Le tombeau de Qin Shi Huang

Chapitre 10

Sometimes, numbers, English words, or sentences are written in the blank spaces of the patterns. However, despite his fairly good English, Jian Xiang couldn't figure out what these words meant at all, and could only be certain that he couldn't find words like zi, ninib, or utuk in the dictionary.

Aside from the "Summary of Strange Events" discovered last night, there were no other records written in Chinese in Xia Yongyu's study. No address book, no letters, no business cards... Jian Xiang sat at the table, deep in thought for a long time, but couldn't think of any other directions for investigation.

He opened the window, letting the stuffy air escape from the study. The cool night breeze blew in, allowing Jianxiang to calm his troubled mind by facing the slightly chilly air.

If only I could find a medium and ask Xia Yongyu in person—this thought suddenly flashed through Jian Xiang's mind.

If a medium were found to perform a soul-summoning ritual for him, he would tell the whole truth. This was Xia Yongyu's dying wish. But where could Jian Xiang find another medium?

Jian Xiang stared blankly at the bookshelf before him, lost in thought. His gaze unexpectedly fell upon a book titled "Exploring the Personalities of Spiritual Mediums." He picked it up and flipped through it haphazardly, hoping to keep his hands occupied while he pondered. The first few chapters discussed famous spiritual mediums throughout history.

—Mrs. Piper was the most famous female psychic in late 19th-century America. In 1884, after giving birth to her first child at the age of 25, she received guidance from a psychic and gradually discovered her mediumistic qualities. As a child, she had been injured while skiing and fell into a coma. During her first trance-like state, she saw the same light waves she had seen during her skiing injury. These light waves were later considered messages of spiritual calling.

Mrs. Piper's personality type was impulsive and emotional. She was sentimental and often acted on intuition or whims in her daily life. She said she often had vague premonitions and inner warnings urging her to deal with difficult problems at hand. Therefore, Mrs. Piper initially rejected and feared her psychic abilities. But later, she completely believed in all the messages transmitted during her trances, finding them as pure and innocent as those of the psychics around her.

—During each psychic gathering, Mrs. Piper could quickly enter a trance state, and the ghosts controlling her body would appear. These ghosts were mostly deceased relatives and friends of the attendees, and even if they were complete strangers to Mrs. Piper, they could answer the questions posed by the attendees correctly. Only on a few occasions did evil spirits from the demon realm possess Mrs. Piper; she would no longer be kind and polite, but would become manic and furious, uttering obscene and threatening words, and the subsequent developments would be as uncontrollable as in the movie "The Exorcist."

For over two decades, psychic scholars in Britain and the United States have continuously studied the credibility of Mrs. Piper's psychic abilities. However, they have never found any evidence of fraud on her part. The British Society for Psychic Exploration has published numerous documents documenting her abilities, all providing conclusive evidence of her capacity to communicate with the spirit world.

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Reply [55]: In 1967, when British psychic Matthew Manning was only eleven years old, a series of strange events occurred in his home. At first, some of the decorations in his house changed their positions for no reason. For example, a small table was moved several meters away, and a silver wine glass was moved from the shelf to the floor. Although these could be explained as the pranks of a naughty child, later the strange events became more and more numerous and increasingly difficult to explain. In Manning's home, faint patting sounds, indistinct knocking sounds, as well as harsh creaking sounds and low voices could be heard in various corners day and night.

Later, he was endowed with an unusual artistic talent: the ability to paint automatically through psychic abilities. He painted works in the style of deceased artists such as Picasso and Monet. In his book *Chain Link*, Manning openly describes how he contacted the spirits of Picasso and other artists. He would hold a paintbrush, think wholeheartedly of a particular painter, and immediately enter a state of heightened consciousness and heightened emotions. He felt the brush in his hand move on its own, and soon a work remarkably similar to the style of a famous artist would appear, complete with an almost indistinguishable signature.

—All of Manning's friends unanimously described him as an honest and trustworthy man. They also mentioned his fervent veneration of deceased masters. Some psychic researchers believe that it was precisely because of his pure conduct and profound reverence for these great artists that his brainwaves were able to resonate with their frequencies, allowing their spirits to control Manning's hands and recreate their works.

—Pearl Curran, residing in St. Louis, Missouri, left a unique and significant mark on the history of spiritual exploration in the early 20th century. The spirit possessing her, who called herself Patience Worth, was the soul of a 17th-century English Dorset immigrant to America who was ultimately murdered by Native Americans. While psychic researchers cannot prove the existence of such a real person three hundred years ago, there is no doubt that Patience was a gifted writer.

—From 1913 onwards, through Curran's pen, Perlis wrote high-quality poetry and prose. Her historical novels showcased her rich knowledge of the details of ancient social life. Her literary works, seemingly from the spiritual realm, thus became a focus of attention. On the other hand, scholars, after extensive verification, have confirmed that Curran could not have obtained this knowledge privately.

—In a newspaper interview, Curran stated that when Perlis possessed her to write, she herself completely lost consciousness. Before losing consciousness, she often experienced inexplicable feelings of frenzy. "It's like taking cocaine and then throwing yourself into the sea and suddenly sinking," she said. This frenzy would stimulate her mental state to a state of heightened arousal. Through this electrifying euphoria, Curran's consciousness seemed to rise into the air, leaving her body, and her hands would type rapidly as if twitching, writing captivating stories.

—The psychic abilities of 19th-century Scottish psychic Daniel Douglas Home began with his foresight of the deaths of a close childhood friend and his mother. During a séance in London in 1873, he levitated for five minutes, and many witnessed him floating in through a window, circling the room, and then flying out again… Jian Xiang initially didn't pay much attention to the passages on the page, but he gradually became drawn in and focused on reading. These seemingly verifiable historical figures seemed to appear before him, constantly whispering in his ear, “This is all true…” telling him that Xia Yongyu indeed possessed psychic abilities, could summon Zhong Sizao's spirit, and could return to the world of the living with the help of another psychic.

However, Xia Yongyu certainly didn't know where to find another medium, otherwise he would have told Jian Xiang before he died. At the same time, from the books on the shelf, Jian Xiang gradually became certain that Xia Yongyu's summoning or hypnotic arts were entirely self-taught; he had no teacher or partners to discuss and study with.

As Jian looked at the black and white photograph of Pearl Curran in the book, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered something!

Photos. Yes, photos—those photos hanging in the darkroom downstairs.

Xia Yongyu made a living by extorting others, and his targets were all high-ranking officials and wealthy people. In other words, Jian Xiang was not entirely without clues about his actions before his death. Since he extorted others, there must have been at least one way of communication between him and his victims.

At least one possibility is that they made a ransom call. However, Jian Xiang obviously couldn't know Xia Yongyu's actions before his death just by contacting him by phone. He had to think further—the ransom call would definitely have discussed how to withdraw the hush money. Some people would be willing to choose direct bank transfer, but others don't like leaving any records of account transactions that are difficult to explain.

Such people will choose to trade personally.

Therefore, Jian Xiang could contact those who had been blackmailed to inquire about Xia Yongyu's whereabouts before his death. The more people he asked, the clearer his daily activities would become. Zhang Zhimei left Zhong Sizao at the end of February and left Xia Yongyu in mid-March. This meant that by finding out Xia Yongyu's whereabouts in early March, and combining this with Zhong Sizao's standardized invoices, the search area for Zhang Zhimei would be narrowed down.

Just as Jian Xiang was breaking through the bottleneck and preparing to go downstairs with renewed vigor, another idea suddenly negated this direction of investigation.

Yes, Jian Xiang could identify the socialites he had met a few times from the photos and personally inquire about Xia Yongyu's extortion. However, these photos involve extremely confidential privacy, and those people might not be willing to openly admit it. They might even suspect Jian Xiang's motives and mistakenly believe he is the next despicable detective attempting extortion.

Furthermore, most of these prominent figures are acquainted with high-ranking officers in the police force. While they might not be able to clearly explain the reasons for Jian Xiang's search, they could easily find another pretext to punish a junior detective in a precinct. This would not only make it more difficult for him to exercise his authority in the future, but would also arouse suspicion from his colleagues—especially Shao De.

There's no way. There's absolutely no way!

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Reply [56]: ...No, there's another way. That is—the photo itself!

Since Xia Yongyu intended to blackmail someone by taking photos, he needed to track them beforehand. The relative positions in the photos indicated where Xia Yongyu was standing. Therefore, knowing the location where the photos were taken, along with the time stamps, allowed one to trace his tracking route.

Xia Yongyu spends most of his time on stalking and photography. The place where he met Zhang Zhimei is very likely located along his work route!

Upon realizing this, Jian Xiangyi immediately put down the book "Exploring the Personality of Spiritual Mediums" and rushed out of the study. Before going downstairs, he looked back at the study door one last time, only then realizing that this study was actually Xia Yongyu's forbidden training ground for focusing on hypnosis, psychic communication, and soul summoning techniques.

Since the 29th, the Sanmin Precinct's investigation team for the Chung Szu-tsao murder case has been fully committed to identifying the unidentified body. Officers responsible for field searches carried photos of the unidentified male corpse and questioned people in the vicinity of the crime scene, attempting to clarify as quickly as possible where the man came from.

The investigation continued, focusing on Team Leader Gao's existing plans; they needed to find out Zhong Sizao's source of income. He remained indifferent, ignoring his colleagues' enthusiastic discussions about Xia Yongyu's true identity and the autopsy results, and accepted the task, speeding through the streets of Kaohsiung.

Zhong Sizao's bank account shows that he deposits over 20,000 yuan every month, but the date is not always the same, and the amount at the end of each month varies. This small amount is his means of livelihood, suggesting that although Zhong Sizao's income is regular, it is not due to working for any company and receiving a salary.

Jian Xiang had no interest in conducting the investigation; Zhang Zhimei's image kept replaying in his mind. He was utterly exhausted after returning home from the Xia family, but he found himself involuntarily taking out the DV tape and repeatedly playing Zhang Zhimei's images. Her smile and singing voice seeped into and intoxicated Jian Xiang's senses time and again.

Last night, I spent the entire night in Xia Yongyu's house organizing and classifying the more than one hundred photos used for blackmail, and patiently trying to deduce the possible locations where the photos were taken. I never imagined that this would be such a massive and arduous project. Relying solely on the blurry backgrounds, dim lighting, and ordinary interior furnishings of the photos, it was impossible to grasp any distinguishing features.

Furthermore, what frustrated Jianxiang even more was that Xia Yongyu mentioned in "Summary of Strange Events" that he had also tried to find Zhang Zhimei. Obviously, he must have already searched for the places where he and Zhang Zhimei met, as well as the places they often went on dates, regardless of where or how they met. Since he also came up empty-handed, it meant that Jianxiang's current investigation in this direction was just repeating the same mistakes.

Going to the street to compare the locations of the photos would undoubtedly be a waste of valuable time. Confirming the location of each photo doesn't necessarily allow us to deduce Xia Yongyu's actual tracking route. Since the tracking must be done discreetly, only Xia Yongyu himself knows the route he took.

Jian Xiang pondered deeply—what I'm doing now is all within the scope that Xia Yongyu already knows.

Zhong Sizao's shopping locations had no connection to Xia Yongyu's whereabouts. The two deceased, aside from both being Zhang Zhimei's boyfriends, lived in completely different worlds.

At 3:40 PM, Jian Xiang, his body weak, returned to the Sanmin Branch. This was the earliest deadline for the search team's field agents to return to headquarters to organize clues. Only two or three colleagues remained on duty at the station, and to Jian Xiang's surprise, Shao De was also there at this time.

"Xiao Zheng, you're back so early?"

“Hmm,” Shaode’s tone was very normal, but for some reason Jian Xiang felt as if he were receiving a block of dry ice from him and holding it to his chest: “Senior, are you free now? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

"What's up?"

"Things related to Zhong Sizao."

Jian Xiang was stunned.

He tried to maintain his composure as he spoke. "Oh? Tell me about it."

“It’s not convenient here,” Shaode said. “The other group members haven’t returned yet, let’s talk outside.”

"Good!"

The two men greeted the police officers at the entrance side by side, then stepped down the stairs, turned left, and walked to the parking shed outside the police station. Jianguo Road was bustling with traffic, and the cacophony of engine noise echoed and swirled in the air less than a meter between them.

Despite the noisy external environment, the inner world of these two outstanding criminal police officers was extremely cold and detached.

After a long silence, Shao De, who suggested talking outside, spoke first: "Senior, do you know who killed Zhong Sizao?"

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Reply [57]: "I don't know."

“You know.”

"Why?"

"Because it's you!"

Jian Xiang gritted his teeth and took a deep breath; the air in Kaohsiung was unusually polluted at that moment. He didn't want to immediately refute Shao De's accusations because he knew that at this moment, he had to strive to remain calm and build up his own defenses; he absolutely could not rashly accept provocation.

The pungent, foul fumes intensely stimulated Jian Xiang's olfactory nerves, instantly calming him down considerably.

What do you mean by that?

“I’ve identified you as the most suspicious person in this case,” Shaode said firmly. “Senior, but I don’t want to tell the team leader right away. I’d like to hear your explanation.”

"What explanation?"

"The motive for killing Zhong Sizao and that unidentified man."

“I have no motive,” Jian Xiang said coldly. “Besides, where is there any suspicion against me?”

“Last night, after you left the branch office, you didn’t go home immediately.”

Jian Xiang's heart skipped a beat. At that time, he had gone to Xia Yongyu's residence. "You were following me?"

"No. I noticed that you didn't have any intention of going home at the time."

"Ha! Shaode, I didn't know you had studied mind reading."

“I don’t have superpowers. However, during the investigation meeting, I noticed that you didn’t care at all about the details of tomorrow’s scheduled investigation work, and you left immediately after the meeting ended. This is not your usual style.”

Jian Xiang originally thought that since the route from the branch office to Xia Yongyu's residence was different from the route home, he would take a long detour to avoid arousing suspicion. He never expected to overlook such an important detail.

“In the past, whenever you encountered a major case, you would be very focused and dedicated to the investigation. Like the Mrs. Goh Red Rat case, you stayed in the apartment searching the whole time, not caring at all even if you didn't sleep all night.” Shaode’s tone shifted: “But your current behavior is as if you don’t care about any breakthroughs or bottlenecks in the case. In other words—you seem to know the inside story of the case very, very well!”

"No, it should be said that you yourself seem to have an unresolved problem, but it's in a different direction from what the team is working on. You've been in such a hurry because you want to solve this problem!"

You're overthinking it.

Shaode ignored this answer. "I have evidence. I called your house half an hour after you left the precinct. But you weren't home! Also, your aunt told me that you seemed to have come home the night before last. And the time you came in both nights was very strange—last night it was midnight. The night before last it was early morning."

"..." He overslept this morning and rushed to the branch office as soon as he got up, not even having time to eat the breakfast his mother had prepared. So, he had no chance to hear his mother mention the phone call.

“Senior, you weren’t even discharged from the hospital that day.” Shao De’s gaze sharpened. “Your brother is still in the army. Why were there other people in your house? The night before last, around the time of death of that unidentified male corpse in room 401, you really didn’t leave the hospital at all? Also, when I picked you up from the hospital yesterday, you were still asleep. I asked the nurse, and she said you had slept all day. Okay, if you stayed in the hospital to rest the night before last, why did you need so much sleep during the day?”

"That's right, you weren't on the fourth-floor hallway security camera footage, and the building manager's forgetfulness makes his testimony hard for the police to believe. But, security camera footage can be switched, and testimonies can be misinterpreted; that's not enough to prove you weren't in room 401!"

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Reply [58]: Jian Xiang was rendered speechless by Shao De's sharp reasoning, but he still tried to turn the tables. "Shao De. Even if my behavior was abnormal, even if I went home, that does not prove that I am the murderer of the unidentified male corpse! You raised questions, but you did not have any concrete evidence. You can suspect that I left the hospital without permission that night, but you cannot conclude that I went to Room 401 based solely on that."

Shaode took a breath and said, "Yes, you're right. It's fine if you don't want to reveal your whereabouts these past two nights."

Up to this point in the conversation, Jian Xiang's defense was passable.

"So, I'm going to start discussing the Zhong Sizao case with you now."

Jian nodded to Shaode with a blank expression, indicating his agreement.

“Senior, from the very beginning, I’ve thought your method of solving the Red Rat case was unusual. Yes, your answer is completely in line with the facts, but I don’t believe that a detective could solve a case in such a short time and casually say something like ‘the formal medical term for sleepwalking is somnambulism’ without the help of professional books.”

"Would you believe me if I told you that I also suffered from sleepwalking as a child?"

Shaode paused for a moment. "Senior, your explanation makes sense. Because you've sleepwalked before, you know the definition. However, I think you just happened to encounter a coincidence and then conveniently pointed out that there was a corpse in Room 401!"

"In other words, you already knew that Zhong Sizhao was dead inside, and that day just happened to be the perfect opportunity, so you made a decisive move to bring us here to open Room 401."

“Shaode, don’t forget, Room 401 was a completely sealed room from the inside. No one could escape from it.”

“Room 401 is indeed a sturdy, sealed room, and no one can leave from it…” Shaode did not refute Jian Xiang, but his last sentence surprised Jian Xiang greatly: “Except for you!”

impossible!

The door to Room 401 was blocked by a heavy iron cabinet filled with stones, and all the windows were nailed with heavy wooden strips. The only passage was through the kitchen sink drain, which was only wide enough for a single mouse to pass through.

Shao De's expression suddenly became confident: "Regarding the Zhong Sizao case, to summarize, there are three most important mysteries—first, what is the source of income for Zhong Sizao, who has no job? Second, why did the murderer use the same murder method as 'Bone-Eating Demon' Hong Zechen? Finally, how exactly did the locked-room situation in Room 401 come about? I believe the truth behind these three mysteries is interconnected and must be solved one by one to find the real culprit. Therefore, I plan to discuss the locked-room issue last."

"When I was sorting through those uniform invoices, I discovered a very strange discrepancy: most of the sixteen invoices before March 1st were used for film negatives and blank videotapes. Upon careful examination of the dates and details, I found that Zhong Sizao went to a large photography equipment store twice a day to buy a roll of film or a roll of blank tape. The sixteen invoices were for exactly eight consecutive days."

"Would we buy things this way? Buying only one roll of film and one roll of blank tape at a time seems very strange. But then it suddenly dawned on me, and I finally found the right explanation! That is—Zhong Sizao has no interest in photography at all. The reason he bought those little things was to scout out the store."

"I learned from the audio-visual equipment store where Zhong used to work that he eventually stole an expensive camera from the store and fled. Comparing the two, it can be found that he went to the large photography equipment store on the invoice, and his purpose was probably also to steal. This speculation has been preliminarily confirmed. The owner of that large photography equipment store told me that the store was burglarized at the end of February, and the loss was hundreds of thousands."

“Since he managed to steal these novel and expensive items, he naturally had to find a way to sell them. I think that’s where Zhong Sizao’s income comes from! This way, some minor doubts can be answered. For example, he had more than twenty opened and rewound videotapes at home because he didn’t know how to set up the VCR and couldn’t record the programs he wanted to watch correctly. Zhong Sizao didn’t steal the instruction manuals with him.”

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