Chapter 18 Chapter Two Immortal Cthulhu

After inquiring about the situation from Tan Hao, the proprietress of the stationery store, and Cai Heng, the father of the deceased, they found nothing special.Just as she was thinking that the trip was in vain, Zhou Qiong, the mother of the deceased, suddenly said to herself that eight children surnamed Cai died in a row in just ten days. "Eight children died in a row?" I asked in surprise, "Can you tell me what happened?" She didn't answer my question, but asked me a doubt: "The distance from the steel pipe with my daughter's shoe prints to the ground is 30 cm, and her height is 104 cm. If she steps on the steel pipe, the total height should be 134 cm." .In the case of losing control of the center of gravity, her body is either leaning forward or backward. If she leans backward, she will fall at best, and it is impossible to get stuck on the telephone wire. If she leans forward, her forehead It will definitely touch the phone, and even if it doesn't bleed, there will be at least a small swelling. However, we didn't find any scars on her forehead."

She was still crying just now, but she became excited as soon as the box was opened, and continued to analyze the doubts for us: "She stepped on the steel pipe, her neck should be 106 centimeters from the ground, and the bottom end of the telephone line is 98 centimeters from the ground. centimeters. If she was weightless and her neck was stuck on the telephone wire, with her weight of about 30 kilograms and the distance of 8 centimeters, how could there be only one ditch under the action of inertia? It should also cause The other scars are right!" "So, I can be sure that Shaomeng's death was definitely not an accident. She must have been killed! I can even imagine how the murderer killed her. The situation at that time should be like this..." She suddenly used Looking at me with firm eyes, she gritted her teeth and told me her speculation: "The murderer must be someone Shaomeng knew, and he must be an adult. He walked into the store when we were busy in the store and had no time to take care of Shaomeng. Tang lured her outside. He lured Shaomeng into the telephone booth and coaxed her to climb up on the steel pipe. Then, at the right moment, he pushed Shaomeng behind her, so that her neck was stuck on the telephone wire .”

The doubts and assumptions raised by her have also been considered by colleagues who have dealt with the case before.While her argument is theoretically sound, the reality is much more complicated.First of all, the height of the deceased stepping on the steel pipe is not simply the height of the steel pipe plus the height of the deceased, but also the straightness of the deceased’s body at that time. After all, a six-year-old girl stepping on a cylindrical steel pipe is not the same as standing on flat ground. , it is impossible for the body to stand upright with its head held high.Secondly, according to the existing evidence, except for Shaomeng, no one appeared near the phone booth at the time of the incident, and of course the murderer she mentioned did not exist.

I said what was in my heart, handed her a tissue, and said some comforting words.After she wiped away the tears from her face, she still insisted that her daughter was murdered.In order to convince us of her hypothesis, she told us a terrible news: "Yesterday, when we went to the funeral home to handle Shaomeng's funeral, an old man named Uncle Qingsheng in the funeral home told me that Shaomeng's death was a bit strange. He also told me that ten days before Shaomeng's accident, five children from a local family named Cai in Wangcun drowned together. A few days later, two girls named Cai in the neighboring Liangcun village were inexplicably drowned. Drowning. In addition to our family's Shaomeng, in the past ten days, eight children surnamed Cai died for no reason."

"It should be that there are more people with the surname Cai in this county!" Zhen Zhen guessed. "No such thing!" Zhou Qiong shook her head vigorously, "None of Shaomeng's classmates in the kindergarten had the surname Cai, and there were not many friends we met locally who had the surname Cai. There is no Cai surname in this county. It's not a common surname, so the old man of the funeral home will find it strange." In this way, there is indeed something strange, and it seems necessary to go to the funeral parlor. Although it was already nightfall, in order to clarify the matter as soon as possible, after leaving Lao Cai's restaurant, I planned to go to the funeral home that Zhou Qiong mentioned immediately.But as soon as she got in the car, Zhenzhen pretended to say: "It's already dark, people have already closed the door now! Let's go tomorrow, so as not to waste a trip."

I smiled and asked, "Will people not die when it gets dark?" She retorted confidently: "People will die when it's dark, but the funeral parlor doesn't open all day!" I nodded and said seriously: "Maybe there will be a rest on holidays!" "Isn't that so?" she asked seriously. I almost vomited blood from her anger, and howled up to the sky: "God of Changsheng, how did you become a criminal policeman, you don't even have a little basic common sense!" Generally speaking, most funeral homes are open all year round, and there are people on duty 24 hours a day.Because no matter when someone dies, there will naturally be business when someone dies.When there is business, the funeral home certainly does not rest.Even in the early morning of New Year's Eve, as long as you dare to knock on the door of the funeral home without fear of bad luck, someone will definitely open the door.

After I told Zhen Zhen about these things, her face immediately changed, and she asked timidly: "You don't really want to go now, do you?" "Actually, I want to go after supper." When I said that, she didn't dare to speak anymore. The funeral home mentioned by Zhou Qiong is located in a secluded street, and there are shops selling incense, candles, candles and paper products nearby. Although it is already night, most of the shops on the street are still open for business, but there are few pedestrians, which makes it very deserted .But this is also normal, if there are no relatives and friends who have passed away, who would wander around such a musty place in the middle of the night.If you are unlucky, you may even meet some homeless "good friends".

Although the street was deserted, the door of the funeral parlor was still open, and the lights were still on inside, but the lights were slightly dim, which made people feel uneasy.After entering the funeral parlor, we found no one there. The empty hall was only filled with wreaths and other sacrificial items. It was lifeless, as if it was not the world of the living.I don't know if it's because of the air conditioner, the temperature in the hall is obviously lower than outside, and Zhen Zhen's body is also trembling slightly, and she unconsciously approaches me. I raised my voice slightly, and called "Is anyone there?" It took a long time for anyone to respond. When I called for the second time, an old male voice suddenly came from the inner hall: "Stop calling, there is no one here. , only ghosts!"

Zhen Zhen was startled by the sudden sound, and quickly hid behind me like a frightened kitten.I was also quite frightened, and stared at the doorway leading to the inner hall as if I were facing an enemy.The light in the inner hall was not turned on, and the doorway was pitch black. A pale face suddenly appeared in the darkness, and then its body leaned forward obliquely, floating out like a ghost.Zhen Zhen poked her head out from behind me, just in time to see this strange figure with only the upper body, she couldn't help screaming in fright. "Stop barking, barking here at night is not a good thing."

An old man in his sixties came out of the door along with a strange figure. He didn't seem to like us destroying the tranquility here.When he fully entered the lighting range of the light, I could clearly see the strange figure that frightened us. It turned out to be just the paper puppet he was holding in his hand. When I wanted to explain to him what I meant, he suddenly put his index finger in front of his lips, beckoning us to speak in a low voice, and explained: "The funeral parlor is the place where the bardo body gathers. It is easy to shout here at night. Startle them. Especially don't yell 'Is anyone there?' and if they answer you, you're in big trouble."

"What does the bardo body mean?" Zhen Zhen asked timidly. "The front yin has faded, the back yin has not yet arrived, and the bardo is present." The old man murmured, and then explained: "When a person has just passed away, because the consciousness in life is still very strong, it is often before Sanqi returns to the soul. , still don't know that you have left the mortal world. These spirits who think they are still alive in the mortal world are bardo bodies. Because they still think they are still alive, so you can't yell like 'Is anyone' here. Once they answer , I will have sympathy with you, and to put it simply, I will pester you." Hearing what he said, I was really a little scared, but fortunately there was no "good friend" to answer just now. After talking to him for a while, I realized that we hadn't explained the purpose of our visit, so I quickly introduced myself to him and told him that we were looking for Uncle Qingsheng. The old man's wrinkled face suddenly showed joy, and he said with a smile: "Oh, it's so rare, there will be a policeman who came here to find my old bone." Finally did not run in vain. Uncle Qingsheng is a talkative person, so we chatted with him a bit before we got to the point.He said that he had worked half his life in the funeral parlor and had no children under his knees, so he might have to die here. "This is fate. In my line of work, I deal with dead people all day long, and my whole body is stained with mold. One of the three losses must be one of them." He sighed softly while puffing out smoke. I have also heard a little about the "three losses", which refer to loss of wealth, life and heirs. I thought it was just a master who learned Feng Shui, because there are too many secrets, there will be three losses. There are three losses.However, what I didn't expect was that this seemingly down-and-out old man in front of me turned out to be a rich man with a lot of money. "Unexpectedly, I opened this funeral home." Uncle Qingsheng smiled triumphantly. Zhen Zhen said in surprise: "Since you are the boss, why do you have to work the night shift by yourself instead of going home early to rest?" Uncle Qingsheng closed his eyes and thought deeply, as if he was recalling the past. After a while, he let out a long sigh: "Oh, I had three children, but they died before they were three years old. My wife was depressed because of this, and she left me more than ten years ago. Although I have a house of thousands of square meters, I can’t find a little home feeling when I go back to the lifeless house every night. Since the family is not a family, why go back? Anyway, the guys are not willing to pay The night shift, I just moved all my belongings here and made this place my home. At least, occasionally someone will come to chat with me in the middle of the night, not as lonely as staying alone in an empty house. To put it bluntly, If I stretch my feet one night, there will be a guy to help me with my funeral the next day. And in that empty house, I am afraid that no one will know that I have reported to the Palace of the Underworld until the body stinks." In his lonely sigh, Zhen Zhen tried to comfort him: "Actually, you are not bad now, you have money, you have a house, and you are the boss. Now there are quite a few people who are fighting for a house all their lives!" "This is just the thinking of you young people. In fact, people only need three meals and one night. It doesn't matter whether the house is rented or bought, and whether they eat delicacies or simple meals every day. But if you want to eat three meals and have a roof over your head, you don't need Meals, meals and camping are enough for a wish. Look at me as an example. When I was young, I did a lot of things that violated my conscience in order to make money. In the end, the money was indeed too much to spend, but I lost more precious things.” Uncle Qingsheng Showing a bitter smile, "Young man, fame and fortune cannot bring happiness, fighting for fame and fortune will only make people ignore the people in front of them who are worth cherishing." He looked at Zhenzhen and me meaningfully, as if hinting otherwise.Zhen Zhen obviously understood what he meant, her face turned rosy all of a sudden, and I couldn't help but feel embarrassed.Just when he was about to change the subject, he suddenly heard the dull sound of "Knock, Knock, Knock" knocking on wood from the inner hall. "Is there anyone else inside?" Zhen Zhen looked at the dark door leading to the inner hall. "No." Uncle Qingsheng shook his head, "If no one sets up a mourning hall or performs rituals here, I will be the only one here at night." Knock, knock... Knock, knock, knock... The sound of knocking sounded again, dull and rhythmic, as if someone was knocking on the wall of a closed wooden box. "What's the matter with this voice?" Zhen Zhen's complexion was not very good.This is of course, after all, this is a place that is easy to associate with scary things. "It's nothing, take it seriously, it often happens at night, it's just the sound of the coffin..." Uncle Qingsheng seemed to want to tell us what was going on, but when he saw Zhenzhen's rosy cheeks turning pale just now, he stopped Swallow the words back immediately. Although he didn't go on, the knocking sound didn't disappear, and it became louder in our silence. Every knocking was like a death knell, which made people shudder.The less he makes things clear, the more he will make people think wildly.I can bear it, but Zhenzhen is different, it can be seen from her face. I think, if she doesn't understand the voice now, she probably won't dare to sleep alone tonight.Therefore, I asked Uncle Qingsheng, what is the sound of this sound? "In fact, the new ghosts are picking the coffin." Uncle Qingsheng said lightly: "After a person leaves the mortal world, his relatives and friends who have passed away will come to greet him and show him the world after death. These old ghosts usually bring the new ghosts to the world first. In a coffin shop or funeral home, choose a coffin that suits your heart, just like a living person chooses a bed. When I was young, I was happy when I heard the sound of the coffin at night, because it means that someone has passed away and will soon There is business coming." I thought that as long as Uncle Qing Sheng explained the matter clearly, Zhen Zhen's doubts would be relieved and she would no longer be afraid.But I never expected that Uncle Qingsheng would give such a terrifying answer.This time it was fine, Zhen Zhen's face turned from white to blue, and whenever there was a knocking sound, she would stare at the door, as if a new ghost with disheveled hair would float out of the inner hall at any moment. Uncle Qingsheng comforted her and said: "If you don't do anything wrong in your life, you won't be surprised if you knock on the door in the middle of the night. As long as you haven't done anything bad, there is no need to be afraid of ghosts." Having said that, don't look at her tough appearance, in fact, like most girls, she is very afraid of illusory ghosts.Fortunately, the beating sound only lasted for a short period of time, otherwise our conversation with Uncle Qingsheng might have been interrupted. In order not to be delayed by the inexplicable voice again, I seized the time and immediately cut to the chase and asked Uncle Qingsheng about the recent deaths of eight children surnamed Cai. "I'm afraid this matter is not as simple as it appears." Uncle Qingsheng frowned, hesitant to speak, as if he was thinking about whether he should tell us what he knew.After a long time, he spoke again: "Perhaps, I should tell you a legend about the immortal evil god first."