Chapter 108

Chapter 108

I ran all the way back to the Pawnshop and went straight to the Main Hall.

The moment I saw the Lingchi Blade still sitting intact on the Altar Table, my wildly pounding heart finally calmed down.

Thank goodness. The Lingchi Blade hadn’t been stolen.

I knew it. No one should have the nerve to break into the Main Courtyard or the Main Hall of the Pawnshop.

I closed the door to the Main Hall. By the time I returned to the Rear-facing Room, Li Qingying had come back as well.

She asked with concern, “Xiao Jiu, what happened?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Just a false alarm.”

Li Qingying said, “Are you tired? You don’t look so good. Why don’t you sleep for a while? The corpse retrievers are about to arrive, so I need to go keep an eye on things.”

I nodded. “Okay. Sister Qingying, help me watch the details. Tell me what happened when you come back. I need to think something through.”

Li Qingying agreed, then headed out again.

I poured myself a cup of tea and sat behind the counter, both hands wrapped around the cup.

Since the Lingchi Blade hadn’t been stolen, that meant Zhao Zixun might not necessarily be behind this.

A sixteen-year-old girl, still a student, clean and innocent… That suddenly reminded me of something-the Human Skin Drum.

According to the origin of the Human Skin Drum, a girl would be chosen from childhood, poisoned until she became mute, and then raised almost entirely cut off from every filthy thing in the outside world. When she turned sixteen, the entire piece of skin on her back would be flayed off and stretched over a drum frame, creating the Human Skin Drum.

The Evil Monk had used the Human Skin Drum to control the Black Cat and attack us.

After the Human Skin Drum was struck by Fengwu’s flames, it exploded, leaving only a drum frame behind.

But even taking ten thousand steps back, even if the Evil Monk wanted to flay another piece of skin from a young girl’s back and make a new Human Skin Drum, he would still need to be capable of it.

One of his hands had been blown apart, one leg was crippled, and his external and internal injuries had piled on top of each other. He might not even be alive right now.

For him to personally flay someone and make a Human Skin Drum was simply unrealistic at the moment.

Then, in all of Wufu Town, aside from Zhao Zixun and the Evil Monk, who else had both the motive and the means?

The instant that thought occurred to me, my hand jerked. Tea spilled out and splashed onto the back of my hand, immediately reddening a patch of skin.

I had thought of someone-Bai Jingmo!

First and foremost, Bai Jingmo was the heir of the Bai Family. There was no question about his medical skill.

What was even more terrifying was that he had studied away from home for many years and had long since become a master at treating rare and difficult illnesses.

Those hands of his did not only know how to place needles. They also knew how to hold a scalpel.

But if it really was him, why would he do something like this?

What was his motive?

I set down the teacup and leaned back in my chair. Without realizing it, my right hand moved to touch the Scale on my left arm. The faintly cool sensation helped me stay calm, as if Liu Junyan were right there beside me, solving all of this with me.

Bai Jingmo, a young girl’s human skin, Wufu Town, Zhu Pan River…

The moment I thought of Zhu Pan River, my thoughts suddenly opened up.

The eight Red Coffins in Zhu Pan River, and that night when Old Lady Bai tried to seal me inside a Red Coffin and sink me into Zhu Pan River, were still vivid in my mind.

And Mei Linshuang’s human skin had been nailed inside the Red Coffin in the Attic of the Town Head’s Residence!

So…

“Xiao Jiu, it failed.” Li Qingying hurried in and said, “Three corpse retrievers came, and every one of them failed. Chen Tao is still standing in the water like a nail hammered in place. They couldn’t move her even half an inch.”

I asked, “And then?”

“The corpse retrievers said the body was too unnatural, and that it was probably extremely ominous. They only took half the deposit and all left,” Li Qingying said. “It’s dark now, and everyone’s scared. There’s no one left at the Riverside.”

I nodded, deep in thought.
Li Qingying leaned closer and asked for my opinion. “How about this, Xiao Jiu? I’m a good swimmer. Why don’t… I go down and take a look?”

“No!” I said. “Let’s not take any risks for now. I’m afraid this is a trap. There are too many strange things under the Zhu Pan River. We can’t get in the water lightly.”

“All right.” Li Qingying thought for a moment, then said, “Then I’ll go make dinner. Tonight probably won’t be peaceful. Let’s close up early and get some sleep.”

I agreed, then sat back down and continued following my earlier train of thought.

After dinner, I made up my mind. “Sister Qingying, I want to visit Chen Tao’s parents and ask them a few things.”

Li Qingying looked confused. “Right now?”

“Mm,” I said. “The sooner, the better.”

So Li Qingying locked the door and went out with me.

To our surprise, Chen Tao’s parents were already at the Riverside by the Zhu Pan River.

In the darkness, a van was parked by the Riverside, its headlights illuminating a small patch of ground.

The entire Riverside was deathly quiet. Faintly, we could hear Mother Chen’s hoarse sobs.

Li Qingying and I slowly approached, and only then did we see a two-tiered cake set in front of Chen Tao’s parents. It was decorated with Chibi Maruko-chan elements, with a pink Candle stuck on top in the shape of the number 16.

Written on the cake were the words: Happy birthday, our precious daughter!

Beside the cake were several gifts: a pretty little dress, a thin woolen coat, a Chibi Maruko-chan plushie…

These gifts didn’t look like things they had rushed out to buy after dark.

Mother Chen was crying. Father Chen sat off to the side with one leg bent, holding a miner’s lamp in his hand. The beam struck the water and shone straight onto Chen Tao’s blood-soaked corpse.

Under the light, Chen Tao’s body looked even more hideous and terrifying. Anyone would have been afraid of her-except her parents.

No matter what their daughter had become, she was still their most beloved child.

We walked over and tried to comfort Mother Chen.

Mother Chen had spent the past few days drowning in tears, and her state of mind was very poor.

She lifted her eyes to us. Maybe because I was only two years older than Chen Tao, her gaze stopped on me.

I had just opened my mouth to say something when Mother Chen suddenly lunged forward and hugged me tightly.

“Taotao, is that you?” Mother Chen held me, stroking my hair as she cried. “You came back to see Mommy, didn’t you?”

Li Qingying was startled and instinctively moved to pull Mother Chen away, but I waved at her, signaling for her not to act rashly yet.

“It’s all Mommy’s fault. Mommy shouldn’t have thrown herself completely into the factory. Mommy should have gone to the county seat and stayed with you while you studied.”

Mother Chen’s tears broke through like a breached dam. Mistaking me for Chen Tao, she rambled on in remorse. “There will always be more money to earn, but I only had one precious daughter. How could I have been so foolish? How could I leave my daughter alone at school in the dorms instead of going to stay with you?”

“If Mommy had gone to keep you company, you wouldn’t have gone missing, right?”

“If Mommy had been there, then on your sixteenth birthday, you would have gotten to eat sweet cake, wear the clothes you loved most, and sleep holding your favorite little plushie. It wouldn’t have been delayed until the end of the month, until your long break from school. It wouldn’t have been delayed until everything was too late.”

“Taotao, it must have hurt so much, didn’t it?”

“It must be so cold under the water, isn’t it?”

Mother Chen hugged me even tighter. She opened her coat and wrapped it around me, her tears falling continuously onto my face. “Mommy will hold my Taotao tight. Then Taotao won’t be cold anymore.”

But no matter how she held me, no matter how she wrapped me up, it still didn’t seem enough.

In the end, still holding me like that, she actually began moving toward the Riverside. “Don’t be scared, Taotao. Mommy will come stay with you, all right? With Mommy by your side, you’ll never be afraid again…”