Ye Ping shook his head slightly, "I didn't bring the intelligence along; mainly wanted to take you over to verify it. Once you visit the scene, you'll understand."

Xu Ran was surprised, "Regardless, you should at least describe what's happening, right? Give me a mental expectation or judgment."

Ye Ping pondered for a moment, organizing his words, "Last night, a family of three drowned by the riverbank in the Outer City..."

A family of three drowning by the riverbank?

Hmm... As a very common accident, this didn't evoke a strong reaction from Xu Ran.

After all, drowning incidents happen every year.

About 5,000 in one province.

Even during peaceful times, each year in Huaxia, the number of drowning victims exceeds 120,000, let alone now.

Many drowning accidents merely flash by in the news, not causing any stir.

Nor do they attract attention because there's fundamentally nothing eerie about them.

Was there anything weird about the drowning incident Ye Shu mentioned?

Without more evidence, Xu Ran didn't know, so he listened attentively without interrupting Ye Shu.

Noticing Xu Ran's overly calm demeanor, Ye Ping took on the analyst role, "You might think drowning isn't a big deal; that's what I thought initially."

"But then, you told me the day before yesterday to compile all death cases from the past two years. So I instructed the Investigation Corps to summarize the death cases from the past year,"

"Upon summarizing, I discovered a peculiar phenomenon: near Jing City, every reservoir experienced collective drowning accidents within two years."

"Over four hundred days ago, three anglers, with their wives and children, went fishing together at Dongjiang Reservoir, all drowning in the reservoir."

"Over three hundred days ago, nine tourists were on a sightseeing boat that capsized on Cyan Dragon Lake, all drowned..."

"Over two hundred days ago..."

...

"This recent riverbank drowning case is also a collective death; the entire family of three was victimized!"

"Though the Investigation Corps previously found nothing abnormal..."

"But four hundred meters upstream, a drowning incident occurred once; two hundred meters upstream, another drowning incident occurred... Three close-proximity drownings sparked an epiphany in me last night!"

Ye Ping Shu paused.

Wearing the "there's only one truth" expression of a detective.

Xu Ran was speechless...

In fact, it's normal for the same location to have ten consecutive drowning incidents.

Before the New Era, in one notorious country, a bridge had 300 suicides in four years, with nothing eerie found; it was just an ordinary bridge.

Therefore.

For such drowning incidents, Xu Ran felt more evidence was needed before making a judgment.

However.

Ye Ping Shu was entirely different.

His state now resembled an ancient saying: When you approach every watermelon suspiciously, each one appears unripe!

Ye Ping's current state is like this.

He opened the record files, sensing each incident was riddled with questions—

Death from drinking too much; depression-induced suicide; traffic accident deaths; slipping and falling fatalities; falling through a manhole cover incident; sudden death from staying up watching films; prolonged shower suffocation incident; a family of seven dying mysteriously...

Obviously.

The process of suspicion isn't significant; even a bold guess doesn't affect solving the case.

The result is what matters.

Xu Ran directly cut to the chase, "So, Ye Shu, did you find anything unusual along that stretch of the river?"

Ye Ping smiled, "I'm confident because I found something!"

"Last night, once I realized something was off, I immediately had the divers delve into the riverbed, stirring up the silt to find the eerie. Guess what happened?"

Xu Ran was intrigued, "So what happened?"

Ye Ping's tone suddenly turned serious, "Under the silt, a massive riverbed stone was engraved with crooked symbols! Though it's impossible to determine if those crooked symbols are mysterious talismans, combined with the recurring drowning incidents, they might be related to the Talisman Vengeful God!!"

Xu Ran raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm? Really mysterious symbols?"

Ye Ping nodded firmly, "We can't discern its eeriness, but engraving the crooked symbols on a massive riverbed stone makes this highly suspicious!!"

Xu Ran concurred with Ye Ping's deduction, "Engraving runes on the riverbed, hidden in the silt... indeed seems like a sinister act the Talisman Vengeful God would do. Its flesh and blood altar, isn't it hidden within a mountain-body? Very concealed."

"Never expected it to carve mysterious talismans inside a city this time..."

"This is strange. I've patrolled Jing City many times, yet never noticed..."

"Perhaps its mysterious talismans have undergone a whole new iteration... Or perhaps, it used some method to veil the eerie aura, preventing me from detecting it..."

Xu Ran's eyes focused, sharp and cold.

"If the Talisman Vengeful God's methods are sophisticated enough to evade my detection, that would be truly troublesome!"

Upon hearing this.

Ye Ping was also somewhat apprehensive, "Indeed, this is slightly terrifying. The mysterious runes causing drowning incidents, each deceased victim might have become its sacrifice..."

Saying this.

Ye Ping shifted his tone to slightly optimistic.

"However! It seems that the victims didn't become flesh sacrificial offerings because most were retrieved, and the bodies remain intact. Aside from those with a giant-like appearance from the swelling, the others are quite normal."

Xu Ran gazed intently, "Ye Shu, one can't be casually optimistic about this..."

"I recall cultivators can't see souls, not even you as a spiritual cultivator can see souls."

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