When the blood stains on the ancient book's title page seeped into his fingertips, Lin Shen heard the sound of cracking bones - "The oath of the Keeper of Secrets comes into effect."
From then on, every truth he told became a knife.
An ink-colored shadow crawled out of the old book. He stared at the looming marks of "Book Burning Case in the 23rd Year of the Republic of China" between the pages, and said softly: "You are the burned-out soul of "Xuanguailu"." The shadow collapsed into pieces on the spot; the antique gramophone swallowed up the investigator's memory, and he pulled out half an old record. "What you want is the cry of July 15, 1973." The metal needle suddenly penetrated his gear, leaking dark red blood beads.
But every time he opened his mouth, his notepad was missing a page - that was the last half line he wrote down while squatting in the corner of the library on the night his mother disappeared: "On the third floor of the bookshelf, "..."
Until the cold-faced woman kicked open the library door and put the muzzle of the gun between his eyebrows: "Su Yan, Department of Strange Information. The taboo word spirit that your mother cracked back then will now kill you."
And when he reached for his pocket, he touched half of a bloody jade medal—exactly the same as the one his mother wore before she disappeared.
