Chapter 142 The Miao Village (ETL) Part 1
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Chapter 142 Besides Your Face, What Else Do You Have?
After taking the body back, the police were truly perplexed. Because the dozens of households in this village were all like clansmen, no one was wary of anyone else. There were no surveillance cameras nearby. When did this person arrive? Who did he/she come with? The police had nowhere to turn.
Moreover, the accident happened halfway up a mountain, not among the villagers, so it would be difficult to find any eyewitnesses.
This area is in a remote mountainous region, and the police station’s investigative facilities are inadequate. They lack high-tech equipment and can only rely on manpower for investigation. Even with reliable manpower, things aren’t going well. The house was burned down, destroying all the evidence. Furthermore, it was demolished, further eliminating many of the few remaining clues. The villagers only discovered the body at the very end of the demolition; how much could possibly be left at the scene? It’s obvious it won’t be easy to find anything.
To find clues, the police needed to dig up the pit the villagers had dug and search through the discarded items one by one, hoping to find any trace. This required manpower and time. Most importantly, they needed to find out where the body came from and the victim’s name, so they could trace the killer through the victim’s network of relationships.
Even more perplexing was the fact that the body was charred. Was it burned after death, or burned alive? Was this house the primary crime scene? Or had someone killed someone elsewhere, dumped the body here, and then burned it? They had absolutely no clue!
This small town had no forensic doctor. There hadn’t been a murder for years, and everyone felt that having one was a waste of resources. Now that they needed one, they were completely at a loss—they didn’t have one! To identify the victim as quickly as possible, the police had no choice but to send the victim to the county police station for an autopsy.
The body was sent for further examination, and it was evening when the autopsy report came out. The results were tragic: the victim was female, and bone age analysis indicated she was only 17 or 18 years old. She was burned after death. There were no clues about her identity, and whether that house was the primary crime scene remained to be investigated. To identify the victim, the police could only create a facial reconstruction, but that was impossible in this remote, impoverished area. They would have to seek help from higher authorities. This back-and-forth process would take several more days.
At Gu Ye’s side, he also felt a headache coming after seeing the autopsy report. Gu Ye and Xie Cheng looked at Ge Qiaojun with sympathy. “Qiao Qiao, you’ve really been caught in this mess. The murderer wasn’t after you; he just saw an empty house halfway up the mountain and wanted to borrow it.”
Ge Qiaojun angrily retorted, “So, I’m going to kill him!”
Xie Cheng frowned. “We can’t get involved in this case; we can only wait.”
At this point, Gu Ye looked at Xie Cheng with disdain. “Xiao Cheng, you’re too poisonous.”
Xie Cheng felt a pang of sadness. “I’m sorry! I am poisonous!”
Gu Ye said helplessly, “Sigh! As long as you know it, what else can I say? I’m used to it.”
Xie Cheng facepalmed. Was he ever this unlucky? What kind of fate was this?
Gu Ye narrowed his eyes and comforted, “Don’t worry. Tonight, I’ll find a ghost to inquire about the situation. We’ll see if we can push things forward and close this case as soon as possible.”
Ge Qiaojun sneered. Judging from his expression, he already wanted to kill someone.
Gu Ye clutched his stomach. “Can we eat something before we catch the killer? I’m starving.” He ate lunch on the plane and spent the afternoon climbing up and down the mountain. It’s already past five, and he’s starving!
Ge Qiaojun said disdainfully, “Eat! All you know is eating! You can’t even summon a soul, what are you eating for!”
Gu Ye retorted irritably, “Aren’t you asking me to do something unreasonable? You want me to summon a bug’s soul? Who the hell knows how to summon a bug’s soul? Even my master didn’t know how when he was alive! Hurry up and cook something, I’m hungry!”
“Just you wait!” Ge Qiaojun, though angry, still stood up and left.
Xie Cheng whispered, “He’s in a bad mood right now, don’t provoke him.”
Gu Ye rolled his eyes. “Did I provoke him? This bastard was the one who provoked me. I’m hungry, and he won’t let me eat.”
Inside, Xie Cheng wanted to say, ‘His house burned down, and the police even dug up a dead body in his own home, and you won’t let him vent his anger? Who spoiled you?’
Gu Ye continued his ranting and sighed. “Qiao Qiao is just spoiled rotten. He’s had this bad temper since he was little.”
Gu Ye glanced at the grave of Qiao Qiao’s aunt1 and muttered under his breath, “It’s all your fault for spoiling him.”
Xie Cheng was speechless. “Come on, you’re spoiled too.”
Glancing at the sky, Gu Ye took out a paper servant ghost figure that Ling Ling had folded earlier from his backpack. After infusing it with ghostly energy, he transformed it into a small ghost. Its face was deathly pale, its cheeks rosy, but otherwise, it looked no different from a normal ghost. Gu Ye gave the instruction to go and scout out the situation and to return quickly.
The little ghost floated away quickly after hearing the order. Gu Ye checked the time. “It can fly, much faster than a human. It should be back soon.”
Xie Cheng peeled a piece of chocolate. He was hungry too. He ate it while saying, “Let’s wait patiently.”
A little while later, Ge Qiaojun returned, carrying two bags of groceries. Xie Cheng asked hesitantly, “Can he cook?”
Gu Ye chuckled, “Not very good, but not poisonous either. Though, you have to say he cooks well. If you dare say he doesn’t, he’ll poison you.”
Hearing that, Xie Cheng’s face stiffened. “Really? You’re kidding me.”
Gu Ye grinned mischievously, “Believe it or not.”
Now Xie Cheng genuinely didn’t know if Gu Ye was telling the truth. When Gu Ye is being mischievous, it is a real headache for him.
Gu Ye rolled up his sleeves, eager to get some food as soon as possible, and went inside to help. Ge Qiaojun picked up a raw chicken and slammed it onto the cutting board with a loud crack. Next, he grabbed a cleaver and chopped off the chicken’s head in one swift motion. He then violently chopped the chicken into several pieces, before separating the meat part with a cold expression.
Gu Ye grinned. “Qiao Qiao, calm down.”
Ge Qiaojun didn’t even look at Gu Ye. “Clean the vegetables.”
Gu Ye squatted down to pick the vegetables. “What are you making?”
Ge Qiaojun said coldly, “Chicken meatball soup.”
Gu Ye smiled. “Chicken thigh meat is enough for the meatballs. The rest can be used for spicy chicken (Laziji).”
Ge Qiaojun gave Gu Ye a disdainful look in response. After a while, he asked Gu Ye, “How many days are you staying this time?”
Thinking of the jealous man at home, Gu Ye said with a forced smile, “I won’t leave until I’ve finished dealing with things here and built your house.”
Ge Qiaojun glanced at Gu Ye and asked disdainfully, “Aren’t you afraid your man back home will get jealous?”
“How could he? Hehe,” Gu Ye chuckled dryly. “He’s not the petty type.”
Ge Qiaojun shrugged. “I can tell from the way he looks at me. He’s a strong-willed person. If you dared to mess with him, you had to be careful. If he locks you up one day, I definitely won’t rescue you.”
Gu Gu Ye was speechless. “You’re so heartless!”
Ge Qiaojun brandished the knife, flattening the ginger. “Stay for 2 days and then get lost. Just offer incense to my master.”
Gu Ye chuckled softly, “Qiao Qiao, if you miss me, just say so. Don’t be so awkward, okay?”
Seeing Ge Qiaojun holding up the cleaver, Gu Ye immediately shut up. “You win.”
While they were eating, the little ghost Gu Ye sent out had returned and reported the findings from the police station. They were following a procedure to create a facial reconstruction of the victim, then they would search for missing persons online to locate the person’s family before they could pursue the killer.
After hearing this, the 3 young men discussed it and realized that following the proper procedures would take several days. Furthermore, the crime scene couldn’t be disturbed during the investigation, so they couldn’t rebuild the house. Gu Ye calculated the time and frowned, saying, “How long will this take? School starts soon, I can’t wait. After dinner, I’ll go summon her spirit and ask her how she died.”
Xie Cheng said, “I checked that spot. There’s not much ghostly energy left; the ghost should be gone.”
Gu Ye: “We still have to try a soul-summoning ritual. We’ll see later if this method fails.”
Ge Qiaojun asked in a dissatisfied tone, “See later?”
Gu Ye glared, “If we can’t find it, we’ll think of something else, don’t rush me.”
Xie Cheng silently ladled himself a bowl of soup. These two, they’re about to argue again.
Just then, a meow behind Ge Qiaojun interrupted their argument. Ge Qiaojun turned around, hugged his cat, and ruffled its hair. “Gu Gou Dan’er (Bastard Gu), son, want some meat?”
Hearing that almost made Xie Cheng spit out his soup. Gu Ye’s face darkened instantly, and he looked like he was about to hit Ge Qiaojun.
With an earnest expression, Ge Qiaojun said, “Gu Ye, Father saved a chicken butt for you. I’ll give it to you to eat later.”
Gu Ye’s face darkened, and he said through gritted teeth, “Why do I want to kill you so badly?”
Ge Qiaojun picked up a meatball. “Goudan’er, eat some meat.”
At this point, Gu Ye became furious and kicked Ge Qiaojun’s chair. Ge Qiaojun simply turned his back, leaving Gu Ye with his back to him. Gu Ye could say whatever he wanted; he continued feeding the cat. This indifferent attitude made Gu Ye grind his teeth in anger. “You wait until I get back!”
Xie Cheng sighed. The total age of these two combined wasn’t even 3 years old.
After dinner, the three of them went to the burned-down house again. The police had put up tapes prohibiting entry, but this didn’t stop Gu Ye from summoning the spirit.
Xie Cheng asked, “You don’t have that woman’s birth date, nor any of her belongings. How are you going to summon her spirit?”
Gu Ye only smiled and pulled a paper package from his pocket. Upon opening it, they can see a dark, unknown object. Then, Xie Cheng’s features scrunched up. “Where did you steal this?”
“Bullshit! How could I steal it? I found it! It fell off the corpse while it was being moved, so I just picked it up.”
“And you kept it in your pocket the whole time?”
“Yeah.”
Xie Cheng grabbed a handful of his own hair, feeling nauseous. He was eating with someone whose pocket contained a piece of cooked human flesh! Exhausted, Xie Cheng asked, “Did you wash your hands while cooking?”
Gu Ye suddenly widened his eyes and gasped. “I forgot.”
Xie Cheng: “…”
“Hehe.” Gu Ye chuckled mischievously, “Just kidding.”
Xie Cheng squatted to the side, completely in despair.
Raw word count: 6159 (whole chapter)
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