Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 591 The Murderer
The rescued woman is named Jiang Zhen, a college student who is currently a freshman.

She met Guan Er at the foot of Wudong Mountain when she was traveling with her classmates during the May Day Golden Week.

Jiang Zhen was vague about what happened, seemingly unwilling to elaborate. Considering her still-emotional state after being rescued, the police didn't press for details. In any case, she had ultimately been tricked into going to the villa and suffered considerable and brutal torture.

After she was taken to the hospital, doctors conducted a full physical examination and found that in addition to the external injuries from the beating and the head injury, the most serious injuries were to her hands.

Because she was suspended and bound for such a long time, Jiang Zhen's hands suffered severe damage. Besides the surface injuries, all ten of her fingers were unable to fully straighten or extend. This will not only require prolonged intervention and treatment but may also lead to incurable long-term sequelae. Furthermore, due to hypothermia, soaking in water, and the environment inside the well, Jiang Zhen's internal organs also suffered some damage; symptoms of infection were found in her lungs and kidneys.

And these... are not even all of them.

Jiang Zhen is pregnant!

There's not much to guess; it's highly likely that Guan Yu was responsible for this mess.

Given Jiang Zhen's current physical condition and her status as a victim, an abortion is inevitable, but it must wait until her body has undergone treatment. Jiang Zhen has no objection to this, only requesting that the police and hospital conceal this fact.

In addition, she requested the Baekam City police to provide her school with a certificate stating that her extended absence was not unexcused but rather that she had been held hostage. Furthermore, medical treatment and other needs require a considerable period of leave…

The police naturally cooperated fully in this regard, as it was something they were supposed to do for the victims.

Regardless of how Jiang Zhen initially approached Guan Er and was lured by him, her status as a victim is undeniable. The girl has already been unlucky enough; why bother investigating such detailed and numerous lies when some minor ones can be ignored?
However, one thing is certain: if something like this happens, it is imperative to immediately notify Jiang Zhen's parents, no matter how unwilling she may be, there is no room for negotiation.

"Officer Liu, the situation at the villa is out."

A policewoman with a grim expression approached Liu Yuan and handed him a stack of documents.

Liu Yuan took the document and glanced at it, his face immediately turning grim. He looked up at the policewoman, incredulous, "Two decomposing corpses? Plus six skeletons pieced together? That makes eight more victims?"

The policewoman nodded.

"According to the experts brought in from Chu City, one of the skeletons is believed to be Guan Er's father, Guan Rong, and the other may be Guan Er's older brother, Guan Daqiang, who went missing years ago. The identities of the other victims are still under investigation. Furthermore, the divers found two axes in the silt at the bottom of the well, slightly different from the axe Guan Er used in the crimes. We suspect these two axes may be the weapons Guan Er used when he initially committed the murders, and we are having the technical center analyze the details of the axe blades and the appearance of the skull wounds on the victims. In addition, experts, through analysis of the wounds on the skeletons in the well, determined that they were all fatally struck on the back of the head with an axe."

"Guan Er's father and brothers...died in the well in front of their house..."

Liu Yuan's face darkened, and he suddenly looked up in astonishment as if he had just realized something: "So, the first two skeletons were from at least twenty years ago? Back then, the wells didn't even have water pumps; they relied on mechanical well frames to draw water? Wait a minute, back then, Yuehe Village didn't even have running water, right? The entire Yuehe Village relied on well water for both drinking and other purposes, and the groundwater had actually been polluted by the well water from Guan Er's family?"

"..."

The policewoman shuddered, suddenly realizing that Liu Yuan was talking about something terrifying.

Guan Er keeps throwing corpses into the well, and the nearby villagers use this water for cooking and heating every day? Ugh... Damn it! I'm going to have nightmares tonight!
The policewoman gave Liu Yuan a resentful look.

"cough!"

Everyone else in the office stared at Liu Yuan speechlessly. Yue Qisheng coughed and said, "Don't talk too much about this with the village, especially about the time of the body, to avoid causing trouble. Once the case is closed, have someone fill in that well and sprinkle plenty of lime. And Officer Liu, I'm only considering one question right now: why was Guan Er so insistent on attacking the victim's head with an axe? He even used this method to teach his mentally challenged son; there must be some special meaning behind it. I think this might be the real reason why the whole case happened, and it's the secret we need to figure out now."

"A ritual! Ultimately, it's a special ritual. The reasons why the victims pushed off the cliff differ from other victims in their manner of suffering are something we must understand!"

Nie Guoqiang spoke slowly.

"However, the interrogation of the gossipy woman yielded no relevant information. She was just an ordinary swindler who used her religious identity to cheat people out of money; according to her, that was the only thing she did."

Ma Shun shook his head and added, "According to the gossipy old woman, whether it's offering sacrifices to ghosts, killing people, or assaulting female victims, it's all Guan Er's decision. Even the so-called ritual for having a son at Jingyue Nunnery was just using aphrodisiacs and environmental factors to increase the supplicant's confidence, thereby achieving... well... curing impotence and increasing sexual ability. As for whether it's a son or a daughter, she can just brush it off with a question about sincerity. Anyway, either the man or the woman isn't sincere, it's up to the deceived person to think! You can't prove something like this by being completely honest, she can easily absolve herself of responsibility."

At this point, Ma Shun unscrewed a bottle of mineral water. Just as he was about to drink it, the words "mineral water" suddenly seemed jarring, and he silently put the bottle back on the table.

Seeing that several leaders in the office were looking at him, Ma Shun swallowed and said, "But ever since she was raped by Guan Er and gave birth to a mentally challenged son, she has been coerced by Guan Er and, well... led astray by feudal superstition, completely becoming Guan Er's accomplice. Most of the money she earned at Jingyue Nunnery was spent by Guan Er, and he still kept demanding more from her. Furthermore, the most common fertility blessing ceremony at Jingyue Nunnery was also led astray by Guan Er."

Shaking his head again, Ma Shun sneered and continued, "Hmph... This beast only preys on young and beautiful wives. Over the years, he's ruined quite a few people, even making them raise his daughters. Speaking of which, Guan Er thought he was unlucky, finally having a son who was an idiot, and all the children he conceived through surrogacy were daughters. But in fact, the gossipy old woman confessed that she did have a few sons, but she was worried that Guan Er would abandon her and her own idiot son if he had other men's sons, so she chose to hide it and deceive him. On the contrary, Guan Er never went to her Jingyue Nunnery unless there was something wrong, and this kind of thing was kept very well hidden all these years."

"Ha ha……"

The people in the office exchanged glances, suddenly at a loss for words. That scoundrel Guan Er was going crazy missing his son, but his gossipy aunt, in order to make him devoted to his mentally challenged son, had actually lied to him about this very matter.

The consequence of this deception was that Guan Er also believed in his 'fate' of no longer being able to have a son, so he set his sights on using ghost sacrifices to help continue his lineage, which resulted in more people being harmed and dying.

Every sip and every bite seems like a joke.

"From this point of view, the gossipy old woman is not innocent at all! She is not only an accomplice, but also a mastermind because she shares the same desire as Guan Er for her foolish son to carry on the family line."

Liu Yuan categorized the woman as a gossip.

"What about Guan Er?"

Nie Guoqiang rubbed his forehead, saying helplessly yet calmly, "Guan Er's reason for killing people during the ghost-worship ceremony can be considered as his way of bringing his son back to life so that he could continue the family line. But what was his purpose in killing the others? What were the reasons for the killing of the five victims buried behind the Jingyue Temple? And what about the eight corpses in the well behind his villa? Apart from the two that are suspected to be his relatives, what is the situation with the other six?"

"Guan Er remains silent and refuses to confess. We are considering whether to request a professional interrogation expert from China to come over."

Yue Qisheng let out a bitter laugh.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from outside the door. A young policewoman carrying a folder ran over quickly, followed by a cat with a curious look on its face.

"Mimi? Aren't you with Li Siyu..."

Before Nie Guoqiang could finish speaking, the panting policewoman shouted, "Chief, that idiot just confessed something! Guan Er killed those people behind Jingyue Nunnery because the victims saw his face! The idiot's words were incoherent, but one thing is certain: the reason the couple was killed by Guan Er was because they woke up prematurely and witnessed Guan Er's assault, which led to them being silenced. And then... and the other three victims... were all... because they were beautiful, they were imprisoned and tortured by Guan Er until they died! The idiot also said that there's a cave hidden in Jingyue Nunnery! An underground space we haven't discovered!"

"really?"

Several people in the office stood up.

"Yes! That's right! I missed it all. I never expected that there was a place in Jingyue Nunnery that I hadn't discovered!"

Lin Ge's expression was grim, which was why he had followed along. When he was investigating Jingyue Nunnery with Li Yiduo and Li Siyu, he had clearly searched through all the rooms, so why hadn't he found any basement?
The fool confessed this on his own when he saw Lin Ge, and it didn't seem like he was lying. So the group had to go to Jingyue Nunnery again to investigate.

This time, they brought along the mentally challenged man who had just been discharged from the hospital.

"Woo~~"

The fat, silly man with bandages wrapped around his head and one eye covered by a black cloth, saw the cat standing in front of him as soon as he was taken off the police car.

Although the cat was very small, practically insignificant compared to his size, the fat man still showed a look of terror when he saw Lin Ge. He furtively backed away while cautiously glancing in Lin Ge's direction.

He was already traumatized by Lin Ge. Even just seeing Lin Ge from afar made his face ache terribly. This guy wasn't particularly afraid of the police, or rather, he didn't understand what a police officer's identity represented. Whether receiving treatment in the hospital or after being detained at the city police station, he behaved extremely willfully and arrogantly.

But he was particularly afraid of Lingo; seeing him was like seeing his nemesis.

Lin Ge ignored the fool and just looked up, frowning at the narrow mountain road that cars couldn't go up. It was time to climb another mountain.

"go!"

Two policemen shoved the fat man, signaling him to behave and get going.

"I'm not leaving!"

The fat man looked around and found himself surrounded by unfamiliar, menacing-looking people, and inexplicably became stubborn.

"No! No! I want to go home! I want to go home! Father! Grandma! I... Father! Grandma~"

The fat man shook his head desperately and struggled violently, pressing his body against the police car and refusing to move forward. He kept calling out for his parents, and even swung his handcuffed hands forcefully as if to hit them.

The two police officers who were trying to restrain him almost broke free, and their faces turned grim as they quickly pulled him back down.

"Be honest!"

Seeing the fat man acting foolishly and starting to act recklessly, Wu Dapeng glared at him fiercely, but the fat man just shook his head and refused to cooperate.

"What are you doing?"

The mountain path to Jingyue Temple was still a long and arduous climb. Seeing that trouble had already arisen before they even started, Lin Ge walked back in annoyance, glaring fiercely at the fat man.

"..."

In an instant, the fat guy became obedient.

As if he had seen his natural enemy, the fat man quickly transformed from a savage warrior into a quail. He even trembled and his legs went weak. He stopped shouting and resisting, and he didn't even dare to look at Lin Ge, only lowering his head and sobbing.

According to the hospital, this guy's eye is completely ruined. Although he underwent emergency surgery, the wound hasn't healed yet.

Then... his tears aggravated his wounds, causing him to convulse.

He opened his mouth wide in pain but dared not cry out, and even showed a wronged expression that left everyone speechless.

But with Ling Ge keeping things in check, the fat man didn't dare to cause any more trouble. Two policemen pushed him forward, and when he turned to look at Ling Ge, he calmed down, sobbing as he walked up the mountain.

This guy was a restless fellow; he'd get angry if pushed around while climbing the mountain, and even tried to fight the police. But every time he was about to attack, he'd secretly glance back at Lingo, then choose to back down out of fear.

This scene left the police officers feeling helpless, yet also thankful that they had brought Mimi along; otherwise, escorting this mentally challenged man to Jingyue Temple would have been extremely difficult.

This guy... has brute strength and isn't afraid of being intimidated. It's really difficult to control him when the police can't easily use force against him.

Fortunately, he still has something to fear.

Without any further mishaps, the group quickly returned to Jingyue Nunnery.

Untie the barricade, remove the seal on the gate, and go inside.

Several days had passed since the incident, which wasn't long, but Jingyue Temple now looked as if it were covered with a layer of dust, appearing inexplicably dilapidated.

The incense burners were empty, the ground was covered with fallen leaves, the candles in front of the statues had burned out, and the dim lighting, messy footprints on the ground, plus the inevitable damage caused by the police's previous investigation, made the place look somewhat eerie.

A gust of wind blew by, causing the canopy above his head to flutter gently, making Lin Ge shiver involuntarily.

But soon, as the police dispersed to search for the hidden room, the atmosphere returned to normal and became lively again.

Where is the secret room?

Wu Dapeng approached the fat man again.

"No...don't know."

The fat man shook his head, then glanced timidly at Lin Ge. He didn't seem to be faking it; it seemed that, given his intelligence, he genuinely didn't know where the entrance to that place was.

Even when Lin Ge personally threatened him, the fat man couldn't come up with anything concrete.

Anyway, she kept repeating the same things: follow her father, climb slowly or you'll get a headache, it's dark inside and you have to wait for your father to light the fire first, etc. While saying all this, she was also crying and calling for her grandmother. It seemed like there was really no way to rely on her.

Left with no other choice, Lin Ge had to take matters into his own hands.

Anyway, as long as it's confirmed that the basement is inside the Jingyue Nunnery, it will just take a little time to find it. No matter how well the secret room is hidden, as long as Guan Er has been there, he will definitely leave traces. Lin Ge felt that this kind of problem should not be difficult for him.

And then... he found it.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the entrance to the basement, which was originally thought to be hidden in some very secluded place, was actually located in the small square just inside the entrance to Jingyue Temple.

Behind the statue of He Xiangu is a stone-paved path, and beyond that is the rock-cut doorway of the main hall of the Taoist temple, built against the mountain. Right next to this doorway, which resembles a foundation, a faint trace of Guan Yu's scent lingers on a stone slab. When Lin Ge passed by here last time, he smelled Guan Yu's scent lingering on the edge of this stone slab. Because it looks like an ordinary drainage ditch behind the He Xiangu statue, and because most people are polite and wouldn't walk this way, it went unnoticed.

After the stone slab was lifted, there was indeed a dry drainage ditch. It wasn't until a policeman crouched down and crawled in that he discovered a dog hole about half a person's height hidden in the ditch, next to the stone wall of the main hall.

The dog hole widened as it went deeper, leading directly into the stone wall. No one would have guessed that what appeared to be just an ordinary stone wall inside the mountain had actually been hollowed out to create a small room of about ten square meters. The walls overhead and surrounding the room offered no support, simply covered with a layer of cement.

This is similar to the cave dwellings in the mountains of northern China, except that the entrance is located underground. With the added reinforcement of the outer stone walls, the secret chamber actually survived.

Following the first police officer who entered to investigate, Lin Ge found the secret room relatively empty, containing only some rice, instant noodles, and two large covered water vats. There was no furniture, and thankfully, no corpses. Only a quilt was laid out against one wall, with insects crawling on it. This was likely where Guan Er imprisoned his chosen victims, and could also serve as a hiding place after the incident. Unfortunately, the police arrived too quickly during his fight with Li Yiduo, and before he could kill the witness and hide inside, he was arrested.

In a corner of the room, Lin Ge also saw a rusty iron chain with dark bloodstains on it.

Two large iron nails extended from the wall, with one end of an iron chain hanging from them. The other end was a cast iron shackle, demonstrating Guan Yu's cruelty.

Then, in the chamber pot near the door, a policeman was stirring the dried feces inside, covering his nose.

Then, a tiny bone was retrieved.

(End of this chapter)