Judge of Souls - Chapter 104

Jiang Feng and Officer Ye had eaten outside, and when evening work hours arrived, they went to question other residents on the same floor.

The police had already conducted a sweep that morning, but because there were too few residents in this building, and several people had already gone to work, they hadn’t been able to question everyone yet.

These people didn’t know much about the demolition matter either, having only heard rumors. But their specific testimonies were not much different from Liu Shan’s. They all generally believed it was a case of a man growing tired of his wife and then deliberately murdering her. As for whether Liu Shan had an affair with the deceased, most people didn’t believe it.

“The two of them barely saw each other normally. Besides, his wife was beaten so badly, where would there be time for an affair?”

“Men are all like this. They want to have affairs, they want to beat people, so they find excuses for themselves.”

“I’m moving away, yes. This place is too sinister, it’s creepy to live here!”

When they left, they happened to see a Taoist priest coming up from downstairs. He held a copper bell in his hand, nodding and bowing with great ceremony, then wandering around the stairwell entrance, muttering incantations.

Jiang Feng and Officer Ye stood aside to observe for a while, then discovered he was a fraud and cheerfully called the police.

****

Six deaths in one building – even Jiang Feng found this somewhat strange.

Taking advantage of the heavy yin energy these past two days, he decided to return to the Underworld to question the several detained souls.

After investigating the truth from them, Jiang Feng went back to find Officer Ye and relayed the results to him.

“Of the six people who died in the building, one woman’s soul is not in the Underworld – perhaps because she has grievances, so she cannot be guided there temporarily. The third-floor resident who drowned, a male, said he went swimming in the river. His swimming skills weren’t very good to begin with, and he thought that small pond was shallow. He didn’t expect the rocks where he was playing in the water to be too slippery – he stepped into empty space and got a leg cramp. As he struggled, he fell into the deep water. By the time his friends discovered him, it was too late, and he died.”

“The 23-year-old young man who was beaten to death after an argument during travel. According to his own account, the locals there were naturally domineering, usually leveraging their identity as scenic area natives to forcibly charge high fees. Even taking scenic photos required payment, and they acted with impunity because of their numbers. Because he was young and hot-tempered, he argued with them relentlessly. During the fight, he accidentally hit his head and died.”

“The old lady. She died because of a bottle of fruit juice.”

Officer Ye: “…Could you not gloss over the things I’m very concerned about?”

“There’s also a case said to be a crime of passion. According to the deceased, the perpetrator had been drinking at the time, and the two of them started arguing over some trivial matter… He can’t remember what it was about now. She drew the knife first, but he snatched it away, and during the struggle, she was accidentally stabbed to death.”

“Then there’s the victim killed yesterday. She said her husband had been acting strange recently, starting from when she made a verbal joke with him after their neighbor in the same building was killed by domestic violence. At the time, that woman was carried out covered in blood, so she hugged her husband’s arm and said viciously, ‘If you abuse me, I’ll definitely kill you, take your money, and find another man.'”

“Her husband’s expression was very wrong at that time. From then on, he became abnormal. He looked at her with suspicion and murderous intent, always seeming startled when he saw her, then finding various reasons to commit violence, while saying incomprehensible things. Initially, she thought he was possessed, so she hired many Taoist priests and tried many folk remedies, but nothing worked. After dying, she didn’t see any ghosts or yin energy on him either. After entering the Underworld, she gained some insight… Well, she said it should be a disease called persecutory delusion.” Jiang Feng covered his forehead and sighed wearily. “She was too superstitious, causing him to miss the optimal treatment period. She said one should believe in science, not superstition.”

“…” Officer Ye said, “What should I say at this moment?”

Jiang Feng: “Remain silent.”

Officer Ye: “Oh.”

He organized the timeline of several people, scratched his head and said, “So they were all natural deaths?”

“According to their own accounts, they were natural deaths,” Jiang Feng said. “There’s nothing suspicious about it.”

Officer Ye was somewhat confused, still finding it strange. “Really such a coincidence?”

“There are even more coincidental things in the world, we just encounter them rarely. But things always influence each other, and sometimes so-called coincidences are also a kind of natural law,” Jiang Feng said. “Perhaps it’s related to feng shui. You can go ask Chu Xuanliang.”

Officer Ye nodded. “Don’t you understand feng shui?”

“Feng shui is a pattern that humans have summarized themselves. It’s difficult to determine right from wrong, and everyone’s personal views are quite different. Unless there are obvious changes in the energy field, it’s hard to see,” Jiang Feng pondered for a moment and said, “I haven’t seen any concentrated yin energy or malevolent energy in this building. In my view, it’s normal.”

Officer Ye frowned and said, “The more you say, the more sinister I find it. What’s really going on with this building?”

On the prosecution side, both the perpetrator and evidence were clear, so they quickly collected evidence and prepared to file charges.

Deng Bian followed standard procedures, while Officer Ye called Chu Xuanliang to examine the feng shui.

After Deng Bian learned about this, her way of looking at him had completely changed to looking at a mentally ill person. She couldn’t understand for the life of her how someone as superstitious as Officer Ye could become a captain and even solve several cold cases. Had everyone gone crazy?

That day, she followed Chu Xuanliang and others to examine the feng shui.

Zhang Yangyang was also interested in this matter and quietly tagged along behind Jiang Feng.

Having someone glaring menacingly from the side made everyone uncomfortable. Deng Bian’s gaze was too sharp and serious. Chu Xuanliang made a helpless expression toward Officer Ye.

Officer Ye pretended not to know him well, bowing and saying, “Taoist master, please proceed.”

Deng Bian said, “Be careful. Promoting feudal superstition is illegal.”

Chu Xuanliang learned from Jiang Feng’s cold manner and said, “Oh.”

He took out his compass and started from the first floor, walking up level by level, finally overlooking the entire situation from the rooftop. The more he looked, the more confused he became, not understanding it himself. Officer Ye didn’t dare disturb him and brought him the surrounding construction planning maps for comparison.

After wandering around for two or three hours, calculating the surrounding environment and intersections, Chu Xuanliang said, “The feng shui here is fine.”

He looked at his compass suspiciously. “Did I read it wrong?”

Officer Ye said, “Ancestor, please look more carefully. There aren’t many people left living in this building – leave them with some hope of survival.”

“If the feng shui really had problems, it wouldn’t have waited until now to cause trouble,” Chu Xuanliang said, “But with so many consecutive deaths, there should be problems. No matter how I calculate, there should be some changes in the energy field here.”

Chu Xuanliang thought for a moment and said, “My skills might not be sufficient. Let me bring my little junior sister to take a look.”

Little junior sister’s compass reading didn’t rely on ability… she looked at fortune.

Hastily pulled from bed and transported to the front of the residential complex, Jun Heng took out her compass that she had treasured for many years.

She was a bit faster than Chu Xuanliang. With calculations, observations, and readings combined, she quickly got results.

“This feng shui is fine,” Jun Heng also lowered her head to look at her own compass. “Did I read it wrong?”

Officer Ye: “…Do all you feng shui masters have this same catchphrase?”

Jun Heng said innocently, “But there really is no problem. If you think the feng shui here is bad, then just move away for peace of mind. Besides, metaphysical matters are inherently mysterious. Maybe some qualitative change has occurred?”

Several people looked at each other.

This building had managed to confuse police officers, Taoist priests, and even a Judge.

Deng Bian listened to them talk for a long time, then put down her hand and said, “Are you done with the results?”

Officer Ye: “The result is to believe in science, yes.”

“I shouldn’t have wasted time here with you all,” Deng Bian said helplessly. “I’m going back. Officer Ye, I hope you can give me a detailed written self-criticism about this matter.”

Officer Ye smiled apologetically. “Would a verbal one work?”

As they were preparing to argue, Deng Bian’s hand was already on the car door. Liu Shan ran down with a pale face, shouting, “Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead! Another person died!”

Everyone was startled.

Deng Bian was the first to run up. Despite wearing high heels, her movements were more agile than Officer Ye’s. Halfway up, she directly kicked off her shoes, and Jun Heng walked at the back picking up the shoes.

The incident occurred on the sixth floor. The victim wasn’t completely dead yet, lying in a pool of blood with a knife in his chest, eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. With each breath, blood gushed from his mouth. He coughed painfully.

Due to the commotion, six or seven people had already crowded at the doorway.

Deng Bian had an impression of the materials she had reviewed – several were residents of this building, and several others had just come upstairs with the deceased.

“What happened?” Deng Bian pulled out her phone to call for an ambulance while waving for everyone to step back and not disturb the scene. “Everyone step back, but don’t leave! Captain Ye, organize the scene and find out what happened… Hello, this is XX residential complex, we need an ambulance now…”

Several Taoist priests all swept the area and confirmed this place was very clean.

A girl in her early twenties huddled in the corner, being comforted by her mother. From her expression, she should be the suspect. Officer Ye approached her and began questioning.

The suspect was too mentally tense to speak. The other onlookers had come down later and hadn’t seen the specific situation, so they couldn’t say much.

Less than two minutes later, the deceased’s soul floated out of his body. Having just died, he was still in a daze.

Deng Bian finished her phone call and stood up to find Officer Ye. She could barely get through and said disgustedly to Jiang Feng and others. “If you have nothing to do, all of you step aside. This place is small, don’t block the way!”

Chu Xuanliang pulled the ghost out and took him downstairs for questioning.

After about five or six minutes, the deceased’s soul finally began to regain some consciousness and remembered what happened before his death.

“The feng shui here is bad, too many people have died. I felt it was inauspicious, so I already moved away. I also wanted to sell the house here. I came today to bring people to view the house.”

“Previously, because of business, I borrowed some money from my family. Among them, I borrowed one hundred thousand yuan from my sister-in-law – you know, family gossip and such matters. I had originally saved up the money and was ready to pay it back when due, but who would have thought the residential complex would become haunted? We didn’t dare live here anymore, so we used the money to pay a down payment first, bought a house and moved there as an emergency measure, then asked my sister-in-law for some flexibility. This wasn’t wrong, was it? I never said I wouldn’t pay it back – once I sell this house, I’ll return the money.”

“But she didn’t believe it and thought we were deliberately trying to default on the debt. Having money to buy a house but not returning money, even making up ghost stories. Plus she happened to need money too, so she started arguing with us. The more we argued, the worse our relationship became. Today she brought people over to cause trouble.”