Mo Chuan hurriedly took Zhang Henshui's phone to check.
Sure enough, the statue, eyes, broken dragon horns...
Moreover, Mo Chuan keenly noticed: Fatty Tuo seemed to be a Buddhist (at least he was before), but all the Buddha statues had their eyes smeared with something like red paint.
Mo Chuan frowned and said to Zhang Henshui, "Brother Zhang, have these items been moved?"
"No."
"Can you take me to see them at midnight tonight?"
Zhang Henshui raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, "What did you notice?"
"No..." Mo Chuan shook his head and said, "When I was in Jibei before, do you know they opened a carnival in the city center?"
"I know, I wanted to go, but I was called to Shengjing."
"I used to work in a haunted house there, and the props, background stories, etc. of the haunted house..."
"Are exactly the same as in the photos."
Zhang Henshui didn't even notice when his cigarette butt fell to the ground.
...
In the evening, Mo Chuan explained his destination and obtained Mo Fei's consent (he promised to take her to try a restaurant with Russian imperial flavors and stroll along Shengjing Avenue tomorrow) before leaving the hotel.
Abe Haruko put on her helmet and asked, "Where are we going?"
"Marshal Bathhouse... No... What exactly have you been through?"
"I rode around the Third Ring Road twice. I wanted to do this when I was in Japan, but I never had the chance."
"Then this motorcycle..."
"I am the Old Man of the Clouds, I have met the Ghost King." Mo Chuan lowered his head upon hearing this and saw a white old man's face growing out of the motorcycle's wheel. He nodded slightly.
"...Alright, let's go," Mo Chuan nodded and got on Abe Haruko's vehicle.
...
Mo Chuan and Abe Haruko arrived at the sealed Marshal Bathhouse and were led to Fatty Tuo's office by the local Shengjing police.
Mo Chuan put on white plastic gloves, shoe covers, and a mask, and then picked up a forensic multi-functional magnifying glass to enter the scene. (Watson, picture up.)
Although somewhat messy, the Buddhist items everywhere and the dust-free prayer beads displayed in the showcases all indicated Fatty Tuo's usual hobbies.
A passage that went up and down within a display rack indicated Fatty Tuo's escape route at the time.
With Zhang Henshui's help, Mo Chuan first found the statue in the photo from a small cabinet.
Mo Chuan carefully examined the statue – the statue should be made of some kind of wood, with an incense burner and small candles placed in front; just like the one he saw in the haunted house before, the most noticeable thing was that the entire statue was covered with red writing, which looked very eerie; the statue had six arms, with the left three holding a bowl, a sword, and a锥子 respectively, and the right three holding an eye, a pair of ears, and a tongue; on top of the statue's head were two broken dragon horns, and its face was covered by the six hands, blocking its eyes, ears, and mouth.
Mo Chuan frowned and slightly turned the statue to find other clues.
"What's the story behind this statue in that haunted house?"
"The boss said that this statue represents the River God Dragon King from a great river. Because he stopped the flood and saved the villagers, he was sentenced to behead by the gods in heaven. While the Dragon King was imprisoned, the village suffered from drought year after year due to the lack of rain. The people whom the Dragon King had saved, seeing that their pleas to the gods were useless, directly smashed the Dragon King's temple, attracting the vengeful spirit of the Dragon King, and the entire village turned into a ghost realm."
"The statue is black, indicating it's not a benevolent deity; the sword, bowl, and 锥子 represent force, blood sacrifice, and punishment; the eyes, ears, and tongue represent the statue's offerings," Mo Chuan said, carefully examining the red writing, "As for this writing... I don't know what it is."
"It's Sanskrit."
Mo Chuan and Zhang Henshui looked back at Abe Haruko, who was leaning against the doorframe.
"Back in Japan, I saw monks at Kiyomizu-dera performing rituals with charms written in this Sanskrit," Abe Haruko said, twirling the tip of her hair, "I understand a little. You can let me try~" httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Upon hearing this, Mo Chuan made way, signaling her to proceed.
Abe Haruko chuckled and walked behind Mo Chuan, blowing into his ear and saying, "It's not free, you know~"
Mo Chuan shivered and quickly pushed Abe Haruko slightly towards the statue, saying, "Work first! We'll talk later!"
Abe Haruko's lips curved slightly as she began to examine the writing on the statue.
Zhang Henshui shook his head and muttered, "Young people..."
Abe Haruko watched for a while, and her breathing gradually deepened. As her breathing grew louder, it became more noticeable in the already quiet office.
Mo Chuan and Zhang Henshui noticed Abe Haruko's abnormality and couldn't help but look at her.
Finally, Abe Haruko suddenly grabbed the statue, raised it above her head with one hand, and smashed it forcefully onto the ground.
Before Mo Chuan could stop her, Abe Haruko hugged him. He clearly felt Abe Haruko biting his shoulder, but since it didn't hurt, he gestured to Zhang Henshui, signaling him and the other police officers not to step forward and pull Abe Haruko away.
After a while, Abe Haruko stopped biting and collapsed into Mo Chuan's arms as if she were drained.
Seeing that she was fine, Mo Chuan asked, "What happened?"
"This writing... only works on those who understand it... it's a type of spell... it twists the reader's thoughts and turns those who read it into followers of the statue... So when I realized my perception was distorted, I immediately smashed the statue and began to fight against this power." As she said this, Abe Haruko raised her slightly pale face and drew a circle on Mo Chuan's chest, saying, "Thank you~ You can choose the position when we get back~ as a reward~"
"..." Mo Chuan found that ever since Shuten-doji started following him, his mind was only filled with playfulness and lewd thoughts, acting like a seasoned flirt every day.
Mo Chuan gently carried Abe Haruko to a chair and then leaned over to examine the fragments of the statue.
The inside of the statue seemed to be hollow, because after it shattered into wooden pieces, a pool of black liquid also flowed onto the floor.
Mo Chuan's intuition told him that this thing was not to be touched.
He picked up the wooden pieces one by one and arranged them on the carpet nearby. After about ten minutes, he found a strange fragment.
In terms of shape, it was flat on two sides and smooth on one, and it should be a fragment from the center of the base. However, there seemed to be a character carved on it...
Mo Chuan took out his magnifying glass and stared at the blood-red font for a long time before realizing what was written on it – the character "五" (five).
"Five? This thing has a number?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Henshui quickly leaned over and stared at the fragment in Mo Chuan's hand for a long time. Finally, he said with a grim expression, "The Fourth of the Ten Kings of Hell, King Wuguan."