Chapter 1

When the forensic doctor pried open the fourth wine jar, Qi Fei watched calmly from outside the police cordon as the trainee officer beside him vomited uncontrollably.

The yellow rice wine, having fermented underground for thirteen years, steamed into an amber mist that surged beneath the old persimmon tree, carrying the stench of a corpse. The villagers watching the commotion outside the cordon suddenly fell silent. The cold wind blew through the withered branches, making them creak and rattle... as if the sound of fingernails scratching against ceramic was coming from the bottom of the wine jar.

"Captain Qi!" The policewoman Wu Shanqiu rushed over, holding an evidence bag. Inside the transparent, sealed bag was half of a gold-inlaid jade earring. "It's the same style as the one Chen Xiaojing was wearing in her missing person file! We've found her!"

The sound of a woman humming came from beside the dilapidated earthen wall. The woman in the purple cheongsam walked step by step toward Qi Fei, then flirtatiously brushed her nails, stained with balsam juice, across the police badge on his chest: "Do you believe me now?"

Qi Fei looked at her face, which was so exquisite it didn't seem human, and recalled that eerie dusk in the interrogation room three days ago.

The setting sun dragged dark red bloodstains across the mottled tiles of the police station, and the sound of high heels tapping against the floor felt like a second hand piercing into Qi Fei's temple.

Qi Fei, from the Nancheng Criminal Police First Brigade, had been waiting at the entrance of the interrogation room for a full hour. The victim's family insisted on inviting a "half-immortal" to assist in solving the case, which was a great insult to his professional career.

He was clearly losing patience: "What is all this? We've interrogated this person for so long and he won't crack, yet this kind of charlatan can do it? Captain Liu is really something—do we have to agree to every request from the victim's family? This is serious interference in the investigation!"

The policewoman Wu Shanqiu beside him reminded him: "Keep your voice down. I heard this woman is very difficult to deal with; Chen Xiaojing's family spent a lot of money to invite her."

Just as they were speaking, the woman arrived. Qi Fei swallowed the complaints he was about to make. His gaze fell on the woman's hands; those fair hands were holding a bowl of soup that was still steaming. It was a meat soup with plenty of yellow rice wine added. The aroma of the wine and the meat mixed together, making it hard not to be tempted.

"Tch, playing god," Qi Fei muttered disdainfully under his breath.

Perhaps she heard his muttering, but before the woman walked into the interrogation room, she suddenly glanced at Qi Fei. In that instant of eye contact, Qi Fei clearly saw his own face in her eyes, as if the woman's pitch-black pupils were an endless night.

In the moment his mind went blank, the door to the interrogation room slammed shut with a "bang."

"The family said they were going to find Zhong Kui, I thought it was some old man, why is it this little girl?" Qi Fei grumbled, unnaturally masking his panic.

"I'm dying of laughter, Brother Fei, you definitely didn't look at the visitor registration. Her name is 'Zhong' as in clock, and 'Kui' as in sunflower," Wu Shanqiu said.

"Chen Xiaojing has been missing for thirteen years. We finally found the murderer, but he won't disclose the location of the body. I understand the family's feelings. But I'm impressed that Captain Liu actually agreed to let someone of unknown origin be alone with a suspect," Qi Fei muttered incessantly.

"Alright, alright!" Wu Shanqiu pulled his arm toward the observation room: "I heard this Zhong Kui can communicate with spirits and can make the dead talk to the living. It's rumored to be miraculous in Sanwu Town. Our Captain Liu must have looked into the situation before agreeing to the family's request. I'm saying, Brother Fei, aren't you curious how she'll perform?"

Qi Fei followed Wu Shanqiu to the observation room with a bored expression, standing in front of the one-way glass to watch everything in the interrogation room.

In the empty interrogation room, a man around fifty years old sat in front of a table. He had a plain, unremarkable appearance, making it hard to associate him with a murderer.

Chen Xiaojing was Zhu Qi's mistress, and all evidence indicated that she had been killed by Zhu Qi. Unfortunately, after thirteen years, the body had never been found. Zhu Qi was finally caught this year, but he kept changing his story about the location of the body and simply wouldn't tell the truth.

Qi Fei would never forget that the fifth time they went looking for the body, they went to the peach orchard near Zhu Qi's house and dug for an entire afternoon, only to find nothing. He turned to see Zhu Qi wearing a provocative smile at the corner of his mouth, silently mouthing four words to him. Qi Fei knew what they were—"presumption of innocence." Zhu Qi was provoking him; anger would make a person commit errors—this Zhu Qi was truly a master at manipulating human hearts.

At this moment, in the interrogation room, Zhong Kui placed the meat soup on the table and sat down opposite Zhu Qi, looking straight at him with those deer-like eyes.

A fugitive and a beautiful "half-immortal" sat face to face. Fifteen minutes passed, and neither of them spoke.

"What is she doing?" Qi Fei asked impatiently, hands on his hips.

"Brother Fei, you really have to admit, this Zhong Kui is quite beautiful. If you didn't know better, you'd think she was an A-list celebrity!" Wu Shanqiu said, digressing.

"Is that the point?!" Qi Fei glanced at her irritably.

Just then, Wu Shanqiu suddenly poked his arm and said: "Quick, quick, she's moving!"

Zhong Kui pushed the meat soup toward Zhu Qi and said listlessly: "The soup is getting cold, drink it quickly."

"Wow, why does this beauty talk like she's half-dead?" Wu Shanqiu exclaimed.

As soon as Zhong Kui spoke, the atmosphere in the interrogation room immediately became eerie and ghostly, giving even Qi Fei inexplicable goosebumps.

Zhu Qi looked at Zhong Kui suspiciously. The intense aroma of the soup made him unable to help but swallow his saliva.

Zhong Kui glanced at Zhu Qi's moving Adam's apple, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. She casually pulled up a lock of her hair, began to braid it, and started humming a song to herself.

"What is she singing?" Wu Shanqiu asked, confused.

Qi Fei, however, remembered the tune: "An old song. I was only in middle school when this song was popular; you definitely haven't heard it."

In the interrogation room, Zhu Qi's expression changed instantly when he heard it. He stared at Zhong Kui, confusion and terror flashing in his eyes... as if too many emotions were surging up in an instant.

Suddenly, she looked at Zhu Qi with her ethereal eyes and urged: "Drink it?"

These words were like a spell; Zhu Qi tremblingly picked up the bowl and took a small sip.

"Finish it!" Zhong Kui urged before he could put the bowl down.

Zhu Qi listened and actually began to drink it in large gulps, as if driven by a massive fear that forced him to comply. Qi Fei didn't understand how Zhu Qi, who was so difficult to interrogate, had become like a different person, obeying Zhong Kui's every word.

Before long, the soup bowl in Zhu Qi's hand was empty.

Zhong Kui revealed a charming smile, stood up, walked to Zhu Qi's side, leaned over, and whispered a few words in his ear.

The microphone couldn't pick up her voice. Those in the observation room could only see that as Zhong Kui's red lips moved, Zhu Qi's complexion turned from pale to sallow, and then to a waxy yellow, as if he were in immense pain. Immediately after, his whole body began to convulse, and suddenly, with a "waa," he vomited out all the meat soup he had just drunk.

"Eww..." Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but cover her mouth and nose, even though she couldn't actually smell that unpleasant odor through the room.

Suddenly, Zhong Kui's hand pointed toward the direction of the one-way glass. Everyone seemed to have their emotions controlled by her, becoming inexplicably nervous, even having the urge to take half a step back.

They heard her say to Zhu Qi: "The police have patience for you, but I don't." Having said that, she prepared to turn and walk out of the interrogation room.

Seeing her about to leave, Zhu Qi actually became anxious: "I'll talk, I'll talk!"

Zhong Kui turned her head and looked down at Zhu Qi, who was sitting in the chair: "Then say it out loud for them to hear."

"In, in my second uncle's backyard, in the southwest corner, underground..." Zhu Qi stammered.

Qi Fei walked out of the observation room and stood at the door, watching Zhong Kui walk toward him.

Zhong Kui walked straight up to him, so close that Qi Fei felt embarrassed and had to step back. "You can go dig up Chen Xiaojing's body now," she said with certainty.