Mr. Zhao urged,
"What doubts do you have?"
"If they really prepared so carefully for such a high-end ceremony, who was it for? Self-performance? Self-satisfaction? Self-admiration? What’s the point?"
Zhou Ning squinted his eyes; he had to admit, today Zhu Xingxing really made one reevaluate their opinion of her. Her analysis was indeed insightful. For such a high-profile ceremony, if there was no audience, then what was the point?
So, on the flip side, who was it for?
After a long silence, Zhou Ning took out his phone and dialed a number. A lazy voice ca through from the other end.
"Kid, do you have any idea what ti it is?"
"Sorry, teacher, I didn’t an to disturb your rest, but I have an urgent matter to discuss with you. I’ll send you so information shortly. I want to know if, in Mi Country or neighboring countries, there has been any worship of the Asura God from Hua Country. Of course, it might not be known by that na and could take different forms.
I’m not sure how to describe it, but this deity is said to eradicate eight kinds of human suffering. I will send you the nas of these sufferings and a detailed introduction soon. Can you help find out?"
"Take it easy, Xiao Ning. Is this related to a case you’re working on?"
"Yes, I’m currently in Ganzhou City, a city in Longyou Province. We’ve discovered a cave here that appears to be a site of a sacrificial ceremony.
We consulted with professionals and they said that this isn’t about worshipping a deity but rather conducting a secret rite, akin to opening the gates of hell and releasing the evil Asura."
On the other end of the phone, Li Chengbin was obviously confused by Zhou Ning’s words.
"Hang on, am I still half asleep, or are you? What’s all this about caves, ceremonies, and evil spirits? What’s actually going on?"
Zhou Ning sighed, while Mr. Zhao made a calming gesture with his hands, urging him not to be nervous. Zhou Ning gathered his thoughts and explained everything in detail to Li Chengbin.
After all, the situation was quite bizarre, and Hua Country exercised strict control over such matters. He really couldn’t understand what the organizers of the ritual were up to.
Was it because they failed to summon Asura, or was it simply personal behavior from those individuals at the ti?
Since no one surpassed Li Chengbin in the field of criminal psychology, Zhou Ning shared his thoughts and quietly awaited a response from the other end of the line.
There were sounds of a video playing over the handset, likely Li Chengbin watching the information Zhou Ning had sent. After waiting for a while, Li Chengbin finally sighed and said,
"Personally, I believe the clues you’ve found are incomplete, reflecting only certain aspects of the whole picture. For example, the ceremonial site seems to be intact and gives the impression that the ceremony was a success.
But we don’t know by what standard it was deed successful. Also, concerning the cave’s outer closure, I believe that it may have always been there.
The erosion by spring water wouldn’t cause such extensive damage in just twenty years. Since you’re going back for a second survey, look carefully for any other exits to the cave.
Don’t expend too much effort on those sacrificed boys and girls; hiding the identities of seven to eight-year-old children in that era was easy. However, do perform DNA comparisons to find their purpose in the sacrifice; consider that a lead.
Another point is about those coffins; I think you need to determine their age. Dating is easiest when there are objects involved. You ntioned there were traces of paint on the coffins.
Then take samples for analysis. The production of lacquer varied greatly over different periods and is vastly different from modern industrial production, with many incorporating precious tals or minerals to enhance the color.
If you can see fresh traces of paint, I suspect that even if it’s new, it might not be a product of industrial manufacture. After all, the most expensive seal paste today is still the handcrafted Longquan seal paste which doesn’t fade after a hundred years and doesn’t dissolve in water."
Zhou Ning nodded continuously, gradually forming a direction in his mind and chuckled contentedly.
"Speaking with my teacher, I’ve had an epiphany. The various pieces of information we’ve obtained thus far might all be different points on the sa line. With no connection, they naturally appear contradictory and quite chaotic. It seems that my decision for a second site survey was correct, to seek as many clues as possible before summarizing and analyzing them."
Li Chengbin humd twice, accompanying it with a yawn.
"Alright, it’s just past five and I need to sleep a bit more. It looks like I’ll need to turn off my phone and sleep at night in the future. Whatever you find, we can discuss in detail later.
Rember one thing, no matter when, never panic. Matters from more than twenty years ago are all about fate – just do your best and don’t fixate on the results.
We are human, not masters of the taphysical, and we certainly don’t read fortunes by feeling bones. Don’t co with a need to dig to the root every ti; just do your best."
"Rest assured, Teacher, I’ve figured it out. This case is a chance for cooperation and an opportunity to promote the collaboration between Qindao and Ganzhou. Ganzhou hopes to attract investnt for economic developnt.
anwhile, Qindao hopes to have access to cheap labor and to obtain better preferential policies for enterprise expansion, to create a batch of high-quality businesses capable of competing globally, possessing their own leading industries."
Li Chengbin laughed.
"Not bad, your perspective is extraordinary. Worthy of being Old Xia’s son-in-law. Have you mailed the wedding candy?"
Zhou Ning felt a bit embarrassed because he had genuinely forgotten about it.
"I originally planned to mail so gifts to close friends and family after returning from our wedding trip, but I didn’t expect to get tripped up on the last stop. Don’t worry, Teacher, I will send it to you when I get back. Also, I’ll continue collecting clues here and share any further findings with you.
The matter I just ntioned, I hope you can help check if there’s such a person seeking asylum abroad. After all, I haven’t paid much attention to that kind of news."
"Alright, there was one before, but that case was a bit special. I’m not very familiar with it, but I’ll start looking for so information for you."
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Ning exhaled deeply. In reality, whether it was Li Chengbin or Liu Yongxin, they didn’t teach Zhou Ning many thods and techniques for his work.
Rather, they helped Zhou Ning find direction when he was lost.
After all, ans always serve cognitive judgnt. What Zhou Ning lacked was a macro assessnt of situations, as well as sotis being swayed by emotions.
Mr. Zhao edged closer and tentatively asked:
"Going for a al?"
Zhou Ning didn’t say a word, and neither did the others beside him, but Mr. Zhao showed no sign of feeling discouraged and started talking to himself.
"Speaking of eating, I think the people of Hua Country have taken it to the extre. Anything can be linked to food. For example, jealousy is ’eating vinegar’, being tricked is ’eating a loss’, having no money is ’eating dust’, being a rascal is even called ’eating tofu’, and people greet each other with ’have you eaten?’
Betrayal is referred to as ’eating in and poaching from outside’, material indulgence is called ’eating, drinking and rrymaking’, learning from a lesson is ’one falls into a pit, one gains in wit’, doing so brainless thing when idly full is ’eating till you burst’, having a wealth of experience is ’having seen and eaten a lot’.
If you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness, then you should ’eat whatever you want when you want’, fighting ans ’eating my fist’, and if you et soone with procrastination, you can’t even ’eat your cake while it’s still warm’! I’m telling you, if you don’t decide to go eat now, I can hardly hold back all those harsher words waiting to burst out!"
Zhou Ning couldn’t help but laugh and quickly put his hands together in a gesture of apology.
"My mistake, let’s go eat."
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