Ghost Detective Records

Chapter 17

A small wooden plaque? My heart skipped a beat. Looking closer, it was indeed Lin Yiyi's small wooden plaque. How could it be here, on a corpse that had decomposed to the point of being almost nothing but bones? Composing myself, I walked over and removed the plaque from the corpse's wrist.

Wang Fu, male, 56 years old. The words written in red paint on the wooden sign were still clearly visible. Touching the back of the sign, I felt as if there were more words. I turned it over and the words "St. Mary's Hospital" immediately came into view.

St. Mary's Hospital? How come I don't know there's such a hospital in this city? Confused, I walked back to Fang Lei and handed her the wooden sign, saying, "This is all I found. It seems to be something like St. Mary's Hospital, but I don't think I've ever heard of it before."

Fang Lei's already pale face turned even paler after I mentioned St. Mary's Hospital. Her eyes bulged out as she stared at me with fear, saying each word clearly, "I—know—this—hospital."

Fang Lei's tone was full of terror, even trembling slightly, which immediately sent a chill down my spine, made my eyes twitch, and a sense of foreboding welled up from the bottom of my heart. It felt as if something was stuffed in my throat, and I managed to ask with difficulty, "What?"

“St. Mary’s Hospital is the predecessor of St. Light Hospital, the hospital you stayed at last time,” Fang Lei replied quietly. Immediately, a chill ran from her forehead straight into her entire body.

Volume One: The Three Ghosts of the City, Chapter Forty: The Yin-Yang Qiankun Array

Volume One: The Three Ghosts of the City, Chapter Forty: The Yin-Yang Qiankun Array

A gust of cold wind swept by, and I gripped Fang Lei's hand even tighter. We stared at each other in silence, the air thick with the stench of rotting corpses, the only sound the heavy breathing of our two bodies. I could feel that Fang Lei's small hand was unusually cold and damp; the sweat on her palms was like our hearts—cold and clammy.

"What do we do now?" Fang Lei asked me softly, her body involuntarily leaning closer.

"Let's take a look!" I patted Fang Lei on the shoulder, adopting a "what's done is done" attitude, and pulled her towards the pile of corpses. The bodies were so badly decomposed that their features were no longer recognizable, but we could still vaguely make out their wide-open eyes, filled with fear and resentment, as if they had died before. What's even stranger is that the bodies didn't seem to have any obvious injuries. How did they die? If only we had a scalpel now, we could try to examine the bodies.

"It looks like there were signs of live dissection!" Fang Lei said in surprise, pointing at the corpse.

"What? How is this possible?" I examined the corpse, using a twig to peel back its clothing, revealing obvious anatomical incisions. Upon closer inspection, two knife marks extended from behind the ears to the throat, then straight down to the genitals, forming a Y-shaped incision—a common technique in dissection. Because the skin and flesh weren't rolled back, the yellow epidermis and red muscle layers were clearly distinct, indicating the incision was made while the victim was still alive. Vivisection—who could have done something so cruel? I tossed the twig aside and said to Fang Lei, "The problem now is how we find a way out. Do you have a solution?"

“I’m not sure,” Fang Lei shook her head and said, “I think that because of the resentful mist, not only is space disordered, but time may also be wrong. Logically speaking, St. Mary’s Hospital should be a place from more than seventy years ago!”

"You mean we went back to the past?"

"That's possible!"

"No way!" I sighed heavily. What kind of era is this? All these messy things are happening. I almost fainted.

"I have no choice but to give it a try." Fang Lei nodded as if she had made up her mind, and put her finger to her lips and bit down hard.

"What are you doing?" I asked urgently.

“Let’s set up a formation and see if we can get back to the outer ring road.” Fang Lei said, drawing a few lines on her palm with her bleeding fingers, then held it out to me and said, “Hold out your hand.”

"Oh." I obediently stretched out my hand. Fang Lei crumpled a talisman into a ball, and after rubbing it for a while, a lot of golden powder fell from her palm and landed in mine. My palm immediately became hot, and a talisman that Li Hai had drawn on my palm earlier also appeared. Fang Lei immediately pressed her palm with the talisman against mine, and a warm feeling spread from my palm throughout my body.

"I am currently using the Yin-Yang Qiankun Formation, which requires a man and a woman to cast the spell simultaneously."

"What? But I don't understand!"

“You have the exorcism talisman drawn by Li Hai, and the ten-thousand-year-old ghost jade, so it should be enough,” Fang Lei comforted me.

"But this is completely different from knowing magic!" I was still worried; I was a complete novice!

"Do you have a better idea?" Fang Lei asked.

"No, that's all," I replied guiltily.

“Then listen to me carefully,” Fang Lei said. “Concentrate your mind and focus your energy, feel your dantian, and then guide that energy to the space between your eyebrows. I’ll take care of the rest.”

I nodded reluctantly, since it was the only feasible method at the moment. Calming myself, I followed his instructions and began to circulate my qi. With great difficulty, I finally felt a slight warmth slowly rising from my lower abdomen, converging through my meridians to my brow. There's a very peculiar organ in that area—the pineal gland. Many believe that all of humanity's mysterious, untapped power resides there.

As Fang Lei chanted the incantation faster and faster, my head grew increasingly dizzy. Being surrounded by corpses and facing a beautiful woman wasn't exactly a pleasant experience. I tried to stay awake, but my increasingly heavy eyelids made me drowsy. In my hazy state, I saw the corpses begin to move, their hands struggling to break through the soil. The corpses were incomplete, their limbs sparse from decomposition; some couldn't even stand. I saw many crawling towards us. As they moved, maggots and entrails fell out, the thick, reddish-yellow blood sizzling and corroding the soil. The wounds from rat bites flashed before my eyes, overlapping each other. Suddenly, the previously blurred faces became clear, their mouths gaping open in a grotesque grimace. Pairs of green eyes stared fiercely at me from their skeletal features, as if they wanted to devour us alive. My mind was a complete mess. The energy I drew from my dantian surged erratically through my meridians, gradually turning icy cold, as if a sharp knife were slicing through my veins, the pain spreading throughout my body. But what was truly terrifying was the growing fear within me, a fear like another invisible dagger piercing my entire being. I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn't. Fang Lei's face was even paler, large beads of sweat rolling down her forehead; I knew she must be suffering terribly too. Perhaps it was the effect of the formation, but I felt myself and Fang Lei enveloped in a pale blue hemispherical sphere, preventing the corpses outside from harming us, which merely circled around us.

"Concentrate your mind and gather your energy, it's an illusion!" Fang Lei's weak voice came through. I tried to nod with difficulty, but the feeling of being torn apart made me almost collapse to the ground. I endured the pain and guided my energy, but the energy I drew from my dantian became colder and colder, making me feel as if an air conditioner had been installed inside my body.

My consciousness began to fade. Just then, I suddenly saw a dark figure standing behind the corpses. His face wasn't very clear, but it felt strangely familiar. I bit my tongue; the slight taste of blood gave me a flash of insight. Wasn't that the face from the rooftop of No. 77 Guhuai Street? Even though I had been pushed off, I had still seen a face for a fleeting moment—this was the face, now grinning maliciously at us. My heart skipped a beat, my consciousness faltered, and the energy flowing from my dantian stopped. My chest felt as if it had been struck by a thousand-pound weight; the intense pain made my hands tremble, and my hand, which was pressed against Fang Lei's, slipped to the side. The blue dome vanished in an instant, and I saw countless corpses rushing towards Fang Lei and me.

"No!" I instinctively rushed forward and hugged Fang Lei. A mouthful of sweet, bloody taste gushed from my throat, forming a mist that splattered onto the jade pendant.

It hurts, it's so hot! My whole body is burning up, like I've been thrown into a furnace. Then there was a loud bang, and I felt the scenery around me instantly change back. No more corpses, no more stench, no more wasteland, and certainly no more that terrifying face. We were standing perfectly still next to our car, on Death Avenue, Fang Lei gripping my hand tightly. A trace of blood on my hand, perhaps the only proof that the terrifying scene I'd just witnessed wasn't just an illusion, was a glimpse of my lips.

*********

Author's Note: The original draft was supposed to kill off Fang Lei, but my friend gave me a really bad scolding, so I need to revise it now. Updates will probably be slower, sorry. Mainly, I felt there were too many main characters, making writing tiring; killing off a few made the writing easier. :)

Book One: The Three Ghosts of the City, Chapter Forty-One: The Mastermind

Book One: The Three Ghosts of the City, Chapter Forty-One: The Mastermind

"Why are you so late?" Li Yang greeted us at the door of a conference room, pointing to his watch and complaining. But when he saw the unusual appearance of Fang Lei and me, his impatience immediately turned to worry. To be honest, Fang Lei and I didn't look good at all. We had attracted a lot of attention as we walked here. Our faces were pale and bloodless, especially Fang Lei's. Her forehead was dark, her lips looked like they were covered in black lipstick, her eyes were sunken, and her appearance was haggard. I wasn't much better; I felt weak all over and just wanted to find a bed to lie down for a while.

"What's going on with you guys?" Li Yang saw that I was struggling to support Fang Lei and quickly stepped forward to take her away. I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's talk inside!" I could barely stand up by leaning against the wall. Li Yang nodded and helped the nearly exhausted Fang Lei into the room.

It was a small conference room with only a conference table and a few chairs. I don't know how Li Yang and the others managed to borrow it from the library. Li Hai and Cao Ying were already waiting inside. As soon as I entered the room, I found a stool and sat down without saying a word.

"My God, did you run all the way here?" Cao Ying asked in surprise, looking at us, who were exhausted and drained.

"How could this happen?" Li Hai looked at me, then at Fang Lei, and quickly grabbed Fang Lei's wrist, saying, "You've been poisoned by corpse poison!?"

Fang Lei nodded weakly. She hadn't expected the venom of the resentment mist to be so potent. Even though she had used the Zixia Divine Skill of the Emei Sect to protect her body, the poison still managed to enter her system.

"Li Yang, close the door." Li Hai instructed Li Yang while beckoning Cao Ying to help him gently place Fang Lei on the conference table. He then held his hands about ten centimeters above Fang Lei's body, chanting an incantation. A blue halo gradually formed in his palms, enveloping Fang Lei's body. The blue light gradually gathered towards Fang Lei's brow, and her skin seemed to become transparent, revealing her red veins. Even stranger, wisps of black energy rose around the veins, spreading beneath her skin and converging towards her brow. The black energy gradually condensed into a small sphere at her brow, hidden beneath the skin, directly opposite the blue sphere Li Hai had formed. The two spheres pressed against each other, neither giving way, sometimes the black sphere growing larger, sometimes the blue sphere, as if they were locked in a contest.

"Li Hai seems to be unable to hold on any longer," Cao Ying said, tugging at my sleeve. I then turned my attention from Fang Lei to Li Hai, who was covered in sweat, his clothes were soaked, his knuckles were white, and his hands were trembling slightly.

"Quickly think of a way!" Li Yang also became anxious, because the blue ball was shrinking continuously, while the black ball was expanding, and it was very likely that it would absorb the blue ball in one fell swoop.

"What can I do?" I stood up anxiously, but the problem was, how could I help?

"Hey, you came with Fang Lei, how come you're okay when she's in trouble, but you always have a way!" Cao Ying acted like a brat, grabbing my collar as if she was about to beat me up.

Oh right, Cao Ying's words gave me a sudden realization! It seems the illusion disappeared after I spat out blood! Could my blood have some special effect? Thinking this, I quickly put my finger in my mouth and bit down hard. Ouch, that hurts! I frowned, and just as Li Hai's blue ball was about to disappear, I touched Fang Lei's forehead with my bloodied finger. Instantly, the black ball seemed to come alive, biting my finger. I could feel my blood being rapidly sucked away—it was like a vacuum cleaner! Instinctively, I tried to pull my finger back, but it was useless; the suction from the black ball made it impossible for me to move. The feeling of blood being drained made me colder and colder, and my fingers became numb. The black sphere was like a greedy vampire. Perhaps because it had absorbed blood, the surface of the black sphere changed, and some blood streaks appeared on it. Gradually, as it absorbed more blood, the blood streaks turned into cracks, and a red light shot out from the sphere, as if some force was about to break out of the sphere.

"Hang in there, it seems to be working!" Li Hai's voice rang in my ears. Damn it, hang in there? That's easy for you to say, why don't you try it yourself! I pursed my lips, forcing myself to suppress the urge to faint.

Finally, it seems God finally understood my suffering. After absorbing a full 300cc of my blood, the black sphere finally let me go, bursting open with a burst of red light. A wisp of black smoke drifted out from between Fang Lei's eyebrows, and her complexion immediately became delicate, rosy, and radiant—truly more effective than any oral liquid. As for me? I collapsed onto the floor, panting heavily, like a mule pulling a cart weighing hundreds of pounds.

"How...how is it?" I asked, panting.

"Alright, alright." Li Hai took Fang Lei's pulse and said, "What she needs now is rest. But you..." Li Hai was looking at me with the eyes of someone looking at a rare treasure, which made me feel uneasy. I couldn't help but feel that he was just as bad as those rats from before.

"What, what are you doing?" I stood up and asked.

"Hehe, it's nothing, it's nothing!" Li Hai put his arm around my shoulder in a friendly manner, but his smile was strange. Why did I feel like there was a big fox tail wagging behind him?

"Alright, stop fooling around, let's get down to business!" The adorable Li Yang quickly separated me from Li Hai and said.

“Yeah, didn’t you say there was something going on?” I quickly moved away from Li Hai and sat down at a safe distance, saying.

"Oh, is that so!" Li Hai's face immediately turned serious, as if the cunning look on his face just now was my imagination. He said, "We've checked some information and there are indeed clues, but before that, could you tell us what's going on? You haven't been doing something you love that's too strenuous, have you?"

Oh my god, I almost fainted. What kind of time is this to be making jokes like this? I barely suppressed the urge to step forward and stomp on his seemingly serious face, and gritted my teeth as I recounted what had just happened to us.

After I finished speaking, the previously lively meeting room suddenly fell silent. Li Hai clearly lost his joking mood and wore a stern face. After a long while, Li Hai said, "Now it seems that, regardless of Heart Lake and the villa on Ancient Locust Street, we can be certain that Sacred Heart Hospital, also known as St. Mary's Hospital, is definitely connected to Death Avenue. I think those corpses on Death Avenue most likely came from Sacred Heart Hospital. As for the Soul-Locking Array at Heart Lake, we've also investigated it. The information shows that Heart Lake was originally a natural scenic spot, but a large-scale tree planting more than seventy years ago turned the original vegetation around Heart Lake into locust trees, and the arrangement of the array was probably arranged during that tree planting."

"More than seventy years ago? Wasn't that before liberation?" I asked.

“Yes,” Cao Ying replied, “We found that more than seventy years ago, a philanthropist named Lin Junxian organized a charity donation tree planting activity. Whoever donated more money could plant more trees.”

Charity event? I frowned. This city was a paradise for merchants and foreigners before liberation, so charity events weren't anything new. But wait, Lin Junxian? Another one with the surname Lin? I didn't even know our clan had so many prominent figures?

"I remember the director of St. Mary's Hospital also had the surname Lin!" I pressed my temples with my fingers, a bad feeling welling up inside me. If that were the case, then Xinhu and St. Mary's Hospital would also have an indirect connection.

"You mean?" Li Yang suddenly interjected, "that Lin Junxian is the dean who was burned to death?"

“It’s not impossible,” I said.

"Let's assume Lin Xiao is telling the truth. So, he's the mastermind behind all this?" Cao Ying exclaimed excitedly, almost dancing with joy.

I immediately rolled my eyes at her helplessly. This young lady's thinking was so simple. If it were him, wouldn't it be even more troublesome? I sighed and said, "Miss, don't be so happy so soon, okay? If it really is him, do you think he's a person or a ghost now?"

As soon as I finished speaking, Cao Ying's excited face immediately fell, and she said helplessly, "It's a ghost!"

"That settles it?" I leaned back heavily, and the thought that the mastermind behind it all was not human but a ghost made me shiver involuntarily, as if a cold wind was blowing from behind, silently creeping up my spine to my neck.

Volume One: Three Ghost Stories of the City, Chapter Forty-Two: The Alluring Female Boss

Volume One: Three Ghost Stories of the City, Chapter Forty-Two: The Alluring Female Boss

I shrank back, looking at Fang Lei's sleeping face, and said, "Although we believe it's possible that Lin Junxian is the mastermind, do you really think he could have done all of this?"

"For example, have that taxi driver take the blame, right?" Li Yang said from the side. He really is my buddy; he can guess everything I'm thinking.

“This is indeed a suspicious place, but I don’t think it’s too difficult to check on a driver!” Li Hai said, taking out his phone from his pocket, raising an eyebrow, and answering the call: “Hello, who is this?”

Neither Li Yang nor I spoke, quietly watching Li Hai from the side. His expression gradually became strange, a mixture of confusion and surprise. As soon as he hung up, I couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

Li Hai stood up, looked around at us, and said, "It's a woman. She said she's the owner of the Black Forest Bar and asked me to go there right now. She also said that if my friends are interested, they can come along."

The female owner of the Black Forest Bar? What kind of person is she? I looked at Li Yang, who was also very curious, and said, "She seems quite interesting!"

"Oh!" Fang Lei suddenly groaned softly, opened her eyes, and sat up.

"You're awake!" I quickly went over to support her. Fang Lei glanced at me shyly, her face flushed, which was so cute that I had the urge to bite her.

"Thank you. I was aware of it when you saved me," Fang Lei said to me in a voice barely above a whisper, her head bowed.

"Of course, of course." I grabbed her soft, boneless hand and squeezed it a few times, immediately forgetting my misfortune of losing blood. What's a little blood? It's worth it to receive a beautiful woman's heartfelt thanks. Who knows, she might even repay me with her body. Wouldn't that be a huge win? Thinking of this, I was overjoyed!

"Oh dear, can you two stop being all lovey-dovey here?" Li Yang patted my shoulder, looking envious, and winked at me, clearly wanting me to tell him how I won her heart. This gesture made Fang Lei even more shy, and to change the subject, she quickly said, "I think I just heard you talking about going to see someone?"

"A woman, interested in coming along?" Li Hai opened the conference room door and turned to ask.

"Of course." Fang Lei said and hurriedly followed, but Li Yang grabbed me and insisted that I confess honestly and be treated leniently.

***********

After entering the bar, our group was led directly into a basement. What was outrageous was that there were two small stone lions at the entrance to the basement, which was basically set up like a cemetery! I couldn't help but start to worry about this meeting. To be honest, we had never really interacted with this female owner before. At most, we had only been to the Black Forest Bar a few times. So, what did she want to see us for?

Upon entering, we found the interior wasn't as eerie and frightening as we had imagined. Soft white light streamed through a frosted glass lampshade, illuminating every corner of the room. However, what truly captivated our group of opposite-sex individuals was a woman standing before us—an absolutely alluring woman. If I hadn't believed the story of Daji, who could topple kingdoms, seeing this woman completely convinced me. A cascade of jet-black, bouncy curls reached her slender waist, revealing glimpses of her translucent skin and a large expanse of snow-white skin against her high, firm breasts. A purple, form-fitting dress perfectly accentuated her figure. Purple, usually a color associated with nobility, somehow emanated from this woman a captivating blend of elegance and wantonness. I apologize for using the word "lewd," but it's not just the high-slit black lace panties that vaguely reveal her skin, nor the low-cut design that exposes most of her breasts, but also her face. Putting aside her beauty, just the alluring yet shy look in her eyes, her rosy, sexy lips—all of this compels me to use that word. I think it's understandable that any man seeing her would conjure up some inappropriate images for children.

"Hmph!" Fang Lei and Cao Ying both snorted at almost the same time after seeing the three of us men's green eyes and practically drooling faces. I immediately snapped back to reality; compared to this beauty, Fang Lei, already beside me, made me feel much safer!

"Are you the boss?" I asked, nudging Li Yang, who was still infatuated with Li Yang.

"Hehe—! Yes!" The woman giggled charmingly, her sweet voice almost melting one's bones. Her body trembled with laughter, causing her magnificent breasts to sway. My God! She was truly a natural beauty created by God specifically to seduce men! I touched my nose, hoping I wouldn't have a nosebleed on the spot.

"What is your surname, Miss? And how did you find out about us?" As expected of a cultivator, Li Hai, whose composure was much better than some people, asked.