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Kapitel 58

Ma Nan hesitated for a moment, then gripped the page in his hand even tighter before slowly walking towards the door.

Behind the door was another circular corridor. Ma Nan looked left and right, then randomly chose a direction to walk down. He hadn't gone far when he saw a staircase leading upwards. This time, Ma Nan didn't hesitate and climbed the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a large open space, with some sturdy pillars supporting the floor. In the center of the open space was a low, circular wall. Ma Nan walked to the wall and peered down. Because of his elevated position, he could immediately see a platform below, built in the shape of an eight-pointed star, with a large chrysanthemum and flame design in the center of the platform.

At this moment, there are many people on the octagonal platform, but their faces cannot be seen due to the angle.

Ma Nan's gaze quickly fell on the wheelchair in the center of the chrysanthemum painting. The person in the wheelchair also looked up at that moment, their eyes seemingly meeting Ma Nan's. They stared at each other for a moment, and Ma Nan's heart skipped a beat, feeling a captivating power emanating from the person's eyes.

He saw the bronze mask on the man's face and immediately realized that he was the leader of the Ba people in this generation.

On the octagonal platform, there were other people. Beside the Ba chieftain stood three burly men, clearly all Ba people. At each of the eight right angles of the platform were eight chairs, each with a person strapped to it. Looking at them one by one, most of the people had their heads drooping, clearly dead; only two were still alive: the household registration policeman Ge Hua and Zhang Shanren.

In addition, directly in front of the wheelchair, a person lay supine on the ground, eyes closed, clearly unconscious. This person was Yang Zheng.

Upon seeing Yang Zheng, Ma Nan thought of Yang Mei. Yang Mei wasn't here. Could she have been locked up somewhere else?

The high platform below and the positions of the people made Ma Nan feel a little strange. He immediately thought that the Ba people were about to carry out a ceremony.

Ma Nan knew that many ethnic minorities still retained the custom of summoning the souls of the dead. They believed that the deceased must reunite with their ancestors and return to their sacred land. For example, the Hani people believed that there were twelve souls in a person's body, which left the body after death and became ghosts, with only one destination: returning to the village where their ancestors lived. The Nu people believed that the deceased should return to the ancestral homeland, and when they sent off the spirits, they chanted incantations to send the souls to the "Yilof" cave. The Dulong people, whose living members did not want the souls of the dead to linger in the human world, held a ceremony to allow the souls to return to their tribal land, "Aximoli."

So, do the Ba people also have this custom of soul reversion to their ancestors?

Are they performing a ritual to summon the souls of the deceased Batu and his clansmen?

Chapter 35

Of those people, Qin Ge had only seen Yang Zheng and the household registration police officer Ge Hua. The old man, fair-skinned and plump, balding and beardless, was probably Zhang Shanren. There were also six other dead bodies, their heads drooping so their faces were obscured, but Qin Ge could confirm that one of them was Xu Wen's boyfriend, Luo Bin.

The four people in the middle of the octagonal platform were clearly not Han Chinese, especially the one in the wheelchair in the middle, who wore a bronze mask that was ferocious and terrifying, with two wings extending from the sides that covered his entire head.

These must be the Ba people that Manan was talking about.

“The judge isn’t here,” Helan said. “There’s no one wearing a ski mask.”

Qin Ge smiled wryly: "This show will probably end tonight. If the Ba people are indeed the executioners, then there's no need for him to wear a mask and keep up the mystery."

He Lan thought it made sense, so she focused on watching the screen.

Qin Ge kept checking his watch; the reinforcements hadn't arrived yet. He'd just made another call, and they said the main force was already on its way. Now, Qin Ge was worried they'd arrive too late to stop the Ba people's next move.

Five corpses and three living people, each occupying one of the eight right angles of the octagonal platform, immediately evoke the image of the Ba people performing an ancient ritual. Perhaps the three living people will soon become dead.

"We can't wait here any longer. We must find a way to stop the Ba people," Qin Ge said in a deep voice.

“But we have no idea how to find them,” Helan said.

"Anyway, it's in this building. We'll search floor by floor. That eight-pointed star platform looks pretty big, so it's definitely not in some corner of the building. It shouldn't be too hard to find."

He Lan was about to say something when Qin Ge suddenly widened his eyes. He stared at the monitor in front of him and saw a person slowly walking into the screen in the playback window.

He Lan was also stunned; the person was none other than Ma Nan, who had disappeared on the Starry Sky Platform.

It wouldn't be surprising if Ma Nan appeared here, since he had been kidnapped by the Ba people. But seeing him actually appear on the Octagonal Star Platform still made Qin Ge and He Lan feel nervous.

"We can't wait any longer." Qin Ge pulled out his gun and checked it. "You go outside the bar and wait for reinforcements. I'm coming up now."

Helan frowned and said, "I'll go with you."

“If you want to be a burden to me, then come with me.” Qin Ge sighed. “These kinds of rough jobs are really not something a young girl like you can do. This is not your specialty.”

Seeing Helan's aggrieved expression, he subconsciously patted her shoulder: "Be good, stay outside. I'll keep in touch with you and let you know if anything happens."

Helan then nodded in agreement.

The two left the bar; He Lan stayed outside while Qin Ge entered the hotel lobby. Since he didn't know which floor the octagonal platform was on, he had to search floor by floor. He initially considered taking the stairs, but then decided to take the elevator. Hidden locations are usually located on the top floor, where fewer people go and it's less likely to be discovered.

The elevator climbed quickly, reaching the top floor in the blink of an eye. Qin Ge stepped out of the elevator and found the corridor outside to be very quiet.

The floor plan in the lobby described the building as follows: the second floor is a restaurant, the third floor is an office area, and the floors above the fourth are all guest rooms. It seems this hotel isn't doing very well; the occupancy rate must be very low. Qin Ge slowly walked forward, tentatively pushing open each of the room doors.

The doors were locked, and it was completely silent inside.

Qin Ge was getting anxious. Searching like this wasn't a solution. She knew something was strange about the building, but she couldn't just kick down any door. Even if she could, could she possibly kick down all those doors?

Just as he was getting anxious, he suddenly heard a cell phone ringing in front of him.

Manan walked down on his own. He already had a clue about the sacred object of the Ba people, so he felt he had leverage to negotiate with them. As for Manan's appearance, the four Ba people in the center of the arena showed no surprise whatsoever—if they hadn't opened the hidden door, Manan would never have been able to get here.

"What you're holding must be Ba Rong's will." The one who spoke was the masked man on the stage.

Ma Nan stood at the edge of the platform and nodded slightly. He paused for a moment, then said, "Then you must be the leader of the Ba people."

The masked man remained motionless, his voice coming from behind the mask: "My name is Baqi. Although you have never seen me, you have seen my father. His name is Batu."

Ma Nan was deeply moved and horrified.

Six months ago, he met Batu twice. The first time was in Changsha, when Yu Lei killed one of Ma Nan's brothers, and Ma Nan and Chu Yan happened to arrive. Yu Lei tricked Ma Nan away and raised his knife to stab Chu Yan, but Batu suddenly appeared and saved Chu Yan. That time, Batu stabbed Yu Lei in front of Qin Ge and Chu Yan, making Ma Nan think that this Ba tribe leader was also a profit-driven person, willing to sacrifice his own people to obtain the sacred object. Later, the second time he met Batu was when he took him to the maze on Peach Blossom Mountain. That time, Chu Yan led Ma Nan to escape from danger, and Yu Lei, who had been killed by Batu, suddenly appeared. At this moment, Ma Nan realized that Batu and Ba Rong were two completely different kinds of people.

Although Batu was his adoptive father Barong's greatest enemy in his life, Manan still respected Batu from the bottom of his heart.

He never imagined that the man in the wheelchair would be Batu's son.

"I'm very interested to know what was written in Ba Rong's suicide note," Ba Qi said calmly. "If you don't mind, could you let me take a look now?"

Ma Nan nodded without hesitation. He slowly walked up the steps to the stage and handed the letter to the nearest Ba ethnic minority member.

Ma Nan's actions surprised Ba Qi: "Don't you know how important what you have in your hands is?"

“I know that with it, I can find the sacred object of your Ba people.”