Chapter 15: Three Souls and White Bones (Part 7)
When the police sirens whistled through the forest, flashing red and blue lights, everyone was startled.
Director Zhang stuttered through half an explanation before he couldn’t go on. Meeting the police’s suspicious gaze, he felt a wave of guilt. He was, after all, somewhat of a public figure; admitting he believed in metaphysics sounded too ridiculous.
Jiang Si naturally took over the conversation. He recounted the events from his perspective, omitting any mention of seeing ghosts.
He simply claimed that a friend felt the place had “bad feng shui” and asked him to burn some paper to perform a minor ritual. In the process, he smelled a terrible stench, followed the odor, and discovered the dismembered corpse.
This version of the story was much more plausible. The police nodded and took down his statement.
The forensic team had already bagged the skull to take back for testing. The few people who had discovered it also had to go back to the station for further questioning.
Jiang Si and the others had no objections and climbed into the police car.
It was during the ride to the station that Jiang Si learned from the investigating officer that the head belonged to a woman in her early twentiesâand she had been buried in that ground for at least fifteen years.
No matter how youthful and beautiful she might have been, those fifteen years had eroded her into nothing but white bone. Even facial reconstruction would be extremely difficult.
Fifteen years ago, a young girl walked into Yanming Mountain and never came out.
Back then, the national census and household registration systems were not as robust as they are today. Countless people went missing every year. Finding a person with no name who vanished fifteen years ago was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Moreover, the police prepared for the worst-case scenario: that her parents or family hadn’t reported it, meaning she wouldn’t even be in the missing persons database.
But the identification process, originally expected to be the most difficult hurdle, was resolved that very afternoon.
And the person who resolved it was someone no one expected.
The production supervisor, Xu Jing, stepped into the police station in high heels. The breeze lifted her long hair, revealing a beautiful face set with steely determination.
Director Zhang thought she was there to visit her colleagues. deeply touched, he said, “We’re all fine, just cooperating with the investigation. Don’t worry, Xu Jing.”
Xu Jing didn’t spare him a glance. She walked straight toward the police officers. “I’m here to identify the victim’s remains. I am her family.”
“…”
The officer’s expression turned grave. “Ma’am, please explain the situation in detail.”
Seeing her, Jiang Si finally realized why her behavior had been so odd. While everyone else was terrified by the haunting on set, she had remained calm and composed throughout.
“Holy sh*t!” Wang Zhao and Director Zhang looked at each other, cursing in shock.
“No… how can this be?” Director Zhang questioned his reality. “This isn’t a novel. How could there be such a coincidence?”
“We arrive, the place is haunted. Then we find a body, and the body turns out to be the family member of our supervisor… Wait, how did she recognize it?”
“I wouldn’t dare write a script like this,” Wang Zhao muttered.
Jiang Si, listening to their discussion: “…”
Inside the interrogation room, Xu Jing gave her statement expressionlessly.
“I proposed this film location on purpose. I know Zhang Chengyuan’s preferences; as soon as he heard about a place like Yanming Mountain, he would definitely sign off on it. Iâve always wanted to come back here. I needed to find someone.”
Fifteen years ago, Xu Jing was only thirteen.
She had a sister, Xu Lanyue, ten years her senior.
Their well-off family provided Xu Lanyue with platforms to enrich herself, but they forgot to teach the girl how to protect herself. Xu Lanyue lived up to expectations, excelling until she graduated from university at twenty-three. That year, she went alone into the mountains to volunteer as a teacher.
From then on, there was no date of return.
In the search for her sister, their parents divorced. Her mother developed severe schizophrenia, and her father went abroad, never to returnâas if leaving meant he could pretend certain things didn’t exist.
Xu Jing felt like she had lost her faith. She had walked this path alone for fifteen years.
In midnight dreams, Xu Jing would see her sister begging for help.
She said the days underground were too dark and too cold. She wanted to go home.
“When your sister went missing, did your parents report it?” the officer taking notes asked.
“They did.” Xu Jing’s expression remained unchanged, but the hands resting on her lap quietly clenched into fists, holding something back.
“How could they not report it when they couldn’t reach her for so long? But do you know what those people said?”
“The villagers accused my sister of being restless and improper. They said she didn’t want to teach the students but instead went out every day to hook up with men. They claimed she disappeared because she got pregnant by someone and ran off to elope. They stuck to that story. The police had no evidence, so the case dragged on until now.”
Her mouth felt dry as she spoke, and her eyes rimmed with red.
The halo from the interrogation room’s ceiling light overlapped with the glare of her memories.
At thirteen, she didn’t understand what “missing” meant. When she missed her sister, she would ask her parents if they could go visit her.
At first, her parents would answer patiently. Later, as their relationship shattered, the only answers Xu Jing received were breakdowns, weeping, and endless screaming matches.
Mom blamed Dad for being useless, for not finding a way to find their daughter.
Dad blamed Mom for letting their daughter be so willful and run off to such a poor, remote place.
Glass cups were smashed one after another. Shards covered the floor, refracting the blinding sunlight. No one cleaned them up, and no one cared about the little daughter whose feet were cut and bleeding.
When Xu Jing was a bit older, she secretly traveled to the foot of Yanming Mountain. The school there had only a dozen or so students.
She stopped one of them and asked if they knew the teacher who had once come to volunteer.
The child smiled innocently, without a hint of hesitation. “Is that the witch who ran off with a man?”
The child had such clear eyes, transparent to the bottom. Yet Xu Jing felt a chill radiate from her heart. “Why would you say that?”
“After she came, she only made us read and recite books every day. If we couldn’t recite them, we couldn’t go home, and sometimes she wouldn’t let us eat. She was a witch! That’s what we all say. My mom said she was loose, putting on makeup every day to seduce men, and told me not to learn from her. I definitely won’t be like her!”
Here, the mountains rose one after another. Some people would never walk out of them in their entire lives. If they didn’t study hard, how could these children, these girls, ever reach the sky of freedom?
The girl had looked surprised. “My home is right here. Where else would I go?”
Xu Jing had come alone, and she returned alone. She thoroughly understood why the police had been helpless, and why her parents, despite trying everything, couldn’t bring her sister back.
These mountains were graves, burying not only the dead but also these ignorant children.
When children are induced to lie, their behavior is no different from adults; they are accomplices just the same. They used the same words to mask the truth, utterly destroying a young woman’s future.
She spoke calmly, but the entire interrogation room fell silent. The police officers couldn’t help but study this woman who was no longer young. Her figure was thin and frail; no one would have guessed she had been carrying such a heavy burden all this time.
Xu Jing turned her head and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. She continued, “That’s everything. Now that my sister’s remains have been found, can you clear her name? She has borne these rumors and malice for fifteen years!”
Finally, the officer promised, “Rest assured. Our criminal investigation technology is far more advanced than it was over a decade ago. No one can escape the sanctions of the law.”
The case remained under active investigation, and the location of the rest of Xu Lanyue’s remains became the focus of the police search.
However, after giving their statements, Jiang Si and the others had nothing else to do. The police instructed them to keep their phones on at all times and allowed them to leave.
On the way back, there was silence in the car. They all knew that in the face of lost human life, any words of comfort were pale and powerless. The trauma of the victim’s family could only be healed by time and truth.
When the car stopped at the homestay, Jiang Si got out and returned to his room.
Before he could close the door, Wang Zhao followed close behind and squeezed his way in.
“Old Jiang, I want to discuss something with you.”
Jiang Si raised an eyebrow. He rarely saw Wang Zhao hesitating like this.
“What is it?”
Wang Zhaoâs eyes darted around. “Well, I wanted to ask if there’s any way you can help Sister Xu? I know your eyes can see certain things… I wanted to ask you…”
“I saw her, but I can’t help,” Jiang Si answered crisply.
“What?” Wang Zhao froze. “You saw her? Then why? Why can’t you help her? It’s been fifteen years; we all know the longer a case drags on, the harder it is to solve. Wouldn’t it be better if you could help the police catch the killer sooner?”
“Calm down.” Jiang Si sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that I really can’t. For this kind of thing, we can only rely on the police. You have to trust them; times have changed.”
Wang Zhao left in disappointment. The moment he was gone, Hai Di stepped out of the puppet, standing there and meeting Jiang Si’s gaze.
“What do you want to do?”
“Eat when it’s time to eat, sleep when it’s time to sleep. What can I do?” Jiang Si spread his hands with a wry smile. “I can beat up ghosts, sure, but helping a ghost seek judicial justice? You overestimate me.”
Yet, knowing the truth, he felt indignation too.
Hai Di knew exactly why Jiang Si was powerless. Because Xu Lanyue’s body hadn’t been fully recovered, her three souls and seven po were scattered. It was impossible to communicate with her normally, let alone ask her about what happened back then.
He was deep in thought when he suddenly heard Jiang Si let out a surprised “Huh?”
Turning sideways, he saw Jiang Si walk to the wall, seemingly discovering something.
“Looks like we’ve been discovered.”
Jiang Si wasn’t surprised at all. Like a hotel, this homestay had housekeeping every day. If someone paid even a little attention, they would notice the wallpaper had been peeled back.
So, here is the problem:
It is known that the homestay owner knows they know about the wall.
It is also known that the owner definitely knows the police found the body on the mountain.
Question: What will the owner do next?
Jiang Si’s phone lit up at that moment. It was Director Zhang in the group chat, reminding them to go to the dining room for dinner.
Staring into space for a moment, Jiang Si hooked a finger at Hai Di, looking mysterious. “Do you know how to fight?”
Hai Di froze, pointing at himself. “Me?”
He was a mere living soul. In the underworld, his combat power was akin to an ant; in the human world, he was barely a concealed, humanoid air conditioner. He found it incredible that Jiang Si would even ask this.
“Oh, I’ll give you a cheat code.” Jiang Si smiled. “It would be a pity for someone of your size not to fight.”
“…”
Hai Di was speechless. “Do you remember what you once told Xiao Fengxian?”
“That’s different. Humans are humans, ghosts are ghosts, and animals are animals.” Jiang Si’s logic was crystal clear.
Hai Di didn’t argue. He was curious about this “cheat code” Jiang Si mentioned. What could be so magical?
Jiang Si looked serious. “Do you know why you can’t beat other ghosts?”
“Because I’m not dead?”
Jiang Si shook his head.
“Because I haven’t had time to cultivate?”
“Wrong!” Jiang Si raised his index finger and wagged it. “Because you don’t have a weapon that offers absolute suppression!”
“The appearance of firearms was an absolute crush against cold steel weapons. If you have a weapon, you can crush anyone who is unarmed!”
He immediately took out some gold paper and folded it into a slender stick, then burned it for Hai Di.
“Underworld edition, pure 24k gold baton. Absolute double-damage effect.”
Jiang Si egged him on, “Today you are Hai ‘Di’ (Little Brother), tomorrow everyone will have to call you Brother Hai!”
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