Captain Li seemed reluctant to broach the subject. The sound of footsteps came through the phone, and he didn't speak until he'd walked to somewhere private. "That child has a misunderstanding of death."
"Children's worldview isn't fully formed yet. Perhaps in their eyes, death just means going somewhere far away — I can understand that." Ever since
"If only that were the case. After the girl was rescued, she didn't utter a single word for three whole days. She didn't cry, didn't fuss — so obedient it was frightening." Captain Li sank into his memories.
"It wasn't until the evening of the fourth day that a policewoman found her huddled in the corner of her bed, staring at a spider on the headboard. The policewoman assumed the girl was afraid of the spider, so she casually crushed it. That's when the little girl suddenly started screaming, saying the policewoman had killed her sister."
"That was the first time the girl ever spoke. And it was from that moment on that we realized something was off about her."
"A child who doesn't grieve over her parents' deaths, but breaks down sobbing over the death of a spider — what kind of world does she perceive?"
"We tried to explain to her what the word 'death' means, and we found that in her mind, death isn't an endpoint for a person. That girl told us, very seriously, that after people die, they become something else. The idea was somewhat similar to reincarnation."
"Because she doesn't fear death, we'd often hear cruel words coming out of that child's mouth."
"A cute child with a face as pure as an angel, speaking about death in an innocent voice — so was she an angel, or a demon?"
"After digging deeper, we uncovered even more details."
"The person who originally reported the case was a passing villager. Based on the autopsy report, we could roughly estimate that the girl had been with her deceased parents for at least two days." Captain Li's voice dropped even lower. "A four- or five-year-old is already mentally approaching independence — capable of thinking for herself and doing many things on her own. Yet for two full days, she never called the police or went to any adult for help. Don't you find that strange?"
"Maybe her parents never taught her those kinds of things." The image of Jiang Ling's pitiful expression flashed through Chen Ge's mind. He had a vague feeling that something was off as well.
"The only fingerprints found in the house were the girl's and her parents'. The poisoning method was clumsy beyond belief, yet it somehow succeeded. There were many more suspicious details like this. In short, this case isn't as simple as you think."
Someone was calling Captain Li's name on the other end of the line — it seemed something had come up. Captain Li gave a perfunctory acknowledgment.
"Chen Ge, something urgent has come up and I have to go. I know I probably can't talk you out of this, so I can only give you a warning: be careful around that child, and don't go to that village at night."
"I can't enter the village at night?"
"Look at the map. There's only that one village within several miles — don't you find that strange? When we were investigating other towns and villages, an old man told us that Linguan Village had suffered a plague long ago. Many people died."
Someone else was urging Captain Li on the other end. After hurriedly passing along a few more words, he hung up, leaving Chen Ge standing alone in the dark, dilapidated village.
The busy signal droned in his ear. Chen Ge quietly pocketed his phone. "When he said 'long ago,' how many years ago did he actually mean?"
He scanned the pitch-black Linguan Village, looking at those rows of square, crumbling houses. They looked like rows of coffins that hadn't been sealed shut.
"Linguan Village — take apart the character 'Lin' and it becomes 'wood' and 'coffin' village."
He stepped out of the village and stopped by the side of the cement road.
Never mind the middle of the night — even during the day, you couldn't hail a cab out here. He couldn't get back to the city now.
"Jiang Ling said her father's peach orchard is on the west side of the village. Let me check there first."
Chen Ge switched on his flashlight and followed the winding mountain road toward the western edge of Linguan Village.
The road grew narrower and narrower. After cresting the hill, just as Chen Ge was about to give up, he suddenly caught sight of a faint glow ahead.