Chapter 442: You Are The Light, I Am The Dark (2/2)

”I'm talking about a murder, and the man's body is now hidden in the sacred tree in the village. You don’t know about this, do you?” I asked meaningfully.

With her status among the villagers, no one ever offended Granny Yan. Thus, she wasn’t as calm or resilient as a criminal. Upon hearing this, she grew visibly nervous but still remembered to squeeze out a calm smile. ”I must be too old to understand exactly what you’re trying to say.”

I refused to budge, ”Granny Yan, you live in this village so you must know the skills of the Song family. Where did you go last night? If my guess is right, your shoes are still stained with soil from the grave. Should I check them to prove my point?”

Granny Yan played with her prayer beads, ”That person is already dead. What’s the point in turning out old scores and harming the living?”

”If the world worked as you say, then the police would be out of a job. Anyway, people can't be resurrected after death so what’s the point in catching the murderer, am I right?” I sneered.

”Young man, if you don’t watch that mouth of yours, I’ll have to invite you out of my home!” shouted Granny Yan.

”Granny Yan, with all due respect, your status might make you respectable but I am investigating this case. No matter who you are, you’ve only one identity before me, and that is a criminal suspect!”

Keeping her head lowered, Granny Yan remained silent. ”Did you kill the victim?” I pushed on.

”I have been a vegetarian all my life. I’ve never even hurt a chicken, much less a human being.”

From her microexpressions, I gathered she was telling the truth. It seemed that Granny Yan wasn’t the murderer, though privy to the crime.

In order to unsettle her, I recounted the entire story. ”But you are hiding the truth for the murderer. You secretly removed one or two bones while performing burials and managed to produce a corpse seemingly out of thin air, which hides the identity of the corpse in the banyan tree. As a shaman, it is not disrespectful to the deceased? What could make you do this? There are two possibilities–the murderer is closely related to you or perhaps it involves your interests!”

Her fingers moved frantically along the prayer beads. Song Jie stared wide-eyed at me, afraid I would anger Granny Yan with my aggressive tone.

However, dealing with someone respected required such methods. This was my personal experience in solving cases.

”Young man!” Granny Yan’s eyes flickered open as she held out a skinny finger and fiddled with the rising smoke from the incense burner, writing: Where it is possible to let someone off, one should spare them.

”Ah!” exclaimed Song Jie.

”Song Yang-gege, let's go!” she whispered. Then turning to Granny Yan, she said, “Excuse us, Granny Yan.”

In the face of her so-called miracle, my heart was as calm as a frozen lake. ”I have a few words for you as well!”

I pulled out a small bottle from her cushion, dipped my finger inside, and wrote in the smoke: God is watching.

The words stayed in midair for a few seconds before slowly drifting away...

”That’s enough!” exploded Granny Yan. ”Get out of my home and learn some etiquette before visiting me again.” With that, the widow ran in and gave us a marching order.

”Granny Yan, do you believe in ghosts?” I lowered my voice. “He’s in this room right now.”

As I spoke, I used the Eyes of Yama, not on her but on the row of candles behind her.

And the candles went out at once...