Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 42 Ghost Hotline - Serial Murder Case 22 (The End)

Rabies symptoms appear very quickly; just a few days later, the police officers who were guarding the hospital informed Jiang Zhixin of his death.

In the last few days of his life, this beast experienced the pain and fear of death, and his death was extremely gruesome.

Throughout the hospital, only Jiang's parents, exhausted and desperate after the investigation, cried loudly for him; the others could only sigh at most.

At the same time, Zheng Yan was holding a meeting with the Criminal Investigation Team 2 in his office.

They reviewed the investigation process of the ghost hotline serial murder case and, incidentally, rewarded the unofficial staff member Tan Jia for his contributions.

There are rewards for assisting the police in solving cases. Tan Jia stood in the middle and accepted the reward with both hands, looking at the photos posted on the whiteboard with mixed feelings.

"If I could, I really hope this is the last time I dream."

This case is too serious; it's beyond her expectations.

When she first dreamed of Qu Li falling from the building, she never imagined that the subsequent events would unfold in such a bizarre and tortuous way.

At first, it was thought to be a serial murder case, then it was thought to be a reopening of a wrongful conviction case from many years ago, and finally it was discovered to be a suicide case.

The recent travels and emotional ups and downs have made her mental state even worse.

She should go back to learning dough sculpting properly and calm down.

Zheng Yan joked, "Who can say for sure? In our opinion, this quirk of yours is quite good. You can dream about crime scenes—you know, many murder cases remain unsolved because we can't find out where the real crime scene was or what happened. And you're not afraid to go to crime scenes, and you're bold and decisive. I think you're a good candidate to be a criminal investigator. Next time you come, I'll go through the proper procedures to arrange a position for you."

Tan Jia forced a smile: "My aunt would prefer that I master the art of dough sculpting and promote it abroad."

But she knew in her heart that her next dream might already be on its way.

Zheng Yan didn't say much. After the meeting, taking advantage of the fact that there were no other cases to deal with, he suggested, "The three of us are planning to go and visit Qu Li and the others' graves as representatives. Do you want to come?"

Tan Jia nodded.

The ashes of Qu Li and the other three were buried in the same place. These past few days have been the Qingming Festival, and there have been many people paying their respects at the cemetery. During the evening rush hour, there was also some traffic congestion on the road.

It was already evening when we arrived at the cemetery entrance.

They didn't know the location of the cemetery, so they asked the cemetery staff. The staff didn't even need to hear the full name; they just pointed it out.

"The over there where there are a lot of people."

There are a lot of people?
When I got there, I realized why there were so many people—many unfamiliar girls were burning paper money at Qu Li's grave. No one spoke. Under the quiet gray sky, only the ashes of the paper money by the fire swirled in the breeze, drifting and scattering towards the photos on the tombstones.

They were of different ages, some even still wearing school uniforms, looking only eleven or twelve years old. With red and swollen eyes, they turned their heads, their eyes reflecting the light of the flames, like the eerie fire of the night, burning and dying out, silently staring at them.

Zheng Yan and his group stopped a few meters away, somewhat shocked.

On the way back from the cemetery, Xiao Chen whispered, "Were those girls all victims of soft violence and harassment? I saw a very young girl with burns on her face."

Zheng Yan said in a somber tone, "Perhaps."

They have seen many victims of assault, abuse, and imprisonment, but they have had little contact with victims of soft violence harassment because such cases are rarely filed, let alone involve criminal offenses, so they rarely reach their hands.

This is the first time I've heard this, and what I just witnessed was even more shocking than what I've described verbally.

Tan Ming suddenly asked, "Jiajia, were you ever bullied while studying abroad?"

My aunt and uncle are very busy with work, so my cousin spends more time living alone.

Tan Jia gazed at the neon lights outside the car window and said softly, "Yes, there are insects all over the world; they don't discriminate by national borders."

"But I've never heard you mention it."

"There's not much to say, I fought back anyway. Xue Jing's advice is very sound; when you encounter a dog that's barking and blocking your way, you can't just run away."

Listening to the siblings' conversation, Zheng Yan, who was driving, turned the steering wheel and veered into another road.

"You can get off here."

"...Team Leader Zheng, what are you going to do?" "I'm going to pick up my daughter from her evening self-study session."

The car sped past, leaving a few people standing speechlessly on the side of the street.

“A father who has been through this case will probably have trouble sleeping for a few days,” Xiao Chen said, looking around and casually patting Tan Ming and Tan Jia on the shoulders. “Don’t rush home. Come on, I’ll treat you two to a good meal.”

-

After the Qingming Festival, the temperature has been steadily rising.

Tan Jia had been in Jiujiang for more than two months and was finally getting bored.

My interest in cycling, running, and exploring the city has greatly diminished, and even sculpting dough figurines can no longer bring me peace.

And dough sculpting is really difficult!

It's difficult to press patterns with a plastic knife, difficult to color the dough, and even more difficult to shape it into a form. The reference was clearly a smiling girl picking flowers, but the result was a cross-eyed girl doing exercises with a plastic feel.

Enraged, she threw the scissors she was using to cut her fingers aside.

The clay girl was jolted, and her head snapped off with a snap. It rolled twice before collapsing onto the table.

...Making dough is also extremely difficult!

She was holding her breath, which her aunt noticed, and two days later, her aunt, who was on vacation, took her to the cultural center.

"The cultural center regularly offers free training courses in calligraphy, opera, dance, and dough sculpting. People of all ages sign up... It's all about relaxing. Even if you like it, you can't rush learning any skill. Just go and have some fun first..."

And so Tan Jia joined the dough sculpting class.

Her deskmate was a seven-year-old child, and their class assignment was to work together to create a Plants vs. Zombies scene.

The child assigned her a task: to be a zombie. However, because the child wanted to be on the side of justice, she chose to be a sunflower.

Zombies? Zombies are tough.

Tan Jia was pondering how to create a zombie king that was both lifelike and realistic, while the child had already sculpted a rough sunflower shape. Turning his head, he noticed that Tan Jia's progress was zero and complained, "Why aren't you moving? Our group is going to fall behind!"

“Your sunflowers are ugly,” she said, glancing at them.

The child was shocked by her bluntness, then pouted and said, "At least I made it. Sunflowers look like this. You can ask the teacher if you don't believe me."

Not only the teacher, but everyone recognized that this was a sunflower from Plants vs. Zombies, even though it was indeed very ugly.

The child gave her a haughty look and instructed her, "Hurry up and do it, there's no time left."

No matter where you are, deadlines are a great motivator. Tan Jia rushed to finish, and finally managed to create a row of ugly zombies before the end of get out of class.

The child looked at her through his nostrils and deliberately retorted, "Your zombie is so ugly."

Her expression remained unchanged: "Slightly better than you."

The two women taunted each other as they kneaded the dough, and in the end, the child used his newly made squid to knock away a row of her zombies.

Then she was kept after class by her aunt, who was also her course instructor.

“I heard everything from that kid. Although dough sculpting is quick to learn—just a few steps: stamping, pinching, inlaying, and rolling—and a few tools, you can make it look similar. But it’s very difficult to make it look and feel like the real thing. If you try to make it perfect right away, it will definitely be much harder. Even the portrait artists at the police station only draw the key points…”

Tan Jia, who had been gazing absently at the trees outside the window, paused upon hearing the key words.

A police station portrait artist? A gust of wind dispelled the fog in her mind, and she seemed to understand why she was so eager to learn figure sculpting.

If clay sculpting could function like portraiture or even skull reconstruction techniques, it might be of greater help in solving cases.

After all, she had realized that the dream would most likely not stop, and she had to overcome her fear and adapt to this ability.

(End of this chapter)