In the great novel "Journey to the West," there is such a plot.
The Tang Monk and his disciples, on their journey to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures, passed through the Kingdom of Biqiu and discovered that the king of Biqiu was seriously ill. He believed in the deceptive words of demons and intended to use the hearts and livers of one thousand one hundred and ten boys as medicinal ingredients. For this, he issued a decree, instructing the citizens to send young children, placing them in goose cages, awaiting use.
Using human hearts and livers as medicinal ingredients for refining pills seems absurd, but in fact, during the Tang Dynasty, there were indeed such recorded incidents.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Tang, he believed deeply in Daoism and was obsessed with elixirs that he believed could grant him immortality. He sponsored many Daoists, asking them to refine elixirs for him.
It is said that there was a fake Daoist who presented Emperor Wu with an utterly absurd elixir formula, requiring the hearts of fifteen-year-old virgin boys and girls as medicinal ingredients, and it had to be one heart of a virgin boy and one heart of a virgin girl in order to refine the elixir. After taking it many times, one could supposedly become an immortal and achieve longevity and undying.
Emperor Wu believed it to be true and ordered certain areas to be designated as "Dao" districts. These places had to annually tribute the hearts of a pair of virgin boys and girls as medicinal ingredients.
However, Emperor Wu's dreams didn't come true, and he didn't achieve the longevity he desired. Instead, he became the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty to die from consuming too many elixirs.
Though this story sounds cruel and laughable, how could there be a method of immortality in this world? Even as the emperor of the Great Tang, he couldn't escape being blinded by the so-called immortality.
However, when Henry mentioned over the phone that the victims in the murder cases were all found with their hearts removed, Sun Yan intuitively felt that this matter might be related to the Longevity Pill.
'When all hope is lost, for the sake of life, someone will try any method to survive, even if it means breaking taboos.'
Could it be that the perpetrator of this murder case was someone with little time left to live?
So they sought immortality, wanting to extend their life, and breaking taboos perhaps meant resorting to any means to obtain hearts.
Sun Yan's eyes brightened, and he urged softly, "Henry, quickly check the mysterious death cases in Shajiao District and even the entire Saint Anna City over the past few months. Also, investigate how many of these victims were missing their hearts."
"Alright, I'll get on it right away. By the way, Father Jackson, when do you plan to visit the crime scene? I can drive you there." Henry agreed without wasting any words.
"I'm already here. You go ahead and do your thing; don't worry about me."
Sun Yan hung up the phone and thought for a moment before heading straight for the door to the Celestial Platform.
Outside in the hallway, a white man was drawing water from the wall's water dragon to brush his teeth and wash his face.
"Want one?" Sun Yan pulled out a cigarette and handed it over.
"Oh! Officer, you're too kind." The white man, who had planned to brush his teeth, quickly put down his cup, took the cigarette, and lit it skillfully, exhaling a long stream of smoke: "I didn't expect a police station in this district to hire an Asian. You seem much easier to get along with than those white officers."
In some cities in North America, Asians are sometimes less respected than blacks, and bullying blacks could quickly earn you a discrimination label.
But bullying Asians might be as inconsequential as preventing a fish from riding a bicycle.
Sun Yan leaned against the doorframe and asked, "What's your name?"
"Michael Pitt, just call me Pete, officer. If you're here to investigate the murder case in the apartment, I'm afraid I won't be much help."
Pete shrugged: "Although I live on the 7th floor, I rarely interact with the residents in the apartment, and they don't even know I exist. I know nothing about their situations. Frankly, the murderer's methods are too cruel. But the good news is I might be able to use this situation to get the apartment owner to lower my rent further next month."
Watching Pete grin mischievously, Sun Yan tossed the cigarette butt to the floor and crushed it underfoot: "Indeed, it's very cruel. Let me ask you something. Were you in the apartment at 1 a.m. the night before last?"
"The night before last? Yes, when you mention that night, I vaguely remember. I was sleeping soundly when I suddenly heard loud noises in the hallway, making it impossible for me to sleep. I initially planned to go out and stop them, but then I remembered the apartment owner instructed me not to be discovered by other residents, so I didn't go out. It took a while before the noise subsided." Pete thought for a moment and confirmed.
Sun Yan asked, "Them? There were many people? What were they arguing about?"
"Let me think... Sorry, they weren't speaking English; it sounded like an Eastern language to me, but I couldn't understand it. I was very sleepy at the time, so I didn't pay much attention. But there were indeed a lot of voices, maybe around a dozen people, both men and women." Pete tossed his cigarette butt to the floor and began brushing his teeth.
Sun Yan found himself even more puzzled after hearing this statement.
On his way up, he had been using the Celestial Eye to check, yet found nothing amiss, not even with the iron basin used for burning paper money, which seemed entirely ordinary.
It appeared that this situation wasn't that simple. No wonder this task was the most challenging one Sun Yan had ever taken on.
"Do you know who placed that iron basin in the hallway? I noticed a lot of paper money burned in it."
"Yes, it's a second-floor resident, an elderly Asian woman. I always felt she was a bit unhinged, always coming up to the 7th floor alone to burn paper money in that basin, murmuring strange things, like spells. Every time she came up, I'd hide in my room, afraid to make any noise. To be honest, she creeps me out; I'm kind of scared of her."
Pete kept talking while brushing his teeth, providing information not included in the files Henry had given.
It was unclear whether Henry had overlooked these details or if he hadn't even noticed this 7th-floor resident, leading to this information being left out.
"Alright, thank you for cooperating, carry on with brushing your teeth."
Sun Yan nodded and prepared to leave; he couldn't see any significant issues with Pete. It seemed that to uncover the truth behind "the door," he'd have to revisit at night.
"Wait, officer. I think there's something odd that you should know." Pete suddenly caught up, speaking mysteriously and quietly as Sun Yan was about to leave.
Sun Yan turned back to inquire, "What is it?"
"I suspect there's a unit in this apartment where something is being burned every night. The smell travels up the ducts, a peculiar scent that's hard to describe."
"Alright, I'll investigate that. Thank you for the lead."
"You're too kind, officer. You're the first officer I've seen offering a cigarette to the poor. I haven't mentioned this to anyone else, only you."
Exiting the apartment, Sun Yan stood on the roadside, looking at the 24-hour convenience store across the street.
The time left wasn't much, and to complete the time-limited task, he needed to achieve more in limited time to uncover the truth of the mystery.
"Tonight, I won't return to the graveyard. I'll keep watch in this store and see if that nonexistent door appears on the 7th floor of the apartment at 1 a.m.," Sun Yan thought to himself.
Buzz, buzz.
At this moment, Sun Yan's phone suddenly rang; it was Henry calling again.
"Hello, did you find any new clues?" Sun Yan answered and asked.
Unexpectedly, a rush of urgent pleas came from the other end of the line.
"Father Jackson, can you rush to Krelev Hospital now? That officer with mental issues is having a serious problem! Oh my god, this is unbelievable."
The call ended abruptly, taking Sun Yan by surprise.
Though uncertain about what had happened, Henry sounded extremely anxious over the phone, indicating a grave situation.
Sun Yan quickly flagged down a passing taxi and immediately headed to Krelev Hospital in the city.