The Cripple, The Blind, and The Mute (Part 2)

Xi woke up and acted like nothing just happened.

Jasper yelled at her right after she woke up.

"HEYY!!!! If you aren't not in the right state, JUST GO HOME, HUHH!!!!

Xi looked at him emotionlessly and ignored him. She moved the victim's hand and looked at her wrist. On her vision before, the victim kept looking at her watch but it was gone. AHA, another clue was missing. It's getting more thrilling for Xi. Xi got more and more curious.

"She wore a uniform but no bag or even school stationery were found on the crime scene?"

Jasper whispered to himself and wrote the clues on his notebook.

Xi listened to Jasper's whisper. Then she remembered what Yamla said before. If she could see the victim's last memory, it meant that the spirit was still roaming on earth. She looked around her. But she didn't see anything.

Then she moved closer to the curtain. She opened the curtain and she saw something or someone, perhaps. A black shadow just smirked at her from a distance. Its face looked like it mocked Xi. Xi looked at its red eyes at a glance. It was shapeless but more looked like a solid shadow.

She just followed the shadow she just saw. They ended up in a dim hallway. The shadow suddenly stopped and turned around. It turned into a creepy creature with great black wings. Its skin was glossy black but furry. Its nail was awfully sharp like knife. Its body was a vile travesty of human form and it got red blood eyes. She just realized that the red eyes were the same pair of Móguǐ had on her vision before. Was it a demon?

They looked at each other's eyes. That creature grinned.

"What you're looking for, Mortal?" It grinned at Xi.

Then that creature looked at Xi closely from top-to-toe.

"So the rumor is real. You are the Death's apprentice?" That demon just mumbled in a different language. She was sure that what the shadow said was in non-human language but surprisingly she understood it.

"How do you know? A...re... you... Móguǐ?" Xi asked it reluctantly.

That witty demon looked surprised then laughed at her question.

"Even now you can speak and understand Ancient Móguǐ Language. Impressive! But you sounded so northern." That chatty creature chuckled.

Xi was surprised on how she spoke a language she didn't know without realizing it.

That demon then looked at her forehead. Xi felt uneasy like she was being scanned by an unknown creature she never met.

"Ah.. You also have a Death Seal in you. You're definitely a powerful living container of yin and yang."

The shadow creature was looking at Xi in awe.

Suddenly, Xi was frozen. She couldn't move her body somehow. Yet, that demon got closer to her. It smirked at her. It looked like that demon tied Xi with an unseen mantra. She could feel the thirst and hunger from that creature's eyes like she was its prey.

A fear suddenly crawled from her heart. But along with the fear itself, she felt a strange feeling. An anger. She felt her heart burnt with anger and extremely huge power. Unexpectedly, her eyes turned into yellow. She was like possessed by something. She stared at that creature in fiery.

"GO BACK TO DIYU, YOU LOWLY MOGUI!" She spoke in anger in an ancient language.

That creature stopped its action and Xi could feel its fear. It turned around trying to run away from her. But everything was too late for that.

Xi grabbed its neck and stared at it furious. Her hand suddenly sparked a blue fire and was about to burn that creature. Her expression also turned into a devilish one.

"If you kill me, you will never know about where that lowly mortal's spirit is." That demon threatened her.

She smirked devilishly.

"Let me see your eyes."

While tightened her grab, she looked at that demon's eyes closely. She got a vision from that demon. She saw a building with so many rooms. It was dark and there was hallway. But at end of hallway, she saw that girl's spirit was there. She was tied up with a red rope while the same creature guarded her. She tried to look any further but the vision ended.

She smirked once again.

"I got it already."

Then Xi said the last word.

"DO.NOT.EVER.COME.BACK.TO.EARTH.AGAIN!"

She burnt the creature with a blue fire on her hand.

"ARGGGHH!!!!!" The shadow screamed.

Poof!

It just vanished into the air.

Right after that demon gone, she felt weak on her knees and nearly passed out again. It was like she used her energy too much. But she immediately got herself together.

"Waahh.. What a hassle."

She panted heavily. She looked at her hands and looked at her own reflection on the glass window.

Her eyes was still yellow. She shook her head several times hoping that her eyes would turn back to normal.

"What's wrong with me?"

She looked at her eyes once again in panic. Until someone came and approached her. It was the Janitor.

"Are you okay, Miss?" he touched her shoulder.

She turned around and forced a smile.

"It's alright, Sir."

Then the janitor just walked away and continued mopping the floor

Xi just looked at her reflection once again. Her eyes got back to normal.

She felt relieved.

"What is that building, actually?"

Xi was puzzled.

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At the distance on the different realm, Yamla opened his eyes. A huge power felt like moving out from His body.

"Did she use my power? How did she do it???? Are we connected???"

Yamla was surprised and curious about it.

Yamla stood up. He wore His robe then walked away. He knew what to do.

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Her curiosity and fear got her crazy. She didn't know what to do. But then Xi walked back to the victim's room.

"Where is the crime scene?" Xi asked Jasper and Dr Kwok like nothing just happened.

"Where were you?" Dr. Kwok asked her but she ignored him.

She looked at Jasper and demanded an answer.

"Kwangju Daffodil Blocks."

She just opened her mobile phone and called taxi company.

When Xi was ready to go, Jasper held her hand and stopped her.

"You can't go there. It's forbidden for the civilian to be at the crime scene." He said it seriously.

"I know. That's why you need to come with me."

Xi smirked. She pulled his arm and dragged him with her forcefully.

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Xi forcefully pushed Jasper to get into the taxi. He just did what Xi wanted without saying anything. Deep inside his heart, he was bemused with Xi's impulsiveness and bravery.

On the other hand, somehow, Xi had guts about this case. Her intuition like told her to go to with Jasper.

Jasper pushed Xi's hand away

"Stop messing around!"

Jasper pushed Xi's hand away and looked at her angrily.

"What do you want exactly??"

Xi looked at the window and answered him accordingly.

"I'll tell you when we arrive."

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They arrived at the crime scene. It was already sealed with police line. She looked at Jasper and tried to explain what just happened to Jasper.

"It might sound crazy for you. But I got visions about the victim."

Jasper looked at her emotionlessly then just ignored her.

Jasper got out and walked quickly to the scene. Xi paid the taxi fare and then followed him quickly.

"Waa... This brat!!" Xi cursed him behind his back.

An officer was there and saluted Jasper with proper salute. Xi looked at that officer's badge closely. He came from another sector but it looked like he knew Jasper very well.

"Sir."

Jasper nodded accordingly.

"What we had here, Officer Wu? Who is the witness?"

"A witness was a vegetable merchant in the Kwangju Traditional Market. A middle-aged woman with silver hair. She and her husband were going to the market to open their stall there and sell their vegetables. She was the first who saw the victim the based on her alibi, she then screamed and called her husband. When she screamed all the people in neighborhood heard her and suddenly went out to see what happened."

Jasper nodded once again and without saying anything then walked away. He left Xi behind. He grabbed the rubber gloves and wore it. Then he checked the crime scene closely.

Jasper was so immersed analyzing the crime scene. He collected some clues and looked at the blood stains carefully. His eyes kept analyzing so seriously and looked around like he was in on the scene. He just re-enacted the crime on his head.

Xi looked at Jasper carefully and wondered who exactly these guy was. He was quite young. He was probably in his early 30s, but an older officer greeted and saluted him as if he had a certain position. He was definitely a mysterious yet suspicious guy.

Xi got closer to the officer and asked him.

"Officer, who is he actually? Why you saluted him with full respect like that? Is he just a new guy here?"

"Oh.. and you are Miss??" the officer asked Xi's name.

"Ah. I'm Lee Xi Yuan." She grabbed the officer's hand. They shook each other's hand.

"He is "Jasper Chu", Miss." He continued with emphasis in every syllables in his name.

''Yeah, I know he is "Jasper Chu". So?" She replied with imitated the way the officer said his name.

"Don't you know him? The famous detective from headquarter? He is already a major, if I'm not mistaken."

"A famous? Is he famous?" she was puzzled.

"A MAJOR??" She whispered but her whisper turned into a squeak.

The officer laughed at her.

'You just went here with him on the same taxi but you didn't know him?"

Xi was speechless.

"He is known as "Grim Reaper" for the criminals. He always solve every crime in an amazing way. But no one could understand his way of thinking and reasons. He asked his superior to be sent here in small city.

Xi then looked at Jasper once again.

"What the hell is he looking for here in the small city if he had that position?" Xi whispered to herself and glazed over him.

Jasper suddenly looked at her. Their eyes met. But strangely, she didn't get any vision about him or his memory. She wondered why. She still couldn't know how to use or control that stare-y skill properly. She thought that she would need to train harder for this "weird" new skill.

"HEY, YOU!! Did you ask me to come with you forcefully here just to make you chatting with others HUH???" Jasper shouted at her rudely.

Xi just stood up. She wanted to kick him but she just held herself together to not to.

Xi looked around her. Xi remembered what Yamla said before.

"The spirit of this girl was kidnapped by Gudu-gui. But what it gudu-gui?"

She whispered. She was thinking so hard and wondered if it was the same like she "killed" before.

She walked around the perimeter and tried to reenact the crime. She walked uphill to the street lamp then walked back to crime scene. The place near street lamp was bright and had a street CCTV there. It was quite impossible to do some crime action there but she bet there would also be any clues for this crime.

She looked at the CCTV once again.

"But did it work well?" She asked herself.

She stood while her hands on her waist.

Jasper walked towards her.

"You are a quite weird girl, Xi Yuan. But I have to admit that your guts are definitely detective materials." Jasper said without any hesitation.

"From my point of view, you are very straightforward rude guy. I'll take it as a compliment." Xi answered emotionlessly.

"I know what you're thinking about. I already checked that CCTV was on all day long and on the suspected crime time. The officer needs time to retrieve the data. It will be ready for another half hour, I bet. "

Xi didn't say anything. She ignored Jasper. She looked at her watch then just opened her mobile phone to write some news draft for the morning headline news column. She wrote the report of this crime bluntly. She just hoped her editor woke up earlier this morning and could publish these news in instant. She would definitely complete the news after this crime solved.

After she finished writing the report, she just went back to the crime scene.

She hunkered down and looked at the blood stains carefully. After looking at it, she found something that looked like red footstep stains. They made a pattern. She grabbed a rubber gloves near her and tried to touch the stain. There was no stain on the gloves. She bet that it was another supranatural evidence for her and she better didn't tell anyone about it. Then she followed the stain until the end of the road and the stains ended near bushes. There she found a white watch and a school name tag.

AHA!

That was the watch she saw before on the vision.

She screamed and called Jasper.

"JASPER!!!"

Jasper ran to her quickly after he heard her screaming.

"WHAT???"

"I found this! It could be clues." She took the name tag and the white watch and showed it to Jasper.

Jasper looked at her very puzzled but quickly put the things into a tiny plastic bag.

They looked at the name on the name tag then looked at each other.

"Kwangju High School"

"Jen Hui"