Chapter 12: Jia Liu died early

  Last night we were almost suffocated by this stench, essentially it's just the smell of protein rotting. But in reality, the smell of a corpse is far more unbearable than other rotting proteins. It's unclear whether it's psychological or if there's something special in the body.

  I exchanged a glance with Ge Lei, this flavor must have come out of a murder case, my heart skipped a beat, could Jia Liu be killed by someone?

  The stench of the corpse was coming from inside the room, I gently pushed it with my hand and the door opened. The thick smell of the corpse rushed towards me, making my eyes tear up and forcing me to step back three or four steps.

  The smell of corpses was too strong and unnatural. Grey covered his nose and was about to go in, but I stopped him.

  "Don't go in yet, something doesn't feel right, call the team!"

  "What's wrong with dead people?" Grey still stopped in his tracks.

  "I explained seriously: 'The corpse rotting is a process, generally after two to three days and nights, a large amount of gas such as hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia, etc. will be produced, that is the stench! But we just saw Jia Liu yesterday!"

  "Are you saying that the dead person inside isn't Jia Liu?" Ge Lei asked.

  "Wait and see!" I walked to the window, on which a layer of glass paper was pasted at the bottom, and only a vague outline of a person could be seen. I jumped up and took a look, a dead body was slanting on the bed, wearing exactly the same clothes as Jia Liu wore when we saw him yesterday.

  Kui also saw it and rubbed his head, saying: "Damn it, is Jia Liu dead? Then we saw a ghost yesterday?"

  "It's too early to draw conclusions now, let's wait for the forensic doctor to take a look!" I had an inexplicable sense of unease in my heart.

  I took out my phone and dialed 110, but it hung up when I was about to report. After all, this is a case for our Zero Number Special Case Group. Thinking about it, I then dialed the office phone number.

  The one who answered the phone was Hua Jie, and her tone of voice was always gentle. But when I mentioned the murder case, her tone changed.

  "You stay on the scene, I'll make arrangements." Hua Jie hung up the phone.

  I and Ge Lei just stayed in the yard, afraid of destroying the scene's traces, so we didn't dare to move.

  The waiting time was long, so I observed the scene from the window. The items in the room were neatly arranged, and there were no signs of fighting or bloodstains in the room. Except for the somewhat unusual posture of death, I couldn't see any problems.

  About half an hour later, a light knock at the door was heard. Ge Lei opened the door and found that our team leader Lao Shen Gun had arrived.

  I didn't hear any police sirens and I didn't see any other police officers. I asked in surprise: "You came alone?"

  The old man pinched his few whiskers and said: "Young fellow, you've done a good job. You know to call the group first, I haven't misjudged you."

  Grey was somewhat incredulous and went outside to take a look, and indeed there wasn't a single person.

  "Stop looking, no one's here!" Old Stick said: "Team Zero has the priority to inspect the scene first. After we're done, it's the turn of those idiots from the Bureau."

  The old man walked to the window and took a look, saying: "The position of the corpse is a bit strange!"

  "Team leader, you also find it strange, is there anything to say about it?"

  "Of course!" said the old master: "Head to southwest, feet to northeast, this is the ghost gate line!" Probably afraid that we wouldn't understand, he explained in detail: "In traditional Chinese Feng Shui, there is an unlucky area in any building, called the 'ghost gate line', which refers specifically to a 15-degree area from southwest to northeast that runs through the entire building or room. Absolutely do not set up the main door in this area, otherwise it will become a ghost gate. These Jia old six must know."

  I didn't expect there was such a saying, I had never heard of it before. Jia Liu died in this posture, maybe he had his own intention, wanting to express something to us?

  We hadn't yet come back to our senses when the old scoundrel had already walked to the door and was about to enter. With such a thick stench of corpses, he seemed completely unaffected.

  The old man took two steps forward, realized we didn't follow him and came back saying: "Come on, let's go in and take a look together."

  "This is too smelly, how can we go in without a mask?" Gail complained.

  The old man patted his own head and said, "I almost forgot, here you are." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small porcelain bottle, from which he poured two pills into our palms.

  "This is..."

  "The poisonous pill I configured myself can dissolve corpse energy as long as it's held in the mouth."

  I hesitated for a moment, then popped one into my mouth. A refreshing breath filled my oral cavity, and the foul smell dissipated a lot. I could only taste the flavor of peppermint, as well as a medicinal flavor, nothing else. The old man surprisingly knew how to mix his own medicine, he really didn't know much.

  "Follow me closely, don't wander off." The old monk strode into the room.

  We followed closely behind and entered the bedroom. The old man looked around, took a rough glance, didn't find any suspicious issues, then squatted down.

  "Huh?" An astonished voice escaped from Lao Shen Gun's mouth.

  I thought he had found something and squatted down to take a look. As a result, I saw a particularly disgusting scene. Jia Liu's body had rotted, his facial skin turned black and purple, one eyeball squeezed out of the eye socket, still connected to a piece of flesh, and was slightly shaking.

  Jia Liu's face was twisted in a terrifying expression, with white maggots wriggling in his flesh. The old monk directly stretched out his finger and touched him, and a large piece of rotting flesh fell to the ground along with the maggots.

  Although we were mentally prepared, seeing such a disgusting scene, Ge Er and I still couldn't hold it in, our stomachs churned with a wave of nausea, and we almost threw up.

  "Go outside and vomit, don't pollute the scene." The old rascal said.

  The two of us were like we had just been granted a great amnesty, and rushed out in a flurry. We had just reached the small courtyard when we heard Old Stick's voice coming from inside the house. "Go further away, go outside to spit it out, the small courtyard is also part of the crime scene."

  Fortunately, the hospital gate was not closed yet. We rushed out and vomited immediately. After vomiting all the food in our stomachs, we had a series of dry heaves. We vomited for at least a minute before feeling slightly better.

  Not far away, there was a small shop. Ge Lei went to buy two bottles of water and poured some into his stomach, feeling slightly better. When he returned to the courtyard, Lao Shen was still squatting in the same spot, looking very focused.

  I really didn't want to go in again, I stood in front of the window and looked. The old god lit incense in the room, a wisp of blue smoke rose up, dispelling the stench. We all smelled the faint scent of incense standing in the courtyard.

  The old man looked up and saw us, beckoning with his hand: "Come in!"

  We steeled ourselves and walked into the house, where the old man was preparing something. The small table was laid out with all sorts of strange and curious things.

  I saw an opportunity and asked: "Squad leader, you also met Jia Liu yesterday. But judging from the situation, he has been dead for a long time."

  The old man lowered his head and said: "Don't ask me, I don't know what's going on either. One thing I'm sure of is that the person who went to the police station to find you yesterday was 100% alive."

  "That's to say it wasn't Jia Liu who died?" I said.

  "I didn't say that! You should investigate the truth for yourselves!" The old monk was preparing to perform a ritual.

  Just now my mind was still clear, but after being said by Lao Shengui, I became confused. Yesterday, the one who appeared at the police station was Jia Liu, and the one who died here was also Jia Liu, what's going on? I feel like my brain is not enough to use.

  The old man took out two coins from his body and placed them on the corpse. The corpse shook violently, its bones hitting the bedboard, making a loud thudding sound. The two coins were shaken to the ground.

  "Again, another corpse transformation?" Gre's reaction was quite fast, he saw a bottle beside him and picked it up immediately. I was also looking for something handy, last night's corpse transformation had left us with a deep impression, almost leaving psychological trauma, was this going to happen again?

  The old man picked up the money with his hand and said to us, "Don't worry, it's not a zombie, this is a test of resentment." The corpse's shaking frequency gradually weakened and stopped after a while.

  A coin rolled right to my feet, I picked it up and handed it over to the old man, asking: "What's going on again?"

  "It can be confirmed that it's an unnatural death, with a strong resentment." The old man put away the copper coins and muttered to himself: "The head is still there, and the way of death is different, could it not be related to the case you're investigating?"

  Gail put down the bottle in his hand and asked: "Then how did he die?"

  "There were no obvious wounds on the surface of the body, and the cause of death is unknown. Let's wait for the forensic autopsy to say more. This case is a bit interesting, if you can't handle it, you can ask Lin Huo and Xiao Xi for help." Lao Shenkong put away his things and turned around to leave.

  "Team leader, where are you going? Not investigating the case?" I asked hurriedly.

  "Call the forensic doctor from the bureau, I have something else to attend to, I'll leave first. Let me know when there's a result." Lao Shen really left.

  The room was left with just the two of us and a highly decomposed and bloated corpse. The surrounding silence was unbearable. I quickly left the room.

  "Are we really going to call them?" Gray asked.

  After all, this is our first case, and it's also a test for us. Coming up to ask for help right away is very embarrassing, and it won't be easy to get along with others in the special case group later on.

  Gre said: "Lin Huo is too arrogant, looking at him makes me uncomfortable, and Xiao Xi is just a silly girl. We can handle it ourselves!"

  "Let's call Sister Hua!" I briefly reported the situation here to Sister Hua.

  "Got it, I'll arrange it." Hua Jie hung up the phone.

  My mind is a mess, the only clue to the case has been cut off, how should I investigate the case next? I've made a preliminary investigation of the scene and found no suspicious traces.

  Twenty minutes later, the sound of police sirens grew loud, and just by listening to the sound, it was clear that a large number of police cars had arrived. The team leader was the male detective we had met before, followed by forensic doctors, on-site photographers, and trace investigators.

  "What are you doing here?" the captain of the criminal police asked.

  "It's our newspaper's case, and the body was discovered by us!"