Ghost Stories

Chapter 34

When he arrived at the bureau, Li Mingsheng was already waiting for him. He only had time to greet Zhou Liang before Li Mingsheng pulled him into the car and drove away.

Li Mingsheng still looked haggard, it seemed he had been working very hard these past few days taking care of Qiqi.

In the car, Lin Feng asked, "Why didn't you call Qiqi?"

Li Mingsheng said, "I'm afraid she won't be able to resist the temptation if she sees blood!"

Lin Feng nodded and remained silent.

The car arrived quickly and stopped in front of the building. The two men got in and went upstairs together. It was a five-story building, and the apartment where the incident occurred was on the third floor, on the left. When they pushed open the door, there were several people standing inside. Seeing them come in, a policeman came over and said to Li Mingsheng, "No one disturbed the scene; leave it as it is!"

Li Mingsheng nodded approvingly and said, "Well done!" Then he said to Lin Feng, "Now it's up to you. There are only the victim's fingerprints and footprints in the whole house, and there are no other clues."

Lin Feng looked up at the corpse on the ceiling, which was nailed there in a spread-eagle position. The victim's mouth was wide open, and blood was still dripping from it. It was clear that a large steel nail was driven into each of the two palms and ankles.

Lin Feng looked at it for a while and said, "His neck didn't droop down, and there were no nails in his neck. The only nail was driven into his mouth!"

Lin Feng said to Li Mingsheng, "Tell them to bring the body down!"

Li Mingsheng immediately ordered his men to remove the body from the ground. Lin Feng whispered, "Have you found out where the deceased is from?"

Li Mingsheng nodded and said, "It's been confirmed, it's from your school!"

Lin Feng exclaimed in surprise, "Oh?" and asked, "Who?"

Li Mingsheng said, "Call him Liu Shenghu!"

Lin Feng exclaimed, "Ah!" "It's him?"

Li Mingsheng said, "What? Is there a problem?"

Lin Feng nodded and said, "I need to see how things go before I say anything!"

It took a lot of effort to get the body down from the ceiling, and the detectives and forensic doctors present were all sweating profusely.

Lin Feng glanced at the steel nails on Liu Shenghu's palm and ankle. The nails were more than an inch long protruding from the wounds. Lin Feng said, "These are special steel nails used in construction. Ordinary strength is not enough to drive them into the wall."

Li Mingsheng nodded and said, "That's why I asked you to take a look. Do you think it might be..."

Lin Feng clapped his hands and said, "That's easy. Just use a 'soul-summoning talisman' to summon the spirits and ask them. But you'll have to call Qiqi over!"

Li Mingsheng hesitated and said, "You can't handle it?"

Lin Feng said, "Summoning a spirit is very dangerous. What you summon might be the spirit we want to summon, or it might be a very dangerous vengeful ghost. If Qiqi were to do it, she would have a 90% success rate. Even if she accidentally summoned a vengeful ghost, it would be scared like a little lamb in front of her!"

Li Mingsheng thought for a while and said, "Okay!" Then he went out and called Qiqi, told her what happened, and then drove to pick her up.

Lin Feng stared blankly at the corpse, deep in thought. He'd known something was wrong the moment he entered. Nailing a body to the ceiling was no easy feat for one person. Even ten people couldn't accomplish it without leaving a trace, yet the house felt utterly devoid of any eerie atmosphere. Normally, after death, the spirit lingers near the body for a considerable time. Therefore, one should be able to sense the presence of a spirit near a corpse. But today, he saw neither the deceased's ghost nor sensed any eerie energy. This was definitely abnormal; otherwise, he wouldn't have asked Qiqi to perform a soul-summoning ritual.

Soon after, Qiqi and Li Mingsheng returned.

As soon as Qiqi came in, she frowned, sniffed hard, and said to Li Mingsheng, "Captain Li, you can tell them to transfer the case to the Special Investigation Division. Let your men go back first. Lin Feng and I will start working on the case!"

After Li Mingsheng chased away the reluctant criminal police officers and forensic doctors, he asked Qiqi, "How come you immediately assumed it was a special case as soon as you came in?"

Kiki sighed and said, "I smell the same scent as someone else!"

Lin Feng was shocked and said, "You mean the descendants of the devil?"

Qiqi nodded and said, "Yes, it seems he's also looking for me, maybe he has the same goal as me!"

Lin Feng stroked his chin and said, "Then why don't we summon the soul of the deceased and ask him? Then we'll know who it is."

Qiqi shook her head and said, "No need to confess. He's very meticulous and anticipated this move. With your ghostly eyes, you should be able to tell that there are no ghosts in this house. They've already been taken away by him!"

Li Mingsheng slumped down and punched the wall, saying, "What do we do now? We finally found someone like Qiqi, but he didn't even leave a trace. Where are we supposed to find him?"

Lin Feng laughed and said, "Captain Li, you're just worried sick. If you can't find this person, then don't look for him. He has the same goal as us, so why are you afraid he won't come looking for us?"

Li Mingsheng slapped his forehead and said, "Yes, yes!"

Lin Feng said, "Here's what we'll do. You and Qiqi go back and prepare in case that guy comes to attack you at any time. I'll go find the deceased's roommate and ask about the situation!"

Qiqi said, "Go and find out what's going on. Let Brother Li accompany me for a walk today!" With no outsiders around, Qiqi's way of addressing Li Mingsheng also changed.

Lin Feng, however, was unimpressed. What kind of time is this to be out on the street? What a troublesome woman.

Qiqi seemed to see what Lin Feng was thinking and said, "I went out to lure him out! Otherwise, if I stay at home all the time, he'll definitely know we're on guard, and who knows how long we'll have to wait!"

Volume 3, Ghostly Chapter 13, Illusion (2)

In the afternoon, Lin Feng went to school but couldn't find them. He asked Xiao Jie Jie and learned that those guys didn't have class that afternoon and had gone off somewhere to play. After telling Xiao Jie Jie what had happened, Lin Feng decided to go to the dormitory building to look for them and also check on Xiao Xue. However, he ran into the new department head when he came out. This newly appointed department head was very angry with Lin Feng, who was so inconsistent in his work. He lectured Lin Feng in the corridor for almost half an hour before letting him go. Xiao Jie Jie was amused for most of the day when she found out.

Lin Feng was furious after being lectured for so long by the department head with the pig-like face. When he arrived at the dormitory building, he pounded on Zhao Long's dormitory door so hard it shook the room.

There was a flurry of activity inside before the door was finally opened. Lin Feng went in and said, "What's going on? Why all the secrecy?"

When Wang Feng saw Lin Feng come in, he breathed a sigh of relief, closed the door, and said, "We were chatting with Xiaoxue and thought it was someone else, so we told her to hide first!"

Lin Feng nodded and asked, "Where's Xiaoxue?"

He had just finished speaking when Xiaoxue's voice rang out beside him: "Hello, Teacher Lin!"

Lin Feng looked up and saw Xiao Xue already beside him. Lin Feng nodded and said to Wang Feng and the others, "Liu Shenghu is in trouble, did you know?"

Wang Feng and the others tensed up and asked, "What happened?" Zhao Long, in particular, looked extremely nervous. He was afraid that something might have happened to Liu Shenghu, and it would be troublesome if it was caused by the yin energy he had planted.

Lin Feng said, "He's dead!"

The three of them looked up in disbelief and said, "What?"

Zhao Long, even more agitated, exclaimed, "How could he... how could he be dead?"

Lin Feng didn't tell them that Liu Shenghu had been nailed to death. He only said, "The police are still investigating, and the specific situation is very complicated. I came here to ask you about it!"

Liu Hong said, "No wonder Xu Zhi didn't come to class this morning. Liu Shenghu lives in his house, so he was probably called in to assist with the investigation!"

Wang Feng and Zhao Long were already sitting there, choking back tears, while Liu Hong appeared very strong, though his expression was sorrowful, he managed to hold back his tears.

Lin Feng comforted the three of them for a while, learned about Liu Shenghu's usual situation, and left after finding no valuable clues.

It was almost 7 p.m. when I got back. Winter days are particularly dark; it was nearly completely dark before 7 p.m. There weren't many pedestrians on the street.

Lin Feng walked alone on the sidewalk and called Li Mingsheng to inquire about the situation. The two had been wandering the streets all day without encountering any suspicious individuals. This puzzled Lin Feng; logically, Li Mingsheng should have been anxious, otherwise he wouldn't have done something like this. Yet, he had managed to refrain from following Qiqi, which was quite surprising. With Li Mingsheng's abilities, he would have definitely detected anyone following him; after all, the captain of the criminal investigation team wasn't just a figurehead.

What worried Lin Feng most was Zhao Long and his two companions. Their opponent had killed Liu Shenghu first, and any one of them could be next. Even Xiaoxue's situation was that guy's doing, but why would he do that? Lin Feng couldn't understand. He could have simply observed Qiqi secretly before making his move; making such a commotion now was just alerting the enemy.

After thinking for a long time, Lin Feng still couldn't come up with a suitable reason. Looking up, he realized he had unknowingly wandered into a small alley.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, puzzled, the lights in the alley suddenly went out, and a chill colder than ice and snow assaulted him. Lin Feng instinctively ducked, and a "whoosh" sounded in the air as something flew overhead. He looked up and saw a figure standing not far away.

It seemed someone was trying to attack him, so Lin Feng quickly walked towards the person. What should have been less than 50 meters was now impossible for him to catch.

Lin Feng sensed something was wrong. He turned around and saw the alley entrance not far behind him. He hesitated for a moment, then chased after the person again. But the situation was exactly the same as before; it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he was just standing still, and the person was still so far away.

Lin Feng knew he had encountered a master. There was no Yin energy around him. Could it be that he had encountered the legendary Zhou's "Shrinking Earth" technique? No matter how hard he chased, he was actually just standing still.

Lin Feng didn't dare linger and ran towards the alley entrance. Once outside, the snow-covered road was dimly lit. He saw the person in the alley still watching him.

Lin Feng considered for a moment, then took out his phone to call Qi Qi to come and check; maybe this guy was the person Qi Qi was looking for. When he looked up again after taking out his phone, there was no one there. The alley was empty; it was as if the person had never existed.

Unwilling to give up, he returned to the alley and walked from one end to the other, but there wasn't a single footprint on the ground. Lin Feng was very confused as to whether he was a human or a ghost.

When I got home, I was surprised to find that Li Mingsheng and Qiqi were there. I had called them when I left school and they were still at home.

Lin Feng said in surprise, "You guys are fast! You just made the call and you're here already?"

Li Mingsheng said, "What? Xiao Jie called us to come over for dinner. We've been waiting for you for ages. What were you doing? You're only coming back now!"

Lin Feng said, "What could I possibly do? After asking those kids, I left the school and came back in less than half an hour." As he spoke, Lin Feng's eyes fell on the time display in the upper right corner of the TV, which clearly showed nine o'clock.

How could this be? He was only delayed in that alley for a short while, and it was already nine o'clock. He checked his phone and it was also nine o'clock. Cold sweat trickled down Lin Feng's spine.

Xiao Jiejie brought the dishes out of the kitchen, glanced at the absent-minded Lin Feng, and said, "Just wait and see how I deal with you later!"

Li Mingsheng laughed at Lin Feng's expression, "You're not that scared, are you!"

Lin Feng shook his head blankly and said, "I've met a master!"

Qiqi asked, "What happened?"

Lin Feng then recounted what had happened in the alley.

Qiqi said, "Maybe that's the person I'm looking for, but why is he following you?" Qiqi thought for a while and said, "That's right, maybe he's not confident in dealing with me, so he wants to kill you first and absorb your spiritual power. That way, dealing with me will be much easier. That must be it!"

Lin Feng was startled and asked, "What should we do then?"

Kiki said, "As long as we're careful, there shouldn't be any problems. Even I'm not entirely confident against you. The fact that he only resorted to sneak attacks means he's not certain of victory against you head-on either."

The three exchanged a few words, and Xiao Jiejie had already served all the dishes. Everyone started talking about lighthearted and cheerful things as soon as they picked up their chopsticks, so Lin Feng didn't dwell on it. Although Xiao Jiejie was saying some harsh things, she kept putting food on Lin Feng's plate with her chopsticks.

Volume 3, Ghostly Chapter 14, Illusion (3)

Lin Feng was overwhelmed with questions and lost his appetite. After a hasty meal, he sat down to watch TV and smoke. Only after finishing did he realize he only had one cigarette left. He got up, greeted Li Mingsheng, put on his clothes, and went out to buy more.

Once he stepped outside, he felt as if the air itself was being sucked away, drawing all the heat from his body. He cursed the awful weather under his breath before heading downstairs.

Stepping out of the building, the humid air invigorated him. He went to buy cigarettes, only to find a thick fog had rolled in.

Lin Feng was a little puzzled. The whole process of him going into the store to buy cigarettes took no more than two minutes. But in that short time, a thick fog rolled in. The fog was so thick that visibility was definitely no more than five meters.

But in the thick fog, he saw a figure standing not far ahead of him. Lin Feng didn't give chase; he wasn't sure if this person was the same one from that afternoon. Besides, even if he did chase, he might not be able to catch up; perhaps this fog was his doing.

Lin Feng felt uneasy and lit another cigarette. He took out his phone and checked the time: 10:30. Then he dialed home. The figure remained standing there motionless, seemingly locked in a struggle with Lin Feng. Lin Feng also stood still, waiting for Qi Qi to appear. With Qi Qi's keen eyesight, she could see who it was even in such thick fog.

But suddenly the thick fog dissipated rapidly, much to Lin Feng's surprise. He looked around and saw that the person had vanished. In the distance, Qiqi and Li Mingsheng were hurrying towards them.

Lin Feng rubbed his temples, pondering everything. It seemed that guy was targeting him. Qi Qi had told him she sensed it; that person was like her. But why was he tracking Lin Feng while ignoring Qi Qi? He couldn't understand it. Did he not possess the same sensory abilities as Qi Qi?

Lin Feng was so confused and overwhelmed by all of this that he was almost going crazy. But the next phone call made him realize that things were not so simple.

The call was from Wang Feng. After dinner, Zhao Long suddenly developed a fever, and small red spots appeared all over his body. These spots began to rot rapidly, and since they were afraid to take Zhao Long to the hospital, they called Lin Feng first to ask for his help.

When Zhao Long arrived at the dormitory, he looked flustered but not dejected. Wang Feng and Liu Hong, however, dared not approach him, fearing it might be some terrible infectious disease.

Lin Feng went to Zhao Long's bedside. Except for his face, almost every part of Zhao Long's exposed body was covered in small, swollen spots. Some had already begun to ulcerate, festering into tiny holes from which blood seeped, soaking the entire bedsheet.

Qiqi, who followed, was not afraid of being infected at all. She picked up Zhao Long's hand and looked at it carefully.

"Is there anything that feels uncomfortable on your body?" Qiqi asked.

"No, I don't even feel any pain where I'm bleeding!" Zhao Long replied.

"Oh!" Apart from her own strength, Qiqi was not proficient in spells and magic, so she couldn't get anything out of him. She could only look at Lin Feng for help.

Lin Feng had no choice but to say, "Although I don't know what it is, let's try it first!"

He took out a talisman and stuck it on Zhao Long's chest, then placed another talisman at the head and foot of his bed. Then he told Zhao Long, "Rest well, I'll come again tomorrow!"