I have a ghost diary

"I believe you have also noticed, Mr. Chu, that there are quite a few people with the surname Lin in this area, such as Officer Lin, Lin Qian, whom you met, and Lin Yun, our company's operator."

According to local county records and other materials, a branch of the Lin clan settled on the banks of the Luo River a long time ago; they spread their branches and built many ancestral halls here.

"In the past, there was a dispute between Luohe City and Luoxi and Luozhou about the naming of Luohe. In fact, it also involved a dispute between the Lin and Luo families. The Luo family believed that they were the first to settle in Luohe, while the Lin family had the opposite view."

"According to Mr. Wang's investigation, it should be the Lin family a little earlier."

"This is a very normal thing. Anyway, it's not the old days anymore, and clan feuds are impossible now."

"Moreover, the Luohe River is so long and has almost never dried up in history; so even in the past, no one has ever caused any trouble over water resources."

"Mr. Wang first noticed something was wrong because of an accident."

"This place is still quite traditional, retaining the custom of worshipping gods on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month; on the anniversary of the ancestors' death, the clansmen will also go into the ancestral hall to place some offerings, burn incense, and burn paper money."

"Mr. Wang is from the north and has never seen such a scene before. Once, he mingled in the crowd and went to an ancestral hall in the city to join in the fun."

“That ancestral hall is a provincial key cultural relic, but it is generally not open to the public. Only members of the clan are allowed to enter when ancestor worship is held.”

"Of course, modern people have a weaker sense of clan, and it's impossible for distant relatives to know each other, so Mr. Wang was able to sneak in easily."

"But as soon as he went in, he realized something was wrong." Luo Yifeng frowned slightly as he said this.

"Mr. Wang said that after he went in, he felt a sense of oppression. The ghost on him seemed to be affected by some force, giving him a feeling of unease."

"But Mr. Wang didn't find anything special in the ancestral hall; everything was perfectly normal."

"Moreover, the Lin Clan Ancestral Hall has a history of at least several hundred years. Over the years, the Lin clan members have worshipped their ancestors on the anniversary of their death, and nothing bad has ever happened, so it is unlikely to be haunted."

"Of course, I did mention it when I discussed it with Mr. Wang. Perhaps the ancestors of the Lin family are watching over us and wouldn't harm their own people. So I advise Mr. Wang not to wander into other people's ancestral halls, lest something unexpected happen."

"However, Mr. Wang had his own ideas. He secretly went there several more times afterward, sometimes even climbing over the wall at night when no one was around."

"But he never got anything out of it. That strange feeling was always there, but nothing ever happened."

Chapter 101 Speculation on the Cause of Death

After listening, Chu Jiang pondered for a moment, "Hasn't headquarters sent anyone to investigate this ancestral hall?"

Luo Yifeng shook his head. "No, since the resurgence of the supernatural, there have been too many strange places all over the country. Unless it's haunted or someone has died, it's impossible to investigate here so quickly."

"Besides, even if something goes wrong, the local person in charge will investigate first. Headquarters doesn't have enough manpower to worry about these trivial matters."

"Okay, let's focus on Wang Lei's death, including what you think are the possible causes of death."

Luo Yifeng nodded. "Mr. Wang died six days ago. That morning, I came to work as usual. When I passed by his office, I wanted to see if he was here, so I knocked on his door."

"No one responded at the time, and I didn't think much of it, so I went to my office."

"Unexpectedly, just before lunchtime, Lin Yun went to find his boss for lunch. When he opened the door, he found Mr. Wang dead in his office chair."

"Is this the chair I'm sitting in?" Chu Jiang tapped the armrest of the chair with his finger.

"Yes, Lin Yun ran over to me in a panic and asked me to come and check the situation."

"I immediately went there and asked him how he knew the boss was in the office?"

"Lin Yun said that when he came over in the morning, he saw the boss. To be precise, the boss took the elevator in front of him."

"When the two of us got to the office, this is what we saw in the photo."

As Luo Yifeng spoke, he handed a photo to Chu Jiang for him to look at.

The photo shows a tall man with a buzz cut, sitting in a chair with his head drooping, looking completely lifeless.

“I come from a criminal investigation background in the police force, so even when Mr. Wang died suddenly, I did not panic. I calmly took photos, examined the scene, and immediately reported the matter to headquarters.”

"After reporting the incident, I didn't dare touch Mr. Wang's body. I just led my men out of the company, fearing that the ghost inside him would come back to life and kill people."

At this moment, Chu Jiang interrupted him, "Wait, where was that accountant back then?"

“This floor is very large, and the finance office is not next to ours; so Ms. Chen didn’t know anything about this place. As soon as it was time to leave work, she grabbed her bag and left right on time.”

Seeing that Chu Jiang did not ask any further questions, Luo Yifeng continued, "At that time, we even evacuated everyone in the entire building. Fortunately, it was noon and there weren't many people. We managed to get away with it by using the excuse of a fire inspection."

"Later, headquarters sent the person in charge of Luoxi City to come and investigate Mr. Wang's cause of death."

"The person in charge surnamed Xu arrived quickly, and the three of us went up together."

"After reviewing the evidence, Mr. Xu said that the ghost inside Mr. Wang's body had disappeared; the cause of death appeared to be sudden death, and there were no obvious wounds on his body."

"At the time, Manager Xu suspected that the ghost had slipped out while the two of us were leaving the building with our people."

"Upon hearing this, I immediately explained that Mr. Wang was riding a water ghost. If that ghost were to emerge, there would be no way the scene would be completely devoid of water."

"So Mr. Xu temporarily ruled out this possibility and continued to investigate in his office."

"But unfortunately, the scene was spotless, leaving no useful clues."

"After confirming that there were no paranormal events in the vicinity, Mr. Xu left, saying that his superiors would handle it and that we should proceed with our daily work."

Chu Jiang thought for a moment, "Have the police been here?"

"Yes, the headquarters is in charge of making contact. They took over the investigation after Mr. Xu left."

"Unfortunately, the final result was the same. The forensic doctor said it was sudden cardiac death, not murder."

Touching his chin, Chu Jiang smiled slightly. "This is interesting. What do you think?"

Luo Yifeng solemnly stated, "It could absolutely not be a sudden death. Although Mr. Wang's body was corrupted by a ghost, I have never heard of him having any heart problems."

"I suspect it's still related to supernatural forces, maybe the river god; maybe the Lin family ancestral hall."

"I think the most likely explanation is the ancestral hall. It's possible that Mr. Wang went there to investigate many times and has long been tainted by some kind of unseen curse."

"This curse accumulates over time, eventually causing Mr. Wang to die suddenly without any warning; even the ghost on his body was affected by the curse and moved to some unknown place."

Chu Jiang nodded. "Why didn't you mention this speculation in the earlier report?"

"The preliminary report was submitted on the day Mr. Wang died, and at that time my mind was not so clear."

"It took me five or six days to slowly sort out my thoughts. If you hadn't taken office, I was planning to submit another report anyway."

As Luo Yifeng spoke, he also submitted a draft report to Chu Jiang for review.

"Okay, show me the surveillance footage from that day."

"Ok."

Next, Chu Jiang checked the surveillance footage of Tianfeng Building, but the footage only recorded Wang Lei entering the building, going to the top floor, and entering the office; there was no footage of the office itself.

According to Luo Yifeng, Wang Lei removed the surveillance cameras himself because he didn't like being watched.

Upon arriving here, the investigation seems to have reached a temporary standstill. Next, Chu Jiang might need to go check out the Three Divine Mountains; or perhaps the Lin Clan Ancestral Hall.

However, Chu Jiang was not in a hurry. He told Luo Yifeng to leave and called the operator Lin Yun over.

Lin Yun was a young man who wore glasses and dressed somewhat like an IT guy, wearing a plaid shirt.

As soon as he entered, Lin Yun became a little nervous. "Hello, Mr. Chu."

"How do you usually address the person in charge?" Chu Jiang asked, his hands crossed on the table, looking at the other person with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Call him boss."

"Then you can just call me boss from now on."

Lin Yun nodded repeatedly. Before Chu Jiang could ask any more questions, he spilled everything he knew.

This includes how he met Wang Lei, how he joined the company, and how he discovered Wang Lei's death.

Lin Yun is a local. He was rescued by Wang Lei during a paranormal event. Wang Lei figured the company needed someone to handle this, so he hired the kid to work at the company.

The information provided by Lin Yun was almost identical to that provided by Luo Yifeng.

The only slightly unusual aspect is that Lin Yun and Wang Lei's relationship is more like that of close friends. In contrast, Luo Yifeng and Wang Lei have a more standard superior-subordinate relationship.

According to Lin Yun, Luo Yifeng's personality is like that; he's a good person, but too rigid.

Chapter 102 Idle Chess and Cold Moves

To be honest, Lin Yun was quite saddened by Wang Lei's death.

But Wang Lei had said long ago that he wouldn't live much longer. So when Lin Yun discovered Wang Lei's body, he wasn't as shocked as he had expected...

Upon hearing this, Chu Jiang made a judgment in his mind that this matter should have nothing to do with Lin Yun.

"How much do you know about the company's finance department?"

"Chen Ke'er? She's alright. She's very polite. When she first started working here, she gave everyone in our company a small gift, even the cleaning lady. Everyone praises her."

In Lin Yun's eyes, Chen Ke'er is a standard, outstanding woman of the new era.

"I'm quite curious, aren't all the money transactions between headquarters and the person in charge directly deposited into bank accounts? Why do we need to have an accountant?"

Lin Yun pointed to himself, "Isn't there me and Assistant Luo here too? Since we're called a branch of the research institute, there has to be some rules, right? We can't have salaries transferred privately too."

"Moreover, the headquarters allocates a sum of money to the branch every year; the branch can even make some transactions with other paranormal organizations, so it is still necessary to find a financial officer."

“I heard that some people have made their branches very successful. Even Brother Wang said that it’s a pity that those people are not in business.”

Chu Jiang nodded. "Alright, you can go back to work now. Also, call Chen Ke'er over."

"Ok."

......

When Chen Ke'er walked into Chu Jiang's office, she still looked quite nervous.

"Hello, boss."

Holding the printed accounting books in her hand, she gave Chu Jiang a proper bow.

"Tell me first, how did you get recruited?" Chu Jiang leaned back in his chair, relaxing.

Chen Ke'er was stunned for a moment. She thought that the new boss would definitely ask about the company's accounts. She had even carefully prepared her lines. She didn't expect that the other party would not follow the script at all.

"Well, it's very simple. About two months ago, I was interviewing and looking for a job at a job fair in the city center."

"At that time, Mr. Wang Lei suddenly appeared out of nowhere and asked me for money to buy water."