Book: Shadow Catcher 1: Realm of Killing
The 28th day of the twelfth month. Inauspicious for leveling roads and paths, inauspicious for entering homes and traveling.
The investigation into Zheng Hounian’s relatives and friends had not made effective progress. Xiao Ning was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. Meng Fanchuan kept pestering Xiao Ning, inquiring about the ins and outs of Zheng Hounian’s case. Xiao Ning sent Meng Fanchuan away and came back to find Li Si.
In a private room on the second floor of Shanliu Ju, Li Si looked at Xiao Ning, who had just sat down, and said, “I thought about it all last night. What do you think this micro-carved walnut resembles? Do you have a sense of déjà vu?” When Li Si asked this, Xiao Ning quickly nodded and said, “So Big Brother Li thought of it too.”
“Perhaps I thought of it long ago, but my heart was unwilling to admit it.” Li Si smiled faintly.
The micro-carved walnut performed the murder case within a tiny walnut, just like the black wooden box Lou Tianming had sent to Li Si four years ago when the Budong Manor case occurred. In order to stop his mother, the “Miao Border Ghost Woman,” from endless killing, Lou Tianming hid important clues in the black wooden box that previewed the murder cases, and relied on this to help Li Si solve the truth of the case. Lou Tianming’s filial piety ultimately moved his mother’s kind heart, but it was too late. Both perished in the sea of fire that engulfed Budong Manor.
“The culprit imitated the black wooden box to create the micro-carved walnuts. He knows so much about Big Brother Li’s situation. Big Brother Li, do you think the culprit might be…” Xiao Ning hesitated to continue. Li Si finished for him, “Might be my friend, or even a close friend?”
Xiao Ning lowered his head and sighed. Outside the private room, a sudden commotion arose. Xiao Ning opened the door in displeasure and just happened to see two people running from the corridor—they were the pair of man and woman performing magic tricks at Shanliu Ju.
“Brother, give me back my money!” the girl behind shouted. It turned out this pair performing magic tricks were siblings.
The man hadn’t run far before the girl grabbed his robe. The man pleaded with a bitter expression, “Sister, I didn’t want to steal your money pouch. It’s… it’s the people from the gambling house forcing me to repay my debt. If I don’t repay, they’ll chop off one of my hands. Sister, I don’t want to lose a hand!”
“I told you not to gamble anymore, not to gamble! Have you forgotten how Father was hacked to death? Because of his rotten gambling! It also left us siblings homeless. How can you be so hopeless!” The sister’s face turned deathly pale, but she still let go of her hand. The brother immediately said, “Sister, don’t worry. This is the last time. I absolutely won’t go again. I’m going to repay the money.” The brother rushed down the stairs, leaving the sister standing in place, lost and disappointed.
Xiao Ning shook his head with regret. Xiao Ning inquired with a shop assistant and learned that the brother was called A’shan and the sister was called A’shui. They had fallen into destitution half a year ago. The owner of Shanliu Ju saw that the two had some presentable magic tricks, so he let the siblings perform magic tricks in the teahouse to earn money.
“Pitiable people must have detestable traits. This brother doesn’t know how to take care of his sister. Instead, he goes gambling and burdens his sister. How infuriating and detestable!” Xiao Ning sighed. “Truly, the world’s morals are declining.”
Li Si and Xiao Ning finished their tea, settled the bill, and left. At the entrance, Li Si suddenly realized something was missing. He turned around and rushed up to the second floor.
He returned to the private room from earlier. On the table in the private room lay a purple pouch embroidered with a flying bird. Beside the pouch was a reddish-brown walnut.
It came again—the third micro-carved walnut!
The third walnut was carved with a river winding like a snake, a slowly floating ebony boat, an open wooden box on the boat filled with stones. In the river floated a male corpse face down, and beside the corpse was a broken box with nothing inside.
Li Si stared at the micro-carved walnut, his expression changing. “This is the scene from the Youhe murder case in Tianlan City. The culprit has started again.”
Li Si calmed himself for a while, then spoke of the murder case filled with killing intent in Tianlan City. One of them was the case of Black Face, the guardian of the Buddha Tower, who was bound with stones and drowned in the Youhe River murder case. The culprit also created the false impression that Black Face had fled with stolen goods, placing two boxes of gold and silver on an ebony boat. Later, one broken box of gold and silver fell to the river bottom. At the end of the case, through a corpse insect in Black Face’s ear bone, Lao Sitou, the Great World’s number one coroner, unearthed the truth of the case.
After Li Si finished recounting, he added, “When Black Face’s corpse was discovered, it looked just like this in the walnut. Then the ebony boat and the gold and silver boxes were discovered downstream in the Youhe River.”
Xiao Ning suddenly stood up and said, “Outside Suishui City, there’s only one Cuishui River. If the culprit imitates the crime, he will surely kill someone at Cuishui River. I’ll go right now!”
Li Si’s heart darkened. Since he had already received the walnut, it meant the murder case was already done. Even if they flew there now, it would be difficult to catch the culprit. The private room door was suddenly pushed open. Outside the door stood two young men.
The thin and small Meng Fanchuan and the tall, handsome Gao Ling.
“We’re going too.” Meng Fanchuan said. It turned out the two had secretly followed Xiao Ning to Shanliu Ju and then hid in the room next to Li Si’s private room. Martial artists had extraordinary ears and eyes. Gao Ling pressed against the wall and heard the conversation between Li Si and the other.
“What are you doing here?” Xiao Ning was somewhat surprised. Gao Ling said coldly, “I said I wanted to learn from and observe God-Catcher Li. Whenever something is related to the case, I will appear.”
Li Si smiled bitterly. The four left Shanliu Ju and headed straight for Cuishui River.
Cuishui River ran east to west. The four split up to search. Before long, they indeed found an ebony boat in the middle section of Cuishui River. The ebony boat floated alone on the river surface. Inside the boat was an open wooden box filled with stones. The four followed the position of the ebony boat upstream. Soon they discovered a male corpse face down in the river. Near the male corpse was also a broken wooden box with nothing inside.
Three quarters into the Hour of the Snake, Meng Xiu arrived. The four had already pulled the corpse back to the riverbank. Meng Xiu’s eyebrows were dampened by rolling beads of sweat. He wiped the sweat from his eyes with a handkerchief and said, “The Qingfeng Inn murder case still has no progress, and now another person has died. Have you discovered anything?”
Meng Xiu looked toward Xiao Ning. Gao Ling spoke first, “The deceased’s face is dark purple and the seven orifices are bleeding. These are symptoms of sudden death from poisoning, which is not very similar to the Tianlan City murder case that God-Catcher Li mentioned.”
“Wasn’t he drowned?” Meng Xiu saw the deceased floating in the river and preconceived that the deceased had been drowned.
“Does Lord Li have more clues?” Meng Xiu asked. Li Si’s eyes swept over the male corpse. Around the male corpse’s waist was wrapped a thin python silver belt. The belt buckle position at the left end of the silver belt slightly protruded. Li Si tore open the silver belt and an object rolled out from inside.
Everyone looked. What rolled out was a white pearl the size of a little fingernail. The pearl’s surface was slightly cloudy, as if covered with a layer of foam.
“How could there be a pearl inside the waist belt?” Meng Xiu’s eyes widened. Gao Ling stared at the pearl silently. Li Si picked up the pearl and held it in his hand, saying, “This is not an original item from within the silver belt.”
“Could the culprit have hidden the pearl in the silver belt?” Xiao Ning was somewhat puzzled. After finding the pearl, Meng Xiu arranged for catchers to transport the male corpse back to the black house at the county yamen. As for the ebony boat and wooden boxes, they were also pulled back to the county yamen.
On the way back to the county yamen, Xiao Ning caught up and asked Li Si, “Big Brother Li, this pearl seems strange.”
Li Si nodded. “The culprit meticulously planned everything. He shouldn’t have carelessly left behind the pearl, and there are also the iron filings on the soles of Zheng Hounian’s shoes. The culprit seems to have done this intentionally. What exactly is his purpose?”
The 31st day of the twelfth month. The Suishui County Yamen discovered the identity of the male corpse from Cuishui River.
The deceased was called Shang Yun, an escort master who worked for the Jincheng Escort Agency in Suishui City. Shang Yun learned his skills at the Southern Huai Shaolin Temple. His powerful Crouching Tiger Arhat Fist was his reliance for walking the martial world. Shang Yun walked both the black and white paths. His relationships were also intricate and complex, and not easy to sort out clearly in a short time.
Xiao Ning was extremely busy but hadn’t gained much. He still didn’t know where to start with the two murder cases. When Li Si came to find Xiao Ning, he was already exhausted and sleeping in the side hall of the county yamen.
Li Si woke up Xiao Ning. “Let’s go. Accompany me to a place.”
“Mm, where?”
“An old place.” Li Si was deliberately mysterious.
Thirty li outside Suishui City was a valley that, like four years ago, had lush green mountains and waters, warm as spring. Walking through the quiet forest in the valley, it was as if one could clearly hear the breathing of the entire mountain range and river. Within the valley was also a water pond that, when there was no wind or waves, looked like a pure white full moon that had fallen into the mortal world. In this scene of déjà vu, the only thing missing was that magnificent and imposing manor.
The once high-walled, green-tiled Budong Manor now had only a few remaining walls and broken ruins. Li Si stood on the eastern hillside looking at it. “Xiao Ning, do you still remember this place?”
Xiao Ning nodded. “I remember. Four years ago, we stood right here watching Budong Manor burn and perish in the sea of fire.”
“In the blink of an eye, it’s been four years.” Li Si wandered through it. “Why do I still feel like I’m living in that day?”
The various events of four years flashed through Li Si’s mind like a white colt passing a gap in an instant—glimpses and strands entangling then fleeing apart, like waking suddenly from a long dream. Wei Duming, Shen Rou, Bai Zhenzhu, Xuan Yuanshan, Lao Sitou… These people all stood before Li Si’s eyes, then vanished into smoke and ashes in a snap of the fingers.
“Big Brother Li, what’s wrong with you?” Xiao Ning blinked and asked. Since Li Si returned to Suishui City, Xiao Ning had noticed Li Si was a bit strange. Li Si often spaced out, as if hiding great worries. Xiao Ning knew Li Si wouldn’t tell him, so he also chose to remain silent.
“I thought of the past.” Li Si waved his hand. “Let’s go down.”
Xiao Ning and Li Si came to the old site of Budong Manor. Li Si was silent for a long time. Xiao Ning also felt sentimental. Neither of them spoke.
On the hillside where Li Si and Xiao Ning stood frozen, two human figures suddenly appeared.
“What are they doing? They’ve been standing there motionless for so long.” Meng Fanchuan said in bewilderment. Beside him, Gao Ling with his jade-like face said not a word, only gazing at Li Si’s distant back.