My daughter has been possessed.

Chapter 159 The Truth About the Lin Family

Chapter 159 The Truth About the Lin Family

"This villa has a basement?" Li Jiuhe wondered.

Ma Li said, "I only discovered this just now when the ants were following Lin Siyuan. The basement is on the side of the villa. After opening a small door, there is a passage leading down below."

At first, they never imagined that the villa had a basement.

Because this type of building is very old, it is a very old-fashioned villa, similar to a self-built house in the southwest region.

Typically, these areas don't have basements, and more importantly, they didn't see any basement entrances; the angle of the door was perfectly normal.

Moreover, there is a side door inside the villa, which corresponds to it.

It now appears that there should be an underground passage entrance between the internal side door and the external side door, giving unsuspecting people the illusion that the two doors are one door, thus causing them to overlook the extra space.

"Did the black ants follow them down?" Li Jiuhe asked.

"He went down, and there were a few ant larvae crawling on Lin Siyuan's body, but he didn't know it," Ma Li nodded.

"Tell me in detail what you saw."

"it is good."

The door was closed, and Ma Li sat down next to Li Jiuhe and began to describe things earnestly.

Meanwhile, Lin Jianguo had already left the villa and was hurrying towards his wife's grave.

It's clear that as an NPC in this haunted house scene, he can leave the villa on his own according to the plot development, but he is still limited by the scene setting of this storyline.

Ma Li's description begins with Lin Siyuan entering the basement passage, including details such as the stone steps, the color of the walls, and the dim lighting.

Then Lin Siyuan entered the first basement level, but he did not stay there. Instead, he continued to the second basement level.

As for the basement level, it looks like a wine cellar, but there's nothing particularly special about it.

However, when Ma Li described Lin Siyuan arriving at the second basement level, her eyes widened as she stared at the void ahead, as if she herself were seeing the scene in the second basement level, and she momentarily forgot to describe it.

"What did your kids see?" Li Jiuhe asked.

Ma Li, still looking surprised, replied, "Three large water vats, similar to the ones we found in the chef's room before."

Li Jiuhe immediately asked, "Is anyone in the water tank?"

"Yes, there are people in all three water tanks." Malice maintained her terrified expression. "The water tanks are probably filled with blood, and only the heads of the people are sticking out. The first one is a gaunt old woman, it looks like—a mummified corpse, with gray hair. She must be the one combing her hair; I recognize the back of her head!"

Li Jiuhe: "————"

"The second one was a middle-aged woman I'd never seen before; her face was rotten. I don't know if it was Zhou Wenhui. The third one was—a child, definitely the little boy from the stairwell."

"They're all here?!" Li Jiuhe was also shocked. "Who else is there?"

Ma Li said, "There's only Lin Siyuan here now. Wait, we can hear footsteps coming down—"

A short while later, Ma Li said with a look of realization, "Two more people have arrived. One is Lin Jianmin, and the other is his wife, Wang Li."

At this moment, Ma Li began to imitate the conversation of the three people in the basement. Because she had a natural talent for this, and had mastered the expressions and tones of the three people, she imitated them perfectly.

Li Jiuhe didn't even need to ask to know who she was imitating.

"Why did you suddenly call us down here?" Wang Li asked Lin Siyuan. "If we're not upstairs at this time, it'll easily arouse suspicion from Dad and those two agents."

"Speak quickly, what is it?" Lin Jianmin urged.

Lin Siyuan said with a worried expression, "I didn't want to call you down at this time, but Detective Li just told me that he saw my mother last night. She was dressed as a hanged ghost, and he said he would take them to see the place where she was sacrificed."

Lin Jianmin and his wife were stunned and remained silent for a moment.

Lin Siyuan added, "They must have seen my mother's ghost and even communicated with her, otherwise they wouldn't have used terms like 'blood sacrifice.' Although they may not have investigated the real reason behind the whole incident."

"What do we do now?" Wang Li asked her husband.

Lin Jianmin frowned and looked at the three large water vats in front of him. In the vat where his mother's body was soaking, his mother had actually become a dried corpse due to the long time that had passed.

Zhou Wenhui's body, which was also soaking in the vat, had begun to decompose, but the blood acted as a catalyst, stopping the decomposition process.

Lin Jianmin pondered for a moment and said, "Then we need to speed things up. When Dad told us about the longevity formula, he said that if we handled it properly, these medicinal ingredients would only take seven days to produce the longevity elixir. We're still one day short. If all else fails, we can add another medicinal ingredient tonight. In the end, this longevity elixir will definitely be enough for all of us to drink."

Lin Siyuan shook his head: "One medicinal ingredient is worth a life. I'm not going to go along with your madness! Back then, when Mom had a mental breakdown, she insisted on taking me to Grandpa to expose your murder of Pengpeng. I had no choice but to do it—"

Before he could finish speaking, Wang Li retorted, "Siyuan, don't put it so harshly, as if you yourself didn't want to do it. Your mother's medicinal ingredients are the perfect match for you, and the longevity elixir she creates will have the best effect on you. Besides, only you are taking it, but in our family, it's just Jianmin and me taking it, so the effect is greatly reduced. So even without that incident, you would have found another excuse to kill your mother!"

"Auntie, watch your words!" Lin Siyuan seemed to have been hit where it hurt, and her face immediately turned ferocious.

Wang Li took a step back and hid behind her husband.

Lin Jianmin said, "Everyone should say less. Things have already come to this point, so let's not blame anyone anymore, and we don't need to worry about right and wrong."

He then looked at Lin Siyuan and said, "Don't worry, because the medicinal ingredients for the elixir of immortality must be parents, children, or lovers. It's useless to us if we bring other people. So your sister Lin Siyu has no effect on us, and adding her as a medicinal ingredient will not help."

At this point, Lin Jianmin turned to his wife and said, "Then let's add another ingredient, or else—"

Wang Li was struggling internally: "But Yangyang is different from Pengpeng. Pengpeng was born with an incurable disease, but Yangyang is healthy."

A ruthless glint flashed in Lin Jianmin's eyes: "What are you afraid of? This chance for the elixir of immortality will never come again. We're still young, and when we can live for another hundred or two hundred years, we can have a few more children."

Lin Siyuan nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right. Grandpa is at least three hundred years old. We, his descendants, were only born to Grandma after he got tired of playing in this world. As long as he lives, what can't he do?"

Lin Jianmin grinned and said, "You're ruthless. You're completely different from your cowardly father. By the way, do you want to add more ingredients to your medicine?"

"No need, my dad treats me well. Let's talk about it after I have my own children." Lin Siyuan shook his head.

Then, as if remembering something, he asked, "Grandpa must have noticed our movements these past two days, but he hasn't said anything. As long as we get rid of those two agents, or use the ghost story to get rid of them, he should turn a blind eye."

Lin Jianmin said, "Dad has his own things to do and doesn't have time to take care of us for the time being. There are still some things about the longevity elixir that we don't know as much as he does, so we'll have to ask him for advice more often in the future. As for your dad, he should have been eliminated long ago. Even if you don't touch him, he's probably already your grandfather's target."

"I know," Lin Siyuan nodded.

"We still need to watch out for those ghosts!" Wang Li reminded them.

Lin Siyuan laughed and said, "We understand their patterns of action, so what are we worried about? They pose no threat to us whatsoever."

.

The three then conducted an inspection of the three large water vats, and carefully examined the bloody medicinal liquid used for soaking.

They inspected and discussed at the same time.

According to them, after seven days, they need to drink a certain amount of the longevity medicine from the water vat each day in a specific ratio until the vat is completely filled with a mixture of blood and medicine, only then can the medicine's effects be fully realized.

After inspecting the medicine vats in the basement, the three split into two groups and left at intervals.

Back in the villa's living room, Lin Siyuan noticed that his younger sister, Lin Siyu, was still in her room, but he didn't see his father, Lin Jianguo.

Lin Jianmin and his wife immediately went to find their son, Lin Siyang.

"Yangyang, Yangyang————"

The two searched for a while but did not find Yangyang.

Yangyang is already eight years old, a lively and energetic age, but I don't know where he's gone to play.

"Should we act now or wait a while?" Wang Li asked Lin Jianmin quietly, not seeing Yangyang.

Lin Jianmin said, "Let's find it first."

The couple immediately searched other rooms.

They soon found the third floor of the villa. They quickly searched the guest rooms on both sides of the room where the person had hanged themselves, but they couldn't find Yangyang, nor could they see Li Jiuhe and Ma Li, who were originally staying in those two guest rooms.

Just then, the door to the room where the person had hanged opened, and Li Jiuhe stood inside, asking, "You—do you need something from us?"

"No, we weren't looking for you." Lin Jianmin hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, detectives, we're looking for our son Yangyang. We don't know where he's gone to play."

"Oh." Li Jiuhe shook his head. "We didn't see him either. If he wasn't inside, he probably went to the yard."

"Okay, sorry to bother you." Wang Li nodded with a smile.

The couple quickly searched the rooftop again before going downstairs.

Li Jiuhe closed the door and sat down on the bed with Ma Li.

"Brother Li, this family is truly beasts, even more beastly than me!" Ma Li couldn't help but exclaim.

Li Jiuhe shook his head: "You are an insect, not a beast."

Ma Li was stunned.

Then Li Jiuhe said, "Faced with the enormous temptation of immortality, there are absurd things that people in human history have done that are even more unbelievable and terrifying than these people."

"Ah, I was so ignorant then." Malice stuck out her tongue. "So, can we arrest them all now and get through this haunted house scene?"

Li Jiuhe waved his hand: "There are still some questions that haven't been clarified, so let's not jump to conclusions. For example, why did Lin Siyu lie to us that she was the one who called the police? Now it seems that none of this has anything to do with her. And what is this three-hundred-year-old man, Lin Shouye, secretly doing? If their elixir of immortality can only be obtained through parents, children, and lovers, then who is the man who was soaked in the water tank in the chef's room in the same way?"

Ma Li was inspired: "Yes, this man is an outsider. We signed some kind of agreement with him, and then he was kept alone in the maid's room instead of being placed in the basement. That means Lin Shouye doesn't want others to know."

"The investigation is progressing smoothly." Li Jiuhe smiled. "We've uncovered at least half of the case information, and things are gradually becoming clearer."

"So what do we do now?" Malice asked.

Li Jiuhe said, "They just said that they have figured out the rules of action of these three evil spirits, so they are not afraid of their revenge."

"Perhaps we can now use these vengeful ghosts to uncover the Lin family's last secret."

He paused, then continued, "I've figured out the little boy's pattern of playing hide-and-seek in the stairwell. I also roughly know the pattern of Zhou Wenhui, who hanged herself. The only other pattern we know so far is that of the old woman combing her hair, who is Lin Shouye's wife."

Ma Li asked in surprise, "Did we learn about Zhou Wenhui's patterns of behavior?"

Li Jiuhe nodded: "I wasn't sure before, but I've just confirmed it."

"What is it?" Ma Li asked.

"She's a bound spirit," Li Jiuhe said. "That means she can't leave the room where she hanged herself, but she has to leave if she wants revenge. So as long as her enemies don't come in, she can't do anything about it."

Ma Li suddenly realized: "No wonder you told me to—"

"Yes, the most dangerous place is also the safest place."

Li Jiuhe stood up. "Let's go, let's look for clues now and see what the rules of this ghost, Lin Shouye's wife, are."

The two got up and left the room, closing the door behind them.

Because they knew that those who had a grudge against Zhou Wenhui and were familiar with her behavior after she became a ghost would never step into this room.

Right now, under the bed in this room, an eight-year-old boy is curled up inside, his hands, feet, mouth, and nose all bound by black bandages made of black ants, making him unable to make a sound or crawl out.

This little boy is none other than Lin Siyang, who has just gone missing.

However, Yangyang was in a deep sleep at the moment and had no idea what was happening outside.

The place where he was hidden was a place that Lin Jianmin and his wife could not find no matter what they tried.

The second floor of the villa.

Lin Siyu's room was soon knocked on. She opened the door and saw Li Jiuhe and Ma Li return. She was immediately excited.

"Have you found Yin Nan's whereabouts?"

Li Jiuhe shook his head, walked into the room, and asked her, "Do you know the rules of conduct for women combing their hair?"

Lin Siyu was taken aback, then shook her head: "I've only heard my brother mention the existence of women who comb their hair, but I've never seen one."

"Never seen her before?" Ma Li asked in surprise, turning her head to glance at her room. "You have a mirror in this room too. Has that woman never combed her hair in front of this mirror?"

Lin Siyu shook her head again: "They said that woman only appears in the middle of the night. I usually sleep very soundly at that time and have never been woken up."

"What about the others? Has anyone else seen this woman combing her hair?" Li Jiuhe asked, frowning.

Lin Siyu said, "My aunt, and the maid, and the others—well, it seems like that's all."

"It seems—they're all girls?" Ma Li muttered to herself.

Because she saw the woman combing her hair on her very first night there, and according to gender, she was also a woman.

As for Li Jiuhe, he has not been seen yet.

"It shouldn't have anything to do with gender, otherwise why hasn't Siyu seen it either?"

Li Jiuhe frowned even more deeply. Of course, the possibility that Lin Siyu was lying could not be ruled out, after all, she had a precedent.

"And then? Did they ever see the woman combing her hair again?"

"Later—well, it seems my aunt didn't see it. Only the maid encountered it again, and the cook found her and rescued her," Lin Siyu recalled.

"You haven't seen your aunt since that one encounter?" Li Jiuhe grasped this crucial information.

Lin Siyu nodded.

Li Jiuhe turned his head to look at Ma Li standing to the side, and his gaze then fell on her flowing hair.

Because Mali believed that women with long hair were very attractive and beautiful in the eyes of humans, she deliberately made herself have long, waterfall-like hair when she transformed into a human.

Li Jiuhe then looked at Lin Siyu, who had short hair that reached her ears. He remembered that the maid also had long hair, but it was usually tied up and she wore a headband.

"Have you always had this hairstyle?" he asked.

"Yes, it's easier to manage this way," Lin Siyu replied.

"Where is your aunt?" Li Jiuhe then asked.

Lin Siyu thought for a moment and replied, "She used to have long hair, but she recently cut it short."

"Does the maid always have long hair?"

"Yes, she always has."

"Did the maid encounter the woman combing her hair twice?"

"Yes, she was so frightened when she first saw it that she ran next door to ask the chef for help. The second time, the chef heard her scream and went to rescue her."

"Understood." Li Jiuhe nodded. "No matter what happens tonight, don't go out. Stay in your room."

"Okay." Lin Siyu was clearly a little nervous.

After leaving Lin Siyu's room, Li Jiuhe and Ma Li went to the front yard of the villa and talked in hushed tones as they walked.

"What key point did you discover from what Lin Siyu just said?" he asked Ma Li.

Ma Li nodded quickly: "I found out. The first time the maid was saved by the chef, she offered herself to him out of gratitude. The chef got a taste of the sweetness and became lusting after her, so he went to help her a second time—"

"Stop!" Li Jiuhe stopped her from continuing. "I'm asking you, have you discovered any secrets in the woman combing her hair's movements?"

"Hey, Brother Li, next time you ask a question, don't be ambiguous. It's easy for people to misunderstand."

"So it's my fault after all? Okay, it definitely won't happen again."

Ma Li spread her hands: "To be honest, I didn't notice any pattern in the woman's movements when she was combing her hair."

"She has long hair," Li Jiuhe said. "She will keep an eye on people with long hair. If the conditions are met, there is a mirror in the room, and one of the people in the room has long hair, then there is a very high probability that she will appear."

Ma Li was taken aback, then thought about it carefully and exclaimed in realization, "That seems to be it! Brother Li, you're amazing, handsome and smart!"

"So we can't really use this woman combing her hair, who is also Lin Shouye's wife, because these people have completely avoided her routine. Except for you and the maid who are unaware of this," Li Jiuhe said.

"So, should I cut off my beautiful hair before tonight?" Ma Li asked with a pained expression.

"With your ability to transform, do you even need to cut?" Li Jiuhe asked rhetorically.

He then looked up at the third floor of the villa. "You hide in the room where Zhou Wenhui hanged herself. She won't hurt you. Then take good care of Yangyang. Just do as I say."

"Uh, okay."

"Did you take care of what I asked you to do?"

"It's all taken care of. Each of them has my ant larvae hidden on them, so now their every move is under my watchful eye."

.

As soon as she finished speaking, Ma Li suddenly exclaimed in alarm, "Oh no! The ant larvae on Lin Shouye's body are dead! That old guy is completely submerged in the blood vat, the same blood vat in the maid's room."

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