Chapter 34: The Strange Mrs. Jie Kui Lin

"Hey, hello." Roger rode his bicycle and greeted the woman walking her dog.

The white woman with curly brown hair instinctively stepped back two paces and asked warily, "Who are you? I don't think I've seen you around the neighborhood."

"Oh." Roger casually reached into his pocket and opened the Silver Pocket Watch, explaining, "I'm here to look at a house. The realtor said there's one for sale here."

"Which house?" the woman asked again.

"The house on the east side of the street." Roger did not specify the exact address.

"East side of the street?" The white woman frowned, as if trying to recall which houses were for sale.

At that moment, Roger interrupted her thoughts: "The realtor said the house is occupied by an elderly woman living alone."

"You mean that crazy woman, Jie Kui Lin?"

The white woman seemed to remember something and exclaimed in delight, "God! Is she finally moving out?"

"Uh, I haven't decided whether to buy yet." Roger smiled.

"Oh, right, sorry." The white woman quickly corrected herself: "Mrs. Jie Kui Lin isn't crazy at all. She's just… pitiful."

"Can you tell me more?" Roger asked curiously.

"Of course!" For a housewife, the best entertainment and outlet was gossip. Though Roger was a stranger, as long as he didn't get too close, it was fine.

So the white woman stood by the roadside and told Roger about Mrs. Jie Kui Lin.

In short, six months ago, the old woman's daughter suddenly vanished.

Neither alive nor dead—no body, no trace.

After police investigation, they found she disappeared right after finishing work.

According to past surveillance footage, the girl had always walked straight to the bus stop to go home.

But on that day, instead of taking the main road, she turned down a secluded, unmonitored alley.

Since then, there has been no word of her.

Mrs. Jie Kui Lin originally thought her daughter was just working overtime and would come home late.

But when she called her daughter's workplace, she was told the colleagues had already left for the day.

Only then did Mrs. Jie Kui Lin realize something was wrong and reported it to the police.

Unfortunately, the police initially ignored her claims, assuming her daughter had gone out with friends and would return the next day.

But two days passed, and her daughter never appeared.

Only then did the police take the disappearance seriously.

But it was too late. The police found no useful leads. Statements from coworkers and acquaintances all confirmed that Mrs. Jie Kui Lin's daughter was a gentle girl, never made enemies, and had no boyfriend.

The case stalled, and has remained so ever since.

"Isn't she pitiful? If you think the house is good, buy it quickly—then Mrs. Jie Kui Lin can use the money to search for her daughter."

The white woman urged Roger to buy the house soon.

But Roger knew himself: all of this was a lie he made up.

Mrs. Jie Kui Lin had no intention of selling the house.

In fact, since her daughter vanished, Mrs. Jie Kui Lin's mental state had deteriorated. She spent money advertising everywhere to find her daughter, and constantly sought out witches, fortune-tellers, and spirit mediums.

When her money ran out, she survived by scavenging and selling handmade crafts, filling her home with statues of deities, and sometimes singing and dancing inside, trying to summon her daughter's spirit through occult means.

This made neighbors complain bitterly, believing her presence was the reason neighborhood property values had plummeted.

That's why the white woman dared not speak ill of Mrs. Jie Kui Lin—she feared Roger would back out.

Though Roger didn't know the full details, he sensed something was off.

"Mrs. Jie Kui Lin is truly pitiful," he said with a solemn expression. "But buying a house is a big decision. I'll go take a look at the house first."

"That's right—it's the third house on the left. Just a friendly warning: don't let the statues scare you."

After saying goodbye to the white woman, Roger rode his bicycle to the house.

The grass in the yard wasn't tall, but it was unevenly trimmed, as if the person who cut it had been careless.

In Meilijian, trimming the lawn was mandatory for every homeowner; if left uncut too long, owners received warnings and fines.

But Mrs. Jie Kui Lin clearly had no interest in trimming the lawn herself—so it must have been the neighbors doing it for her.

Roger looked at the old wooden house and stepped forward to knock.

"Dong dong dong!"

No response.

"Dong dong dong!"

Heavy footsteps echoed faintly, then a hoarse curse came from behind the door: "Get lost! You noisy, haunting ghosts! It's you who've trapped my daughter from coming home! I curse you to hell!"

Roger felt awkward: "Mrs. Jie Kui Lin, I'm a reporter from Vanessa…"

"Snap!" The door suddenly flew open. A gaunt, white-haired old woman rushed forward, gripping his clothes with bony hands: "You're a reporter! Have you found my Zhu Di? Where is she? Tell me!"

Seeing the old woman, even in the smallest-sized clothing, looking hollow and as if she might be swallowed by darkness at any moment, Roger felt uneasy—but he replied seriously:

"I'm sorry, I'm a friend of Vanessa the reporter. I've come to learn more about what you've been through."

"So you haven't found my daughter." The hope in Mrs. Jie Kui Lin's eyes instantly died. She didn't curse again, only silently opened the door: "Come in, boy. Come in."

Roger followed Mrs. Jie Kui Lin into the house.

Immediately, a suffocating odor surged into his nostrils like a physical thing.

It was a mix of rotting earth and herbs—spicy, stale, and faintly sweet. One whiff made him dizzy and nauseous.

Inside, most of the house was plunged into darkness by tightly drawn curtains, with only a few patches bathed in dim, yellowish light.

In the weak, eerie glow, Roger was startled to see countless statues crammed onto every niche, shelf, and even the floor.

Among those he recognized were the Eastern Three Pure Ones, the Hindu Shiva, the Christian Ye Su, and the Buddhist Tathagata.

Beyond them were countless other statues—twisted, deformed, unrecognizable—some covered in tentacles, others bristling with eyes, their grotesque forms utterly violating sacred principles, saturated with strangeness and chaos.

Roger frowned, enduring the musty smell of the wooden statue as he followed Mrs. Jie Kui Lin to the only sofa available to sit on.

"What do you want to ask?" Mrs. Jie Kui Lin seemed still lucid.

"I want to understand the full case of the disappearance, including your daughter's situation, your suspicions, your suspects, and the police's findings."

Mrs. Jie Kui Lin let out a shrill laugh: "Then you should read the Seattle Times, issue 139, page three."

Clearly, she had been interviewed by the Seattle Times before.

Roger silently noted this, about to explain, when Mrs. Jie Kui Lin began speaking on her own:

"My Zhu Di… she was light, the only clean thing in this filthy world, do you understand? She was only twenty-two, her life had just begun, and she was swallowed whole by darkness."

"Her voice still rings inside my skull, like a drill! 'Mom, wait for me! I've got good news!' That morning she was so happy, her eyes shining bright. But after that, she never came back."

"Those men, boars! Filthy boars! I still remember in high school, that damn bastard—he abandoned her just because she refused to give up her body! Since then, her heart shut tight, never opened again."

"I asked her many times, many times! She always lied, saying she was busy with work. But shortly before she vanished, she put on makeup for the first time ever. I knew—she must have fallen in love with someone."

"I didn't ask who. I was too afraid to ask. If it was true love, she would have brought him into this house."

"But she vanished! Right after work, she suddenly turned down a dark, camera-less alley! Damn it, she never took that path! She always took the bus! I warned her a thousand times! Don't step into the shadows! Watch out for black men!"

"I watched that video—I watched it hundreds of times, thousands of times! I saw it! I swear to God, she stopped. She was listening! Someone was speaking to her from the shadows! Like a demon whispering: 'Come here, Zhu Di… I've got something good for you…' It must have been! I swear it on the damn God!"

"I told all this to the police. I said she fell in love with a man, and that man lured her into the dark! What did they say? Ha! They said her coworkers had no idea Zhu Di had a lover!"

"Of course they didn't! Idiots! Blind fools! Such secrets, Zhu Di would only tell me! Only me, her mother!"

"Die! All of you die! Fuck these damn cops! Fuck this blind, cursed country! Let darkness swallow you all!"

Mrs. Jie Kui Lin's account was chaotic, disjointed, and obscure—she spoke wherever her thoughts led.

But Roger pieced together the general picture from her words, assuming she wasn't lying.

"Then according to you, the person she loved must be a coworker."

"Of course!" Mrs. Jie Kui Lin glared with bloodshot eyes: "She never went to parties or slept around—how could she meet any other men!"

"Then where does she work?"

"Why are you asking me? Aren't you a reporter? You don't even know? Ah ha, I get it—you're a spy sent by the devil!"

"All of you deserve to die. All you devils belong in hell."

Seeing Mrs. Jie Kui Lin slipping further into madness, Roger quickly opened his pocket watch and explained: "I'm not with the police. I'm only verifying details of the disappearance. Don't you want to find your daughter?"

Mrs. Jie Kui Lin's attention was forcibly fixed on the man.

She stared into Roger's eyes for a full minute.

After confirming his expression was open and honest, she grunted: "It's a private clinic tainted by demons—Daisy House. Yes, that's the name."