Initially, Lin Yao committed the crimes alone. Later, he requested Yi Yang's cooperation and mobilized members of the Yi family to commit the crimes together. Judging from the time and location of the crimes, "Heavenly Punishment" was undoubtedly a group, not a single individual. All the murders were concise and efficient. From the moment the perpetrator appeared until he left after the murder, he never uttered a word. It was clear that he had identified his target and committed the murders without any room for negotiation, and it was an unconditional killing. He left the victims no room for negotiation.
This serial murder case has had a tremendous impact on society.
The production and sale of counterfeit goods deserve to die, but this sense of "deserve to die" has often only existed in the minds of the public in the past, amidst the angry outbursts upon seeing the news. However, once such a thing actually happens, different thoughts and voices emerge.
From the initial cheers of the general public, to the revelations by some netizens about the tragic aftermath for the victim's family and the pitiful loss of the children, and then to discussions about the standards and principles for determining "divine retribution" for murder, the situation has become increasingly complex, with more and more dissenting voices emerging.
Compared to public discussions suggesting that "these victims might be imprisoned or crippled," the state authorities have made their stance very clear: "Divine Punishment" is a criminal group. Such behavior seriously violates national laws and must be severely punished.
Lin Yao ignored these things; he hadn't even been watching the news these past few days.
His constant travels to major cities across the country made him increasingly agitated, and the violent aura he exuded became more and more obvious. Eventually, he had to give up flying because the violence he inadvertently emitted would terrify everyone around him. Once, he almost attracted the attention of the airport police, but fortunately, Xiaocao reminded him in time to restrain his aura, otherwise he would have been exposed.
Throughout the month-long murder operation, Lin Yao never showed his true face, frequently adjusting his appearance. Even his fingerprints were never genuine. The ID card he used to board flights was "real," based on the physical characteristics of a real person. Combined with this second-generation ID card, which also contained a chip, he didn't allow the police tracking the case to find any clues. However, the police were able to analyze the routes he initially took, since he was committing the crimes alone at that time.
Standing on the Bund in Shanghai, with a gentle, cold breeze blowing, Lin Yao didn't feel any beauty about the place. He was filled with murderous urges, just waiting for night to fall so he could continue killing.
"It was agreed that it would be 20 yuan for four tickets, how did it become 160 yuan? This is cheating, this is extortion!" A righteously indignant male voice rang out, sounding particularly sharp among the tourists.
Lin Yao looked over and saw four men surrounding a young couple. The young man, dressed as a couple, was the one speaking, and his face was full of indignation.
"This is the set you took, the one that costs 160. I told you before, the price list is still here." A man with a camera waved the snapshot photos in his hand, his face full of disdain.
Another person, clearly an accomplice of the photo booth owner, approached the tourist and patted the young man on the chest, saying, "Brother, the point of traveling is to have fun, don't make things unpleasant."
Glancing at the burly, tall man patting his chest, the tourist hesitated, but after his girlfriend whispered words of persuasion, he angrily pulled out his wallet, took out 160 yuan, and handed it to the stall owner.
The stall owner, who had accepted the money with a smile, immediately changed his mind, saying, "I still want 160 more."
"Didn't I give you 160? What else do you want?" the tourist shouted.
"You ordered the 320 one. Look, it's clearly written on this price list." The stall owner took out another price list from his stall and showed it to the tourist.
"You...you're just extorting me! It's blackmail!" The male tourist was so angry he couldn't speak.
Watching all this with cold eyes, Lin Yao felt as if his chest was about to explode. Everyone in front of him deserved to die! He was going to kill them!
With a deep, muffled growl emanating from his throat and his eyes turning bloodshot, Lin Yao rushed forward like a whirlwind, his hands reaching directly towards the photo stall owner and his companion.
A violent aura arose, and the heavy stench of blood and oppressive force made the nearby tourists feel as if they had fallen into hell. The sky was gone, the scenery was gone, and the whole world was left with only a terrifying demon king. They were just weak ants waiting to be slaughtered.
With two soft cracking sounds, Lin Yao crushed the throats of the photo stall owner and his tall, burly companion, and their bodies slowly fell to the ground as Lin Yao withdrew his grip.
Before they could even fall to the ground completely, Lin Yao crushed the throats of the other two people involved in the extortion. Only two terrified tourists remained, staring blankly at Lin Yao with their mouths agape. They could only watch as those terrifying hands reached for their throats, unable to move their bodies.
"Yaoyao!"
The little grass snarled and instantly extended its tendrils to pull Lin Yao away from the two tourists. She hadn't expected Lin Yao to even kill these two people.
His scarlet eyes were filled with rage, and a low growl still emanated from his throat. Lin Yao made a move to charge at the two tourists.
"Yaoyao! Yaoyao! What's wrong? What happened?" Xiaocao panicked. She felt that Lin Yao's emotions were completely different from before, as if he had become a different person. There was a vague sense of familiarity, a feeling from many, many years ago.
A demon! Yes, a demon!
The little grass, clinging tightly to Lin Yao, finally recalled this feeling. It was the aura of an ancient demon, very similar to the Chi You hoof she had collected in the basement of the Daika tribe's temple, but now with an added element of ferocious killing.
Something terrible has happened! Lin Yao has fallen into demonic possession!
Xiao Cao instantly realized that Lin Yao had to leave the crowd, otherwise his murderous impulses would only intensify until he was completely consumed by demonic possession.
With a splash, a figure plunged into the Huangpu River, creating a spray of water before quickly calming down.
*******
One month later, on a beach in the East China Sea.
As the setting sun painted the sea a golden-red hue, and a gentle sea breeze carrying a strong fishy smell wafted towards him, Lin Yao felt incredibly fortunate to have survived.
Lin Yao already knew the whole story. He had become possessed by evil, almost completely losing his true nature and becoming a complete demon.
If it weren't for Xiaocao's help, he might have become a ruthless killer, devoid of thought and humanity, with only killing on his mind.
Perhaps it will become the incarnation of Chi You, just like in the fantasy tales, possessed by this ancient great shaman Chi You, becoming the vessel for its resurrection, or simply resurrected through its own body.
After pulling Lin Yao into the Huangpu River, Xiao Cao still couldn't control the rage within him. While regretting accompanying Lin Yao to kill people everywhere, Xiao Cao also thought of some solutions and finally realized that the sea was the only way.
A raging being emerged from the deep seabed of the East China Sea. This being slaughtered all living things that came into view, including sea fish, sea turtles, and even small shrimp and crabs, which became his sacrifices.
It wasn't until Lin Yao was pulled to the seabed two hundred meters deep that the immense water pressure caused Lin Yao to instinctively resist, and he finally calmed down and resisted the water pressure.
Then, Xiaocao used the Mingjin method to absorb the original witch power from Lin Yao's body, peeling back the layers little by little until a month later, Lin Yao regained his senses. At this time, Lin Yao was horrified to find himself at the bottom of the sea, with medical true energy automatically running to prevent him from suffocating due to lack of oxygen.
"I've fallen into demonic possession, haha." Lin Yao muttered to himself with a wry smile, "You really can't rely on things from outside. I almost died, and it was a demonic possession that's even worse than death."
“Yaoyao, your mindset isn’t right. Killing so many people this time has fueled your inner demons, which is why the primordial witch power took advantage of your weakness. I really didn’t expect that this primordial witch power would actually be conscious.” Xiaocao said with lingering fear, “I will help you absorb the primordial witch power in your body in the future, but it will take a long time. When you’re refining pills, be sure not to absorb that witch power into your body again, or something bad will happen again.”
"Okay, I promise I won't do it again." Lin Yao patted his chest, wanting to swear he would never do such a thing again.
"By the way, Little Grass, if the Yi family members eat pills containing witchcraft, will they end up like me? Could they also become possessed by demons?"
“Of course not. Those wandering magical powers are different from the original magical powers. The magical powers in the world will only benefit them and will not cause them to become demons.” Xiaocao’s voice was very cold, as if she was blaming an unknown entity. “I shouldn’t have pulled that cow hoof into your body. If I had only taken Mingjin at the time, it would have been fine. But the situation was urgent and I didn’t think about the consequences. I just pulled in everything I could.”
"Now that the primordial magical power has merged into your body, we can only try to weaken it. Without this primordial magical power, it's good that you absorb the free magical power in the world, but you must never absorb it again, or something bad will happen!"
Xiaocao sounded very remorseful. When she saw Mingjin, she didn't care about anything else and never thought that she would pull on the big hoof that Mingjin was attached to, which has now harmed Lin Yao.
"It's okay, I promise I won't absorb any more witch power in the future." Lin Yao understood Xiao Cao's feelings and quickly comforted her.