Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Warning; the content might make you a bit uncomfortable
Jiang Lan had made an appointment with Wang Qing to meet here. Wang Qing was the young policeman who had previously handled the Tai Sui murder case. On the way to Xue Meng’s house, he told Wang Qing his suspicions about Chen Ruomei’s death and asked the police station if there were any clues.
Unexpectedly, after hearing what he said, Wang Qing re-read the file and found some doubtful places. The two immediately made an appointment to meet at the entrance of Hong Jingyuan.
Wang Qing came with his colleague, both of whom were wearing plain clothes this time.
Since he accidentally handled the Tai Sui murder case last time, Wang Qing had also been exposed to some work content that he did not know before. He was young and energetic. Not only did he not feel timid, but he was even more enthusiastic when handling cases.
Seeing Jiang Lan, he happily stepped forward to shake hands with him and introduced them to each other.
The colleague who came with Wang Qing was an old policeman named Zhao Heng. Originally, Zhao Heng was handling cases involving inhuman factors. Later, Wang Qing accidentally came into contact with such cases, and his superiors asked him to be Zhao Heng’s partner. In addition to their normal work, the two of them were also responsible for cases involving non-human beings in their jurisdiction.
The several people got to know each other for a while, then Wang Qing told them about the case again. The content was basically consistent with what Jiang Lan knew.
The only difference was Chen Ruomei’s career.
Wang Qing said: “Chen Ruomei is definitely not a s*x service worker. She is a bartender, but because she is good-looking and has taught herself how to dance, she occasionally performs as a guest dancer. As for last month, she called the police to report that someone had raped her. The case is also true. She was very smart and kept the evidence very well. The man was her colleague, and he fled back to his hometown in the countryside after she called the police. Now we are still contacting the local police to arrest him.”
After Chen Ruomei died unexpectedly, the police also contacted the bar where she worked. According to the bar manager, Chen Ruomei was taciturn and not very good at communication. Because she didn’t have a high degree of education and she was short of money, she came to work in a bar. She was actually a very conservative person and only dressed up when work required it.
The rape incident that was rumored by residents in the community to be a dispute between the young lady and her client was actually when Chen Ruomei got drunk at a dinner party with bar employees, and a male colleague with whom she usually got along well took the initiative to take her home, but she didn’t expect such a thing to happen.
Jiang Lan turned a little silent after hearing this.
Wang Qing also lamented: “Her family is in another province, so we contacted her family. There is only one old father left in her family. He is rushing to Jiangcheng after receiving the news.”
The real Chen Ruomei was completely different from the rumors.
But these untrue rumors spread in Hong Jingyuan and several surrounding communities. As the old saying went, three people made a tiger. When three hundred or more people spread rumors together, the rumors seemed to become truth and justice.
No wonder Chen Ruomei was so resentful.
Jiang Lan said, “Can you find out who started spreading the rumors?”
Wang Qing shook his head: “How can it be so easy to find out? Most of the people in the nearby communities are not locals. The majority of them are villagers whose houses were demolished and so they were resettled in the nearby villages and towns. These residents are all related to each other, whether they are spreading rumors or not. They are very united whether it is excluding someone or fighting against external forces. If we ask directly, they will not tell the truth.”
Ying Qiao sneered: “If we don’t solve the source of the rumors, none of them will be able to escape.”
He pointed to the manhole not far away: “Look.”
They saw a thin red mist gradually dissipating above the inspection well not far away. It was easy to miss if you didn’t look carefully. But as long as you thought that this red mist was actually red spit spores looking for hosts everywhere, you would no longer feel that these little things were inconspicuous.
Jiang Lan’s face turned solemn, and he subconsciously wanted to go up to check the situation in the inspection well.
When he came to visit in the morning, there was no such red mist.
As soon as he took a step, Ying Qiao grabbed his wrist: “Don’t go there, who knows what’s under the manhole cover.”
Disgust was shining brightly on his face, and his eyes turned to Chen Hua secretly.
Chen Hua:……
Cursing in his heart, Chen Hua could only go forward to check without any complaints. He removed the manhole cover, glanced inside and immediately looked away.
The walls of the inspection well were covered with dense red umbrella mushrooms, and even the sewage below was reflecting a dark red color. He didn’t know how these things grow so much, no wonder the spores were full of red mist.
Chen Hua lit an exorcism charm and threw it down, then put the manhole cover back before the red umbrella burned completely.
Wang Qing and Zhao Heng hadn’t realized the danger of the spores: “What are these things?”
Jiang Lan told them his guess: “If Chen Ruomei’s resentment does not dissipate, and these red parasitic umbrellas continue to release spores, no one can say how many people will be parasitized.”
Wang Qing and Zhao Heng shuddered together.
Finally, Zhao Heng said: “Why don’t we try to use Xu Meifang and three people as a breakthrough point.”
Xu Meifang was one of the three aunts who pulled Chen Ruomei out of the well.
Zhao Heng’s reasons were also very good. Since they could rescue people with kindness, they obviously didn’t have that much malice towards Chen Ruomei. Moreover, people who could act bravely should be sensible and reasonable and should not be too difficult to communicate with.
Wang Qing and the others knew where Xu Meifang lived, so the two of them were going to go to the house to inquire first, to see if they could find some clues.
Ying Qiao and Chen Hua were not prepared to get involved. They were more willing to use strong methods to force out those who were secretly causing trouble.
Jiang Lan wanted to go along with them, but his phone rang, and it was Xue Meng who had sent him a message.
The mother and daughter he photographed happened to be known to Grandpa Xue. The mother’s name was Tan Zhi, and the daughter’s name was Tao Liu. The family of three lived in the third building, and he even knew the house number.
“Tan Zhi?” Wang Qing paused and turned around: “Which Tan Zhi?”
“You know her?”
Jiang Lan showed him the photos on his phone.
Unexpectedly, Wang Qing really recognized her at first glance. He pointed to Tan Zhi’s back and said, “Her hairstyle and clothes are very recognizable. She is one of the three people who saved Chen Ruomei.”
That night, the three aunts who heard Chen Ruomei’s call were Xu Meifang, Tan Zhi and Xie Guizhen.
It was about nine o’clock in the evening when Chen Ruomei had the accident. She was going to go to work, and the three of them had just returned from square dancing.
Knowing that Tan Zhi was also parasitized, and that the symptoms were still serious, Wang Qing’s face suddenly became a little strange: “She obviously saved Chen Ruomei, although she was not rescued, but no matter how you think about it, she shouldn’t be the target of revenge.”
According to the current situation analysis, the conditions for the spores of the red umbrella being parasitic were very clear, and that was the person should have spread rumors about Chen Ruomei.
In this way, it was easy to think that Chen Ruomei’s resentful spirit was taking revenge on the people who spread the rumors.
But Tan Zhi had tried his best to save Chen Ruomei, and she didn’t look like someone who would speak ill of her behind her back.
This matter was suddenly full of doubts.
Jiang Lan frowned and said, “Let’s split into two groups. I’ll go to Tan Zhi’s house, and you go to Xu Meifang’s house.”
Wang Qing and Zhao Heng had no objection, so everyone split up.
Ying Qiao and Chen Hua originally wanted to wait until dark before taking action, but when they saw that Jiang Lan wanted to visit Tan Zhi’s house, they followed him.
The little monster likes to worry about humans too much, but Ying Qiao couldn’t see him unhappy.
After thinking for a while, Ying Qiao took out an orange candy from his pocket, peeled off the wrapping paper and fed it to his mouth, and gave him a reassurance: “Don’t worry, with the boss around, the monster can’t escape.”
In fact, he wanted to say, don’t worry I’m here.
But with his current status, it was obviously not convincing enough.
Then he gave Chen Hua a cold look with some displeasure.
Chen Hua:…?
What’s wrong with you?
Jiang Lan was still thinking about things. So, when Ying Qiao fed the orange candy to his mouth, he subconsciously opened his mouth to take it. He was shocked when he tasted it in his mouth. So, he immediately turned his head and looked at him with wide eyes.
He looked like a frightened little cub.
Well-behaved and cute.
Ying Qiao was instantly satisfied, feeling a sense of accomplishment of successfully feeding the cub.
He also raised his hand and rubbed his head: “Don’t worry too much.”
With candy stuffed in his mouth, Jiang Lan let out a “huh” with his bulging cheeks. In fact, he wasn’t too worried, he just felt that everything about this matter was weird.
But what exactly was wrong, and because of the lack of key information, he was not able to connect the dots.
While he was pondering over it in his mind, the three of them had already reached the tenth floor of the third building. As soon as the elevator door opened, a young girl rushed in. Her eyes were red, and she was poking the first floor button with her finger.
Jiang Lan didn’t realize until he got out of the elevator that the girl just now was Tao Liu, Tan Zhi’s daughter.
Judging from Tao Liu’s expression, she looked like she had just run away from home after a quarrel.
Jiang Lan was confused, but walked to Tan Zhi’s house and rang the doorbell.
The doorbell rang four or five times before Tan Zhi’s cursing voice was heard, mixed with a dull cough.
“You damn girl, you left as soon as you said, why are you back again?”
It was indeed Tan Zhi who came to open the door. Her yellow curly hair was disheveled, her complexion was abnormally sallow, and when she spoke, there was a faint fishy smell in her mouth.
When she saw that the person at the door was not her daughter, she was stunned for a moment, cursed a few times and was about to close the door.
Jiang Lan blocked the door with his hand in time and smelled the strong smell of candles behind the door.
He narrowed his eyes immediately and said, “Aunt Tan, we met in the morning.”
Tan Zhi glared at him fiercely: “Let go, why didn’t the female ghost eat you?!”
When she spoke, her mouth opened and closed. Jiang Lan saw the mycelium protruding from her mouth. The dark red mycelium extended from her throat and were attached to her tongue, as if trying to replace her tongue.
“Have you seen the female ghost in the well? Did she come to find you?” Jiang Lan suddenly asked.
He asked the question so suddenly that Tan Zhi’s eyes twitched, and then she started screaming insults. The dialect she spoke was very fast, and although he couldn’t quite understand it, he knew that the words she used were dirty.
She was like an emotionless spitting machine, opening and closing her mouth rapidly, spitting out unpleasant words without even taking a breath.
Jiang Lan saw her chest rising and falling violently, as if she was about to faint from lack of oxygen at any moment.
But she didn’t faint in the end. After scolding, she seemed to act as if nothing happened and wanted to close the door.
Of course, Jiang Lan would not let her get what she wanted, and continued to hold the door, throwing another bait: “You have also noticed that something is wrong with you, right? But you can’t send her away by burning paper at home, I may have a way.”
Tan Zhi’s eyes really moved. She seemed to want to say something, but what she said was another string of swear words.
When the three of them stood at the door, they saw her pinching her throat and coughing in pain. She bent down and scratched her throat a few times before barely standing up straight and saying, “You guys come in first.”
They went in with goodness.
The smell of candles that Jiang Lan smelled at the door was indeed correct. There were white candles on the balcony of the house, and there was also a copper basin with burnt black ashes in it.
“Are you worshiping for Chen Ruomei?”
Tan Zhi paused, did not speak and only nodded weakly.
Afterwards, she said with difficulty: “What can you do?”
Seeing her anxious and fearful expression, she was clearly aware of her situation.
But all this further showed that Chen Ruomei’s death was not simple. Obviously, it was Tan Zhi and the others who rescued Chen Ruomei, even if she was not rescued, she didn’t have to make them afraid like this. Thinking about what she said to herself during the day, she obviously felt that she had become like this, because Chen Ruomei’s ghost was haunting her.
Jiang Lan didn’t answer her immediately, but said, “Tell me how Chen Ruomei died first.”
Tan Zhi looked at him in surprise, then seemed to remember something, pinched her hands tightly and said, “She fell to death by herself.”
“If you don’t tell the truth, I can’t help you.”
Jiang Lan’s face turned cold. Although he was easy to talk to, he didn’t always smile like this at everyone. Especially when he already has a guess in his mind that just needed to be confirmed.
He got up and asked Chen Hua for another exorcism talisman. He lit the talisman and threw it into the water. He held the cup of talisman water and said to Tan Zhi: “This cup of talisman water can cure your strange disease. You have to think clearly about it. Tell me the truth.”
Tan Zhi’s expression suddenly changed. She opened and closed her mouth, and dense hyphae spread out from the red umbrella in her throat, but she seemed unaware of it.
“If she doesn’t tell you, I’ll tell you.”
A gentle female voice suddenly appeared.
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