Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

When Jiang Li woke up the next morning, she was completely baffled, but still made a note of it out of habit.

"Come on, come on! I’ll take you guys on a tour."

Wu Ming had excitedly woken everyone up first thing in the morning. After breakfast, they arrived at a local village.

In front of every house were small clay figures and vases.

As they walked further in, the atmosphere grew livelier. Inside a temple, a crowd of people bustled about, dressing the statues of the gods in clothes and accessories. Nearby, performers practiced with dragon and lion dance costumes.

"And Nuo opera!"

Jiang Li followed Wu Ming’s gaze to see a figure in a red robe and mask, practicing.

Jiang Li glanced over before looking away to other things.

That night, Jiang Li had the dream again. This time, however, she wasn’t mixing clay, but carving the finer details of the statue.

She seemed to be the only person around. All that could be heard was the SCRAPING sound of the carving.

She carved like this for a long while. Suddenly, a loud CRASH came from behind her, and she turned around.

The jar behind her had fallen to the ground and shattered. Something pitch-black rolled out from within.

She put down her carving knife and went to pick it up.

It was as she bent down that she saw the human hand under the table.

She froze for a second. ’No wonder I couldn’t find it. So it was here all along.’

She picked up the hand, walked back to the clay statue, and ripped off its arm, revealing the corpse within.

She used something to affix the severed hand in place, then started to sculpt a new arm over it.

Jiang Li woke up and sat on her bed. She thought for a few seconds. ’Is this person planning to use the temple fair to hide the body in plain sight?’

She picked up her phone and looked up information on the upcoming temple fair. It was only then that she learned that the clay statues from the festival would be specially collected and stored somewhere afterwards.

Just as she was wondering what to do, she got a call from Lu Xingye.

"Hey, Jiang Li, where are you now? Brother Huo and his team were asked to come and assist, so I tagged along."

After listening, Jiang Li quickly sent him their address. However, only Lu Xingye arrived.

"Brother Huo went to coordinate with the local police, so I came on ahead."

"Your timing is perfect. There’s something I need to tell you."

Lu Xingye pulled a nearby stool over and sat down.

Jiang Li told him about the scene she had witnessed in her dream.

"A body hidden in a clay statue?" Lu Xingye looked up at her. "Did you get a clear look at who it was being sculpted to resemble?"

Jiang Li shook her head. "No, the face hadn’t been sculpted yet. But the hand looked like it belonged to someone who’d been dead for a while. It had signs of lividity."

"I’ll go tell Brother Huo, then. We’ll just have to pay extra close attention during the temple fair."

Lu Xingye got up to leave, but then seemed to remember something and glanced at her hand. "Does your hand still hurt?"

"It doesn’t hurt anymore. It feels completely healed," Jiang Li replied, giving him a smile.

"It’s going to be crowded, so be extra careful. I’m heading out."

With that, Lu Xingye turned and left. The temple fair was in two days. They had to hurry.

For the past two days, Wu Ming had been keeping long hours for her training, leaving early and returning late. At night, she would remove her makeup and just collapse onto the bed.

"I shouldn’t have done this just for fun. It’s killing me."

"Hey, Wu Ming, do you know anything about the clay statues over there?"

"Just the ones for the local deities they worship. There are three of them, but you can only see them on the day of the temple fair."

"They have specific people in charge of them."

Jiang Li nodded thoughtfully. ’If there are designated people responsible, it shouldn’t be too hard to investigate.’

The day before the temple fair, Jiang Li dreamed again. This time, however, the dream wasn’t set in the workshop, but in what looked like a home.

"Grand... Grandpa, have some tea."

A boy with a completely disfigured face approached, looking to be only about ten years old.

He took the cup of tea from the boy’s hands, drank a mouthful, and spat the tea leaves onto his face.

"Ptuh! You worthless thing."

The child before him flinched in fear.

"Useless, just like that dead old hag."

After cursing him, he stood up and walked toward the adjacent room. When he entered, he saw a thinly clad woman chained up inside.

Hearing the noise, the woman shrank back into the corner, the chains rattling. Her dark eyes stared at him in terror.

"Don’t you worry. Once I cure your ’illness,’ you’ll be my grandson’s wife."

He muttered, squinting as he puffed on a hand-rolled cigarette.

—

A sob caught in my throat, which felt like it was being cut by a knife. I forced out two words.

"Mom, why!"

"Well, look at Qi Luo. I’ll offer five thousand. How about it?"

The man’s hands roamed over her body as he spoke, and a crowd began to gather.

Before I passed out, I vaguely saw my mother averting her gaze.

When I woke up again, I was in a hospital. The memory of what happened before I passed out came flooding back.

Shaking, I took out my phone, preparing to call the police.

"Qi Luo, what are you doing? Are you planning on sending your own mother to the police?"

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