Flowers of the Departed Souls - Chapter 33

Chi Ziming looked at these distinctly exotic artifacts. “These things, I can’t tell if they’re real or fake. There are similar ones in the small commodity markets where we live, some genuine, some imitations. What matters is the craftsmanship and uniqueness, so whether it’s an imitation or not isn’t important. Oh, is there an envelope?”

At this moment, Luo Yifu was still looking for the packaging box that contained the Taotie. She had casually thrown the box into the trash can, but the trash had been emptied by the suddenly diligent nanny. She had no choice but to go down to the garbage collection bin, pinching her nose and wearing gloves, sifting through it for a long time. She finally managed to fish out the box.

However, the postmark was blurred by the dirty garbage water, making it impossible to discern any words. Luo Xiaofeng asked, “How is it? Can you see it clearly?” Luo Yifu shook her head listlessly, completely deflated.

Luo Xiaofeng and Chi Ziming exchanged glances. That meant, for now, there was no way to confirm if her father, Luo Jialiang, was genuinely traveling abroad. Therefore, the possibility of Luo Jialiang still being in the village grew higher. Luo Yifu suddenly remembered that if her father was indeed here, her mother should know, at least, she would send him food.

She recalled her mother often going out. Although she went to a nearby Buddhist temple, it was highly possible that she was going to deliver food to her father, and then also visit the temple to pray. At this moment, Luo Yifu’s mind was in a chaotic mess. Her mother must have known about the incidents at the inn, but how could she bring it up? If her father was in this village, he could very likely be the mastermind behind the events.

Luo Xiaofeng looked at her. “Are you alright? Or, you should rest well. We’ll leave first.”

“Where are you going?”

Luo Xiaofeng genuinely didn’t know where to go. Chi Ziming thought for a moment. “I want to go back to the inn. Didn’t you say there’s a secret room in the basement with surveillance footage? If we can get that footage, all of this can be unraveled, and we won’t have to live in a nightmare every day.”

“I want to go too,” Luo Yifu said.

“No, you have school in two days. Don’t get involved in this mess anymore. Get some rest early and go back to school tomorrow.”

“No!” Luo Yifu’s expression was very firm. “If I don’t get this matter sorted out, I won’t go back to school. I’d rather take a leave of absence than give up like this. If I leave now, my heart will never be at peace, and I won’t have the heart to study. You wouldn’t understand. The day Ge Jianliang died, I heard Xiaojie’s voice. I believe it was real, not an illusion. Please, don’t leave me behind.”

Luo Xiaofeng and Chi Ziming exchanged glances. Luo Yifu lowered her voice. “Tomorrow, I’ll move into the inn. Don’t let my mom know I didn’t go to school.”

Luo Xiaofeng exclaimed, “No, impossible. You can’t stay there. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’ve made up my mind. If it’s truly my dad, I should be fine staying inside. If I’m in danger, I think it definitely wasn’t my dad doing it. I just want to verify this fact.”

Chi Ziming thought for a moment. “Let’s discuss tomorrow’s matters later. Let’s go to that basement first. No time to lose.”

So the three of them returned to the inn. This time, Chi Ziming took his usual self-defense miniature stun gun from his luggage bag. Its 300,000-volt pulse voltage could stun a person. Luo Xiaofeng and Luo Yifu each took a stick. At least they could defend themselves. The masked man looked utterly vicious; they couldn’t afford not to be prepared.

So the three went to the basement. The basement door was ajar, and the broken lock was gone. “I’ll go in first and see. If there’s no problem, I’ll call you up.” Chi Ziming really didn’t want anything to happen to these two sisters. But at this moment, Luo Xiaofeng pushed him aside and went in. She didn’t want to waste any more words. After she went in, the wooden box was neatly blocking the exit, just as it had been.

Luo Xiaofeng forcefully pushed the box away, but strangely, the door was gone. And the wall’s color was exactly the same as its surroundings, showing no trace of abnormality. “Did they move it?” Luo Xiaofeng murmured to herself, then looked left and right. “No way, I’m sure this is the spot. They must have sealed it up after realizing their plot was exposed.”

“They wouldn’t seal it up that well,” Chi Ziming said, touching the wall. “Are you sure it’s here?” Luo Xiaofeng nodded. Chi Ziming stopped speaking. He found a thick wooden stick and struck the wall hard with it, but the wall was completely unaffected. He threw down the stick, picked up an axe, and chopped down forcefully. A large hole was gouged out of the wall, but strangely, Luo Xiaofeng’s promised room wasn’t there; not even a small space was visible.

Chi Ziming couldn’t help but be puzzled. “There’s nothing here. What’s going on?”

“No, impossible.” Luo Xiaofeng frantically shook her head. So many computers, that masked person, and the half-eaten apple on the table—were they all illusions? Had she gone insane, was she mentally unstable? No, impossible.

She swung the axe, furiously chopping at the wall. Plaster flew everywhere. Luo Yifu’s face turned pale, and she cowered to the side in fear. Chi Ziming, afraid something would happen, grabbed Luo Xiaofeng. “Calm down, don’t be so agitated. You need to know that Luo Yifu and I, we both believe you.”

Luo Xiaofeng threw down the axe and couldn’t help but cry. “It’s true. That masked person was stabbing me frantically. Look, the wound on my arm, it was caused by him! And those surveillance cameras, I saw everything about you in there. You were lying on the bed. But how could all of this be gone…?”

At this moment, Chi Ziming noticed Luo Yifu’s expression was very abnormal. Her entire being was like a taut string, seemingly about to snap at any moment. “Yifu, what’s wrong?”

“I, I think I saw a shadow flash past in that hole,” Luo Yifu said nervously, pointing to the broken wall beside them. Chi Ziming immediately walked over and shined his flashlight inside. It was empty, as if there was a room. He calmly said, “It’s possible it’s here. They’re using a movable door to obstruct our view.”

He picked up the axe again and chopped the hole larger, enough for a person to bend down and pass through. “I’ll go in and check first. You two wait here.”

“No, I want to go too,” Luo Xiaofeng said.

“I, I’m coming with you too…” Luo Yifu looked around. She wouldn’t stay here alone for anything.

Chi Ziming sighed. “Alright then, come along.”

After they climbed inside, they found the room looked empty, with none of the many computers Luo Xiaofeng had mentioned.

“Did they move everything?” Luo Xiaofeng murmured to herself.

Chi Ziming looked at the entire secret room. “Considering the time you ran to the inn, and then we went to Yifu’s house, there was enough time to move the equipment. But where could they have moved it? I don’t think it’s just one person.”

At this moment, Luo Xiaofeng made a “quiet” gesture. Chi Ziming also heard it; it sounded like a groan, as if from another place. They looked around. “Is there another secret room here?” As they spoke, they felt movement from the ceiling. A skylight suddenly opened above, and a person lunged directly towards them. Chi Ziming was too slow to dodge and almost got hit. At the same time, a metal cage suddenly emerged from around the room, trapping them inside.

Above, the masked person laughed wildly. “Haha, you can just wait to die.”

At this moment, Chi Ziming turned over the person who had been thrown down. The three of them simultaneously gasped in shock: “Kelou!”

Kelou lay there, covered in wounds. Chi Ziming checked his pulse and flipped his eyelids. “Good, he’s still breathing.”

After a long while, Kelou regained his senses and opened his eyes. Luo Xiaofeng helped him up. “Officer Lu, why did you fall from above like Lin Daiyu?”

Kelou smiled bitterly. “You ask me? I’m not really clear myself. We had just entered the cave when we were attacked by carrion vultures. I killed a few, then faced a group attack. I suffered multiple injuries. Later, I heard a whistle, and those carrion vultures retreated and disappeared. I thought the battle was over, but then a masked person appeared. He pointed a gun at me, then knocked me out with the gun butt. When I woke up, I found myself bound and locked in a dark room. Then he said nothing, just tortured me. From beginning to end, I only saw him wearing a mask; I didn’t see his true face. My god, it’s really spooky; I still don’t understand what happened.”

Luo Yifu exclaimed, “Your hands?!” She saw that Kelou’s hands were bloody, as if he had been specially tortured. Kelou looked at his own hands, his fingertips motionless. A piercing pain spread throughout his body; ten fingers connected to the heart. He suppressed the pain and slowly said, “The masked person tortured my fingers.”

“Why did he torture you?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t ask me anything. Maybe this masked person enjoys other people’s suffering. That way, he feels happier inside.”

This masked person must have serious psychological problems. Only by seeing others suffer does he feel happy. Isn’t that very similar to Xia Yimin gouging out his own eyes and witnessing extreme pain? Chi Ziming frowned and thought, “It seems those carrion vultures are indeed trained by humans. Oh, by the way, did you see an old woman?”

Kelou shook his head. “I’m not sure. They were wearing masks, but judging by their build, I think there’s more than one masked person. The one who just threw me down was much taller than the masked person who pointed the gun at me.”

“No way. Could it be an organization?”

Kelou nodded. “Yes, it should be an organization, possibly with quite a few members. And this organization is very secretive. There must be a highly intelligent person behind the scenes.”

Kelou also increasingly felt the terror of this village. It seemed to be implicitly controlled by a mysterious organization, or rather, a mysterious evil force. It looked peaceful, yet it was constantly monitored and controlled by a very exclusive and terrifying power. Yes, exclusive. This is why outsiders in Luoyang Village always met with misfortune, while villagers were rarely killed so openly. So, it’s highly probable that the killer is a villager, and possibly a significant number of villagers. At this thought, Kelou shivered. Then, this village was on high alert, and he could probably trust Chi Ziming. But what about Luo Xiaofeng and Luo Yifu? They were also villagers of Luoyang Village.

He once thought his head was also injured and his mind wasn’t working properly, always feeling confused. However, his most basic cognitive abilities were still there, especially the way the masked person who threw him down looked at him—with a very lonely yet hostile gaze. He felt that this gaze was like that of an indigenous person from a primitive tribe facing enemies who wanted to take their land, expressing that kind of hatred and savagery, yet intertwined with the fear of constantly losing their land. That strange and complex gaze made him feel that it wasn’t some demon or a so-called mysterious God of Death, but a distorted love for this land, or rather, for Luoyang Village.

And this kind of love could only be possessed by people who lived in Luoyang Village, or had once lived in Luoyang Village. But now, he himself was in pain all over, with injuries everywhere. He was extremely weak and powerless, and had lost contact with the outside world, and was trapped in this cage. Suddenly, he felt a deep despair. He couldn’t even protect himself now, so how could he protect others? How could he avenge the victims? And how could he report back to Guangming and his team? And where was Guangming? Why couldn’t he be reached? Had something happened to him too? Was fate arranging for the two of them, partners, to meet God at the same time? His mind was filled with wild thoughts, wondering if he was truly going insane.

This was a slow torment, from flesh to spirit. Kelou felt that both had been completely broken down. Thoroughly. From encountering the carrion vultures to being locked in the cage now, and in between, being subjected to finger torture with ancient instruments by the masked person. He had never seen such fierce birds; he once thought they were the embodiment of Satan. Because Satan also had wings. He remembered their claws slicing open his skin like sharp blades, cold and bitter, with blood flowing like a small river. At that moment, he felt he would dry up, but he was not yet dead. He had also never seen anyone as fierce and unreasonable as the masked person. They were truly a group of devils.

What made him suffer so much now was that he didn’t know if his hands were permanently damaged. To this moment, they still couldn’t move freely. For a while, he had fainted from the pain. He felt his soul floating, as if struggling to drift out of his body. Vaguely, he seemed to hear someone calling his name, again and again, like his mother, and like his father. No, that was the call of the God of Death. He struggled hard to escape this state. In his subconscious, he told it, “You come back, come back, come back!” That strong will was as firm as a rock, until the elusive shadow obediently lay back down and merged with him.

Luo Xiaofeng and the others were also very sad to see Kelou’s tragic state. The saddest was Chi Ziming. Kelou had taken this hit for him. If Kelou hadn’t stayed here, Chi Ziming would be the one dying now. Chi Ziming only wanted this day to end quickly. He didn’t want to wait anymore, but he also didn’t want to implicate Luo Xiaofeng and Luo Yifu.

Luo Yifu looked at the iron cage enclosing them and said worriedly, “How do we get out now? Are we just going to be trapped here until we die?”

Chi Ziming suddenly remembered the jade yue on his person. In ancient times, wasn’t a jade yue a weapon of war? Although not a practical weapon, it was the most important ceremonial weapon of war, meaning all other weapons obeyed it. However, he didn’t know if it was truly effective, as its legend claimed, but he still took it out.

“What is this?” they asked confused.

“A jade yue, given by a wise elder.” At this moment, Luo Yifu felt a movement on her neck. She lowered her head, pulled aside her collar, and saw the Taotie emitting a peculiar light, which then disappeared. This time, Luo Yifu truly saw it clearly: this Taotie was not an ordinary object. It really could glow. Could it really protect her?

Chi Ziming looked at Luo Yifu. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing.” She remembered her father’s warning. Yes, she couldn’t let them know she had such a strange Taotie jade, at least not before things were clear. And their most important task now was how to escape this damned cage, not discuss treasures.

At this moment, their gazes were also drawn by the light emitted by the jade yue. It was the same color as the jade piece itself, off-white with hints of red. The light formed the shape of a sword, emitting a sharp, cold aura like a sword’s edge. This was the first time Chi Ziming noticed it. He had used it to illuminate things, and it turned out to be this kind of light sword.

At this moment, his hand holding the jade yue trembled slightly. He didn’t know if it was truly effective, but instantly, he gained infinite confidence, as if he was truly holding an incomparably sharp sword, and he was a swordsman whose martial arts had reached a divine level, freely roaming the martial world.

He approached the iron cage, raising both hands high. The light sword was now held in the air by him. He didn’t know what the consequences of this sword strike would be, or if it would have any effect at all. But in a haze, he seemed to hear the chime of a bell. A bell? Why was there a bell here? Was it from that large grandfather clock? His thoughts and gaze focused again on the sword.

He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and violently struck downwards. For a long time, there was no sound around him. He thought, How is this possible? It’s not mythology. When he opened his eyes, he was stunned and wide-eyed. He saw that the cage had been cleanly split open by him, and Kelou and the others stood there, dumbfounded.

“So, this really isn’t an ordinary jade artifact,” Chi Ziming murmured. Luo Xiaofeng also gasped in wonder. “It’s amazing! So cool!”

At this moment, Kelou, having regained consciousness, said, “Let’s leave here quickly.”

Chi Ziming helped Kelou out. When they exited the basement and their eyes adjusted to the outside light, they found villagers standing outside. Most of these people, Luo Xiaofeng and Luo Yifu recognized: Er Gouzi, Luo Laotou, Grandpa Liu, and—Luo Yifu’s nanny…

And all of them held axes and sticks. Their eyes were fixed directly on Chi Ziming and Kelou.