The whole weird world is waiting for me to go to heaven

Chapter 943 A Golden Crow (Seventeen)

Liu Sheng followed the noise through the deep alley.

A sliver of sunlight shines overhead, while on both sides are densely packed self-built houses, their walls almost touching. People upstairs can simply lean out of their windows to shake hands with those across the street.

Sunlight cannot penetrate this crevice; it is perpetually damp and cold, as if hiding some inexplicable mold and gloom.

Finally, she stopped in front of the familiar building.

However, the once quiet entrance was now completely surrounded by crowds of onlookers, three or four deep.

Blood flowed out of the door like a stream, meandering along the rough cement road and eventually flowing into the roadside ditch.

Liu Sheng tiptoed and peered through the crowd.

On a red plastic chair by the door sat an elderly man, half-leaning to one side. His face was deathly pale, and his hands were trembling as he shelled peanuts, muttering to himself repeatedly. But this time, it was:
"Ranran will never come back, Ranran will never come back..."

A police officer knelt down beside him to comfort him and tried to ask him something, but the old man's speech was slurred and no useful clues could be gleaned from him.

Police tape has been set up, and officers are busy collecting evidence and taking photos both inside and outside the house.

The surrounding crowd whispered and murmured among themselves.

"I heard that a foul smell was coming from inside the house, and several families in the neighborhood could smell it, so they quickly called the police."

"That's right. It was fine yesterday, but it smelled terrible this morning. I don't know how it managed to hold it in all night."

"It wasn't just one night! That daughter had been dead for several days. I don't know how her body was brought back, but it was hidden on the bunk bed, covered with a white sheet, but the smell... tsk, it was impossible to hide. And when I lifted it up, the pillow was covered with shattered skulls..."

This person must have gone in and taken a look; he spoke with great seriousness.

"My God! I really don't understand why they didn't just cremate him properly, in this sweltering heat..."

"Maybe they're just waiting for the whole family to pass away together."

"Tsk, that woman is really ruthless. The corpses in that yard were a truly gruesome sight, unrecognizable, and there was blood all over the ground."

"Is that the male homeowner?"

"Yes, I don't think that woman killed him on a whim. Anyone would find it unbearable to have a husband who's paralyzed and doesn't move around all day, right?"

"That's true. Just think about how she works from dawn till dusk every day, doing odd jobs to earn money, while also taking care of her paralyzed husband, her demented father-in-law, and her daughter..."

"Fortunately, this daughter was promising and got into university. Just when she was about to start working and could help out a bit, she jumped off a building and died. Tsk tsk, I guess her last thread just snapped."

The man exaggerated his words, even adding gestures, clapping his hands together and then opening them again.

Everyone sighed with regret.

"So that's why she killed her husband and then committed suicide, right?"

"That's probably true."

"Oh, how pitiful."

"There's only this one stupid old man left."

"Anyway, this old man is oblivious, so the social worker can just put him in a nursing home."

"Too……"

Listening to the chatter of the onlookers, Liu Sheng watched as the three corpses, wrapped in black body bags, were carried out of the house one after another. Despite the sweltering summer heat, a chill ran through her.

She stood at the very edge of the crowd.

She pursed her lips, then silently turned and left.

I had only taken a few steps when I heard a gasp from behind me:

"That old man!"

"Quick, quick! He suddenly convulsed and collapsed!"

"What's going on? Help!"

"The police officers are administering first aid..."

Liu Sheng paused slightly, but ultimately did not turn around.

The sound gradually faded away, and dark clouds quietly obscured the blazing sun overhead, plunging the entire alley into a gray shadow.

……

Liu Sheng knew that the police would probably soon find traces of her visit to Zheng Qiran's home.

Zheng Qiran might cover for her, but when she came yesterday, some people probably still saw her. However, she didn't plan to stay long anyway.

At this moment, she was standing in front of the largest shopping mall in the center of Shanhai City.

She had already checked the route online. To get to the point that Zheng Qiran had marked in his notebook, she would need to take several buses to Zhengjia Village, and then walk from there.

But that place is remote, requiring us to go deep into the mountains, and we need to prepare all the necessary supplies.

The train ticket wasn't expensive; what was expensive was the equipment we'd need next.

She glanced down at the balance on her phone.

1978 Federal Dollars.

She sighed softly, but still went inside.

Shanhai City isn't exactly a tourist city, and its economy isn't very developed, but Liu Sheng could still find most of what he wanted in this large shopping mall.

Backpacks, hiking boots, trekking poles, quick-drying clothes, sun hats, high-powered flashlights, first-aid kits, water bottles, and dry food, etc.

Then she bought two sharp daggers to replace her dull scalpel and fruit knife, which brought her back some of her sense of security.

However, this caused the balance to decrease rapidly.

Only 587 Federal Dollars remain.

Liu Sheng changed into his gear, looking every bit like a mountaineer, with his sun hat covering his face in the shade.

After getting everything ready, I carried the heavy hiking backpack, walked out of the mall restroom, and headed towards the bus stop next door.

She arrived in Shanhai City from there yesterday. It was deserted then, but today it was full of people, and most of them were fashionable young people—mostly women.

Liu Sheng frowned slightly, wondering why there were so many young people here when this wasn't a tourist city.
These young people were holding up colorful signs, their expressions excited and thrilled, as if they were waiting for someone.

Liu Sheng didn't pay much attention, but walked aside and started scrolling through her phone, trying to search for relevant information. Unfortunately, she couldn't connect to CNKI, so she could only browse open-source resources.

The car arrived shortly afterward.

Liu Sheng blended into the crowd and silently boarded the car, just like any ordinary mountain climber.

Looking out the train window, I could see that the crowd outside the station was growing larger and larger, and there was a sea of ​​people, with screams and cheers rising and falling.

Unfortunately, the sign she was holding was facing another direction, so Liu Sheng couldn't make out what it said.

But she could roughly guess that it must be some celebrity visiting Shanhai City.

In short, it has nothing to do with her.

The vehicle started, leaving the noise far behind.

When she arrived at the station, she got off the train and waited to transfer.

After changing trains several times, we gradually moved from the city to the villages and towns, and then from the villages and towns into the mountains.

The wide, straight highway gradually transformed into a winding mountain road along the coast.

On one side is a vast, blue sea, where sunlight glistens on the water; on the other side are steep, towering cliffs, jagged and precipitous.

Liu Sheng glanced at her phone.

It's half past three in the afternoon.

The sun was still high in the sky, and the light reflected from the sea made one's eyes sting.

The car's air conditioning was humming loudly, but you could hardly feel any coolness inside.

Sweat slid down Liu Sheng's neck, and his soaked clothes clung to his body. The air inside the carriage felt like it had been steamed, hot and stuffy, making it hard to breathe.

Because this route is relatively remote, there weren't many passengers; there were only three people on the entire bus.

Liu Sheng, the driver, and another passenger sitting in the last row, also dressed as a hiker, wearing a baseball cap and sleeping with his head down.

Liu Sheng sat in the middle row of seats, with a hiking backpack next to him. He gently fanned himself with his hand while subtly glancing at the rearview mirror in front of him.

The driver was wearing sunglasses, so his expression was obscured. He simply gripped the steering wheel without looking to the side, seemingly completely focused on driving.

But if one is truly that focused, how could this happen...?

Liu Sheng glanced calmly at the map on her phone, then looked up at the window.

It's not following the route?

(End of this chapter)