The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 248 Black Gloves

The statues standing face to face seemed to breathe after a while; their seemingly benevolent smiles concealed a chilling murderous intent. What exactly happened that night more than forty years ago? It makes one's mind wander.

A brief silence fell over the cabin. A loud thud sent a shiver down everyone's spine, as if Xi Changjiang's body had struck the bottom of the ship years ago.

"Xi He, what exactly does he want?" Qi Fei asked from afar, recalling why he had ended up here.

Zhong Kui watched him from the side, and roughly knew that Qi Fei himself knew the answer, otherwise he wouldn't be so angry.

"Did you just mention Xihe?" Old Xu suddenly asked Qi Fei.

"Yes! You know him?" Qi Fei's heart tightened.

Old Xu muttered, "This is too much of a coincidence." He then pulled a small package from under the chair where he was dozing. "This morning, someone sent this to me. I can't read, and the deliveryman told me it was sent by someone named Xi He. I thought about it and realized I didn't recognize that person, so I didn't open it and left it here."

It was a tiny, light package, barely the size of a palm, but the white label clearly read: "Sender: Xi He".

The mailing address was surprisingly the Qi family's white house by the Luomeng River.

As he was about to tear open the packaging, Wu Shanqiu stopped him, worried: "Brother Fei, why don't you take it back to the police station and make sure it's properly protected before opening it?"

After all, Xi He has a history of poisoning people with mailed items.

Zhong Kui, however, had a different opinion: "If he wants the game to continue, he must ensure that the only player survives." Without saying another word, he took the package from Qi Fei's hand and tore open the packaging without hesitation.

The contents were more ordinary than anyone expected; it wasn't an envelope or marbles, but just a black leather glove.

A hint of confusion flashed in Zhong Kui's eyes as she handed the gloves to Qi Fei: "Does this remind you of anything?"

Qi Fei shook his head in confusion: "I don't recall ever having anything like this in my house, and this is a brand new glove."

"Hmph, what kind of trick is this now?" Zhong Kui said irritably.

Qi Fei carefully examined the gloves: "Is this a label or something?" He took out a white label from the inside of the gloves, on which appeared the familiar, elegant handwriting. This time, there were only a few words: "Starting from scratch 1998". Next to the words was still that familiar eerie monster smiley face.

"The black gloves say 'started from scratch'? Is this some kind of dry humor?" Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but say from the side.

He does not mean that.

Zhong Kui remarked casually from the side, "The self-made Black Gloves is really getting more and more into it." Then she turned to Qi Fei and asked, "If I remember correctly, Qi Dong County is a famous self-made entrepreneur."

Qi Fei frowned: "1998 was the year my father's career suddenly took off."

“Interesting. The black gloves appeared in 1998. So, what kind of black gloves were they, and what was their connection to your father’s business?” Zhong Kui moved closer to Qi Fei, with Jiang Tianyi looking at her with worry behind her. “We all know the story of how President Qi started out,” Wu Shanqiu said from the side. “Rumor has it that President Qi landed an important order back then and made his first fortune. Could it have been in 1998? Black gloves, black gloves…” Wu Shanqiu murmured, then covered her mouth. “Oh my god, is Xi He implying that there’s something fishy about the source of this money?”

“1998 was the year Feng Yongshou disappeared and was murdered,” Zhong Kui said from the side. “We found this place because Feng Yongshou mentioned before he disappeared that he was coming to Nancheng to find his aunt Yu Hongxia. Coincidentally, he had been playing with a girl named Xi Ziyun in Yu Hongxia’s place.” As she spoke, she looked at the riverbank again. “More than forty years ago, in the middle of the night, two people set up a trap and tripped a drunkard named Xi Changhe, watching him fall into the river and struggle to drown.”

More than a decade later, the girl knocked on the gate of the Feng family's courtyard in Sanwu Town and told him that she wanted to make an urn for someone's ashes, and that this person's life was to be taken by them personally, just like their perfect cooperation in murdering Xi Changjiang.

Feng Yongshou spent most of his time working alone at the columbarium shop in Sanwu Town. He had no lover, no friends, and loneliness made him an easy target for manipulation. From childhood, Feng Yongshou had developed a deep attachment to Xi Ziyun and a habit of being controlled by her.

All we know now is that twenty-seven years ago, in the spring, Xi Ziyun and Feng Yongshou killed someone and hid that person in a kiln at night, burning them to ashes.

However, Feng Yongshou, now an adult, was no longer an ignorant child. After committing the murder, he could not face the condemnation in his heart and chose to go to Nancheng to find Xi Ziyun.

We don't know what happened in the white building back then.

However, this was clearly not part of Xi Ziyun's plan. She took advantage of Feng Yongshou's trust in her to kill him, but she didn't have enough time to dispose of the body, so she could only bury him in the garden.

As if he were a sacrifice, with his death, business in Qidong County suddenly improved, and they began to get rich from that year onwards.

What Xi He was trying to say was that behind the inspirational story of Qi Dongjun's rise from nothing, Xi Ziyun acted as the mastermind, manipulating Feng Yongshou to clear obstacles for him.

So, the next question is, what obstacle was this one that was cleared away?

As Zhong Kui finished speaking, Qi Fei's mind conjured up the image of the Feng family courtyard on a damp morning, the strangely shaped kiln rising ominously with black smoke, carrying the secret of death as it ascended into the sky.

How could he possibly imagine associating the word "killing" with his gentle and loving mother?

In the dimly lit room, a page was torn from the calendar.

Footsteps, accompanied by panting, echoed in the quiet room.

“Your son needs to catch up. He’s only at the second stage, which is slower than I expected,” Xi He said, squatting down and addressing Qi Dongjun.

Qi Dongjun didn't speak. His glasses had long since fallen off into the small white building. Without the lenses to cover them, his eyes were surrounded by fine lines—he had aged.

But his eyes, as stubborn as when he was young, stared unflinchingly at Xi He's half-lit, half-shadowed face. His lips were tightly closed, and he did not respond.

Xi He frowned in disgust: "You're always like this, all sanctimonious and hypocritical. All these years, have you ever asked yourself: as shrewd as you are, are you really completely ignorant of what happened back then?"

A hint of confusion flashed in Qi Dongjun's eyes, and he finally uttered in a hoarse voice, "What riddle are you playing?"

“When I was three years old, my mother planted a maple tree in the yard. You always walked around it when you watered the flowers. Why?” Xi He’s voice was as cold as if it came from the abyss.