Ba ethnic group's bewitching charm - the executioner

Chapter 38

“I told you, you may never have the chance to take revenge on me. In fact, your life is in my hands, so what’s the point of talking about revenge?” the executioner said mockingly. “But I don’t want your life. I just want you to kill a few people for me. I promise you, when everything is over, I will definitely release you and Yang Mei.”

"Why should I believe you?" Yang Zheng said angrily.

"Because you have no other choice!"

Yang Zheng remained silent, his chest heaving, clearly struggling with a difficult decision. In truth, when the detective ordered him to kill the household registration officer, he knew he would inevitably comply. This detective was meticulous and had painstakingly orchestrated everything, leaving him no way out. Moreover, Yang Zheng knew that he actually wanted to kill that policeman.

"The policeman is in a room outside, the door is open. Yang Mei and the policeman's fate are now in your hands." The detective's voice was soft and powerless, but Yang Zheng's heart trembled upon hearing it.

He couldn't let Yangmei go through that kind of pain again, no matter what.

Therefore, he had to kill the police officer in charge of household registration.

Yang Zheng didn't think for long before slowly turning around and leaving the room.

"I still don't understand what the connection is between sending Yang Zheng to kill people and our search for the sacred artifact," Ba Qi said, staring at Yang Zheng's back on the monitor.

Han Shan hesitated for a moment, then slowly uttered a name.

——Longyang.

Ba Qi was taken aback, because this Long Yang was none other than the previous generation's great shaman of the Ba tribe.

Longyang played a crucial role in Ba Rong's successful theft of the sacred object of the Ba tribe. The two guardian deities who were watching over the object recalled that only two people from the tribe had visited the shrine where the object was kept a few days before the theft.

The place where the sacred objects are stored is not within the area where the tribe lives, and it is usually guarded by two professional priests.

The priests are the most hardworking members of the tribe, spending most of their time in the ancestral hall and having very little contact with other tribespeople. Therefore, it's unclear when it started, but the position of priest is often held by a husband and wife, so at least they can live a normal life and support each other.

On this day, two guests suddenly arrived at the ancestral hall. Both were highly respected leaders of the tribe, so the two priests did not suspect them. Later, when the two priests discovered the sacred object was missing, they couldn't recall what had happened that day. Meanwhile, Batu couldn't find any trace of the two tribesmen who had gone to the ancestral hall that day throughout the entire tribe.

It is now very clear that it was those two clansmen who stole the sacred object.

The two priests couldn't recall what happened that day, because one of the two tribesmen was a master of witchcraft, helping those whose souls had been taken by wandering ghosts to summon their spirits back. Of course, he could also captivate people's souls, causing them to lose their true nature.

He is Longyang, the great shaman of the Ba ethnic group.

Later, when Ba Rong plotted to lure and kill the Ba people, it was Long Yang again who sealed Ma Nan's memories. Ma Nan deciphered the code in the jade artifacts and returned to the border town. The aging Long Yang regained his memories, and Ma Nan finally remembered that Ba Rong had once told him about the whereabouts of those Ba sacred objects.

Although it was eventually proven that it was all a trap set by Ba Rong, the fact remains that Long Yang can seal people's memories.

The term "shaman" seems distant to modern people, but in reality, not only the Ba people, but also many ethnic minorities in southwestern China still have shamans. Their main duties are threefold: practicing witchcraft, exorcising spirits, and presiding over various sacrificial ceremonies. If we must explain Longyang's sealing of Ma Nan's memories from a scientific perspective, it can only be attributed to a form of hypnosis.

Some view hypnosis as hacking into the human brain, with skilled hypnotists able to alter the levels of consciousness. If it transforms your conscious mind into the subconscious, then to some extent, you lose that memory. However, it doesn't truly disappear; it simply exists in your subconscious, beyond your perception, and can be awakened in certain situations.

Han Shan's mention of Long Yang at this time was certainly intentional, and Ba Qi vaguely sensed it as well, but he wasn't sure: "Are you saying that Long Yang used the same method to leave the whereabouts of the sacred object in Yang Zheng's memory?"

"Yang Zheng's situation is clearly much more complicated than Ma Nan's. Ma Nan is a normal person; Long Yang simply sealed his memories. But Yang Zheng has a dual personality, with two selves existing simultaneously in one body, one dominant and the other dormant. These two selves each maintain their own integrity and are generally unaware of each other's existence. However, some people are exceptions; they can switch between different personalities, manifesting as a denial of the other personality, believing themselves to have become someone else. Yang Zheng clearly belongs to this category."

Han Shan frowned and pondered for a moment, then said, "I suspect that Long Yang did not seal Yang Zheng's memories, but rather that he helped Ba Rong hide the whereabouts of the sacred object in another personality of Yang Zheng."

Although he had some premonition, Ba Qi was still taken aback by what he heard. Han Shan's idea, while somewhat absurd, was entirely feasible upon closer examination. Long Yang, as the high shaman of the Ba tribe, naturally possessed supernatural powers beyond ordinary people. He could seal Ma Nan's memories, and naturally, he could awaken the dormant personality within Yang Zheng. When Ba Rong allowed the other personality to dominate Yang Zheng's consciousness, he told him the whereabouts of the sacred object, and then Long Yang allowed that personality to fall asleep again.

Now, Ba Qi finally understood why Han Shan had gone to such lengths to arrange for Yang Zheng to commit murder. However, he still had one question: how did Han Shan know all this?

Han Shan's answer was unusually concise; he then mentioned another person's name.

—Russell.

This was a name that Baqi had never heard before, so he was a little puzzled, but he didn't ask.

Han Shan, who was standing nearby, sighed and said, "Luo Suyun is Yang Zheng's mother. She is still lying in a mental hospital in that small city. You know, many mental patients talk nonsense all day long, and Luo Suyun is no exception. I bribed the doctor in that hospital and got her medical report. The report recorded some of her crazy ramblings, and one sentence in particular caught my attention."

Ba Qi stared at Han Shan, knowing that what he was about to say would be of great importance.

"The devil is guarding the treasure," Han Shan said heavily. "That's the sentence that appears most frequently in Luo Suyun's crazy ramblings."

Ba Qi remained silent. Now, he knew where the demon was—it was inside Yang Zheng's body.

Chapter 24

A woman lay on the small boat. She had fair skin and a pretty face. She wore a wide white robe and her long hair was draped over her shoulders. She looked like she was asleep.

Qin Ge had no time to care about the woman; he clung to the gunwale, searching for the explosives that were about to detonate.

There was nothing on the ship except women.

Qin Ge realized he had fallen into a trap and was furious. Jumping off a cliff into the sea and swimming with all his might to the boat was an incredibly arduous task. Moreover, it was the dead of winter, the seawater was icy cold, and Qin Ge hadn't even had time to put on his clothes before falling in. He was already soaked to the bone.

He climbed onto the small boat, still panting heavily. His arms and legs felt like they no longer belonged to him, limp and powerless. He simply lay down on his back to try and regain some strength. He turned his head and saw the woman's face. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing was steady; she was clearly unconscious.

Qin Ge thought, she must be Chu Yan.

Qin Ge was very close to Ma Nan and knew a great deal about what Ma Nan had gone through six months ago. Therefore, although he had never met Chu Yan, he was not unfamiliar with her. He knew everything that had happened to her.

Qin Ge had no interest in the feud between Ba Rong and the Ba people; he only knew he had to solve the series of murders that were unfolding. It was now confirmed that the detective was indeed a member of the Ba tribe; they had captured Chu Yan, but now they were sending her back. Although the situation was very strange, it was at least a clue for the police to solve the case.

Qin Ge began to shiver, his body growing colder and colder. He knew he had to row the boat to shore as soon as possible and find a way to warm up. Just as he stood up, he suddenly became alert—he hadn't swum to the boat within three minutes, but there were no explosives on the small boat. Could it be that the Ba people had arranged all this just to play a joke on Ma Nan?

So, what is their real intention in doing this?

Qin Ge quickly came to a conclusion—separate him from Ma Nan. Perhaps the Ba people already knew that Ma Nan was not a good swimmer, and Qin Ge would definitely go to rescue Chu Yan in his place, thus leaving Ma Nan alone on the cliff.

So, isn't Ma Nan in a very dangerous situation now?

Qin Ge took out his phone; the screen was black, presumably because it had been soaked in water and was no longer usable.

Qin Ge, disregarding his still-exhausted body, immediately began rowing towards the shore. Because Xingxiu Terrace was located on the side of a cliff, he had to first get the boat to the beach. At this moment, a pale blue dawn was appearing on the horizon, wisps of light swirling across the sea. In the distance, Qin Ge could already see figures moving on the beach ahead; they were either beach staff or elderly people from nearby villages doing their morning exercise.