Las lágrimas de Guanyin

Capítulo 13

Around nine o'clock, Lin Qiu unexpectedly ran into Yang Jian downstairs as he went out. Seeing Lin Qiu come out, Yang Jian smiled and greeted him.

Good morning, Reporter Lin.

"Hello, Officer Yang. Did you come to see me?"

“I was here all night last night.”

"You've been here all night?" Lin Qiu asked, somewhat surprised. He glanced at Yang Jian's slightly tired face and asked, puzzled, "Why? Did something happen?"

"As long as you are safe and sound, that's all that matters. I was ordered to protect you secretly last night."

"Thanks."

Lin Qiu gave a bitter smile, a wave of indescribable sorrow washing over him.

"Don't worry, the police will do their best to protect your safety." At this moment, Yang Jian's expression suddenly became somewhat serious. "The murderer may be right next to you, so you need to be very careful."

Lin Qiu remained silent, only nodding quietly.

"Alright, you can go to work now. I need to go back to the police station. If you're free this afternoon, I'd like to talk to you about a few things, is that alright?"

"Okay, see you this afternoon."

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Qiu arrived at Yichun Teahouse and saw that Yang Jian was already waiting there.

"Lin Qiu, the reason I asked you to come out today is to ask you about your move back then and some things about your parents' generation."

Lin Qiu nodded.

"Could you tell me why you moved back then?"

“I was only nine years old when we moved. My parents never told me the reason for the move.” Lin Qiu took a sip of tea and said slowly, “Because I was young at the time, I didn’t understand anything. I just heard the adults say that our old home was haunted and we couldn’t live there anymore.”

"Haunted? Could you elaborate?"

Yang Jian's spirits lifted, and his voice became somewhat hurried.

So Lin Qiu recounted in detail to Yang Jian the haunted stories he remembered from his hometown. Afterwards, he voiced his own lingering doubts:

"I suspect that the series of strange events that have happened recently are very likely related to the haunting incident in my hometown. That mysterious woman in blue might just be the blue-clad female ghost from my hometown."

After listening to Lin Qiu's account, Yang Jian fell into deep thought. After a long while, he slowly said:

"It seems that the complexity of the case far exceeds my expectations."

"Could it be that the recent events are really related to the ghost story from more than 20 years ago?"

“Not only is it related, but it’s extremely important.” Yang Jian’s face was solemn, his eyes sharply fixed on Lin Qiu. “Perhaps behind this series of cases lies some major secret. What that secret is, we don’t know yet. But what we do know is that it’s a very terrifying secret!”

Upon hearing Yang Jian's words, Lin Qiu gasped, his heart sinking to the bottom, a sense of unease and fear creeping over him.

After a moment of silence, Yang Jian continued:

"Lin Qiu, can you tell me about your parents' generation?"

"Okay." Lin Qiu nodded. "I will tell you the truth as long as I know it."

“According to our investigation, among the three missing people, Zheng Ansheng and Lin Wenrui’s fathers both committed suicide, and although the cause of death of Lin Wangchou’s father, Lin Yongfu, is still unknown, it is highly likely that he also committed suicide.” Yang Jian paused, then continued, “Why did they commit suicide? It’s a very perplexing mystery. And your father, it is said, also had a very unhappy life before his death, right?”

“You’re right, that’s something I’ve never been able to understand either. My father was indeed always depressed and seemed to never be happy. He also often had nightmares at night, as if he was suffering from a kind of spiritual torment his whole life, and he was still suffering from this pain on the day he died.”

Do you know what kind of pain that is?

“I don’t know. He’s never told me anything, not even a single word.” Lin Qiu shook her head gently, her voice tinged with sadness. “Even my mother doesn’t know what’s on his mind.”

After a brief silence, Yang Jian continued:

"So, do you know anything else about your parents' generation?"

Lin Qiu thought about it carefully for a moment, and then said:

"There's something that I find very strange."

"What's up?"

“When Lin Yongfu was still alive some time ago, I went to their house one day and Lin Yongfu suddenly asked me a very strange question.”

What did he ask you?

"He asked me if my father had said anything to me before he passed away."

"oh."

At this point, Yang Jian suddenly remembered something, and he quickly stood up and said:

"Lin Qiu, thank you. Let's stop here for today. I have something to take care of right away."

"All right."

"Let's talk again next time. Goodbye."

After leaving the teahouse, Yang Jian hurriedly returned to the police station and gave Chen Feng a brief report on his investigation. At six o'clock in the afternoon, he quietly drove to Wenhao Village, preparing to investigate the Lin residence again at night.

He always felt that Lin Yongfu must have left something behind before he died.

Section Three: A Will

Night fell.

Night fell like a giant black net, quickly engulfing the entire Wenhao Village.

On a winter night in the suburbs, the wind was strong, and the air suddenly turned cold. The biting wind whistled through the treetops of the mountains, producing an eerie, howling sound. In the distance, the occasional uneasy barking of dogs could be heard. Apart from that, the entire village was deathly silent.

Around ten o'clock, Yang Jian quietly arrived at Lin Yongfu's house.

The entire house was pitch black. The branches of several old banyan trees behind the house stretched out in all directions, covering the entire courtyard. The branches swayed in the night wind, casting shadows and appearing eerie and mysterious.

Yang Jian noticed that the gate to Lin Yongfu's courtyard was not locked, just like last time; it was only ajar. He gently pushed the gate open, went inside, and then gently closed it again.

He found the door on the first floor still tightly locked. He glanced through the window, but the room was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything. So he went up to the second floor and found the door wide open. He hesitated for a moment, then went inside. The room was pitch black.

To avoid attracting attention, he didn't turn on the light, but instead switched on the flashlight he carried with him. Lin Wangchou's room, like last time, was half-closed.

He pushed open the door and shone his flashlight around inside. Strangely, the room was neatly arranged and clean, with no signs of clutter.

He clearly remembered that he had turned the room upside down last time, leaving it in a complete mess. Who had tidied up and cleaned it? Could Lin Qiu have been so meticulous? It seemed unlikely. Suddenly, a thought flashed through Yang Jian's mind: Could it really be that Lin Wangchou had returned?

Yang Jian carefully inspected the entire room, then gently closed the door again and went downstairs. He tried to unlock the door to the first-floor room, and suddenly a musty smell wafted out of the living room, creating a stark contrast with the atmosphere on the second floor. It seemed as if the first floor had been uninhabited for a long time, while the second floor was always occupied.

Suddenly, Yang Jian noticed that Lin Yongfu's door was also half-open. He pushed the door open and shone his flashlight around. He found the room to be very messy, as if something had just been ransacked. Some cabinets and boxes had been opened, and the floor was covered with clothes and other miscellaneous items.

Yang Jian was somewhat surprised. Who had been in this room? And what was their purpose? He carefully searched the room again but found nothing of value. However, he remained convinced that Lin Yongfu must have left something behind before he died.

After thinking for a while, Yang Jian found a small hammer and carefully tapped on the walls of the room. However, after checking all four walls, he still couldn't find a secret cabinet where he could hide anything.

After hesitating for a moment, he squatted down again and carefully tapped each tile on the floor. When he tapped one under the bed, the tile suddenly made an unusual sound. Yang Jian quickly pried open the tile and found that it was hollow underneath, with a small metal box inside.

Yang Jian opened the tin box and found a folded piece of paper inside. The paper was crumpled and yellowed, indicating that it had been stored for a long time.

He unfolded the paper, and there were a few lines of writing on it, crookedly made with a ballpoint pen:

I knew that day would eventually come. For years, I've had the same nightmare almost every night. My soul has never found peace, and I'm on the verge of a mental breakdown. Several times, I've considered ending it all like you, but I couldn't bear to leave my family behind. ...I haven't forgotten the solemn oath we swore. I will keep that secret forever, until the day I die...

Clearly, this is a suicide note left by Lin Yongfu before his death. The note was written at least five years ago and had been hidden under the floorboards under his bed.

Judging from the contents of the suicide note, it was clearly not written to his family. The "you" mentioned in the note are very likely the father of Lin Qiu, Zheng Ansheng, and Lin Wenrui.

Undoubtedly, this suicide note was extremely valuable, but what exactly did the "secret" mentioned in it refer to? Yang Jian was completely baffled.

After putting away the suicide note, Yang Jian left Lin Yongfu's house. He checked his watch; it was almost midnight.

After hesitating for a moment, Yang Jian strode off toward the west of the village.

He decided to go up the cemetery again.

Section Four: Secret Talk in the Cave

At midnight, the cemetery was filled with a thick, eerie atmosphere. The desolate graves looked exceptionally sinister and terrifying, and the surroundings were deathly silent.

A crescent moon appeared in the sky, coldly illuminating the graves covering the mountainside. Owls in the forest occasionally let out mournful cries, making the scene seem particularly desolate, eerie, and terrifying.

Yang Jian walked around the rows of graves and finally found Lin Wangchou's original grave. The grave was still there, but the tombstone was gone.

He was puzzled. He remembered that the tombstone was still standing in front of the grave when he last came. Where was it now? Who moved it?

He took the shovel he had hidden in the nearby weeds and began digging the grave. As he dug, he suddenly realized something was wrong; the coffin in the grave was nowhere to be found.

He dropped the shovel, took a breath, and gazed at the dark, dense forest in the distance, pondering what had happened and who had disturbed the grave.

The already dim moonlight now appeared even more hazy and eerie, casting dappled, dark shadows across the desolate cemetery. As the wind swept across the hillside, faint, mournful cries echoed, sending chills down one's spine.

Even the boldest man in Yang Jian couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

Suddenly, he spotted a figure in a grave mound not far ahead. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly and quietly approached. In the dim moonlight, the figure seemed to be wearing a blue dress, and her long, flowing hair was tousled and disheveled in the night breeze.

A woman in blue?!

Yang Jian's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly became a little nervous.

The figure was walking towards the woods west of the cemetery. Yang Jian dared not make a sound, holding his breath as he quietly followed her.

The woman seemed unaware that she was being followed, and hurried away without looking back. She quickly entered the dark forest.

Yang Jian followed closely into the forest. The woman didn't slow her pace at all; she continued hurrying forward through the woods. The forest wasn't large, and they emerged from it after about half an hour.

After leaving that forest, it was still a desolate wilderness. The woman then turned east.

Yang Jian noticed that the mountain road to the east was very rugged, and it seemed that there was a cliff over there.

The woman seemed very familiar with the area; her steps were effortless, turning east and west, going up and down slopes without any strain. Yang Jian, on the other hand, struggled greatly, nearly making a sound several times, and had to be extra careful. Fortunately, the woman didn't notice him.

After walking for about half an hour, sure enough, there was a steep cliff to the east. The woman walked towards the top of the cliff without slowing down her pace.

Because the mountain path was steep and Yang Jian was completely unfamiliar with the area, he fell further and further behind the woman. He dared not quicken his pace, afraid of making a sound and giving himself away. As the woman was about to disappear from his sight, he began to feel anxious.

The closer they got to the top of the cliff, the steeper the mountain path became, and the woman finally disappeared from Yang Jian's sight. Anxious, Yang Jian quickened his pace.

When they reached the top of the cliff, the woman had vanished.