"What do you mean the bodies are missing?"
The man before him was Li Shuangjin's most trusted subordinate, someone Marshal Li had found from the army to protect Li Shuangjin. He was one of the few who knew about their trip to the West.
Naturally, Li Xiaoxian knew now too.
He glared at the man in front of him, wondering if his ears were faulty.
The man in uniform lowered his head. "Seven bodies that the Lin family left at the mourning hall have gone missing."
The Lin family's distant relatives hadn't arrived yet, and the bodies had been kept in the mourning hall. They went missing two days ago.
The mourning hall where they stored the bodies had been sealed with earth immediately after the sixteen bodies of the Lin family were placed inside. The small windows were too small for even a child to crawl through. It wasn't until yesterday, when the Lin family's relatives arrived to take the remains back to their hometown, that they broke open the earthen seal and discovered seven bodies were missing.
Because the matter was of great importance, Li Shuangjin had specifically instructed them to check every day before he left. Therefore, they were certain of when the bodies went missing.
However, this mystery, akin to a locked-room murder, instantly rendered the entire police station helpless. With Li Shuangjin away, they could only turn to him.
The more Li Xiaoxian heard, the stranger it became. He decided to visit the place himself.
This mourning hall was built decades ago by corpse handlers from Western Hunan. Back then, wars were more frequent, and there were often dead bodies on the battlefield. Western Hunan had this tradition; locals would search for the bodies of Western Hunan people who had died and find ways to bring them back to their hometown for burial. Thus, this mourning hall came into existence.
The mourning hall was located in a secluded area, with withered trees and weeds everywhere. Coupled with it already being an inauspicious place, few people visited it, making it even more eerily silent and terrifying.
For ease of entry and exit, the small door, only wide enough for one person to pass through, had been broken open in many places. Li Xiaoxian bent slightly and walked in. On the haphazardly arranged earthen platforms lay several slightly decomposed bodies. These people had died a violent death, and after being here for over a month, their appearances were now even more horrifying.
However, amidst this rotten, foul smell, Li Xiaoxian strangely detected a fragrance. It was so faint that it barely entered his nostrils, yet it made him feel somewhat dazed.
It was very familiar.
Li Xiaoxian furrowed his brow.
"Are there any traces of other things?"
People couldn't get in through those small windows, but birds like crows, which liked to eat carrion, certainly could. If the bodies had simply vanished without a trace, they wouldn't have considered this possibility.
The person who had gone to find him walked over, his gloved hand rummaging through the bodies. He pointed to a clearly torn mark on one of them and said, "Several bodies have this kind of damage. It wasn't there when they were delivered. Other than this, there's nothing else."
Li Xiaoxian looked at it, but he couldn't quite tell what had made the tear. He asked, "What did this tear open?"
"It looks like the claws of a ferocious beast, but here..."
The man looked at the small window near the eaves. No large wild beast could possibly climb in here.
A fleeting thought crossed Li Xiaoxian's mind: a ferocious, giant cat clawed open this body, sniffed it, seemed displeased by the rotten flesh, and then left.
He shook his head, thinking he had become a bit foolish from spending so much time with his sixth uncle.
"When will my sixth uncle be back?"
"They sent word over ten days ago that they had started their return journey. They should be back in the next day or two."
Li Xiaoxian truly lacked the ability to solve cases. He said, "Then we'll talk about it when they get back. Settle the Lin family's relatives first. Post more guards here, and have people on duty at night too."
"Yes."
---
That night, Li Xiaoxian went to the Bai Le Men as usual. He sat in a private room upstairs, watching the dancers downstairs. When he saw Qu Ninghuan, dressed so colorfully and flirtatiously, he suddenly remembered something.
The fragrance he had smelled during the day was very similar to the one on Qu Ninghuan.
Li Xiaoxian's eyes narrowed. He stood up from the reclining chair, intending to leave, but then stopped. He sat back down slowly, his gaze strangely appraising the people downstairs.
He was now certain that this woman was problematic. He couldn't alert her.
Also, if, as his sixth uncle had said, the Lin family's deaths were indeed due to that new type of marijuana with added ingredients, then why was Qu Ninghuan, who didn't smoke opium, involved?
It wasn't until Qu Ninghuan's song and dance ended that Li Xiaoxian came back to his senses. As he left the private room, he happened to run into someone coming out of the next room.
Wu Xiang was holding someone in her arms. That fool seemed to be asleep. Her small body was not as large as the person she was holding, yet she could carry the person steadily, without a hint of strain, her expression relaxed and at ease.
Li Xiaoxian rolled his eyes mentally. He was about to leave without saying hello, and Wu Xiang clearly didn't want to bother with him either, turning to leave on her own.
"Hey, wait a moment."
She turned back with the person in her arms. "What is it?"
Li Xiaoxian's gaze swept over her. "You, find a place to put her down first, and then come with me."
"No time," she said and turned to leave.
Li Xiaoxian quickly said, "It's about their business. If you don't care, then neither do I."
Wu Xiang remembered what her mother had told her. After a moment's thought, she followed him with the person in her arms.
The car bumped along for more than half an hour before finally stopping at the deserted mourning hall.
The people from the police station were quite diligent. Two cars were parked at the entrance of the mourning hall, with five or six people guarding the only exit, tending a bonfire and chatting about something.
Seeing the cars approach, they became alert until they saw Li Xiaoxian get out of the car.
"Young Marshal."
Li Xiaoxian nodded. Just as he was about to turn and call someone, he saw her carrying the person down again.
Li Xiaoxian: "... We're here for important business. Can you please put her in the car?"
Wu Xiang hesitated for a moment, then turned and placed the person back in the car before walking over.
"What did you bring me here for?"
The others were also quite confused. However, most of them had seen this young girl before, having been by Li Shuangjin's side. They knew she was Li Shuangjin's adopted daughter and quickly called her "Young Lady."
Li Xiaoxian briefly explained the situation to her. Wu Xiang frowned and walked inside.
The others quickly followed.
Just as they were about to enter, there was a sudden sound of something falling inside. Li Xiaoxian's expression changed, he drew his gun, and rushed in.
As the two of them stepped inside, something rushed towards them. Wu Xiang grabbed the back of Li Xiaoxian's uniform, and he slammed into the wall beside them. Sharp claws grazed his cheek, and a burning pain instantly shot through his jaw.
The people following behind shone their flashlights. A dark, winged shadow flapped past them. They instinctively raised their guns and fired. The thing let out sharp, chilling screams. Gunshots, animal cries, and human noise instantly descended into chaos.
In the darkness, Wu Xiang clearly saw the appearance of the thing.
An owl with countless pairs of wings.
She had seen this kind of thing in two places.
One was the demonic crow that emerged from the Sanjiebei, which was a manifestation of demonic energy and could thus take on various strange forms.
The other was Luan Yu's alternate dimension.