds and said, “The timing of the facechanging ghost’s killings… Is it a coincidence or…”
When he reached this point, he paused before saying, “Or is it following al tis?”
“Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner…?”
Feng Zhaoqing thought about it and couldn’t help but curse, “Damn it! Does this bastard need a midnight snack too? If it’s true, wouldn’t at least four people die every day?”
“By the way, Master Xu, you just ntioned the ghost is called a face-changing ghost?”
Xu Yang nodded and imdiately briefed Feng Zhaoqing on the characteristics of face-changing ghosts, and also told him about the incident Yun ngxi had ntioned. Feng Zhaoqing’s face changed upon hearing this, and he said seriously, “If it’s true, then it’s terrible… If it has to kill at least four people a day, I’m afraid it won’t take long for the entire Wu City to beco frightened, and countless innocent civilians will fall victim to it!”
“Master Xu, do you have any way to find that face-changing ghost?”
“Difficult!”
Xu Yang shook his head with a wry smile, “This fellow can change faces at any ti, and there’s no Yin energy escaping from its body. To find it… Oh!”
As he spoke, he suddenly had an idea and asked, “Grandmaster Feng, I have an idea we could try, but I’m not sure if it will actually be able to expose the ghost!”
Feng Zhaoqing’s eyes lit up and he asked, “What’s the plan?”
“It’s an occult technique that you might not believe, so there’s no need to ntion it.”
In Xu Yang’s mind, Ma Long’s face appeared.
If he were to take Ma Long with him and wander around Wu City every day… would there be a chance of attracting the face-changing ghost?
PS: The second update is here. I’m taking my wife and children out to play today, so the third update will be a little later, around 12 o’clock. You can co back to read it tomorrow.
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