C21 Women and children in red

For an entire two days, I shut myself in the attic and looked through the investigation files I brought back. I believed that Yun Duruo had already looked through the investigation files more than a hundred times.

From the results of the interviews, perhaps it was because of Zhang Songlin's special background, in addition to his bizarre death style, that the descriptions of Zhang Songlin outside and the Taoboreal Hall were more or less made up and exaggerated.

The only thing in the file that caught my attention was the memory and experience of many of the people interviewed.

According to their descriptions, when they passed by the Taoboreal Hall at night, they would occasionally hear a clear bell chime. Moreover, the bell sound was regular, with a short gap in between, at the same time, it was accompanied by the laughter of children.

This paragraph made me think of the bottles that were dug out from the flower beds in the Taoboreal Hall's backyard as well as the broken bones in the soil. I called Chu Tianqi and asked him whether the bottles were filled with liquefied fat from highly decayed corpses.

The bones were made of human bones, and after examination, the ratio of organic matter to inorganic matter in the bones were about half, so it could be inferred that the bones were not fully developed yet, and they were not the same fetus. Chu Tianqi told me that these bones belonged to at least five fetus, and the exact quantity would be determined after the completion of the examination.

I tried my best to not let myself think of the absurd ways to link the information recorded in the investigation report with the fetal corpse oil and bones in the flower bed in the backyard. From the records, I could see that Criminal Police did not follow up and check on these information, but in reality, such a groundless visit was recorded everywhere in Zhang Songlin's case. When Zhang Songlin used the name of a religion to deify himself, these people did not forget to continue to demonize Zhang Songlin even after he died, making the difficult cases even more complicated.

However, what made me curious was that there were a lot of people who had experienced this. Maybe one or two of them had heard of it before, and even if there were more of them, it would still be considered a rumor.

I drew a circle in the file with a red pen.

3 in the morning.

This was the time when the people under investigation heard the bell and the children's laughter.

I leaned back in my chair and rested my head with my hands behind my back. There was only one image in my mind, and the information in the file told me that although I had reported on this situation, very few people had seen it with their own eyes. After all, not many people had gone out at three in the morning.

So these empty bells and laughter always let me inadvertently think of the flower beds in the backyard.

The other thing that made me curious was the description of the Taoboreal Hall. The people interviewed all mentioned the knocker on the bronze door of the Taoboreal Hall. On the night of Zhang Songlin's death, the eyes of the knocker emitted a red light, and the stone lions on the left and right side of the door seemed to have resurrected, as the stone lions' laughter and roars could be heard.

Compared to the ringing bells and the laughter of children that he had heard before, there were many people who said that they had seen it with their own eyes. It was said that the Tiger Head Howling Firmament Gate's Bracelet and the stone lion had been opened by Zhang Songlin, and that they had the ability to guard themselves against evil spirits.

Of course I know what Zhang Songlin is capable of, Han Yu snorted disdainfully. Someone who doesn't even know how to draw a simple peace talisman, what ability does he have to be magnanimous?

Yun Duruo and the others probably have not followed up on this possibility, as such false rumors were of little value in the eyes of the Criminal Police.

What drew my attention to these two clues was that, if it was an unfounded rumor, or a rumor, then why did so many of the people interviewed mentioned them, even if it was a rumor, there was always a basis for evolution, and what were the origins of these two events?

When I opened my eyes, it was twelve o'clock, and my eyes fell on the circle I had drawn with my red pen.

3 AM!

Why did these rumors appear at 3 in the morning? Thinking about this, I picked up my clothes and planned to go to Taoboreal Hall again. Because it was too late and I didn't disturb Han Yu, I felt a little apologetic.

The street in front of the Taoboreal Hall was especially deserted under the dim light of the street lamp. There were very few residents here in the first place, perhaps due to the fact that a murder case had occurred here, the entire street was devoid of light in the night.

I entered from the Taoboreal Hall's backyard, the flower beds that were dug up a few days ago were still piled messily at the corners of the walls, the dense locust trees were swaying in the night wind and making loose sounds. Under the moonlight, the huge shadow of the locust trees shrouded the entire backyard, which made me recall Han Yu's words.

They met under the locust tree.

When I walked to the second floor, the furnishings here were still the same as before the murder. I dragged a chair over and sat by the window, inadvertently glancing at the cabinet at the corner, and thought back to the scene where Yun Duruo frightened me inside. Honestly speaking, I was quite scared at the time, but right now, I have a kind of hope that she would be able to climb out from there again.

It had been a few days since he last saw her. He had no idea what she was doing or who she was with …

I thought about all this nonsense, almost everything connected with her, and forgot why I was here. I adjusted my mind and sat in my chair until three in the morning, but I didn't hear anything weird.

I rubbed my eyes wearily and got up to leave.

Ding dong... Ding dong

The bell rang regularly from the window. I was stunned, but I quickly turned around and pushed open the window in front of me. A child was standing below the Taoboreal Hall, looking up at me, and he retreated step by step, and with every step, the bell rang. I noticed that the sound came from a string of red anklets on his feet.

The child looked to be about two or three years old. His face was expressionless, his eyes dull, staring up at me, and his dark eyes under the streetlight gave me an unspeakably strange feeling.

He slowly raised his hand and beckoned to me. His lips were moving, but I couldn't hear him. I tried to imitate the outline of his lips until I said a few words.

I see you!

I didn't understand what the child meant, but at three in the morning, in an empty street with children playing with their anklets, this in itself added to the strangeness of the many deaths of the Taoboreal Hall.

I couldn't help but swallow my saliva. It seemed like the clues mentioned in the file weren't baseless, I had speculated that the time of Zhang Songlin's death was between 2 and 3 in the morning. If this child played around here frequently, maybe he would be there on the night of the murder.

With that in mind, I hurried down the stairs to the door and was surprised to find that the silent, dark street was empty, just like the night I was sure I'd seen an extra woman in the video.

I began to doubt whether I was hallucinating or hearing. If so, my mental state would not be optimistic.

I turned my head in confusion and confusion, and looked straight at me with dark, lifeless eyes. I was startled, for it was the child I had seen upstairs, and I had no idea how he had appeared behind me without a sound.

The eyes speak, but I can't see anything in them. I haven't even seen them blink, as if they were carved and lifeless.

My mind was filled with doubts. Before I could even open my mouth, the child slowly raised his hand, probably wanting to touch the Tiger head on the Taoboreal Hall's gate, Roaring Sky Door Ring. He was small in size and half of the way off.

Pixiu!

It was only a short word, but when it came out of this child's mouth, it always made me feel strange.

Ding.

When he reached for the knocker, one of the beads fell to the ground. The glass rolled across the street, and I helped him pick it up under the dim light. As I crouched on the ground to pick it up, I heard a crunching sound beside me.

It was the sound of the baby's wheels turning, except that the pram looked old and the design must have been from years ago. I followed the sound.

A woman in a long red dress with long hair falling over her shoulders was slowly approaching, pushing a baby carriage in the flickering light. I stopped on the floor and my gaze fell on her red dress, which was a bit blinding, reminding me of the woman I had seen in the video that night. She was wearing the same red dress, the same long hair, and even now I couldn't see her face clearly.

My heartbeat inexplicably quickened. The streets at midnight, the red-clothed woman pushing the dilapidated child carriage, the child with lifeless eyes wearing a anklet, and the Taoboreal Hall behind me that had gone through a fatal accident; all of these things appeared in the same scene. I felt an inexplicable chill in my heart.

The woman in red who was pushing the buggy was closing in on me, and my heart was beating faster and faster. I was clutching the glass beads I had picked up from the ground, and I didn't know what I was afraid of, but my eyes never left the woman's long hair covering her face.

Like the child, if it wasn't for the bell on his foot, I wouldn't have been able to hear his footsteps at all, as did the woman in red. Her steps were light, but with every step she took towards me, I felt as if I were about to suffocate.

As the woman in red brushed past me, I remained crouched on the floor, motionless. A gust of night wind lifted her long hair, and in the dim light I finally saw her face.

It was a pale and bloodless face, but at least I could clearly see her features. She didn't put on makeup, but her movements were elegant and refined, and her temperament was extraordinary. I heaved a sigh of relief as my heart sank.