The bodies of the three middle-aged black males, lay in a triangle in the middle of the compound. Each had sustained a single gunshot wound to the head, execution style.
Pools of blood had oozed from the wounds and added to the stains on the pavement.
According to the police report, they belonged to the notorious Southerners Gang of New York, and had been involved in some type of altercation with a Mafian gang member.
Their opponent, armed with a gun, had shot the three of them. From the precision, Marlene who was a crime scene investigator, knew the Mafian must be a professional assassin.
But what kind of a killer would operate with such accuracy and placed the bodies in a triangular form? Was it a ritual killing?
This scene reminded Marlene of an incident which happened a while ago. She was investigating another gruesome murders of this sort when she encountered a fortune teller who came with a warning.
"Mark of death is on you, Marlene. You'll certainly die horribly in this life, but you'll take the place of another. Death will always follow you. Only one can save you."
Why was she remembering that now? Did the warning have anything to do with the dead men on the ground? What could be the connection?
She looked at the scene again.
The men were wearing long jackets during the summer period which could mean only one thing: they were up to something, but what? Maybe they were concealing a weapon or some type of contraband.
Marlene crouched down beside the first body. She was examining it to determine the distance he had been from the shooter. Holding her magnifying glass and flashlight, she was looking for any sign of stippling.
She was concentrating on the gunshot wounds, when all of a sudden, she had a premonition of an impending death.
Just as she raised her head to see what was happening around her, a massive explosion sounded to her right. Before she knew what was happening, her body was immersed in a searing heat as she was enveloped in fiery flames.
The last thing she remembered was the burning sensation as her consciousness drifted towards the sea of light above.
***
Marlene woke up and screamed in pain. The fiery feeling, of her being flayed alive was completely overwhelming.
After some minutes of great difficulty, she realized the whole area was in flames and the air was filled with smoke.
Was she in the depth of an inferno? Where was she? She asked herself apprehensively, but her brain wasn't functioning properly.
She needed answers but knew if she stayed where she was, she would definitely be burned or smoked to death.
She struggled to get up from the ground, only to find that her clothes were not right, and her shirt and jeans had become some sort of long garments.
She was stunned, and immediately looked around. Although the fire in this place was as big as the last thing she remembered, and she couldn't seem to recall much, she felt something was wrong with the whole thing.
However, since the fire was getting bigger and bigger, she decided now wasn't the right time to worry about all that. She needed to escape the fire first.
She looked around and finally found a place where the fire was smaller and managed to crawl out.
When she was approaching the door to the room, she was tripped by a loose piece of wood on the ground, sending her sprawling on the ground. A small beam of the roof fell straight down and hit her on the head, and she fainted.
While regaining her consciousness, she recalled the intensity of the explosion. How could she have survived the searing fire while investigating that gruesome crime scene? She thought she had died, but right now, she knew she was extremely lucky to be alive.
"Miss!"
A horrified voice from outside the door, sounded in her ears, and she slowly raised her head. In the blur, she saw from outside the door that the place was full of different people, rushing towards her. A pang of pain struck her and she lost consciousness again.
When she woke up this time around, she saw that she was on top of an old bed. She turned her head slightly to see old furniture, arranged inside the chamber. She couldn't believe her eyes. She had only seen these items in foreign movies and documentaries. Where was she?
"Miss, you're finally awake!"
A pleasantly surprised voice came, and then there was a girl's joyful face, an oval face with big bright eyes. An Asian girl? What in God's name was going on with her? This couldn't be happening, could it?
-Lu Zhu- A name suddenly flashed in Marlene's mind. Lu Zhu? That was strange.
While she was wondering what she got herself into, memories of the previous owner of the body flooded into her mind like a riptide.
Then, another voice, followed by a known but distant face. Another flash of memory struck in Marlene's mind. She recalled the woman's information too. Her name was Miss Xu.
This meant she had two maids.
Lu Zhu was a close-knit personal maid who followed the original owner since she was a child. Whereas, Miss Xu had served the original body owner's mother when she was alive, and had also been serving the original owner of Marlene's body since the death of her mother.
From now on, Marlene was Yang Yiting, the eldest daughter of the Yang family. Her mother had died when she was three years old. And later, her aunt was taken by her father to become his regular wife.
Since then, she had been gradually ignored, and was living in obscurity until now. This year, she was eighteen years old.
It seemed that she had died in the explosion in her home world, and her soul had passed through a soul dimension or afterlife, to occupy this body. From now on, she could only be Yang Yiting, the eldest daughter of the Yang family.
She sighed as she looked at the mirror. She was an American some moments ago, or so she thought, but she was now an Asian. Life really knew how to play its hands.
Lu Zhu and Miss Xu, on the side, saw her staring in a daze at the mirror, and they couldn't help feeling sad for her. The beautiful face of the young lady was ruined.
In the Dasheng Dynasty, women valued their looks the most. Now that the young lady's face was ruined, what would she do in the future?
Miss Xu forced her tears back and comforted her. "Miss, it's okay, please don't cry. The injuries on your face can heal slowly in the future, and I believe that it will be healed."
Lu Zhu nodded again and again.
Yang Yiting knew that they had misunderstood her. Obviously she didn't feel much concerned about the ruined appearance, but about the dimensional crossing of her soul into the body of someone else.
Someone who was still alive just before she came to occupy her body. Why wouldn't she cry for the previous owner and her own soul?
But she didn't explain, she just handed them the mirror, and said, "It's okay, I don't care. The doctor today...didn't the doctor say it? It's not that the scar can't be cured."
"Miss, I'm happy you think so. I'm so relieved." Miss Xu wiped away her tears, her face showing a little relief.
Lu Zhu said with a degree of confidence. "Miss, your fortune and life is great. You're blessed by the spirit of heaven. I believe that the wound on your face will be healed soon and it will become as beautiful as before."
Yang Yiting smiled indifferently, and said to her. "Lu Zhu, I'm a little hungry, please get me something to eat."
Lu Zhu nodded when she heard it, then turned and ran out.
Miss Xu poured a glass of water and carefully fed it to Yang Yiting who looked at her and asked. "Miss Xu, do you have something to say?"
Miss Xu nodded and said: "Miss, I have been thinking about it for a few days now, and I believe the fire was not trivial. I have the feeling that the fire was not natural. Although Lu Zhu sleeps heavily sometimes, the fire happened at the time when I went out of the house to visit relatives. I think this was not a coincidence."
Yang Yiting agreed with Miss Xu. With her years of experience in forensic medicine, the fire encountered by the original owner of the body was not accidental.
It was just that Miss Xu and Lu Zhu didn't know that the young lady they had dedicated their lives to protect had actually died in the fire. Just like she too must have died in that explosion in her home world.
Thinking of this, Yang Yiting felt sad, but she was not an hypocritical sentimental person. As a leader in the forensic department, calm and rational was her label.
She frowned for a while, and then told her. "Miss Xu, you should let someone seal off the fire scene first... Well, that's the room that was on fire. No one is allowed to enter or leave. We will check it out tomorrow."
While they were talking, Lu Zhu walked in with a bowl of porridge. The steaming bird's nest porridge was moderately thick and fragrant, and Yang Yiting realized that she was really hungry. So she didn't care about it being hot and started eating with eagerness.
After swallowing a few spoonfuls of the tasty food, she heard a loud noise, coming from the outside of the courtyard.