Le tombeau de Qin Shi Huang

Chapitre 7

"Waaaaah..."

Why won't you answer me? Why?

"Waaaaah... Waaaah..."

---hqszs

Reply [43]: "Zhang Zhimei is your girlfriend, right? Where is she now? Is she related to this murder case?" In his haste, Jian Xiang blurted out a series of questions that had been piling up in his mind: "Why did you seal yourself in this room? How did the murderer get in and out of this locked room?"

"Waaaaah... Waaaaah..."

Jian Xiang's mouth was dry from asking questions, and he felt even more terrified. He couldn't understand why Xia Yongyu (or Zhong Sizao?) was behaving this way. Judging from the fact that the other party was crying more and more intensely, he was not unresponsive to his questions. No, he was actually very shocked, but he was trying his best to control his emotions.

Why is he unwilling to answer any questions?

Just then, Jian Xiang's brute force finally overcame the stubborn knot. He quickly pulled the loosened rope off his wrist, stood up, and rushed towards Xia Yongyu in one swift step.

To everyone's surprise, when Xia Yongyu noticed someone approaching him, he shouted, "Don't come any closer... don't come any closer to me!" and punched the sword toward his chest with great force.

Jian Xiang hadn't expected this reaction and was punched hard, falling backward to the ground. Xia Yongyu continued crying, then quickly turned and ran into the depths of the bedroom. Jian Xiang coughed and tried to soothe the pain in his chest as he got up again. He found that Xia Yongyu had rushed into the closet at the far end of the bedroom.

"..."

Isn't this exactly Zhong Sizao's reaction before he died? —Sword Tide's heart skipped a beat. Was Xia Yongyu's soul-summoning technique real? Was his body truly possessed by Zhong Sizao's spirit?

Jian Xiang had no time to think. He rushed to the wardrobe and tried to open the door. But the man inside held the door shut from the inside, preventing Jian Xiang from entering. At the same time, his wailing turned into a scream of fear.

But Jian Xiang's powerful arm strength still allowed him to finally breach the cabinet door. However, the instant he opened the door, Jian Xiang saw the man inside with his eyes wide open like copper bells, his pupils constricted, his mouth agape in astonishment, and his carotid arteries bulging in his throat, motionless at the bottom of the cabinet like a waxy corpse.

Jian Xiang dragged Xia Yongyu's stiff body out of the cabinet. He checked Xia's heartbeat and pulse; although very weak, there was no immediate danger to his life. Looking at his watch, it was exactly midnight. The entire summoning ritual felt like a nightmare.

Despite his efforts to calm himself, he was unsuccessful. The mysteries surrounding the entire incident, like an onion suddenly subjected to a time rewind, grew thicker and thicker with each layer.

Did Xia Yongyu lie? Is he a medium or a fraud?

He only managed to utter one sentence in a scream: "Don't come near me!" But this scream made Jian Xiang believe that Zhong Sizao's soul might really have possessed Xia Yongyu's body—the man in the DV tape who filmed and talked to the mysterious woman Zhang Zhimei, although his voice sounded very similar to hers based on his personal intuition.

Jian Xiang wasn't entirely skeptical of ghosts and spirits. In fact, among the criminal cases he had handled, there was a kidnapping and ransom case. When the suspect was apprehended, he confessed that he had tortured the hostage to death, but insisted that he had no recollection of the burial location. Unexpectedly, a few days later, the victim's family told the police that the deceased had appeared to them in a dream and revealed the exact location, hitting the bullseye perfectly.

Although some in the department had questioned whether the victim's family members might have been accomplices in the killing and thus knew where the body was hidden, all the evidence at the time refuted this, and in the end, they could only attribute this to telepathy.

In any case, Zhong Sizao's ghost barely answered any of Jian Xiang's questions. However, judging from his behavior, we can only speculate that Zhong Sizao was extremely afraid of something in his life, and therefore did not want to have any contact with people, only seeking to hide in a safe space.

Therefore, if we can find out what Zhong Sizhao fears, we might be able to solve all the mysteries at once—and Xia Yongyu, who said "I am the next victim," is the key figure in revealing the truth. In any case, we must find a way to get him to say it.

Jian Xiang took out the rope that had been used to bind himself and tied Xia Yongyu's hands behind his back. He then gently patted Xia Yongyu's cheeks with his palms. After struggling for a while, Xia Yongyu finally gradually woke up. Once he regained consciousness, he didn't care that Jian Xiang had already broken free of the ropes and immediately asked, "What happened? What did he say?"

"He...didn't say anything."

"Didn't say anything?"

"That's right."

"I don't believe it! I don't believe it!" Xia Yongyu's weak, trembling voice returned. "You must know something, but you're unwilling to tell me, right?"

“I didn’t. I asked him the questions we both wanted to know the answers to, but he didn’t say a word. He just kept crying.”

“Crying?” Xia Yongyu’s face suddenly filled with surprise and astonishment upon hearing this. “Why is this happening…? As expected…” ---hqszs replied [44]: “Enough! Xia Yongyu, I want you to tell me,” Jian Xiang looked at him with sharp eyes, “everything!”

"I..." Xia Yongyu said in a trembling voice, "I thought... I thought I could get some answers from that person..." "You're not acting, are you? You really think I would believe in necromancy?"

"Officer, I don't care whether you believe me or not... I just want to solve my own problem. Besides, the soul-summoning spell really does exist, and I did summon that person's soul!"

"Oh? It's okay if you don't know his name?"

"Of course, as long as he died here, his soul can be summoned here!"

Jian Xiang was bewildered. He had almost never met anyone who could speak of such an illusory matter with such sincerity. Xia Yongyu's actions were undoubtedly incomprehensible, but his explanation remained consistent from beginning to end—to summon the souls of the dead and ask for a solution to the "problem."

"Alright! Alright! I'll believe you for now," Jian Xiang said. "Please tell me, what problem do you want to solve?"

"I……"

“Say it! No matter what you say, I will try to believe you.”

“I understand,” Xia Yongyu said. “Officer, do you…do you believe in ghosts?”

"A ghost...? What do you mean by that?"

A sudden chill ran down Xia Yongyu's spine as he looked at the sword. This was yet another of Xia Yongyu's beliefs, both devout and eerie.

"Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts are just ghosts! Do you believe ghosts exist in the world?"

"I—I don't know! I've never seen it!"

"Okay... if, if, I mean if—if I told you today that there's a way for you to see ghosts, would you want to try it?"

Jian Xiang was speechless upon hearing this, and at the same time, a chill ran down his spine.

"Is there really such a method? I don't believe it!" Jian Xiang said. "Besides, even if there were, so what?"

"If it exists, someone will try it."

"..."

Jian Xiang didn't know how to answer, nor did he understand why Xia Yongyu would ask such a strange question. The two of them were in a bedroom where a decaying corpse had been found just two days prior, and this question made the atmosphere in the room even more eerie.

However, just as Jian Xiang fell silent, Xia Yongyu's expression suddenly turned to one of horror.

"What's wrong?"

"Did...did you hear anything?"

"No E"

“No…it’s nothing,” Xia Yongyu said, trying to remain calm, “but this is definitely not an illusion.”

"I don't understand, what's wrong with you now?"

"Let me go! Let me leave!" Xia Yongyu's facial muscles were twitching uncontrollably. "Officer, you really didn't hear anything? Waaah... Wow! The sound is getting closer!"

"You... I didn't hear anything?"

Xia Yongyu's behavior started to become illogical again. Jian Xiang tried his best to calm his trembling body with his hands, but his frantic emotions showed no signs of abating.

"I really don't understand!" Jian Xiang said, "What exactly is that sound?"

"...'He' is approaching." Xia Yongyu suddenly calmed down, though his body was still trembling slightly. This, in turn, instilled in Jian Xiang an inexplicable sense of fear. "I can't solve my own problems... I didn't expect it to be too late... But I won't cry, I will remain calm. Officer, I know you must be utterly bewildered by what's happening around you. It's alright. I promise you, I will tell you the whole truth, but now it's too late."

"That……"

“Before I’m killed, I want to tell you that you can find my ID card and driver’s license in my pocket, and you can find my address from the registered address on them. There are some documents at my address that might be helpful in uncovering the truth. I want you to promise me two things: First, find a medium, a medium with similar magical power to mine, and ask that medium to summon my spirit. Then I will tell you in detail and completely about the strange things that have happened around me every night for the past two weeks…” Xia Yongyu’s face was covered in cold sweat, and he was desperately trying to reduce the trembling in his voice.

---hqszs

Reply [45]: "The second thing is that if you can find my missing girlfriend—her name is Zhang Zhimei, you might be able to save more people... Zhimei... I believe she has the absolutely important key."

"Zhang Zhimei?" Jian Xiang was very surprised. "The girl in the videotape?"

"Officer, you mean...that DV tape?"

Xia Yongyu's behavior was becoming increasingly abnormal. Although he tried his best to maintain emotional stability, he still couldn't hide his fear of his surroundings. Even though Jian Xiang could feel the damp and cold air in the entire bedroom, coupled with the messy state of the room and the fact that Zhong Sizao's corpse had only been moved less than three days ago, it still seemed to remain there—Jian Xiang still couldn't understand why Xia Yongyu's reaction was so intense. The way he spoke was like a dying man reciting his will in a final burst of energy.

“That’s right.” Jian Xiang asked again, “Who wants to kill you? Tell me!”

“They’ve come in,” Xia Yongyu repeated in a low voice. “I saw them.”

"...What do you see?"

"You came to kill me," he seemed to hear a desperate laugh—he said, "A ghost!"

The instant Xia Yongyu uttered that word, Jian Xiang experienced a nightmare he could never believe again and never wanted to recall any details of.

He suddenly felt a cold, nauseating gust of air rush past him, sweeping towards Xia Yongyu. Then, a glint of light flashed in his eyes. Thick, sticky blood gushed violently from Xia Yongyu's neck, splattering onto the bedroom floor, as well as onto Jian Xiang's face, hair, and clothes.

During the half minute of this gushing blood, Jian Xiang had no idea what strange thing had happened to Xia Yongyu. He could only stand there dumbfounded, enduring the intense "shudder" emanating from his chest. Only after he regained consciousness did he manage to open his eyes through the suffocating blood clots.

The sword seemed to suffocate him. A large chunk of Xia Yongyu's throat had been ripped away, exposing the pale neck bone amidst the blurred flesh and blood. His eyes were wide open, empty and lifeless, the edges of his frameless glasses gleaming with a chilling white light, just like the terrified expression on his face after being possessed by Zhong Sizao's spirit.

Chapter Four: A Medium's Note

“I really didn’t expect you to call me at this time.”

Jian Xiang had just taken a shower; his cheeks were still wet, and his body was still steaming. Showering at a crime scene was not a pleasant experience, but Jian Xiang had no choice. When he took off his bright red-stained clothes, blood was still dripping from the ends of his hair, and dark ochre was splattered on the bathroom floor.

Xia Yongyu's gruesome body lay face down in the adjacent bedroom, less than ten meters away. At 1:30 a.m., Jian Xiang, still reeling from the bizarre events he had witnessed, was washing the blood off his body with a showerhead, his emotions still churning. He wasn't unfamiliar with encountering victims dying in his arms, but this was truly unbelievable!

That small, blood-stained shovel was the murder weapon that caused Xia Yongyu's instant death. There was no one else in the bedroom, yet the shovel flew past Jian Xiang and struck Xia Yongyu's throat. Witnessing this process firsthand left Jian Xiang with no doubt about the existence of the "vengeful ghost."

But who would believe him?

After much thought, the only person who might believe him was Gao Qinfu, the head of the criminal investigation team.

For Jian Xiang, Team Leader Gao was both a mentor and a friend, and even a father figure, offering him spiritual indulgence. In contrast, Team Leader Gao's attitude towards his junior, Shao De, was one of spiritual restraint. While investigating a cold case involving the beheading of a wealthy businessman, Team Leader Gao remarked, "Xiao Zheng often becomes overly focused, stubborn, and eager for breakthroughs because he's so insistent on pursuing the truth. He often disregards everything, abandoning emotional factors in his attempts to speculate."

"Isn't finding the real culprit the duty of a criminal investigator?"

“Xiao Zheng is so much like me in the past, like a wild horse that has broken free. Of course, this fast horse can reach the finish line in a very short time, but he often goes in the wrong direction in order to find a road for him to gallop.”

"I know, shouldn't Shaode be more rational?"

---hqszs

Reply [46]: "No. Xiao Zheng is actually a very rational person, but his rationality is hard to reconcile with calmness. Xiao Zheng is too smart, so he is prone to acting impulsively. Therefore, I must limit his direction and tell him which way he should go to reach the destination. Otherwise, he will be exhausted and riddled with holes - unlike you, I don't need to steer for you."

Room 401 hadn't had its water or electricity cut off because of the murder case, and Jian Xiang could even find a few slightly short changes of clothes in the closet. Although it was already midnight, Jian Xiang decided to call Team Leader Gao's house after taking a shower and ask him to come over immediately.

While waiting, Jian Xiang found a wallet on Xia Yongyu. Inside were his ID card, driver's license, and some cash. There was also a set of keys in his jeans pocket. He moved to the living room of room 401, sat down, and wrote down his personal information in a notebook.

“I thought only Xiao Zheng would wake me up at one or two in the morning. But you were really calm and made a very wise decision. If you had called back to the station, or asked other colleagues for help, or even run away alone, I don’t know how terrible the consequences would have been.”

After examining the second corpse in the bedroom and listening to Jian Xiang recount his experiences that night, Team Leader Gao sat silently for ten minutes before finally speaking.

"You can probably guess how Xiao Zheng will deduce this if he knows about it..." Jian nodded to indicate that he understood.

"You discovered both bodies in this room. You were even there when the second victim died. You sneaked out of the hospital and returned to the scene with an unidentified man, whose blood splattered all over you. Plus, there's the DV tape you took without permission—you're the perfect suspect!"

"I know I'll have a hard time getting out of here."

“But I’ve known you for a long time, and I know you can’t be the murderer. Xiao Zheng is too young and doesn’t understand that there are many things in the world that are far beyond human reason.”

"Team leader..."

“I believe you—but there’s only so much I can do to help you. I can only try my best to cover it up for you and delay the task force from pointing the finger at you.” Team Leader Gao’s voice turned cold: “It would be best if we could turn these cases into cold cases.”

"Thank you, team leader."

"No need to thank me. I suddenly realized that this case doesn't need further investigation. There are too many clues that clearly indicate that this case was indeed committed by a ghost." Team Leader Gao said, "First, the scene of Zhong Sizao's death was a locked room, but since the murderer is a ghost, of course he can move freely in the room; second, the murderer's method of crime is consistent with that of Hong Zechen, who has already been executed, which means that Zhong Sizao was not killed by Hong Zechen, but by Hong Zechen's ghost..." Although Team Leader Gao spoke very lightly, Jian Xiang couldn't help but feel a chill when he thought about the ghost of a death row inmate returning to the human world to kill people.