The underground space was far more cramped than expected.
The air was thick with the heavy smell of rust and the stench of old blood. The damp soil felt sticky underfoot, as though they were trudging through a swamp.
Uncle Feng walked at the front with a flashlight, its beam sweeping through the darkness and illuminating the surroundings.
Everyone sucked in a breath.
The walls of the cramped space were densely covered in blackened red strings.
Rusty copper bells, dim baby bracelets, and tattered infant bellybands hung strung between the red cords.
A faint breeze stirred, and the copper bells gave off dull clinks that sounded like death knells in the Dead Silence of the basement.
At the very center of the ground stood a black lacquered earthen jar half the height of a man.
Several blackened, rotting talismans were pasted over its surface. Faintly visible upon them were twisted runes drawn in cinnabar.
Four deep grooves extended across the floor from the black jar, each filled with dark red, half-congealed blood.
"This is black magic."
Uncle Feng's face darkened terribly. He crouched down and used his Peachwood Sword to lift one of the red strings from the ground.
"This wasn't a naturally formed ghost fetus. Someone sealed unborn fetuses inside this jar along with the resentment of their mothers. Then they fed it day and night with living human blood, black dog blood, and even more vicious things, raising it into such a terrifyingly evil creature."
Huang Yaozu followed behind, his brow tightly furrowed and his expression grim. He took out a cigarette, put it between his lips, but did not light it.
"So is this case murder, or child abuse?"
Jin Maiji swallowed, his voice trembling. "Sir Huang, do we really need to distinguish the charges at a