Stranger Danger

“You look like you have a lot of free time in your hands, Joyless!” Yang Guan voiced his envy before plopping down on the doorsteps of Endless Horizons. “By the way, how did you know that we’re investigating a serial murder?”

Ye Qing poured both men a cup of wine as he replied, “The entire county is talking about the serial murders right now, and the black circles around your eyes are so thick I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me that you haven’t slept at all. It’s elementary, my friends.”

“Well, you’re right. That is why we’ve come today!” Yang Feng said with a sigh.

Ye Qing joked, “You don’t think I’m the murderer, do you?”

“Of course not! We’re here to ask for your help!”

“What? But how?” Ye Qing cocked his head to one side. “I don’t have a clue how to solve a case.”

Yan Feng explained, “It’s like this. We’ve been investigating this serial murder for three days straight, but we weren’t able to find a single clue. Since you’re a scholar with extensive knowledge regarding Strangers, we’d like to ask your help to verify if these murders were committed by a human or a Stranger.”

“I see!” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization. He also realized that Yan Feng and his men must’ve completely run out of ideas on how to continue the investigation or stop the murders, or they would not have come to a civilian like him. He nodded. “Very well, I shall lend you a hand. But please don’t be unhappy with me if I fail to produce any results, okay?”

A delighted Yan Feng shook his head firmly. “Of course not! We feel sorry enough that we have to trouble you to perform our duty!”

“Glad to hear that. Now, let’s move!”

Ye Qing rose to his feet, carried the recliner back into the bookstore and locked the doors. Then, he called out from beneath the stairs, “I need to leave for a bit, Brother Frog. Please watch over the bookstore while I’m gone!”

“Croak!” Kung Fu Frog responded from above. He could also hear a peal of childish laughter.

“Huh? Is that a child’s laughter I just heard? I thought you live alone, Joyless,” Yang Guan asked curiously while walking up to Ye Qing.

Ye Qing smiled. “She’s a friend. I’ll introduce her to you when you’re free!”

“Sure!” Yang Guan agreed with a chuckle.

The trio began walking back to the county hall. The county hall was just two streets away from Endless Horizons, so the trio arrived at their destination in just a short time. Yan Yufei was already waiting for them at the entrance with a wide smile on his face. The middle-aged man remained as friendly and polite as ever even though he was now a magistrate. They exchanged pleasantries for a bit before heading straight for the mortuary.

There were at least ten bodies in the mortuary, and the sheer amount of yin energy they discharged made Ye Qing feel like he had stepped into a freezer. If this was anywhere else, the suffocating amount of yin energy in the building would have converted the bodies into Yin Puppets, Zombies or other yin-type Strangers in no time. The reason they hadn’t was because the walls, beams and other key locations of the mortuary were engraved with golden runes meant to suppress the transformation.

This method of body preservation was excellent not just because it prevented the corpses from turning, but also halted the decaying process. Its only flaw was that it was cold as hell, which was hardly an issue for the warriors.

“Please take a look, Joyless!” said Yan Yufei after leading Ye Qing to a group of bodies.

Ye Qing counted six bodies in total. The first body was a middle-aged woman with a thin face that gave her a sharp, unkind appearance. Her mouth was wide open, and her face was clearly contorted into an expression of terror. Her tongue had been severed from the roots.

The second body was a portly woman clad in luxurious, well-tailored clothes. She could only come from a wealthy family. Her heart had been dug out of her chest.

The third body was a young man in his twenties. His muscular, well-proportioned body indicated that he was a martial arts practitioner of sort. He was missing both of his hands.

The fourth body was an old man with gray white hair and a face that seemed unusually lecherous for some reason. His eyes had been dug out of their sockets.

The fifth body was a beautiful woman in her late twenties. He could smell a faint waft of perfume from her body, and her clothes were rather disheveled and revealing. She was probably a prostitute. Her ears had been cut clean off the head.

The sixth and final body belonged to that of a huge man. He was tall, massive, and wearing a fierce scowl even in death. He was obviously a fierce, aggressive man when he was still alive. He was missing his legs.

“Can you give me a brief summary of their profiles?” Ye Qing examined them all closely before asking the question.

Yang Guan immediately responded, “The middle-aged woman is called Liu Xiaolian. She was a washerwoman who washed clothes for a living. She was a harsh, sharp-tongued woman who loved nothing more than to argue with her neighbors and sowed discord between people.”

“The portly woman is called Chen Cuihong. She was a songstress in Swallow’s Nest, a brothel until she was redeemed by a Landlord Zhou. She is an exceptionally jealous woman who has turned the Zhou family upside down since she was taken in as a concubine.”

“The young man is called Feng Two. He was a known pickpocket.”

“The old man is called Sun Suo. He was a picklock with no children to his name. He was lazy, addicted to alcohol, and had the vulgar habit of peeping on women.”

“The young woman was called Yan Hong. She was the jewel of Smoke and Rain, another brothel.”

“The last person is called Zhang Pao. He’s a hooligan who loves nothing more than the brawl!”

Ye Qing was deep in thought and rubbing his nose unconsciously as he processed the information. Yan Feng added, “The victims all came from different backgrounds, and they all suffered different forms of mutilation. We were unable to identify any pattern or even locate a single clue despite three days of non-stop investigation. We wouldn’t even classify this as a serial murder if they hadn't all died in the same fashion!”

“No, I do think there is a pattern!” Ye Qing said all of a sudden.

“Really? Pray tell!” Everyone’s eyes lit up as Yan Yufei urged.

“There’s no rush. Have you compiled the victims’ profile and whereabouts prior to their murder? Can I take a look at the documents?”

“We do! It’s in the archives!” Yang Guan replied and looked to Yan Yufei for permission. He then ran to the archives, gathered everything Ye Qing had requested, and brought it back to the young man.

Ye Qing accepted the documents and skimmed through the pages quickly. It wasn’t long before he shut the document and declared, “It is as I thought!”

“So? What did you find, Joyless?” Yan Yufei asked again.

Ye Qing set down the document before answering Yan Yufei’s questions, “At first glance, these victims seem to share no commonalities with each other, and the way their bodies are mutilated are completely different as well. But if you look closer, you may discover why the murderer had killed them and mutilated their body in a specific way.”

“I’ll start from the beginning. Liu Xiaolian was a harsh, sharp-tongued person who enjoyed sowing discord between people. It was why the murderer cut off the tongue. According to the document, Chen Cuihong was such a jealous-ridden woman that she went so far as to murder a servant girl who was prettier than her. It was why the murderer dug out her heart.”

“Feng Two was a thief, and a thief relies on their hands to steal and feed themselves. That was why the murderer cut off his arms. Sun Suo had the vulgar habit of peeping on women, so the murderer dug out his eyes. Yan Hong was a habitual eavesdropper who enjoyed collecting dirty secrets and using them to blackmail or besmirch her victims’ reputation, so the murderer cut off her ears. Finally, Zhang Pao was a frequent brawler with a strong preference for kicking because he possessed a pair of strong legs, and he especially enjoyed kicking his victims until they were crippled. That was why the murderer cut off his legs.”

“In summary, the one who sowed discord lost her tongue, the jealous one lost her heart, the thief lost his hands, the peeping tom lost his eyes, the eavesdroppers lost her ears, and the leg brawler lost his legs… what is this if not a pattern?”

“You… you’re right!” Everyone exclaimed in surprise and realization. It seemed so obvious now that Ye Qing had stated it out clearly. 𝙗𝒆𝙙𝒏𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙣𝙚𝒕

Yan Yufei mulled over the revelation for a moment before asking, “Do you know who’s the murderer then, Joyless? Is it a human, or a Stranger?”

“It’s a Stranger!” Ye Qing declared.

“And how do you know that?”

.

“Because my instincts said so!” Ye Qing declared matter-of-factly.

“...”

That doesn’t sound like a particularly convincing argument…

Ye Qing ignored their dubious gazes and continued, “Of course, it’s not all instinct. I have one piece of evidence to support my claim.”

“Evidence? You have evidence, and you’ve been keeping us in suspense all this time?” Yang Guan complained in an impatient tone. “Just tell us already, man!”

Ye Qing chuckled. “Fine, fine. I once read about a folk tale in a book. It said that Shing Wong, the City God commands two judges who were responsible for martial and civil duties, and four generals who were responsible for rewarding good, punishing evil, detaining souls, and suppressing ghosts respectively.”

“Of the four generals, the General of Punishment, Gan Liu is especially embittered against evil. He has two heads, four eyes and six arms. One hand determines good, and the other judges evil. He wields an axe, a hatchet, a sword, a saber, a hook, and a fork with his four arms. If he encounters a sower of discord, he would rip out their tongues with his hook. If he encounters a malicious, jealous person, then he would pluck out their hearts with his fork. If he encounters a thief or a gambler, then he would cut off their hands with his sword. If he encounters a peeping tom or an eavesdropper, then he would sever their ears or their eyes with his saber. So on and so on…”

“Does that not sound very similar to the way the victims were mutilated?”

“It is!” Yan Yufei nodded but hesitated for a moment. “But still, it’s just a folk tale. We can’t possibly use it as evidence.”

“And I would agree. But how can you explain the fact that they’ve all visited the Shing Wong temple located to the east of the county recently?” Ye Qing declared with a flourish. “In any case, we simply need to visit the Shing Wong temple to know if I’m right!”

“Wait, what? They’ve all visited the Shing Wong temple prior to their deaths?” Yan Yufei exclaimed in shock. When he grabbed the document on the table and read it closely, he discovered that Ye Qing was right. They had missed it because the time the victims visited the Shing Wong temple were all different.

Yan Feng and Yang Guan looked over Yan Yufei’s shoulders for a moment before exchanging mortified looks with each other. They were both professional bailiffs, and yet a novice had outdone them in this department. How embarrassing!

Of course, it wasn’t completely their fault. Countless people visited the Shing Wong temple everyday, but only a handful of bad people were murdered for their crimes. It was why the two bailiffs had subconsciously overlooked this.

“Well, we know what to do now. Prepare to head to Shing Wong temple immediately,” Yan Yufei ordered after taking a moment to sort out his thoughts.

“At once!” Yan Feng and Yan Guan received their orders and left.

By preparations, Yan Yufei meant rounding up the bailiffs. There was strength in numbers after all. By the time Ye Qing and Yan Yufei arrived at the county hall entrance, at least thirty armed men in red-and-black uniforms were already standing in formation and waiting for orders. Once Yan Yufei had given the command, the sizable force immediately departed for Shing Wong temple.

The Shing Wong temple was located to the east of Anyang, the direction where the sun rose. It was also the only Shing Wong temple in the entire county, which was why it was packed with people almost everyday!

Unfortunately, the great nation of Chu did not worship deities, and it rarely appointed a deity to supervise a territory such as a mountain god to watch over a mountain, an agent of the underworld to govern the dead of a city, and so on. As a result, the Shing Wong temple was just that, a temple. Despite its numerous worshippers, a deity was never born in the temple.

Yan Yufei ordered the men to remove the worshippers after they had arrived at their destination. Once done, the group began their investigation while Ye Qing and Yan Yufei headed straight for the main hall.