What was pulled from the bottom of the well was a female ancient corpse, found head-down, half-floating in the water. The body had completely undergone the process of tanning, with leather-like skin that was purplish-black in color. The style and pattern of the clothing had completely decayed, making it unrecognizable, but based on the jewelry on her hands, it was determined to be a corpse from the late Ming dynasty.

Upon retrieval, it was discovered that the bones had mostly disintegrated, and the body resembled a leather garment. The skull was largely shattered and dissolved, but strangely, the facial bones and hair were very well-preserved. The entire skull resembled a mask.

The bottom of the well had no sediment, and was very clean, with the walls made of piled bluestone. When the body was discovered, a very peculiar copper mirror was hanging around her neck. The mirror was very thin, almost like a copper foil wrapped around a tourmaline plate. The handle of the mirror was shaped like a hairpin, piercing through the center of the corpse’s collarbone.

This was the scene of a murder case from the late Ming dynasty. Given that this location is very close to the Forbidden City, various legends can easily be imagined.

“The conditions for tanning a corpse are an acidic swamp environment. There are no sedimentary materials at the bottom of this well, which doesn’t make sense. The decomposition of the body itself would also produce a lot of impurities,” Wu Xie said. “This well could not have formed such a corpse; there must be something else going on.”

“The corpse indeed underwent tanning in a humid, acidic environment, but it wasn’t in this well,” the black-eyed man concluded at the time. “The mirror inserted into the collarbone of the female corpse was later confirmed to be a modern object, and the wound was also formed after the tanning process.”

The police officer attempted to pull out the mirror but was stopped by the black-eyed man, who made a gesture for the officer to observe. The front part of the skull remained relatively intact, indicating that the weight of the entire head was concentrated on the face of the corpse. If this female corpse had been standing at the bottom of the well, then due to the weight of her face, her head would be looking down at her toes, and at the point of her line of sight, there was a mirror.

So in fact, this female corpse had been looking at herself in the mirror all along. This was likely the purpose of the mirror being inserted into her chest, but the person who threw her into the well made a mistake; they tossed the corpse head-down into the well. The face of the corpse was heavy, and after being thrown in head-down, her face was facing the bottom of the well.

“A Lin Daiyu fell from the sky, and her face hit the ground first,” the black-eyed man explained to the police officer. “This situation is too grim; such a mistake cannot be made. The corpse was excavated from another location and moved to this well. Those who dug her up probably couldn’t handle the situation, and were guided by someone to this well. However, the changes in the corpse were too bizarre, and they panicked during the operation, ultimately failing to escape this calamity. To understand what happened, we first need to investigate what this piece of land was used for during the late Ming dynasty and who the owner of the well was at that time. Secondly, we need to find out where this corpse actually came from.”

The police could handle the first part, but the latter would require the help of Old Lady Huo.

Originally, things seemed to be becoming clear at this point, but when the black-eyed man left the building, he said something to the police officer, telling him that the favor Old Lady Huo owed him might end up being quite significant.

That night, the black glasses’ eyes began to have problems. “His eyes had always been problematic and couldn’t tolerate light, so he wore sunglasses all the time. At that time, it wasn’t so severe, but after that night, the black glasses’ eyes developed even more serious issues,” said Jie Yuchen. “He discovered that he couldn’t lift his eyeballs to look at things; he could only see the ground in front of him.”

“Like that female corpse?” Wu Xie asked.

Jie Yuchen made a gesture, attempted to describe it a few times, but ultimately gave up because it was difficult to articulate. After thinking for a moment, he said, “The black glasses thought about it for an entire night. That state was very strange, indescribably bizarre. He reviewed the materials from that time and suddenly realized what was happening.” Jie Yuchen continued, “Something was crawling on his back, and as soon as he opened his eyes, it would push his head down.”

The charred corpse that had gone up to the rooftop must have been in a similar situation. That’s why the footprints in the asphalt were so deep.

The black glasses anticipated that he might be affected, but he never expected it would be like this. The situation worsened day by day. A week later, he couldn’t even lift his neck. Once, while washing his face, he almost drowned in his own sink.

He went to the police station and took out that mirror, placing it in front of his toes, then bent down to look. He couldn’t see clearly what was on his back; he only saw two hands dangling down from his shoulders. After enduring another week, the situation still showed no signs of improvement. At this point, an ordinary person would have despaired, but the black glasses felt the opposite emotion; he suddenly found it very interesting, yet at the same time, he began to feel uneasy.

Jie Yuchen closed his eyes and said, “To put it simply, he got angry and was ready to confront whatever was on his back.”

In his room, the black glasses covered his eyes and began training himself to live without sight. His willpower was astonishing; for half a year, he never opened his eyes.

He quickly adapted to a life without vision. His lifestyle was very simple, and not using his eyes didn’t significantly affect him.

During this period, Old Lady Huo tracked down the origins of those thirteen people. They were lumberjacks from the border of Liao. The female corpse was excavated from a swamp in the Lesser Khingan Mountains. The corpse was found standing upright in the swamp, with very long hair. When they were digging up a type of aquatic grass in the swamp, they discovered that the roots of the grass were intertwined with the hair. After they unearthed the corpse, they cut off its hair and took all the gold ornaments from its body.

That night, all thirteen of them experienced eye problems; they began to see things unclearly, as if a layer of water was smeared over their eyes. Everyone felt dampness. When they went to the hospital, they found that their retinas were covered with a strange stain.

Later, after testing, they discovered that the patches were actually a type of aquatic moss that had attached itself to the retina and was still alive, continuing to grow.

The people there had superstitious habits and believed that this incident might be related to the female corpse they had dug up, perhaps having gotten something it shouldn’t have gotten attached to. So, they found a somewhat famous shaman in the area.

The so-called shaman is said to possess some supernatural abilities. After hearing the details of the situation, she decided to send the corpse to a well in a certain place in Beijing. Now, the shaman’s apprentice has been found, and most of the information comes from him. It was later confirmed that the body that was burned on the rooftop was indeed that of the shaman.