Chapter Ten: Mysterious Painting Symbols

  Xiao Yue watched as Yu Xianyao disappeared into the crowd, and she took out her notebook to ask the onlookers again. The investigation at the scene was quite thorough, but some people's answers left one speechless.

  Due to the unsuccessful worship ceremony before mining, most people in the village thought it was the mountain god driving out the little ghost. First Blue Xiaohai, now Pan Ling'er.

  Adding the eerie ghost symbols and black powder scattered in the shape of a handprint in the Yu family's house, combined with the unsuccessful worship ceremony, the conclusion drawn is that they were punished by the mountain god and died at the hands of evil spirits.

  This seems to be very similar to some kind of ancient legend, which is somewhat vague. It should be called "Ghost out of the hole!", said Ghost out of the hole first to explain that after the construction of houses has been detected and guided by Feng Shui masters, various procedures have been carried out.

  A newly built house will produce a natural barrier, which is simply the yang energy. As long as there are living people in the house, the yang energy of the house will not disappear.

  Ghosts are yin objects and cannot enter such houses. However, the ghost emerges from the cave, which is a ritual that allows ghosts in the underworld to enter a house full of yang energy to harm people.

  This ritual has only been passed down in the village, and no one knows exactly how it works. However, what happened at this moment was indeed as legendary as the legend said.

  Combining that with the ghostly hand and symbol, it can be simply determined that this is evidence left behind by a ghost coming out of a hole ceremony. An ordinary person, even if they wanted to kill someone, shouldn't leave behind such a twisted ghost symbol to pretend to be a god. Moreover, leaving these things behind obviously provides evidence for the police.

  Xiao Yue didn't care whether it was true or false, as long as it was a clue provided by the villagers, she recorded every detail.

  At this moment, Yu Xiang had walked to Lao Da Shu's house with a nervous heart, but the big door of the house was open. At the entrance, there were only two old people sitting there, they were Xiao Hai's grandparents.

  The old men listlessly basked in the sun, their eyesight was poor, so they couldn't see Yu Xiang's arrival at all. Hearing the noise, they thought it was some kind of animal running around and made "heh-heh" sounds with their mouths.

  This kind of oral language is used by villagers to drive away wild beasts and birds in their daily lives. Now that wild beasts are no longer common, but the chickens and ducks raised by every household in the village will run out to eat other people's rice at any time, and this oral language is also used to drive away these chickens and ducks.

  The old man kept calling out in a low voice, but Yu Xingyao didn't pay attention to the two old men. He was afraid of causing unnecessary trouble and walked closer to the main hall of the Lan family. The hall was empty, he looked around and did not see the shadow of Mr. and Mrs. Lan.

  Maybe he went out to work or to take care of Xiaohai's affairs. Yu Xingyao guessed as he walked towards Xiaohai's room.

  It's already 8 o'clock in the morning, and the sun has risen. Xiaohai's room has an east-facing window, which is now open, and the sunlight is shining directly onto Xiaohai's bed.

  The bed was still messy and hadn't been tidied up. The floor was also cluttered, and the bucket of water that Uncle Lan had brought over hadn't been used yet and was still here.

  Yu Xianyao slightly furrowed his brow, perhaps Uncle Lan and Auntie hadn't returned yet. He looked around, the walls were all plastered with posters. Some were female celebrities, some were anime stars, and there was even a poster of Naruto Uzumaki and Luffy.

  The wall was very clean, and Yu Xiang raised his head to look at the ceiling. On the ceiling, apart from that one 20-watt white light bulb hanging alone, there was nothing else.

  The Xiao Hai family's house was made of loess, and the floorboards were also wooden. As they walked on it, there was a creaking sound, Yu Xianyao furrowed his brow slightly and looked down.

  Suddenly he found that under Xiaohai's bed, a black ray extended from inside, and there was also a ghostly symbol at the end.

  He was shocked and quickly squatted down to look under the bed. All he saw was a palm-sized painting that could fit in one's hand, surprisingly identical to the one in his own home's living room.

  Yu Xianyao didn't believe it and hastily moved away the bedding to check the ghostly symbol. It was indeed exactly the same, only this one was smaller.

  This discovery left Yu Chengyao thoroughly stunned, his heart trembling with a burst of fear. Could it be that these two cases were connected? Who was behind this?

  He still remembered that when he went to Xiao Hai's house that night, he didn't notice any strangers passing by. Maybe it was because the sky was too dark, but at that time he had a flashlight with him.

  If someone moves, it's impossible for him not to hear. Having practiced ancient martial arts for so long, Yu Xianyao was very confident in his senses.

  He thought again, but that night he clearly remembered that there were no strangers entering Xiaohai's house.

  "Who is it? Why is this happening?" Yu Chengyao crouched in front of the ghostly symbol, his brow furrowed as he stared at it in a daze.

  The sound of high heels and a steady footsteps came from the corridor outside the room, Yu Xiangyao turned his head to look. He saw Xiaoyue walking in with an escort officer.

  "What's been found?" Little Yue looked at Yu Chengyao who was squatting on the ground and asked.

  Yu Xingyao stood up and pointed at the ghostly symbol on the floor: "Look, this is what I found under the small ocean bed!"

  "It's this weird symbol again, looks like the two cases have the same modus operandi, and the perpetrator should be the same one too!" Little Moon furrowed his brow as he tightly grasped the notebook used to record on-site investigation data.

  "Beautiful policewoman, what's this?" Yu Chengyao saw Xiaoyue looking very nervous and asked, pointing at her hand tightly grasping the booklet. At this moment, a thin layer of sweat appeared on those delicate white hands, and her lips were trembling slightly.

  "What's going on?" Yu Xingyao asked, unable to get an answer from Xiaoyue, and turned his gaze to a police officer standing behind him.

  That police officer looked at the ghostly symbols on the ground, and his eyes also flashed a complex expression. He was also somewhat terrified, but after all, he was a man, and at critical moments, he was relatively calm.

  "Based on the information we've collected, our preliminary judgment is that the suspects are Mr. and Mrs. Lan. Of course, many people say they were bewitched by a little demon tamed by the mountain god!" The police officer's words added another layer of mystery to the case.

  How could it be? If it was really Mr. and Mrs. Lan, why would they want to kill Xiao Hai? He's their own son! That's absolutely impossible!

  However, after Yu Xiangyao finished reading the materials handed over by Xiaoyue, he couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

  According to the information, early this morning, Yu Dashi saw Mr. and Mrs. Lan hastily coming out of the Yu family house opposite Xizikou, when it was still not very bright outside.

  Yu Dashi originally couldn't be certain it was Mr. and Mrs. Lan, but he had seen them return to the Lan house with his own eyes.

  Yu Dashi is Qiaozi's father. Their family and Yu Xianyao's family are separated by a small stream, with only a few acres of land facing each other.

  Moreover, he spoke in great detail, and they felt that something was off when they saw Mr. and Mrs. Lan coming out of the Yu's house.

  However, he didn't pay much attention to it at the time. At around six o'clock, Qiaozi came to find Yu Chengyao and left again soon after.

  He was so scared that he revealed the strange discovery in Yu's house. Then, Qiaozi said to go up the mountain to inform Yu Xiangyao, and Yu Dashi felt strange and went to Yu Xiangyao's house to check.

  The situation turned out to be true, and Qiaozi didn't lie. This made him panic too, he wanted to go to the Lan family to ask if they knew what was going on.

  When the result arrived at the Blue's house, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Blue was there, and even their little daughter was not there. There were only two old people in the Blue's house, who sat at the gate of the hall early in the morning and shouted loudly as soon as they heard a sound.

  At this point, Yu Xianyao suddenly remembered that when he entered the Lan family, it was also a similar situation. However, if the suspects in both cases were the Lan couple, it would be hard for Yu Xianyao to believe, and he believed more that Old Man Li had instructed someone to do it.

  After a series of evidence and clues were pieced together, the case seemed somewhat bizarre. He turned to ask the police officer, "Have you sent someone to look for Mr. and Mrs. Lan? If they are found, it will be easy to verify!"

  "Just now, Director Chen has brought people over. Our colleagues have been ordered to gather villagers to help search for the Lán couple together!" Officer Gān said, looking at Yú Chéngyào's calm expression, he seemed to relax a bit as well.

  This case seems very strange. If it was really the Blue couple's doing, then combined with this ghostly symbol, it might actually be the work of a mountain spirit's little demon.

  In rural areas, many people still believe in superstition. Because too many people have seen some strange things with their own eyes, these things are either proven by science to be natural phenomena, but there are also those that cannot be explained by science.

  It's like, in the middle of the night, a figure suddenly appears on the road, wearing all white clothes, with white hair and white eyebrows, even their skin is white. This is called the White Whiskered Old Man, it's said that people who see it will inexplicably fall ill.

  Also, when walking on the road at night in the rain and suddenly brushing past a shadowy figure, returning home the next day to fall seriously ill, not praying for divine intervention will not make it better.

  Things like this are common in the village, and Yu Xianyao still remembers that last year a classmate's mother from the neighboring village had such a strange illness and died. The classmate asked for leave for more than a week, and everyone in the class knew about his situation.

  Yu Xianyao couldn't help but laugh as he looked at Xiaoyue: "Beautiful policewoman, you don't believe in feudal superstitions, do you? You really think there are little ghosts?"

  "Hey, no way! What are you talking about!" Xiaoyue heard the disdainful tone in Yu Chengyao's voice, which was laced with teasing, and couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. However, she was a woman who insisted on saving face, so although she was scared to death, she still managed to put on a calm demeanor.

  Yu Xiang returned the materials to her and then stepped out of the room. Just as he was about to leave, Xiaoyue suddenly called out: "Hey, where are you going?"

  "I've already checked the room, except for that weird symbol on the floor, there's no other clue. Are you not leaving? Do you want to take a photo together?" Xiaoyue was pretty and had a decent temper. She was also around the same age as Yu Xiangyao, although they weren't close. Yu Xiangyao couldn't help but tease her a few times.

  To be honest, if there's a chance. This girl is not bad at all, at least her looks and figure are pretty good. Yu Xianyao thought this despicable thought in his heart while continuing to walk.

  Xiao Yue suddenly walked over and grabbed his arm, saying: "Wait a minute, I still need to investigate this further. You have to stand by my side and explain it to me!"

  As she spoke, Xiao Yue still had a pleading expression on her face, which made Yu Chengyao feel quite pleased with himself. He smiled and looked at Xiao Yue, saying in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Don't worry, I won't abandon you. I'll take good care of you!"

  Xiao Yue felt both ashamed and angry after hearing it, but since her colleagues were around, she couldn't lose her temper and could only swallow her pride. Letting Yu Chengyao take advantage of the situation, this little guy was now smiling smugly.

  But seeing Yu Chengyao laugh so happily, she couldn't help but sarcastically say: "Your family has become like this, two lives have been lost, and you can still laugh!"

  Yu Xianyao heard Xiaoyue's words and knew that she was intentionally exposing his scars, but the news of his sister-in-law and Luolo not being dead could not be revealed at this moment.

  This matter coincided with what Master said about fate, he must wait for Master to come back and understand it in detail. A high-ranking person like Master will definitely know what's going on with Sister and Luolo!