SFTD -Chapter 259 Rabies Virus (Part 14)

At the western foothills of Jia Mountain, anyone driving in from the main road could spot an ancient-looking cluster of buildings halfway up the sunny slope in the distance.

It wasn’t particularly grand, yet it gave off an indescribable sense of tranquility. From the foot of the mountain all the way to the halfway point stretched a gentle incline. Backed by mountains and facing water, it truly was prime feng shui land. A narrow road wound its way upward toward the place.

Liang Chuan had already sent investigators ahead. Everyone was dressed in plain clothes, and the vehicles were all different makes and models, making it convenient to move around unnoticed.

Wang Man held up a pair of binoculars and looked toward the mountainside. Spotting a few homes at the foot of the hill and a small roadside convenience shop, he opened the car door and got out. Lu Tian and Liang Chuan exchanged glances before following him.

The three walked toward the little shop together. Sure enough, a woman in her forties was craning her neck toward the mountain road. After all, that road only led to the cemetery, so any passing vehicle was especially conspicuous.

Wang Man called out to her: “Big sister, do you sell cigarettes here?”

Startled, the woman quickly turned around and immediately plastered on a smile.

“Yes, yes! Come in and take a look!”

The three followed her inside. It was a tiny shop of barely ten square meters, with little besides cigarettes and various drinks.

Of course, being the closest shop to the cemetery, the woman had kept up with the times. In one corner sat stacks of incense, candles, paper money, and other funeral offerings. Judging from the dust covering them, however, business clearly wasn’t good.

Wang Man pointed at the most expensive Furongwang cigarettes on the shelf.

“Give me a carton of those Furongwangs, and load two cases of mineral water into the car for us too.”

The woman beamed so widely her eyes nearly disappeared.

“Alright, alright, just wait a moment! I’ll get them right away.”

She crouched beneath the counter and rummaged around before pulling out an already-opened carton of Furongwangs. Then she grabbed two more packs from the shelf to make a full carton. Seeing dust on the two packs, she hurriedly wiped them against the front of her shirt.

“Sorry about this, brother. I don’t have a sealed carton left. This one’s already opened, hope you don’t mind. I’ll go move the water now.”

Wang Man stopped her, tossed three hundred yuan onto the counter, then casually handed Liang Chuan and Lu Tian each a pack of cigarettes. After tearing his own open and lighting one, he leaned against the counter.

“No rush, big sister. Keep the change. We just wanted to ask you about something.”

Clutching the money tightly, the woman nodded vigorously. Some days not even a single car passed by, so a generous customer like this naturally delighted her.

“Ask away, brother. Your big sister here will tell you everything she knows.”

Blowing out a ring of smoke, Wang Man smiled slowly, looking honest and harmless.

“We just wanted to ask about this cemetery. The old man at home isn’t doing too well, so we thought we’d come take a look ahead of time. He doesn’t ask for much—just wants a traditional burial instead of getting burned at the end.”

Liang Chuan and Lu Tian nodded repeatedly beside him.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Though the three men weren’t dressed particularly flashy, the vehicles outside all came with drivers, and they spent money freely. To the woman, they looked exactly like low-key city officials. Her guard lowered considerably. She leaned closer and lowered her voice nervously.

“You should go look over at Wu Mountain to the north instead. The cemetery there is more legitimate. Pay a little extra and you can still arrange a traditional burial. These days, money makes the world go round. But this place? No good!”

“No good?” Wang Man frowned. “The feng shui here looks excellent. Jia Mountain behind it, lake water in front of it—true mountain-and-water positioning. It’s hard to find grave sites like this nowadays. Has everything already been sold?”

Liang Chuan deliberately asked the question loudly, and the woman waved her hands.

“No, no! Plenty of spots left. More than half the cemetery is still empty. You don’t understand, brother. It’s not about feng shui. It’s about the owner. No one wants to buy a place that won’t last long, right? Jia Mountain belongs to our village. The cemetery land was leased from the village on a ten-year contract. There are only two or three years left before it expires. Who knows what’ll happen afterward?”

Unexpectedly, the woman knew quite a lot. What had begun as casual questioning instantly piqued Wang Man’s interest.

“Leased land? You know the owner? He’s not from your village?”

The woman slapped her thigh.

“How could he be from our village? Local people don’t have that kind of business sense. The man who leased it is a skinny southern fellow, not very tall, wears glasses, tiny little eyes. He used to come buy cigarettes here often. I remember asking him once—his surname seemed to be Wan. From his accent, he sounded like someone from Hong Kong. Anyway, he talked in a very fancy way. Heard he wanted to do some big business, so now that the cemetery lease is nearly up, he doesn’t plan on renewing it.”

By the time she finished talking, Wang Man had already finished his cigarette. He nodded toward her.

“Since we’ve already come this far, we’ll head up and take a look first. Then maybe we’ll go check out Wu Mountain like you suggested.”

Naturally Liang Chuan and Lu Tian quickly nodded in agreement. The woman smiled broadly.

“Go ahead. Usually there’s just a deaf old man watching the place up there, and the gates aren’t locked. Only when Boss Wan comes does he occasionally lock them.”

Wang Man’s eyelid twitched.

That casual remark carried a lot of meaning.

The owner often wasn’t here… but when business needed handling personally, the gates got locked… and a deaf old man guarded the place…

The three got back into the cars and drove quickly toward the mountainside. Before they had gone far, they received a report from the investigators ahead: the cemetery gate was locked, no one could be seen inside, and there was only a van parked there.

Hearing this, Wang Man immediately stopped the investigators from taking any action. Everything would wait until they arrived.

A few minutes later, the two vehicles pulled up before the cemetery gates.

An iron fence surrounded the compound, and everything inside was visible at a glance.

The front gate was tightly shut, though two large characters were posted on it: Doorbell.

Following the directions, Wang Man stepped forward and pressed the button. No sound came from inside the yard.

The group peered through the gaps in the gate but noticed nothing unusual. Liang Chuan was just about to suggest simply forcing their way in when the sound of dragging slippers suddenly approached, accompanied by a loud shout:

“Coming! Coming!”

An old man in his sixties shuffled over in a pair of worn cloth slippers. He wore a yellowed white undershirt and coarse black pants, hurrying over with surprisingly quick steps. After the rattling sound of locks being opened, the gate swung open.

“We’re here to look at the cemetery.”

The old man grinned and nodded, pointing at a sign near the entrance.

“My hearing’s bad, can’t hear much. Look around yourselves. Prices are listed here. If you find a spot you like, write down the number and call this phone number to ask whether there’s any discount.”

Wang Man nodded.

“Alright.”

The old man hummed tunelessly as he headed toward a small corner room. It was impossible to tell what he was singing. Soon afterward, a much more professional local opera melody rang out, louder than the old man himself. Wang Man glanced over—it came from a television inside the guard room. Surprisingly, despite being deaf, the old man had the volume turned up to maximum.

The three exchanged glances.

Liang Chuan and Lu Tian split up and wandered toward the graves, occasionally raising their phones to photograph the surrounding buildings and scenery.

Wang Man moved along the row of antique-style buildings. The van parked outside stood out sharply—a yellow-plated vehicle bearing the license number Yue C256TY.

Peering through the windows, he saw that the structure resembled a rather grand memorial hall.

Carefully and quietly, Wang Man continued northward. Behind the hall were three or four smaller rooms, plainly decorated with tables and chairs, somewhat like meeting rooms for discussions with clients.

Continuing farther north, he found that three consecutive windows were covered with colored privacy film.

Suspicion immediately rose in his heart.

Could this be where they prepared the bodies?

He noticed a tiny transparent spot in one of the windows and pressed his eye against it.

Inside stood a metal table nearly identical to the stainless-steel autopsy tables Zhou Hai used. Beside a white-tiled sink were numerous bloodstains.

But just as he tried to look farther westward, his forehead bumped against the glass.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him, startling Wang Man so badly that his whole body jerked.

“What are you doing?”