Chapter 115: The Three Corpses’ Revival

"The killer must be Youyou's invisible boyfriend. I asked about the phone just to find out who Youyou was in regular contact with, and didn't that lead us to the answer? Youyou and Sister Lei have the same tattoo, which proves the killer is the same person and has connections to both victims."

Liu Sheng didn't wait for Fang Po or Mu Jin to ask; he volunteered the information himself.

Fang Po only replied, "You're paying for late-night snacks tonight."

"Easy enough. What do you want to ea—"

Before Liu Sheng could finish, Mu Jin, fearing Liu Sheng might change his mind, quickly interrupted, "I want spicy crayfish."

Liu Sheng then took them to a 24-hour high-end seafood restaurant, the kind of place not meant for the average person. At the table, Liu Sheng didn't eat anything, simply watching the two of them feast.

"Why aren't you eating? It's so delicious, you should try some. Liu Sheng, you're really rich, daring to order such a huge Australian lobster," Mu Jin said while eating happily.

Liu Sheng couldn't eat seafood; he was allergic to it. This meant he avoided anything from the water—except, of course, kelp, which was the most luxurious "seafood" he ever ate.

Liu Sheng teased them, "Aren't you two worried that as police officers, coming to a place like this will make people suspect you of taking bribes?"

Fang Po didn't stop eating, but replied, "Not at all. People aren't stupid. We're dining with a world-class animation master; why would they think we're paying? Mr. Liu's films have grossed over six billion in box office revenue!"

Hearing Fang Po's words, Mu Jin stared at Liu Sheng in astonishment, speechless for a long time, her eyes locked onto him.

Liu Sheng looked back at her and said, "Take a good look while you can. I'm an endangered species. If you don't look now, I'll go extinct, and you won't be able to see me again—not even at the zoo!"

Mu Jin regained her composure and went back to eating, then said, "Right, your name is Liu Sheng. How did I not connect you to that famous animation master? Or rather, realize you *are* the same person? No wonder you have so many expensive cars."

"The one I drove today isn't mine. It belongs to Ren Xiadong, the vice president of my company—the person currently taking care of Sister Lei at the hospital."

After Liu Sheng finished, Fang Po asked, "What should we do next? We suspect the killer is Youyou's invisible boyfriend, but where do we find him? Are we supposed to bring every tattoo artist in Zhong City to the station? And why aren't you suspicious of Liu Jing at all?"

Because Liu Sheng had just heard Liu Jing's inner thoughts—which contained nothing but self-reproach and fear—he knew she wasn't the killer. But if he told Fang Po that his "gut feeling" said she was innocent, the detective wouldn't believe him, as Fang Po only cared about evidence.

So, Liu Sheng said, "We have no evidence to call Liu Jing the killer, and she isn't running away; we can find her whenever we need. The priority is to find evidence. Tomorrow, Team Leader Fang, send your people to find every tattoo artist in Zhong City and ask who tattooed that pattern. Bring anyone who admits to it into the station. Also, find a way to figure out what that pattern represents."

"I'll look into the pattern," Mu Jin volunteered.

Liu Sheng looked at Mu Jin skeptically. Fang Po explained, "Although Mu Jin is the station's 'police beauty,' don't think she's just a pretty face. She's the best computer expert in the department. There's nothing she can't find."

"Wow, I thought Mu Jin only knew how to eat. So you're actually quite capable? Fine, I'll give you a chance—let's go on a date." Liu Sheng said this as a compliment, but with a teasing tone.

"What kind of date? Why not just come home with me tonight? I live alone anyway, why do all that fancy stuff?" Mu Jin was fierce and loved to hit people, but she had a great personality and could take a joke.

Liu Sheng thought to himself, *My goodness, what would it be like to sleep with a police beauty? The 'uniform seduction' fantasy?* As he thought of this, an evil grin spread across his face, and he said, "Alright."

No sooner had the words left his lips than Mu Jin replied, "Get lost!"

The next morning, Fang Po mobilized all available officers to track down tattoo artists, while Mu Jin set aside her usual carefree attitude and began seriously investigating the pattern.

Ren Xiadong was still at the hospital caring for Sister Lei, Tian Yun was at her school dormitory for classes, and Liu Sheng was sleeping in at home.

Thanks to Yang Yu's help, Liu Sheng didn't have to attend classes and was still guaranteed to graduate. Money really could make the devil turn the mill.

At ten in the morning, Liu Sheng was woken up by a phone call from an unknown number in Zhong City. Reluctantly, he answered; it was Mu Jin.

"I found it. It’s a bronze vessel."

"I'm on my way. We'll talk in detail when we meet."

After meeting, Liu Sheng learned that the pattern was used in an ancient sacrificial ritual, but it had to be paired with a specific type of bronze vessel. The goal was to achieve immortality. The first emperor of ancient times had wanted to use this ritual to live forever, but there was no record of what the bronze vessel looked like.

Liu Sheng searched through all the knowledge in his mind, but found no mention of such rituals or vessels. Just as they were wondering where to start, Fang Po suggested, "Go to the Library Tower. They have every kind of book there—except the inappropriate ones, of course."

Liu Sheng didn't delay, driving his Audi A6 to the largest library in Zhong City.

Once inside, he gathered all the librarians and gave each of them a 200-yuan tip to help him find every book on ancient rituals and bronze artifacts.

Two hours later, a mountain of books covered the table. Mu Jin, stunned, said, "By the time we finish reading these, we won't even need to solve the case anymore."

"What do you mean?" Liu Sheng asked.

"By the time we finish these books, we'll probably have died of old age," she replied.

Ignoring her, Liu Sheng picked up a book, flipped through it at high speed, tossed it aside, and picked up the next one, repeating the process.

"You call this reading?" Mu Jin asked while picking up a book herself.

Although Liu Sheng's reflexes were a hundred times faster than a normal person's and he possessed a photographic memory, even he couldn't finish a mountain of books in a short time.

By 7:00 PM, it was dark. November in the south was already cold; though it didn't snow, the nights were long.

Just as Liu Sheng was about to give up, Mu Jin handed him an open book and said, "There's a ritual called 'Three Corpses Life Extension' that requires a specially crafted bronze vessel. The pages show the exact mark Youyou and Sister Lei have. It says this ritual can grant the ability to live forever."

Liu Sheng snatched the book and flipped through it, but it only contained what Mu Jin had said; there was nothing else.

"From the pattern to the bronze vessel, from the vessel to the 'Three Corpses Life Extension'—but the trail goes cold after that." This left Liu Sheng frustrated once again.

Just then, a librarian said, "We're closing."

The three of them walked out of the library with questions about the "Three Corpses" still hanging in the air. As they stepped outside, the librarian called them back.

"Every morning, an antique shop owner comes in to read the exact same books you were looking at. If you came earlier, you'd definitely run into him. He often reads that last book you were looking at, too."

"He comes every day?" Liu Sheng asked.

The librarian moved closer to Mu Jin, eyeing her chest, and said, "Every day, rain or shine."

Then, turning to Mu Jin, he added, "Since I gave you such important information, how about it, beauty? Want to go out to dinner with me as a reward?"

Liu Sheng immediately grabbed the librarian and said with a menacing glare, "Do you want me to join you instead?!"

Terrified of the aggressive Liu Sheng, the librarian scrambled back into the library.

On the way back, Fang Po said, "If it weren't for you, the Youyou case would already be closed, and there would likely be more victims."

"How so? You realized there was something fishy about the case, too. I hadn't said a word, and you had already started investigating the Youyou and Sister Lei cases together," Liu Sheng replied.

Mu Jin then asked with a happy smile, "Are you very concerned about me? Based on how you acted just now..."

Before she could finish, Liu Sheng cut her off: "Forget it. I was just annoyed, that's all."

Then he added, "We need someone to guard the factory where Sister Lei was found 24/7. If the murders are really about life extension, the killer will definitely return for their remains."

After dropping Fang Po and Mu Jin off at their homes, Liu Sheng went straight to the hospital.

Hoping to get information out of Sister Lei, he bought a bag full of rare snacks. When he pushed open the door to her ward, he saw Sister Lei live-streaming on her phone.

"My dear followers, look at me—I'm sick in the hospital but still streaming. For the sake of poor little Lei, please show some support!"

Liu Sheng glared at the streaming Sister Lei and then at Ren Xiadong.

Ren Xiadong explained, "I didn't want her to be bored, so I bought her a phone. She needs to make money to eat, too."

Furious, Liu Sheng grabbed the phone from Sister Lei's hand, ended the stream, and said, "I just had Fang Po send people to stake out the factory. By live-streaming, you're telling the killer that Sister Lei is alive! The people I sent there are now sitting ducks! Besides, if the killer knows she's alive, are you going to protect her for the rest of her life?!"

Ren Xiadong realized the gravity of his mistake and quickly said to Sister Lei, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't think it through."

Sister Lei began to cry: "What do I do? I don't want to die, I'm scared."

Liu Sheng looked at the terrified girl, tossed the shopping bag to her, and said, "Eat first." Then, looking at her phone, he asked, "If you want to live, tell me everything you know. How did you communicate with the person who asked to meet you? And do you know what he looks like?"

Between mouthfuls of snacks, Sister Lei said, "I've never seen him. I don't know what he looks like. We only talked through the private message feature on the streaming platform."

Liu Sheng opened the private messages on her account and asked, "Which one is he?"

Sister Lei pointed to a dialogue box with a black profile picture. Liu Sheng opened it, but a message popped up: "User does not exist."

"It seems this person is definitely the killer. He deleted his account to avoid being tracked," Liu Sheng muttered.

He thought to himself, *It looks like the only way to break this case is to dig deeper into the 'Three Corpses Life Extension.'*