The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 305 Returning to Sanwu Town

The misty Zizai Mountain seemed to have a built-in blue filter, with different shades of blue layered upon each other. In the autumn forest, even the birdsong was scarce, and everything was silent in the approaching night, unwilling to wake up.

The window of the wooden house creaked shut.

Zhong Kui, who had been meditating cross-legged on the couch, slowly opened his eyes. Granny Meng wiped the dew from the windowsill and muttered, "It's dawn. The mountain wind is cold. The Great Immortal can't keep the window open all night anymore."

Zhong Kui smiled knowingly, as if she missed such moments. The black donation box was placed next to her, and the wish list inside had been taken out and organized by Granny Meng and placed on the small table in advance.

She looked at the pictures one by one with great interest, then suddenly stopped on one of them. The mournful cawing of crows outside broke the silence of the early morning, and Zhong Kui's smile vanished abruptly.
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Qi Fei, lost in thought, had been staring at the music box on the table for a long time. Inside the crystal ball on top of the music box, a scarecrow stood in the snow, its image contrasting sharply with Qi Fei's haggard face. Zhong Kui had come and gone. Strangely enough, before he met her, Qi Fei's life was the same, but ever since, he felt as if a part of him had been taken away by her. Only when she was by his side did his heart find peace; without her, he felt a void, a sense of aimless loss.

"Hmm? Daydreaming during work hours? Looks like you're not getting enough work." A voice came from behind him. Qi Fei looked up and saw Liu Tong smiling at him, handing him a file. "This is a case reported by the city government that I received. They need our support. Since you're so free, you're the one."

"No, Captain Liu, when did you start assigning tasks so carelessly?" Qi Fei helplessly took the notebook, and immediately changed the subject as soon as he opened it, "Damn it."

"Hmm? Are you swearing or taking the job?"

"I'll take it, I'll take it, thank you Captain Liu," Qi Fei said with a grin. "I take back what I said about you being 'careless'."

“You’re not young anymore, yet you’re still so impatient. I’ve read the details; this case is quite unusual. The family isn’t cooperating. You and Xiao Wu need to go there; you’ll probably have to stay for a while. Your food and lodging will be reimbursed,” Liu Tong said.
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The road to Sanwu Town was familiar to Qi Fei, and he soon arrived at the entrance of that familiar town.

A young man in a police uniform had been waiting for a long time, and he rushed over even before the car had come to a complete stop.

"Brother Fei, Sister Shanqiu, hello, I'm Cai Ding from the Sanwu Town Police Station." The young man introduced himself enthusiastically as soon as he came up, a stark contrast to the Sanwu Town shrouded in gloom behind him.

"Did you write that report sent to the Municipal Bureau?" Qi Fei asked immediately.

"Yes, this case involves the largest clan in our town, and there are currently difficulties in communication. But you should have read my report, right?"

“I have seen the body. The deceased is Wu Xingzhou. He was found dead in the ancestral hall. The cause of death is unknown, and the family refused an autopsy. You believe that Wu Xingzhou’s death involves criminal activity, so you reported it to the municipal bureau.”

"That's right, Sanwu Town used to be called Sanwu Town. The Wu in this name is the surname of Wu Xingzhou's family. Currently, one-tenth of the population in the town still has the surname Wu, making it the most common surname. Wu Xingzhou was the eleventh generation eldest grandson of the Wu family. He was discovered ten days ago by volunteers cleaning the ancestral hall and they immediately called the police. My colleague Lao Pang and I were the first to arrive at the scene, which gave me the opportunity to examine Wu Xingzhou's body. When we arrived, Wu Xingzhou was curled up on the ground in the center of the ancestral hall, his eyes wide open, still maintaining the expression of terror he had before death. But that wasn't the most bizarre thing. The strangest thing was that he was holding a wooden Bodhisattva statue in his chest. I tried to take it out, but he was holding it too tightly, and his body was stiff, so I couldn't get it out no matter what I did. Just then, Wu Xingzhou's father, Wu Chongyue, arrived with his men. He immediately pulled me away, saying that this was a matter for the Wu family and that the police didn't need to handle it."

Old Pang and I tried to protect the scene and a conflict ensued. There were over a dozen of them, and Old Pang and I were outnumbered. In the chaos, they took Wu Xingzhou's body. Wu Chongyue and others were detained for assaulting police officers. We planned to apply for an autopsy on Wu Xingzhou before they were released, but unexpectedly, Wu Xingzhou's mother, Zhu Haitang, cremated Wu Xingzhou's body before Wu Chongyue was even released.

"Isn't this too abnormal? A parent outliving their child, shouldn't they at least wait a couple of days for his father to finish?" Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but say.

“Yes, there are too many unusual things. When a son dies suddenly, most parents would want to find out the cause of death, but Wu Chongyue and Zhu Haitang don’t seem to think so.” Qi Fei looked up at the words “Sanwu Town” on the archway at the entrance of the town. “Moreover, it sounds like the entire Wu family doesn’t want the police to get involved in this matter. It’s really too strange.”

"To be honest, our police station has dealt with the Wu family quite a bit. Because Sanwu Town is relatively isolated and doesn't have much interaction with the outside world, the influence of the clan is still very significant. Frankly speaking, many customs are not much different from those of hundreds of years ago."

We usually support their collective activities like sacrificial rites as long as they don't affect public order, but they went too far with Wu Xingzhou's matter.

Speaking of which, the volunteer who called the police was also from the Wu family, but I heard they've been expelled from the family register. I suspect it's because of that police call; it seems they didn't want us to know about Wu Xingzhou's death from the very beginning.”

Is that volunteer still in Sanwu Town?

"Yes, she is. Her name is Wu Shulan. I was just about to take you to meet her."

As Cai Ding spoke, he led Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu toward the town.

Qi Fei once again stepped onto this familiar bluestone path. The owner of the general store still remembered him and greeted him warmly: "You've come to see the immortal again?"

Qi Fei gave an awkward laugh.

Upon hearing this, Cai Ding couldn't help but ask curiously, "There are rumors that the Municipal Public Security Bureau has collaborated with a local sorceress to solve several major cases. Is that true?"

Before Qi Fei could say anything, Wu Shanqiu countered by asking Cai Ding, "You don't know Zhong Kui?"

"So her name is Zhong Kui," Cai Ding said, scratching his head sheepishly. "I was really blind to what was right under my nose."

As they were talking, an old wooden door appeared ahead, with a blue doorplate that was half rusted, and the character "五" could be vaguely seen.

Cai Ding knocked on the door, and the wooden door creaked open a crack. A thin, middle-aged woman peeked out from the crack. She had short, yellow, soft hair that reached her ears, and her cheeks were sunken, leaving deep nasolabial folds. As soon as she saw that it was Cai Ding, she urged them to come in, as if afraid of being discovered.