Otherworldly Merchant

Song Longji furrowed his brows. "I haven't heard anything about her. Maybe she just suffers from some mental illness?"

I pondered for a moment and deemed it possible.

Song Longji asked me, "What are you going to do now?”

I replied, "Since we’re dealing with human beings, there’s no need to be afraid. The owner of the Human Bones Necklace will definitely head to Azalea House to eat the souls of the dead. We just have to keep a close watch on the place." 

Song Longji suggested, "Let's go together tonight. I'll bring a gun to assure our safety."

Then, I told Song Longji to show me the pictures of the suicide victims. I wanted to check them again to see if I could find something.

Song Longji took the files out of his briefcase and handed them to me.

When I looked at the picture of that student that had died in the dormitory, I had a sudden realization.

The more I looked at the corpse, the more I found it similar to the old woman we’d met in the bathhouse yesterday.

I furrowed my brow. At first, I thought it was just my misconception, but the more I looked at it, the more I felt that I was right.

I passed the files to Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue, asking them to take a look at the student and see if she resembled the crazy old woman we’d met last night.

The duo looked at the picture and nodded.

Yin Xinyue said confidently, "Even if they aren't the same person, they’re definitely related."

I didn't think it was a mere coincidence. I felt that there was a big secret behind it.

Therefore, I asked Song Longji, "Aji, where’s the body of this student?"

Song Longji hesitated a little before replying, "In the morgue?"

I continued, "Can you check and see if it's still there?"

Song Longji nodded and made a call. Then, his expression suddenly changed, becoming pale, and he looked at me with eyes filled with shock.

I knew it. My guess is probably correct.

Sure enough, Song Longji stuttered as he said, "T-The corpse was in the refrigerator, but when our men went there to check, they didn't find anything. T-There was only a pair of shoes..."

At the same time, I recalled that the woman we saw yesterday wasn’t wearing shoes!

I suddenly felt a headache.

Song Longji asked, "Are you suspecting that the crazy old woman you met yesterday might be the third victim? Do you mean that she’s still alive?"

Song Longji, Yin Xinyue, and Li Mazi had all ugly expressions on their faces.

Yin Xinyue was so scared that she didn't even dare to lift her head. She suggested stopping with the search. As for her boss, she’d deal with them. Not only that, she even offered to pay part of the sum they’d promised me for the job.

However, I shook my head and declined her suggestion. There was a certain rule in this profession of mine... one could either ignore the otherworldly item and not bother with it for a lifetime, or get involved and have to deal with it for a lifetime.

Although I wasn't completely sure what would happen if one abandoned the job halfway, I knew that that person wouldn't die a natural death.

After I declined her offer, Yin Xinyue didn't insist any longer.

I had two theories regarding the person we’d seen yesterday.

First theory, they were two different people that just looked similar.

Second—and most likely to be correct—theory, was that the person we’d seen was indeed the third suicide victim, who couldn't find peace after her death and had decided to head to Azalea House.

The Human Bones Necklace had the unique ability to make its owner famous, and it was often used by superstars to gain fame. But, the fame obtained through the Human Bones Necklace came at the cost of the owner’s body. After the fame of that student was sucked dry, only strong resentment was left in her body. At that point, it was hard to predict what would happen!

So, I wasn't too surprised that the suicide victim had suddenly appeared in Azalea House.

According to popular belief, this was a case of ‘corpse coming back to life’.

However, there were still many other mysteries to unveil. For example, why had the corpse appeared in Azalea House? I was sure that it hadn't crawled there on its own; someone had secretly brought it there.

My guess was that it was the doing of the Human Bones Necklace’s owner.

In addition, the old woman we saw yesterday had a face filled with wrinkles. Although we recognized her as the suicide victim, she’d looked 50 or 60 years old last night.

If they were really the same person, how did she age this much overnight?

After recalling all these events, I became cautious.

I told Song Longji, "To avoid unnecessary casualties, it would be best to make all the people hanging out in Azalea House at night leave."

Song Longji furrowed his brow. "If we drive that trash out, wouldn't we end up alarming the owner of the Human Bones Necklace? The opposite party would become more cautious and might not even go to Azalea House."

I fell into deep thought. Song Longji has a point. How should we proceed now…?

After discussing for a while, we concluded that it was better not to cause a ruckus and proceed cautiously.

Once we’d finished devising the plan, we concluded the meeting.

Just as I was preparing to rest, Song Longji came back, looking flustered. "Someone died in Azalea House."

"This quick?" I was caught off guard. I didn't think that things would escalate this quickly.

Song Longji nodded.

"Let's go take a look," I said.

We got into Song Longji's car and rushed to Azalea House. Maybe it was because death was a common occurrence in the area, but there weren't many spectators.

We followed the police and arrived on the third floor of the building.

There was a strong smell of blood in the air, which made us feel a little nauseated.

When I saw the scene, my scalp went numb. The whole room was filled with blood. The floor, the walls, and even the ceiling had traces of blood.

A sensual, red-haired woman was lying in a pool of blood on the floor. After a careful look, we discovered that it was the same girl we’d met yesterday.

She seemed to be slightly over 20 years old, and possibly because of the nutrients in the blood she’d used to drink, her skin was very smooth.

Song Longji covered his nose. "Forensic expert, what’s the cause of death?"

A police officer squatting on one side and writing the report came over and said, "The cause of death is excessive loss of blood, almost 80% of the blood in her body was drained through the arteries in her limbs. It seems that she cut her arteries and kept drinking her own blood until she died from overeating."

Then, another police officer approached us. "Chief, according to the evidence we collected, she committed suicide. As for the blood on the ceiling, she spurted it out of her mouth."

"Nonsense!" Song Longji flipped. "Have you ever seen someone drinking their own blood and dying from 'overeating'?!"

The forensic expert said in a hurry, "There was also the blood of another person at the site. However, we still can't tell whose blood that was."

Song Longji looked at me and smiled bitterly, helplessly shaking his head.

My guts were telling me that the death of this girl was related to the Human Bones Necklace, but I was only able to connect the dots after my vision accidentally fell on her wrist.

There was an imprint on her wrist. Something had pressed on her wrist too tightly, leaving a small bruise behind.

I told the forensic expert to check the marks on the girl's wrist.

The forensic expert quickly reported back. "It seems that she was wearing something too tightly around her wrist, perhaps Buddha beads."

I immediately thought of the Human Bones Necklace.

I was pretty sure that she was wearing it before her death. The Human Bones Necklace had absorbed all her fame and caused her to have hallucinations, leading to the scene before our eyes.

Li Mazi and the others had ugly expressions as well. As soon as I pointed out the marks on her wrist, they probably connected the dots too.

Of course, I couldn’t tell what I was thinking to the forensic expert. There was no way he would believe that it was the doing of a necklace.

I took a deep breath and for hinted Song Longji to follow me outside.

After we’d reached a deserted place, I told him about my guess.

Song Longji sighed. "Is that Human Bones Necklace really this terrifying?"

I replied, "Yes, it definitely is."

Since we were already in the building, I decided to head to the eighth floor to look for that old woman.

If we managed to find her, he would finally solve the mystery of the student’s missing corpse!