Chapter 167: Contaminated Wishes

I saw a corner of a faded mural exposed where the wall skin of the guest hall peeled off, and the blue robe fragments of the Virgin Mary were entangled with vine-like mold filaments.

"Does your Bai Family Village believe in Catholicism?" Qi Fei asked Bai Sanshui.

Bai Sanshui cracked his mouth, revealing a row of yellow and black teeth from years of smoking: "We believe in everyone, and we don't believe in anyone."

"Oh? How do you say that?" Zhong Kui asked with interest.

"Our Bai family was a refugee who went ashore as pirates back then, and we were all people without roots. Our ancestors licked their lives on the tip of the knife, betting on luck. In the vast sea, whatever god works, we believe in whatever. This Virgin Mary was learned from the Portuguese, but if you say we believe in Catholicism, it's not necessarily true."

Director Chang explained on the side: "When Bai Congshan was wiped out back then, the Sea Mother Cult believed in by Bai Family Village was banned. Just like Old Bai said, the Bai family has its own mixed religion, with Western and folk customs since the Ming and Qing dynasties mixed together, which is also their means of controlling members for hundreds of years."

Bai Sanshui smiled: "I don't know how many people died in these Wuyin Eighteen Passes, and I don't know how much blood was soaked in these stones. They said that the prototype of Lion Camel Ridge in Journey to the West is our village. When I was young, the elderly often said that the bones of foreign gods are harder and can suppress the gloomy energy in the mountains. This is probably why there are these Western gods."

Zhong Kui squatted down and used a small copper knife to scrape away the moss in the corner of the wall, and some runes appeared faintly.

"It seems that you also use soul-suppressing runes very smoothly," she said.

"Does the old church outside the JN District have anything to do with you?" Qi Fei asked Bai Sanshui.

Hearing this, Bai Sanshui shook his head: "Our Sea Mother Cult started as pirates, and we don't build temples or set up halls. I know that old church you mentioned. I heard it was built by serious foreigners during the Qing Dynasty, and it has nothing to do with us."

Qi Fei couldn't help but ponder. The church is a serious church, and the temple is also a serious temple: "Is Xu Chunxia's memorial tablet enshrined by Bai Congshan in the Dizang Hall of Da Baoen Si?"

"This matter is not false. It was originally placed there with his son who died early. I heard that after we were arrested, the villagers who were persecuted by Bai Congshan opposed his son being enshrined, so it was taken down. By mistake, Xu Chunxia, the ghost wife, was left to receive incense." Bai Sanshui felt quite emotional when he said this.

"You started as pirates, has Bai Congshan been to that Dongji Zhen?" Qi Fei asked persistently.

"Dongji Zhen?" Bai Sanshui was clearly not familiar with this name, "Oh, that newly built place, the people living there are all outsiders, and it has nothing to do with us."

The outsiders he mentioned refer to the engineers and workers who went south when Dongji Zhen was reclaiming land from the sea. After Dongji Zhen was built, they stayed locally and were called outsiders by old Nancheng people like Bai Sanshui.

Qi Fei also knew that Dongji Zhen and this Bai Family Village were two completely different places. Why the killer's traces were left at the same time is really puzzling.

The Bai Family Village at night was still brightly lit. After watching the Nu Opera, the tourists walked down the mountain along the stone steps of the Wuyin Eighteen Passes.

Those dark and bloody past events seem to be destined to sink into the dust with old people like Bai Sanshui.

"Do you think it is possible that Bai Congshan is the real killer of the Demon Mirror Case back then?" Qi Fei said to Zhong Kui as soon as his foot stepped out of the old house.

"My view is the opposite of yours. Let alone Bai Congshan, I have to have an in-depth understanding of their Sea Mother Cult, but from Bai Sanshui's performance, the followers of this cult are unlikely to become the killers who committed the Demon Mirror Case," Zhong Kui put forward a different view.

"Why?" Qi Fei asked while going down the mountain.

"It's very interesting. Have you not found that this kind of folk belief born in a harsh living environment is very practical?

They believe in whatever is effective.

There is no fixed doctrinal system, no requirement for believers to abstain from desire and practice asceticism, and even the sacrificial rituals are changed as they are used. It is rare for fanatical believers to appear.

The real killer of the Demon Mirror Case is clearly not. He is similar to the famous Blood Moon Holy Envoy Isaac in history, the serial killer 'Taiji Yin Eye Reincarnation' in Southeast Asia, and the Skeleton Orthodox Church in Siberia. These serial killers believe in extreme and strict doctrines and distort concepts such as reincarnation, oracle, and atonement into violent rituals."

"So, Bai Sanshui's words are very likely to be true. Back then, Bai Congshan was indeed in contact with the killer, but Bai Congshan started from the doctrine of the Sea Mother Cult, confused the killer with the evil god they enshrined, and hoped that he could bless himself to overcome the difficulties?" Qi Fei pondered.

"If Bai Congshan thought so, would others think so?" Zhong Kui's eyes flickered brightly in the light of the mountain road street lamps. The mountain wind brought the moist warmth from the distant seaside, blowing the forest around them rustling, as if echoing Zhong Kui's words.

A trace of surprise flashed in Qi Fei's eyes, and then he remembered something: "Two of the victims in Dongji Zhen, Wang Lijuan and Lin Suzhen, lied about their whereabouts before they were killed."

The hem of Zhong Kui's cheongsam embroidered with intertwined patterns was rolled up by the mountain wind, revealing half a pale ankle. Her toes tapped lightly on the slippery stone steps, and the paper money left after the Nu Opera ended whirled with her steps:

"Lying means their wishes have been contaminated. It's hard to say that they were not voluntary, at least they were lured.

Everyone has their own wishes they want to fulfill. Sometimes this wish will be so strong that they are willing to pay any price. The essence of this kind of psychological manipulation is 'replacement contract'—the killer uses 'fulfilling wishes' in exchange for the victim's 'active cooperation with ritual lies.'

However, the killer has only one wish, which is killing.

We just don't know what drives him to keep killing in this way, and we don't know what made him suddenly disappear in 1984."

Qi Fei took a deep breath of the air mixed with the fragrance of grass and trees in the mountains, as if this could make his mind clearer: "I read the previous case files, and the focus of the investigation was on screening the social relations of the deceased to find possible murder motives.

If according to your statement, the killer's motive is killing, then these screenings are futile.

These victims are likely to have no long-term social relationship with the killer before being killed.

If your analysis is correct, this killer is more like a supernatural object to the victim. For some reason, they want to realize some impossible wishes through the killer."

"Hmm, devil's deal, I think you are not unfamiliar with this kind of practice," Zhong Kui said with hidden meaning.

It's just that her words did not resonate in Qi Fei's mind—the memory about Xi He was deeply hidden in the fog by Zhong Xiaoyu. ===== CHAPTER 168 =====