47 Darkness

 

Perhaps the fate of these six brothers had been destined from the moment they killed their master. In fact, death was perhaps the best outcome for them. No matter what kind of sin they did in life, they would not feel anything now. However, this case was far from over. I had accidentally overlooked something, I should have noticed this when the identity of the gang who raped Chu Mei was identified to be the group of grave robbers.

But, Since Ol’ Six was a necrophiliac, there were technically just 5 rapists in total. Someone was clearly lying!

Other than Chu Mei and the gang of grave robbers, there was only one other person who was present that unfortunate night. And this person was most likely the one behind the ‘supernatural’ events. The ghost in the yard was a warning to scare us away so that we wouldn’t get involved in this. There could only be one person who would leave behind the music player of the ghost wailing to make the impression that Chu Mei had returned!

“Lin Dai Yu!” I exclaimed, “It was not the 6 brothers who killed Chu Mei 5 years ago, it was Lin Dai Yu!”

“What?” Zhao Mingkun’s mind hadn’t caught up to my speed. She lifted her head to ask, “Say that again?”

I explained, “I’ve been wondering why these grave robbers kept on saying that Chu Mei has returned when we knew that she was already dead. That is because to their knowledge, Chu Mei should still be alive. It was why the six of them would say that one of them had collaborated with Chu Mei. After they gangraped Chu Mei, they didn’t kill her.” I continued, “The six brothers must have assumed that Chu Mei has come back to seek revenge but in actuality, Chu Mei is already dead. After the 6 brothers left that night, only Lin Dai Yu and Chu Mei were left in the cornfield. Therefore, there can only be one possibility!”

Zhao Mingkun said slowly, “You mean Lin Dai Yu was the one who killed Chu Mei? But why would she do that?”

“I still have no clue.” I shone my flashlight around, “But Wei Er did say that Chu Mei is currently inside this tomb. I believe he has mistaken Lin Dai Yu for Chu Mei. She is still here, we might be able to catch her.”

Just as I finished, a woman’s cackle echoed in the small chamber. “Ha ha, little brother, you sure are clever. Yes, I am the one behind everything. I was the one who killed Chu Mei, I was the one who stole her body, I was the one who turned the six of them against each other, everything, yes, it was all me.” A woman stood at the end of the passage. She wore a red dress and her hair covered most of her face. I was about to demand an explanation from Lin Dai Yu when Zhao Mingkun charged forward. Zhao Mingkun was a very good fighter. Lin Dai Yu probably knew that also so she immediately turned and ran away. The red dress was impossible to hide in the tomb. Zhao Mingkun and I chased closely after her. However, Dai Yu moved incredibly fast, she did not hesitate at all despite the dark environment. It was extremely dangerous to move rapidly in the cramped space, one could run into walls or trip. Zhao Mingkun and I had flashlights but Dai Yu had nothing. So how did she manage to move so smoothly through the tomb? The only explanation was she was very familiar with this place!

Logically speaking, there was no reason for Dai Yu to announce her secret so openly. So why did she suddenly appear before us and admit to her crimes? She must have done that on purpose.

“Something’s wrong. Be careful of traps!” I shouted hurriedly. By then we had already followed Dai Yu into a burial chamber. The chamber was much larger than the others we’d visited. A large coffin was placed in the middle of the room. Looks like this was the actual resting place for Chu Ye and inside the coffin would be the other half of Chu Ye’s accumulated treasures. However, before we could get a good look of the chamber, I felt the ground give away underneath my feet. The tumble knocked the air out of me, I felt like my bones had broken. My head buzzed. Through the pain, I tried to look around. Thankfully the flashlight survived the fall and we still had sources of light. Zhao Mingkun landed not far away from me. She too was struggling to stand up. She looked like she had cushioned her fall far better than I did. This was a cellar about 10 square metres wide. It was about 3 metres from the ground where we had fallen from. There were some small sacks around us. They were bulging with unknown contents. The walls of the cellar were built from cement, and the surface was slick. The hole that we fell from was about 2 metres wide and from where I sat, I could see the steel board which was probably the hole cover.

Lin Dai Yu was smiling down on us. I knew that there had to be a trap. Lin Dai Yu purposely led us here and then had us drop into this cellar. “Goodbye.” Dai Yu said with a smile. “Now only the two of us know my secret. After you die, no one will know what happened here anymore.” After that, Dai Yu turned over the steel board and then we heard the sound of the lock sliding into place. Dai Yu left and abandoned us to rot inside this cellar.

“Motherfucker.” I cursed, “Now what do we do?”

Zhao Mingkun scanned the surroundings with her flashlight and then she said, “It’s only 3 metres tall. Go to the wall, I’ll see if I can get the hole open.” I understood what she meant, I was going to be a human ladder. I sighed and squatted beside the wall. Zhao Mingkun stepped on my shoulders and I slowly stood up. My 1.75 metres height combined with Zhao Mingkun’s 1.7 metres should be enough for her to reach the steel board. However, even though Zhao Mingkun pushed hard several times, the board refused to budge. It was locked very securely in place. Looks like the only way to open this board was from the outside. After 5 minutes of trying, the steel board did give out but I did.

Panting on the ground, I told Zhao Mingkun, “Don’t you have a gun? You can just shoot through it. This is just a latch lock, you’ll only need to make a small hole near the latch and use your finger to pull the latch out.”

Zhao Mingkun dumped her pistol on the ground. She shook her head, “You should already know by now that my gun only carries blanks.” I was speechless. When Zhao Mingkun tested me, the gun did fire blanks. I thought she had actual bullets elsewhere, but it looked like I was wrong.

“Then why did you carry the gun with you?”

Zhao Mingkun smiled. “Well it has worked even without actual bullets, hasn’t it? Examples include you and that Qian Er.”

Well that was it. Chu Ye’s tomb was designed like a maze, each passage would split into 3 forks. Those who didn’t know the layout would be lost in it easily. Zhao Mingkun and I were trapped in this cellar, this was probably where we’d die. Even if the police launched a carpet search of this place, when they found us, we would probably die from thirst already.

Zhao Mingkun was looking through the small sacks, she did not look worried at all. Maybe I shouldn’t lose all hope. Guan Zhenglin would have gained contact with Captain Zhao already. After I went missing for so long, she should have known to come here to find me, after all, she knew that I was following Wei Er’s SOS message to come to this place. But even if she did, it would be hard for her to locate such a hidden place.

“Do you know what is inside these bags?” Zhao Mingkun suddenly asked.

“What?”

Zhao Mingkun tossed one of the bags over. “Precious things. There are golds, jades, gems and so on. Looks like grave robbing is quite a lucrative business. Plus aren’t you a grave robber, shouldn’t these things interest you?”

“We’re going to die here soon, what’s the point of having these treasures?” I laid down and decided to rest my brain for the moment. To save electricity, I switched off the flashlight. Seeing that, Zhao Mingkun followed suit. Immediately, the entire cellar submerged into pitch blackness. I couldn’t even see my fingers.

“I wonder if we will run out of oxygen or not.” I asked.

Zhao Mingkun countered, “If you’re that worried, why are you still talking?” I hugged my hands behind my head to make myself comfortable, “Talking won’t consume that much oxygen anyway, at most it’ll just delay death by 3 to 5 minutes.”

“You’re quite an optimistic person.” Zhao Mingkun commented with a chuckle.

“Well, since we have nothing else to do, why not chat?” I turned to Zhao Mingkun’s voice but in the dark, I couldn’t really tell if she was there or not. “Why are you so determined to solve this case? You aren’t with the cops. And why were you here anyway? What business would you have by stealing that groom’s body?”

Zhao Mingkun hummed to herself before she answered. “There is something precious in that groom’s stomach. You have heard about smuggling drugs through the dead, right? I need to find someone through that corpse. The man’s name is Lai San.”

‘Lai San, again Lai San, so Zhao Mingkun is looking for him too.’

“Speaking of which, you too could have walked away from this case, so why didn’t you?” Zhao Mingkun asked me back. “You aren’t with the police either.” At that moment, I did consider telling Zhao Mingkun the truth, after all, we were going to die soon. But I couldn’t bring myself to claim that I was something I was not. Was I really with the police? I was merely summoned to help with a case, perhaps I would be sent back to the loony bin after the case was over.

“You haven’t answered my question.” I deflected.

“Hmm…” Zhao Mingkun considered for a long time before she said, “I remember telling you that I did consider joining the force. My parents were criminals but it was a police officer who adopted me. However, something changed and my adopted father found himself in the identity of a criminal. I have to help him, because he has been very good to me.”

So that genius criminal started out as a police officer, strange, Captain Zhao didn’t tell me about that…

“My dream was naturally vanquished, but I still harbour the dream of being an officer, to conduct an investigation, even just for once. The feeling of peeling back the layers to find the truth, to deliver justice to the victims, that is a rush which is incomparable to anything else in the world.” Zhao Mingkun said softly.

Hearing her confession, I was reminded of Captain Zhao’s question. Why do I want to be an officer? Was it because I wanted to shake off the identity of being a murderer’s son; was it because I enjoy the process of solving a case; or was it because I enjoyed the thrill of testing my mettle against various criminals? I still didn’t know.

Zhao Mingkun elaborated. “I often played the game of police and thief with his daughter when I was young. I was older than she was, so I was always the thief. But honestly, sometimes, I too wish to stand under the sun and not hide in the darkness…”

I couldn’t see Zhao Mingjun but I could sense the melancholy in her voice.

Were we really born with freedom of choices? Were there not people who were destined to spend their lives forever in darkness?