Uneasy

Chapter 16 Whose skeleton is this? (1)
1
At [-] o'clock in the afternoon, Wu Qiang got the news that the taxi that was stolen next to the gate archway of Yuanbao Shanzhuang Cemetery was found at the foot of the back hill of the cemetery.

After he went to the scene to have a look, he found that the license plate of the taxi had not been removed, and no property had been lost in the car.So Wu Qiang thought that it might just be a boring guy who saw the unmanned taxi parked next to the archway and suddenly wanted to have a car addiction, so he drove the car to the back mountain.

The disappearance of this taxi and the appearance of Wang Shengyang's off-road vehicle were just a coincidence.

But at ten past seven o'clock, the police station received a call from Gao Wei. A buried female body with only her head exposed on the ground was found on the back hill of Yuanbao Villa. Taxi connected together.

And this news also gave Zhou Yuanyi and Xiao Gao finally a reason to leave the gloomy inspection building and bid farewell to the farce of the "Night Burial Ceremony of the Heisha Clan" for the time being.

However, when they walked out of the inspection building, they happened to meet the leaders of the police station who came to inspect the restoration of Feng Shu's body.The leader said to Zhou Yuanyi and Xiao Gao very seriously: "No matter what urgent matters you have, you must rush back to the police station before twelve o'clock to carry Feng Shu's coffin!"

It seems that there is no escape.

Almost at the same time when the leader was admonishing Zhou Yuanyi, Mo Feng was staying in the room where Feng Shu's skeleton was parked, gloomyly comparing the photos of the deceased before his death, and restoring the dark brown skeleton in front of him.The girl who promised to come to provide Feng Shu's physical characteristics did not come until the end. It seems that she changed her mind halfway and would not come again.

Mo Feng expressed his deep understanding of this. Even he, a make-up master in the cemetery who is used to seeing all kinds of broken corpses, will feel physically uncomfortable when he sees this skeleton, let alone the one who is in the Mood for Love. of young girls.

Until now, he could not have imagined that the girl who was supposed to come would be Xiaowen who rented together with him.It was even more unthinkable that at this moment Xiaowen was standing upright in the soil of the hill behind Yuanbao Shanzhuang Cemetery, with only a flayed head exposed.

Since no one can provide data on the physical characteristics of the deceased, the body of the skeleton can only be restored at will.Fortunately, after the body was repaired, clothes had to be put on the corpse.As long as the clothes are looser, no one will notice that something is wrong.Mo Feng couldn't help thinking secretly, if he knew this before, why did he have to wait for the girl who came to provide the physical characteristics of the deceased?After wasting so much time, it looks like I won't be able to leave work on time.

It's unlucky, even if he worked overtime, the leader of Yuanbaoshanzhuang Cemetery would not pay him overtime wages.However, just before the start of work, the deceased's uncle Feng Santing gave Mo Feng a thick red envelope while his colleagues in the cemetery were away, which made Mo Feng very happy.After returning home tonight, you can use the money in the red envelope to go to the bar to have fun, maybe you can have an affair.

Thinking of this, Mo Feng couldn't help showing a silly smile.

But don't think too much about it, the most important thing is to do the things at hand first.

The recovery of the deceased's head was not a big problem for Mo Feng.His major in college was sculpture, but it was really difficult for graduates of the sculpture department to find a job, so he had to commit himself to a funeral home as a corpse make-up artist.

However, in a sense, this job can be regarded as a professional counterpart.

These days, it is really difficult to find a job with a professional counterpart.

Mo Feng also knew that Feng Shu was Xiaowen's good friend, so he said to himself, he must restore Feng Shu's profile picture to be exactly the same as before, and don't let Xiaowen down.

After adding an appropriate amount of water to the flour, Mo Feng kneaded the dough vigorously on the cement platform, kneading the dough back and forth, adding strength.Then he spread the flour on the skull of the skeleton according to the shape of Feng Shu's face in the photo.Mo Feng took another careful look at the photo, then closed his eyes.Feng Shu's appearance has been deeply imprinted in Mo Feng's mind, leaving an indelible mark.

Mo Feng closed his eyes, pressed both hands on the dough wrapped around the skull, and pinched the dough with his fingers like flying.From time to time, he picked up a piece of dough and threw it aside, and from time to time he gathered several pieces of dough together.

From the beginning to the end, he didn't open his eyes.All of this is just a skilled job for him.Even with his eyes closed, he can complete his work with ease.

After about 10 minutes, Mo Feng opened his eyes.At this time, on the top of the skeleton on the cement platform, a male head made of flour appeared, which was almost exactly the same as Feng Shu's appearance in the photo.

Next is the next process: coloring.

Mo Feng mixed up flesh-colored paint and applied it to the surface of the skull made of flour.He didn't apply it evenly, but calculated the brightness of the light according to the angle at which the light entered the coffin after the coffin lid was lifted, and then applied the light in different depths and shallows according to the principle of perspective.This is a technical job that requires basic skills. If Mo Feng hadn't studied in the Academy of Fine Arts, it would be impossible to complete it so perfectly.

After finishing this process, Mo Feng carefully applied a thin layer of varnish on the outer layer of the skull.This varnish prevents the color from fading and also prevents the flour from absorbing moisture from the air, which could cause bumps or cracks in the cheeks of the flour skull.

Finally, Mo Feng took out a wig with hard hair and a pair of scissors.He looked at Feng Shu's hairstyle in the photo, and quickly trimmed the wig.Mo Feng was very glad that after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts, he could not find a suitable job, so he enrolled in a crash course in hairdressing and planned to become a hairdresser.Unexpectedly, the work of the hairdresser was not done, but the techniques learned from the crash course in hairdressing could be used in the corpse dressing room in the cemetery.

After a while, the wig was trimmed, and Mo Feng carefully put the wig on Feng Shu's head made of flour.

Well, the makeup on the head is done.

Applying make-up to the head of a corpse is not a challenge. For Mo Feng, it is just a handicraft.

But repairing the skeleton is cumbersome and time-consuming.Repairing the skeleton requires filling a large amount of flour. In order to save flour, Mo Feng first covered the skeleton with a layer of cardboard, and then directly coated the cardboard with flour.Anyway, after applying the flour, most of the body will be hidden in the prepared clothes and leather shoes, so he even omitted the process of coloring and applying varnish.Of course, these two procedures are unavoidable for the palm part exposed outside the clothes.

At about eight o'clock in the evening, Mo Feng finally completed all the procedures. On the concrete platform in front of him, a head with delicate facial expressions appeared, exactly the same as Feng Shu in the photo.But the torso under the head portrait was obviously much rougher. Mo Feng just randomly applied a layer of wet flour, and then dried it with a hair dryer. He even turned a blind eye to the dry cracks on the surface of the flour.Anyway, the whole torso will be hidden under the solemn suit after a while, even if there are cracks, it doesn't matter.

It is not Mo Feng's job to put Feng Shu in a suit. Feng Santing will do these things, so Mo Feng walked out of the inspection building after handing in the work.

In the most remote corner of the police station, he took out his mobile phone and called Xiaowen.

He didn't forget to go to the funeral with Xiaowen tonight.

But he didn't know that Xiaowen was dead and could no longer come to the funeral.

He didn't even know that Xiaowen's body would soon be sent to the autopsy room of the inspection building, and would lie on the concrete platform where he had just repaired the skeleton.

2
Zhou Yuanyi and forensic doctor Xiao Gao drove a police car and pulled the siren, and when they arrived at the back mountain of Yuanbao Villa, it was already 45:[-] in the afternoon.

At this time, Xiaowen's body had been dug out from the soil.The police found a wallet and ID card in her pocket, the ID card proved her identity, and the unlooted cash in the wallet proved that her killing had nothing to do with the robbery.

Xiao Gao noticed that there were many beads as fine as water droplets scattered around the excavation site of the corpse. After sampling, he found that these beads were all mercury.

Next, Xiao Gao began to conduct a preliminary examination of Xiaowen's body.

Xiaowen's fatal wound was in the head.Her sky cap was pierced by some kind of sharp iron product, and a cross-shaped wound was drawn.The sharp iron object may be a dagger, or it may be a screwdriver.Obviously the murderer was very strong, this poke directly hit Xiaowen's brain tissue.The dark red blood and the white brains spurted out almost simultaneously, gurgling out, mixed together, and turned into an indescribable thing.

And in this wound, there is actually a lot of mercury.

In other words, the murderer buried Xiaowen alive underground, only her head was exposed.After killing Xiaowen with sharp iron products, the murderer poured mercury into her body from the wound on her head.

Near the place where the mercury was found on the ground, some scattered long hairs were also found, the color of which was exactly the same as the remaining hair on Xiaowen's head.The scalp was directly exposed next to the fatal wound, and the hair there was obviously shaved off by the murderer.It should be that the murderer shaved off the hair near the wound for the convenience of piercing the scalp and making a cross-shaped wound.

But what is the murderer's intention in doing so?Is this some kind of weird ritual to sacrifice to the gods?
Zhou Yuanyi immediately thought of Feng Shu's death.

The skeleton that was suspected to be Feng Shu's corpse was the last thing left after the flesh and blood and internal organs were brushed away bit by bit with a steel brush before the deceased was killed.The suspense novel writer named Chen Ziyan once said that this is an ancient torture, called "grooming" by history books, and it is said to have been invented by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Is pouring mercury into the body of the dead also an ancient form of torture?

Fortunately, although part of the face of the corpse in front of him has been peeled off, as long as the peeled off skin is reattached to the face of the deceased, its original face can be restored.

The dead person was indeed Xiaowen—at least, there was no need to doubt the identity of the deceased this time.

The cold-blooded murderer is like a poisonous snake hiding in the dark, cold and slippery, quietly watching its prey, and when the right opportunity arises, it will silently twist its body and give the prey a fatal blow.

Zhou Yuanyi felt heart palpitations. Looking at Xiaowen's flayed head, he seemed to see the murderer sneering sinisterly behind his back.

After Zhou Yuanyi pondered for a moment, he took out his mobile phone and called Chen Ziyan.On the phone, he said: "Your friend Xiaowen died, and she died very strangely. Mercury was poured into her body by the murderer... Please come to the inspection building of the police station at nine o'clock. I have some questions and I want to ask you." .”

"What, quicksilver?!" Chen Ziyan let out an annoyed exclamation, "Oh, my God!"

"Why, what do you want to say?" Zhou Yuanyi asked quickly.

"Is the mercury poured in from the Tianling Gai?"

"Yes! Is it consistent with your novel again?" Zhou Yuanyi's eyes almost protruded from their sockets.

Chen Ziyan did not answer the question, but hung up the phone and stood silently in front of the computer.

When Zhou Yuanyi called Chen Ziyan again, he only heard an indifferent mechanical female voice——Chen Ziyan connected the phone to the secretary desk.

He had no choice but to wave his hand, and shouted loudly to his subordinates: "Close the team!"

Xiao Wen's body needs to be sent to the inspection building for Xiao Gao to conduct an in-depth inspection. Their time is very tight. You must know that at twelve o'clock sharp, he and Xiao Gao will also be coffin bearers for Feng Shu's funeral.

At the same time, Chen Ziyan, who hung up the phone, sat blankly in front of the computer, helplessly looking at the Word document on the LCD screen, opened his mouth wide, and couldn't say a word.

After a long time, he printed out a certain passage in the document and put it in his briefcase, then he said to Tang Yifei who had just returned home not long ago: "I have something to go out, you can eat by yourself."

Tang Yifei, who was busy in the kitchen, asked blankly, "What happened?"

Chen Ziyan didn't say anything, just let out a long sigh.

On the printed paper in the briefcase, it was clearly written:

The adjudicator in black smiled coldly at the head protruding from the ground, and then slowly raised his hand.In his hand, he held a screwdriver.In his other hand, he held a glass bottle filled with some kind of liquid.

At this moment, the viscous liquid in the bottle was slightly rippling—it was mercury.

3
At nine o'clock in the evening, Chen Ziyan arrived at the police station as scheduled.

In the office of the inspection building, Zhou Yuanyi pinched the piece of paper that Chen Ziyan handed him, and was so stunned that he opened his mouth and couldn't say a word.It took a few seconds for him to react, and asked sharply, "What's going on?"

Chen Ziyan replied with a wry smile: "It's the same as Feng Shu's death. I wrote a strange murder method in the document, and a murder exactly like the one described in the novel will immediately appear in real life."

"When did you write it?"

"Today, I wrote it this afternoon. After I got home in the morning, I sat in front of the computer and wrote this novel. I worked hard all day and wrote a full [-] words."

"The manuscript was written today, and Xiaowen died in the same way?"

"Yes." Chen Ziyan nodded dejectedly, and said, "It seems that I can't continue writing... If I continue writing, I'm afraid someone will die. My novel has become a curse, an ominous curse."

Zhou Yuanyi felt incredible, and he murmured, "How could this be?"

Chen Ziyan shrugged helplessly, and replied, "God knows..."

"Feng Shu died from the ancient torture of 'washing', so what kind of ancient torture did Xiaowen die from? What kind of ancient torture would bury a person underground, then pierce the scalp and pour mercury into the body?"

Facing Zhou Yuanyi's question, Chen Ziyan feebly raised his eyelids, and after a moment of silence, he replied word by word: "Peeling."

Compared with "grooming", "skinning" does not need to be explained so much. Seeing these two creepy words, one can understand the meaning of this torture.

It is said that during the Ming Dynasty, pirates were rampant. Once a pirate was caught, the government would flay the pirates as a warning to others.During the Jiaqing period, the great pirate Wang Gen was captured, and the human skin was peeled off to form a drum, which was called "human skin drum".This drum was placed in the Beigu Mountain Buddhist Temple, and many people in later generations have seen it.According to legend, the sound of human skin drums is not as loud as that of cowhide drums. That is because human skin has thicker texture than cowhide and is not as strong as cowhide, so its sound is not as good as cowhide.

According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang was the one who loved skinning and torture the most.Because he was born in a poor family, he hated corrupt officials the most. Once a corrupt person was caught, he usually ended up skinned.

According to Ye Ziqi's "Cao Mu Zi", Zhu Yuanzhang was very strict with officials from all over the country. If any official was corrupt and tyrannical, and the amount of corruption was more than 60 taels of silver, he would be sentenced to death. Then fill the leather with grass, and then put this "human fur bag" next to the official seat in the yamen, so that the subsequent officials will be shocked and serve as a warning.This punishment was called "peeling and pulling grass" at the time.

After that, Wei Zhongxian and Zhang Xianzhong took the punishment of skinning to the peak.

Wei Zhongxian likes to pour asphalt on the body of the prisoner, wait for the asphalt to cool and solidify, and then beat it with a hammer.Eventually the pitch and the human skin will come off together.As long as the asphalt on the human skin is washed off, a complete human skin will be obtained.The human skin made in this way has complete ears, eyes, mouth and nose.Wei Zhongxian likes to use this kind of human skin to make a couch, spread it on the seat, the human face is just on the back of the chair, and the hair is scattered behind the chair.Wei Zhongxian sat on this human skin when he raised his account, to show his majesty, and at the same time warn those who have rifts with him.

After Zhang Xianzhong entered Shu, he also loved skinning people alive.When skinning, the executioner will first cut the skin from the back of the neck, cut a slit along the back to the anus, and then tear the skin to both sides.The torn skin on the back and between the arms joined together and spread side to side like two bat wings.In this way, the person who was stripped would have to wait for more than a day before he could die. Zhang Xianzhong even ordered that if the person who was stripped died on the spot, the executioner would be executed.

According to unofficial records, the "skinning" torture invented by Zhu Yuanzhang is even more peculiar.He ordered the embezzlers to be buried alive, with only one head exposed on the ground, and then cut a cross with a knife on the victim's head.After pulling the scalp away along the cross wound, the executioner poured mercury into the wound.Due to the high specific gravity of mercury, it will sink down along the inner layer of the skin, pulling the muscles and skin apart. The tortured person buried in the soil will writhe his body in pain, but cannot break free.

The unofficial history also records that the bodies of some embezzlers, under extreme pain, will eventually even jump out naked from the cross-shaped wound, leaving only a complete human skin left in the soil.

After Chen Ziyan finished his introduction, he continued: "I have always believed that if mercury can really separate the muscles and skin, then the embezzlers who were buried alive would have died of pain before they could break free from the human skin. The records have added too much speculation. However, I think this torture method is very weird and bizarre, so I included it in the summary..."

After Zhou Yuanyi and Xiao Gao looked at each other, they smiled wryly.

Chen Ziyan added: "I also know that writing like this is not in line with science, so in the writing of the article, I modified the outline on the basis of the outline - in the text of my novel, the final judge is on the head of the prisoner. After the mercury was poured into the victim's body, the prisoner died of severe pain. Then the adjudicator peeled off the dead man's scalp, and stabbed an iron rod into the prisoner's body from the cross-shaped wound on the top of the head. Keep stabbing until all the flesh and bones in the body are smashed into a pulp. Finally, the judge hangs the victim's body in the air, face down, and the mixed blood plasma and bone mud flow from the victim. It flowed out from the seven orifices on the face. In the end, a complete human skin was obtained in this way."

(End of this chapter)