Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 489: Serial Decapitation Case

When I returnedhome from Europe, the first thing I did was call Chuyi to ask if he needed help.

“Everything’s solved. How are you?” I asked.

“The Longquan Villa hastargetedus again. Do you know their purpose?”

“Itmight just be a coincidence.”

Chuyi understood my idea, but he didn’t think that the Longquan Villa had deliberately troubled us at once.If they did,the Zhang family in Jiangbei wouldn’t stand still and watch.

I thought itsoundedlogical. I didn’t linger on this subject further. Isaid goodbye and hung up the phone.Afterward, I calledSenior Shu.

Although this old man was despicable, he had saved mylifeat critical moments many times. Moreover, he was a member of the Zhang family, and he was from the same generationasmygrandfather. I had always considered and treated him as though he was mysenior. I was really worriedabout himsince he told me the enemy had found him andwentto his door.

As soon as the linewentthrough,Senior Shu’s despicable voiceechoed.“Hey grandson, why are you calling me?”

When I heardhis voice, I knewhe was safe. I exhaledand smiled. “Old man, don’t bully me.Do you want my grandpa tobeat you up?”

Then, I stopped smiling, and myvoicegrewserious. “How are you doing? Do you need help?”

“How am I doing? Oh well, they can’t find me that easily. Also,it’s not simple for me to get rid of them completely, soI’vedecided to ignore them for now. I can enjoy my timetravelingduring this period.”Senior Shusounded carefree and positive. I admired his boldness.

Wechatted for a while.WhenI was about to hang up,Senior Shulowered his voice into a whisper. “Hey kid, do you have free time these days?”

“What?” I frowned, thinking that he might entice me to accept a case.

“Old man, don’ttry to trickme.I was in so much troublethis timethatI’mlucky that I was able to returnhome safe and sound. I want to take a vacation for a while.” I shook my headand was prepared to denywhatever he was about to talk me into doing.

“What are you talking about? You are Yaoyang’s grandson, so you’re not different from my grandson.”Senior Shulaughedandtold me the story.

A few days ago,duringhis escape, he had passed by Linzhang County in Hebei Province, where hecaught windof a strange case.

A local man went outduring a heavysnowstorm to capture some wild hares, but he disappeared mysteriously, coming back home only three days later.The night he returned,his wife and son were murdered, and their heads were chopped off. However,the manwasn’t heart-broken. He laughed at the bodies and cursed as if the deceased were his enemies.

All the villagers knew that he had disappeared for three days, and many peoplesuspected thathe had either encountered somethingfoul or waspossessed. Some said he was pretendingto losehis mind andthathe was the murderer.

The police investigated the case. They confirmed thatthe man was in his right mindand that he wasn’t theonewho massacred his wife and kid.

Therewereno fingerprints found at the crime scene. The man’s wife andchildlooked as if their headshad fallenoff their bodieson their own.

Thepolice had no choice but toclosethe case. However, the masterfulSenior Shuseemed to sense something odd. He decided to stay in Linzhang County to observe.

Indeed, in the next few days, the same mysterious decapitation cases happened again. The policetried their best,but they couldn’t get a clue. Fortunately, they foundSenior Shu, who was also following the case.

The two parties discussedthe matter.Chief Liu from the local Police Bureau askedSenior Shuto help them.

Unexpectedly, as soon asSenior Shuaccepted this serial murder case, his enemy came.

“Jiulin, my grandson, I’ve received the payment from the Police Bureau, so you have to make things right!What I mean is that you shouldsolve it nicely and neatly. I don’t want mynameto betarnished!”Senior Shusounded pitiful. However, his voice was more despicable than ever to my ears.

I deliberately teased himand said in anangrytone,“Yougot the money, but you wantmetodo the job for you? Oh well,I guessI’m not going to take this case!”

“Are you sure you don’t want to take this case?”Senior Shu’s voice showed a trace of threat.

Oh well, I said Ididn’twantit. What elsecould youdo to me?

“All right, soI’llwork on this case myself. If the enemygetsme, let’s see whowillcome to rescue you when yougetyourselfin trouble!”

“Okay, I’ll take it. You’re ruthless, old man!” I said reluctantly. I was always helpless when I dealt with this despicable, childish grandpa. The only thing I could do was to agree with him.

Senior Shugave me Chief Liu’s numberandtold me to contact him when I arrivedinLinzhang County.

In ancient times of China, Linzhang County had been called Yecheng. It was the capital of the Wei Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms era. It was alsothe most lively and bustling city in the North. Unfortunately, after two thousand years, it gradually declined in importance. In modern times, it couldn’t be compared to big cities like Beijing or Shanghai.

SinceI hadagreed to help Senior Shu, I knew not to linger. I called Li Mazi to join me. Then, wedrove to Linzhang County.

Yin Xinyue and Ru Xue wereSouthern women. As soon as they heard that we wanted to go to the North, they were stirred upand askedto go with us. They wanted to play with snow,makesnowmen, and throwsnowballs. In the end, I had to coax them that it was almost the New Year and that they should stay home to prepare forit.

We arrived at Hebei at night. As the snow had stacked the entire road, we decided to stay there for one night.

When wereachedthe hotel, I called Chief Liuand toldhim the reasonfor our arrival.He didn’t sound happy when he heard that. He thought thatSenior Shucouldn’t solve the case so he sent me—a young apprentice of his—to deceive him.

However, as soon as I told him my achievements of helping the policesolvemysterious cases in otherparts of the country, he changed his attitude.

Horrible murder cases like thehuman bonenecklaceandthe ancient painting were all recorded in the police’s national archive, which Chief Liu couldaccessif he wanted to.

After that, Chief Liu asked us tocome overimmediately.

“I’m sorry, but we’re not familiar with the traffic here. We’ll depart in the morning.”

He was persistent.“Please,I’ll be waiting for you guys at the Bureau.”

Li Mazi and I had to drive through the night to the Police Bureau of Linzhang County.

As soon as we got out of the car, a policeman in a coat with big eyes and thick browshurried to welcome us.

In an excited voice, he said,“You’re finallyhere! If you didn’t come, I wouldn’tknow what to do!”

“Who are you?” Li Mazi snorted, pretending not toknow the man.

From the police badge he was wearing, I knew he was Chief Liu. Li Mazi had asked that to vent out his dissatisfaction. I didn’t stop him.

Chief Liu was surprisedafter Li Mazi said that.

Then, he embarrassedly introduced himself. “I am Liu Zhangyi. I’m the incumbent Chief Police of the LinzhangCountyPolice Bureau. On behalf of the people in Linzhang County, I would like to send my warm welcome to you guys!”

Then, he extended one hand.

I knew itwasenough. I smiledand gently shookhis hand. “Otherworldly merchant Zhang Jiulin.”

Chief Liu thenledus to his office.Whenwe walked past the threshold,there wasa strong smell of burning coal.The corner of the room had an old coalstove that wasburning hard. Except for that, there were only a few chairs with backrests and apileof documentsstacked on a desk.

“Welivein a poor area, so we couldn’t affordaheating system. Although it’s makeshift, it’s good to be able to work.”

Chief Liu invited us to have a seat,then drew a file from his deskand handedit to me. At first glance, I recognized itcontainedthe documents of the victims of the decapitation case. I read it carefully.

The man thatSenior Shuhad told me aboutwas called Zhu Fengchun. His profile was placedon top.Apart fromhis family’s case, there were three other similar cases. The second case was Wang Zhuangzhuang. At around twilight, he went to the Bronze Bird Terrace historic site to take some photos. He disappeared mysteriously. After a few days, hereturnedhome.The samenight, his head left his body.

The third victim was called Li Tiansheng. Onhisway home from work, he unknowingly tripped himself.Thatnight, he was decapitated. The fourth victim was Zhang Yang. He was also beheaded. However, since he was an old bachelor, no one knew whathappenedtohim when he was still alive.

After reading through the documents, I asked Chief Liu with a stern look, “Besides these files,have you found anything else?”

The victims of all four cases had been beheaded. It wasn’t hard to tell that there was one murderer behind all ofthis.Inthe latter three cases, the victims were dead, soZhu Fengchunwasthe most important clue!

Moreover, the other three were all killed, but he remained alive.This was very strange.

However, from the documents the police had gathered, Zhu Fengchun had done nothing suspicious. They didn’t arrange any cops to watch him, either.I suspected there was more to it.

“They were found deadintheirbeds.We’ve inspected the scenes thoroughly and carefully. We didn’t find anything. Not asingle clue. From the evidence at the scene, we haveruled outthe possibility of homicide. Unless…”

When Chief Liu said that, his voice shiveredandhis face paled.

I opened my arms. “So, the three latter victims were dead, and only Zhu Fengchun’s alive.Haven’tyouthoughtabout sending some men to watch him?”

After talking, I stared at Chief Liu. However, his eyes were calm. I didn’t see any change.It didn’t look like he was hiding anythingfrom me. I didn’t understand it, so I asked himdirectly.

“We did watch him. However, after the homicide in his home, he hasn’tlefthis house.He only goes out to buy food, and he goes home right after that. We’ve made random and sudden stops athis house. Everythingseemednormal. Then, three more incidents happened afterward. We don’t have enough men in the station, so wehad to summon them back…”Then, Chief Liu suddenlyrealized something. He dropped his jaw in shockand lookedat me. “Youmean,Zhu Fengchun is the murderer?”

“He may not be the murderer, but he’ssurelyconnected tothe murder. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have survived until now.”

Afterward, I insisted that Chief Liu take us to Zhu Fengchun’s house. He agreedand noddedcontinuously. Then, he went out to take the police car.

I thought for a moment, then told him not to do that. “We should take our car!The police car is eye-catching. When we enter the village, we could alarm the others.”

According to my experience and intuition, I was certain that Zhu Fengchun had something to do with the three murder cases that happened after his family’s case. Although the police had checked his house a few times, they found nothing. It could be because the police car had exposed them.

Chief Liu noddedand appraisedme. “You are really smart!”

Igave a slight smile, then closedmy eyes to rest for a while.

There was a thick layer of snow on the road, which was rather dangerous. Chief Liudrove carefully. I thought itwould be much faster if we left the car and walked there ourselves. Fortunately, Zhu Fengchun’s house was inasuburban area. We arrived there after half an hour.

As he was an experienced cop, as soon as we reached the village, Chief Liu quietly turned off the car’s headlamps. Using his senses andintuition, he drove the car forward.

It was late at night, and the entire village wasshroudedin darkness. The sky wasgray, and the moon and stars were covered by the clouds.

When we reached the village, the dogs at the village entrance began to bark. However, thehowls from the strong windsubsided the barks.

Chief Liu pointed at a house that had lights on. “That’s Zhu Fengchun’s house.”

Then, he opened the door of the car.It was very cold outside, and the wind billowedour clothes. Ipulledmy jacket close to my bodyand got out of thecar after him.

When we got there, Inoticedthat it was a blue brick house. I couldn’t helpbut furrowmy brows.

Li Mazi asked,“What’s wrong?”

“Whatera are we living in? They still use blue bricks to build houses!It’s nowonder he’s provoked something foul.”Icouldalmostconcludethat this serial decapitation case wasn’t caused byahuman. Itwasrelated to something foul.

After the Chinese Economic Reform, the structuresthroughout China werebuilt with red bricks. There weren’t many peoplethat chose to build their homes withblue bricks.

Speaking ofpractical aspects, blue bricks were more durableasthey resisted corrosion better than red brick. The ancient proverb that mentioned bricks from Qin and tiles from Han, referred to the blue bricks. So,why didpeoplechooseto use red bricks?

The blue bricks had Yinproperties. Thatwaswhy Chinese people often used blue bricks or stone slabs to build tombs or graves. The old houses built with blue bricks would possibly become a new, comfortable lair for the wandering ghosts to dwell and cultivate in.

Zhu Fengchun’s house was made of blue bricks,which wasabad sign. However, his house didn’t look old, so why did something so powerfulstart to live there?

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