The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 171 Songhua Cake
Chang Ying reacted after hearing this: "Are you still investigating the Xu Chunxia case? Is this also related to my grandfather's unit?"

"Yes, it's also one of our investigation directions. It's okay, I basically understand the situation. I'll take my leave first." Qi Fei was very tactful and didn't want to disturb their family reunion.

Chang Ying took out a yellow pastry from her bag and handed it to Qi Fei.

Qi Fei refused, but Chang Ying was particularly enthusiastic: "You have to take it. The pine flowers on the mountain have bloomed recently. I brought the villagers from the village to collect fresh pine pollen to make this cake. It has a special meaning."
-
In the Nancheng Police Station office, Wu Shanqiu tapped her lips with the tip of a pencil after hearing Qi Fei's words, thinking: "From this perspective, the deceased Cui Zhan is very suspicious.

In his mind, his wife cheated on him because of Dongji Town. He projected this hatred onto the women of Dongji Town, so it makes perfect sense that he tortured and humiliated the victims..."

As she spoke, she picked up the pine cake in front of her and took a bite. "Hmm? Delicious! Brother Fei, where did you buy this?"

"Director Chang from Baijiazhai gave it to them. They said they made it themselves."

"Huh? You went to Baijiazhai again?"

"No, it's a long story. This Chang Ying is Cui Zhan's granddaughter. I met her by chance when I went to look for Cui Zhan's son." Qi Fei said, his attention returning to the case. "However, the people at the research institute said that Cui Zhan hasn't been to Dongji Town since he completed the land reclamation. To be able to commit five murders and dispose of the bodies without leaving any evidence, this person must be very familiar with Dongji Town. Cui Zhan doesn't fit this description."

"Oh, that's what the people from the research institute said. If he went there to kill someone, he must have gone there secretly. Would he have told everyone about it? Besides, Dongji Town was built by him. Is there anyone in the world who knows Dongji Town better than him?" Wu Shanqiu said immediately.

Qi Fei frowned after hearing this: "Indeed, Ye Ming went to Cui Zhan many times, but Old Ye made a triple wave mark on the report about the aquatic building in the Nancheng Daily. I looked at the things he left behind, and only this newspaper had this mark. This means that the construction of the aquatic building is the key to this case.

However, no matter how you look at it, Cui Zhan has nothing to do with the construction of the aquatic products building."

"Is it possible that Old Ye made a mistake back then?"

"If Old Ye had been mistaken, he wouldn't have been killed." Qi Fei immediately denied Wu Shanqiu's speculation. "No matter how you look at it, Old Ye doesn't meet the criteria used by the killer of the 'Demon Mirror Case' to select victims. This person would rather break his fixed pattern of selecting victims and choose Old Ye as the victim of one cycle. This in itself proves that Old Ye was very close to the truth before the incident."

As they were talking, the sound of high heels came from the corridor outside the office, and Zhong Kui, who had disappeared for a whole day, appeared in front of them.

"We have to hurry." Zhong Kui raised the letter in his hand and said to Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu who were thinking hard about analyzing the case.

When Qi Fei saw the envelope in her hand, he didn't know why he felt a sense of suffocation in his heart, as if he couldn't breathe. "Who sent this letter?"

Zhong Kui placed the letter in front of Qi Fei. The wax stamp on it vaguely showed the image of a monster deeply engraved on it.

"Ah, it's here again!" Qi Feiteng stood up from his seat, but his brain seemed to be running out of memory. "Last time, this letter..." He tried to recall, "I remember it was brought by the Golden Snake Immortal. The envelope is exactly the same as this one."

Zhong Kui seemed quite pleased with this, her lips curled slightly. "You finally remembered. Yes, that person sent another letter. I think he really enjoyed competing with us. It's interesting." Zhong Kui's words were both a comment on the other person and herself. "He should have a name..." Qi Fei muttered.

Zhong Kui stared at him intensely, as if waiting for him to remember.

She knew that Zhong Xiaoyu had set up a dangerous mechanism in his mind. If she told Qi Fei about Xihe, it would cause serious perceptual confusion. To break through this fog, Qi Fei could only rely on himself.

Wu Shanqiu naturally didn't know any of this. She was more concerned about the monster's mark: "Ah, could this pervert also be involved in the Demonic Mirror Case? How old is he then?"

Zhong Kui handed the letter to Wu Shanqiu and said, "Of course not. You will know after reading the content."

Confused, Wu Shanqiu pulled out the letter paper. It contained only one sentence, which she read, puzzled by its meaning: "A perfect mirror image is born from the depths of the rift. Let me help you write the ending of this game."

The signature was a picture of a monster, with two faces, one male and one female, both smiling strangely.

"Mirror image, the ending of the game..." Qi Fei muttered. "Before that, he manipulated Xu Wei to kill Zhu Ming'en, and used Zhuang Xueqing to kill Niu Yinzhu... This man isn't just killing people; he seems to believe he's exercising justice by killing those so-called 'bad guys.' Could this mean he's planning to kill the real culprit in the 'Demon Mirror Case' before we do?"

"Well, he's deifying himself," Zhong Kui said. "In other words, he thinks he's God, able to decide good and evil, life and death. I think he's experienced the thrill of such judgments in previous cases. But, on the bright side, we have an incredibly intelligent person to help us track down the true culprit in the 'Demon Mirror Case'."

"This is such a weird feeling." Qi Fei stroked the stubble on his chin. "Why do I feel like I'm rushing to solve this case just to save the murderer of this 'Demon Mirror Case'?"

"It's not surprising. Obviously, this person's fate will be much better if he is caught by the police than by this monster." Zhong Kui said coldly.

As they were talking, there were two knocks on the open door. The three looked up and saw the forensic doctor Xiao Tao standing at the door with a stack of reports in his hand. Needless to say, the autopsy must have made new discoveries.

"I took the bone-white paint from the deceased woman at Nancheng Church for testing. Besides some common pigment components, I found something special," Xiao Tao read from the report. "One is a powdered pine plant resin derivative, and the other is amylopectin crystals."

"Speak human language." Qi Fei's voice came.

Xiao Tao smiled slightly. "The white pigment is mixed with a small amount of pine pollen and rice flour. Judging from the starch crystals and stickiness, it's most likely glutinous rice flour."

After hearing what Xiao Tao said, Wu Shanqiu suddenly felt that the pine flower cake in her hand was no longer fragrant.

(End of this chapter)