Thriller Zone: From the Mental Hospital to the Ghostly World

"The November 11.20 murder case occurred at the Donghe District Sports Park."

Chen Ji muttered to himself, noting the matter down in his memo: "Xu Sandao, can you search online and find some information?"

A moment later, the phone screen was shoved into Chen Ji's face.

"The case has been closed."

Xu Sandao simply said, "They said that some thugs were extorting money from him and accidentally killed Luo Han."

"?" Chen Ji frowned. "How is that possible?"

He carefully read the report; the murderer was apprehended the following year and executed.

The killer's photo wasn't blurred, and Chen Ji discovered that it wasn't Duan Cong.

He scrolled down but didn't see any detailed account of the incident, and no one raised any objections.

Only one person with an IP address from Yunnan remained in the comments section, and their reply was blocked.

“Duan Cong found someone to take the blame,” Xu Sandao said. “However, you can come and ask Teacher Zhou tomorrow; she was the first person to discover it.”

"Me? Aren't you coming with me?" Chen Ji keenly caught the implication in those words.

Xu Sandao shook his head.

"I said I came here for a vacation, but I ended up spending the whole time helping you with your investigation."

"I'm taking a break tomorrow."

"Alright." Chen Ji had nothing to say.

However, this is indeed his own business, and it is understandable that Xu Sandao would not come.

The two put the documents away, took photos of everything that needed to be taken, and then left the archives.

Behind the old teaching building, under a big tree.

There are many scattered tree branches on the ground nearby.

Chen Ji squatted down, picked up a twig, and drew a circle on the ground.

"This is the Kunming serial murder case."

He said, drawing a line: "Connecting to Rowling, the 11.20 murder case, which is the death of Rohan."

"Now that Rowling's son is dead, what about Rowling himself?"

Xu Sandao pondered for a moment: "He's probably dead too."

Chen Ji drew a question mark on the ground.

“Luo Lin is a police officer; the police station should have his file.”

"After asking Teacher Zhou, I'm going to the police station to see what he did back then."

Xu Sandao's expression was somewhat strange: "Isn't the answer already quite clear?"

"Rolling saved someone, or perhaps he stopped the murder from continuing."

Chen Ji asked, "The key question is, how did he do it?"

"The serial murders are related to ghosts, and ghosts are invincible. Even those of us who have entered this realm with supernatural beings cannot resist them."

"If we could know what Luo Lin did, we could deduce how Zeng Guichuan got involved with ghosts."

"If I want to expose Zeng Guichuan's affair, I need evidence and a complete chain of events."

Xu Sandao remained silent.

After a while, he suggested, "If Rowling is dead, the cause of death might be a clue for the investigation."

"If it was done by a ghost, then Rowling must have saved people through some other method."

"Luo Lin was a policeman and also belonged to the government. Perhaps he passed the information to the Thirteenth Bureau before he died."

Chen Ji felt a slight stirring in his heart; this was a new direction for investigation, and quite reasonable at that.

He planned to ask his uncle when he got back to the rented room if the 13th Bureau had been to southern Yunnan around 2011.

Without saying another word, the two slipped out through the dog hole at the south gate.

Xu Sandao left.

Chen Ji returned alone to the short-term rental apartment rented by Chen Yuetan, where he saw his uncle writing something on the desk while Wu Su watched TV nearby.

"came back?"

Chen Yuetan said, pointing to the sketch in front of him, "I've made some progress on this side."

He was talking about the large tombs in southern Yunnan.

"Based on the clues from the last domain, I roughly drew a sketch."

"The tomb is located in a large mountain, roughly in southeastern Yunnan, north of the Honghe River."

Chen Ji was taken aback: "Honghe?"

“Yes,” Chen Yuetan said. “That’s a river in southern Yunnan, also called the Yuanjiang River.”

"There are many mountains nearby, the most famous being Laoyin Mountain and Ailao Mountain. We'll probably have to find the exact location later."

"No..." Chen Ji's mind went blank for a moment: "Uncle, the tin mine I visited last time, the one that was suspected to be run by Zeng Guichuan, is in Honghe Autonomous Prefecture!"

"How do you know Zeng Guichuan?" Chen Yuetan was taken aback.

Chen Ji then remembered that he had originally planned to tell his uncle after checking the information, but he had forgotten about this.

After a while.

"...That's about it. Wan Xiaoshuang told me that Zeng Guichuan came to southeastern Yunnan more than ten years ago," Chen Ji said in one breath.

"Wan Xiaoshuang... Wan."

Chen Yuetan seemed to be deep in thought.

“But I don’t know where she got this information from,” Chen Ji said. “I searched for Zeng Guichuan, but there’s very little information about him, not even a photo.”

All I know is that Zeng Guichuan controls many companies.

"Never mind that," Chen Yuetan said without elaborating. "Do you know the exact address of the Guishan Tin Mine?"

Chen Ji shook his head:

"It's near Gejiu, but I haven't found any information about it online."

"Let me ask." Without saying a word, Chen Yuetan picked up his phone and sent a text message to Tian Qinghe.

Although he no longer works at the 13th Bureau, his former teammates and friends are still there.

"One more thing!"

Chen Ji quickly said, "I received some news from the region last time that a series of murders occurred in Chuncheng, which is suspected to be related to Zeng Guichuan."

He recounted all of his discoveries from that day.

Finally, he added, "...I think Xu Sandao's idea might be a breakthrough."

In other words, whether the Thirteenth Bureau has ever been to southern Yunnan.

"I thought you two went out to play today." Chen Yuetan frowned. "If this case is really related to Zeng Guichuan, it will be very dangerous."

“But you can give it a try.” Chen Yuetan then changed the subject. “Just let me know where you’re going before you go.”

"...Dangerous, but within a controllable range." Chen Ji's heart stirred slightly, and he already understood Chen Yuetan's meaning.

"I can have Tian Qinghe check the bureau's documents."

Chen Yuetan was sending text messages.

"However, there's something I need to tell you..."

“I was recruited into the official team in 2013, when I had already entered the domain.”

"Just the year before, the Special Spirit Realm Research Institute was reorganized, upgraded, and divided into teams, and was later renamed the Thirteenth Bureau."

"Before 2012, these matters were actually handled by the Special Area Institute, the predecessor of the Thirteenth Bureau."

Chen Yuetan put down his phone: "When the changes were made, many documents may have been lost, and many mechanisms were not yet perfect at that time."

".....I see."

Chen Ji could only hope that the archive from that time was still intact.

He turned to look at the map on the table. Chen Yuetan had drawn it in great detail, with the names of the mountains marked on it.

"Uncle, there are just too many mountains in southeastern Yunnan..."

Chen Ji hesitated and said, "Besides, the tomb may not necessarily be located near Gejiu."

“Yes, but there will most likely be clues in the Guishan Tin Mine,” Chen Yuetan said. “Otherwise, I don’t know why Zeng Guichuan would come to southeastern Yunnan to open a mine.”

He explained, “I have conducted research on cities in southeastern Yunnan. Before 08, the mineral resources near Gejiu had already been depleted.”

Chen Ji said somewhat uncertainly, "But I've always had a question..."

"Assuming Zeng Guichuan really came for that tomb, where did he get the information?"

Chen Yuetan remained silent for a long time.

After a long silence, he finally spoke:

“The Yunnan Grand Tomb is not the only place related to the Yu River.”

"At least during the Republican era, someone had already found three locations."