Chapter Five: Little Footprints!

In Shandong Province during the Qing Dynasty, a blood-curdling case once shocked the entire nation. The old provincial governor’s family—all seven members—were found dead, their abdomens slit open, and their organs removed as if they were pig entrails, hung grotesquely on the clothesline in the courtyard. The scene was too horrific to behold. The coroner who came to examine the bodies failed to find any clues and, on the very same day, committed suicide by disembowelment, in exactly the same manner as the governor.

Panic swept through the people—some whispered of ghosts, others of notorious bandits. The authorities were at their wits’ end and had no choice but to summon Yu Buping, the most renowned detective in the provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi. Upon arrival and after some investigation, Yu Buping observed that there were indeed no signs of forced entry in the governor’s home. The coroners, too, had killed themselves under the watchful eyes of their families. He then requested a jar of bone ash, which he sprinkled evenly across the crime scene, and, carrying a red umbrella in broad daylight, paced around the courtyard alone.

The county magistrate, observing from the side, had no idea what Yu Buping intended. Soon, however, he noticed that beneath the red umbrella, footsteps began to appear in the bone ash scattered across the yard. Startled, the magistrate asked Yu Buping what was going on.

Yu Buping replied that the murderer was not human. Judging by the footprints, which pointed outwards, it was clear that the entity had followed them, intending to bring them to the same grisly fate as the coroners. He warned: “If, on your way home, someone calls your name, do not respond. Before you cross your threshold, remove your shoes and leave them outside. Then wash yourself thoroughly with coarse salt; that will rid you of the thing.”

Everyone followed Yu Buping’s instructions. Sure enough, the water in their bathing tubs turned black and foul, and no such bloody case ever occurred in that county again.

A note beneath the case read: “One measure of bone ash, one measure of lime, mix well, and cover with a red umbrella; it will reveal the presence of evil spirits.”

Though I do not believe in ghosts, there was something peculiar about my current case. Out of curiosity, I decided to give this old method a try.

I asked Tang Jingjing if she could procure a red umbrella and some bone ash.

She asked what I was up to. I replied that it was an old folk remedy from my hometown—perhaps it could help with the investigation. “Don’t ask too much, just get them for me,” I said.

“This is all superstition. If Director Wang finds out, you’ll be packing your bags back to medical school…” Tang Jingjing warned.

“Don’t you want to solve the case?” I stretched out the words.

“Well… fine! But hurry up, and don’t let Director Wang catch you.” In the end, her curiosity got the better of her. She went out and bought a red oil-paper umbrella and called a friend at the crematorium to bring over some animal bone ash.

Soon, the bone ash arrived. I locked the doors of the autopsy room tightly and drew the curtains to avoid being seen.

I’ve noticed women are especially intrigued by tales of ghosts and spirits. At this moment, Tang Jingjing’s eyes were glued to me, though she looked extremely nervous—she hardly dared to breathe.

I’d handled bone ash before, so I wasn’t afraid. I grabbed a handful and scattered it around the floor.

Perhaps it was my imagination, but I felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees as the ash settled.

When the bone ash was all spread out, I opened the red umbrella and began to stroll slowly around the autopsy room.

Following the method described in the notebook, I kept the umbrella as level as possible, letting the light from the lamps filter through the canopy and shine on the ash below. I walked several laps, but nothing unusual appeared. Disappointed, I prepared to clean up, and Tang Jingjing took the opportunity to mock me, calling me a pig pretending to be clever.

Ah, it was only an old book my father forbade me to read—I put away the umbrella in disappointment and was about to sweep up the ash.

But before I could move, something strange happened. On the tiles beside the corpse, some of the bone ash began to darken, slowly turning black. When the blackness stopped spreading, it clearly formed a row of ferocious little footprints.

Startled, I dropped the umbrella. Tang Jingjing, curled up like a frightened kitten in the corner, was pale and trembling: “Ghost… there really is a ghost…”

“It’s just a chemical reaction,” I said with a laugh. “Even if there was a ghost, it’s gone now—didn’t you see the footprints are headed outside?”

I might have appeared calm, but I was only putting on a brave face. In that situation, who wouldn’t be scared? If Tang Jingjing hadn’t been there, I would have cried out myself.

Tang Jingjing nodded with difficulty, swallowing hard. “Hurry up… clean it up before anyone sees.”

I took a few photos with my phone, then helped Tang Jingjing clean up and dump the ash into the trash bin.

“I’m leaving,” Tang Jingjing said. “I have night duty.”

With that, she tried to make her escape.

“Don’t go,” I said, half laughing, half exasperated. “Aren’t you the captain of the criminal police? Afraid of so little?”

She instantly bristled, pouting and thrusting out her chest. “Afraid? Don’t you know me, Tang Jingjing, never gets scared.”

“If you’re not afraid, then stay,” I said. “Keep me company.”

“You’re not planning more superstitious nonsense, are you? Work’s over for the day.”

“I want to identify the deceased,” I explained. “Maybe that’s the key to the whole case.”

Tang Jingjing shot me a glare. “Fine, but if you don’t find any leads after the identification, you’d better watch out.”

I ignored her, put on gloves, plucked a hair from the male corpse, and proceeded to extract DNA.

The DNA was quickly processed. With the sample in a test tube, I headed to the computer department to run it through the DNA database. The police database is networked nationwide—if there was a match, we could confirm the victim’s identity.

This was a huge task; there might not be results even after a whole night.

The officer in charge of DNA comparison was Li Xingchen, who was just packing up to leave when we arrived. Our timing dashed his hopes of getting off work, so he was none too pleased to see us.

To my surprise, Tang Jingjing took my side, grabbing Li Xingchen by the ear and snapping, “What’s with the attitude? Don’t forget who got you out of trouble. If it weren’t for me, you’d still be staring at the wall in a holding cell.”

Li Xingchen immediately begged for mercy: “Ow, it hurts! Sis, I was wrong. Please, let me go. I won’t do it again.”

“Then get to work and find out who this DNA belongs to!”

With no other choice, Li Xingchen reluctantly took the test tube and left. I think I even heard him mutter under his breath: “Damn lovebirds.”

I asked Tang Jingjing what that was about—what did she mean by getting him out of trouble?

Tang Jingjing replied smugly, “You didn’t know? Li Xingchen is a talented hacker. When the demolition office forcibly tore down his family’s house, he hacked into the police website and posted obscene pictures. Who else could they arrest?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Why not hack the demolition office? Why the police?”

“Idiot,” Tang Jingjing said. “He thought the police were responsible just because they patrolled the demolition site. I saw potential in him, so I gave him a chance to redeem himself here.”

“Hey, Sis, I have something to tell you.” As I was chatting with Tang Jingjing, Li Xingchen returned with a sly grin.

“What is it?” Tang Jingjing snapped.

“You’ve probably heard the urban legend at that university—a female student had a miscarriage and abandoned her baby in the school woods. Since then, the child’s restless spirit has haunted the area, wailing every night. In my opinion, the recent murder at the school is the work of this ghost infant. Look, the forum thread is red-hot.” Li Xingchen pointed at the computer screen.

Curious, Tang Jingjing and I glanced over. Someone on the school’s forum was analyzing the deaths of the two female students in impressive detail, even discussing certain aspects that hadn’t yet been made public.

As I read on, I realized something was wrong. I’d just discovered that both students’ uteruses were missing—there was no way this detail could have spread to the school so quickly.

Could it be… that the killer was the one posting on the forum?