Running A Cemetery in North America-Chapter 399 - 273: One Hundred Eight Lotus Blossoms

Heavy rain.

A group of people sat in the living room, searching for news related to Luye Garden online.

Sun Yan was sitting on the sofa, cracking sunflower seeds, while next to him, Gao Enya was flipping through the book they had previously brought back from the headquarters of Luye Garden.

"Sun Yan, look, the contents recorded in the latter part of this book are completely different from the front part; it’s a bit strange."

At this point, Gao Enya suddenly handed the book to Sun Yan, whose pages were filled with a large amount of Arabic numbers, looking complex and patternless, like random scrawls.

But the symbols recorded in sacrificial events cannot possibly be meaningless content.

Sun Yan still took it and examined it carefully: "These numbers..."

"Everyone, something’s happened."

At that moment, Lee Jung-jae opened the door and came in, somewhat nervously saying: "Something happened. The police have found information on the suspect who killed the woman encased in the cement pillar. But when they went to arrest the suspect, he had already been killed. It seems Luye Garden can’t restrain itself anymore."

"Isn’t this supposed to be a good thing?" someone said.

"Quite the contrary; if Luye Garden is under pressure, it will be very difficult for us to find out the whereabouts of those missing people," Lee Jung-jae shook his head.

"What do we do now? We’ve been tracking Luye Garden for so long, and if we lose news on Luye Garden now, our missing relatives might never be rescued?"

"Don’t worry, everyone. Although the suspect was killed, the police still obtained some other useful clues." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Lee Jung-jae took out a few photographs from his pocket: "At several branch venues of Luye Garden, the police discovered some strange murals. Take a look to see if they seem familiar; they might be related to your missing family members."

The photos were swiftly passed around among the group.

Some people looked at the photos with puzzled expressions, while others revealed surprised and astonished expressions.

"This, I think I saw something like this in my daughter’s room before."

"I remember, before my daughter went missing, she kept talking about lotus flowers. Could it really be related to this?"

The group discussed animatedly, and through Gao Enya’s translation, Sun Yan also realized what they were talking about.

When the photos reached Gao Enya’s hands, Sun Yan took one to examine.

The photo showed a mural, vividly painted with many lotus flowers burgeoning out of a woman’s chest, seeming very bizarre.

Ultimately, these lotus flowers clustered towards one direction, where a man was seated cross-legged.

His hands had twelve fingers, and his earlobes drooped down to his shoulders.

This was clearly the likeness of a Buddha, and it’s apparent that this man should be a Buddha.

"This is one of the few clues. Everyone, think carefully; could this be related to your missing family members?" Lee Jung-jae reminded.

Gao Enya stared at the lotus woman in the photo, deep in thought. After several minutes, she suddenly exclaimed: "This! This is the legend of one hundred and eight lotus flowers becoming Buddha! Yun’Er mentioned this to me before she disappeared, but at that time, I didn’t pay attention. I didn’t expect this story to be related to Luye Garden."

Yun’Er was Gao Enya’s missing roommate, whom she had mentioned to Sun Yan before.

Sun Yan curiously asked: "What is the legend of one hundred and eight lotus flowers becoming Buddha?"

Gao Enya immediately explained: "Not long ago, Yun’Er had a friend in archaeology who asked Yun’Er for help. After returning, Yun’Er kept researching this legend. It’s said to be an ancient Buddhist story, in which Sakyamuni’s reincarnation was known as the Lotus Buddha, born into a merchant family, enamored with affairs between men and women, even marrying one hundred and eight beautiful wives. Being too immersed in worldly matters, unable to discern worldly causes and effects, he could not truly comprehend becoming Buddha.

Later, his friend’s wives voluntarily took heart’s blood to plant lotus flowers, allowing the Lotus Buddha to truly awaken, becoming Buddha in an instant. His wives who lost heart’s blood became the Lotus Spirits of the Western Pure Land’s clear pool. This is the legend of one hundred and eight lotus flowers becoming Buddha, but I’m not sure what it has to do with Luye Garden."

Sun Yan touched his chin: "One hundred and eight women... Wait, Gao Enya, are all the missing people in Luye Garden women?"

"Yes, they are. Why?"

"I see... That makes sense."

Sun Yan suddenly realized, saying thoughtfully: "It seems the situation behind Luye Garden is more complex than I imagined. The person behind Luye Garden is not only preparing to become immortal. To ensure success, he has prepared an additional method and plans to become a Buddha."

"What should we do now?" Gao Enya asked.

"I believe the real secret is hidden in this book. We must decipher the true meaning behind these numbers," Sun Yan said.

Gao Enya looked puzzled: "But we still can’t tell what significance these numbers have."

Sun Yan flipped through the pages, scanning them, when suddenly a flash of insight crossed his mind.

"In the Eight Western Countries, is there something similar to an ID card?"

"Yes, there is. Why?"

"Look at these numbers; could they be related to ID numbers? Because I notice the format of these numbers is the same, except for the differences in 200x and 199x, which seem like birth years," Sun Yan pointed to a line of numbers on the page.