Little Taotie and the girl exchanged a glance, seeing in each other’s eyes the eagerness to try without a hint of fear.
Girl: "Does Zaizai want to see?"
Little Taotie nodded vigorously.
The middle-aged male performer quickly intervened, "Don’t look, you’ll have nightmares!"
"We’re not afraid, right?" the girl asked Little Taotie.
Little Taotie nodded vigorously.
After all, he was a young detective of the Special Department! Fearless of anything!
Humph, even real ghosts were not scary to him!
Little Taotie lifted his little chin, somewhat proudly.
The middle-aged male performer persisted with his advice, "For the sake of the show, they even arranged a corpse. I heard from the director that the prop master is a sculpting expert. The corpse he made is too realistic. You really shouldn’t look; it will give you nightmares!"
"Is it really that realistic?" the girl’s eyes sparkled. "The more you say that, the more I want to see it!"
She looked at Little Taotie, who nodded frenziedly, his large eyes full of curious light, shining brightly.
The middle-aged male performer held his forehead, "I was so disgusted that I threw up, didn’t you see?"
The girl gave him a sidelong glance, "Forgive me for being blunt, but you are just faint-hearted."
Little Taotie covered his mouth and snickered secretly, like a mischievous Kitty.
Facing the gaze of both the old and the young girls, the middle-aged male performer felt a glaring "disdain."
Taking a deep breath, the middle-aged male performer sighed in resignation, "It really is scary. If you insist on looking, I won’t stop you."
The girl took Little Taotie’s hand, striding boldly toward the men’s restroom.
Since the middle-aged male performer had rushed out of the men’s restroom, the door was now wide open. Everyone inside was carefully observing the crime scene and the "corpse," so no one noticed the girl leading Little Taotie by the hand as they entered.
They passed the partition that blocked the view; the full panorama of the men’s restroom came into sight.
To the left was a row of urinals; to the right, a row of stall toilets.
The third urinal was full of bright-red blood, the white urinal had turned dark red, with dried blood sticking to it.
The door of the third stall on the right was open. The toilet lid was closed, the white toilet marked with mottled bloodstains.
The corpse lay across between the third urinal and the third toilet stall, like a human bridge.
The corpse faced down, its back stabbed numerous times; its legs were twisted, as if broken in a struggle, limply intertwined, like a pretzel.
"May I see the front?" Ji Guang asked.
The director nodded, "Feel free to look."
A member of the Rock Band said, "Even though I know it’s a prop, I still feel uneasy."
Ji Guang stepped forward, touched the blood on the ground, and asked, "What is this?"
Director: "Tomato sauce mixed with mulberry juice."
Ji Guang smelled it and nodded, "It definitely smells like tomato sauce."
The red of the tomato sauce mixed with the purple of the mulberry juice had turned into a rust color. As the mulberry juice oxidized over time, changing from purple to black-purple, the rust-colored bloodstain would also slowly turn dark purple, just like real blood turns dark red over time.
The members of the Rock Band, originally immersed in fear, heard their conversation and became somewhat disillusioned, diminishing their fear.
They squatted down, mimicked Ji Guang’s actions, dipped a bit of "blood", smelled it, and nodded, "The smell of tomato sauce is strong."
Ji Guang asked, "Not scared anymore, right?"
The members of the Rock Band nodded in unison.
Ji Guang: "Since you’re not scared, give me a hand and flip him over."
With their help, Ji Guang successfully flipped the "corpse" over, face up.