The killer was not Ol’ Six because Big Egg took out a gunny sack. This sack was once used to store fertilizer but it was now used to store funerary ware. The sack was still the same but due to its content, the value was different. This was the second reason Wei Er’s group was at Fen Lin, tomb-raiding. Wei Er examined the items inside the gunny sack and his facial features squeezed together. He took out a jade pendant and rubbed it between his fingers. “Qian Er, it doesn’t look like Ol’ Six is behind this. None of the items are missing but if Ol’ Six didn’t do this, who killed Little Three and where the hell is Ol’ Six now?”
The group was silent before they gathered together to discuss something among themselves. I pulled Guan Zhenglin to a seat nearby and tried to reconstruct the details of this event. A singing dead woman, the name Chu Mei mentioned by the villagers; Zhao Mingkun who had arrived here for her own reason; a gang of 6 grave robbers who were less united than they appeared. A small district had managed to attract the attention of so many persons of interest. I scanned everyone from the corner of my eyes and the word, suspicion, was written plainly on everyone’s faces. When Little Three left, it was about 11 pm; when the wedding procession arrived, it was around 11.30 pm. How did the killer manage to kill Little Three, stuff him inside the coffin and seal up the coffin in just 30 minutes? When did the coffin barriers originally depart and had they stopped in the middle of their journey?
There were too many unanswered questions. Since this was an undercover job, I couldn’t ask the police for help. It would require plenty of wit and cunning to solve this case. I wondered if Captain Zhao’s people and Gu Chen had arrived at Lin Fen.
What would this group of people do next? If they decided to just up and leave, what could I do to convince them to stay? Wei Er’s gang appeared to have reached a consensus. Wei Er stood up and turned to us. “Little Brother Wu, Miss Zhao, the police will soon investigate this incident. We’ve already taken a big risk to fetch Little Three’s body back. The villagers will soon realize that we are fake. Then the real police will be on our trail. It’ll be too dangerous for us to stay around then.” Wei Er took out a jade pendant from the gunny sack and tossed it to me. “Little Brother Wu, I am sorry that we aren’t able to help you with more. This pendant is worth at least several thousands. It’s the most we can do for you.”
I accepted the jade pendant and returned them their daggers. At the same time, I said, “But Little Three has died such a horrible death, are you going to just leave…”
Wei Er waved his hands and said, “Even though the 6 of us are not biological brothers, we studied under the same master. We will definitely take revenge for Little Three. But for the sake of safety, we better split up. We are both grave robbers, the mountains are like our backyard, we can lose the police easily there.” Even though we were all beside Wei Er during Little Three’s murder and thus couldn’t be his killer, it was clear that his group still did not trust us. If I insisted on coming with them, their suspicion on me would only rise. Well... As long as they stayed with the district, everything was still negotiable.
Then Wei Er turned to Zhao Mingkun. “Miss Zhao, we’ve learned a lot coming with you to this place but now that there’s a death on our hands, I don’t think the person you’re looking for will appear anymore. We will find a way to return you the money. I, Wei Er, is a man of my words.” Before Zhao Mingkun could reply, Doggie Wang Er beside me suddenly tensed and barked loudly. At the same time, the ditty entered the yard. The voice sounded like a eulogy, it was hard to pinpoint where it came from. Hearing the song, everyone looked around with alertness. The voice was indeed a female voice, and it was singing an old Chinese song. The voice was wispy and soft, it tickled the listeners’ hearts.
“This way!” Zhao Mingkun ordered as she rushed towards the entrance. As we rushed out from the entrance, all of us were shocked by the scene that unfolded before us. A bloody man was standing facing the yard’s front door.
“Announce yourself!” Wei Er shouted. Then we realized the man was already dead. He was red and naked. His clothes as well as his skin had disappeared—This was a skinned body!
Under the moonlight, the muscly red was gut-wrenching. The still dripping blood flowed slowly along the musculature. The man’s eyes were dug out and two bloody holes remained. They were also bleeding gently. The teeth inside the mouth had all been knocked out. It also looked like someone had reached into the mouth to cut off the tongue. Naturally, it was impossible to tell who this person was, after all, he had no face.
I moved to the back of the body and realized someone had tied a metal pole to the man’s spine. The pole was stuck deep into the ground, it was how the body remained standing. The thick stench of blood hit me and gripped my brain. There was no scent of decomposition, the death was very fresh. From the skinless body, it appeared like the fatal wound was around the chest. There was a stab wound that appeared to be delivered by a dagger. The wound was several cm long and the muscle around the wound had unique indentation which suggested that the murder weapon was most likely a patterned dagger. Other than that, there were several slash marks on the left arms, they were long and shallow, probably caused by the same weapon.
The man was holding a dagger tightly in his hand, the same dagger that was used by Wei Er’s team. Even after death, his right hand was still wrapped up tight around the dagger and there was no sign of loosening. Wei Er’s gang took several steps forward while I moved back to Guan Zhenglin’s side. “What do you think?”
“The rigor mortis is only just setting in so I believe the time of death is probably less than 1 hour ago.” Guan Zhenglin whispered. I took a quick glance at my watch, it was 12. 40 am. In other words, this man was killed around 11. 40 pm. In comparison, Little Three’s time of death was approximately around 11 pm. They died within 30 minutes of each other, could they have been killed by the same person? And who was this skinned victim?
Everyone’s focus was on the body so no one noticed the conversation between Guan Zhenglin and myself. She continued, “The cause of death is probably the stab wound on the chest. The wound may be short but it went deep. The cause of death is thus asphyxiation due to lung puncture and internal bleeding. He was skinned not long after his death because take a look at his arm and the dagger he’s holding.” Guan Zhenglin whispered. “The hand is still closed around the dagger, this is what we call post-mortem spasm. The muscle hasn’t got the chance to relax after death, this proves that the man has been holding this dagger tightly up until the moment of his death.” That suggested that the man had put up a fight against his attacker and lost. I closed my eyes and tried to envision the most possible scenario.
…
I am the killer, I am walking side by side with my victim. I slowly took out the dagger from my pocket. The darkness provided the best disguise. Then I suddenly turned around and used my right hand to stab at the victim. The victim raised his arm to block and that was how my blade left the slash wounds on the victim’s left arm. I pry his arm off and stab again. But by then, the victim has also gotten hold of his dagger and tries to stab back at me. However, before he can reach me, my dagger is already plunged deeply in his chest. He looks at me as if unable to believe that I would actually kill him.
…
My eyes flew open and something dawned on me. The killer and the victim walked side by side in the dark, this proved that they knew each other. Strangers would maintain a safe distance.
“What are you two doing?” Zhao Mingkun turned around to ask me and Guan Zhanglin. I patted Guan Zhenglin on her hand. “She was too shocked by the scene so I came to help comfort her.”
“Motherfucker!” Qian San looked around and cursed. “The body is still holding our dagger, only the 6 of us have this dagger. Little Three’s killer has one and Ol’ Six has one. Therefore, this has to be Ol’ Six. Someone has used Little Three’s dagger to skin him!”
“If I knew who was behind this.” Qian San reached forward to pull the iron rod off the ground. “I will skin them alive.”
“This is Ol’ Six?” I frowned. “How can you tell? The damage to the face is too serious to make any actual identification.”
Wei Er stopped Qian San and said, “Other than the few of us, who would know this place? I believe the killer got it from Ol’ Six. It looks like someone is targeting our gang. Little Three was probably killed because he refused to admit anything!”
“Could the killer be a ghost?” Big Egg looked around and asked cautiously. “We all heard the singing earlier. The villagers all claimed that Chu Mei had returned. Is Chu Mei targeting us?”
“Is it because of that?” Qian Er mumbled softly.
“Master, over here. Someone has left a bloody message here.” Doggie Wang Er found something. We followed Doggie Wang Er’s direction and saw that someone had written the following in blood on the outside wall. “I know what you did.”
The person who wrote this clearly knew Wei Er’s gang. But what exactly had they done?
These grave robbers’ faces were drawn after they saw the message. Wei Er hurried towards us and said nervously, “Sorry but we’ll have to make our departure now. This might be related to us and we don’t want to involve you in our trouble. Farewell. We’ll meet again if fate permits it.”
Then, with a wave of his hand, Wei Er’s group disappeared into the night.
Wei Er’s group started at Lin Fen and based on their career choice, it would be understandable if they made some local enemies. What had transpired between the people of Lin Fen and this group of grave robbers? Who was this Chu Mei and why were the villagers so afraid of her? Looks like we had been swept into another mystery.
I took another glance at the skinless body and said, “We better leave this place too.”
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