Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 12 The Case of Soul-Seeking at the Coffin 1
The party at the underground themed bar in the morning was still going strong.

As soon as the energetic DJ music started, the confetti and colorful laser lights spraying from above immediately livened up the atmosphere. People in the dance floor cheered and shouted, and men and women who were dancing closely kissed boldly under the pretext of drinking, creating an atmosphere of ambiguity.

Amidst the deafening noise, the cell phone ringing was eventually forgotten, and naturally, no one paid any attention to the noise of people outside pushing open the door and coming in.

Tan Ming walked through pairs of swaying men and women, holding a photo in his hand and constantly comparing it with the people in his line of sight, until he finally saw the person.

The young man, with dyed yellow hair, was surrounded by several men and women and was drinking heavily amidst their cheers.

The spilled wine slid down his Adam's apple. He finished it in one gulp, casually pulled up his collar to wipe his mouth, put one arm around the girl's waist, and turned the wine glass upside down with the other, indicating that he had completed his mission.

When the light swept across him, even if his arrogant face was only seven parts handsome, it was made to look ten parts dashing in this atmosphere.

The revelry after a drink was about to continue, and just as their lips were about to touch, a hand suddenly appeared and separated them.

"Zhao Mingqian?" Tan Ming asked loudly.

Seeing the man nod in confusion, Tan Ming grabbed his arm and said, "Criminal Investigation Division of the Public Security Bureau, there's something we need your cooperation in investigating. Please come with me."

The people nearby were shocked and took a few steps back, looking at Zhao Mingqian, who was standing there dumbfounded, with suspicion.

Leaving the deafening revelry, police cars sped away, the wind whistling past our ears.

Zhao Mingqian, unsure of what was happening, became somewhat restless. Clinging to the back seat of the police car, he asked, "Officer, what happened that requires my cooperation in the investigation? Although I enjoy going to bars for fun, I've never done anything illegal."

Tan Ming didn't say anything, but when the police car arrived in the village and saw the Zhao family members gathered there, he could guess what was going on.

As soon as Zhao Mingqian arrived, a girl in a wheelchair in the middle turned around and stared at him hatefully with her red, tear-filled eyes.

"Did you kill my father?!"

This is Zhao Man, the person who reported the case.

At 7:00 a.m., the Criminal Investigation Division received a report from Zhao Man, who said that her father died unexpectedly around 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. after attending her grandfather's funeral. Her family claimed it was an accident, but she did not accept this explanation and believed it was definitely homicide. She asked the police to investigate thoroughly.

Since it was the funeral of the Zhao family patriarch, and all the family members were present, when the Criminal Investigation Team 2 arrived by car, only Zhao Mingqian was missing. That's why Tan Ming was asked to go and find him early in the morning.

Now everyone was truly present. Xiao Chen counted them: "Goodness, more than thirty people, what a thriving family!"

“If the branches and leaves weren’t so lush, this kind of thing wouldn’t have happened.” Policewoman Wu Yang also went out on field duty to assist with taking statements.

"The deceased, Zhao Li, was 45 years old and a wealthy businessman. He was usually filial to his superiors and kind to his subordinates. He was a generous spender. According to his daughter, this incident may have been caused by someone eyeing his money. Since Zhao Man was an only child and her health was not very good, it would be too easy to steal Zhao Li's inheritance if he died and it ended up in Zhao Man's hands."

Tan Ming, distracted by Zhao Mingqian's increasingly serious expression, saw him approach Zhao Man and grow impatient with her accusations and physical altercations, and promptly separated the two.

But Zhao Man accidentally fell off her wheelchair, collapsed to the ground, and broke down in tears, screaming in anguish as she looked towards the corpse—

“My dad was murdered! My dad was murdered by these people! He said he was going to take me abroad for surgery next month, he couldn’t have died so carelessly!”

The rest of the Zhao family remained silent, standing like gray wooden stakes in the mourning hall adorned with white cloth and wreaths.

Two hundred meters away from the mourning hall, a cordon was set up. Forensic investigators moved around carefully. Zhao Li's body lay there, his eyes wide open, gazing at his daughter from afar.

The atmosphere was heavy, and Wu Yang had to go and comfort Zhao Man first. It took two or three hours to finish taking statements from the Zhao family and other relatives. Zheng Yan then held a short meeting on the spot to summarize the current information.

"The deceased, Zhao Li, died between 5:45 and 6:00 AM. The cause of death was that he fell on a hoe, which severed his carotid artery, leading to excessive blood loss. The hoe was thrown about two meters away and was still stained with blood. Apart from that, no other wounds have been found yet, but the body has been moved, presumably by Zhao's family trying to stop the bleeding."

Zheng Yan asked, "The Zhao family said that Zhao Li was distracted while walking and accidentally tripped and fell on the hoe? The hoe was right there on the road?"

Xiao Chen: "It is said to be a local custom that a hoe is used to clear the way on the funeral procession. The person carrying the hoe worked hard all morning and was exhausted, so he dragged the hoe on the way back. Zhao Li walked behind him."

"What about the trace evidence? What did they find?" Zheng Yan asked again.

"So far, we've only found remnants of firecrackers next to the body, as well as ash from burnt paper and several stacked bloody shoe prints. There were many people there, so it's still unclear whose shoe prints they were. Oh, and there were some soybeans in the deceased's pocket; we don't know what they were for."

Tan Ming continued: "The burial of the deceased Zhao Li's father, Zhao Chunsheng, began yesterday afternoon and continued this morning. The whole family was busy kneeling and mourning, and they held a funeral procession and chanted prayers all night long. The Zhao family said that he might have been too tired and accidentally slipped and fell."

Wu Yang: "There is another version of the story, which says that Zhao Li's father couldn't bear to part with his filial son and wanted to take him with him. Zhao Li was a very filial son. Even after his father became paralyzed and his temper became very bad, he was busy flying all over the country. He would still come back whenever he had free time to take care of his father's needs, feed him, and give him water. Relatives and villagers who came to carry the coffin said that Zhao Chunsheng's death was a relief for Zhao Li."

Xiao Chen: "...I've only ever heard of buy one get one free, never of die get one free."

After listening for a moment, Zheng Yan said, "From this perspective, Zhao Li's death cannot be considered a homicide for the time being. Why does Zhao Man insist that his father was killed by his family?"

Wu Yang: "According to Zhao Man, her father had been supporting the whole family with money at her grandfather's request, even though he was unwilling. Now that her grandfather is dead, the Zhao family is worried that her father will stop providing money, so they want to kill him."

"But what's interesting is that when we cross-referenced everyone's statements, no one was suspected of committing the crime; they all believed it was an accident."

The group exchanged glances and turned to look at the Zhao family members, who were dressed in mourning clothes and had red, swollen eyes from crying.

-

city ​​center.

Tan Jia didn't go downstairs for breakfast again today. Instead of sleeping, she spent the whole morning making dough figurines in her room, creating a large army of very different human-shaped dough figurines.

Aunt Tan Xue came upstairs to see her. When she drew back the curtains, she saw a row of human-shaped face sculptures with limbs already formed on the windowsill, as well as her gloomy face.

“…Jiajia, learning dough sculpting is to help you calm down and distract yourself. There’s no need to work so hard.”

Tan Jia was still rolling out dough on the dough board when she heard this. She paused for a moment, then nodded and said okay.

She was very obedient in front of her elders. After her aunt left, she looked at the dough, threw the tools in her hand aside, closed her eyes, and let out a deep breath.

I had another dream last night.

She had previously thought that dreaming of herself as the murderer killing Mi Junfang was a one-time event and that such supernatural phenomena would not happen again. However, last night's eerie dream not only terrified her but also made her feel a long-lost sense of unease.

What if she continues to have these dreams?
A peaceful life is hard-won, and she's not a psychic detective from a TV drama. She doesn't want to get involved in those bloody cases. If possible, she'd be willing to donate her dreaming ability to Tan Ming free of charge.

And why would you dream of the murderer's first-person perspective?

Perhaps she really should undergo a more rigorous psychological evaluation; if things continue like this, she will eventually become the real murderer.

(End of this chapter)