The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 167: Contaminated Desire
Only a corner of the faded mural was revealed where the paint on the living room wall had peeled off, and the fragments of the Virgin Mary's blue robe were entangled with vine-like mold.

"Do you in Baijiazhai believe in Catholicism?" Qi Fei asked Bai Sanshui.

Bai Sanshui opened his mouth, revealing a row of teeth blackened by years of smoking: "We believe in everyone, and we believe in no one."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Zhong Kui asked with interest after hearing this.

"We, the Bai family, were refugees from pirates who had come ashore, rootless people. Our ancestors lived on the edge of a knife, gambling with luck. The ocean is vast, so we believe in whatever god works. We learned about the Virgin Mary from the Portuguese, but if you say we believe in Catholicism, that's not necessarily true."

Director Chang explained, "When the Bai Cong Mountains were wiped out, the Haimu religion practiced by the Bai Family Village was also banned. Just as Old Bai said, the Bai Family has their own hybrid religion, a blend of Western and Ming and Qing folk customs. This has been their method of controlling their members for centuries."

Bai Sanshui chuckled, "I wonder how many people have died in these Eighteen Passes of Mist Hidden, and how much blood has been soaked into these stones. They say our village was the prototype of the Lion Camel Ridge in Journey to the West. When I was a child, the elders always said that the bones of Western gods were stronger and could suppress the evil spirits in the mountains. This is probably why there are these Western gods."

Zhong Kui squatted down and used a small copper knife to scrape away the moss in the corner of the wall, and some runes appeared faintly.

"It seems that you are using the soul-calming rune very well." she said.

"Does the old church outside the JN area have anything to do with you?" Qi Fei asked Bai Sanshui.

Hearing this, Bai Sanshui shook his head. "Our Haimu Cult originated from pirates, so we don't have temples or halls. I know about the old church you mentioned. I heard it was built by legitimate foreigners during the Qing Dynasty, so it has nothing to do with us."

Qi Fei couldn't help but ponder after hearing this. The church was a proper church, and the temple was also a proper temple. "Is Xu Chunxia's spirit tablet enshrined in the Ksitigarbha Hall of the Great Baoen Temple by Bai Congshan?"

"That's true. She was originally placed there with his son who died young. After hearing that we were arrested, the villagers who were persecuted by Bai Congshan objected to his son being worshipped, so they took her down. As luck would have it, Xu Chunxia, ​​the ghost wife, was left alive to be worshipped." Bai Sanshui said this with some emotion.

"You started out as pirates. Have you ever been to Dongji Town and Baicong Mountain?" Qi Fei asked persistently.

"Dongji Town?" Bai Sanshui was obviously not familiar with the name. "Oh, that newly built place. All the people living there are from other places. It has nothing to do with us."

The outsiders he referred to were the engineers and workers who had moved south when Dongji Town was reclaimed and built. After the town was built, they stayed in the area and were referred to as outsiders by old Nancheng residents like Bai Sanshui.

Qi Fei also knew that Dongji Town and Baijiazhai were two completely different places. It was really puzzling why traces of the murderer were left in both places.

Baijiazhai is still brightly lit at night. After watching the Nuo opera, tourists go down the mountain in groups along the stone steps of Wuyin Eighteen Passes.

Those dark and bloody past events seem to be buried in the dust along with old men like Bai Sanshui.

"Do you think it's possible that Bai Congshan is the real murderer in the magic mirror case?" Qi Fei said to Zhong Kui as soon as he stepped out of the old house.

"I have a completely different opinion than yours. Forget about Bai Congshan. I need to delve deeper into this Sea Mother Cult. But judging by Bai Sanshui's behavior, it's unlikely that a member of this cult would be the murderer in the Demon Mirror Case." Zhong Kui offered a different opinion. "Why?" Qi Fei asked as they descended the mountain.

"It's very interesting. Don't you find this folk belief, which was born in a harsh living environment, very practical?

They believe in whatever works.

There are rarely fanatical believers in a society that has no fixed doctrinal system, does not require believers to practice abstinence and asceticism, and even the sacrificial rituals are modified at will.

The real culprit in the Demonic Mirror case is clearly not him. He is similar to the famous Blood Moon Saint Yitzhak in history, the Southeast Asian "Tai Chi Yin Eye Reincarnation" serial killer, and the Siberian Skeleton Orthodox Church. These are serial killers with extreme beliefs and strict doctrines who twist concepts such as reincarnation, oracles, and atonement into violent rituals.

"So, what Bai Sanshui said is very likely to be true. Back then, Bai Congshan was indeed connected with the murderer, but based on the teachings of the Sea Mother Religion, Bai Congshan confused the murderer with the evil god they worshipped, hoping that he could protect him and help him get through the difficulties?" Qi Fei pondered.

"If Bai Congshan thinks so, would anyone else think so too?" Zhong Kui's eyes flickered in the light of the street lights on the mountain road. The mountain breeze, carrying the moist warmth of the distant seaside, made the trees around them rustle, as if echoing Zhong Kui's words.

A trace of suspicion flashed across Qi Fei's eyes, and then he remembered something: "Two of the victims in Dongji Town, Wang Lijuan and Lin Suzhen, lied about their whereabouts before they were killed."

The hem of Zhong Kui's cheongsam, embroidered with twined branches, was lifted by the mountain breeze, revealing half of her pale ankle. She tapped her toes lightly on the slippery stone steps, and the paper money left behind after the Nuo opera swirled with her steps.
"Lying means their wishes are tainted, and it's hard to say whether they are doing it voluntarily or at least being deceived.

Everyone has a desire to fulfill, sometimes so strong that they're willing to pay any price. This type of psychological manipulation is essentially a "trade contract"—the killer uses "wish fulfillment" in exchange for the victim's "active compliance with a ritual lie."

However, the murderer has only one desire, which is to kill.

We simply don’t know what drove him to keep killing in this way, nor do we know what caused him to suddenly disappear in 1984.”

Qi Fei took a deep breath of the mountain air, which was mixed with the fragrance of grass and trees. It seemed that this could make his mind clearer. "I looked at the previous files. The focus of the investigation was on checking the social relationships of the deceased and looking for possible motives for the murder.

If, as you say, the murderer's motive was to kill, then all these investigations are in vain.

These victims probably did not have a long-term social relationship with the murderer before they were killed.

If your analysis is correct, then this murderer is more like a supernatural being to the victims. For some reason, they want to use him to fulfill some impossible wishes."

"Well, the devil's deal. I think you are not unfamiliar with this practice." Zhong Kui said with hidden meaning.

However, her words did not resonate in Qi Fei's mind - the memory of Xihe was hidden deep in the fog by Zhong Xiaoyu.

(End of this chapter)