Strange Investigations Team

Ministry of Public Safety, Office of the Director.

A knock came from outside the door. Liang Zheng pushed open the door and entered. He placed the files for the medical university ghost case down in front of the director. There was a lofty smile on his meaty face. “The culprit was Liu Liugen, called Uncle Liu. He’s already confessed to abetting murder and other charges. The accomplice, Yue Yingqing, also known as Zeng Qianyi, has also confessed to murder and a.s.saulting police officers. The accomplice, Xiao Yixuan, while never directly involved with a murder, has committed theft of hearts from corpses. He’s been dismissed from the general hospital, but the directors don’t wish for any rumors to get around, and decided not to pursue the matter. But I’m afraid that he won’t ever be able to work in the medical field again. Female dorm Supervisor Yu cooperated with the investigations before the truth was revealed, though her involvement in the case wasn’t large. Moreover, she kept a good att.i.tude during our investigations, so she will only have to undergo educational training.”

“Mm, well done!” The director picked up the files and flipped through them before closing the folder. He smiled. “I gave a half month deadline and it was solved in three days. The secretary will be pleased.”

“I only gave my subordinates one week.” Liang Zheng said confidently.

“It’s good to be strict with your subordinates, but don’t push them too much. Thankfully, the Armed Police were keeping students away from the area. Otherwise, there would have been many casualties from the methane explosion. The explosion already caused great damage to numerous buildings on the medical university campus, and the maintenance fees are frightening.”

“That’s for the secretary and Ministry of Education to deal with. It’s not our business, but someone else will be anxiously rebuilding the campus each day.”

“That’s true. It’s best to leave these matters for someone else to deal with. Let us just do our own jobs well!” The director handed another file to Liang Zheng.

Liang Zhen read it, “The victim died from a myocardial infraction (heart attack). Facial expression was seriously distorted, but no other apparent injuries… Seven witnesses on the scene that claim the victim was murdered by a ghost… This case sounds very interesting.” His eyes shined with a compet.i.tive radiance.

[End of Volume 1]

Note: The following is paraphrased.

Volume 1, White Snake Immortal, was inspired by the story sent in by a reader about a white snake tomb found in Zhuhai, Guangdong in the ’90s.

The information provided described a story very similar to the discovery of the snake in this novel, but instead of a school dormitory, the tomb was found under an eight-story residential building. The migrant workers dug up a grave and found a snake, and then they ate it. The workers who ate the snake died within ten years from gastrointestinal diseases (changed to ten months for the novel). The author does mention the possibility of the snake having carried some type of virus, but of course, the oddity lies in the fact that there’s a living snake that doesn’t move, buried in a tomb.

The reader that sent in the story, Miao Miao (who got a character in the novel, haha), said that she’d heard about the story from elders. After the first worker died, there would be some people who would go back to the site of the snake tomb each year to light incense and burn joss paper. After the last worker died though, no one returned to the site and so, the story became legend.