Ba ethnic group's bewitching charm - the executioner

Chapter 54

"Captain Qin, are you going home? It's the New Year, don't leave your wife alone at home all the time."

"I'm going back to the team to take a nap. I went to Xingxiutai with Ma Nan last night, but I lost him. I'm still worried about him." Qin Ge felt a little worried about Ma Nan when she thought of him.

Speaking of the Star Platform, Qin Ge remembered that Gao Wei was still sitting next to him. He had just mentioned that someone had carved something else on the Star Platform, but he hadn't finished speaking. So Qin Ge asked Gao Wei to continue.

“That symbol is definitely not something an ordinary person could carve. Putting aside the carving skills and the style of the Han-style stone carving, the meaning of the symbol itself is something that ordinary people cannot understand. Therefore, I am certain that the person who carved that pattern must be an expert,” Gao Wei said.

"Is there anything strange about that pattern?" Qin Ge asked.

Gao Wei didn't say anything, but took out a folded piece of Xuan paper from his bag, unfolded it, and revealed a rubbing: "This is the new pattern added to the Star Platform."

Qin Ge, who was driving, immediately pulled over to the side of the road and turned on the lights. He Lan, who was in the back seat, also leaned over.

"This set of patterns contains two elements. The little figure below has an animal face and a human body, and the two wavy lines at its feet are dragons. This little figure is Zhurong, the god of fire in ancient Chinese mythology."

Qin Ge vaguely remembered that half a year ago, Ma Nan had told him in detail about the names of the Five Emperors and their ministers. He remembered that Zhu Rong was the minister of Yan Di, the Southern Heavenly Emperor, and his magic weapon was a scale rod, which governed summer.

"The image shows Zhu Rong with his hands raised, holding an octagonal symbol. This octagonal symbol is called the eight-pointed star pattern, which has been discovered many times in various archaeological activities in China. It represents the rays of the sun and is also the prototype of the Bagua diagram. But even now, I still don't understand the purpose of carving this eight-pointed star pattern together with Zhu Rong."

"This octagonal shape doesn't resemble the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) at all," Qin Ge said, frowning.

The chrysanthemum pattern with flames found at Xu Wen's death scene led them to the Star Platform. The fire god Zhurong and this eight-pointed star pattern were clearly another clue; discovering its secrets might lead them to Ma Nan. But Ma Nan was not there; even this folklore expert couldn't understand the meaning of the pattern, let alone Qin Ge and He Lan.

"It has undergone an evolutionary process, just like modern writing. Compared to oracle bone script, it has changed a lot. The overall image of this octagonal star pattern is square with eight points extending outwards." Gao Wei didn't want to explain further. The police certainly wouldn't be interested in these archaeological matters; they wanted the answers, not the process.

“I think this pattern might refer to a certain place.” Qin Ge started the car again. “The chrysanthemum pattern at the scene of Xu Wen’s death was left to Chu Yan by Ba Rong. The Ba people speculate that it is related to those lost sacred objects. If they are right, then they must be forcing Ma Nan to help them find the treasure now.”

Gao Wei didn't know the story of the Ba people. When he heard the words "Ba people", he immediately perked up and wanted to ask something, but Qin Ge interrupted him: "I know you will definitely have a lot of questions. After this is over, I will have Ma Nan tell you."

Gao Wei was silent for a moment, then finally uttered a single word: "Okay."

The car continued on its way. It was past 11 p.m., and the roads were deserted. Occasionally, a car would pass by, its headlights so bright they were blinding. The girl they had found in Zhang Shanren's seaside house had been sitting quietly in the back, listening intently to the three of them talking. Suddenly, she said timidly, "Doesn't a square with eight corners look a bit like two squares put together?"

She was clearly referring to Gao Wei.

Gao Wei exclaimed in surprise, "Experts have reconstructed the eight-pointed star pattern in the Daxi culture. The two squares you mentioned placed together are exactly the method for drawing the eight-pointed star pattern."

Gao Wei glanced back at the little girl, seemingly puzzled as to how she knew these things. He then took out paper and pen from his bag, asked Qin Ge to turn on the light, and began to draw. After a while, he turned back and handed the finished drawing to the little girl:

■

The little girl took the map, examined it for a long time, and suddenly said, "Are you sure this map refers to a place?"

Qin Ge casually replied, "More or less, it shouldn't be wrong."

"Maybe I can tell where this is," the little girl said hesitantly.

Qin Ge was taken aback: "You know?"

“My job is to go to bars and nightclubs every night to promote a type of wine. Sometimes I’ll stay in one bar for several days, and sometimes I’ll go to several places in one night. That evening, I passed by a place and saw a bar’s sign, so I went in. I wanted to talk to the manager there about whether I could do promotions there that night. The deal didn’t go through because there were already three wine promoters there, so I never went there again.”

"Why are you so sure that place is related to this graphic?" Helan asked, puzzled.

“The building where the bar is located is quite unique. There’s a triangle protruding from the side facing the street, like here,” the girl said, pointing to one corner of the graphic. “Some hotels and guesthouses also have an overhanging eave in front of their doors, but it’s not this big. I was quite curious when I came out of the bar, so I paid special attention to it, and I found that there was also a triangle protruding from the other side of that building.”

Helan nodded, "If all four sides of that building protrude with such triangles, it will be exactly the same as this shape."

Upon hearing this, Qin Ge immediately interjected, "Do you remember the name of that bar?"

The girl in the back seat thought for a moment and said confidently, "Night Child Bar!"

The car sped into the night, entering the city half an hour later. At a fork in the road, Qin Ge dropped Gao Wei off, then had the young girl point the way. They quickly arrived at the building where the Night Child Bar was located. The building, only nine stories high, appeared very solid, with the four large characters "Duguang Building" on its facade. Standing on the front, a right-angled triangle protruded from the facade, shaped like a dot, with an entrance on each of the two right-angled sides. The Night Child Bar was right next to the right-hand entrance, its colorful neon sign displaying a crying child and the tagline: "We are all lost children."

Qin Ge got out of the car and told He Lan to take the car and the girl back to the team. He Lan firmly disagreed with Qin Ge going to the bar alone; if this really was the detective's hideout, it wouldn't be safe for him to go in alone.

He Lan is stubborn, and she's not with the team right now, so Qin Ge really can't do anything about her.

"What about her?" Qin Ge pointed to the little girl in the back seat of the car.

"Don't worry about me. I'll just treat you like a customer when I go in. Do whatever you want." The girl had become more at ease because she had helped the police solve the mystery of the eight-pointed star pattern. "Don't worry, I won't cause you any trouble, and I won't leave without saying goodbye. I know that running away now would only be asking for trouble."

The three of them went into the bar together.

The bar's decor surprised Qin Ge and He Lan. They were usually busy with work and didn't see going to bars as fashionable, unlike other young people. The bar was spacious, like stepping into a meticulously decorated street—the walls were abstractly painted with skyscrapers, ambiguous neon lights, and people walking at night; the seating was designed to resemble street corners, including benches, street gardens, back alleys, and even buses and sewers.

A waitress in a short skirt came over to guide them, and the three boarded a bus and sat down. Just then, Qin Ge's phone rang again. Looking at the number, it was just a few asterisks. Qin Ge didn't pay much attention; hiding one's number wasn't uncommon. He held the phone to his ear and casually said "Hello."

"Qin Ge, it's me," the voice on the other end said. "I'm Ma Nan."

Act V Ba Tribe Altar

Chapter 33

The images on the monitor had been gone for a long time, yet Baqi remained motionless in his wheelchair. His mask was off, and in the dim light, he looked indescribably grotesque and terrifying.

Everything went as Han Shan had expected, except that Ma Nan smashed the security camera in the house.

But this should be irrelevant now; after tonight, everything will be over. He will find out the whereabouts of the sacred object, and then, with Batu and the souls of so many of his unjustly deceased clansmen, he will return to his homeland.

He vowed never to return to the outside world in his life.

These days, he had witnessed far too much killing. Although Han Shan would give reasons why each person deserved to die, the overwhelming smell of blood often made him feel suffocated.

Thankfully, it's all coming to an end.

There was a knock at the door. He slowly put on the mask on the table, then turned his wheelchair to the door and opened it. Three burly men stood outside. Although they were dressed in ordinary clothes, their blue eyes gave them an air of otherworldly charisma, no matter where they were.

They are, of course, the only three shamans remaining in the Ba ethnic group today, named Wu Xian, Wu Pan, and Wu Zhen.