The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 153 The Beginning of Disappearance

"Between July and November 1983, five female bodies were found in succession in the waters of Dongji Town, a coastal town under the jurisdiction of Nancheng. The victims' eyes had been gouged out, and a mirror was hanging from their chests. The bodies were all tied up and kneeling.

Each corpse had a Sanskrit inscription on the palm of its left hand. After deciphering, it turned out to be a sentence from the Vimalakirti Sutra: "All dharmas are false perceptions, like dreams, like flames, like the moon in the water, like images in a mirror, born of delusion."

Because each of the deceased had a mirror hanging on their chest, the case became known as the 1983 'Magic Mirror Case.'

Under the church dome, Qi Fei recited Buddhist verses, which sounded strange and awkward. Then he began to fluently list the victims' situations. "On July 07, the first body was found in the Dongshan reef area. The deceased was Chen Afeng, 19 years old, an accountant at a fishery company.

On August 08, the second body was found floating to the Qingbang Island fishing boat dock. The deceased was Wang Lijuan, 25 years old, an announcer at the town radio station.
On September 09, the third body was found in an abandoned air-raid shelter. The deceased was Lin Suzhen, 16, a primary school teacher in the town.
On October 10, the fourth body was washed ashore on the lake island beach by the ocean current. The deceased was Zhou Xiaomei, 30 years old, a student at the Fisheries Technical School.
On November 11, the fifth body was found at the Yuxing Island wharf. The deceased was Wu Meiling, 21, a nurse at the town health center.

Zhong Kui was listening at the side, a little surprised: "You remember it so clearly?"

Qi Fei said, "This is the bureau's biggest unsolved case, and it remains unsolved. The first thing every member of our criminal police team does upon entering the police station is to memorize the names of the victims in the case, hoping to one day solve it. For 42 years, as officers retire one after another, this information has been passed down and memorized from generation to generation, hoping that one day, we can provide justice for the victims."

"So what about Ye Ming?"

"Ye Ming was the captain of the Nancheng Criminal Police Team at the time. In 1983, the country was cracking down on migrant workers, and this case was initially classified as a migrant crime. Against that backdrop, the occurrence of such a series of disappearances was no small matter. Not only Hewan Town, but the entire Nancheng was in panic. For a long time, single women were afraid to walk at night or go out alone. Conditions were limited at the time, and Ye Ming led the people in the bureau to search for suspicious persons day and night, but they never found any results. On New Year's Eve that year, Ye Ming used a phone booth to call the police station and said that he had found the suspect's whereabouts at Xinhua Square in JN District.

When the police reinforcements arrived, they couldn't find Ye Ming, let alone any trace of the suspect. Qi Fei said this with a sigh, looking at the remains in the police uniform, "I wonder what happened back then?"

He stepped forward to carefully examine the excavated skeletons, neatly arranged on the church floor. "Besides being tied up, they don't seem to be wearing mirrors like those in the 'Demon Mirror Case.'"

Zhong Kui pointed upwards at the seventeen mirrors on the dome: "Is there a possibility that this place can save him from all this trouble?"

"After 1983, Dongji Town strengthened its security forces, and there were no cases of missing women in the following years. The identities of the three deceased women, besides Ye Ming, still need to be compared with the missing persons database. The three female bodies were stacked on top of Ye Ming's body, which basically determines that the time of death was after Ye Ming was murdered."
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After the rain, the sky clears up and the spring in Nancheng always warms up faster.

With the sun shining, it's suddenly time to put away your winter clothes.

Wu Shanqiu, wearing a light yellow sweater, walked into the bright police station office. Looking at Qi Fei standing in front of the window with a cup of coffee, she patted him from behind.

Qi Fei was caught off guard and half of the coffee in his hand spilled out, making him very embarrassed. He wiped his hand on his pants and asked, "What's going on?"

"Hey, as an excellent criminal police officer, how come you didn't even notice I was behind you?" Wu Shanqiu always looked in good spirits, her face rosy and plump like an apple in the spring sunshine. "Besides, you've been standing by the window in a daze lately. What are you thinking about? Are you thinking about Zhong Kui?"

Qi Fei himself didn't think so: "I'm fine recently, just like before, you think too much."

Wu Shanqiu was very sure: "You used to be a workaholic. You were either on the scene or researching materials on the computer. It was absolutely impossible for you to stand by the window and enjoy the scenery while drinking coffee. But recently, I have noticed that you stood by the window several times for half an hour at a time. And it was always in the same place, never changing your position."

After hearing what Wu Shanqiu said, Qi Fei actually agreed a little.

He looked down and out the window, and had to admit that Wu Shanqiu was right. He always unconsciously came to this window and looked into the distance.

He couldn't figure out why he did this.

In the distance, the mountains were already turning green. Deep within the layers of trees lay Nancheng's famous historical site—the Nanling Mausoleum, where the unjustly murdered prince was buried. Now, to Qi Fei, there was only this Nanling. He murmured, "Now that you mention it, it's true. I feel like my brain hasn't been working lately. I always feel like there's something I haven't done, but I just can't remember it." His gaze fell on the documents Wu Shanqiu was clutching to her chest. "You didn't come to me just to chat, did you?"

"Yes! Brother Fei, the identities of the three deceased have been confirmed."

Qi Fei was surprised: "So fast?" According to past experience, it is very difficult to trace the identity of remains that are more than several decades old.

"Well, because the connection to the 'Demon Mirror Case' is so strong, we traced back to the time of Old Ye's disappearance. The following year, in the fall of 1984, three women disappeared in Nancheng. We've had a dedicated homing program for missing persons for the past few years, storing a large number of DNA samples voluntarily provided by the families of the missing. When we compared the data of the three deceased, we found they were all there," Wu Shanqiu said, flipping through the files and reading out. "On September 9nd, 2-year-old tailor shop worker Li Yulan disappeared after going to the provincial capital for further studies. On October 22nd, 10-year-old Hewan District elementary school teacher Wang Xiumei disappeared after leaving a crooked note asking for leave. On October 2th, 29-year-old paper mill worker Zhang Hongxia disappeared on her way home from her night shift. These three women didn't know each other; their only similarity was their gender."

Qi Fei's brows were furrowed, perhaps because of the scorching sun or his heavy heart, and the coffee cup in his hand was deformed from being squeezed. "We thought the 'Demon Mirror Case' had come to an abrupt end after Old Ye disappeared, but in fact, he never stopped."

"But why did he change his modus operandi from Buddhist scriptures to churches?" Wu Shanqiu said in confusion.

As if influenced by these words, the sun high in the sky was suddenly covered by a cloud, and the surroundings became dark, just like the mood of the two people at the moment.

(End of this chapter)