Las lágrimas de Guanyin

Capítulo 7

Upon entering the ward, Bai Yue's expression changed drastically; she was instantly terrified. She immediately noticed the blanket covering Zhao Guihua and the sinister blue skull on Zhao Guihua's forehead.

Bai Yue's unusual reaction surprised everyone. Chen Feng pondered for a moment, then pointed to the blood-stained blanket and asked Bai Yue:

"Miss Bai, is this blanket from Xiao Huan's hospital room?"

Bai Yue nodded slightly, her face was very pale, and her body seemed to be trembling slightly.

Do you know how this blanket got here?

“That, that child…” A hint of fear seemed to flash in Bai Yue’s eyes, and her voice trembled slightly. After a while, she shook her head again, “I, I don’t know how this blanket got here, I really don’t know.”

As she spoke, Bai Yue staggered out of the ward and into the corridor, where she leaned against the wall and began to sob softly.

Chen Feng knew that Bai Yue must have suffered a great shock, and was currently very nervous and emotionally fragile, so it wasn't advisable to continue questioning her. Therefore, he asked the hospital director to take good care of Bai Yue and to question her another day. The director nodded and instructed two nurses to help Bai Yue up to the fourth floor.

The forensic doctor has conducted a final examination of Zhao Guihua's body and determined that her cause of death was a sudden heart attack caused by excessive fright.

No one knows what terrifying thing Zhao Guihua saw last night, but one thing is certain: it must have been extremely frightening.

At this moment, Chen Feng suddenly remembered Lin Yongfu's death. Forensic examination revealed that Lin Yongfu had also witnessed something terrifying before his death, suffering a severe mental shock. Preliminary investigations suggest that Lin Yongfu suddenly saw something horrifying that night, causing severe psychological trauma that led to mental instability. In a state of irrationality, he cruelly strangled his daughter-in-law, Zhang Yuling, before hanging himself…

Chen Feng stared at the menacing blue skull on Zhao Guihua's forehead for a long time, then ordered the forensic doctor to take the bloodstained blanket back to the police station for further examination, including fingerprint identification.

"Dean, please preserve Zhao Guihua's body for the time being. In case of any complications, please contact the police immediately."

“Okay.” The dean nodded. “We will definitely report any developments to the police.”

After bidding farewell to the dean and others, Chen Feng hurriedly went downstairs with a group of entourage and drove back to the police station.

Section 4 Strange Handprints

At 3 PM, Chen Feng saw Lin Qiu and Bai Yue off. He closed his office door and began reviewing Bai Yue's statement. He believed Bai Yue's account was true. Based on Bai Yue's account, the matter wasn't directly related to her; the most suspicious person at the moment was the mysterious woman in blue.

Another inexplicable detail is Bai Yue's dream. If the dream was real, then the little boy is indeed puzzling. Why would a child of about ten years old appear in the hospital ward in the middle of the night? What is his relationship with the woman in blue? Are they mother and son? Why did he say he was an orphan? If the dream was just a dream, then why did the blanket inexplicably end up in room 207? And whose blood is on the blanket…?

Tap—tap—tap—

Just then, a knock on the door interrupted Chen Feng's thoughts. He got up and opened the door; it was his assistant, Xiao Yang.

"Xiao Yang, is something the matter?"

"The forensic fingerprint analysis results are in."

As Xiao Yang spoke, he took a document out of his briefcase and placed it on Chen Feng's desk.

"Oh, you tell me first."

"A total of three people's fingerprints and two people's handprints were found."

"Two people's handprints?" Chen Feng immediately sensed something was amiss, and a puzzled expression appeared on his face. "What does this mean? Explain it in more detail."

"According to the forensic examination, there are three fingerprints on the blanket, confirmed to belong to Bai Yue, Xiao Huan, and Zhao Guihua." Xiao Yang paused, then continued, "Besides these three fingerprints, the forensic examiner also found two other handprints on the blanket, one large and one small. According to the forensic examination, the larger one is a woman's handprint, and the smaller one is a little boy's handprint. What's puzzling is that neither of these handprints contains fingerprints!"

"Fingerprints without fingerprints?!" A look of surprise flashed across Chen Feng's face. "So, these are two people without fingerprints?"

"Yes, they didn't have fingerprints. Even the forensic doctor was very surprised. It's unbelievable that there are people in this world who don't have fingerprints!"

"Do you have a photo of the handprint?"

"have."

As Xiao Yang spoke, he quickly turned on his computer and pulled up photos of the two handprints. The photos had been digitally processed and looked extremely clear. Chen Feng examined the two handprints closely. No matter how he looked at them, the two handprints, one large and one small, were undeniably human. From the photos, the two handprints appeared exceptionally smooth, without any fingerprints or even palm prints!

Looking at the two strange handprints, Chen Feng was completely baffled. Could there really be people in this world without fingerprints? This was simply unheard of! This meant that besides Bai Yue and the other two people who had touched the blanket, two other mysterious people had also touched it—two people without fingerprints!

Chen Feng frowned, pacing anxiously around the room. A sudden, inexplicable fear gripped him; he had never felt anything like it before. He was even certain that the two people weren't human.

What exactly are they? Are they ghosts? Are they spirits? Perhaps, this is the only explanation.

Chapter 5 An Orphan

midnight.

A window suddenly opened, and a gust of cold wind blew in.

He came again, neither late nor early, at the same time every night. His youthful face was dark and grimy, his clothes thin and tattered, and he shivered uncontrollably from the cold…

Bai Yue has been having the same dream for the past few days. Almost every night she dreams of a little boy who cries and tells her about his tragic past. He says he's an orphan, his parents were killed by bad people, and he's now wandering around, without food or clothes, and is often bullied...

He started to pour out his heart again, and Bai Yue always listened patiently. She felt sorry for the child, and if it weren't for the dream, she would definitely have taken him to the orphanage and taken good care of him.

After an unknown amount of time, Bai Yue suddenly felt a chill. She woke up and found that the quilt had fallen to the floor, and Lin Qiu was nowhere to be seen beside the bed. Bai Yue felt something was amiss. She sat up, turned on the bedside lamp, and suddenly noticed that one of the windows in the room was open, and a draft was blowing in. She quickly got out of bed, picked up the quilt, and then closed the window again.

Where did Lin Qiu go? Did she go to the restroom?

Looking at the empty bed beside her, Bai Yue felt a slight unease. She put on her coat and prepared to go to the living room to check on things.

Just then, Lin Qiu pushed open the door and walked in.

"Lin Qiu, where did you go just now?"

Bai Yue stared at him and asked.

Lin Qiu didn't speak. He closed the door and sat back on the bed. Bai Yue noticed that his expression was rather unpleasant.

After a moment of silence, Lin Qiu suddenly asked Bai Yue curiously:

"Bai Yue, did you hear that just now?"

"What did you hear?"

Bai Yue's face was blank.

"Just now, I think I heard a child talking."

"A child? Talking?"

Bai Yue's face instantly showed surprise.

"Hmm. He kept talking, I listened for a long time, but I couldn't understand what he was saying." Lin Qiu's body trembled slightly, whether from nervousness or cold. He pulled the blanket over himself and continued, "Just now, I got up and went outside to check, but there was no one there. Strange, where would a child come from in the middle of the night?"

"You...you must have misheard me."

Bai Yue looked at Lin Qiu nervously. Suddenly, she remembered the dream she had just had. So, Bai Yue told Lin Qiu about the strange dream she had been having these past few days.

Could it be the child from my dream? Bai Yue didn't believe it; it was just a dream.

Lin Qiu shook his head, his face growing increasingly grim. He stared blankly out the window and murmured:

"No, that was definitely not a dream."

...

The next day, Bai Yue arrived at the orphanage at eight o'clock as usual. The children were already up and eating breakfast.

Suddenly, Bai Yue noticed a strange little boy among the children. He seemed vaguely familiar, yet she had never seen him before. Bai Yue knew all the children in the orphanage intimately; who was this little boy? When did he arrive?

Just then, the orphanage director arrived. Bai Yue quickly pulled the director aside, pointed at the little boy, and whispered:

"Dean, was that little boy just brought in?"

"Yes, he was brought in early this morning. The little guy is ten years old and has lost both his parents. He's quite pitiful."

As the dean spoke, he shook his head, a look of pity on his face.

"Who brought him in?"

“A woman in her thirties said she met the child on her way to the city, and seeing how pitiful he was, she took him into the city and brought him here.”

"What's his name?"

"Child Star".

The dean left after he finished speaking.

Bai Yue carefully examined the little boy and noticed that he looked somewhat similar to the little boy in her dream; no wonder he seemed so familiar. The little boy was also looking at Bai Yue, and Bai Yue noticed that his gaze was rather strange.

Bai Yue walked over and stood in front of the little boy. The little boy seemed to know Bai Yue well; he stared at Bai Yue's face without any shyness.

Bai Yue squatted down, took the little boy's hand, and asked kindly:

"Little friend, what's your name?"

"My name is Tong Xingxing."

The little boy's voice was a bit hoarse, and Bai Yue found it somewhat jarring, not like the voice of a ten-year-old child.

"Sweetie, this is your home from now on. If anyone dares to bully you, just tell Auntie, okay?"

The little boy nodded, his eyes still fixed on Bai Yue. Bai Yue always felt that his gaze was strange, and she had an uncomfortable feeling about it.

Since that little boy came to the orphanage, Bai Yue has never had that strange dream again. After observing him for a few days, Bai Yue discovered that the little boy named Tong Xingxing was very withdrawn. He didn't talk much and didn't play with the other children; he always stayed by himself.

This afternoon, Bai Yue happened to notice Tong Xingxing tinkering with something by himself, looking very focused. Curious, Bai Yue quietly went over and discovered he was carving something with a knife.

"Star, what are you doing?"

Tong Xingxing was startled by Bai Yue's voice. He turned around and looked at Bai Yue with a nervous expression. Bai Yue glanced at what he was holding. He was carefully carving a small piece of wood, about the size of a fist, with a knife. Although it was not yet fully formed, Bai Yue could vaguely make out its shape. It seemed that he was carving a human head.

Bai Yue squatted down and picked up the small piece of wood to examine it carefully. Suddenly, her expression changed drastically, and a sense of fear rose in her heart. Her hand holding the small piece of wood trembled slightly involuntarily.

Bai Yue finally saw clearly that what Tong Xingxing had carved was not a human head, but a human skull...

Chapter Six: Who is the Murderer?

Bai Yue's mood had plummeted during this period, and Tong Xingxing's strange behavior was causing her great distress. She couldn't understand why he, at such a young age, would carve such terrifying things as human heads and skulls. Furthermore, the way he looked at people and the way he spoke always gave off a strange feeling, not at all like a ten-year-old child. Even more perplexing, according to her colleagues on duty, Tong Xingxing often got up alone at night and ran outside to cry; the crying was extremely frightening and chilling.

Bai Yue didn't know when it started, but she unconsciously developed a feeling of fear and disgust towards Tong Xingxing. Whenever Tong Xingxing looked at her with that strange gaze, she felt flustered and a nameless fear gripped her. Sometimes, she even had terrifying hallucinations of strangling Tong Xingxing to death in anger, and these hallucinations seemed to be getting worse. However, Bai Yue herself was unaware of this; she just felt that she was growing increasingly disgusted with Tong Xingxing and wished he would disappear from the orphanage as soon as possible.

The orphanage operates on a rotating shift system, with two people usually working together for a week. This week, it was Bai Yue's and another colleague, Liu Qian's, turn to work. Liu Qian is a rather shy girl; she's a vocational school graduate and has only been working at the orphanage for a little over two months. Bai Yue really likes this gentle and quiet younger sister and takes good care of her at work; the two are very close.

Since Tong Xingxing arrived, the orphanage had been filled with unease, leaving even the director at a loss. Bai Yue and Liu Qian were both afraid of Tong Xingxing, so during their shifts, they dared not sleep alone and slept together every night. Strangely, for several days in a row, Tong Xingxing showed no unusual behavior, and they hadn't heard him cry at night. Bai Yue and Liu Qian's worries gradually subsided.

Today is Friday, and it's also Bai Yue and Liu Qian's last day on duty. That evening, after putting the children to bed, they returned to their dormitory. Bai Yue's mind kept replaying the look Tong Xingxing had given her earlier, and a feeling of unease welled up inside her.