The Exorcist

vine.

The wriggling vines crawled over like snakes and wrapped around Xiaoxia's body. There were eyes on the leaves of the vines——

I'm dreaming again, wake up quickly!

Xiaoxia was aware of this even in her sleep. This is what Wan Li said. She is easy to accept psychological suggestions.

But this time, her brain obeyed the command of her consciousness, and the nightmare ended successfully. Looking up at the window with half-closed curtains, the sky told her that it was midnight.

She thought about the case again. It's not that she loves her career and forgets to eat and sleep, it's just that this thing is too weird.

Regarding Zhang's death, the police's final conclusion was the same as that of Wang Hua's death - an overdose of drugs. The mess around the deceased was all caused by the deceased himself under the influence of drugs, as was the gouged out eyes.

But they didn’t mention the plant!

It's impossible not to notice. Because a strange grass that is incompatible with the indoor environment should attract attention when it appears next to the deceased. The police will never ignore it when inspecting the scene. So why was it not mentioned after the case was closed?

Unless - it crawled away on its own!

This thought gave Xiaoxia goosebumps all over her body, which was even scarier than that nightmare. No, it should be disgusting. Who would have thought that plants can squirm like snakes? She had seen it with her own eyes. Although she always suspected that she was dazzled, she couldn't help but think of that scene!

She was responsible for two cases, but both cases ended with the sudden death of the other party. Although the police report stated that this was just a coincidence, she had experienced too many supernatural events and could not agree with this statement.

Doesn't this have anything to do with her? But after coming to the Helping Hands Office, she was responsible for not only these two cases, but four cases, one every week on average, which was why she was mentally unbearable. She had never known before that there would be so many disharmonious situations among the closest people in the world!

Among the other two cases, one accepted mediation, and the relationship between the two generations showed signs of thawing. This was considered by Xiaoxia to be a success for the law and herself; the other case has been sued and is waiting for the court's decision. Currently, It is a pre-executed state.

If strange things happen in the cases she takes over, why don't they happen in the other two cases? To take a step back, if it is a case that cannot be settled, something will happen. Then the party involved in the case that has been prosecuted is the worst, but he is safe so far. How to explain this!

Are gods and ghosts afraid of evil people? ! No, that's absolutely not the case!

The only explanation is that the two cases that happened were handled by Guan Zheng and her together!

Legal litigation is actually a struggle for interests. The financial entanglements in this kind of case are even more naked, and the parties involved are often people who regard the law as nothing, and the possibility of physical conflicts is relatively high. Therefore, Guan Zheng does not want Xiaoxia to Handle cases individually. But because he was relatively busy, two of the cases involved male interns from the assistant firm working as Xiaoxia's assistant.

Could it be that the strange ending of this case has something to do with Guan Zheng?

This idea has been lingering in her mind for a while, but she has repeatedly denied it. Guan Zheng was a little paranoid, believing that he would be punished if he made a mistake, and did not want to give people a chance to repent. This is true for others, and the requirements for ourselves are equally strict. This may have been a career issue arising from his years of practicing legal aid, but he was not a bad person.

The deaths of Wang Hua and Zhang concealed abnormal details under the normal appearance. Guan Zheng was a mortal and could not do such mysterious things.

Just - what is a plant? It's a pity that she was frightened at the time and didn't look carefully, otherwise she could have checked it out.

Xiaoxia sat on the bed and thought about it for a while. The more she thought about it, the more scared she became, so she simply changed her thoughts and forced herself to fall asleep again.

…………………………

The next day was a rest day, and Wan Li made an appointment with her to go on an outing to the Forest Park. Although she longed for Ruan Zhan to go with him but failed to do so, she still decided to go because her recent work had made her very depressed.

"Are your driving skills good?" Xiaoxia asked Wanli in disbelief.

Wan Li's monthly income is quite good, he works in clinics, schools, and occasionally publishes papers, but he likes traveling so much that he spends almost all the money he earns on this. In addition, he spent all his savings on buying the haunted house last time, so he didn't have a car to travel around. This time he went out to play and borrowed a car from Ruan Zhan.

"Don't underestimate me, I just don't have the spare money to buy a car, but I have driven Azhan's car on several self-guided tours, and I don't care about the more dangerous road conditions, not to mention-" He suddenly braked as he spoke, and was frightened. Xiaoxia jumped.

"What's wrong?" Fortunately, we were already out of the city, otherwise something would have happened.

Wan Li pouted out the window, started the car and drove to the side of the road, then opened the door and jumped out.

Xiaoxia looked out the window and saw him running towards an old couple, who were Wang Hua's parents. They were walking slowly carrying a lot of things for visiting the grave, and they seemed very tired.

Xiaoxia also got out of the car when she saw this.

The Wang couple came to Wang Hua five times. However, the cemetery where Wang Hua is buried is newly built, and the traffic problem has not yet been solved. Generally, visitors come by taxi or by car. In order to save money, the old couple always took the bus and got off at the place closest to the cemetery, and then transferred to a taxi. They were unlucky today. After waiting for an hour, all the taxis refused to take them because they were going to the cemetery, so they had to walk forward slowly.

Without saying a word, Wan Li and Xiao Xia decided to send the old man to the cemetery first, and then return him to the bus station before they could move around freely.

The cemetery is not small in size, but the left side has not yet been developed. Only the right side is rows of white stone monuments. Small holly-like shrubs are planted on both sides of each tomb. The cement imprints on the stone slabs in front of the tombs are still new. . It was still early at this time, and a cleaning worker was driving an electric car to clean the tombs.

Three tombs away from Wang Hua's tomb, a large family was worshiping, blocking the road. Xiaoxia and his group had to slowly pass behind the family. Xiaoxia accidentally raised her eyes and saw the cleaner jump out of the car. As if he had discovered something, he grabbed a few branches of weeds from different tree species and threw them into the trash can behind the electric car. inside.

The cleaners were moving very fast. Xiaoxia didn't see clearly, but a sudden flash of inspiration came to her mind. She felt that the weed-like plant was the same type as the one she saw next to Zhang that day.

"Wait!" She yelled unconsciously, raising her feet to chase after her, but she forgot that she was caught in the crowd, and she was carrying a lot of ** tributes and so on. As a result, she almost fell to the side. On the tombstone, fortunately Wan Li had quick eyes and quick hands, and hugged her around the waist, saving her from banging her head against the stone.

After hurriedly apologizing to the glaring family members of the bereaved, Xiaoxia found that the cleaning worker had driven away in an electric car. I thought maybe I was wrong. Even if there was something wrong with that strange plant, it would never grow here again. The person has been cremated into ashes, and the stone tomb is sealed with cement. What plant has such strong vitality? ! It's simply impossible!

"What's wrong with you?" Wan Li asked with concern.

Xiaoxia shook her head and tried hard to suppress this inexplicable insecurity in her heart, but it still came up in waves. It started from accompanying Wang and his wife to visit their graves, and it was still lingering in her mind until a week later.

Are the plants next to the grave the same ones as those next to Zhang’s body? If so, why can it still grow after being burned and sealed with cement? Is it an evil thing? What's the secret behind this?

With this strong doubt, she finally ran to Zhang’s gravesite on her day off a week later. Unprepared, she rummaged around on both sides of the tomb. Dwarf pine trees are planted here. They have just been watered in the morning, carrying the fragrance of soil and trees. Xiaoxia almost plunged her head into the bushes, and the scene in front of her shocked her heart.

A strange 'weed' grew from the edge of the gap in the stone tomb. Due to the short time, it was just a seedling, but it had already tenaciously expanded its oval leaves.

Xiaoxia's heart was beating violently, as if she was close to some secret, and she was uneasy and excited at the same time. She put on the gloves she had prepared in advance, reached out to the little plant, and pulled it out!

The moment she came into contact with the plant, she felt the strange grass move, as if biting her hand. She was so horrified that she let go and threw it to the ground, watching it quickly wither in an abnormal way!

She knelt down and took a long time to decide before picking up its remains. This time, it didn't move and was quietly put into a clean paper bag by Xiaoxia.

When she got home, she searched for various words and pictures on her computer, and one of the articles caught her attention - poppies are native to Asia Minor, India and Iran. There is a small amount of cultivation in medicinal plantations in some areas of my country. Poppy is a biennial herb of the Papaveraceae family. The whole plant is pink-green, with long oval leaves that grow on the stem; it blooms in summer on solitary branches, which are large and bright, in red, purple, and white, and open upward. The flowers fall early and form a spherical capsule containing many small and numerous seeds. In traditional Chinese medicine, poppy shells are used as medicine, and the prescription is also called "Royal Rice Shell" or "Poppy Shell". Harvest after "cut tobacco" in summer, remove stems and seeds, dry in the sun and fry with vinegar or honey for later use. The seeds contain 50% oil and can be pressed for oil.

Poppy shell is flat, sour and toxic, and contains more than 30 kinds of alkaloids such as morphine, narcotic acid, narcotin, and papaverine. It is an analgesic, cough-relieving, and anti-diarrheal medicine. It is used for pain, chronic diarrhea and frequent diarrhea; it is also used for nocturnal emissions and synovial sperm caused by kidney deficiency. There is opium juice in the poppy fruit, which is "opium" after being cut and dried. It contains 10% morphine and other alkaloids, which can relieve the spasm of smooth muscles, especially vascular smooth muscles, and inhibit myocardium. It is mainly used for angina pectoris, arterial embolism and other diseases. However, long-term use is prone to addiction, chronic poisoning, and serious harm to the body. It has become the "opium ghost" often said among the people. In severe cases, death may occur due to difficulty breathing.

Therefore, our country strictly controls the cultivation of opium poppy, and all cultivation is prohibited except for medicinal and scientific research. Privately growing opium poppy and other original drug plants and buying, selling, transporting, carrying, and possessing uninactivated original drug plant seeds or seedlings are illegal and criminal acts. The police will investigate the criminal responsibility of the parties concerned in accordance with the law.

After turning off the computer, Xiaoxia's mind was no longer clear, but instead became more confused. If she recognized the strange plant correctly as a poppy, it would explain why two people with no history of drug abuse overdosed and died.

What confused her was how it achieved this result? The drug is also refined, and it is impossible to die from eating just one plant. And how did this poppy get to the deceased? Why does it move like a living creature? What's the secret here?

Thinking of this, Xiaoxia hurried to the office.

Less than 10% of the building where the office is located has been sold. There are still people living from the first to the seventh floor. The floors above are empty and have no popularity at all. It becomes even more eerie after the sun goes down. Xiaoxia pressed the button for the fifteenth floor and stayed in the elevator a little uneasily.

She had encountered ghosts in elevators before, so she always felt frightened when she stayed in the elevator for a long time. Wan Li said she was claustrophobic. She didn't understand these psychological terms, and she just looked forward to reaching the top floor as soon as possible, for fear of seeing something through the bright metal walls of the elevator.

With a 'ding' sound, the elevator arrived. She hurriedly stepped out with her head lowered, and the elevator door slowly closed behind her.

She turned to the left out of habit, and felt a black shadow flash before her eyes, which startled her. Looking up, I suddenly realized that this was not the fifteenth floor, but the thirteenth floor!

The dark and deserted thirteenth floor!

…………………………

Please read the next chapter "Black Cat"