Starting with dissecting ghost stories

The moment that smell hit him, Shen Xing almost instinctively held his breath, then slowed down, letting the familiar scent mixed with other different smells pass through his nostrils.

The smells of cadaverine and putrescine mingled with the scents of cheap air freshener and the four sticks of incense burning on the table.

When I came in just now, I didn't smell the stench of a corpse at first... It's probably because the smell of kitchen waste and air freshener outside interfered with my judgment.

Almost instinctively, Shen Xing began to use his naked eye to determine the time of death of those heads.

Finally, I've entered my area of ​​expertise.

The one in the very center, a woman, has a highly swollen and gigantic facial soft tissue, protruding eyeballs, and a purplish-black tongue tip protruding from her face.

Her facial skin was a dirty green, and the network of decaying veins was clearly visible, like a black spider web crawling all over her cheeks.

In the high humidity and heat of the rainy season, this level of decomposition means that the time to death is at least 72 hours.

The male head on the left was less swollen, but its face had already begun to change color, turning a strange dark red. Its corneas were highly cloudy, making it impossible to see the pupils, and bloody, putrid fluid was flowing from its mouth and nose.

The green lividity was mainly concentrated on the neck and jaw... The time of death was more than 48 hours but less than 72 hours.

Finally, there's the one on the right, the smallest in size, with a youthful face.

She looked the freshest, almost as if she were asleep. Her skin still retained some elasticity, and livor mortis was fixed on both sides of her cheeks, which was caused by her being beheaded and placed after death.

The blood at the cut was not completely dry and blackened, and the soft tissue cut surface was relatively clear, showing the serrated edges of the cut, as if it had been torn off by something.

The cornea is slightly cloudy, but the pupil is still visible. Rigor mortis has begun to subside but has not completely disappeared, and the time of death is approximately 24 hours.

That is... yesterday, on her birthday.

Shen Xing took a half step back, his expression gradually revealing a hint of "surprise," while his mind quickly processed the current situation.

Li Ya killed three people.

It's even quite possible that Li Ya was wanted by the police at that moment, which is why he seemed so panicked when he first saw me...?

wrong.

He saw Li Xiaohua yesterday when Li Ya came to pick her up. Li Ya didn't show any unusual behavior at the time. If he had, he would have noticed it immediately.

...Let's put those aside for now and focus on our current situation.

What does Li Ya want to do?

After killing someone, would he then recruit himself, who is also a "murderer," into his gang?

Become an accomplice?

With someone like Li Ya?

Shen Xing only pondered for a second before decisively rejecting the result.

impossible.

Li Ya's emotions fluctuated wildly, and his psychological defenses were easily breached. Moreover, he was a gambler, a villain, and a desperate man, showing no intention of stopping.

Even if he knew something about the anomaly, Shen Xing would never cooperate with him.

—Because Li Ya will be caught sooner or later, and he will definitely expose him.

So far, Shen Xing's actions have not violated any laws, and he has suitable testimonies to exonerate himself. As long as he does not become an accomplice of Li Ya, even if Li Ya confesses that he killed "five people", he will not get into any trouble.

At most, they'll just have to give a statement and be investigated.

The most important thing now is to leave this place and not leave any more traces, let alone help him dispose of the body.

Shen Xing's expression gradually turned "terrified." He "panicked" and ran to the door, pushed it open, and "dry retching" on the roadside.

Shen Xing's action startled Li Ya. He quickly closed the door to the room containing the body, hurried after Shen Xing, and waved repeatedly from the doorway, shouting, "Come back, damn it... come back!"

Seeing Shen Xing squatting by the roadside "dry heaving" and unable to come in anytime soon, Li Ya reluctantly closed the door and walked out of the video arcade. He half-squatted down, grabbed Shen Xing by the back of his collar, and whispered angrily in Shen Xing's ear:

"Didn't you say you killed five? Why are you acting like a complete novice?"

Shen Xing, panting heavily, took a while to catch his breath before cursing, "Damn it... the one I raised ate it all! How come I've never seen anything like this before?"

"Hurry up, come in here." Li Ya grabbed Shen Xing by the back of his collar, trying to drag him back, but after a while, he realized he couldn't move Shen Xing.

"No... let's talk somewhere else." Shen Xing remained in a half-squatting position, standing still.

"Damn it... coward!" Li Ya was at his wit's end. In his eyes, Shen Xing seemed to be too scared to go back.

Li Ya released his grip, thought for a moment, and then continued, "Let's go, I know a place."

"My car is still over there..."

"Damn it, how much was the car? I'll pay you back. Now come with me."

Li Ya led the way, with Shen Xing behind him. Shen Xing's expression no longer showed the panic he had just acted out; instead, he seemed to be deep in thought.

Most people would be looking for an opportunity to leave and call the police by now.

Shen Xing could have simply taken him into custody and called the police, which would have been doing a service to the people.

but......

Things are not that simple.

Currently, only three heads have appeared in the video rental store where Li Ya is temporarily staying. If those three people were indeed devoured by the doll, the existing evidence would form a completely paradoxical closed loop, which could prevent the police from convicting them after filing a case.

Of course, this does not take into account factors other than evidence, such as interrogation.

Even if the local forensic doctor intervenes and confirms the exact time of death and the identity of the deceased, the police will find during their investigation that Li Xiaohua was still alive and well at the entrance of Zhang Apo's fried noodle shop last night, and there are even several eyewitnesses, including Shen Yuan, Shen Xing, and Zhang Apo.

The most crucial thing is the corpse.

Li Ya has no means of transportation and lives in the basement of an abandoned video arcade without a sewage system. Disposing of three human torsos without disturbing the surrounding area, leaving a large amount of blood, or disposing of them through the sewers is physically impossible.

However, if Li Ya, under harsh interrogation, directly reveals the matter of "ghosts," or even demonstrates it on the spot using the puppet...

Strange things will attract the attention of the police and even the authorities.

Shen Xing's fabricated claim of "killing five people" might lead to him being taken in for questioning, and could even expose the existence of [0111].

In the end, I will definitely be exonerated, but I will certainly suffer less punishment.

Shen Xing did not want the strangeness to be exposed, nor did he want the secrets of his body to be discovered, as this would make him feel that things were out of his control.

The authorities are definitely unaware of this strange occurrence. At least when Shen Xing was a forensic doctor in the provincial capital, he had never heard of any cases that resembled ghost stories.

If you can't find out information from your own position, then the police force in this small city certainly can't find out either.

Actually, there is another perfect solution.

After making Li Ya leave a confession, kill him and fake it as a suicide out of fear of punishment.

In this way, even if no other body parts are found in the end, the case will be closed.

but......

Unfortunately, even if there were a way to achieve all this, Shen Xing would not kill anyone.

This is a promise, and also my own rule of survival.

Should we think of another way?