Published at 15th of August 2022 06:15:46 AM

Translator: Eyljee

A gust of cold wind blew away the dark clouds obstructing the whole city, a bright moon stretched its head out to illuminate the dark street. The roads were extremely damp due to the continuous rain and the usual bustling noise disappeared, making it seem desolate. 

A man stumbled up from the distance, intoxicated and bleary-eyed, with his whole body covered with the smell of wine. He uttered something vaguely. Suddenly his pace quickened, and immediately emptied out the contents of his stomach when he reached the nearby garbage can.

Not far away near the corner of the street stood a pair of man and woman making out. The woman pushed away the man lying on her body, glanced at the drunk man with disgust, and said: “It’s gross, let’s go, ba.”

“Come, my house is up ahead. Let’s go back and continue.” The man’s tone was full of excitement.

“Smelly rascal! Continue, what continue? You want to get to the United States!” The woman refused the welcome. 

A drunken man’s hazy eyes watched the two people in the alley, then cursed: “Damn dog and woman, bah!”

The drunkard seemed unable to get rid of his anger. He lifted his foot to the nearby garbage can. But because he wasn’t stable, he dove straight ahead and brought it down with him. The garbage poured out and submerged the drunkard.

The drunkard rose up from the garbage heap with a thump, however, he had no idea what he stepped on and fell down again.

A pungent smell of blood hit his nose, and the drunkard’s stomach began to churn again. He got up in anger, kicked on it and tore the garbage bag.

The sound of police siren pierced the silent night sky. Jiang Chengyan, who received the call, immediately arrived at the scene. After putting on his coat and work card, he strode towards the crime scene.

Yao Min saw Jiang Chengyan coming over and hurriedly welcomed him: “Captain, you’re here.”

“What’s going on?” Jiang Chengyan asked as he walked. 

“A drunk man knocked over the garbage can and found a body.” Yao Min’s response was concise and comprehensive.

“Are the forensics department here?”

“They haven’t arrived yet. But I’ve already notified them so they shouldn’t take long.”

“Hey, drunk man, are you sober?” 

“I was scared. He was still vomiting before you arrived here. He shouldn’t be able to speak for a while.”

“Then, take him back for questioning.”

Between their conversation, they already arrived at the garbage can. Jiang Chengyan put on gloves and foot cover, then squatted down to examine the body in the garbage bag. He found that there were only four limbs in it, its torso and head were nowhere to be seen.

“Roger.”

At this moment, the forensic medicine department and the trace examination department arrived one after another from far away.

“Su Ke, you need to improve your speed.”

Su Ke put down his things and put on his gloves, and said, “Cut the crap and move out of the way.” 

Jiang Chengyan stood up and walked to Qin An’s side, then asked in a low voice, “What’s the matter with him? Did he eat sh*t?”

Qin An shrugged and whispered in a mocking tone, “Maybe it’s that time of the month.”

“No way. Isn’t it always that time?”

Su Ke looked at them while laughing and said, “When you speak ill of others, could you walk away from them a little bit? If I hear you again, I’ll send each and every one of you to the dissecting table one by one.” 

Jiang Chengyan explained quickly, “It’s Qin An. He mentioned it first. It has nothing to do with me. If you want to dissect him, dissect him.”

Watching Su Ke take out the scalpel, Qin An couldn’t help swallowing and said: “Work, work, Su Ke. You’re busy, you’re busy.”

Recently, homicide cases have been frequent, and people in the police force have been exhausted by working overtime. Jiang Chengyan could only use this way to dispel the negative atmosphere.

Su Ke raised his head at Jiang Chengyan, “What about the limbs, trunk and head?” 

“Not yet.” Jiang Chengyan squatted down beside Su Ke and asked, “Can the time of death be speculated?”

“In line with the condition of the spot, the time of death shouldn’t be more than 48 hours. But the body was dismembered, coupled with the complicated circumstances, it is difficult to infer the exact time of death, so you’d better wait for the detailed autopsy report.”

“Captain, there’s something over there.” Li Tong came panting from a distance.

Jiang Chengyan’s eyes lit up and asked, “You found the trunk and the head?” 

“Only the trunk was found in the trashcan at the other end of the alley.”

Jiang Chengyan looked at Su Ke and said: “Go and take a look.”

“Xiao Zhang, stay here. Xiao Hu, come and have a look with me.” Su Ke called his forensic assistants.

Led by Li Tong, they walked through the alley and arrived at the end of the garbage can. There was a black garbage bag outside the can. The bag was untied, revealing the body inside. 

Hu Qingli laid a body bag on the ground and helped Su Ke move the corpse out of the garbage bag.

“How’s it going? Is it the same body?”

Su Ke nodded and said, “According to the segmentation of the body, it should be the same. The limbs and trunk have been found, now only the head is missing.”

“Yes!” Li Tong answered, turned around and left. 

But after searching for two hours, he had almost checked all the garbage cans five kilometers around, yet he couldn’t locate the head of the dead person. Jiang Chengyan had to give up the search and took his people back to the police station.

Looking at the time, it was already two o’clock in the morning. Jiang Chengyan clapped his hands and said: “Okay, let’s stop here for today. Everyone will go home to rest and be on time tomorrow.”

The scattered response was feeble. They have been exhausted by the continuous overtime.

Jiang Chengyan sighed in his heart and said with a smile, “I know we’ve been working hard recently and everyone is tired. Well, once the case is done, I’ll apply to the Commissioner for a three-day holiday for each person. In addition, I’ll treat you guys to Fu Man Lou. Help yourselves.” 

“Captain, you better keep your word!”

“That’s it. Look at my dark circles, how can I lift up my little brother!”

“Three days off, I’ll be able to travel with my wife.”

Seeing that everyone regained their spirits, Jiang Chengyan couldn’t help but feel relieved and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my word. Now go back and sleep. Let’s strive to finish the case quickly so we could enjoy a leisure vacation.” 

“Go, go. It’s good to go home and take a bath. It stinks to death to turn over the garbage can.”

“Un! I’m satisfied that I could sleep for a few hours after taking a bath.”

People left one after another. Jiang Chengyan stretched out, turned off the office light, and went downstairs.

When he reached the gate of the police station, he looked at the sign of the small supermarket just across the way. Jiang Chengyan laughed and muttered in a low voice, “514 grocery store, 514. I’m going to die. This shop’s name is pretty lucky.”

Jiang Chengyan crossed the road and went straight to the grocery store. He pushed the door and entered.

Ring ring ring. the bell at the door of the supermarket rang. Ling Huaan looked up. The little demon beside him whispered in his ear, “Boss, that fool is here again. And it seems he have brought something unclean with him.”

Wang Lei is a real ghost. Because he was an orphan, he couldn’t afford to hire Ling Huaan. So he has to work part-time on the grocery store to pay off his debts until he’s reincarnated. His job is as easy and simple as a security guard and cashier. 

The main reason is that Ling Huaan’s eyes couldn’t see the living people. When he’s on duty at night, some people cheated him because he’s blind, stealing things and not paying him. That’s why he had this position. Of course, the staff employed by Ling Huaan during the day are in charge, and Wang Lei only goes to work at night.

Ling Huaan hesitantly nodded. In fact, when Jiang Chengyan entered the door, he saw the ghost. There were obvious fracture marks on the joints between his limbs and trunk, and there was no head on his neck. He floated in close to Jiang Chengyan.

“Boss, I’ll take instant noodles.” Jiang Chengyan’s loud voice resonated from his ear.

“Get it yourself.” Ling Huaan stood in front of the cashier motionlessly, but his eyes followed the ghost. 

“Yikes! He’s naked!” Wang Lei complained in Ling Huaan’s ear.

“He just died, no more than three days, and was dismembered. His head has not yet been found.” Ling Huaan accurately judged the time of death of the headless ghost.

“So miserable? Isn’t the resentment huge?” Wang Lei’s tone has obvious fear.

The more miserable you die, the more resentful you are. The longer the time, the more powerful the ghost is. If they are not contained, it will become a fierce ghost. 

Fierce ghosts can hunt ordinary demons to improve their abilities, and then will become an independent existence. Their next prey would be the soul of the human beings, which is very dangerous.

It is said that Jiang Chengyan is young and has good yang. In addition to working in the police station, ordinary ghosts couldn’t get close to him, especially those who just recently died.

But now the ghost could not only get close to him, but also has plans to follow Jiang Chengyan all the time and absorb his yang. As time goes on, Jiang Chengyan wouldn’t die, but he will fall seriously ill.

“Look at his face, isn’t his ophyron black?” 

“It’s not just his ophyron, even the eyes are dark like he’s wearing smokey makeup.”

Ling Huaan suddenly realized that Jiang Chengyan must’ve been overworked, so his body was empty, that’s why the ghost must’ve been planning  to occupy the gap.

Jiang Chengyan, who knew nothing about it, came to the shelf, and picked up a box of instant noodles randomly. He moved towards the cashier, passed it to Ling Huaan’s hand and asked him to scan the code.

Di. After the sound, a mechanical female voice sounded, “Five yuan.” 

Jiang Chengyan took out a note from his pocket, handed it over to Ling Huaan, and said with a smile, “Boss, ten yuan.”

Wang Lei whispered in Ling Huaan’s ear, “Boss, it’s not ten yuan. It’s fifty yuan.”

Ling Huaan put the note on the cash register and raised his hand to slap him in the face.

Pa! In this silent night, the sound is crisp and loud, which left Jiang Chengyan’s head confused.