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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 461: Human Skin Puppet (Part 24)
"Hello, sir." I extended my hand to him. He seemed flustered and rubbed his hands on his ill-fitting work clothes before breaking into a shy smile and shaking my hand. As I held his hand, I could feel that he was someone who had spent years doing manual labor; his hands were covered in calluses, thickened layer upon layer, and felt quite hard.
"You are..."
"Just call me Qi. I'm partners with Qin Jian. You just saw something unusual; could you describe it to me in detail?"
Upon hearing my introduction, the man's expression changed, his smile froze. After a brief cough, he glanced around cautiously and gestured for me to sit down. Once I was seated, he lowered his voice. "This river is not clean."
"What do you mean?"
He brushed the ash from his smoking pipe and fell silent. I waited patiently, sensing that he was a knowledgeable person but had a peculiar temperament, reluctant to engage with unfamiliar people and having few friends. This was my impression based on his demeanor. I didn’t boast about my own expertise but humbly asked him questions.
"Who knows? I'm not from around here; my hometown is by the Yellow River..."
By the Yellow River! My heart leaped with excitement, and I couldn't help but ask, "Do you know anything about the corpse retrieval workers by the Yellow River?"
The man replied modestly, "Not very well, but I know a little."
"The people by the Yellow River are bold and straightforward..."
He waved his hand and laughed heartily. "No, no, no! The older generation of Yellow River bandits were bold."
I was taken aback. Using the most common conversational approach to bridge our distance worked wonders; soon he had shed his earlier wariness and began chatting casually with me. His surname was Wang, and he was called Wang Liu.
Originally from Sichuan, he lived by the Yellow River and had a deep understanding of the corpse retrieval profession. With just one cigarette, I managed to open up his mouth and obtain the information I sought.
Uncle Wang truly qualified as a corpse retrieval worker—homeless and living on the water for eating, drinking, relieving himself, and sleeping. In folklore, they are referred to as those who walk on the edge of life and death, also known as boundary-crossers between yin and yang. Nowadays, there are very few professional corpse retrieval workers left; most families involved in this trade have gone into hiding or moved far away, raising their children without ever mentioning the term "corpse retrieval" again.
I think Uncle Wang is also one of those who have left for distant lands, only that he keeps his thoughts to himself.
"This river is not clean; something is lurking in the water," Uncle Wang said. He mentioned the corpse that had been pulled out before, noting that the person who fished it out was greedy. The truth is, there’s no need for a red envelope; a simple vegetarian meal and tying a three-inch-wide red cloth around your middle finger would suffice to avoid bad luck.
I took note of this and continued to ask him about why the river was unclean.
Uncle Wang paused for a moment, and I noticed the longest hair among his bushy eyebrows tremble slightly up close. His serious expression lingered on the group of people who had stopped fishing, then he whispered, "Generally, when retrieving a body, if you see a strand of hair floating on the surface and the body is upright in the water, you must stop. You need to find a professional water ghost because that body is not just any corpse; it’s something far more sinister. What I saw just now was worse than that. I’ll leave it at that. If you don’t believe me, try stopping the flow and see for yourself; there will definitely be footprints at the bottom."
It seemed I needed to bring up the strange occurrences surrounding Gousi and the matter of the Plastic Model. I swallowed hard and waited for Uncle Wang to catch his breath before recounting the details of Gousi's death and describing how I saw the Plastic Model replicant appear before me, along with the maggots smeared across its face.
Uncle Wang listened in shock, taking a while before he spoke again. "Are you sure this isn't a dream?"
"It's not. Their deaths don’t seem like they were caused by humans. If it were murder, it wouldn’t fall to me and Lao Qin to solve these cases."
"Well, I grew up by the Yellow River and have seen my fair share of strange things, but this is the first time I've heard about what you described. Plastic Models are everywhere in big cities; if something really went wrong with them, it would be chaos. The key issue is that this Plastic Model has taken on a human form in front of everyone; that's even worse."
"Yes, I noticed she doesn’t seem like a ghost or a human. Humans have warmth and shadows; she lacks both. As for ghosts, she doesn’t carry any ghostly aura."
"Uh... it looks like something big is about to happen. Brother, you need to be careful with that Qin Jian. As for what I should say, I'll leave it here; Old Woman is waiting for me at home."
"Thank you, Uncle Wang."
"Don’t mention it; I haven’t really helped you much." Uncle Wang stood up and left firmly without looking back.
I gazed thoughtfully at Uncle Wang's receding figure until I heard footsteps approaching. It was Qin Jian coming over.
"How did it go?" Qin Jian asked eagerly.
I let out a deep breath and made a gesture with my hand, signaling "K." "It's done."
"Hmm?"
"Let's talk while we walk."
"Alright."
I explained to Qin Jian that what they had seen floating on the water was not a corpse, but a malevolent spirit.
A malevolent spirit!
Qin Jian didn't quite understand. He thought that as a Mortician, I could easily dispel the spirit and resolve the situation. If that were the case, the three mysterious death cases would have been solved effortlessly. I snorted coldly; it wouldn't be that simple. I also informed him about Slug being murdered, which had disrupted my grand plan.
Qin Jian seemed quite surprised. "Who could find someone you hid so well so quickly and accurately?"
"Who knows? Why don't you tell me?" I stopped and stared directly at Qin Jian.
He waved his hand dismissively and said in a low voice, "Come on, don't mess around. What do we do next?"
"Cut off the flow."
Qin Jian seemed to anticipate my response and surprisingly didn't question it further. He just sought confirmation, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, this is the only way to find out if Uncle Wang's claims are true."
Qin Jian squinted, his tone laced with disdain. "You can't be telling me that there's no way to deal with the malevolent spirit and you're just going to let it go..."
"I won't let this go unresolved. You need to find a way to cut off the flow and uncover the truth as soon as possible." As I said this, a thought suddenly struck me, and I asked, "Did you check on that person I asked you about?"
"Who?"
"Chen Pi."
Upon hearing me mention Chen Pi, Qin Jian slapped his forehead. "Look at me, my memory is failing. I almost forgot about Chen Pi! He seems to have gone missing since the incident at your teahouse with Gousi. I've been asking around but haven't heard anything about him."
"Alright!" Now, the only option left was to cut off the flow. My desperate hope was that if I had seen her floating on the surface during the earlier recovery, cutting off the flow immediately might lead us to a body resting in the mud—Plastic Model.
Plastic Model, which also has a more artistic name—Human Skin Puppet.
Having decided to cut off the flow, Qin Jian seemed much calmer. He made calls left and right, and then he got things sorted out for me. Ling Juan and other officers were conducting the final autopsy details on the body that had been recovered. I watched as they placed the body onto a stretcher and loaded it into the morgue vehicle. Ling Juan stayed behind, which was frustrating because tonight I wanted to do something, and her presence was more of a hindrance than a help.
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