The Remains of the Sword in Jiangbei

When I heard these words, I was stunned for a good ten seconds. The shadow sneered, “What’s wrong, don’t want me to see what your grandfather taught you to become?”

“He didn’t teach me anything!” I said.

“Then how did you find this place?” The shadow casually asked.

I instantly broke out in a cold sweat. This man was really too clever, immediately seeing through my lies.

“Hmph, didn’t expect a small child to have such great skills.” The shadow’s icy curved blade kept wandering around my waist.

Was he my grandfather's enemy? Why did he want to test me? If I could really see it, would he spare me?

My thoughts were a mess. In my short seventeen years, when had I ever experienced such a thing? At that moment, I only felt that my mind was in chaos, my clothes were soaked with cold sweat, sticking coldly to my body.

“Hurry up, my patience is limited.” The shadow urged.

I could only start examining my grandfather's corpse. I put my index finger on his skin to measure his body temperature, the corpse temperature was about ten degrees, I checked the joints of his fingers, the fingernails were intact, there were no signs of struggle, then I pried open his eyelids and took a look, the eyeballs were not cloudy...

When doing these things carefully, I unexpectedly gradually calmed down.

My grandfather's body had no obvious wounds, no signs of poisoning either. His cheeks even had a slight flush, if not for his vital signs having completely disappeared, he looked almost as if he were sleeping soundly.

Could there be wounds hidden under his clothes?

Grandpa, I'm sorry! I thought to myself, and started to untie my grandfather's clothes, taking off both his top and pants. Although my emotions were very mixed up, my mind was very clear. I slowly examined the skin and bones of his body.

But there was not a single wound on his whole body, nor were any of the bones broken.

I put my ear to my grandfather's chest, tapped the area of the diaphragm, and did not find any signs of internal bleeding either.

There were no signs of suffocation, no signs of strangulation, no pathological features.

This was really strange. I couldn't even find the cause of death. In an instant, I began to doubt what I had learned, and even doubted that I was a useless person.

Time passed second by second, my clothes were blown by the cold wind in the warehouse, then soaked again by cold sweat.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead, and the shadow behind me laughed: “What's wrong, can Song Xiaolin's grandson not see the cause of death?”

“...”

“Speak, what is the cause of death, or should I just tell you and kill you in the same way I killed your grandfather!” the shadow demanded.

I clenched my fists, knowing that I was doomed, but instead became fearless.

“I don't know!” I cried.

“This is your answer?” the shadow said.

I suddenly stood up. Anyway I was going to die, might as well fight for it, perhaps there was still a chance to escape.

Even if I couldn't beat him, at least before I died I had to see what he looked like, and take revenge on him as a vengeful ghost!

He was no more than half a meter away from me. I turned around frantically and threw a punch straight at him, but my fist was instantly gripped tightly by a gloved hand.

I could see clearly now. This shadow was about one meter eight tall, wearing a black coat, wrapped up tightly, without an inch of skin exposed. On his face he wore a hideous ghost mask, with an open mouth as if smiling, the mouth revealed two green fangs.

The eyes hidden behind the mask were pitch black, with no visible reflection like normal human pupils. In an instant, I even wondered if he was human at all?

The shadow gently twisted my fist, there was a click, and I was in so much pain that tears almost came out.

"Courageous!" The shadow nodded, "Just too stupid, killing you would dirty my hands. Forget it, I'll spare your little life. When you can one day see my murder method, I'll come back for your life. Remember, I will always be the nightmare of your Song family!"

After speaking, he made a strange gesture, poked my forehead, and I actually felt dizzy and collapsed softly to the ground.

I was woken up by the shrill sound of police sirens. A big hand kept slapping my face. I opened my eyes to see many people surrounding me, Officer Sun was squatting in front of me, continuously patting me with his hand. I groggily opened my eyes and remembered what had happened before I fainted, immediately becoming flustered.

“Where’s my grandfather?”

Officer Sun sighed mournfully, “Song Yang, your grandfather, he has already...”

Everything that had happened last night was real. I didn't feel too shocked, I just suddenly felt my heart sink. Anger, shame, humiliation, all kinds of emotions tangled in my heart. I bit my lips tightly, and unknowingly actually bit them until they bled.

Officer Sun put a coat over me. I only noticed then that after lying in the warehouse all night, I was starting to catch a cold.

The two corpses had been taken away. Officer Sun said that my aunt had looked for us all night, and only felt relieved after knowing I was safe and sound.

Officer Sun took me to the criminal investigation team in the city to give a statement. I told him everything I knew, then asked him several questions - who was Jiangbei Can Dao, how did my grandfather die, and who was that fat man.

Officer Sun frowned and said, "I know you care a lot about these things now, but since your grandfather's dying wish was for you to let it go, I think you shouldn't ask."

"How could I not care!" I said angrily as I stood up, gritting my teeth and cursing, "That man killed my grandfather, I want revenge!"

Officer Sun sighed and said, "Okay, I'll tell you everything I know, but you have to keep these words rotting in your heart, and never tell anyone about them."

He lit a cigarette, and was about to start talking, when a policeman walked in, holding a file in his hand. Seeing me there, he was about to leave again, but was stopped by Officer Sun: "We're all family here, just say what you need to!"

The policeman glanced at me and mumbled, "Chief Sun, the autopsy report for Mr. Song is out."

"Bring it here."

Officer Sun took the autopsy report and glanced at it, his expression suddenly becoming solemn. He muttered, "As expected, it was that man."

Then he handed the report to me. Although it was my first time seeing a coroner's autopsy report, and there were many technical terms on it, forensic medicine and ancient coroners do have a lot in common after all. I didn't have much trouble understanding it.

It said that Victim Number One, the middle-aged fat man, had no damage on the surface of his body, no signs of poisoning, except that his eyeballs had been removed while he was still alive, causing tears in the optic nerves and extraocular muscles. Also, his heart was missing from the abdominal cavity, presumably cut out by a blade, but the skin and ribs were intact. The plastic bag in his hand contained a human heart, identified through tests as his own.

Seeing this, I couldn't help gasping. Was it possible to remove a heart without damaging the body?

My grandfather's cause of death was a large perforation in the heart valve, presumably stabbed by a blade. The direct cause of death was cardiac arrest. Similarly, no wounds were found on the surface of the body, no signs of restraint or struggle, nor any poisoning.

I was shocked and couldn't speak. Officer Sun took the report from my hand and said, "The only one capable of doing this is Jiangbei Can Dao from ten years ago. It seems he's back to take revenge on the Song family."

Then, Officer Sun slowly told me about the bizarre unsolved case from ten years ago...