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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 475: Human Skin Puppet (Part Thirty-Eight)
"Don't just look, come and listen." The chubby man eagerly brought over a stool and a cup of tea before rushing to the front desk. I sat in the living room with Ling Juan, who took a sip of tea and said, "This tea is quite good."
Not wanting to waste time, I got straight to the point while she enjoyed her tea. "Do you understand what kind of work is done here?"
"What’s there to understand? It's just serving the dead."
"Alright, straightforward then. It's not just about serving the dead; it also involves preparing the deceased's appearance—makeup, cleaning, and if the family requests, even bathing the body."
"Bathing the deceased?" Ling Juan pursed her lips, seemingly hesitating, contemplating deeply. I thought she would refuse and get up to leave, but unexpectedly, this stubborn girl decisively said, "Let's sign a contract!"
I hadn't anticipated that Ling Juan would stay at Ma Wu Funeral Home.
In the following days, we both tacitly avoided mentioning our impending separation until one day when an unidentified corpse was sent by the Relevant Authorities for preparation.
This corpse was peculiar—blood oozed from all seven orifices, yet there were no visible injuries on the skin, and multiple bones were inexplicably fractured. The entire body seemed broken; it lay limp in the Coroner's Van like a fish with its backbone removed, pale all over with bulging eyes.
"Boss, take a look at this..." Ling Juan had been at Ma Wu Funeral Home for some time now but had never encountered a corpse as frightening as this one.
"Are you scared?"
"No, I just think this death is a bit strange."
In truth, Ling Juan didn’t need me to tell her that this person had died under abnormal circumstances. Moreover, there were three other corpses in the Freezer with similar conditions.
"Alright, let's clean him up and get him inside."
"Boss, you've changed," Ling Juan said, wiping the deceased's face with a damp towel, her mask not stopping her from speaking to me.
"Show some respect for the dead; it's best not to talk while working," I reminded her, then walked over to the Incense Table. I raised a stick of incense, silently reciting a spell before placing it in the incense burner. I noticed Ling Juan had already moved the body into the Freezer and asked, "Do you have something to say to me?"
Ling Juan stepped into the outer room, where Fat used to live, and removed her mask. "Actually, I came to ask you if you’re still in contact with Qin."
I knew she would bring this up, so I had prepared my response. After I separated from Qin Jian, he was transferred to another city, along with Chi Xinrong. The couple was now living a blissful life together, perhaps having long forgotten about me.
Despite his disappearance, I hadn’t given up on searching for clues. After having a farewell dinner with Qin Jian, I quietly took a ride to the villa. The villa had changed owners, and shortly afterward, that security guard mysteriously committed suicide. Everything seemed like someone was deliberately covering something up or perhaps afraid of something. The Bone Devourer Messenger I sensed should be carefully interpreted as "Mind Your Own Business." I also tried to contact Qin Jian, but his phone number was disconnected. I suspected Chi Xinrong had intentionally changed their number to avoid interruptions in their little world.
After parting ways with Qin Jian, I visited the Riverside Family several times but returned disappointed each time. I helped out at the Funeral Home with post-mortem arrangements but was plagued by nightmares every night.
In those dark nights, many people must have been unable to sleep like me. Each time I woke from a nightmare, I would turn on the light and pull out an old notebook from a tattered bag under my bed. Countless times, I recalled that nightmare: a woman's cries, tear-filled eyes, sharp ghostly claws, blood-red lips, a cold operating table, and a bloodstained white coat.
When I mentioned the strange death of the security guard, Ling Juan was shocked. "Could it be that someone silenced him?"
I smiled slightly and gestured for her to follow me into the inner room. The Funeral Home was quiet today; Fat had gone out on a job while Juanzi and I prepared the new body for restoration.
"Fat Brother is doing well; he can handle many things even without you around."
"Yeah," I replied absently as my hand rested on the Freezer's handle. With a gentle pull, there was a dull sound as the body covered with a white cloth was brought out.
"Who is this?"
"The security guard who committed suicide."
“It's been over a year, and you still have his body?” Ling Juan hesitated, unwilling to come closer, deliberately lowering her voice.
“This is a task entrusted to me by the family. In addition to handling the burial and cremation of the remains, I have also started investigating the truth behind the death, which includes missing persons cases as well.”
Ling Juan took a step closer, her voice rising slightly. “Boss, you’re truly impressive.”
“So, you see, this body should have died in exactly the same way as the others we’ve collected before.”
Ling Juan looked surprised and moved in a little closer, stretching her neck to look. The difference between a fresh corpse and a frozen one was stark; a frozen body was as hard as stone, while a fresh one was like a fish with its spine pulled out.
“Wow, it really is the same. But wasn’t he supposed to be a suicide?”
“Of course not. What do you think a suicide looks like?”
“Unrecognizable, covered in blood, with all their bones shattered.”
“No, his features are intact, he’s completely drained of blood, but all his bones are shattered.”
“Then why is it classified as suicide?”
I didn’t answer Ling Juan’s question but continued, “Not only that, I can’t sense anything about what happened to them; I can’t even see their souls, like with Gousi.”
“That’s really creepy.”
“There’s something even creepier. Tonight, we’ll go take a look.” With that, I pulled out another corpse. This time Ling Juan was completely stunned; this was Chen Pi. On a dark and stormy night, Chen Pi's body was found in a rental apartment. The corpse was severely decomposed. After an autopsy, it was determined that he had died last winter—around the time when Qin Jian and I had our farewell dinner.
The cause of death remains unclear and is pending investigation.
We then prepared for our outing that evening. As we stepped outside, I remembered that I needed Juanzi to assist with something, so I said, “Later, you should take a bath and change your clothes. Before we leave, light a heart lamp and incense at Grandpa's incense burner. You must do it sincerely; only then will it be twice as effective.”
Ling Juan might have misunderstood my words. As soon as I finished speaking, her face turned bright red, and she shyly lowered her head, saying, “Taking a bath and changing clothes makes it sound so serious…”
“Regardless, just follow my instructions; you can't go wrong.” Ignoring her bashful demeanor, I stood up, pretending to be aloof, and walked out with my hands behind my back.
In the afternoon, Fatty returned and deposited all the money he had earned. Then he went to take a shower and catch up on some sleep. Meanwhile, Ling Juan and I prepared the items we would need for our evening mission. We had to bring the necessary talismans. After half a year of investigation, I believed that the mysterious death case that remained unresolved was about to come to an end.
And once this case was resolved, the first person I wanted to inform was Qin Jian.
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