Ghost Stories - Chapter 15
Zhou Liang nodded and said, "Take a look. These are the case files and photos transferred from the criminal police. After you've seen them, tell me your opinions. You've been dealing with a lot of paranormal events!"
Lin Feng took the file and first looked at the photos. Dozens of photos were taken from various angles, showing different corners of the restaurant. The photos were filled with nothing but blood, including one of a headless corpse lying on the ground. After reviewing the photos, Lin Feng began reading the eyewitness statements. The deceased was named Wang Peng. At least twenty eyewitnesses unanimously stated that there were no abnormalities before his death; he suddenly bled from all seven orifices, and his head exploded, killing him instantly. The woman who dined with the deceased was a saleswoman in a shopping mall named Li Ting, who was now in a mental hospital, in a state of extreme emotional distress.
After reading it, Lin Feng asked, "What did the forensic report say?"
Zhou Liang took a puff of his cigarette and said, "We found that the heart was extremely active. Even after the body was brought back, there was still a faint heartbeat, indicating that the heart had been beating violently before death. As for why the head suddenly turned into a bomb, that's what we need to investigate."
Lin Feng thought for a moment and said, "I don't have any leads right now. What are everyone's thoughts?"
None of the people present had much experience with paranormal events; at most, they'd watched a few horror movies. Naturally, they couldn't offer any creative insights. Only Xiao Qian suggested a hypothesis about a bomb on someone's head, but it was immediately met with disdain.
Lin Feng thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the mental hospital to check on Li Ting first. She was the one who had direct contact with the deceased, so she should have some valuable clues."
Zhou Liang thought for a moment and said, "Okay, Xiao Qian, you go with Lin Feng."
Xiao Qian immediately agreed with great excitement. This kid had always wanted to see and experience all sorts of strange events, but the strangest thing he had ever seen was a male duck on a female hen, which surprised him for a long time. In the end, he finally realized that it was just a duck and a chicken fighting.
How could he not be excited about this positive interaction?
On their way to the mental hospital, Xiao Qian said to him while driving, "Hey buddy, have you really seen a ghost?"
Lin Feng nodded and said, "Okay!"
Xiao Qian asked excitedly, "What do ghosts look like? Are they like the ones on TV? I've also heard from the criminal police that there were a few cases you assisted with, including 'sudden corpses,' zombies, and some kind of haunted places. Are they all true?"
Lin Feng wished he could find a brick to gag him, or just pull Qiqi over, rip open her clothes and let this kid see what she was like. But he still said, "Ah, it's all true. As long as you're in this department, you'll have plenty of opportunities to see these things in the future!"
Xiao Qian clicked his tongue twice, looking very envious, and said, "No wonder Director Zhou values you so much!"
Soon the car arrived at the "Oasis Mental Hospital," and Lin Feng was finally free from the torment of being a scheming monk.
Upon entering the hospital, Xiao Qian identified herself, and the hospital director led the two to Li Ting's ward. Lin Feng knew at a glance that the chances of getting any information were slim; he figured his trip over the past few days had been a waste.
Li Ting curled up in a corner of the ward, refusing to get into bed. She wouldn't say anything when asked, only muttering repeatedly, "So much blood."
As soon as Xiao Qian approached Li Ting, Li Ting suddenly grabbed Xiao Qian's clothes and screamed, "Blood!" The scream was so shrill and terrifying that Xiao Qian almost peed himself on the spot and nearly ended up having to stay in a hospital room. With the help of the doctor and Lin Feng, Xiao Qian finally managed to break free from Li Ting's grasp. He was pale with fright, sweating profusely, his chest heaving, and he was panting heavily.
Lin Feng greeted the doctor, then came out together and said to Xiao Qian, "It seems we won't get anything out of Li Ting!" He glanced at the doctor comforting Li Ting in the ward, then suddenly heard Li Ting say in terror, "Her eyeballs are popping out and blood is gushing out!"
Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat. "The eyeballs popped out!" This meant that Li Ting must have seen something that others hadn't, namely, the eyeballs popping out first. Lin Feng organized his thoughts, racking his brain for a long time to recall all the evil spells he knew, but it seemed that none of them matched this condition.
Back at the Special Investigation Division, Lin Feng requested to visit Wang Peng's home. To avoid causing panic, investigations were kept to a minimum, and his friends and others were avoided unless absolutely necessary. Fortunately, Wang Peng was an orphan with few family members; he lived alone in an old apartment building in the eastern part of the city.
Accompanied by Li Mingsheng, the two arrived at Wang Peng's residence. After a little effort to open the door, all three of them were stunned.
The living room was dimly lit, and the walls were covered in graffiti, clearly indicating it wasn't usually tidy. A copy of Freud's *The Interpretation of Dreams* lay on the sofa, suggesting the young man was also a fan of the occult. Most eerily, the entire house, from ceiling to floor, was painted a dark red, creating an incredibly sinister and terrifying atmosphere.
Xiao Qian only glanced at it before feeling a bit dizzy, and she regretted coming here with Lin Feng.
Lin Feng glanced around the living room and then pushed open the bedroom door. There was a computer desk in the bedroom with a computer on it. Lin Feng plugged it in and turned it on.
After starting the program, Lin Feng opened the "My Documents" folder on his desktop and carefully examined the images. Li Mingsheng and Xiao Qian were also eagerly watching from behind, because the kid's image folder contained a large number of pornographic pictures, each one shocking and bizarre in its depiction.
Lin Feng had no interest in looking at these pictures. Partly, he felt that Wang Peng himself had some issues, because someone who decorated the living room that color couldn't possibly be in a good mental state. The other part was that he had already seen enough of these kinds of things online.
Li Mingsheng was usually busy with work, and Xiao Qian rarely came into contact with such things, so the two of them were getting increasingly aroused. In the end, because Lin Feng wasn't interested in looking at the pictures, he flipped through them very quickly, which immediately drew protests from the two of them.
Lin Feng had almost finished looking at all the pictures; only one last one remained. He clicked the mouse, and the entire screen suddenly went dark. The last picture wasn't anything pornographic; it showed a clown-like figure with a smirking smile, his scarlet tongue sticking out so far it almost touched his nose. His eyes, though narrowed to slits, seemed to gleam with an eerie light, drawing the viewer involuntarily into them. At the bottom of the picture was a line of text: "Dare you stare at him for 30 seconds?"
Lin Feng was puzzled, always feeling that there was something strange about the clown's eyes in the picture. He couldn't help but take a few more glances and said, "Don't you guys think there's something strange about his eyes?" After he finished speaking, no one behind him paid any attention to him.
Lin Feng turned around and saw Li Mingsheng and Xiao Qian staring intently at the clown's eyes in the picture, their faces seemingly trying their best to imitate the clown's expression. Lin Feng was startled and knew something was wrong. He quickly pressed the power button on the monitor.
The screen immediately went black, and Li Mingsheng was the first to wake up, asking, "What happened to me?"
Xiao Qian then realized what was happening and said, "Hey, what was wrong with me? The more I looked at that picture, the more I wanted to look at it!"
Lin Feng said seriously, "This painting has been cursed!"
The two people behind him immediately looked at each other, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Volume 2, Chapter 3, "Split Head" (3)
Lin Feng shut down the computer, and everyone immediately worked together to remove the computer case and take it back to the station.
Seeing the three of them hurriedly carrying back a computer case, Zhou Liang asked curiously, "Where did this come from?"
Lin Feng said, "There are clues in Wang Peng's house."
Zhou Liang gave an "Oh," immediately showing interest. Although he was the head of the Special Investigation Department, he had never actually dealt with truly bizarre and outlandish cases. He did have a large number of files on strange past incidents, but nothing was as exciting as being involved in them firsthand. Besides, this was the first case since the establishment of the Special Investigation Department, so he had to get involved directly.
With everyone's help, Lin Feng connected the computer to the office. Before turning it on, Lin Feng told everyone in the office who had come to hear the news, "When you open the pictures, don't stare at them for more than thirty seconds. If you see anything wrong, or if you get really interested in looking at them, don't look anymore, understand?"
Li Mingsheng and Xiao Qian had already witnessed it, so of course they readily agreed. Zhou Liang, because of Li Mingsheng, also took Lin Feng's words to heart. However, the other detectives were mostly skeptical, thinking that Lin Feng was making a mountain out of a molehill, after all, it was just a picture, how much power could it have?
Lin Feng opened the image folder and clicked on the clown picture.
As soon as the image opened, everyone held their breath, scrutinizing it intently. Less than ten seconds later, Lin Feng heard two people behind him breathing heavily. Without hesitation, Lin Feng closed the image and turned to the two young detectives behind Xiao Qian, saying, "What's wrong? Were you too careless?"
The two detectives, their faces pale, nodded and said, "We never imagined it would be this terrifying!"
Lin Feng nodded and said, "Alright, now I want to ask everyone what comes to mind after seeing this picture? It's not just a simple clown face anymore."
Li Mingsheng asked in surprise, "Didn't you see it?"
Lin Feng shook his head and said, "I'm afraid because my concentration is a bit stronger than yours, I only felt a kind of eerie power, but I haven't seen anything else yet. However, if I did see something else, I'm afraid no one would have time to close this picture, and everyone would be in trouble."
Li Mingsheng nodded and said, "That's about right. When I looked at this picture, what appeared in my mind was very unclear, just a blurry white shadow, very hazy, and I couldn't see what it was. But that thing seemed to be slowly approaching, but before I could see it clearly, you turned off the picture!"
Lin Feng asked Xiao Qian, "What about you? Are you the same as him?"
Xiao Qian nodded and said, "Yes, but I can see it more clearly. Judging from the shape, it should be a person, but I can't be sure."
“It’s a person, and a woman, dressed all in white, carrying a watermelon knife,” a young detective behind her said, his voice trembling slightly.
"Oh?" Lin Feng looked at the detective and said, "Did you see what it looked like?"
The two agents with the weakest resistance just now shook their heads in unison and said, "No!"
Lin Feng thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll look at it myself. You all don't have time. You have one minute. When the time is up, please turn off the picture for me!"
After thinking for a moment, Li Mingsheng felt it wasn't quite right and said, "One minute is too long, how about 30 seconds?"
Lin Feng shook his head and said, "No, one minute. I want to know what information this picture is conveying to us and whether it is related to our case."
Li Mingsheng glanced at Zhou Liang, who nodded slightly. Li Mingsheng said, "Alright then, just one minute. We'll turn off the image when the time is up."
Lin Feng let out a long sigh of relief, then asked Zhou Liang for a wolf-hair brush. When he asked for cinnabar, Zhou Liang searched for a long time and found a bottle of red ink instead. Lin Feng shook his head and said, "Never mind, I'll do it myself!" He put his index finger in his mouth and gently bit it, then drew a Bagua (eight trigrams) on his palm.
Several detectives watched Lin Feng's drawing of the Bagua diagram with great interest, while a few others were quite skeptical, thinking Lin Feng was just being mysterious and pretending to be profound.
After Lin Feng finished preparing, he opened the image and carefully examined the clown's eyes. The others stood around the computer, smoking and chatting. Li Mingsheng carefully checked his watch.
Lin Feng noticed an eerie light gleaming in the clown's eyes, because he was deliberately looking at it. He immediately realized he couldn't look away no matter how hard he tried. Cold sweat poured down his forehead as he saw a white figure walking slowly towards him from the snow-covered landscape.
As they drew closer, they could finally make out a woman in white, her thin dress billowing in the north wind. She held a knife in her hand, its gleam like the eyes of a clown. Crimson blood dripped from the blade onto the snow. Her bare feet crunched on the snow, a sound that sent shivers down their spines.
The woman approached, looked up, and her eyes were filled with confusion. Lin Feng thought she had seen him, but after a moment he realized that this was just an illusion projected by the clown's eyes. He felt fortunate that he could still retain his sanity.
The woman, knife in hand, walked toward several houses scattered in the snow and ice, and Lin Feng's consciousness followed closely behind.
A woman knocked on the door of a small house. A man's voice, deep and gruff, came from inside: "Speak!" Then he opened the door. As soon as the door opened, the woman swung her knife, the flash of blade accompanied by a man's roar, swallowed by the swirling snowflakes. The woman's knife struck the man squarely in the neck, and he fell to the ground. The woman, expressionless, then killed the little girl curled up on the kang (a heated brick bed), and walked out.
"One minute has passed!" Li Mingsheng said, looking at his watch. "Close the picture!"
Xiao Qian immediately turned off the image, and everyone stared at Lin Feng. But Lin Feng's eyes remained wide open, staring at the computer screen, showing no sign of waking up.
Volume 2, Chapter 4, "Split Head" (4)
Li Mingsheng gently shook Lin Feng, but despite the still-hot September weather, Lin Feng's skin felt icy cold to the touch. Startled, Li Mingsheng softly called, "Lin Feng, Lin Feng, wake up!"
Lin Feng followed the woman, who went into each house one by one, killing everyone she encountered. As she killed the last person, the man murmured, "He Feng, why are you doing this?"
The woman remained silent, her face grim, her white dress now stained red. Uncongealed blood splattered on her face, dripping down her pristine white skin. Her eyes blazed with a mad fire, like the flickering flames of hell.
The woman walked out of the last room, stood in the blood-soaked ground, and laughed wildly, her laughter as chilling as an owl's, sending shivers down one's spine. Lin Feng saw that, amidst the woman's laughter, her eyeballs suddenly popped out of their sockets twice. The woman seemed oblivious, continuing to laugh. As she laughed, blood gushed from her face. Finally, with a loud "bang," her head exploded, splattering blood everywhere.
Lin Feng stared in disbelief at everything, unable to believe his eyes. He imagined that the man's head must have exploded in the same way during the day.
The woman's body didn't fall; instead, it began to move, walking step by step towards Lin Feng. She grew larger and larger in Lin Feng's eyes, as if she could see his presence.
Lin Feng felt short of breath, and his legs were completely immobile. Suddenly, the woman raised her knife and slashed down at Lin Feng. Lin Feng almost screamed, but the sound was stuck in his throat and wouldn't come out.
Lin Feng closed his eyes, resigned to his fate, but after a while, he realized the knife hadn't come down. He opened his eyes to find the woman gone, the house gone, and all around him was a vast expanse of white. How could he get back? How could he regain his consciousness? It was as if his soul had transcended space and arrived in another place, leaving him utterly bewildered.
Lin Feng stretched out his hand, the Bagua diagram on his palm now a complete mess from the cold sweat. Lin Feng inwardly cried out, "Oh no, what am I going to do now?"
Seeing that Lin Feng didn't react for a while, Li Mingsheng didn't dare to move him. He touched Lin Feng's chest and found his heartbeat was still strong and his breathing was even, so he was slightly relieved. But then Lin Feng's body suddenly started to tremble. Although it wasn't obvious, Li Mingsheng still noticed it and was greatly alarmed, not knowing what to do.
Lin Feng wandered aimlessly, thinking to himself how careless he had been. However, he was quite remarkable that he had managed to maintain his consciousness. Lin Feng gradually felt the cold; the icy snow made him shiver. Just as he was feeling lost and helpless, he suddenly felt an intense heat in his hand.
Lin Feng reached out and saw that the red thread in his hand was emitting a dark red light. This startled Lin Feng; he didn't know if it was good or bad. Suddenly, the red thread in his hand shone brightly, and Lin Feng immediately felt an irresistible, powerful attraction pulling him up.
Lin Feng cried out and woke up. He heard Li Mingsheng's joyful voice in his ear: "You're finally awake! That's great! You scared us to death!"
Lin Feng unconsciously shrank back, still feeling a chill. He stretched out his hand and saw that the red thread in his hand was slowly fading. He secretly rejoiced, realizing that the red thread that had been entangled him had actually saved his life. It was truly a stroke of good luck amidst misfortune.
Li Mingsheng asked, "How are you? Are you alright?"
Lin Feng forced a smile, wiped his sweat, and said, "It's nothing!"
Xiao Qian asked eagerly, "Brother Lin, how was it? What did you see?"
Lin Feng poured himself a glass of water, took a sip, and then recounted what he had just witnessed. He then asked Zhou Liang, "Director Zhou, do we have any files on a woman named 'He Feng'?"
Zhou Liang thought for a moment and said, "I seem to remember it, but it's 'He Feng,' not 'He Feng.' Let me find it for you to take a look!"
After a while, Zhou Liang took a file out of the archives and said, "This should be it, take a look!"
Lin Feng took the file and opened it to the first page. There was a photograph of a woman pasted on it, exactly the same as the one he had seen in the illusion. Lin Feng nodded and said, "This should be the file. The woman is the same as the one I just saw." Looking at the woman in the photograph, Lin Feng felt a gentle aura about her; it was hard to reconcile her with the cold-blooded, ruthless killer who had effortlessly murdered over a dozen people.
Lin Feng unconsciously stared into the woman's eyes in the photo, feeling that there was a sinister aura in them, making him feel as if winter had arrived.
Lin Feng opened the file. The woman's name was He Feng. She was originally a sales manager at a sales company, with outstanding performance and a bright future. But for some unknown reason, two years ago she suddenly returned to her hometown and slaughtered several families living at the village entrance, leaving no one alive, not even sparing an elderly person nearing eighty and a child who had just turned one year old. Afterwards, He Feng disappeared without a trace and has not been found since.
Lin Feng read through the entire case file but still couldn't grasp the key points, feeling utterly helpless. Suddenly, Xiao Qian said, "Why don't we check his QQ account and see who sent him that picture? Maybe we can find a breakthrough!"
Lin Feng thought about it and realized that this was the only option he could find.
Li Mingsheng connected to the internet, opened QQ, and saw that the "Remember Password" option was checked. He breathed a sigh of relief. This was also Lin Feng's deduction based on the habits of people who usually use the internet at home; if someone hadn't remembered their password, cracking it would be incredibly difficult.
After opening QQ, there were only a few friends, and only one avatar was flashing.
Lin Feng opened the message sent by the person named "Tornado," which read: "How is it? Have you seen the pictures? What do you think?"
Li Mingsheng exclaimed upon seeing the picture, "This person must have posted it!"
Lin Feng nodded in agreement and sent a message using Wang Peng's QQ account: "Are you there?"