I lifted my head to look at Professor Deng. I was so shocked that I couldn't talk.
After a long time, I calmed down and tried to speak. "I've thought about raising a ghost, but I haven't found the right opportunity."
Professor Deng turned around to look at me. He gave me a faint nod then went upstairs.
Although he didn't say anything, the two policemen's faces changed. From time to time, they turned to look at me. Their eyes were full of vigilance.
I didn't feel good. I had always respected Professor Deng, but now, he had started to doubt me. It was the same feeling I had when I was a child when my parents thought that I had done something wrong.
We went upstairs to Professor Jiao Dongliang's house. Although it had been three days, it was still a sad thing to lose a son in a middle-aged man's life. Mr. and Mrs. Jiao still looked tired. After asking why we were here, Mrs. Jiao burst into tears. She didn't want to cooperate with us. Professor Jiao helped her back to her bedroom to rest.
In the end, only Professor Jiao Dongliang came out to answer our questions.
Since the police had done their investigation, Professor Deng was the one who came to ask questions.
As soon as he opened his mouth, he asked about the child's birth date and horoscope. Professor Jiao was surprised. He asked the two policemen for Professor Deng's identity before answering the questions.
After asking about the child's birth date and horoscope, Professor Deng squinted and moved his left thumb on his other four fingers to calculate.
I knew it was a way to use the Luo Sutra. It used the palm to replace the Luo Sutra. It was very convenient to calculate the time of Yin and Yang. It was called the Flipping Trigram Palm.
I also calculated in my head. The child's birth date was on the Yin Day and the Yin Hour. It was the perfect embryo to refine a ghost.
Then, Professor Deng asked if anything strange had happened to the child before the accident.
Professor Jiao tried to recall for quite a long time. However, he only told me the things a child would do. There was no clue.
When Professor Deng was about to leave, I couldn't help but interrupt him. "Did you guys dress the child up with the red dudou and the silver hoops on his hands and feet?"
Professor Jiao was surprised. "My wife dressed him up. I'm busy with work, so my wife usually stays at home to take care of the child."
Although I didn't know what was wrong with the red dudou and the silver necklace, I had a feeling that something was wrong.
To verify it, I asked Professor Jiao to go back to his room and ask him. The answer surprised us.
Professor Jiao was not the one who dressed the child up, nor was it his wife. Both of them thought that the clothes and the silver bracelet were bought by the other party.
Originally, the two of them still had some doubts. However, after the incident, the two of them were too engrossed in grief and forgot about this matter.
Then, we checked the surveillance footage before the accident. Two hours before the accident, we found that the child had climbed out of the stroller and ran to the blind spot of the surveillance camera. When he came back, his one-piece baby outfit had turned into a red dudou, and there were silver rings on his hands and feet.
This was the only valuable clue we had found today. I was shaken. I wanted to find the exact location of the kid according to the surveillance footage.
At this moment, Professor Deng called me and urged me to go back.
"It's useless to investigate the red dudou. At most, it can prove that it's a necessary procedure of the soul capturing ritual. It can't help us find the geomancy master who raised the ghost."
I felt strange. I didn't know why, but I felt that Professor Deng's attitude was perfunctory. He had only asked for my birth date and the eight characters of the horoscope, which had already been asked by the police. It was impossible for us to find any clues. Now, as soon as I found some clues, he urged me to go back.
However, I resisted the urge to ask more questions. I stood up and followed Professor Deng.
No matter what, Professor Deng had invited me here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to see the crime scene.
If I followed my own ideas, I would offend Professor Deng.
However, after we left, Professor Deng explained to me, "I'm here to check if the police have forgotten anything. When I was in Professor Jiao Dongliang's house, I didn't see any place with thick Yin energy. We don't need to waste time here. We should check the child's body as soon as possible."
He was right. The crime scene was only important when the police investigated the case. To a geomancy master, the body could reveal more secrets.
I didn't think too much and followed Professor Deng to the Forensic Department of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Professor Deng was the special consultant here, so he was familiar with the place.
After the two policemen escorted us here, they left separately.
After the policemen left, Professor Deng explained to me the question he had asked me about raising a ghost.
He told me, "After a case like this, as long as it's confirmed that a soul hunter was killed to create an imp, the police will immediately mobilize the people around the crime scene to find out who has the ability to create imps. Then, they will interrogate them one by one."
Rather than letting the police find me in the future, it would be better to tell them now and let them investigate. It would save us a lot of trouble in the future. "
After listening to his explanation, I felt much better. I didn't feel wronged anymore.
Then, Professor Deng filled in a form to apply for an autopsy. Since Jiao Dongliang and his wife had signed the agreement to perform the autopsy, Professor Deng submitted the form and took me to the freezer. We found the child's body.
The real person was even scarier than the photos. Below the small body, there was a huge bloody hole. Blood flowed from the seven orifices on his face. After being frozen, they looked like black and red centipedes crawling on his face. It was a horrifying sight.
However, the scariest part was his eyes. They were still open, and as he lay there, no matter where I was, I felt as if his eyes were staring at me.
Professor Deng had seen this kind of thing too many times. He didn't look surprised at all. After changing into a white surgical gown, he went to find a big bag of tools.
I felt strange as I thought he was going to dissect the body. However, he opened the bag and took out an air tank with a nozzle. He also prepared a small glass bottle.
I felt strange. "What do you want to do?" Professor Deng's answer surprised me.
"I want to refine the child's corpse oil!"
Corpse oil was a kind of oily liquid that was secreted when a corpse was roasted.
From the perspective of geomancy, corpse oil was very useful. However, it was usually used in evil geomancy rituals, such as the soul capturing ritual to raise a ghost.
Corpse oil was the strongest material to restrain a person's soul. When a geomancy master wanted to restrain a person's soul, the easiest way was to refine the corpse oil and then restrain the soul.
This method was foolproof. Moreover, after raising a ghost, the geomancy master would let the ghost live in the corpse oil. It was the best material for the ghost.
Why did Professor Deng refine the corpse oil?
I asked him in bewilderment.
Professor Deng answered indifferently, "The child's soul has been captured and refined into a ghost. Summoning the soul won't work. However, if we refine the corpse oil, there's a chance that we can summon the ghost's soul back."
Although the geomancy master who raised the ghost used this cruel method to refine the ghost, the thing he used to house the ghost wasn't as good as the corpse oil in the child's body. As long as we could refine the corpse oil and use the soul summoning spell, we could forcefully take the ghost back from the geomancy master.
After listening to his explanation, I understood everything. However, I didn't feel right. I had an instinctive aversion to this cruel method.
Professor Deng turned on the gas tank. There was a special ignition device on the nozzle, which spurted a light blue flame.
He aimed the nozzle at the boy's chin, which had a lot of fat. He didn't let the hot flame touch his skin. Instead, he placed the nozzle about two or three centimeters away from his skin.
Shortly after, the boy's frozen body, which had turned purplish gray, slowly turned rosy. A few minutes later, the roasted parts of his body became smooth and shiny.
Right at this moment, I smelled the aroma of roasted meat. Instantly, my stomach convulsed, and I couldn't help but retch.
Fortunately, I had been busy for a long time and hadn't had time to eat. Otherwise, I would have vomited already.
Professor Deng turned around and shot me a faint glance. He didn't say anything and lowered his head to concentrate on refining the corpse oil. From the beginning to the end, his face didn't change at all.
I suspected that he had done this kind of thing many times and had gotten used to it. However, I remembered that corpse oil was used to perform evil rituals. I was sure that Professor Deng didn't refine this kind of thing often.
After being roasted for about half an hour, some fine oil began to seep out of the pores on the surface of the glistening skin.
A few minutes later, the oil particles grew bigger and combined into a big drop of corpse oil. It slowly slid down the boy's skin and fell into a small glass bottle that Professor Deng had prepared.
Around one hour later, Professor Deng had collected about half a bottle of corpse oil. Then, he turned off the flamethrower, wrapped the boy's body, and put it into the freezer.
I didn't have to hold my breath anymore. I took a deep breath, but the smell of roasted meat still lingered in the air. I couldn't help but retch a few times.
After collecting the corpse oil, Professor Deng took out a few small bottles. They were also filled with different kinds of oily substances. However, they looked a little yellow, and they smelled rancid.
He didn't explain to me and just poured them into the bottle of corpse oil. After shaking the bottle a few times, he took out a small yellow paper doll and stuck it on the bottle. There was a line of words on the back of the doll.
Professor Deng's body was blocking the yellow paper, so I couldn't see the words. I thought it was the boy's birth date and eight characters, so I didn't pay much attention to it.
But coincidentally, there was a mirror behind the place where we were standing.
I turned around and saw the words written on the yellow paper doll in the mirror.