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墨書 Inktalez
Ye Chenfeng stepped into the room and immediately sensed something was off. The smell was wrong—an unpleasant odor, a mix of burnt and grilled meat. This scent was not from pork or any other livestock; it was the familiar stench of human flesh charred beyond recognition.
He ignored Sun Xianger, sidestepping her as he questioned Qin Keqing, "Is your girlfriend still in the bathroom?"
Qin Keqing was also puzzled by the strange smell in the house. It wasn't until Ye Chenfeng mentioned the bathroom that she suddenly remembered Shi Zhenxiang was still inside.
"She's in the bathroom."
"Take me there quickly."
Sun Xianger's face turned pale, a knowing smile lingering at the corners of her lips. Without waiting for Ye Chenfeng and Qin Keqing to follow, she lowered her head and walked out of Qin Keqing's home.
The bathroom was a horrific sight.
A bloated corpse, its skin peeling away, had turned the water in the bathtub a deep red.
Qin Keqing could hardly believe it; she felt as if struck by lightning and nearly fainted on the spot. She swayed slightly but was caught by Ye Chenfeng, who asked softly, "Is she dead?"
"You should wait outside for me. I'll check it out."
Shi Zhenxiang was no longer beautiful; her once lovely face had turned to a charred blackness. Her bulging eyes were wide open, as if witnessing something extraordinarily terrifying, and her twisted, grotesque expression bore witness to unimaginable suffering.
Ye Chenfeng instructed Qin Keqing to call the police.
He did not disturb the scene but quietly observed the burnt body in the bathtub for a long time before scanning his surroundings—
Shi Zhenxiang died in a bizarre manner.
The items around were intact, but the bathtub was filled with blood.
A person taking a bath suddenly caught fire; it was truly unbelievable.
According to the laws of nature, one thing overcomes another.
The five elements generate and restrain each other: Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal.
The five elements also have their conflicts: Metal restrains Wood, Wood restrains Earth, Earth restrains Water, Water restrains Fire, Fire restrains Metal.
In a place with water, how could a fire break out?
Ye Chenfeng gazed into the space, and to Qin Keqing, it seemed as if something invisible to him was present.
Indeed, in the space that Qin Keqing saw, there was something he could not perceive.
This entity was filled with malevolence, angrily roaring at Ye Chenfeng and transforming into various terrifying forms to scare him.
It was a humanoid figure formed from smoke; he could not make out the facial features obscured by the mist, but the rest of its body was clearly visible in his line of sight.
"The game is not over yet. You guess who the next person to die will be. If you manage to save them before I do, then I lose. From that point on, I will leave your circle of life willingly and go to that cold, dark Underworld to accept my punishment."
"Who are you? Who are you?" Ye Chenfeng shouted in anger, forming hand seals and chanting incantations in an attempt to force this invisible being made of smoke to reveal itself.
"Hahaha, it's not yet time for me to show up. The game continues... Bye-bye."
The sinister, hoarse voice suddenly vanished, disappearing along with the smoke from Ye Chenfeng's perception.
Indeed, how could a fire accident occur where there is water, let alone resulting in death?
Moreover, in the space where Shi Zhenxiang was bathing, there were no flammable materials that could ignite a fire. A short circuit was even less likely; although the wiring was concealed during renovations, it couldn't possibly lead to a short circuit that would cause a fire.
The walls were still covered in pristine white tiles, showing no signs of burning.
The law enforcement department that came to investigate found this bizarre death case similar to another strange death that had occurred not long ago.
Qin Keqing was worried about implicating Ye Chenfeng and had sent him away early. Thus, only Qin Keqing was present at the scene, yet she discovered fingerprints that did not belong to her—those left behind by Ye Chenfeng inadvertently.
Ye Chenfeng was searching for Xiang'er.
Every time Xiang'er was present, something would happen. This coincidence was filled with mystery, an eerie feeling, and the scent of death.
Suddenly, his phone rang without warning. He answered it and saw an unfamiliar number.
However, the voice on the other end belonged to Qin Keqing.
"Ye Chenfeng, you need to return to Furong Community."
Ye Chenfeng had no choice but to turn back. Qin Keqing informed him over the phone that the relevant authorities had detected his fingerprints left at the scene, as well as shoe prints.
Sun Xianger had also left the scene, but how come she wasn't noticed?
Ye Chenfeng returned to Furong Community.
Qin Keqing informed him that the surveying instruments were very advanced now. With a flash of the infrared surveying device into the ground, a clear set of images appeared. There were two additional pairs of shoe prints on top of Qin Keqing's.
One pair of long slipper prints belonged to Shi Zhenxiang, while the other was Ye Chenfeng's.
Qin Keqing's home was decorated with high-end marble tiles.
Typically, one would change from leather shoes to slippers upon entering. However, Ye Chenfeng was in such a hurry that he forgot to change out of his leather shoes.
Every time an incident occurred at the scene, Ye Chenfeng was present. Wasn't that a bit too coincidental? So much so that it raised suspicion. A staff member in uniform looked at him with doubt and asked, "How come it's you again?"
"It's me, Ye Chenfeng, the son of the first victim."
"How did you end up here?"
Ye Chenfeng did not answer honestly. Instead, he deflected and replied, "I'm a classmate of the homeowner, Qin Keqing. We haven't gathered in a long time, so I came by to take a look." He deliberately lied, not out of fear that they would suspect him and place him on the list of suspects, but because he felt that no one would believe what he said anyway.
It was hard to believe.
After all, this was the age of science.
Moreover, Ye Chenfeng was a young person from the post-80s generation.
"You seemed to have gone to the bathroom after the incident. What was your reason for going in?"
Ye Chenfeng shrugged and sighed, "I've been really unlucky lately. I just came to see a classmate and felt something was off. There was a strange smell in the room, one that I had smelled before—when my mom had her accident. Without thinking, I rushed in."
"As far as I know, the deceased, Shi Zhenxiang, was the girlfriend of the homeowner, Qin Keqing. Was it appropriate for you to go in?"
Qin Keqing noticed Ye Chenfeng frowning and falling silent. She quickly interjected, "I called him to come take a look. I remember my girlfriend was taking a shower; I didn't think much of it at the time, and then..."
The person taking the statement glanced at Qin Keqing and sneered, "Actually, Shi Zhenxiang was killed by you. You brought Ye Chenfeng here to have a witness who would claim you had no motive to kill."
"You're talking nonsense! How could I? She was my girlfriend!"
The law enforcement personnel ignored Qin Keqing's protests and slammed a photo down on the coffee table. "You are notorious for your promiscuity, playing emotional games with various partners, one after another, only to discard them. Shi Zhenxiang naturally didn't want to leave you, a wealthy second-generation heir; she threatened you and insisted on staying at your place, wanting to be the last woman you toyed with and hoping to marry you. You certainly couldn't bear to end this emotional game and contemplated killing her. But fearing punishment, you called your classmate Ye Chenfeng to provide false testimony that you were innocent."
Qin Keqing was furious, her expression one of bewilderment as she raised her hand indignantly. "You say it's me? That I killed her? It seems I must go with you to the station now. Come on! Handcuff me!"
"Don't be hasty," Ye Chenfeng interrupted Qin Keqing from escalating further. He met the sharp gaze of the law enforcement personnel and countered sharply, "May I ask how the burns inside the deceased's body occurred? Was that also directed by Qin Keqing as part of her murder plot? Once again, let me ask: he is neither a magician nor an occultist; how could he possibly burn someone from the inside out?"
The law enforcement personnel looked exasperated, pinching his brow with a pained expression. "Alright, enough of this nonsense wasting time. We have no evidence proving that the homeowner committed murder; it's merely a perverse speculation. If you're dissatisfied with this conclusion, then present strong arguments to refute it."
Ye Chenfeng felt that his previous statements were clear enough. If they continued to be obstinate, he truly believed these people were unreliable fools. With an aggressive demeanor, he pressed on, "So do you think it's possible he would risk murder just to continue playing this emotional game?"
"Liu Team Leader, I found this at the scene."
A doll was discovered at the bottom of the bathtub; since it was filled with cotton, it sank automatically once it absorbed water.
Doll!
Qin Keqing thought of Xiang'er.
Xiang'er's doll was in the bathroom. What did that mean?
At that moment, the investigators uncovered something particularly strange: they found several clothes in the wardrobe of the master bedroom with a cut, clearly made by scissors.
Qin Keqing never expected that Sun Xianger, at such a young age, would take such an unexpected action.
"The clothes were cut by Sun Xianger."
"Who is Sun Xianger?"
Ye Chenfeng took the initiative to explain, "Sun Xianger is an orphan. We brought her out from a remote, uninhabited mountain village."
"Where is she now?"
Qin Keqing defended Sun Xianger, saying, "She couldn't have killed anyone. She's not even fourteen yet. Besides, how could such a young girl possibly burn someone to that extent?"
His words were not without reason.
However, Ye Chenfeng couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened to Sun Xianger.
Why was it that every incident seemed to be inexplicably connected to her? When he entered just now, he hadn't even looked at Sun Xianger. Now she had stormed off in anger, and he had no idea where she had gone.
If it were in the past, he would have been frantic.
But now, Ye Chenfeng couldn't afford to panic; he began to suspect that Sun Xianger was involved.
When the body was taken away by the relevant authorities, Qin Keqing told Ye Chenfeng that Sun Xianger and Shi Zhenxiang did not get along; they were always embroiled in endless conflicts.
Sun Xianger even used Shi Zhenxiang's lipstick, and the clothes in the wardrobe were undoubtedly Sun Xianger's doing.
However, based solely on these observations, it couldn't be confirmed that Sun Xianger was responsible for what had happened. She was just a girl under fourteen, not only was she short in stature, but she also lacked the strength to commit murder.
Unless there was something about her that had gone unnoticed?
"Do you remember when Xiang'er first saw me? She bit me right away; she didn't seem like a normal person at all. The wound got infected and became pus-filled. If it weren't for the medicine her sister-in-law gave me, my hand might have been permanently damaged."
Qin Keqing propped her chin on her hand, furrowing her brows as she sighed, "That doesn't really prove anything!"
"Don't forget that she came back to life from a sea of flames. She carries an aura of malice that ordinary people don't possess. This child, with her malevolent energy, could attract certain things." Ye Chenfeng suddenly had a flash of insight, thinking of another matter that concerned someone else's life or death.
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