Chapter 79.2 Ghost Market
Lin Banxia turned around and saw the inside of the refrigerator. He saw that the fresh-keeping layer of the refrigerator was filled to the brim with red meat. Blood flowed from the gap in the refrigerator door and flowed to the freezer layer, where it was frozen into black ice.
Seeing so much meat, bad thoughts immediately came to everyone’s mind. Song Qingluo reached out and pinched a piece of meat, then said calmly: “It’s pork.”
“Really… it’s really pork?” Li Xinyu said.
“Yes.” Song Qingluo said, “I wouldn’t mistake this.”
Everyone was silent for a while, and probably the only thought that came to mind was: Why on earth can you recognize the difference between the two so easily.
Lin Banxia didn’t think too much. He glanced at the flesh, then withdrew his eyes, and continued to search elsewhere. Unexpectedly, he actually found something in the bedroom. He shouted, “Come in and take a look. What is in this box?”
“What?” Sun Shui was the first to come in and saw what was in front of Lin Banxia.
It was a huge wooden box, exuding an old smell. There was a huge lock hanging on the box. The lock was quite old, but not rusty. It must have been used frequently.
Lin Banxia tried to move the box, but he didn’t expect that the box would be so heavy. He tried his best, but couldn’t move it: “This box is so heavy. What’s in it?”
Song Qingluo walked up to Lin Banxia and stretched out his hand to lift the box. He was so strong that Lin Banxia could not drag the box, but he actually lifted it up easily. Seeing this, Sun Shui said, “It’s not that heavy.” He stretched out his hand to take it.
Song Qingluo raised his eyebrows: “Are you sure?”
Sun Shui smiled and said: “I have been…” Before the words “a soldier” came out of his mouth, he felt a strong force pulling on his hand. He staggered a few steps. If Song Qingluo hadn’t taken it, he might have collapsed on the spot.
“Damn it, why is it so heavy?” Sun Shui was shocked.
Lin Banxia made a gesture of spreading his hands towards him, indicating that he was not a weak person, it was really because the box was too heavy.
“How do we open this lock?” Li Xinyu asked.
“Pry it open.” Song Qingluo said.
After he said this, under the gaze of everyone, he stretched out his hand and twisted the lock. There was a crunching sound, and the fist-sized lock was forcefully opened by him.
When Sun Shui saw this scene, his neck felt a little cold and he couldn’t help but shrink back.
After Song Qingluo opened the lock, he lifted the lid of the box allowing Lin Banxia to see what was inside.
He saw that the huge box was densely packed with many small objects, most of which were bronze. They seemed to not be antiques, but some modern handicrafts. There were also some small items inside, such as rings, necklaces and the like, almost filling the entire box. No wonder it was so heavy.
Li Xinyu stretched out his hand to take one out, but as soon as he touched it, he felt something was wrong, and wondered: “Why is this thing so sticky?”
Lin Banxia also took one out and looked at it: “Hey? What’s on this?” It smelled sweet. Could it be melted sugar?
Song Qingluo simply touched a little bit of it with his finger, and rubbed it slightly between his fingertips to confirm the ingredient: “Sugar.”
“How could it be sugar?” Sun Shui asked curiously, “Did something melt inside?”
This was possible. However, Lin Banxia searched carefully but did not find the candy bag. Instead, he found a hairpin in the corner that was exactly the same as the one Lu Yinyin got. It seemed that Wei Zhimao was indeed the seller who sold the goods to Lu Yinyin, but he died suddenly, and even his body was missing, so he didn’t know how to continue tracing.
“It’s slimy and disgusting.” Li Xinyu put the things back and murmured, “Would anyone really buy this thing?”
“Who knows?” Sun Shui said, “How about I call a car and bring the things back to the police station, and we can take a look?”
Song Qingluo said: “Take the things with you and check the information on the residents here.”
“Okay.” Sun Shui responded.
It seemed that there was nothing else to gain today, so everyone planned to go home in the meantime.
On the way back, Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo didn’t say much. They were both thinking about this matter at the same time. There were many things wrong with this residential area. The only explanation was that all the people were affected by heretical objects, but why did they become normal again after Sun Shui came? Could this influence be divided into time periods? Or was it that the heretical object was consciously controlling them?
If it’s the latter, that’s really bad, Lin Banxia thought.
After arriving home, Song Qingluo started cooking. Lin Banxia saw Xiaohua and Small Cave still sitting on the sofa watching Peppa Pig, and felt a little sad: “Although this cartoon is fun, you can’t just sit and watch it all day. You guys have been watching it all day, so be careful not to become short-sighted.”
Small Cave pointed to his eyes and said that he would not become nearsighted since he had no eyes.
Xiaohua blinked twice and called her brother softly. Lin Banxia was instantly defeated and said, “Ok, ok. Even if brother has to pick up garbage on the roadside, he will help you pay for the electricity bill to watch TV.”
Speaking of the electricity bill, the labor fee for heretical object 47777 was also paid after it was taken into custody. Lin Banxia stared at the text messages on his mobile phone and counted the numbers several times before making sure that he was not imagining things. There were six zeros behind the number.
Lin Banxia was so excited that he patted his chest and said that he would treat them to the most expensive takeaway today.
Although the two little guys didn’t know what takeout meant, they still clapped with great approval.
So, dinner became a sumptuous meal. The most expensive takeaway was Cantonese food. The packaging was so exquisite that Lin Banxia almost didn’t dare to open it.
In the end, it was Song Qingluo who destroyed the packaging with his ruthless hands and took them all apart in one go. He took the bowls and chopsticks and prepared to eat. As soon as Lin Banxia took a bite, Song Qingluo’s cell phone rang. He glanced at it and saw Sun Shui’s name written on the screen.
Song Qingluo pressed the speakerphone directly and said, “What did you find?” He knew that Sun Shui would not call him if he was fine.
“I found something.” Sun Shui said, “There is something very incredible.”
“What?” Song Qingluo asked.
“As you know, the police in the area will come to register the permanent population in every area.” Sun Shui said, “We register the permanent residences in our system to record the flow of people.”
This is not surprising, Song Qingluo said: “Then?”
Sun Shui: “Then I discovered that in this residential area, there has only been an inflow of people and no outflow of people in the past year.”
Song Qingluo: “…Is this possible?”
“According to common sense, of course this is impossible!!” Sun Shui’s tone was full of surprise, ” Do you know how big the flow of people is in the city now? Especially young people, it is impossible to stay in one place all year round. Because of things like looking for jobs, going to school, and a lot of other things, especially in old cities like this, where most of them are tenants, it is absolutely normal to have flow…”
Song Qingluo: “But not there?”
Sun Shui said firmly: “No!”
Song Qingluo was silent.
Sun Shui said: “And I also found that there are other places in this area that are not consistent with common sense.”
Song Qingluo: “What is it.”
Sun Shui said: “Just this year, there haven’t been any trivial disputes… There are one or two thousand people in this area, and yet not one of them has come to the police station to file a case. It’s like living in a peach blossom garden.”
Song Qingluo said: “I understand.”
“Mr. Song, when do you plan to go there again?” Sun Shui asked.
“Tomorrow.” Song Qingluo said, “Why?”
Sun Shui: “I’ll go with you.”
“Okay.” Song Qingluo agreed.
“Oh, by the way, the test results just came out. The substance on those things is sugar.” Sun Shui said, “It’s nothing special. It probably got it on accidentally.”
“Really?” Song Qingluo asked, “Have you checked the other things?”
“After checking, it is just ordinary handicrafts.” Sun Shui said, “There is no problem.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow.” Song Qingluo hung up the phone, silently stroking the chopsticks in his hand, as if thinking about something.
After listening to the conversation between the two, Lin Banxia hesitated and said: “That heretical object affects so many people, will it be serious?”
“It depends on the situation.” Song Qingluo said, “If it’s just a mild infection, it doesn’t matter. If it’s serious…”
Lin Banxia: “Will they become like Lu Yinyin?”
Speaking of Lu Yinyin, Song Qingluo lowered his eyes and took out the hairpin from his pocket. He took this hairpin out of the box today, and the sticky substance on it was washed away. It looked ordinary and nothing special.
So why did something suddenly happen to Lu Yinyin?
Song Qingluo suddenly called Banxia.
Lin Banxia said: “What?”
Song Qingluo said: “What can sugar attract?”
Lin Banxia said blankly: “Sugar? What is attracted to sugar? Do you mean animals? Of course they are ants…”
Yes, ants like sugar. In the hot summer, even in a city made of steel and soil, as long as you accidentally drop some on the ground, in just a moment, it will be densely covered without sign of where they came from.
Song Qingluo suddenly frowned heavily: “I have to go to the hospital again.”
Lin Banxia also realized something from Song Qingluo’s uncomfortable eyes, with a look of disbelief on his face: “No…it can’t be.”
If it was really what he thought, it would be too terrible.
The author has something to say:
Lin Banxia: Babies should not watch TV all day long. They should do exercises to be healthy.
Song Qingluo: Yes, let’s go play with the house number. He likes to play with children the most.
The house number 502 who is stuck on:?????
If possible please consider supporting me on Patreon or Ko-fi. I will be working on a stockpile for Patreon where you can read advanced chapters for as little as $3 a month. Alternatively, I will release an extra chapter for every Ko-fi donation I receive. It might not be on that exact day, but it will be released within the week.
