Ghost Detective Records

Chapter 123

"Not yet, it seems to be locked," Xiao Ren said.

"What's locked?" Li Yang's voice came from behind, and he rushed over with a head of messy hair.

"Can you be a little faster next time? Luckily, the captain is away on a business trip, otherwise he would have given you a good scolding if he had seen you arrive so late today!" Xiao Ren said with a laugh.

"Okay, okay, why are you so long-winded?" Li Yang said, pulling a tweezer-like object from his pocket and inserting it into the lock. With a click, the lock opened, and at the same time, an intense, almost overwhelming, pungent stench of blood quickly spread through the sweltering midsummer night. In the darkness, it seemed as if many sins were being concealed by the gloom of night.

"It's so strong!" Xiao Ren covered his nose; the smell made him feel a sour, nauseating sensation rising from his stomach.

Using the flashlight in Xiao Ren's hand, the small cargo compartment was now filled with blood, resembling a demonic scene. The bloodstains on the walls looked like arterial splatter, flowing slowly down the sides like a waterfall. However, at first glance, there were no victims, only a red, blood-stained, coffin-like wooden box. The lid was slightly ajar, and blood seemed to be splattering out.

"What's going on? Has the hospital started using this stuff to transport blood plasma?" Li Yang asked jokingly. "How could that be!" I said, putting on my gloves, and at the same time told Fang Lei, "Go to the trunk of my car and get the rubber boots."

In this blood-soaked scene, we had to wear rubber boots to go in, otherwise our shoes would get soaked in blood.

I put on my rubber boots and went into the cargo compartment first, since it wasn't very spacious. Fang Lei and the others stood by the truck, helping me with the flashlights. Once inside, the surface of the cargo compartment was very slippery, perhaps because of the bloodstains. Even though the rubber boots were non-slip, I still felt that I could easily fall into the wooden box.

Although the light from the flashlight wasn't very bright, I could still see through the open crack that the wooden box seemed to be full of blood.

"It looks like it's full of blood inside," I said, carefully crouching down.

"Are you sure it's blood?" Xiao Ren asked worriedly. There was so much blood; it couldn't be from just one person.

"I'm not sure, but the smell should be right. However, I can't be sure if it's human blood or the blood of some other animal." I carefully moved the entire lid of the box to one side. It was a strange wooden box because I found that the weight of the wood was unusual. I used almost all my strength to move it.

I opened the lid, and sure enough, the box was full of blood, almost to the top edge. The overwhelming red made my eyes uncomfortable; the blood didn't seem fresh, it was already a dark red. This gave me a strange sense of oppression, like the feeling of buying chicken or pig blood at the market. But it wasn't completely coagulated; it seemed to be slowly flowing.

"What's inside?" Li Yang asked impatiently.

"It's all blood. But I don't know what's in the blood." I held the edge of the box with one hand and slowly reached in with the other. The blood was very sticky. I only touched it slightly and then pulled it back. I saw that the blood was actually pulled out by my glove. When I pulled it back, the blood threads were continuous. This sight was really... a dish.

"Candied bananas?" Li Yang had already voiced what I was thinking.

Hehe, I gave a helpless dry laugh. This is the weirdest candied banana I've ever seen. It would be better if it turned into a candied corpse at the end.

"Lin Xiao," Fang Lei called out with some concern. I waved my hand to indicate that I was alright, and then I put my hand in. The feeling inside was just like putting my hand into blood plasma; it was very thick.

I touched it just a little bit, and I immediately felt... it looked like a human face, but... wait a minute, I don't think it's a double-edged sword. This face... has no features, I can't feel the eyes, I can't feel the mouth, I can't even feel the nostrils.

A face without any facial features—the thought immediately sent chills down my spine. What was this thing? Was it not a person, but just a model resembling a human face? "Lin Xiao, what is it?" Fang Lei asked.

I didn't answer, and touched down—head, neck, shoulders—it seemed to be a complete human body. It seemed one hand wasn't enough to get it out, so I reached in with my other hand, grabbed its shoulders with both hands, and pulled hard. However, the blood plasma seemed to increase the resistance, and I was struggling. I turned to Li Yang and said, "Come help."

Li Yang was already fully armed and jumped in immediately, mocking me as he said, "How come you don't even have this much strength?"

"You try it." I pulled hard... and surprisingly... it came out...

Corpse!

A blood-red corpse.

No... I originally thought it was a corpse without facial features... but now it's just missing skin.

A skinned corpse, but the outline of the facial features was still visible.

Because its skin was peeled off, its eyeballs protruded very much in their sockets, like the bubble eyes of a goldfish. It had a mouth without lips and a set of yellowish-red teeth.

"Damn it." Li Yang cursed. How could there be so many strange people in this world who liked to treat another person like this?

Because I needed to lift the body a little more, I had to slowly stand up from my knees, but the ground was too slippery. I felt my foot slip and I stumbled!

My entire body fell face-first onto the corpse, and just as I was about to make close contact with it, at the very last moment, I saw it… I saw it…

A face devoid of any features—no eyes, no nose, no mouth, not even ears, let alone eyebrows. It seemed to be just a ball of flesh, without even nostrils for breathing.

"Be careful!" Li Yang grabbed me from the side. I looked closely again, and my facial features were back. It seemed that nothing was missing except for my skin.

"Oh my god," I exclaimed. Apparently, when I fell, I accidentally hit the edge of the statue with the head, and the head... drooped down.

The corpse in my hands was hanging down in a comical pose, its head drooping, staring intently at us with its one incredibly bulging eye, at the group of uninvited guests who had disturbed its journey.

Volume 4, Chapter 2: An Unexpected Surprise

Volume 4, Chapter 2: An Unexpected Surprise

"How is it?" Li Yang barged in without knocking. Fang Lei and I were placing it on the dissection table. The head had already fallen off the body and was placed aside. I also retrieved some samples from the notes in the coffin to study.

"We're just getting started. How's the hospital on your end?" I asked.

"The ambulance crew said the driver was already dead when they arrived, but the manner of his death was rather...unpleasant," Li Yang replied, rubbing his nose.

"A little bit like that?" Fang Lei asked curiously.

"It's eerie, isn't it! The expression on his face..." Li Yang paused, glanced at us, and then said, "Like he'd seen a ghost!"

"A ghost?" I glanced at the head; the facial features were still there.

"I didn't sense any resentment!" Fang Lei looked at the corpse and added, "But I feel there's something strange about this blood!"

"What's wrong?" Li Yang asked hurriedly.

"It's too thick, and it seems like there were other things inside, but unfortunately I don't know what was in the space," Fang Lei replied regretfully.

"It tastes like maltose," I added from the side.

"Hehe, really? Do you want to try some?" Li Yang actually walked over and reached out to take the sample from the test bottle.

"Don't move!" I tried to grab the bottle first, but as soon as I touched the surface, I felt it was too hot and pulled my hand back.

"What's wrong?" Fang Lei asked with concern.

"It's so hot!" I shook my burned hand.

"Hot?" Li Yang, unconvinced, reached out and touched it, saying, "It's not hot at all!"

"Huh?" I reached out and touched it again; it was still hot, like it was burning. It felt like touching a red-hot piece of iron.

"Let me try." Fang Lei touched it too, then looked at me strangely and said, "It doesn't feel hot to me."

"It's still hot!" I shrugged indifferently. It seems I can now announce that this is another case involving a vengeful ghost.

"I didn't feel it was hot when I brought it back." I looked at the bottle; the dark red blood inside gave me a strange, somewhat chilling feeling.

"I think you'd better confirm the identity of this corpse now." Li Yang was already used to all the strange things Lin Xiao did anyway.

"Do you think it's that simple?" Fang Lei said, somewhat annoyed. "Without skin, there's no hope of extracting fingerprints."

"Don't you have craniotomy?" Li Yang asked.

"Then we'll have to remove the muscles and brain tissue from that head first," I replied.

"How are you planning to get there?" Li Yang immediately asked, looking like a curious child. "You're not going to use a knife to cut it, are you?"

"You think we're butchers?" I pointed to a large cabinet behind me and said, "We have a secret weapon."

Before Li Yang could ask any more questions, Fang Lei turned around, opened the cabinet, and took out a large, wide-mouthed bottle, placing it in front of Li Yang.

"Uh...?" Li Yang immediately turned around and asked, "Why are you raising so many insects?"

"What do you mean?" I said as I put the head into a large glass box and then opened the bottle cap.

"Wait, wait!" Li Yang said, darting towards the door. "You can start this project after I leave."

Heh, looks like this kid figured out what we were planning. He dumped all those cute little bugs from the bottle in at once. They can dispose of muscle and brain tissue much better than we can.

It would take some time for those insects to finish their work, so Fang Lei and I went to the cafeteria to have breakfast. But just as we were about to chat about something personal, Li Yang interrupted us again.

"Why are you eating so little?" Li Yang looked at the breakfast Fang Lei had bought. It was just a bowl of porridge with some dried radish, nothing else. Then, in a gossipy tone, he said to me, "You only let your wife eat this little?"

"I feel nauseous whenever I see oily things lately," Fang Lei explained.

"Nausea...?" Li Yang looked at Fang Lei and me with a strange expression, then said to us, "Fang Lei, are you pregnant?"

*Pfft!* I immediately spat out the mouthful of porridge in my mouth and said, "Don't talk nonsense!"

"I don't think...it's possible!" Fang Lei looked at me nervously.

"Isn't it said that women feel nauseous in early pregnancy?" Li Yang said matter-of-factly.

"You're very experienced!" I tapped Li Yang on the head and said, "Let's eat!"

Li Yang mumbled a few words and then fell silent. I glanced at Fang Lei; she seemed a little flustered as she stirred the porridge in her bowl, remaining silent.

Could it be such a coincidence? I was a little flustered. After all, I hadn't even considered the day I'd become a father. Lowering my head, I suddenly wondered if Fang Lei and I should consider getting married.

Breakfast ended in an awkward atmosphere, but thankfully, after getting back to work, Fang Lei and I seemed to have forgotten what had just happened.

The autopsy proceeded as usual, just like any other case. The examination revealed nothing "special" about the body; everything seemed normal, except for the scalding hot blood.

"It seems okay." Fang Lei looked at the head in the glass case and said to me.

"Let's begin!" I looked at the skull, which was now just bones, and my heart suddenly skipped a beat. I felt a chill run down my spine, but the strange feeling vanished instantly.

There was no time to think about it further; Fang Lei and I began the craniotomy. The two of us worked together very well, so it saved a lot of time compared to when one of us did it alone.

But when we finally finished, I suddenly realized... this face... looks so familiar.

"Lin Xiao..." Fang Lei frowned as she looked at me, then at the head model that we had finished making together.

Yes, of course it looked familiar. Because this face seemed to resemble mine so much, almost seventy percent! It was unbelievable! I angrily took off my gloves and threw them on the table.

I suddenly had a feeling that everything was being arranged by someone, happening around me as if my life was being manipulated by a pair of dark hands...

"Maybe it's just a coincidence that they look alike." Fang Lei seemed to be trying to comfort me, but it didn't have much effect.

"Hmm~~~~!" I nodded weakly, not daring to look at that face again.

"Are you guys done yet?" Li Yang rushed in again at this moment, but he was also startled when he saw the profile picture. After a long pause, he asked us, "Is it the face of that corpse from the electroscope?"

I nodded weakly.

"Your brother?" Li Yang asked.

"I only have one older sister, where would I get any brothers?" I said.

"What about the cousins?" Li Yang continued to ask.

"My dad was an only child, but my mom supposedly had two older brothers. However, both of them died before they got married," I replied.

"Maybe he's their illegitimate child?" Li Yang started to let his imagination run wild.

"You think you're writing a novel?" I said irritably.

"That can only be described as a coincidence," Li Yang said helplessly.

"Of course it's just a coincidence." I stood up angrily, exhaled, and said, "That's enough for today!"