Part 2 Chapter 23 The Secret of the Plaster Statue
Qin Yiheng's tone was very relaxed, but his expression was as if he was facing a great enemy. I asked him what was wrong with the plaster statue, and he said he couldn't explain it clearly in a few words, and I would know after I saw it, and then he drove straight to his home.
My heart was bouncing along with the wheels along the way, and even though I wanted to close my eyes for a while, I couldn't calm down.
When we arrived at the place, he opened the door and I followed him into the house. I looked around and found that the wardrobe was still standing in its original position, which gave me a headache just by looking at it.
As for the plaster statue, I haven't seen it yet, and I don't know where it is hidden. After a careful search, I found that the plaster statue had been placed in a corner of the wall, and there was something covering it. I didn't look closely, and I didn't know whether it was a blanket or a piece of clothing.
Qin Yiheng walked directly to the plaster statue, carefully lifted the thing covering the plaster statue, pointed at it, and asked me to come over and take a look.
I moved closer, but before I could get close, he took a step forward to stop me and warned me not to touch it with my hands. Only then did he let me get close to the plaster statue.
The lights in the room were all on, and visibility was good. Even though the plaster statue was standing in a corner, it was not difficult to see clearly. I took a few glances and felt that Qin Yiheng seemed to be making a fuss. There was nothing particularly unusual about the plaster statue. It was just that there were six or seven pink or light red patches on the chest of the plaster statue, as if it had been rubbed with some dirt or dye.
The colors of these blocks of color are not particularly obvious, but the plaster statue is white, so they look a little bit glaring.
My first reaction was that the thing Qin Yiheng used to cover the plaster statue had faded. I turned around and took a look, but I thought it was not the case. The thing he took off was a dark blue cloth. Judging from the color scheme, even if it faded, it should not turn red. I thought to myself: "Looking at this situation, these red spots appeared on their own? Someone sneaked into his house again? Is this another clue for us?"
I asked Qin Yiheng, but he didn't answer directly. He reminded me again not to get too close to the plaster statue, and then he pointed to the red blocks and told me that he was also surprised when he first discovered these things. At first, he thought it was related to the reflection of the light source at home, so he moved the plaster statue to a corner. As a result, the color on the plaster statue became more and more, and they all appeared unconsciously. He was puzzled, and later he pondered for several days before he came up with an idea, but this idea was very outrageous, and until now he has no way to prove whether what he thought was true or false. As he said, Qin Yiheng took a deep puff of cigarette, and then slowly continued: "This thing is corpse spots."
When he said the last two words, I felt like someone had stuffed a piece of ice into my shoe. Is this a corpse spot? Isn't it only found on corpses? This is a plaster statue. No matter how realistic and human-like it is, it's not a corpse.
I don't know much about biology, but I've seen some forensic autopsy scenes in movies that say that livor mortis appears slowly over time after a person dies, and it seems to be related to how the person died. Anyway, the time of death can be roughly inferred from the livor mortis. It is said that the longer the time, the darker the color of the livor mortis. I see that the color on the plaster statue is lighter, so it must be a plaster statue that has just died? Why does this look like a science fiction movie?
This is increasingly challenging the limits of human thinking.
If this is really corpse spots, I feel that I have lived in vain for the past twenty years.
Qin Yiheng must have expected this kind of reaction from me. He sighed and said, "I'm just making a bold guess, and I can't provide any evidence to prove it at the moment. So, tonight I plan to use a little method to see if my guess is right." After saying that, he actually picked up the blue cloth on the ground, used his hands to pad the ground, and lifted up the plaster statue. He asked me to open the door in front of him, and then he carried the plaster statue downstairs and secured it to the back seat of the car with a rope.
The two got in the car, Qin Yiheng looked at his watch and said, "It's still a while until midnight, let's take a break now and try to get some sleep to recuperate. Who knows what might happen later."
It was easy for him to say that. It would be strange if I could sleep in this situation. I turned around and looked at the plaster statue. It really looked like a corpse.
Seeing that I kept looking back, Qin Yiheng advised me not to look at it as much as possible, saying that there might be something inside the plaster statue and I should try not to provoke it if possible.
As soon as he said this, I felt a chill on my back and I almost had the urge to get off the car.
Time passed very slowly, and after a long time, Qin Yiheng finally said that it was almost time to set off. In order to prevent any accidents to the plaster statue, Qin Yiheng asked me to drive and he would give directions.
I drove very fast all the way, not caring whether I was speeding or not, as long as I could get out of the car with the plaster statue as soon as possible. Following the direction Qin Yiheng pointed, we headed straight to the suburbs.
By the time he said he would park the car, it was already past midnight. We were in the middle of nowhere, and we really wanted to take advantage of the dead of night to dispose of the body.
Qin Yiheng got out of the car first, moved the plaster statue, asked me to get two shovels from the trunk, and asked me to light the way for him with a flashlight. After walking a long way, he looked around, put the plaster statue on the ground, and asked me to help dig the hole.
I was right, we were here to bury a body. Although this place is in the suburbs, it is not far from the national highway and should be considered farmland. The autumn harvest has passed and the land is barren. When I was burying the body, I was afraid that a few farmers with manure forks would rush out and treat us as criminals and execute us on the spot.
Fortunately, the pit was dug very deep, and there was still dead silence all around. Qin Yiheng's requirements were very strict. The pit had to be dug as deep as possible. We dug as hard as we could, and finally my knuckles were worn out. He used a flashlight to shine into the pit and said it was almost done. Then he held up the plaster statue, inserted it into the pit, filled it with soil, and dug some soil from the side and piled it around it. Finally, the plaster statue was completely submerged in the soil, with only the top of its head exposed.
We were both exhausted, and we took a long break to catch our breath. After drinking a sip of water, Qin Yiheng took something out of his bag and put it in my hand. I shone a flashlight on it and found that it was the tortoise shell he brought with him. He said, "I will smash the top of the plaster statue in a while, and you must put the tortoise shell on the top of the plaster statue as quickly as possible. You must press the tortoise shell to death, and you cannot let go without my command."
After that, Qin Yiheng instructed me to stand by. He picked up a stone, took a deep breath, and smashed it hard against the pile of dirt. I heard a muffled sound, and the plaster statue must have broken. I quickly got up and took action. After going through so much, I didn't panic at all. I put the tortoise shell on it in one hand. Three words: steady, accurate and ruthless.
As soon as the tortoise shell was put on, I pressed my hand tightly, fearing that something would rush out. After pressing for a long time, I felt no extra sensation on my hand, and I was relieved. I looked back at Qin Yiheng. He was squatting on the ground fiddling with something. It was dark, and I couldn't see clearly. After all, the flashlight was not facing him.
After waiting for a while, Qin Yiheng assembled a pole with some unknown material. The pole was quite long, and one end seemed to have a point. He took it and stuck it into the soil about ten centimeters away from the turtle shell. He pressed hard a few times before letting go. The pole was fixed in the soil pile at an angle of about seventy-five degrees.
Then he told me that I could let go, and then he took out a bottle full of liquid from his bag and poured it down the pole.
I didn't understand his action at all, so I stood up and moved closer to him, but he waved his hand and told me to stand further away. After pouring the contents of the bottle in, he also stepped back several steps, staring nervously at the place where the plaster statue was buried.
I thought to myself: "Is he going to detonate it? What kind of liquid bomb was that just poured in? What kind of chemical reaction will happen in a while?" I quickly retreated and stared for a long time, but there was no movement over there.
Seeing that Qin Yiheng didn't move, I naturally didn't dare to move either. The two of us stayed like this for a cigarette's time. Qin Yiheng whispered "Here it comes", then grabbed my hand and said, "No matter what you see later, don't run. If you run, you're done."
I didn't feel scared at first, but after he told me that, my legs felt weak. I couldn't run away, and it was good enough that very nervous. In fact, it's not necessarily that something is coming that's scary, but that you don't know what's coming. I stared at it without blinking, but I stared for three minutes and didn't see anything.
Qin Yiheng said "Huh", and seemed to find it strange. He turned his head and asked me, "Did you forget to take off the turtle shell?"
I felt guilty when I was asked this question, thinking that I had made a mistake again. After thinking for a while, I remembered that he just asked me to let go, not to take the shell! I told him that the shell was still on the soil, and then pointed it at him with a flashlight.
Qin Yiheng shouted as soon as he heard it: "Oh no, damn it, I actually overlooked it. Hurry up and take the turtle shell off, it will be too late if you are late."
His tone was quite in line with the atmosphere, and I felt eerie, so I took a few steps forward cautiously. I was still a little scared, thinking, damn, I still have to clean up your mess, and wanted to turn around and complain to him, but as soon as I turned around, he turned off the flashlight.
Although there was moonlight that night, it was not bright. In addition, the flashlight had just been turned off, and my eyes had not yet adapted to the darkness. I paused for a few seconds before I saw the location of the turtle shell. I didn't dare to delay, so I grabbed the turtle shell and ran back to Qin Yiheng. I wanted to get angry. Damn it, is this a deliberate trick on me?
Qin Yiheng, however, said "hush" to me first, frowning as if he was observing something. I quickly turned around and was immediately surprised to see a dark shadow appear where the plaster statue was buried.
