Chapter 33 Wielding a Blade Before Guan Yu

Recently, a series of young girls' disappearances had shaken Quancheng. The earliest case occurred two months ago, while the most recent was just three days prior. In total, nine girls had vanished.

The circumstances surrounding these disappearances were exceedingly strange. Based on their investigations, the missing girls were well-behaved individuals from ordinary families. None of them had been known to associate with disreputable people, nor had they experienced any familial conflicts or feuds that might lead to such incidents.

This effectively ruled out the possibilities of kidnapping, running away from home, or revenge killings.

Of the nine missing girls, two were twenty-six years old, while the remaining seven were only fourteen.

Looking at the photos displayed on the screen, most of the girls had average appearances, which largely ruled out the possibility of a deranged predator acting out of lust.

As the case was presented, Chen Yi began to understand why Luo Yan had sought him out.

"Twenty-six and fourteen—there's a decade between them. But they all share one thing in common: they were born in the Year of the Tiger."

Chen Yi found the situation intriguing. His instincts told him this case was far from simple.

"Exactly! You're right—they were all born in the Year of the Tiger!"

Luo Yan's eyes lit up, a glimmer of hope flickering within them. She felt she had made the right choice in bringing Chen Yi here. To identify such a critical detail in such a short time—Chen Yi indeed possessed some skill. Despite her personal dislike for him, she had to admit his capabilities.

Before Luo Yan took over the case, the city's criminal investigation team had already conducted extensive inquiries, exploring multiple avenues of investigation without making any progress. Meanwhile, the number of missing persons continued to grow.

It wasn't until the sixth disappearance that they discovered a common thread: all the victims were born in the Year of the Tiger.

With no other leads, Luo Yan decided to use this peculiar connection as a potential breakthrough.

But who would target girls born in the Year of the Tiger? Luo Yan had pored over countless records, consulted veteran detectives, and even sought advice from criminal psychology experts at the Chinese People's Public Security University. Yet, no one could provide any clues.

According to the university's criminal psychology expert, he had handled hundreds of cases, both large and small, but had never encountered one where the victims were linked by their zodiac sign. He was unable to offer any guidance.

The string of disappearances left the people of Quancheng in a state of panic. Families with daughters no longer dared let them go out at night. The provincial bureau also took the matter seriously. After reviewing Luo Yan's report, they acknowledged her approach and assigned someone to assist with the investigation.

That person was none other than Geng Bo, who had already clashed with Chen Yi.

Upon his arrival, Geng Bo's first suggestion was for Luo Yan to seek out Quancheng's renowned feng shui masters or so-called "half-immortals" for clues.

Luo Yan hesitated but ultimately decided to call Chen Yi.

"Have you ever heard of any rituals or ceremonies that require women born in the Year of the Tiger?"

Suppressing her urge to kick Chen Yi out, Luo Yan forced herself to ask patiently, knowing she was here for work.

Chen Yi pondered for a moment before replying, "No, I've never heard of such a thing—at least not in the vicinity of East China. In China, sacrificial offerings in rituals are typically limited to livestock, poultry, fruits, and pastries. It's rare to hear of humans being used as offerings. After all, rituals are meant to seek blessings from ancestors and deities. Using humans would go against the natural order and morality."

In China, the most widely practiced religions, Buddhism and Taoism, both advocate kindness and the accumulation of virtue. Other smaller sects often derive their teachings from these two major religions, with little deviation in doctrine.

As for foreign religions like Christianity, they also promote goodness, repentance, and redemption. If a religion were evil, the state would never permit it to operate within the country.

"Then have you heard of any other ceremonies that might involve women born in the Year of the Tiger? According to our investigation, the two twenty-six-year-old victims had never dated anyone and were almost certainly virgins. As for the fourteen-year-olds..."

Luo Yan trailed off, but her implication was clear.

All the missing girls were virgins.

Tigers. Virgins.

These disappearances bore an unmistakable religious undertone.

Chen Yi's earlier remarks had already invalidated one of their major investigative directions. While this narrowed their focus, it also made the case more perplexing, leaving them without a clear target.

Luo Yan looked at Chen Yi expectantly, hoping he could provide some surprising insight.

"No, at least not in East China," Chen Yi shook his head. "However, you might want to investigate Quancheng's transient population—those involved in freight and logistics, for instance. They would have the best means to transport people out of the area."

Having grown up in Quancheng and worked in feng shui and fortune-telling for three or four years, Chen Yi was intimately familiar with every corner of the city. He was confident that no precedent for using human sacrifices existed in Quancheng.

Thus, he turned his attention to outsiders.

Nine individuals were neither too many nor too few.

But for criminals to operate so freely under the police's watchful eyes, they must have an exceptionally well-organized network.

Freight and logistics could provide them with the greatest convenience for smuggling people out.

Chen Yi's words left Luo Yan both disappointed and surprised.

She had initially assumed that Chen Yi's expertise was limited to feng shui and divination. She hadn't expected his logical reasoning to be so sharp and meticulous, his deductions bold yet reasonable. In just half an hour, he had aligned with conclusions that had taken her team days to reach.

"Hah! Brother, what you've said is no different from what we already know. Why did we even bother calling you here?"

Geng Bo, sitting to the side, sneered disdainfully after hearing Chen Yi's analysis.

Luo Yan frowned slightly and snapped, "Geng Bo, if you have better suggestions, feel free to share them with the group."

"Officer Luo, why are you siding with an outsider? Fine, I'll keep my mouth shut!"

From the moment Chen Yi and Luo Yan entered, Geng Bo had sensed something unusual between them. He had intended to curry favor with Luo Yan by taking a jab at Chen Yi, hoping it would smooth their collaboration.

Little did he know that, in Luo Yan's mind, she alone had the right to criticize Chen Yi—no one else was allowed to lay a finger on him.

"Hey, Brother Chen, aren't you supposed to be adept at divination? Didn't you use it to solve the last case? Why not toss some coins and see what they reveal?"

Zhang Fei, eager to ease the tension, chimed in hurriedly.

This was something he had always been curious about. After hearing Luo Yan recount how Chen Yi had helped crack a previous case, Zhang Fei had been itching to witness his skills firsthand. If possible, he even hoped to learn a trick or two—anything to make solving cases less of a headache.

When they first took on this case, Zhang Fei had suggested bringing in Chen Yi and even applying for a reward to motivate him. However, Luo Yan had refused.

When he asked why, Luo Yan had given a cryptic response: I can't rely on him for everything.

What kind of reasoning was that? If a woman couldn't rely on her man, who could she rely on? Zhang Fei didn't understand, but since Luo Yan was the team leader, he had no choice but to drop the matter.

In the end, however, Luo Yan had still called Chen Yi, leaving Zhang Fei puzzled for half the day.

"Don't hold back now. You call yourself Quancheng's 'Little Half-Immortal.' Is there really something you don't know? Besides, there's a fifty-thousand-yuan reward on the table. That's enough for you to indulge for a while."

Luo Yan deliberately emphasized the words "indulge," her tone dripping with sarcasm. To her, Chen Yi's face was the best evidence of his recent debauchery.

Chen Yi felt stifled, torn between explaining himself and staying silent.

If he explained, it would seem like a guilty conscience—who would believe he had behaved like a saint in such circumstances? Besides, the marks on his face couldn't have appeared out of nowhere. Clearly, something had happened to provoke the young lady into attacking him.

But if he didn't explain, it would be tantamount to admitting he had done something despicable, effectively hanging the blame around his own neck.

D*mn it.

At this moment, only these two words could capture the complexity of Chen Yi's emotions.

"Hey, man, why are you hesitating? The reward is fifty thousand yuan. If you're not up to it, don't waste our time. Plenty of others would jump at the chance."

At that moment, Geng Bo, oblivious to the tension, chimed in with his usual insolence.

Already frustrated, Chen Yi directed all his pent-up anger at Geng Bo. "Why are you yelling? I was just about to deduce something when you interrupted me. Is this the level of professionalism and patience expected from provincial bureau personnel?"

Geng Bo hadn't expected such a strong reaction and was momentarily stunned. It took him a while to recover, and when he did, he retorted angrily, "Fine, go ahead. Let's see what you've got, 'Little Half-Immortal of Quancheng.' If you're just another charlatan spouting nonsense, don't blame me for throwing you out."

Geng Bo was genuinely furious. His department technically outranked the provincial bureau, but to avoid causing too much of a stir, he had been sent under the provincial bureau's name. Those in the know, including the city's Public Security Bureau chief Liu Siming, treated him with the utmost respect.

To him, Chen Yi was nothing more than a fraud—a young charlatan. Yet here he was, being reprimanded in front of everyone, unable to say a word in his defense.

Chen Yi shot him a disdainful glance and ignored him, focusing instead on casting his divination.

"Missing girls born in the Year of the Tiger. Girls represent the Dui trigram, while the tiger, associated with wood in the Chinese zodiac, corresponds to the Xun trigram. Thus, Dui above and Xun below form the Da Guo hexagram..."

"Da Guo hexagram? Ha! You really are a fraud. Knowing a bit of theory doesn't make you an expert," Geng Bo interrupted before Chen Yi could finish. Standing up, he pointed at Chen Yi and sneered, "Let me educate you. The Da Guo hexagram consists of Dui as the body trigram and Xun as the use trigram, with both mutual and transformed trigrams being Qian. The missing girls are nine in number, activating three lines, and the transformed hexagram is also Qian. Dui represents metal, and both the mutual and transformed trigrams are metal as well, signifying harmony and prosperity. There's no indication of disappearance here! Ha! You're making a fool of yourself, wielding a blade before Guan Yu!"