Chapter 252 - 159: Arrest! Big Fish

Xu Huo nodded and wasted no more time.

He simply strode into the cave before them.

The mouth of the cave was narrow; a man of Xu Huo’s build couldn’t have entered shoulder-to-shoulder with Zhang Liang.

But after walking three or four meters...

The space suddenly opened up.

There was a cavern inside.

A huge cavern!

The cavern walls were lined with candles. Alcoves had been carved into the rock, holding an array of Buddha statues with ferocious faces and bizarre expressions.

Dozens of small statues and several larger ones were embedded in the walls, filling the entire space.

In the center was a low table surrounded by prayer cushions.

And off to the side, they could also see...

Scissors, knives, paintbrushes, dyes, and clean water.

And scattered about were cleanly cut bones.

Xu Huo stood in a corner and picked up something that looked like a jade tablet. A crack ran across its surface, forming the character for "human."

A Three Realms Token.

It was made from a cranium.

In other words, it was made from a Skull Cap!

Nearby, there were also things that resembled fried gluten, all strung together on a rope.

And also...

...there were two drums.

They were the size of waist drums and looked like large hourglasses, with skin stretched taut over both ends.

Xu Huo reached out and touched one. He ran a finger over the desiccated drumhead, feeling the sandpaper-like friction of his own skin against... human skin.

’This is...’

’...a Sister Drum.’

There were records of them in the official museum archives.

Tap it lightly, and the vibrations from the human skin would produce a sound. It was known as a pure Dharma Artifact.

And there were two of them here!

"Damn it, these fucking animals!"

Zhang Liang’s face darkened. He stared at the utterly oppressive scene and let out a low growl that echoed through the cavern.

In front of them lay a sheet of human skin.

It was already dried and shriveled, the painting on it only half-finished. The image of a wrathful Buddha was only complete from the waist up.

Li Jianye, wearing gloves, silently picked it up. He could feel the texture of the skin even through the material, and his heart grew heavy.

This was the work of a master who had achieved "Merit Perfection"...

And just for these... things, he had preyed on the people around him.

’No, wait. If I try to see it from this old bastard’s perspective... he probably didn’t even see these people as human.’

Xu Huo surveyed the scene inside and sighed.

It was a well-hidden place. If the culprit had sealed the entrance, not even a K-9 unit would have smelled a thing.

"Let’s process the scene."

Xu Huo glanced at the various Buddha statues, then at the sheets of human skin. He shook his head and walked out of the cave.

He stood on the mountainside, gazing down at Rong Garden below.

"Damn it... animals... a pack of sons of bitches..."

Zhang Liang had followed him out, able to feel nothing but oppression and rage inside the cave.

"To do something so vicious to a victim that age..."

The victim was only eighteen, in the prime of her life, full of youthful energy... but she was skinned, her hide dried and carved with patterns...

Just then...

"Group Leader Zhang, do you feel sorry for a roasted suckling pig?"

Xu Huo asked.

Zhang Liang froze. A moment later, understanding dawned on him. He sighed and said nothing more.

Is there a difference between a roasted suckling pig and a human? Of course there is.

But when the gap between two people becomes too great, one stops seeing the other as a fellow human being.

They see an animal.

Take, for example...

In Xu Huo’s past life, in the Western Country, after the discovery of the New World, the way they treated the indigenous people...

To put it plainly, they would sell boots made from scalps for fifty, even a hundred coins.

Likewise, whips made from human skin were also quite popular.

Doesn’t it feel strange to wear them or hold them in your hand?

Do you feel strange when you eat a roasted suckling pig? Obviously not.

When the gap in civilization and status is vast enough, one person to another becomes as two different species.

The most straightforward example is...

...the legendary "wild men" of folklore.

Most people’s perception of these "wild men"—even if they were proven to be the same species as us—would be filtered through the same lens they use to view monkeys.

"It’s the same with them."

Xu Huo pointed to the cave behind them, then to the green-faced, fanged deity on the Thangka they had brought out.

"These insane criminals... they don’t see ordinary people as their own kind."

Zhang Liang fell silent.

It was true. If the culprit had seen the victim as a fellow human being...

...then there wouldn’t have been a victim in the first place.

Li Jianye said nothing either.

They stood there in the cold wind, quietly directing personnel to process the scene inside while also pitching in themselves.

To be honest, Li Jianye didn’t have to.

It wasn’t exactly back-breaking labor, nor was it an emergency that required his personal touch.

But he still wanted to do *something*.

Until...

A voice crackled over the walkie-talkie.

"Mr. Xu, Group Leader Zhang, the people behind this case..."

"We’ve found them!"

...

...

There is a small museum in Capital City.

But unlike a normal museum, this one is private.

What is a private museum?

Take, for example...

...someone who likes to buy collectible figurines. They’ll buy a special display case just to put their figurines in and admire them.

A private museum is the same principle.

Except the display case is the size of an entire museum...

...and the figurines are antiques valued in the tens of millions.

A small warehouse for all your favorite things.

Well, a very, very expensive warehouse.

Of course, not all private museums are for the owner’s eyes only. Occasionally, they’ll open their doors to the public and welcome visitors.

Private museums can also be rented out.

And according to the police investigation...

...at a certain private museum in Capital City, there had been more than one incident involving the sale of Thangkas.

Furthermore, based on what they now knew, their target... had been inviting groups of people to the museum every day for the past few days to hold sales!