I Went Crazy Killing in the World of Gods and Demons - Chapter 67

Chapter 67

In the car.

Due to the tight schedule, Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu didn’t have enough time to fully understand the case.

Xie Qingling took the opportunity during the drive to the outskirts to explain it to them.

“…The body was discovered this morning by a photography studio that was out shooting wedding photos. They reported it to the police. The scene is currently sealed off, and we need to go there to ‘clean up the area’.” Xie Qingling described the situation in the most concise terms.

Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu nodded.

They took the documents handed to them by Xie Qingling and quietly flipped through them.

After about three hours of bumpy travel, the off-road vehicle finally arrived at the foot of a secluded and remote mountain.

It was already 3:00 PM.

The summer sun was still high in the sky, making it unlikely for darkness to fall soon. Yet, standing in the outskirts, they felt an inexplicable chill.

As soon as they stepped out of the car, a wave of icy cold air hit them, as if countless tiny, cold droplets were clinging stickily to their skin. The mountain dew was heavy, and the humidity was intense. Xie Qingling couldn’t help but shiver.

The driver said, “The place where the body was found is extremely remote, with very few people passing through. From here on, the vehicle can’t go any further. We’ll have to proceed on foot. I can guide you up the mountain to the sealed-off area. However, from that point onward, you’ll be on your own.”

Shen Huaizhou, however, said, “No need to guide us. Just tell us the direction. We probably won’t be coming back down tonight.”

The driver was taken aback but then replied, “Alright. Head west, circle around the halfway point of the mountain ahead, and go a bit further. You’ll see our personnel stationed there.”

“Keep in touch at all times. I’ll wait here. If you don’t return by the designated time, I’ll leave.”

After obtaining the correct direction, the three of themShen Huaizhou, Xie Qingling, and Dai Xingyuset off.

Xie Qingling asked him, “Why didn’t you let him guide us?”

“If it really is a Singularity Event, having him come along would only mean we have to split our attention to protect him. It’s better not to involve him from the start. Besides…”

Shen Huaizhou added, “He’s too slow. A half-hour journey would drag into an hour with him.”

Xie Qingling: “…”

So, you just didn’t want him tagging along because he’s slow.

However, all three of them were Spirit Users, with physical capabilities far surpassing ordinary people. Even in terms of travel speed, they were faster and had greater endurance.

Shen Huaizhou wasn’t wrong about the driver being slow. Bringing him along would indeed slow them down.

The winding path through the valley would take an ordinary person at least three hours to traverse at their fastest. The three of them, however, took shortcuts, climbing over rocks and trees, and completed the journey in less than an hour.

By now, they had circled past the halfway point of the mountain and reached the summit of the second peak.

Standing there, they could take in the distant scenery, with the mountain views and terrain laid out before them in full clarity.

The wind howled from all directions, carrying the sound of a rushing river in the distance.

Looking down into the valley surrounded by mountains, they could see a body lying there, its features indistinguishable from this height.

Against the green grass, the figure lying amidst the lush greenery stood out starkly and unnaturally.

“Let’s go,” Xie Qingling said. “We’re here.”

The three of them descended together, encountering three people responsible for staying behind to guard the area halfway down.

After exchanging information and completing the handover with them, Xie Qingling and the others continued their descent.

Going up a mountain is easy; coming down is hard.

The distance from the mountain to the valley floor, which seemed very short, proved treacherous and stumbling for Xie Qingling and her companions.

Piles of dried branches and fallen leaves on the ground, moss-covered stones that could easily cause slipsall became obstacles hindering their progress.

The journey was extremely arduous.

“Your satellite signal is weak…”

“GPS signal weak…”

“Signal weak…”

The further they descended, the more Xie Qingling’s navigation compass kept emitting reminder alerts. Suppressing her irritation, she tapped the compass and muttered, “Stop making noise!”

Finally, they completed this arduous stretch and reached the valley floor.

Luo Yuancheng’s corpse lay before them.

Even from a distance, before getting close, Xie Qingling felt an indescribable sense of strangeness.

She felt this corpse was odd, very odd.

But for the moment, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was strange about itonly after investigation could she draw further conclusions.

She opened the dissection toolkit Ling Fang had prepared for her, put on a pair of gloves, and made some preparations. Then, Xie Qingling took out a flashlight and shone it on the corpse.

After scanning the surroundings to ensure nothing was amiss, she signaled for Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu to approach.

The three walked up to Luo Yuancheng’s body, taking in the full gruesomeness of the corpse.

It felt different from seeing it in photographspictures could only replicate vision, but standing here now, their senses could perceive much more, and their brains received far more information.

For instance, the stench of the rotting corpse.

Or the buzzing of flies swarming around the body.

It was hardly a pleasant scene.

Xie Qingling remained expressionless.

Shen Huaizhou… showed no particular expression eitherhis psychological resilience differed from ordinary people’s.

As for Dai Xingyu, after the ordeal with the Huapi Ghost incident, looking at Luo Yuancheng now, he felt much calmer.

Still, he couldn’t help feeling some sorrow.

Covering his nose with one hand and waving the other to shoo away flies trying to land on his shoulder, he lamented, “Why would someone come exploring in this godforsaken place for no reason? And end up losing their life! To end up like this… tsk!”

Xie Qingling swept the flashlight beam back and forth across the corpse while using her other hand to examine it, conducting a preliminary inspection.

The body surface was covered with numerous scratches, claw marks, and bite marks, making it a gruesome sight.

On the neck, there was a particularly noticeable bite marka clear set of teeth imprinted on the bluish-white skin, fierce and terrifying.

Hearing Dai Xingyu’s words, Xie Qingling suddenly said, “No, he didn’t come here on his own.”

Dai Xingyu was baffled: “Huh? How do you know?”

“Didn’t you find it difficult when you came down just now? This place is surrounded by mountains on all sides. No matter which direction you come from, it’s all steep, pathless downhill slopes. Even we had a tough time navigating it. For an ordinary person, coming here is a death sentence. Didn’t you see? Even those responsible for sealing off the area are stuck up there and can’t come down. The records say he was an experienced mountaineer. He should have been able to tell the difference between exploration and suicide, right?”

Dai Xingyu suddenly understood, “Then… he didn’t come here by himself. This is murder.”

Such an obvious statement.

If it weren’t murder, would they be here right now?

Xie Qingling ignored the easily shocked Dai Xingyu. Instead, she tapped Shen Huaizhou’s leg and handed him the flashlight.

Shen Huaizhou took the flashlight, adjusted its direction, and provided illumination for Xie Qingling.

With both hands free, Xie Qingling could now examine the corpse more thoroughly.

“Two ribs broken. Scapula fractured as well, leg bone shattered… multiple fractures throughout the body. The wounds are clean, no dirt or debris – he didn’t fall down the mountain.” Xie Qingling said, “He was thrown down from mid-air.”

Moreover, he was thrown from a considerable height, resulting in nearly every bone in his body being broken.

After reaching this conclusion, Xie Qingling lifted Luo Yuancheng’s collar, took out a knife, and cut open an artery.

The blood had indeed been drained.

Or rather, sucked dry by something.

Shen Huaizhou said, “To throw someone down from such height, the perpetrator must either be human using a helicopter, or capable of aerial flight.”

Xie Qingling gave a low “mm” of agreement.

She took a very small pair of tweezers from her dissection kit and began picking through the already exposed, rotting wound. Eventually, she extracted three items.

One was a cluster of oval, millet-like particles, though smaller in size and milky white in color.

Another was… white maggots.

And the final one, a brown pupa-like object.

Dai Xingyu, having imagined something, was already on the verge of vomiting.

He looked at Xie Qingling with horror, wondering how she could remain expressionless! Her gaze had even become more focused.

Xie Qingling suddenly looked up and asked them both, “How long do you think this corpse has been dead?”

Shen Huaizhou thought for a moment before saying, “Three or four days?”

He was just guessing.

How would anyone know?

Dai Xingyu glanced over. Although the exposed flesh had begun to rot, the uninjured skin elsewhere remained intact, showing a bluish-white color somewhat resembling living human skin.

“Four or five days,” Dai Xingyu also threw out a random number.

Mainly because three or four days seemed too short for the wounds to have rotted to that extent.

Yet the skin appeared relatively preserved, not decomposed enough to show corpse stains.

Xie Qingling shook her head, “He’s been dead for at least two weeks.”

She pointed to the milky white particles, saying, “These are fly eggs.”

“The second one is fly larvae.”

“The third is a fly pupa, soon to become an adult fly.”

Hearing her explanation, Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu still looked puzzled, waiting for her to continue.

“This weather is the most rapid and comfortable time for flies to breed. Even if the mountain temperature drops slightly, slowing their reproduction rate, it won’t affect them too much.”

Xie Qingling said, “I don’t have specific experimental data right now. I’m just roughly estimating the time required for these things to appear.”

“First are the eggs. Given the mountain temperature, flies laying eggs will produce maggots in about 12 hours.” Xie Qingling pointed at the second cluster of white maggots and said, “That’s what these are.”

“The larval stage lasts about 5 to 8 days before turning into pupae.” She pointed to the third cluster of pupa-like objects. “It takes flies about 3 to 6 days to pupate.”

“It takes roughly 10 days for flies to complete one reproductive generation. Since these pupae are about to become flies, that means this corpse has been dead for at least ten days.”

Xie Qingling looked up and gestured for them to observe the flies buzzing incessantly around the corpse. “Look at all these fliesit means there’s already been more than one generation…”

Upon hearing Xie Qingling’s explanation, the other two’s expressions changed.

Luo Yuancheng had likely died shortly after being reported missing.

If Xie Qingling’s explanation was accuratethat the corpse had been dead for half a month, nearly a monthyet hadn’t completely decomposed, it could only mean the victim’s manner of death was unusual.

At the very least, it wasn’t a normal death.

Both the way Luo Yuancheng had appeared here and the bizarre decomposition timeline proved this wasn’t an ordinary death.

Xie Qingling said, “Step back first, keep some distance from the corpse. Also, tell those people waiting outside to withdraw, so they don’t get implicated here.”

Shen Huaizhou was right. If there really was something unusual here, those people wouldn’t be able to help and might instead increase the burden on the three of them to protect them.

Dai Xingyu nodded and immediately used his communication device to notify the people on the mountain to leave.

The people on the mountain quickly responded, packed their things, and descended.

By now, the golden sun was setting in the west, and the surroundings were growing dark.

The wind in the valley grew stronger, and the area became increasingly quiet.

The wind carried the sound of raging river waves crashing against the shore, seeming both distant and eerily close.

Xie Qingling asked, “How does the department usually handle situations like this?”

Shen Huaizhou replied, “Generally, to prevent Corpse Transformation from harming others, we douse the body with gasoline and burn it to ashes.”

“But that way, we can’t uncover what’s behind this…” Xie Qingling murmured thoughtfully. “Let me try something.”

As she spoke, Xie Qingling crouched on the ground, placing one hand on the earth.

She whispered, “Soul Return!”

The sun set and the moon rose, hanging high in the sky, casting a silver glow over the world.

As the Soul Return Technique took effect, Luo Yuancheng’s already pale, bluish face appeared even ghastlier under the moonlight.

Unlike the previous skeletons Xie Qingling had used the Soul Return Technique on, he didn’t rise immediately at her command. Instead, a few low, beast-like growls emerged from his throat.

Luo Yuancheng emitted a guttural “heh heh” sound, resembling both human speech and the growl of a beast. Then, a layer of white fur began to sprout on his exposed skin!

Shen Huaizhou said, “It’s a hairy corpse.”

As he spoke, Shen Huaizhou wiped his blade and immediately prepared to throw it.

Xie Qingling stopped him: “Wait a moment.”

Her Mystical Power had already been exhausted.

By now, Luo Yuancheng had finally quieted down.

Xie Qingling didn’t know if the zombified Luo Yuancheng could still be controlled through the Soul Return Technique, but she asked without much hope: “Can you tell me how you died?”

Luo Yuancheng laboriously rotated his decaying eyeballs, seeming to glance at Xie Qingling, and nodded.

Then, Luo Yuancheng turned and began leaping rapidly through the mountain wilderness in a manner impossible for a human.

Xie Qingling said: “Follow him!”

The three immediately gave chase, enveloping their feet with Spirit to increase their speed. They darted through the forest, sometimes soaring through the air, keeping pace with the leaping, galloping Luo Yuancheng.

Finally, Luo Yuancheng led them to a river winding around the green mountains.

Standing by the riverbank, Luo Yuancheng didn’t hesitate for even a moment before plunging straight into the water.

The three halted their steps.

After a brief pause, Xie Qingling asked: “Dai Xingyu, can you swim?”

Shen Huaizhou said: “Dai Xingyu, you can swim.”

Dai Xingyu: “…”

Dai Xingyu untied the straps on his body, set down his box, and then jumped into the river as well.

After about five minutes, Dai Xingyu resurfaced from his deep dive.

With a horrified expression, he said: “Under the river… there’s something in the river!”