Chapter 343: Sealed Files

Xi He reached out his hand toward Zhong Xiaoyu.

The moment the two people's two cold hands touched, the snowflakes around them seemed to stagnate.

The faint warmth remaining in their palms let her know that this was not an illusion.

Many years ago, many years ago, on the edge of that chaotic memory, she remembered him as a young boy, appearing before her in tattered clothes, like a Lucifer falling into the human world, and she was the only one in the human world who could catch him.

This labyrinth in Nanling had appeared countless times in the dreams he described, performing grotesque and broken dreams.

Like a freak like him, no one in this world could understand, except her.

Like a freak like her, no one in this world could understand, except him.

Cold fingertips intertwined, warm palms pressed tightly together, Zhong Xiaoyu knew that the person in front of her was not an illusion. Even so, she still followed him into the depths of the labyrinth like a soul lost...

In the police station, after the hot pot meal, Liu Tong let Wu Shanqiu leave first and kept Qi Fei alone.

Liu Tong took an old file bag out of the drawer. It was stuffed full and looked quite heavy.

"This is the complete file transferred from Baicheng regarding the Zhong family extermination case. You can take a look." Liu Tong had always been lighthearted, but this time he was rarely serious.

"I've already seen the case file when I went to Baicheng." Qi Fei didn't understand why Liu Tong suddenly wanted him to see this.

"Are you sure you saw the same one?" Liu Tong had something in his words.

Qi Fei then noticed that the number on the file bag was not the same as the one he had reviewed before.

"Why would there be a second version of the case file for this case?" Qi Fei was surprised.

"When you went to Baicheng, they must have told you that the police officers who handled the case back then were no longer in their positions." Liu Tong seemed to know the situation back then very well.

"Yes, I remember they said these people either resigned or left the criminal police post. At the time, I felt there was some reason behind this. Is it related to this complete file?" Qi Fei immediately thought.

"That's the answer for outsiders. In fact, the two police officers who arrived at the scene first committed suicide one after another shortly after the case. All the police officers involved in this case received psychological counseling. In the end, the Baicheng Police Station could only delete the core content and keep a file available for review. The one in your hand, no more than six people have seen it." Liu Tong's voice was much lower than usual, and Qi Fei had never seen him so serious.

Liu Tong's warning added a layer of mystery to this sealed file.

When he was about to untie the file bag, Liu Tong's hand pressed on the seal, reminding him again: "You must be fully mentally prepared, no matter what you see..."

Liu Tong's words added a few more worries to Qi Fei's heart.

The yellowed materials in the file bag slowly unfolded before Qi Fei's eyes. Perhaps it was his deep bond with the two key figures in this case, these details of the case easily transformed into bloody memories, as if they had possessed the police officers who arrived at the scene back then, and the past vividly replayed in his mind:

On January 10, 2015, Shen Hongguan and Luo Xiao, police officers from the Yueya Mountain area of Baicheng, received news that someone reported that Villa No. 3 in Yueya Mountain had had a strange smell for many days, and there was no response to knocking on the door, requesting the police to go and check.

The villa yards in Yueya Mountain are all very large, and there are trees blocking between adjacent villas. The neighbor reported to the police that the smell was already very strong.

Sure enough, the two police officers arrived at the gate of Villa No. 3. The smell of decay that surged up with the mountain wind was so thick it was nauseating. Not only that, countless flies rolled in groups in this foul-smelling air, making an annoying "buzzing" sound. Everything was out of place with the elegant environment of the villa area with green mountains and clear waters.

Compared to the twenty-something Luo Xiao, Shen Hongguan was an experienced old police officer. He soon discovered the strangeness of these flies. They had a blue-green metallic luster and were not ordinary flies, but "green-bean flies" hatched on corpses.

And so many flies meant that the number of corpses was definitely not small. He decisively chose to climb over the wall.

The yard was very clean. Except for the annoying green-bean flies constantly interfering with their vision, everything seemed normal.

This was a three-story villa facing southeast. The front door on the first floor was tightly closed. At first glance, it looked normal. Only on the curtains drifting from the half-open window could one vaguely see dark red flowers, which looked particularly striking. Only when getting closer did one realize that this was not a pattern, but desperate bloody handprints.

The young Luo Xiao was so scared he gasped. Shen Hongguan himself was also very nervous, but as a senior, he still had to pretend to be calm.

The stench permeating the air could not be blocked even by covering their mouths and noses, making both of them feel nauseous one after another.

After much difficulty, they reached the front door on the first floor. The door was made of copper. Shen Hongguan tried to turn the handle, and with a "click," it was actually unlocked, and the door was opened.

The record ends here. Whether it was Shen Hongguan or Luo Xiao, for some reason, they were unable to describe the situation after entering the villa.

Fortunately, the subsequent support police force arrived at the scene and took first-hand photos. Compared to the files seen in Baicheng before, these photos captured many details of the scene.

Qi Fei looked at them carefully one by one. The scene of the crime was pieced together by the photos in the file, appearing alternately in his mind like a montage.

Unlike the chaotic scene he imagined, the scene was full of eerie ritualism. The family was sitting around the dining table, and the originally sumptuous food on the table was covered with maggots because of decay. Everyone was stabbed to death in their seats. The gray corpses sat crookedly on the chairs like dolls in a horror movie. Under the table, a thick pool of blood had accumulated, and it was covered with flies.

However, there were two empty chairs at the dining table. Logically speaking, only Zhong Xiaoyu, who was tied up, should have left the dining table.

Qi Fei looked through it intently with questions, and suddenly stopped.

The photo of Zhong Xiaoyu at the scene appeared in the file. If it weren't for those big deer-like eyes, it would be hard to believe that the girl tied to the pillar in the photo was Zhong Xiaoyu. She looked like a ghost crawling out of a sea of blood, covered in blood from head to toe, only her eyes were black. The black pupils occupied almost the entire eye socket, as if she were enchanted, staring straight at the camera. Even if it was just a photo, the eye contact with her still made Qi Fei shudder.

Appearing with her was another corpse. It was a tall male corpse, lying face down at her feet, with knife wounds all over his back and hands, as if he had exhausted his last bit of life trying to save Zhong Xiaoyu. Qi Fei read the record in the file, and this male corpse belonged to Zhong Xiaoyu's father, Zhong Huaiting. ===== CHAPTER 344 =====