Episode 26: The Place Swallowed by Light

It was late at night. The white light of the forensic lab was cold, as if it had no temperature at all; the dim autopsy room glowed as bright as day. The clock on the wall pointed to one in the morning, and the second hand ticked on, second by second—click, click—like a nervous heartbeat.

Situ Hengyi and Qin Shaohua had just returned from Art Gallery No. 76, dust still damp on the soles of their shoes, when they rushed straight to the forensic lab, dragged Qin Lang out of his sleep, and ordered the tests done urgently.

On the examination table, the slender silver needle, cold as steel, lay in a sterile tray, glinting with an ominous faint light.

Qin Lang, wearing gloves, adjusted the microscope as he frowned. "This kind of thing... isn't something an ordinary person would use."

The magnified image was projected onto the screen—the surface of the silver needle was engraved with extremely fine runic patterns, spreading like blood vessels. "This is completely different from the silver needles found on Fang Jin and Shen Yao."

He pointed at the patterns, comparing them with the markings on the Judge's silver needles. "This is entirely the Judge imitating the killing method!"

Qin Shaohua looked at the pattern on the screen, keeping his composure, and said coldly, "This is... a talisman?"

Qin Lang nodded, his voice very low. "Not the folk kind. It's a soul-locking needle. Legend says it is used specifically in the blood sacrifice ritual, to make sure the soul cannot escape the body."

He pointed to a slightly indented spot with his fingertip. "Here is the soul-ring engraving. It has only one purpose—to keep the victim conscious before death. Pain and fear are amplified to the extreme."

Situ Hengyi drew in a sharp breath, clenched his fist, his brow furrowed, a chill running down his back, and said in a low voice, "They treat people as a murder game for their amusement!"

The whole forensic lab fell silent, as if someone had pressed pause; everyone was swallowed up by such a dark truth.

After a moment, Situ Hengyi's Adam's apple moved. "The Judge uses the silver needles to kill in the same way, in order to spread fear, to declare war and show force."

Qin Lang looked up and continued his analysis in a calm tone. "The heart, pierced last by the needle, is a ritual seal. The method used to kill Fang Jin and Shen Yao was the same, but the silver needles were different. This is punishment killing."

Qin Shaohua leaned against the wall, arms crossed, thinking for a few seconds, his face expressionless as he stared at the reflection on the wall, and replied coldly, "They are not random serial killers."

He looked up at Situ Hengyi, adjusting the frame of his gold-rimmed glasses, and said coldly, "This is a complete religious killing project."

Situ Hengyi fell silent, his fingertips tightening slightly. He narrowed his eyes, as if piecing together the whole course of the case: this was a series of serial killings, and those artists had all been murdered in this cruel way—and there were even many more people.

Qin Lang looked up at their concentrated expressions, took off his gloves and mask, stretched, and complained, "You woke me up in the middle of the night. I thought I'd get to pick up another body."

The next day, Situ Hengyi and Qin Shaohua, chasing down leads, had gone all night without rest; only at three in the morning did they finally get a few hours of sleep in the forensic lab, while Qin Lang had no choice but to give up his own temporary mattress.

Early in the morning, there was an urgent knock at the door. Lin Fan pushed it open, her face grave. "Boss, there's a new discovery."

He handed over the tablet—

On the screen was an anonymous document, captured from the dark web, still exuding a violent air even after being blurred.

"Tian Sirong... has dealings with an underground organisation called the Scarlet Celebration." Lin Fan took a deep breath. "This organisation holds... murder parties."

Qin Shaohua stood opposite them, brewing a pot of coffee, and said coldly, "That sounds like an urban legend."

"No, it's real." Lin Fan pointed at the document, her face serious. "The participants are all high-net-worth people, entrepreneurs, politicians. At each party, they choose a sacrifice and kill them in some symbolic way."

She paused, then added, "Tian Sirong has attended many times."

Qin Lang climbed up from the autopsy table, nearly startling Lin Fan, and said in a low voice, "This matches... the blood sacrifice ritual."

The air in the whole room grew heavier. Qin Shaohua looked at their gloomy faces for a moment, then poured himself a cup of hot coffee, took a sip, and said, "The dead have finally spoken."

The next second, Wang Yuan hurried in, out of breath, and slapped a stack of files onto the table. "Team leader, I found Su Yizhou's recent movements... Every day at three in the morning, he goes to the same villa."

Qin Lang raised an eyebrow. "A lover? A secret rendezvous?"

Lin Fan asked with a gossipy gleam, "Has Director Su been keeping a canary?"

Qin Shaohua glanced over, a faint smile appearing, and said indifferently, "I'm afraid it's not that simple."

Wang Yuan shook his head, hurriedly snatched the coffee from Qin Shaohua's hand, gulped it down in one go, handed it back, frowned, and, catching his breath, looked stranger and stranger. "No, that villa hasn't been lived in for ten years."

Situ Hengyi looked up. "The address."

Wang Yuan took a deep breath and pushed the paper toward him. "In the suburbs... near the back hill of Art Gallery No. 76."

All four fell silent at once.

Those clues, like ominous threads, began to piece together into some kind of outline:

▪ Soul-locking needle

▪ Blood sacrifice

▪ Murder party

▪ Uninhabited villa

▪ Su Yizhou's secret movements

▪ The altar of Art Gallery No. 76

Qin Shaohua set down his coffee cup and murmured, "If everything is connected to Yu Mengge..."

"On the day he died, what exactly did he see?"

Situ Hengyi said in a low, cold voice, "Not just him."

"We are stepping onto a dark secret that could tear this city apart."

The light fell on the silver needle, like some eye that was opening.

Three days later, Situ Hengyi sat in a café, watching the busy passers-by outside the window. A delivery rider hurried in through the door and rushed off with the day's orders to deliver, living each day in hardship and torment. It began to rain again outside, and pedestrians opened their umbrellas; for survival, people had to rush about making a living, whatever the wind and rain.

Qin Shaohua took out his laptop and saved the photos taken over the past few days onto the computer. The waiter brought two cups of coffee. Qin Shaohua, absorbed in his work, was not distracted in the slightest; he organised all the photos, then tidied the documents methodically.

Situ Hengyi picked up his coffee and took a sip. He had finished the bureau's work for the day, leaving the rest of the follow-up to Lin Fan and Wang Yuan. These past few days had been a release of his pent-up emotions, and whatever happened, he would have to enter the art gallery once more. Watching Qin Shaohua work so seriously, like a machine, meticulous in everything, he thought: this is a man of great principle, and of great discipline.

He spoke up and asked, "Every day, besides arguing cases for people, you still find time to solve crimes. Are you really a lawyer?"

Qin Shaohua tapped the keyboard a few times, adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his face, and stared at the file on the screen with a solemn expression. "Being a lawyer is my profession, and how I earn my living. Investigating cases is my pleasure. What about you?"

Situ Hengyi picked up his coffee, took a sip, turned to look out the window, easing the tension of the past few days, and leaned back against the sofa. In a deep voice he said, "My father was also a police officer before he died, and my mother was a teacher. In an accidental car crash, they were killed, and only I survived." He composed himself and went on, "The relatives at home simply could not raise me, so they sent me to an orphanage. It was not until I was thirteen that one of my father's colleagues took me back, raised me, and got me into university. Later I entered the police academy. It turned out that everything was different from what I had imagined."

Qin Shaohua looked up at him, a subtle change crossing his face; a smile appeared, but he soon became calm again. "What a coincidence, I'm an orphan too. My father also died in an accident. Later, with the help of kind-hearted people, I became a lawyer." With that, he finished organising all the material and analysing all the photos, turned the screen toward Situ Hengyi, and began to explain. "By my reckoning, this art gallery is very sinister. None of its exhibits are art—they show visitors their sins."

Situ Hengyi frowned, his expression intent, his scalp prickling, his voice trembling slightly. "The root of sin?"

Qin Shaohua, his face expressionless, looked at the material on the screen and the sets of photos taken, and went on, "The murder parties—they pick suitable people and kill them. Of course, none of this can be explained by science; those rituals are as if some spell had been cast on them..."

Situ Hengyi's head suddenly swelled with the strain; it was hard to accept such an unscientific explanation. "You mean these exhibits are all witchcraft? What does this have to do with Yu's case?"

Qin Shaohua paused for a few seconds, picked up the coffee on the table, took a sip, and became unusually calm. "Perhaps what we have seen is only part of it. Do you remember what the cases of Qiao Lingchuan and Yu Mengge have in common?"

Situ Hengyi suddenly understood. "The same talent agency, the same agent, both ruled accidental deaths. All information about them was suppressed, and their case files all vanished mysteriously."

Qin Shaohua pointed at several of the photos and said calmly, "Look at these paintings. I compared them with their photos using AI—they are portraits of the two of them. In other words, both of them went to this art gallery before they died."

He tapped the table and added, "A few days ago, I took care of all the surveillance footage from our nighttime break-in at the art gallery. Not a trace left."

Situ Hengyi looked at him in astonishment, then lowered his head and studied the patterns in the photos closely, his brow furrowed. "A person being controlled, surrounded by trees, bonfires, red flames, black eyes, like a crowd watching—this is a scene, a record of a ritual scene."

With that, he calmed his emotions, feeling a chill all over his body, his heartbeat quickening, and added, "Art Gallery No. 76 is the breakthrough."

Qin Shaohua picked up a cup of coffee, drank a sip with elegant movements, and nodded. "I've called Xia Zilan over. He's been rather depressed lately, pestered by that Tian Sirong. I asked him to come and help."

Situ Hengyi nearly spat out his coffee. He covered his mouth and lowered his voice. "Lawyer Qin, you want a pop idol to come... and do what?"

Qin Shaohua pointed at the door, his expression natural, and said seriously, "He's here!"

Xia Zilan, wearing sunglasses, dressed all in black, with a hat on his head, saw them sitting together and greeted them, "Hi!" He sat down, took off his sunglasses, and smiled broadly. "I barely managed to get out. Sister Bai has arranged a lot of performances for me lately. Last time, after she found out about Tian Sirong, she had a big row with Tianze. But lately that old hag hasn't come to bother me either—someone dug up her old scandals." He picked up the coffee on the table, about to take a sip, but Qin Shaohua stopped him. "Lawyer Qin, I'm thirsty!"

Qin Shaohua nodded. "Her scandals were probably leaked deliberately by someone, afraid she would ruin things. After all, the game must go on."

Situ Hengyi looked at Xia Zilan's cheeky grin—he was clearly in a good mood lately—and said softly, "Lawyer Qin, have you gone mad? This is an investigation, not a variety show."

Xia Zilan fiddled with his fingers, bit his lower lip, and leaned over the table, grinning. "Officer Situ, don't look down on me! Before I became an artist, I wanted to be a people's police officer. Later I chose the entertainment industry instead."

Qin Shaohua looked up at his innocent expression, his face calm, his eyes deep, and said in a low voice, "Situ, do you have a better way to slip back into Art Gallery No. 76? We need to get into the places that aren't open to the public."

The waiter brought a cup of coffee. Xia Zilan picked it up, took a sip, wiped his mouth, and, finding it all sounded rather exciting, said with a smile, "Lawyer Qin, you're right, but I need an assistant. My assistant is dull-witted; every day he arranges my work for me, like a housekeeper."

Situ Hengyi thought deeply for a few seconds, his expression intent, and said coldly, "Then pick one!"

Xia Zilan shook his head. "You two clearly aren't people from this industry. Can't you find someone more reliable?"

He picked up a cup of coffee, took another sip, and suggested, "Being able to help with an investigation—that's a very interesting thing."

Qin Shaohua asked coldly, "Have you told Bai Yujing about this?"

Xia Zilan frowned and shook his head. "No! Once I start the livestream in a bit, she'll know!"

After the three of them discussed it, Situ had no choice but to call Lin Fan over to act as Xia Zilan's assistant. Lin Fan was visibly excited—going on a mission with a pop idol was a great honour. Xia Zilan, meanwhile, planned a livestream. He opened the streaming platform, smiled, stood at the entrance of Art Gallery No. 76, and said politely, "Hi! Hello, everyone, I'm Xia Zilan. Today we're going on an adventure together. I've always wanted to take you all to visit the art..."

"Brother, you're streaming today!"

"It's been so long since I watched a stream..."

"Where is this?"

"It feels so strange..."

"I don't understand it!"

The comments flooding the screen were full of curiosity. The gallery's exhibits left the audience rather baffled—what kind of performance art was this? It felt rather eerie. Countless viewers wondered why the artwork looked like religious art...

"What kind of art is this?"

"It feels so scary!"

"Brother, be careful!"

"So eerie..."

Lin Fan held the camera and followed along filming. It was her first time being so close to a celebrity, and she could livestream and interact with the audience too—she was extraordinarily excited and thrilled.

Xia Zilan walked up to a sculpture, very much at ease in front of the camera. He even gave a detailed introduction to the gallery's location, explained the whole situation, and attracted quite a few passers-by. He sang and danced, all to draw many people to follow him.

Situ Hengyi and Qin Shaohua, following behind, watched Xia Zilan—truly worthy of being a top idol—drawing all the attention to himself. When his fans saw him in the exhibition area, they kept liking the stream nonstop, and the comments exploded instantly. He would pause to introduce each exhibit, drawing crowds of onlookers, while all the staff were busy maintaining order on site and paid no attention to their movements.

Based on the third floor they had reached last time, Qin Shaohua wanted to go to the fourth floor, where they might find relevant clues.