No taboos

Chapter 126: Uncle and Nephew
Lin Zijin glanced at the sky and asked the coroner seriously, "Is it too late to start the autopsy right away?"

The two coroners knew that the matter was serious. Cold sweat oozed from their foreheads, but they could only kneel down and beg for mercy: "Sir, there are only two quarters of an hour left before dark. It is really too late.

Forcing us to perform an autopsy is like forcing us to die."

Lin Zijin sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Burn the body."

The two coroners thanked him repeatedly and carried the body to the yard. Four alchemists in the office were ready. They spit out fire from their bellies together and burned the body to ashes in a short while.

The coroner carefully swept the body into a ceramic jar and then handed it to He Junan's family.

"Let's go back to the yamen." Lin Zijin said calmly.

Everyone hurried back to Champa Office before dark.

At the South City Patrol Office, Lin Zijin had already made follow-up arrangements before Xu Yuan arrived.

Inspector Zhu Sili stayed behind with his deputy and twenty captains, and He Junan's original subordinates all followed him back to the office.

Lin Zijin had already arranged temporary accommodation for Xu Yuan in the office, but Xu Yuan had no intention of resting: "Sir, I can't sleep either. Can you please let me see the case file first?"

Lin Zijin felt slightly relieved: "The commander was right. Inspector Xu is capable of doing the job. There's no need to look at the files. I'll first give you a brief introduction to the case..."

"Let me do it." An old voice sounded beside him. Lin Zijin was a little worried: "Old Lu, can you do it?"

Inspector Lu Qiuyang is older than Lin Zijin, with gray hair and beard, and looks haggard and sad at this moment.

"He Jun'an is my deputy." Lu Qiuyang explained bitterly to Xu Yuan, "He is also my nephew. Today should have been my turn to patrol South City, but in order to welcome Inspector Xu, Jun'an took the initiative to replace me..."

Xu Yuan nodded sadly: "Senior, please accept my condolences."

Lin Zijin patted his old friend on the back, but he didn't know what to say to comfort him.

"I can hold on." Lu Qiuyang felt a fire in his heart: "I will definitely hold on until this evil creature is destroyed."

Lin Zijin nodded and asked him to explain.

"This case first occurred three and a half months ago, and today Jun An is the 31st victim!"

"I volunteered to explain this case not out of bragging, but because I am the most qualified person.

The first crime took place three and a half months ago in Wuliu Lane where I live, so I was the first one from the office to rush there.

The victim was a young man named Kong Afu, who came to the city from Jiujiepu outside the city to work and rented a house at the end of the alley.

The corpse was dragged and hung from the beams, its internal organs eaten out by the evil spirits, and blood flowed all over the room.

"After that, the same case occurred every few days. The interval was as long as five days and as short as two days.

These people were killed in their houses or in their yards, and the door gods on their doors were intact. Among them were several wealthy families who even had almanacs from the Imperial Observatory. We were puzzled: how did the evil spirits get in?
If the evil spirit is so powerful that it can ignore the door gods and auspicious objects, it doesn't seem likely. That thing only harms one person at a time. If it is really so powerful, why would it resort to such a small fight?"

"But today..." Lu Qiuyang gritted his teeth, "It actually managed to enter the Quwu Division's office and kill people. Could it be that we underestimated it before?"

Song Lu speculated, "Could this evil spirit be... preparing some strange ritual?"

The top monsters in Ghost Witch Mountain all have the ability to perform "weird rituals".

This continuous blood feeding did seem like some evil spirit preparing for some "trick." Lin Zijin shook his head slowly, "We've considered this possibility. But... isn't three and a half months too long to prepare?"

More than 30 people may sound like a lot, but for a "weird ritual" that requires several months of preparation, it seems a bit too few.

According to the experience of the Extermination of Filth Bureau in handling similar incidents, it would take several months to prepare, and the amount of blood food would be at least hundreds.

Lin Zijin added, "Over the past three months, the entire Champa administration has endured humiliation. For example, Inspector Lu personally led his officers on a risky night patrol, which lasted five days."

Lu Qiuyang gritted his teeth and said, "When we patrol the west side of the city, it eats people in the east. When we search the north side of the city, it wreaks havoc in the south! It killed three people in five days..."

Xu Yuan asked, "So many murders, and no trace at all?"

"The scene was covered in blood, but there were no traces of evil. Furthermore, we didn't dare leave the body overnight, so the clues we could obtain from the autopsy were very limited. Today..." At this point, Lu Qiuyang cast a grateful look at Xu Yuan: "If it weren't for Inspector Xu, we would have overlooked the fact that Jun An had violated these rules before he was killed."

Everyone frowned together: "Why did Inspector He break the rules?"

For any member of the Department of Elimination of Filth, this is a low-level mistake that cannot be made.

If you are near a river or walking at night, you may be forced by evil spirits and may have to break the rules.

But this kind of "complex words"... could it be that the evil spirit has the uncanny ability to control its body?

Xu Yuan had other ideas in his mind, but it was just a vague guess and it was not appropriate to say it out loud now.

There was a knock on the side hall door, and someone outside said, "Sir, this is Ren Hong."

Lin Zijin was about to say "come in" when a lieutenant suddenly came to the door and gently opened it a crack. He looked outside and turned to Lin Zijin and said, "Sir, it's him."

"come in."

Fu Jingyu frowned deeply: He Junan died in the patrol room in the South City, which made everyone in the Champa Office panic.

In the past, people would just walk around government offices like this at night.

The evil spirits would never dare to be so blind as to sneak into the office of the Exorcism Department to cause chaos.

Ren Hong, also a censor, came in with a stack of confessions in his hand and said, "Sir, all nine lieutenants who were on patrol with He Jun'an in the South City today have been questioned."

He presented his confession and then concluded: "From the time Inspector He was last seen until he was found murdered, only two-quarters of an hour passed.

No one saw anything enter Inspector He's house, and even more strangely, no one heard any sound from Inspector He's house.

Lin Zijin said: "This evil spirit has a trick to isolate the inside and outside!"

The stack of confessions was circulated among the crowd and soon reached the hands of Xu Yuan and Fu Jingyu.

Xu Yuan looked at it carefully, but unfortunately he had no experience and didn't notice the problem.

Fu Jingyu read it several times before passing it to Song Lu.

Lin Zijin waved his hand and said, "Forget it, let's stop here today. I'll go to the South City Patrol Office tomorrow to take a closer look."

When they dispersed, Lin Zijin specifically instructed: "Everyone should walk together."

(End of this chapter)