Otherworldly Merchant
Chapter 492: Body Swapping

It turned out Zhu Fengchun had received some money from people who went to his wife and son’s funeral. Little Quail also knew thisandwas tempted. He wanted to take the opportunityto steal itbefore Zhu Fengchun deposited the money into his bank account.Buthewas met withthat horror scene as soon as he entered Zhu Fengchun’s house.

However, luck favored him. The wallet full of money was placed on the table. Little Quail hesitated for a while, then he clenched his jaw and stole it. After that, he started thinkingthat he would be blamedfor the murder. Thatwaswhy he decided to run away from the village.

Chief Liulookedat him for a moment. In the end, hesaidreluctantly, “You little brat, you want money more than your own life!”

He didn’t mind the little thief anymore. Heaskedme, “Did you find anything?”

“Zhu Fengchun canno longerholdback. He’ll make a move soon, so we should wait for him.” I remembered the bloody bedroom and felta little down.

The one who tricked usjust now must beZhu Fengchun. He had deliberately allowedLittleQuail to stealhis wallet todistractus.

But where hasZhuFengchun gone?I thought I would receive the answer soon.

I didn’t want tosay toomuch with Little Quail stillthere, so we let him go.

“Where shouldwe go now?” asked Chief Liu.

I lifted my head to look at the gray sky, then I asked,“Do you know where they buried the threeothervictims? Which one is the nearest to us?”

Chief Liu answered after thinking for a moment, “Li Tiansheng’s grave is the nearest because he lived in the next town.”

“Take me there. We have to go now,” I said.

“Eh?” Chief Liuwas puzzled but still followed my order.

I asked him to stop the car the momentwe arrivedinthe small town. We then tiptoed toLi Tiansheng’s grave.

Being the incumbent head of theBureau, Chief Liu did have some competence to back his position. Although he had gonethere only once when they investigated the case and collected the evidence, he was still able to lead us all the way tothislowland.

Southern people would choose to cremate the deceased, while Northern people preferred tobury themin the land of their families. That was why the graves weren’t centralized in this area.

“Thislowlandisachannelthatpeople created to discharge the waters when the great flood happened in 1998. The plan wastoconnectitto the Zhang River.However, people forgot the purpose of this channelafter the flood, and they started to grow crops here. Back then, many graves were flattened whiledigging this channel. That’s why you onlysee Li Tiansheng’stombstonehere.” Chief Liu provided us with additional information.

Hethenpointed at a locationwhereI saw a new grave. There was no blade of grass on it, and since the burial ceremony hadn’t been a long time ago, the money paper and the flowers were still there.At first glance, my face turned serious.Things weren'tthe way I had imagined.

“What’s wrong?” asked Chief Liu.

I shook my head. “The situation isn’t right. We need to take abetterlook.”

Suddenly, Li Mazi grabbed my arm andpointedata spota few meters away from thetombstone. Hewhispered,“LittleBrother Zhang, look at that!”

I followed his finger. There was a big hole around two meters wide there.I couldn’t estimate how deep that hole was due to the fardistance, soI wanted to go there to see.However,someone coughed before I made a move, and the sound came from that hole.

“Shssss!”

Iimmediately crouched, signaling Li Mazi and Chief Liu to be quiet. Then, we carefully crawled forward.

Thecoldwind was howling loudly, soI wasn’t worried about the person in the hole noticingourmovements above ground.I pricked my ears and listened carefully when we reached the hole.The person down there was panting hard, and thevoice apparently belonged to Zhu Fengchun. He seemed to bemovingsomething inside while gasping for his breath.

Istopped myself from rushing forwardas Ilistenedto his monologue. “Brother, I’m also helpless.Don’t look for me if you do come back.”

Then, I noticed his voicewas becomingclearer and clearer. It seemed he was climbing up. I rushed to hide behindthetombstone;Chief Liu and Li Mazi also came to my side.

Not even a minute had passedwhen a shadow crawled out of the hole. I opened my eyes wideasit was really Zhu Fengchun!

He was holding a shovel in his hand.He checked the surroundings after he gotup and beganto fill the hole. Once hewas done, he stomped around to compact the soil and left.

I waiteduntil he had completely disappeared, thenI slowly got up, sneering asIlookedin his direction.

“Looks likehedugthegrave for somereason. But whydid he have to do it in the middle of the night? Moreover, he left without taking anything…” Chief Liuwas puzzled.

“You’ll see soon enough,” I said.

I thenrubbed my hands and prepared to dig thegraveagain. It was easier since the other party had just moved the soil. The three of us didn’t need to exert a lot ofefforttodig uptheplace. All of it was done inthirty minutes.

I turned on the flashlight to check.Therewas a coffin painted in black inside,and all of the coffin’s nails had been pulled up.

I directly pulled out the nails the rest of the way and pushed the coffin lid aside. Icranedmy neck to see, but there was nothing inside!

Li Tiansheng’s body was gone!

“W-What the heck is going on?”

Chief Liu looked at the empty coffin, feeling bewildered. But he soonunderstood. “Was the minced flesh in Zhu Fengchun’shouse…”

“Definitely.”I nodded.

The body that had beenhorriblydestroyed in Zhu Fengchun’s bedroom wasLi Tiansheng’s corpse. The spirit had manipulated Zhu Fengchun to deceive us, making him stealLi Tiansheng’s body, to laterchop it into pieces. No doubt their purpose was to make us think that Zhu Fengchun had died.

However,Zhu Fengchun hadn’t had enough time to clean his mess afterdismembering the body. Thatwaswhy we had been able to witness therecent scene.

“What should we do now?”

Chief Liu sounded a little embarrassed. Theincident that happenedtonight was too odd.Although he was an experienced cop, he was actinglike an elementaryschool student that kept asking questions whenever hewas introuble.

“It’s simple! If he wants to fake his death,let him do it.Tomorrow, we will announce that Zhu Fengchunhasdied. You shouldn’t send your men here to investigate,I’ll keep an eye on himmyself. I want to know what his ultimatepurpose is.”

“How canthe policehelp you?” Chief Liuasked.

“I think you should send people to protect the other two graves! I have a feeling that Zhu Fengchun will set his eyesonthem.”

“Okay.” Chief Liu agreed immediately.I asked Li Mazi to stay with Chief Liu after considering that the policemenheremight have never encounteredparanormal activities before. I wouldwatch Zhu Fengchun alone.

It was almost dawn when we returned to the police stationand fellasleep. In the afternoon, the police announced that they had found Zhu Fengchun murdered in his house; his case was closed just like that.

At twilight, Li Mazi and Chief Liu took with them twocapablecopseachandwent to the graves of the other two victims. I prepared my spirit talismans and a small mirror,starting to lurkbehind the big tree opposite Zhu Fengchun’s back door.

The last light in the village went out as the moonlight started to getbrighter. The entire village was shrouded in darkness, but the white snow on the ground was somewhat illuminating the place. This scene looked exactly like one taken from a horror movie.

I pulled my clothes tightas Ilookedaround. I focused all my attention onZhu Fengchun’sblue brick house.

A light source appeared inside the house at around 11:00 PM. I reacted fast, lifting my head to see. Acandle had been lit up in the room, and a shadow was moving around the candle.

It was exactly the sameasthe first time we came here. After hesitating for a while, I decided to go in there to check. However,the candle in the room went outas soon as I walked past the big tree.

I thought I had been busted at first. Then, the house’s door sprang open with a loud bang. The shadow flew out.

It seemed that he hadn’t seen me yet. I exhaled in relief and continued watching him.

The shadow wore black,silk garments of ancient cut, and hehelda sword that gaveout abloodylight.He wielded his sword while he walked.I saw his face when hegotcloser, and it wasso dark!

If he hadbeen wearingaturban, I would have thought he wasMr. Popo.Moreover, hisbig,dark face was full of anger. While gliding away, he seemed to bescolding someone, orsomething. I couldn’t hear anything since his voice was too low.

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