Volume Three: Vengeful Spirits Chapter Two: The Strange Crime Scene

This morning was devoid of sunlight. Yao Guang glanced at the sky, wondering if rain was imminent. She bit into a piece of bread, eating leisurely. The phone rang with a bright, chiming sound.

“Hello?” Yao Guang answered, still chewing.

“Phoenix, there’s been a homicide in a residential building at Jing Shan Community. I’ll send you the location; I’m at the scene waiting for you.” The caller was Xuan Chen.

“Alright.” Yao Guang hung up, finished her breakfast swiftly, and drove to the location as directed.

Jing Shan Community was a low-end neighborhood, populated largely by renters. The rate of criminal cases here was the highest in the city, in part because it was adjacent to Ye City’s largest entertainment street.

When Yao Guang arrived at the crime scene, the police had already secured it. Xuan Chen approached her. “The victim is a resident on the 23rd floor, named Wang Qianqian. She purchased the apartment herself last year. Wang Qianqian worked as a waitress at the Nightless Bar; confirmation shows she was also a prostitute. Surveillance footage indicates she returned home around one in the morning and didn’t leave again. At seven this morning, the neighbor—a middle-aged woman—went out to buy breakfast and noticed a strong smell of blood emanating from Wang Qianqian's apartment. She knocked, but received no answer, so she called the police. When we opened the door, we found the victim deceased. After inspection, the doors and windows were intact, with no signs of forced entry. No evidence of anyone else entering the apartment. Only the victim’s fingerprints and footprints were found inside. This is a locked-room murder.”

Yao Guang nodded, slipped on shoe covers and gloves, and entered. The apartment was a typical one-bedroom with a kitchen and bathroom. A heavy scent of blood lingered in the air. She walked around, confirming that the doors and windows were locked from the inside, with no signs of tampering. The belongings indicated only one person lived there. Even the toothbrush and personal items pointed to a single occupant; no men’s items were present.

“A locked-room murder?” Yao Guang surveyed the scene. “Let’s take a look at the victim.” She entered the bedroom.

The coroner had completed a preliminary examination. “Based on the color of the livor mortis, the time of death is estimated between three and four in the morning. Preliminary cause of death is excessive blood loss due to vaginal tearing. The wound shows the area was forcibly stretched by some object, and the blood spatter indicates an explosive force. In other words, the victim’s genital area was suddenly forced open, causing blood to spray out and continue flowing from the wound.”

“There are no arterial vessels in that area, so tearing shouldn’t result in such a blood spray unless internal organs are ruptured. Simple tearing of the external genitalia wouldn’t produce this pattern,” Yao Guang remarked, puzzled by the blood and the mutilated wound.

“There’s no trace of semen, condom lubricant, or any other lubricants in the body. Further autopsy results are pending,” the coroner said, removing his gloves.

Yao Guang nodded, sniffing the air. There was a strange scent in the room. She followed it, finding the odor strongest on the victim’s body.

“What are you smelling?” Xuan Chen asked, noticing her unusual behavior.

---

“A strange scent—you can’t detect it, but I just can’t recall what it is,” Yao Guang closed her eyes, releasing her spiritual sense. It was resentment—the room was saturated with it. Yes, that was the scent of resentment. “Why is there such heavy resentment here?” She extended her spiritual sense again. There were two currents of resentment: one belonging to the victim, the other external. The victim’s resentment was entwined with the foreign one, but the victim’s soul was absent. Normally, a soul lingers at the place of death for four to five hours, but this victim had none. Could it be the Ghost Sect again? No, when they kill, they never leave behind soul or resentment. Here, only resentment remained, no soul. Yao Guang tried to catch the entwined resentment, but the foreign current dragged the victim’s resentment away from her, playing a game of hide-and-seek.

“How interesting,” Yao Guang smiled.

“What did you find?” Xuan Chen asked.

“Resentment—two currents, but no soul,” Yao Guang replied. “Kun.”

“Here,” Huo Mingkun stepped forward.

She tapped his forehead. “Close your eyes and use your spiritual sense to open the heavenly eye.”

“Alright.” Huo Mingkun closed his eyes, focusing all his attention inward.

“Focus, as I taught you. Concentrate your mind on your spirit platform and silently recite the incantation.” She tapped the back of his head.

“I see it,” Huo Mingkun said.

“Tell me what you see,” Yao Guang prompted.

“Resentment—two currents, forming two human figures. One seems to be an adult woman, the other a child. They’re not entangled, but playing together, like a mother with her child,” Huo Mingkun replied. “Wait, the child-like resentment isn’t a single current, it’s many, merged into one. They seem to be calling for their mother.”

“Is there a soul among them?” Yao Guang asked.

“No, none. And the victim’s body bears no trace of spiritual sense, as if her soul willingly departed,” Huo Mingkun explained.

“Open your eyes,” Yao Guang said.

---

“Ah, dizzy…” Huo Mingkun opened his eyes, feeling faint.

“Take this—you need to strengthen your abilities.” Yao Guang handed him a pill. She pondered: calling for mother, infant spirits, and more than one. “Let’s return to the station.”

Back at the police station, Yao Guang recalled the scene Huo Mingkun described.

“Phoenix, the autopsy report is out. Time of death was about three-thirty in the morning. No restraint injuries, not suffocated. No traces of drugs in the body, no semen, oil, or emulsifiers. No evidence of sexual assault. The genital area was forcibly expanded by a ball-shaped object, causing fatal bleeding. But there’s something strange—the victim’s internal organs are missing, apparently eaten by something,” the coroner handed the report to Yao Guang.

“Eaten?” Yao Guang was startled.

“Phoenix, Wang Qianqian’s social circle has been investigated. The Nightless Bar owner said she left around midnight. She was a waitress and a prostitute. We’ve identified her regular clients, but none had the opportunity for the crime. She had no relatives or friends in Ye City. Four years ago, she had a boyfriend, but he’s now out of town with flight records and phone logs confirming he wasn’t here. We can temporarily rule out robbery, sexual assault, revenge, and vendetta,” Chu Tianyou reported after returning.

“How can someone die without any trace?” Xuan Chen wondered.

“It’s not that there’s no trace. Just because a human didn’t do it doesn’t mean a ghost couldn’t,” Yao Guang said, convinced this was a supernatural case.

“A ghost?” Everyone was puzzled.

“More precisely, a child ghost—a Water Spirit, also known as the Holy Child or infant spirit. These are unborn children lost to abortion or miscarriage. Water Spirits are cherished by Buddha, destined to reincarnate in human mothers for rebirth, but are cruelly torn away before maturing, becoming ghosts. Their souls are small, without guidance, without offerings, nothing—they wander, bullied by other spirits, unable to reincarnate, always suffering. Their resentment is immense. What they crave most is returning to their mother’s warmth. If an infant spirit finds its parents, it will seek vengeance. The greatest trouble is their entanglement. Check the victim’s abortion and miscarriage records—there must be more than one. I need to prepare some things. This infant spirit has become a fierce ghost; if not captured, it will harm others.”

With that, Yao Guang stepped aside to make a call. Xuan Chen led his team out.