Chapter 266

Chapter 266

◎Greed◎

The presence of bones suggested a possible homicide. Initially, they had only planned to send a nearby Taoist to handle the aftermath, assuming the so-called "sorceress" was merely a fraud. After all, she had already been struck by Ji Nanxing’s lightning formation and couldn’t possibly cause any more trouble. But the discovery of the bone altered the situation entirely.

Cheng Yuan glanced at the duty roster and said to the dispatcher, "Get in touch with Officer Peng Cheng and check if he can tag along."

For police officers, the worst thing was receiving a call in the middle of the night. Peng Cheng, who had just fallen asleep, bolted upright at the ringtone. With no flights or high-speed rail available at this hour, he could only pile into the Bureau’s car with two team members and drive overnight to Qingyang.

From the Bureau’s side, Ye Junxing, who had worked with Peng Cheng multiple times before, was assigned. Zhang Xi, who accompanied them, handed over the intel: "By the time we left, the bone fragment had already been analyzed. It’s the finger bone of a male infant less than a year old. Based on environmental factors and traces of Yin Energy, the bone dates back about 35 to 40 years."

Peng Cheng skimmed the files. "So, this ‘sorceress’ is most likely connected to this infant’s finger bone, and the evil spirit might have been summoned by her? A ‘sorceress’ capable of summoning evil spirits—are just two of you enough?"

Including him, there were only five people in the car—three police officers and two Taoists. If a fight broke out, what if they couldn’t win?

Zhang Xi reassured him, "Relax. We may not even need to fight or cast spells there."

Places already handled by Xiao Nanxing usually didn’t require further intervention.

After pushing through hours of driving, they arrived in Qingyang before dawn and located the village using the address Ji Nanxing had provided.

Peng Cheng and his team, though experienced, were still ordinary people. Upon entering the village, they wanted to gather information from the locals first. But Ye Junxing and Zhang Xi already had a clear direction.

Peng Cheng followed them with his two team members, curious. "How do you know where to go? The documents didn’t specify."

Zhang Xi replied, "We can smell it—a foul, rotting stench, mixed with the odor of lightning strikes."

Peng Cheng was baffled. "Lightning has an odor?"

Zhang Xi shrugged. "I don’t know about normal lightning, but the kind that strikes evil spirits does. It’s faint here, but you’ll notice it once we get closer."

Following the scent, they circled around to the back of the mountain, where they found a white-haired old woman sitting on the ground. Nearby were several smoking pits, emitting a foul, burnt odor mixed with something indescribable. Suddenly, Peng Cheng understood what they meant by the "odor of lightning strikes."

Ye Junxing approached the old woman. "Li Yun’e, the ‘sorceress’ of Yumei Village."

Li Yun’e looked up and gave them a creaky grin. "Did Jiao Wusheng send you?"

Ye Junxing didn’t explain. Instead, he scanned the area and said, "You use witchcraft to hurt people. Do you know that’s illegal?"

Li Yun’e chuckled again, then turned her gaze toward a small stone house hidden by overgrown weeds. Inside, there were no statues—just three stacked stones. But both the stone house and the stones had been shattered by the earlier lightning strikes.

Peng Cheng and his team inspected the pits. One officer stepped on something, brushed the dirt away, and froze. "Captain—bones!"

Peng Cheng hurried over and began digging through the other pits. Almost every one contained clearly infant or small animal bones.

Peng Cheng strode toward Li Yun’e and handcuffed her. "Save your explanations for the station."

Li Yun’e put up little fight as she was taken away. At nearly seventy years old and reeling from last night’s magical backlash, she knew she didn’t have much time left. She no longer had the strength or means to scheme for her youngest son. And deep down, she understood—her son was likely gone. No evil could withstand such divine lightning.

She was eaten alive by regret. Why had she involved the Jiao family? Who could have guessed that Jiao Wusheng, once a pauper over twenty years ago, would rise to wealth? If his family had remained poor, they wouldn’t have been able to find someone more powerful than her to break the curse.

In Li Yun’e’s heart, she never regretted what she had done for her youngest son. Her only regret was her poor judgment in choosing the wrong family—one that led her to a dead end.

As Li Yun’e was escorted away, the early morning sun had just risen. Most villagers were elderly, and the elderly slept little. They liked to gather and chat at dawn, dispersing only when the heat became unbearable.

Now, many watched in shock as the village’s famed "sorceress" was taken away by the police. She had been the one families turned to for auspicious dates for weddings and funerals, or to tell fortunes for newborns.

None of the villagers believed she had done anything truly wicked. They figured she’d been hauled in just for her 'superstitious' hocus-pocus.

The village head hurried over upon hearing the news and asked what had happened. Peng Cheng showed his police badge: "I can't share the details. Over the years, has your village had any homicide cases or families who lost children?"

The old village head instinctively followed his line of thought and replied, "A few went missing in the early years. There was one year called the 'Year of Bereaved Children,' when very few babies born that year survived, but they all died of illness. Later, two more went missing. Our village only got road access in recent years. Before that, it was dirt-poor, and the young people all left. They’d have children and leave them with the elderly to raise. The elderly had to farm and take care of the kids—how could they manage? As the children grew older, it became even harder to keep them in check. They’d run around, and no one knew if they got lost or were kidnapped. After those incidents, the village became much more vigilant about children, and no more have gone missing since."

After sharing all he knew, the village head looked nervously at Peng Cheng: "Officer, has something happened in our village?"

Peng Cheng shook his head: "Do you remember which year was the 'Year of Bereaved Children'? And when exactly the other children went missing?"

The village head couldn’t recall clearly, but the village records had the details. Peng Cheng took the records back and called in reinforcements to cordon off the back mountain, where piles of bones still needed to be sorted.

Ji Nanxing knew they were handling the aftermath of the village incident and that the sorceress had already been taken into custody, so he didn't follow up further. When the Jiao family transferred one million yuan into his account, the Management Bureau also sent out an internal alert.

Seven sets of remains were excavated from the back mountain of Yumei Village—five infants under one year old, one seven-year-old child, and one eight-year-old child. According to the village records, the children who died during the "Year of Bereaved Children" and those believed to have been kidnapped had all ended up buried on the back mountain.

The murderer was Li Yun’e.

Xiao Ye also saw the Management Bureau’s internal notice, though it wasn’t very detailed—only the incident and outcome were mentioned, leaving him confused: "Why did she kill so many children? To feed the evil spirit? But why was she raising an evil spirit in the first place? Was she trying to achieve immortality or reverse aging?"

Ji Nanxing: "She just wanted to resurrect her child, even if it meant existing in another form. She did have some ability—she could bridge the living and spirit worlds. After her son died, she refused to let go and forcibly kept his soul in the mortal realm. But without lingering attachments, a soul forcibly kept in the living world would only consume itself. Soon, her son’s soul was on the verge of dissipating. So, she placed his soul into a wooden idol using a piece of bone, passing it off as the Earth God and having people worship it. As long as someone sincerely offered incense and prayers, the nearly dissipated soul could be reconsolidated."

Xiao Ye: "So that’s how the evil spirit was nurtured?"

Ji Nanxing nodded: "The sorceress had some reputation in the village. Whether or not people had encountered the supernatural, the idea of ghosts and gods inspired awe. Add to that her repeated omens—when she claimed the Earth God on the back mountain required worship, no villager would dare refuse if they wanted a peaceful life. And if some greedy individuals prayed for get-rich-quick schemes, their growing avarice would taint the soul being nourished inside, eventually turning it into an evil spirit."

Xiao Ye: "What about the children? If the villagers were already sincerely worshiping, why kill children to feed it?"

Ji Nanxing: "Perhaps she couldn’t stand others having children. If your only son died, but other families had two or three children constantly in your sight, could you bear it? And keeping her son’s soul in that form on the back mountain must've been lonely—she probably wanted to give him companions. If Jiao Wusheng hadn’t immediately invited a real Earth God into his home after returning, Jiao Xian wouldn’t have survived past the second year."

Listening to Ji Nanxing’s analysis, Xiao Ye got goosebumps. The greed of human hearts was truly terrifying—first Yang Hengzhou, now the sorceress of Yumei Village, all valuing their selfish desires over human lives.

Seeing Xiao Ye’s indignant expression, Ji Nanxing smiled: "That’s why the Management Bureau exists. Some people are born with extraordinary abilities—some use them for good, others for evil. But justice will always outnumber wickedness. So instead of dwelling on these evils, you should celebrate the removal of another tumor."

Rather than fixating on darkness, it’s better to focus on steps toward the light. Only by facing the light can everything you see be illuminated.

The incident in Yumei Village didn’t cause much of a stir, though it did create waves locally for a time. Some families learned that the so-called "Year of Bereaved Children" was fabricated—those children had been killed simply because Li Yun’e, having lost her own child, resented them. Their hatred for her deepened.

The local authorities seized the opportunity to launch crackdowns on superstition, emphasizing science and urging people to turn to the police for help. Some who had once been superstitious began embracing science after this incident. Meanwhile, in another city, someone who had always believed only in science found their worldview crumbling, gradually leaning toward superstition.

Qi Ruifang stared at the ashes in his phone case and the endless dreams night after night, suddenly feeling his once-solid scientific worldview starting to waver.