An Qingyu fell silent.
Indeed, if their assumptions are true, then two people were nailed to that wall that night. However, the blood analysis at the scene only showed Sun Xiao's blood, which means their assumptions are invalid.
"Furthermore, if there was a second death that night, where is his body?" Lin Qiye continued, "He was wearing the uniform of a waiter at this tavern, but none of the other waiters died. So who... was it?"
Having reasoned this far, both of them began to doubt whether their deduction was wrong, but if it wasn't, they couldn't explain the direction of the wounds on the corpse...
The case has become increasingly perplexing.Just as the two were deep in thought, Lin Qiye's phone rang. He took out his phone, glanced at it, and a glint appeared in his eyes.
"The vice-captain said he found some clues about this 'mysterious' creature, I have to go back." Lin Qiye put away his phone and said to An Qingyu, "I've shown you the body, you should leave now."
An Qingyu sighed helplessly, "This case is more complicated than I imagined. There's too little we can deduce from just these four bodies... I think I need to go back to the crime scene and take another look."
"This is my phone number. Call me if you find anything."
"...I don't think I said I'd help you solve the case, did I? I just wanted to take a look at the body." An Qingyu's expression was somewhat strange.
Lin Qiye turned his head and stared into An Qingyu's eyes without saying a word.
An Qingyu smiled wryly, "Fine, I understand. Since you didn't hand me over to the Night's Watch, I'll tell you as soon as I find anything."
"Um."
...
Peace Agency.
Underground.
All the members of Team 136 had gathered around the long table. Wu Xiangnan held a thick stack of documents in his hand, his eyes full of seriousness.
"After Qi Mo reported the 'mysterious' characteristics of East City to me the day before yesterday, I immediately investigated the Night Watch's internal database, trying to find out exactly what it was..."
For the Night's Watch, the most important step in dealing with mysterious events is to identify the "mystery." Once they know what the "mystery" is, they can roughly understand its abilities, strength, habits, and weaknesses.
Some mysterious events have obvious identities, such as the masked man and the fiery dragon, which are very distinctive. However, some mysterious events are difficult to identify based on the event itself, such as the Nanda snake demon and the mysterious creature in question.
"Based on Wen Qimo's keywords, 'invisibility,' 'telekinesis,' 'finger cutting,' and 'electronic device interference,' I couldn't find any mystery that fit these criteria. The only one that comes close is 'Ten-Cut Ghost Child,' but it doesn't have the abilities of 'invisibility' and 'telekinesis,' and it's also intellectually deficient and incapable of handling such complex cases."
"In other words, what we are facing this time is likely a mystery that has never been recorded before."
Wu Xiangnan distributed the documents in his hand to everyone, his expression becoming serious.
"Afterward, I searched for rituals related to finger-severing murders and nailing to walls, and found some incredible clues."
Lin Qiye took a document, opened it, and began to read it, his brows furrowing slightly.
"Long ago, before the fog descended, there was an ancient legend in a small Western religion. The legend tells of a ritual for the ascension of vengeful ghosts. This ritual was used to transform weak vengeful ghosts into powerful ones. Historically, there were indeed two ghosts who ascended directly from the 'river' realm to the 'sea' realm through this ritual."
"To complete this ritual, a human soul must be sacrificed every two days. Their ten fingers must be severed ten seconds before they are killed, and their feet must not touch the ground at the moment of death. The time of death must be 3:33 AM."
Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the time. The forensic doctor had estimated the time of death of the corpse in the tavern to be between 3 and 4 a.m., which matched up.
Moreover, the methods used are completely in line with the ritual.
"After the sacrifice of five human souls, the ritual will be initially completed. With the infusion of a large amount of soul power, the weak, vengeful ghost will be transformed through the ritual into a truly powerful spirit..."
"Soul power?" Hongying scratched her head in confusion.
"You can think of it as sacrificing the souls of hundreds of ordinary people. Of course, this is just a matter of the total number of souls; it doesn't necessarily have to be that many. Some people's souls are extremely powerful, capable of being worth dozens of others, such as those who possess forbidden realms, or even 'mystery' itself."
"You mean, in order to complete the ritual, it needs to kill five people first, and then kill hundreds more in one go?" Chen Muye's expression darkened slightly.
"So it will be a mass murder soon...." Lin Xi Chen muttered as she looked at the file, appearing deep in thought.
"That's right, and the location of the ceremony is strictly regulated," Wu Xiangnan continued. "The materials you all have already provided a diagram of the ceremony's location."
Lin Qiye flipped through the documents in his hand and found a photo on one of the pages. The photo showed a pattern carved on an ancient stone tablet, with five black dots arranged in a five-pointed star pattern and connected by lines. Some crooked characters were written on the lines, as if they were annotating something.
"Based on the locations of the previous four cases, I created a 2D model, plugged in the ritual location shown in this photo, and deduced the approximate location where the last ritual took place."
Wu Xiangnan took out a map and drew a small circle in red pen at a certain location on it.
"A high-end residential area?" Wen Qimo asked in surprise when he saw the area of the small circle.
"That's right." Wu Xiangnan nodded. "According to the ritual's steps, it will definitely sacrifice the fifth victim here, then kill hundreds of people to fulfill the conditions for soul sacrifice, and then advance to the 'Sea' realm."
"Judging from the timing, it will make its move tonight... that is, at 3:33 AM tomorrow," Lin Qiye said in a deep voice.
Immediately afterwards, everyone turned to look at Chen Muye.
Chen Muye nodded and slowly said, "In that case, our next phase of action is clear. This red area is not very large. Tonight, the eight of us will be scattered in different directions to monitor the situation here at all times."
"Once someone discovers any trace of the 'mysterious' creature, immediately send a signal. Within twenty seconds, all of us will be on the scene and eliminate it."
"This is a residential area, and the crime occurred in the early morning. If it wanted to kill so many people in one fell swoop, it must have been prepared..."
"Everyone get ready. We'll head out early and lie in wait there; maybe we can catch it before the ceremony begins."
"Yes sir!"