"The pawn shop? It's been closed for a while now."
"Is there any way to contact the original owner?"
"How about I ask the landlord for you?"
"That would be helpful."
The restaurant owner was kind enough to quickly call the landlord. After a short call, he looked at Qin Feng. "The landlord said they don't have a phone number."
"Can you give me the landlord's number?"
"Sure."
With the landlord's phone number, Qin Feng went to the car and contacted the landlord. After introducing himself, he said, "Mr. Jin still has some outstanding debts. Could you help me get in touch with him?"
"Debts?"
"Yes."
Lin Fan watched Qin Feng fabricate the story, smiling on the side.
"I only have a copy of his ID card. I can't reach him by phone. Let's meet somewhere so I can give it to you."
"Let's meet at the city police station."
"Alright."
After hanging up, Qin Feng turned the car around and headed back to the station. He tapped the steering wheel, "How much did you sell that jade for? What did it look like?"
"I sold it for ten thousand yuan. It was yellowish, and the shopkeeper said the jade material was poor."
Qin Feng glanced at her, feeling that Lin Fan had been swindled.
They soon arrived at the station, where the landlord was waiting. He was a man in his forties. Qin Feng shook his hand and led him to the office, pointing to a chair. "Have a seat."
The landlord sat down. "Did Mr. Jin commit a crime?"
"He has some unpaid debts," Qin Feng said vaguely. "Did you bring the ID copy?"
"Yes." The landlord quickly pulled out a copy of the ID and handed it to Qin Feng. "Is there anything else you need from me?"
Qin Feng looked at the ID copy. The shop owner's name was Jin Run, 43 years old, from Fujian.
He stood up. "Thank you for providing the information. That's all for now."
"I'll be on my way then."
Qin Feng escorted the landlord out and began looking up Jin Run's personal information. He paused. Jin Run had died in March from a car crash while driving drunk.
Jin Run's wife and children, who were in Fujian, confirmed it was an accident, came to Jiangcheng to handle the funeral, and then left. Qin Feng rubbed his temples, finding the coincidence eerie.
He called the traffic accident department to inquire about the case.
"He crashed into a guardrail while drunk driving. Is there an issue with the case?"
"I'd like to see the detailed information."
"You'll need to come here to get it."
Qin Feng hung up and left the office, spotting Lin Fan eating lunch with Officer Wang and the forensic doctor, Liu. He walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "Is there any for me?"
No one looked up, engrossed in their meals. They often didn’t inform Qin Feng about lunch, and Lin Fan handed him a box of plain rice from under her lunch box. "Only rice, no dishes."
Qin Feng didn’t mind, broke apart his chopsticks, and took the leftover half of Lin Fan’s dish. "That Mr. Jin is dead."
Lin Fan was stunned. "How did he die?"
"Car accident," Qin Feng replied.
Lin Fan had half a bowl of rice left. She was about to take some vegetables when she noticed only green peppers left and felt a sudden dislike for Qin Feng. After eating, Qin Feng took Lin Fan with him.
Upon investigating Jin Run’s records, there were no suspicious issues. He called Jin Run’s wife using the contact information provided. She answered with a thick accent, "Hello?"
"I’m a detective from Jiangcheng City," Qin Feng said. "I have some questions regarding your husband's business before he passed."
"I didn’t handle his business and know nothing about it. What do you need to ask?"
"Did he have a yellow jade pendant among his belongings?"
"No," the woman said. "He had some business troubles before he died and sold all his antiques and jade. There was nothing left. I only collected his ashes in Jiangcheng."
"Do you know if your husband had any friends in Jiangcheng?"
"I don’t know. He didn’t tell me."
After hanging up, Qin Feng rubbed his temples. What he thought would be a simple retrieval of the jade pendant had led to a dead end.
"Is it very troublesome? If we can't find it, we can stop looking," Lin Fan suggested.
Qin Feng looked at Lin Fan and ruffled her hair. "If we really can’t find it, then there’s nothing we can do."
He considered asking around for a reputable temple to get her a protective amulet.
Qin Feng dropped Lin Fan off at her place and didn't get out of the car. "I still have some work to do. You go ahead."
Lin Fan nodded, got out, and closed the car door. "Be safe."
Lin Fan went to the nearby supermarket to buy fresh vegetables. Since arriving in Jiangcheng, she hadn't cooked. At her father's house, she felt like an outsider. Her stepmother and the others looked down on her, and Lin Fan didn’t dare use the kitchen for fear of being ridiculed.
When she finished cooking the last dish, she heard the door open. She peeked out and saw Qin Feng entering with takeout in his hand. He paused at the sight of the dishes on the dining table.
"Dinner's ready."
Qin Feng smiled and put down the takeout box. "You made all this?"
"Yes," Lin Fan smiled. "My grandma taught me how to cook."
He went to wash his hands, and Lin Fan brought out the last dish. Seeing the takeout box, she slapped her forehead. "I forgot to call you. What should we do with the takeout?"
"We'll eat it tomorrow." Qin Feng pulled out a chair and sat down, serving rice to Lin Fan. "Come and eat."
"Thank you." Lin Fan took the bowl and ate with her head down.
Lin Fan's cooking skills were impressive, with four dishes and a soup, the soup being a bean sprout soup. Qin Feng particularly enjoyed this soup and served some to Lin Fan. "What time are we leaving tomorrow?"
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
"Around seven or eight. Any later and there won't be any buses to the mountain village."
Her hometown had only one bus to the mountain each day.
"How long would it take if we drive?"
"We could take the highway, so about four or five hours."
"Then let's drive. You can sleep a bit longer tomorrow."
Lin Fan was confused and looked up. "What?"
"I'm taking annual leave. I can also look for clues about the spirit warding talisman."
Lin Fan closed her mouth. "Oh, I see."
"What were you thinking?" Qin Feng's dark eyes stared at her intently. "Hmm?" His deep voice was seductive, and Lin Fan buried her head in her bowl, avoiding his gaze.
After dinner, Qin Feng cleaned up the dishes and reminded her to pack her bags. Lin Fan only had a backpack, which was full after packing two sets of clothes. Since they were only staying a few days, she didn't have much to bring.
The next morning, Lin Fan got up at seven. She changed into a sweatshirt and sweatpants, grabbed her bag, and stepped out. Just as she was about to knock on Qin Feng's door, he opened it from the inside. His presence made her step back.
He was wearing a tank top, revealing a lot of skin, and was brushing his teeth with one hand on the doorframe.
"Five minutes."
He turned and went into the bathroom.
Lin Fan waited in the living room for five minutes. Qin Feng came out, putting on his jacket as he walked. He saw Lin Fan's bag. "That's all you have?"
Lin Fan nodded. Qin Feng put on his coat and took her bag. "Let's go."
"Aren't we having breakfast?"
"We'll eat out."
After breakfast, they set off. The trip on the highway was supposed to take five hours, but they were stopped after passing the county town. The highway to the town was closed due to a landslide caused by rain. They had to take the rural roads, which slowed them down significantly. Near noon, Qin Feng parked in a small town and woke the sleeping Lin Fan.
"Let's get something to eat."
Lin Fan, half-asleep, followed Qin Feng, stepping in his footsteps. The ground was damp, probably due to the recent rains in the mountains. Qin Feng sat down in a noodle shop and ordered two bowls of noodles. Lin Fan sat opposite, her face flushed from sleep. On a whim, Qin Feng reached out and poked her.
Lin Fan immediately woke up, staring wide-eyed at Qin Feng.
"There was a mosquito," Qin Feng said seriously.
Lin Fan rubbed her face. "Are you tired?"
"I'm fine."
Lin Fan yawned repeatedly, looking worriedly at the overcast sky outside. "It won't rain again, will it? The mountain roads are terrible when it rains. We won't be able to pass."
The shop owner brought the noodles over. "That's right. A few days ago, an engineering team was also stuck here. Even their wealthy boss couldn't do anything. The road was impassable."
"Let's leave right after eating to avoid getting stuck."
The small-town noodle shop was not very clean, but it wasn't the time to be picky. Lin Fan finished her bowl of noodles, drank some water, and asked Qin Feng, "Shall we go?"
"Sure."
Back in the car, Lin Fan couldn't sleep anymore. She watched the continuous mountain ranges outside the window, then turned back. "Why would they place a spirit warding talisman after someone dies? To prevent them from becoming vengeful spirits? Or to collect their souls?"
"I don't know." Qin Feng tapped the steering wheel and opened the car window to let the mountain breeze in. "I still can't understand why the killer would murder and remove the hearts. What's the connection? The three victims had nothing in common. Was the killer choosing targets randomly or specifically? There's no clue. What is the function of the spirit warding talisman? Where did Su Ran's soul go? Why wasn't there a spirit warding talisman at the scene?"
Lin Fan thought for a moment. "So, the spirit warding talisman might have the function of collecting spirits. The reason there wasn't a talisman at Su Ran's scene could be related to that little ghost. Su Ran's soul managed to escape, but later it was still taken. The killer seems to know some advanced mystic arts." Lin Fan relaxed her furrowed brows and looked at Qin Feng. "Do you think I'm right?"
"That's the right direction."
"Why did the little ghost chase me and then stop?" Lin Fan pondered. "I can't understand why it chased me. It probably stopped because it was captured or destroyed. Who could this person be? Are there such skilled individuals in Jiangcheng?"
"I've thought about investigating in that direction, but it's too broad."
The car suddenly stopped. Lin Fan was jerked by the seatbelt and quickly grabbed the handle to look ahead. Qin Feng quickly reversed the car. Less than a minute later, there was a loud crash as a landslide blocked the road.
Lin Fan stared at Qin Feng. If he had reacted any slower, they would have been buried. Qin Feng parked and got out. Another piece of debris fell from the mountain, hitting the concrete road.
Qin Feng held Lin Fan behind him, looking up. The road was built along the mountain, with continuous mountain ranges above. After confirming there were no more falling rocks, Qin Feng instructed Lin Fan, "Stay here. I'll check it out."
The fallen object looked like a coffin. It had broken apart, and the red satin inside had rolled onto the road. Qin Feng walked closer and saw the red satin quilt. Inside the quilt was a corpse.
The stench of decay was strong; the body had been dead for a while. With professional instinct, Qin Feng lifted the quilt. The half-decomposed corpse lay face-up, lips rotted, exposing teeth. Large areas of the face had decomposed, revealing bones. The deceased seemed to be young, not an adult, about fifteen or sixteen years old.
Who would bury a body above the road? Just as Qin Feng was about to cover the body, he noticed the skin on the neck was different from other areas, darker, almost black. This kind of injury only occurs in cases of strangulation. Could it be a murder case? Lin Fan also came over, gasping at the sight of the body. "Why is there a coffin? Who would bury a coffin above the road?"
The stench made her move behind Qin Feng, observing the surrounding terrain.
Qin Feng uncovered the rest of the quilt, revealing the victim's arms twisted unnaturally. There were deep ligature marks on the wrists where the skin hadn't decomposed. The corpse's bare feet were dark blue, toes pointing downward.
"Unnatural death." Qin Feng stood up, wiped his hands with a tissue, and took out his phone to contact the local police.