Chapter 6. Eerie Photos

In the office of the Special Case Team of the Ministry of Public Security, outside the window, the heavy rain was pouring down.

Christophe Scott came in with several photos and distributed them to the members of the Special Case Team.

The teenagers in the photos were all dressed in strange costumes, with peculiar hairstyles, and their eyes revealed rebellion and pessimism. They were gathered around a highly decomposed corpse in various postures. One of the teenagers was giving the middle finger, another had his fingers formed into a gun shape pointing at the corpse. Two teenage girls were sitting on the ground, with their eyes wide open, pouting their small mouths, and their fingers in a scissor shape.

Matt: I've got this urge to give them a good beating. Are these guys human or ghosts?

Christophe Scott: There's a ghost face in the photo. Take a closer look.

Philip Sofia turned the photo upside down and saw a pale and very blurry ghost face floating in the lower - right corner, with an indescribable eeriness.

Amy: Probably the camera flash reflected off some other object and formed this ghost - face image.

Christophe Scott: There was no flash. This photo was taken with a mobile phone.

Professor Liang: Who took the photo?

Christophe Scott: The kid was so scared that he went insane and is now in the hospital.

The teenager who took the photo was Tony!

In the middle of that night, he made a bet with his accomplices and went to the park. Later, he never came back. No one knew what he saw in the park. The next morning, his accomplices found him lying at home, convulsing all over and foaming at the mouth. Tony's father was a taxi driver who usually drove at night. He had just come back, took Tony to the hospital, and then called 110 to report the case. The doctor said that Tony's physical condition was okay, but the mental shock had triggered an epileptic seizure, and he became trance - like due to excessive fright.

The police then conducted a large number of visits and investigations. The water tower in that park was very high, and the top of the tower was particularly remote. Usually, few people went up there, making it a suitable place to dump a corpse. Without the actual corpse, the forensic doctor conducted an autopsy. From the photos taken by Tony, it could be seen that the deceased was male, with a fatal head injury, and should have died from homicide.

The corpse had already been infested with maggots. The head was densely covered with maggots, and some maggots even crawled out of the eyes and mouth, looking extremely disgusting and terrifying. From the length of the maggots and the temperature statistics of the local meteorological department, it could be inferred that the time of death was about 7 days ago.

An outstanding forensic doctor is also an entomologist!

In "Collected Cases of Injustice Rectification", it is recorded that Song Ci used flies to find a murder - committed sickle and thus found the owner of the murder weapon. In the "Century - old Major Cases Documentary" selected by "Time" magazine, the American entomologist Jim Webb found dead flies on a corpse in the wild and deduced that the deceased died from poisoning. Later, the notorious "Rural Restaurant Murder Case" in American history was solved!

The male corpse on the water tower in the photo had livor mortis on its back, which indicated that the corpse had been moved. Because if a person lies on their back after death, livor mortis will appear on the back.

The postures of the corpse in several photos were different, and there was even a posture of sitting cross - legged with its back against a stack of bricks.

After questioning those non - mainstream teenagers, the police learned that they had indeed flipped the corpse over and even smashed the head of the corpse with stones! Coupled with the fact that the head was already infested with maggots, it was impossible to determine what kind of murder weapon the deceased died from just from the photos.

When the police questioned Tony, Tony was extremely frightened and uneasy. He kept repeating one sentence in a trembling voice:

The dead man stood up... Ghost

Those non - mainstream teenagers, Tony, Duke, Vinny, Fiona, and Lexi, all received a inexplicable text message:

Kill you within seven days.

The local police, in cooperation with the telecommunications department, found out that the owner of this phone number was exactly the male corpse on the water tower, a contractor named Pierre, who had disappeared a few days ago...

Christophe Scott said: How could a dead person send a text message?

Professor Liang said: This case is interesting.

Christophe Scott said: A ghost is going to kill people. This sensational news quickly spread locally, causing panic. The corpse has disappeared, a child has been scared insane, and they have all received threatening text messages. The Fourth Street Public Security Sub - Bureau is at a loss and has requested our Special Case Team to assist in the investigation.

Amy said: There's a Japanese horror movie called "The Ring". Anyone who watches a certain videotape will receive a mysterious phone call and then die within seven days. It seems that these teenagers in the photos are doomed...

Philip Sofia said: We only have seven days. Seven days later, another murder is likely to occur!

Matt said: Let's go. Set off and catch the ghost!

A Taoist priest needs a peach - wood sword to catch ghosts, and the police also need some extra equipment to "catch ghosts". Christophe Scott said that in the previous case, the wealthy daughter disappeared in the subway and was imprisoned in a pig - farm cellar. The Special Case Team successfully solved the case and became famous nationwide. Whether it's the superior leaders or the subordinate police bureaus everywhere, they have extremely high expectations of the Special Case Team. This time, it's only allowed to succeed, not to fail.

Christophe Scott asked his assistant to carry in four password - boxes. When the members of the Special Case Team opened them, each one's eyes lit up.

Matt's box was filled with a complete set of the most advanced police firearm equipment: a Type 92 9 - millimeter pistol, a net gun, a Type 88 sniper rifle, a multi - functional police dagger, tear gas, fighting gloves, an anti - terror mask, a tactical belt, climbing equipment, etc.

Matt asked Philip Sofia: What's in your box? Detective novels?

Philip Sofia's password - box contained some high - tech criminal investigation tools, some of which were even spy equipment - a police wireless audio - video detection instrument, a wall - penetrating bug, a peephole viewer, a wolf - eye flashlight, a laser night - vision observer, a pinhole camera, a tracking and positioning ring, a watch - type digital camera, etc.

Amy's box contained a camouflage - colored laptop.

Matt said: Can your little laptop play games and access the Internet wirelessly?

Amy said: Rookie, this computer is the latest scientific and technological product jointly developed by the military and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It has a built - in satellite signal receiving device, a completely Linux system, and an open - source program. You can play online games under the ice layer of the Arctic Ocean because it also has a waterproof function.

Matt then asked Professor Liang: Uncle Liang, what's in your box? Let us have a look.

Professor Liang smiled but said nothing and closed the password - box.

Amy said: We should set off. Pick up your barbarian's box.

Matt said: What about yours?

Amy said: The box of technology!

Each member of the Special Case Team was equipped with a special Iridium satellite phone and a set of miniature intercom equipment. Matt thought that the members of the Special Case Team should also be equipped with a pair of sunglasses, which would make the Special Case Team look more mysterious and give people an impression of being very powerful. When going through airport security, there was a little trouble. Although the Special Case Team presented the gun - holding certificate and the letter of certification from the public security department, the airport staff required the separation of people and guns, and the captain would temporarily keep the guns.

On the plane, Matt said dejectedly that before even starting the case - handling, their guns had been confiscated.

Professor Liang's password - box passed the security check smoothly. Everyone was very curious about what was in his box and asked to open it several times. Professor Liang smiled and opened the password - box. There was only a Bible in it.

After the plane landed at the airport, the director of the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau personally drove to pick them up, which showed that the local police attached great importance to this case. The director introduced to the Special Case Team that the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau had four police stations under its jurisdiction, namely the East Street Police Station, the West Street Police Station, the Upper Street Police Station, and the Lower Street Police Station. After the 110 Command Center received the report, the first to arrive at the scene was the Lower Street Police Station, and that park was also within the jurisdiction of the Lower Street Police Station.

Professor Liang said: Then we'll go to the Lower Street Police Station. Just vacate a room as the office of the Special Case Team.

The director said: I suggest going to the bureau first. The captain of the Criminal Police General Team, the director of the Public Order Department, and the leaders of the sub - bureau are all waiting at the bureau. They have prepared a simple welcome luncheon for the Special Case Team.

Matt said: We're not here to eat.

The director had no choice but to drive the car into the Lower Street Police Station.

Inside the police station, the local police reported the case details in detail.

The deceased, Pierre, was 42 years old, a contractor at a construction site. After having a dinner and drinking with the workers, he said he was going home and then disappeared. After being identified by his family, the corpse on the water tower in the photo was exactly Pierre. The police also conducted a large number of investigations into Pierre's social background and interpersonal relationships but found nothing suspicious. The five teenagers who found the corpse on the water tower were the oldest 20 years old and the youngest 17 years old. They had all been expelled from school and were unemployed at home. Usually, they slept during the day and surfed the Internet all night in Internet cafes. After receiving the threatening text messages, they had been closely monitored and secretly protected by the police. The mobile phone number that sent the text messages was indeed the one used by the deceased Pierre during his lifetime. The current situation was: the corpse of the deceased and that mobile phone were missing, and the mobile phone was turned off. Tony was lying in the hospital, in a trance, talking to himself during the day and talking in his sleep at night. The police had questioned him many times about what he saw in the park that night. He claimed that he saw a ghost, saw the dead man stand up, the ghost was going to kill him, chased him, he ran desperately, fell several times, and fainted when he ran back home.

Professor Liang asked: When Tony fainted, who was the first to find him?

The police station chief replied: A girl named Lexi. She was in a relationship with Tony and lived in his house. At that time, Tony's father had just returned from handing in the car, and the two of them took Tony to the hospital together.

Amy said: Uh, two delinquent teenagers living together at such a young age, and the father doesn't care.

The police station chief said: Tony's parents are divorced. His father drives a taxi and is rarely at home, lacking in the discipline of the child.

Philip Sofia whispered a few words to Professor Liang, and Professor Liang nodded. Philip Sofia took out a voice recorder from the password - box and asked the police to quietly place this voice recorder beside Tony's bed to record what Tony said in his sleep.

A person's sleep - talk often contains a lot of information, similar to their normal thinking, mostly about the things they thought during the day.

The next day, the police sorted out the content recorded by the voice recorder. From those vague words and those incoherent sleep - talk, they got a piece of information:

That night, Tony saw a person in a raincoat in the park. The raincoat was bulging, as if carrying something on the back!