Xie Chongyang was silent. Hearing it put that way by Cui Renwang, it truly did sound strange.
“It was not because of those things,” Xie Chongyang continued. “It was just that even though the three of them were huddling together, their body language was peculiar.”
“The Master held the child tightly, but the one who was crying and screaming held onto the Master’s hand with a very low posture, as if she were begging. She did not have any physical or visual contact with the child.”
“If they were a family of three, I think she would be more concerned about the child at a time like this, and the child would subconsciously seek out the mother.”
“Also, the way they addressed each other was strange. Using terms like Master sounds like something from the last century.”
Cui Renwang let out a low laugh. “Actually, those terms still exist today. In some pretentious, large families, they still call each other that.”
“But they should not be like that.”
Xie Chongyang’s car stopped at a red light. He nodded in agreement. “It was just a feeling. I felt that rather than a family, they were more like a father and son with a female who had a lower status.”
Cui Renwang’s expression shifted. He lifted the plastic bag in front of his eyes and asked softly, “Is that so?”
The plastic bag began to shake on its own despite the lack of wind. The gap-toothed little ghost opened its mouth to cry, “Mother!”
The ghost Master quickly covered the child’s mouth.
The plastic bag shook like a maraca. Cui Renwang leaned back in a comfortable position and crossed his legs. “Let him speak.”
The ghost Master trembled. “The child cries easily. I fear he will disturb your peace, Great Master.”
Cui Renwang showed a slight smile, the kind that made ghosts shiver with fear. “It is fine. I love listening to ghosts cry.”
It was the first time a ghost had called him Great Master; he found it somewhat refreshing.
The ghost Master was silent.
Having received the approval of Great Master Cui, the little ghost wailed at the top of its lungs, “Mother! I want my mother!”
Cui Renwang shook the plastic bag and turned the female ghost around. “Are you not his mother?”
The female ghost gave a ghostly yet flattering smile. “I, I am the concubine, not his birth mother.”
Cui Renwang could not help but glance at Xie Chongyang. He uncrossed his legs and sat up straight. “Where is the birth mother?”
The female ghost spoke in a thin, delicate voice. Coupled with her aggrieved sobbing, it sounded even more ghostly. “I do not know. Everything was so chaotic then. Those people rushed into the house and threw a lot of unlucky things around.”
Cui Renwang asked curiously, “What things?”
“Black dog blood, glutinous rice, and the like,” she sobbed. “I was in so much pain then that I felt like I was falling apart. I heard that person shouting and lost my head. I did not even know whose body I crashed into.”
“I only know that once I was inside, those unlucky things were not as powerful anymore, so I just kept hiding.”
“Later, the Master ran out with the young master, so I followed them. Once outside, I heard someone shouting and a lot of people came. Dharma treasures and spiritual lights were flashing everywhere; it was dazzling. After that, I ended up in that iron lump in a daze.”
Cui Renwang translated this in his head. It meant they had been discovered, and someone had shone a flashlight on them. They were quickly caught by enthusiastic citizens and taken to the police station.
As for the iron lump, Cui Renwang pointed at the roof of the car. “Is it this iron lump? This is a car. Have you never seen one? When did you die?”
“I do not remember,” the female ghost answered cautiously, stealing a glance at Cui Renwang’s expression. “We were in the tomb, muddled and groggy. How could we remember the date?”
She carefully looked upward. “The iron lump is a similar iron lump, just a different size.”
They did not recognize cars, they used terms like Madam and Concubine, and their clothes were old. They had likely died at least seventy or eighty years ago. They were indeed ghosts from the old society.
Cui Renwang was deep in thought. The female ghost in the flowered jacket cried out again, “Oh, it seems the Madam was not in the iron lump from the very beginning!”
That meant when the three of them were caught and taken to the police station in the police car, the Madam was not with them.
If they were lucky, the Madam might still be in the tomb and would be caught by Old Zhang. If they were unlucky, Cui Renwang looked at the sun slowly sliding toward the horizon. There was no telling where she might have gone.
Silencing the plastic bag in his hand, Cui Renwang gave Xie Chongyang an answer. “You were right. It indeed was not a family of three. There is also a Madam.”
Xie Chongyang did not know he was talking about ghosts. He assumed he was talking about people and asked quickly, “Could it be that there were not just three grave robbers, but four?”
Cui Renwang looked at the plastic bag. The female ghost in the flowered jacket sobbed, “We, we did not see clearly either.”
Cui Renwang was silent. He had to say, “It is not certain yet. I will ask Old Zhang about it.”
The South City Cemetery.
Daoist Zhang gave a shout and climbed out of the tomb with agile movements. He reached back to pull up the young police officer who had gone down with him.
“Phew, phew,” the young officer patted the dust off his clothes. “Old Zhang, you are too agile!”
“Hehe, it is because the physical fitness of young people today is too poor.” Old Zhang became proud as soon as he was praised. He immediately performed a Golden Rooster Standing on One Leg posture for him. “Let me tell you, I have a phone call. Wait a second.”
“Hey!” He answered the phone. “Little Cui, how are things on your end?”
His brow furrowed. “Four?”
“No wonder.”
“Ah, she is not in the tomb. The bottom is covered in blood and glutinous rice, all trampled and messy. They have no civic mindedness at all. Fortunately, this tomb is not old enough to be considered an antique. The things inside are not a pity. I will just buy some pots and pans to compensate them later.”
“Are you going to the City God now?”
He was about to continue when he heard a commotion behind him. Several women in red silk dance skirts were full of energy, driving an old man in a loose security uniform toward them like cats chasing a mouse.
“What is going on?” the police officer quickly went to meet them. “What is all the noise about!”
“No, Officer! We are here to assist in the case!” The leader of the group pointed her silk fan at the old security guard like a command arrow. “He is in league with those grave robbers!”
“What nonsense!” The old security guard stepped back, but his neck was still stiff like a fighting cock. “Who is in league with them! You are talking nonsense, and I will not listen to you!”
He tried to leave, but the enthusiastic women felt challenged. They stomped their feet in high spirits, and the silk fan almost poked the old guard’s eye. “It is him! He is the one who watches this place! A few days before the incident, I saw a young man with dyed hair pulling and pushing with him and giving him cigarettes!”
“Nonsense! I did not!” The old guard’s eyes darted around as he cursed and retorted, “Do you have proof!”
The police officers were squeezed in the middle by the two sides, and their presence felt smaller. They could hardly get a word in.
Seeing they could not handle it, Old Zhang quickly said to the person on the phone, “Wait for me! Do not hang up yet!”
Holding the phone, he went to meet them and shouted repeatedly, “Good sisters, do not start a fight! Let us be reasonable! Who saw someone giving him cigarettes? Let us talk about it slowly, shall we?”
Old Zhang pulled the two sides apart and finally understood the situation.
It turned out that the place where the tomb was dug was not entirely ownerless; it had already been bought by a developer. It was said that a shopping mall would be built there soon. Construction had not yet begun, and they had only hired an old security guard to keep an eye on things.
This was the security guard, Old Zhou, who was accused of taking bribes.
Old Zhou took advantage of the fact that surveillance cameras had not yet been installed and refused to admit anything, insisting that he knew nothing.
The women identified him one after another. “It must be him! He helped those young men dig up someone’s grave. It is very immoral!”
“He took their cigarettes, let them in, and even kept watch for them!”
The old guard’s face turned red. “Who kept watch for them? I did not!”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Old Zhang spoke to Old Zhou first, coaxing and threatening him. “Do not be so stubborn. Whether you took the cigarettes can be clearly verified with fingerprints.”
“Besides, those boys have been caught, and they are confessing everything honestly. There is no need to lie about such a small thing. Taking a pack of cigarettes will not get you a prison sentence!”
Old Zhou looked away and kept his mouth shut.
“Come over here,” Old Zhang motioned for him to lean closer. He pulled him to the edge of the crowd and whispered, “Only if you confess honestly can we find a way to help you.”
“How much are two packs of cigarettes worth? It is not worth it!”
Old Zhou remained still for a long time before finally stammering, “I only took, took two packs.”
“But I did not keep watch for them!”
“Hehe, let us not talk about keeping watch for now. No one said you were their accomplice.” Old Zhang smiled and tried to get close to him. “I understand the situation. It is a small matter. Brother, how long have you worked here? How old are you?”
“In your sixties? Why are you not enjoying your life in your sixties? It is just two packs of cigarettes. It is not a big deal, do not worry.”
“What did they ask you to do? Just to open the gate?”
“No, they climbed over the wall.” Old Zhou’s mouth was pried open by Old Zhang’s pleasantries. He said vaguely, “The wall here is easy to climb. They asked me to just pretend I did not see them. I did not see them in the first place!”
“Oh,” Old Zhang chuckled. “I knew it! You could not be one of them!”
“Hmph,” Old Zhou’s expression softened slightly. “I told you so.”
Old Zhang asked casually, “Then what would you do if you saw someone coming?”
Old Zhou replied instinctively, “Tell them to run fast!”
As soon as he said it, the two made eye contact. Old Zhang gave a cold laugh and waved to the police officer. “Did you hear that? Is it recorded on the body camera? Take him back.”
As Old Zhou was about to cause a scene, Old Zhang asked again, “Oh, right.”
“How many young men came that day?”
Old Zhou answered reluctantly, “Four.”
Only then did Old Zhang walk to the side with his phone and say to Cui Renwang, who had just overheard the whole scene, “Did you hear that? Four people, four ghosts. They are likely together.”
Cui Renwang responded, “Yes. How do we find them?”
“Tsk, a ghost attached to a person with little resentment is not easy to find.” Old Zhang pondered. “Let us start with the person who escaped.”
“Let the police find the living person. Ask our Captain Xie.”
“Let the ghost officials find the soul. When you take them to the City God, ask an underworld messenger for help. You remember the method of offering incense that I taught you, right?”
“Yes.” Cui Renwang hung up the phone and turned to Xie Chongyang. He chose his words carefully and said, “Officer Xie, your Sky Eye system, how do you find someone with it?”
“We have to go back to the station.” Xie Chongyang had also heard the general idea. “The municipal bureau has not officially stepped into this case, so it is not convenient for us to ask other colleagues for help. However, our department has the authority to check it ourselves.”
Cui Renwang pondered for a moment. “Let Xiao Tao go first. She is good with computers.”
Xie Chongyang remembered the information he had seen on these people. Although they acted strangely and talked about ghosts and gods, they were indeed considered special talents in certain fields according to official records.
Zhang Buxu was a legitimate Daoist with a background in the Daoist Association and the Religious Affairs Office. Cui Renwang was an overseas student from a famous university with a double degree in psychology and philosophy. Lin Xiatao was a genius girl who was admitted to a top domestic university’s computer science department at the age of 16. She later took a leave of absence for psychological reasons and had not yet graduated, but her name was already on the list of the cybersecurity department. Compared to such illustrious resumes, being a medium seemed more like a hobby.
“Alright,” Xie Chongyang nodded. Seeing that Cui Renwang did not move, he glanced at him in surprise.
Cui Renwang looked back. “Captain Xie, are you not going to assign tasks?”
“What?” Xie Chongyang was stunned. “I am the one to assign them?”
Although he was the captain of this department in name, Old Zhang and Xiao Tao were clearly Cui Renwang’s people. His words might not carry weight.
Cui Renwang seemed to understand his thoughts. He let out a laugh and said, “Captain Xie, we are all your people.”
Xie Chongyang was speechless.
The young Captain Xie realized for the first time that hearing good words truly made one’s mood soar.