The weather was excellent today. Lin Chen was able to find this DVD box due to the bright sunshine from outside.
There was fine dust floating in the air as a beam of dazzling light hit the DVD. Half of the writing on the cover was completely invisible due to the reflection of the plastic cover, while the other half had the words: Oscar Wilde.
Oscar Wilde.
<Best Animated Collection of Oscar Wilde>.
Lin Chen looked through the DVD a few more times and found that this DVD wasn’t a Blu-ray disc, unlike the other DVDs in Song Shengsheng’s collection. It was probably something cheap bought at a street stall. Unsurprisingly, he saw the story of <The Nightingale and The Rose> in the catalog.
“What the hell?”
Wang Chao’s slight exclamation sounded in his ears.
Lin Chen turned his head and saw the teenager craning his neck, peeping at the DVD in his hand.
“This—what’s going on? Why does Song Shengsheng have the complete works of Wilde?” Wang Chao gave a slightly embarrassed cough as he asked.
“I don’t know.”
Lin Chen replied honestly. There were, of course, numerous explanations for such a phenomenon. For example, why did Song Shengsheng have an animated collection of Wilde’s work at home, and this collection seemed to be Song Shengsheng’s favorite DVD. And, why was it that, when Li Jingtian was singing on stage, someone correctly matched the bouquet they gave to <The Nightingale and the Rose>? What was the relationship between the two?
“Song Shengsheng has already been released from prison… He’s not the one that sent the flowers, right?” Wang Chao said casually. “Maybe this DVD belongs to Li Jingtian? Is it possible that this is the key evidence we’re looking for?!”
Wang Chao’s eyes lit up.
Lin Chen was noncommittal. He walked to the DVD player and pressed the on button. Then he realized that this room had been vacant for nine years, so, naturally, no one had paid the electric bill.
Wang Chao quickly took out his phone and paid the electric bill for the house. After a while, the power light turned on and Lin Chen put the DVD into the DVD player and retreated to the sofa.
The TV screen began playing the disc slowly. The pictures that appeared gave the teenager a guess. It was really a cartoon, and the picture quality was slightly yellowed and old looking.
The first story was <The Happy Prince>, which was a typical Oscar Wilde fairy tale. The dialogue was extremely beautiful, but when it came to the animation plot, it wasn’t as interesting. Wang Chao watched it for a while and began to squirm his butt from side to side in discomfort. Naturally, for a teenager who liked One Piece, this kind of thing wouldn’t really resonate with him.
However, to Lin Chen’s surprise, Xing Conglian sat beside him quietly and was watching solemnly.
“A’Chen… Isn’t time tight? Do you need me to fast forward?” Wang Chao couldn’t help but make a suggestion.
“It’s boring, isn’t it?” Lin Chen asked.
“It’s boring. Why does Song Shengsheng like this kind of stuff? Are these really his things? Were all rock and roll kids that weird back then?”
Lin Chen glanced at Wang Chao. How old are you to be saying this kind of thing?
“What?” Wang Chao looked at him inexplicably.
“This is indeed Song Shengsheng’s stuff.” Lin Chen felt helpless, so he could only answer the teenager’s question.
“How do you know?”
“This should be your specialty.”
He handed the DVD box over. The teenager looked at it, turning it upside down several times, and finally smacked his head. “This is a VCD!”
“That’s right.”
“Oh, that should be a disc that Song Shengsheng watched when he was a kid, right?”
Lin Chen nodded.
Although this DVD was obviously from a street stall, as there was no clear barcode on it, they could infer its recording medium based on the time it was released.
The popularity of VCDs peaked roughly around 1995–2000, and based on how old this DVD looked, it probably indicated that it was from that era. Li Jingtian was still in Xinni in the 1990s, so naturally it was impossible for him to buy a Chinese-made VCD.
“But, I still don’t understand.” Wang Chao rubbed against Lin Chen as he handed the DVD box back. “Song Shengsheng likes this kind of boring cartoon, but what does it have to do with Li Jingtian and <The Nightingale and the Rose>?”
“Wang Chao,” Lin Chen said slowly.
“Yes!”
“This should be your specialty,” Lin Chen reminded him. “Search for the keywords: Song Shengsheng, Nightingale, and Rose.”
“That makes sense!” As he said it, he picked up his laptop and went to the dining table, bringing up a cloud of dust.
Not long after, a piece of audio echoed in the room.
Lin Chen muted the TV and let the cartoon continue to play. He walked to the dining table and looked down. It was an interview clip of Song Shengsheng. The video was short. After a lapse of nine years, Lin Chen saw an image of Song Shengsheng again.
The unruly young man still looked so uninhibited. He had a badass hairstyle of that era, wore a black motorcycle leather jacket, and had non-mainstream accessories all over his body. He even revealed a tongue ring when he spoke.
The reporter asked him about the source of inspiration for his new album.
The picture flickered as Song Shengsheng crossed his legs, saying it was from Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales. His tone was casual, but the look in his eyes was serious. Then the reporter asked him which of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales he liked most. Song Shengsheng replied, “What I like is, of course, for the fans to listen to the album. If I tell you now, won’t that be boring?”
In short, Song Shengsheng was like that. He was never lovable, but he was very good at talking. The reporters who interviewed him loved and hated him. The picture froze on the reporter’s stiff face.
Then the interview ended.
Wang Chao turned around and asked, “A’Chen, what do you think Song Shengsheng likes the most?”
Lin Chen patted Wang Chao’s head and said, “Since you can find this video from the keywords, isn’t the answer obvious?”
“You’re so stupid,” Xing Conglian added sarcastically.
Wang Chao depressingly closed the video from full-screen and returned to the webpage. Only then did Lin Chen discover that this clip was shared by a fan. The website where this video was recorded was Song Shengsheng’s personal website, which fans would still visit every day—”Be With You.”
The title of the post was “The Nightingale and The Rose”, which was how Wang Chao was able to find it. The content was roughly composed of fans trying to guess what Song Shengsheng’s favorite Wilde’s fairy tale was. The original poster posted the inner page of the album’s lyrics. The title song was a song that had nothing to do with The Nightingale and The Rose. The content was full of words like “fuck off” and “fuck”, which were completely inconsistent with Mr. Wilde’s aesthetics, but the poster said the lyrics of the title song were composed of white, yellow, and red, which coincided with the three rose colors in the original fairy tale, so Song Shengsheng’s favorite fairy tale should be this one.
The discussion below was very lively. Some people said that the poster was just being whimsical, while others agreed with their thoughts.
Those who agreed thought that Song Shengsheng’s title song was about idiots who were desperate for love, which matched the metaphor represented by the poor nightingale in the fairy tale.
“A’Chen, what do you think?” The curious Comrade Xiao Wang Chao asked.
“It should be right,” Lin Chen replied.
“Hey, then, if this is Song Shengsheng’s favorite fairy tale, Li Jingtian… Why did Li Jingtian bring a nightingale and roses to the scene of his throat-slitting case? Is Li Jingtian not afraid we would find out about Song Shengsheng based on this?” Wang Chao started rambling. As if he thought of something, he hurriedly said, “Is this a bit off topic for me to ask this now?”
“How could it be?” Lin Chen patted the teenager’s shoulder reassuringly and said, “At least your question is meaningful to me. Although these cases are covered in fog, as long as the crime is committed by someone, then there must be a personal mark in it. Whether it’s the murderer or the victim, each of them has genes, family, growth, and experience, which lead them to make corresponding choices when encountering problems. Corresponding choices will affect their growth experience. Therefore, everything a person does may seem erratic, but in fact, there must be traces in their growth experience, which allows us to see a clear path in the fog.”
“Oh!” Wang Chao shouted seemingly incomprehensibly. “Then, what is the path to this case? Is it the fairy tale?”
Lin Chen looked back at the animation that was still being broadcast slowly on the TV.
The animation just reached the end of the Happy Prince. The swallow died at the feet of the prince, and there were snowflakes floating in the sky. This was truly an ending fit for Wilde.
Lin Chen said to Wang Chao, “In fact, fairy tales are very interesting things. In psychological analysis, psychologists who study the effects of fairy tales believe that these stories that touch us tell us the desires, dreams, and human behaviors we identify with and the people we want to be…”
“Then what kind of person is Song Shengsheng, and what kind of person is Li Jingtian? From a story, can the different psychological states of these two people be inferred?”
“You see, this is the interesting thing about fairy tales. It’s precisely because the narrative of fairy tales uses symbolic techniques that its nature is closer to dreams and to the human subconscious. If myths reflect the collective experience of humans, then fairy tales reflect personal issues. That is to say, fairy tales are more personal.” Lin Chen looked at Wang Chao’s lost gaze. He leaned on the table and spoke as he faced the snow-white sky outside the window. “During this time, I have read some analysis on Wilde’s fairy tales. Although many critics will analyze the social reality reflected in Wilde’s fairy tales repeatedly, in fact, Wilde’s aesthetic philosophy is that art doesn’t express anything except itself. He believes that reality is the enemy of art, and what he pursues is true, pure beauty. Then, what do you think is the difference between Song Shengsheng’s and Li Jingtian’s views?
“I think… Although Song Shengsheng looks very arrogant and cool, he seems to be a very pure and innocent person. He should appreciate Wilde more, and you said earlier that the VCD is what Song Shengsheng has been watching. He just likes this kind of thing.”
“Can’t you pretend to not understand, just a little?” Lin Chen asked with a smile. “How can I go on?”
“But I don’t understand Li Jingtian…” Wang Chao muttered.
Kinky Thoughts:
You can read The Happy Prince by clicking on the link. It’s a short story. I won’t give you the analysis just yet until the end of this arc to avoid any spoilers.
From this angle, the two of them couldn’t see the electronic screen in front of the main teaching building. Broadcast Guo Wei didn’t give them the opportunity to come face-to-face with the two of them.
The student phantoms stumbled through the broken entrails and supported a blood-stained projection screen. The shaking images showed Broadcast Guo Wei sitting in front of the table they were familiar with.
Guo Wei’s appearance had changed. His eyes were completely cloudy, and the bulge at his temple had broken off, with a familiar red rope poking out of the flesh.
It was exactly the same rope as the one at Huang Jin’s feet just now.
Sure enough, half a year later, Guo Wei’s sudden hatred and malice were inseparable from the source of corruption of an Evil Force.
Guo Wei’s mouth was full of blood, and a wound extended from under his clavicle to his waist and abdomen. It penetrated his flesh and bones, misplacing his heart and lungs and almost causing them to flow out of the fissure.
Guo Wei played with the black ballpoint pen in his hand with a smile so wide that it was abnormal. His appearance was indistinguishable from a fierce ghost.
“You have not successfully left the school. Teachers and family members, please choose someone to exclude from the quota.”
Clang. The familiar pistol hit the concrete floor of the roof and fell between Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo.
Zhong Chengshuo picked up the gun.
“Where’s Huang Jin?” In the headset, Lu Xiaohe asked anxiously. “How is it that half the team is already gone?”
“He was attacked by an unknown mental ability, so we knocked him out.” Yin Ren covered the two cocoons behind his back as he explained concisely. “I felt a strong Evil Force, similar to that of Bai Yongji’s coin.”
Lu Xiaohe sounded like she almost choked. “A source of corruption from an Evil Force?”
What’s going on with Unit 9? How was it that there’s now an Evil Force when they entered the Archive?
She really didn’t want to snatch away “The Best Bad Luck Award” from Unit 7.
Lu Xiaohe accelerated her talking speed. “The Archive may have been invaded. Be careful! Ghosts are obsessed with contracts. Try to stabilize Guo Wei and stall for Minister Fu!”
“Understood,” Zhong Chengshuo answered cleanly.
Boom, boom, boom, boom. The earth trembled like a sticky heartbeat.
Countless rotten hands protruded from the internal organs of the courtyard, scratching frantically.
“Please choose to exclude someone from the quota.” On the bloody screen, Guo Wei’s smile deepened, and the corners of his eyes kept twitching. The red rope pierced his temple and twitched, disappearing at the edge of the screen.
Zhong Chengshuo picked up the gun and raised it naturally to his own head.
In the night, the man’s gaze behind the lens was calm and firm.
King Yama actually trusted him so readily? Was this a mutual understanding*?
*The legendary heart has a soul (的心有灵) Idiom refers to hearts being connected so that you understand each other’s mind.
“No, I’m worried,” Zhong Chengshuo replied calmly. “The situation is complicated, and it’s impossible to judge.”
Yin Ren: “?” The harmony in his heart was about to keel over.
Yin Ren’s emotion and fighting spirit were suffocated by this guy’s words. Perhaps Zhong Chengshuo wasn’t focusing on <The Art of Communication>. Rather, he should write a book called <The Art of Rejection>.
“…So I’ll see it with my own eyes.” Seeing Yin Ren’s expression like he was choking on a fishbone, Zhong Chengshuo spoke with a smile in his voice.
He hooked his finger and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The action was so natural, like picking up a water cup, that Yin Ren couldn’t even react for a moment.
“Bang!”
A torrent of color spurted out from the side of Zhong Chengshuo’s head.
Crystal rain beads splashed everywhere; a gentle candle fire on a birthday cake, and apples that were an attractive color were cut in half. They collided in mid-air and exploded into bright, gorgeous light. The cheese potato chip package and the rose tea were entangled endlessly. Little wing balls floated up like soap bubbles.
After the familiar memory collapsed, a black umbrella stained with water fell to the ground.
This person’s movement was so sudden that Yin Ren’s hair stood up straight in shock. He hurriedly pulled the umbrella back into a cocoon and, at the same time, condensed his hair, ready to stun Zhong Chengshuo. However, as soon as the hair drew close, it was grabbed firmly with one hand, not allowing them to advance any further.
Zhong Chengshuo grabbed the twirling hair. His complexion was normal, and his breathing was steady.
This guy even had the leisure to take out a small notebook, read it carefully for more than ten seconds, and put a checkmark on one of them.
“Here.” Zhong Chengshuo tore off one of the pages and blocked Lu Xiaohe’s communication. “Help me get rid of it.”
“There are some of my memories missing. I don’t seem to like you for the time being. Other than that, there are no adverse reactions.”
Yin Ren looked down at the piece of paper—
[Good memories that may be affected (test backup)]
[1. Apples, a delicious fruit and good for your health.]
[2. Cream cake, you can eat it on your birthday. Don’t eat too much usually.]
[3. Cheese potato chips are relatively high in calories. It tastes good.]
[4. Yin Ren, an evil being with good combat abilities. I like him very much.]
The box that was ticked had “Yin Ren” written on it.
Lord Ghost King was a little moved for a moment, but seeing the first three contents, he was a little moved again. After all, this thing was really like a recipe, and his appearance in it was truly abrupt.
…And this person’s good memories were too limited!
Just as Yin Ren was burning the paper speechlessly, Zhong Chengshuo turned to Guo Wei. “Choose someone to exclude from the quota, play out the best memories, and stay here. I did all that. Are there any issues?”
Zhong Chengshuo repeated Yin Ren’s initial words with the corners of his mouth slightly curled up.
Broadcast Guo Wei twisted his rotten, congested eyes.
“No problem,” he replied stiffly. “It’s almost over anyway.”
This time, Broadcast Guo Wei’s image did not vanish.
Guo Wei stared at the two people on the roof. He leaned forward, revealing half of his body out of the white screen, and his internal organs fell out of his chest. “The game continues. Hurry up and escape for me.”
His tone was soaked in hostility, and his desire was extremely cold.
Boom, boom! Boom, boom! Boom, boom!
Yin Ren listened. The unknown pulsation became stronger, and the ghostly presence enveloped the campus like amniotic fluid.
At the beginning, only the campus gates and walls were damaged, and this consciousness operated as usual.
Then, when there were less important teaching buildings and bathrooms, the consciousness gradually fell into chaos. Chaos quickly spawned madness, and madness induced more chaos.
This was excellent nutrition for the growth of evil spirits.
Except for the main teaching building, which stood upright, the rest of the buildings were like cream under high heat, softly melting into a pile. They fell in the direction of the main teaching building, as if trying to crush it.
However, amidst the trembling earthquake, the main teaching building was as solid as a rock. Internal organs all over the yard twisted into whips and lashed out, attempting to violently beat the roof.
Yin Ren hugged Zhong Chengshuo and flew past the attack, with the cocoons following them closely.
Yin Ren’s trajectory wasn’t smooth. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was dragging too many people, but compared to his last flight, his movements became stagnant.
Zhong Chengshuo observed without blinking.
From time to time, Yin Ren skimmed the roof of the main teaching building, touching the ground with the tips of his toes or hair, leaving some traces that Zhong Chengshuo couldn’t understand. Those traces were obscured by the night, as inconspicuous as dust.
Guo Wei didn’t care about Yin Ren’s little movements. He stared intently in the direction of Class 2 and 3 of the teaching building. The windows of that classroom were plastered with spirit bombs, which stood out.
“You obviously know how to escape, so why don’t you do it?”
Guo Wei stared at the windows, sneered, and pressed the black ballpoint pen in his hand.
Click, night fell outside the campus.
The campus was once again surrounded by monsters from the outside world. With the sound of crunching and cracking, some small monsters from the outside world fell in, and excitedly went on a rampage on the campus.
Just like outside the school, the place where they collided became more distorted and deformed.
But this still didn’t include the main teaching building.
The ghostly presence was raging, and the scenery was cracking. This fierce ghost couldn’t wait to be born, but it couldn’t destroy the ordinary building no matter what. It guarded Guo Wei’s broken consciousness, and it seemed indomitable.
Guo Wei became more anxious.
The entire campus shook frantically. In the middle of the sky, Guo Laifu’s face twisted violently. Pomegranate flowers fell to the ground, and the playground fence flew into the air. The blood-stained uniforms were connected into ropes, and the deformed phantoms gathered into a torrent. Centered on the main teaching building, all illusions gradually merged into a huge vortex.
“Do it quickly!” Guo Wei roared frantically. “Destroy it!”
“Hold on!” Lu Xiaohe shouted into their ears. “Wait a moment. Minister Fu’s side is almost ready!”
The ending of this crappy escape game was doomed from the start. It was only a matter of time before the building was destroyed.
Yin Ren looked at the only remaining teaching building in the night. He shuttled dexterously in the air, once again avoiding the strangulation of dozens of small ropes. Through the gaps in the tape, he took the last step on the roof of the main teaching building.
“Zhong Chengshuo.” Yin Ren didn’t disconnect the headset communication with Lu Xiaohe.
“Hmm?”
“There’s still a little time left, and I plan to do something ‘superfluous’. You are temporarily in charge of guarding Huang Jin and Ge Tingting.”
“Okay.”
“Aren’t you going to ask?”
“I wouldn’t like a man that didn’t surprise me.” Zhong Chengshuo landed on the ground. A pair of black cocoons floated behind him. “As I said, I want to witness it for myself.”
Yin Ren swallowed back his words.
Above Zhong Chengshuo’s head was a deformed giant human face, and around his body were strange phantoms of fused limbs. He lost his best memory, and he no longer liked him, but he wasn’t the slightest bit different from before.
The pouring rainy night, the quiet living room, the noisy night market, the abandoned amusement park… The treacherous and terrifying spiritual world.
Zhong Chengshuo would always be like that, like an eternal beacon, exuding a wonderful sense of stillness.
People couldn’t help but look at it.
Yin Ren took a deep look at the other party. The ends of his hair curled slightly around Zhong Chengshuo’s chest. He had a vague feeling that he couldn’t describe, but at the moment of such a big event, he suppressed that emotion.
The next moment.
Yin Ren stepped onto the ground. He traveled through layers of attacks and hovered in front of Guo Wei’s projection screen.
They were only five steps apart.
“Guo Wei, before leaving here, I want to ask you two questions.”
Yin Ren looked directly at the hate-filled eyes on the screen and then swept his eyes to the red rope in Guo Wei’s head. His expression was serene and solemn, as if he were looking at an ordinary child opposite him.
“Why didn’t you say, ‘Destroy this place’ at first?”
The rules given by Guo Wei were too broad and vague. He should know that without clear guidance, they would waste unnecessary time investigating.
“…What are you looking forward to?”
Yin Ren asked without the slightest aggressiveness. Guo Wei seemed to be deeply burned by this question.
“Shut up—!!!”
Black and red blood flowed down the corner of Guo Wei’s mouth as he let out an unsteady scream. There were traces of cuts in different shades on the surface of the boy’s skin, with pale bones appearing in the crimson flesh.
As if perceiving something, the red rope passed through his temples, twisting frantically, and the ghostly presence on the campus rose up.
Guo Wei hugged his head in pain.
“Welcome to, come, come to, to Qianjinag No. 16 High School.” In the projection screen, Guo Wei kept vomiting out fragments of internal organs as he repeated in a daze. “Welcome to the last day of my life.”
Through the blood-stained cloth screen, Guo Wei raised his eyes and looked at the main teaching building in front of him again.
Two streams of pus and blood dripped from his corrupted eyeballs and slipped a little along his fleshy cheeks.
“No… No.” He murmured intermittently. “Welcome… Welcome to the last day of my life.”
It was instantaneous.
The jumping abnormal phantoms no longer moved; the monsters paused, and the melted buildings froze in the air. The main teaching building shook constantly as countless debris-like images gushed out, circling the small campus.
……
“What? Your dad asked you to transfer now?” Li Xiaoya scratched her head. “That’s too much.”
She hesitated for a while before taking out a brand-new pen from her stationary box.
“It’s so sudden that I didn’t have time to prepare a gift. Some time ago, I watched you practice calligraphy with a copybook, but your pen isn’t very good… I’ll lend you this one. Good luck on your college entrance exams!”
It was a neat and beautiful gel pen, and the workmanship was quite exquisite. Guo Wei glanced at his pen wrapped in scotch tape, blushing and hesitating.
“I’m just lending this to you. You have to give it back.” Li Xiaoya grinned. “Either way, after the college entrance exam, you can go back to our class and attend the graduation party!”
“Da* Guo, you have to get a good score on the exam.”
*(大) When added in front of a name, it often indicates that the person being referred to is the elder or senior in relation to the speaker.
……
The girl he secretly liked said “later”.
A sharp blade slashed Guo Wei’s abdomen, causing blood to pour out like a spring. He originally held the pen tightly in his hand, but in the overwhelming fear and pain, he failed to grasp it firmly.
The gel pen rolled to the ground as Guo Laifu stepped through a pool of blood. With a click, the sound of something breaking sounded at the bottom of his feet.
The exquisite pen turned into sharp plastic fragments.
He could no longer return it to her.
……
“You don’t have much stuff. We’ve packed it up for you, so you can get out of here earlier.” Guo Wei got out of bed on the upper bunk.
“Lao Si, let’s take a picture of us. Lao Da* hid his phone just so we can take a picture.” He shook a phone in his hand. “Come on, come on. The schoolmaster in our room, leave us some memories so that we can gain good luck next year.”
*Old/Big Boss; Most likely a nickname for one of the four roommates.
“I don’t have a phone…” Guo Wei said it in a daze.
“We can go to the kiosk to color print it!” “Isn’t it kind of lame to print photos on paper, ah?” “Then what can we do about it?”
There was a lively quarrel in the bedroom.
“Three, two, one—don’t blink!”
“At Lao Si’s level, sooner or later he’ll own a phone. Save the pictures, and we’ll send them to him later.”
……
His friends said “later”.
When the knife fell, Guo Wei saw his own flesh and blood on the blade.
His luggage was scattered haphazardly in the grass, and the snacks his roommates stole rolled into the weeds and were covered with dirt. The photos printed on paper fell to the ground and quickly sank into a pool of blood.
Guo Wei on the screen didn’t smile. Someone quietly put his hand behind him and made a “V” at the top of his head.
The bright colors were all swallowed up by crimson.
He should’ve smiled.
……
In the evening, the setting sun leaked into a field of red haze. There were only Lei Xiurong and Guo Wei in the office, and the acrimony on Lei Xiurong’s face was gone, leaving only a little sadness.
“Teacher, I don’t want to go.” Guo Wei stood at the table, looking at the ground as he spoke in a dry, hoarse voice.
“I advised your father. You’re only a sophomore in high school, and if you change schools, you’ll have to adapt to it. It’s better to take the exam with us.” Lei Xiurong sighed helplessly. “Your dad won’t listen. There’s nothing I can do.”
Guo Wei was silent.
“Alright, find a chair and sit for a bit. Teacher will talk to you for a while.”
Lei Xiurong pulled a chair for him. “I won’t comment on your dad. You don’t like being manipulated by him, do you? Then test well and go far.”
“You’re not dumb. Getting an undergraduate degree should be no problem. When the time comes, find a good job and eat whatever you want.”
“……” Guo Wei pursed his lips and clasped his hands on his knees.
“I’m not a good teacher. I have a poor education and a bad temper—nothing worth mentioning—but you’re different. You’re only 17 and have a long future ahead… You can become a much better person than me.”
As she spoke, she tore off a sticky note and wrote down a string of numbers.
“This is my number. I’m still worried about your father. If he makes things difficult for you, or if you encounter something outside, you can call me.”
Guo Wei took the light yellow sticky note with both hands, folded it neatly, and put it in the deepest part of his pocket.
“Check again. Don’t leave anything behind, especially your textbooks.” She waved her hand. “Oh, don’t forget to practice your writing in the future. They really do score that in the college entrance exams.”
“Okay.” Guo Wei stood up and bowed his head deeply.
“Goodbye, teacher.”
“Nn, goodbye.” Lei Xiurong brushed back her curly hair, revealing some particularly dazzling gray underneath.
……
His teacher said “later”.
Under anesthesia, Guo Wei couldn’t move or even scream. He opened his eyes wide and watched as his internal organs were being pulled out by his own biological father. The latter was murmuring something as he raised them to the sky.
The light yellow note was soaked in blood and crumbled into a ball in his pocket, and the number on it could no longer be distinguished.
He hadn’t had a chance to look at it.
He really, really wanted to make that call, at least once.
……
Guo Wei carried his backpack and worn-out luggage bag and waited for the iron gate to slowly pull open. Guo Laifu drove over to pick him up. The car was parked at the intersection, not far away.
As soon as he walked out of the school, Guo Wei couldn’t help turning his head. On the familiar campus, pomegranates were in full bloom, the lawn was green, and there were students from other grades laughing and making noise on the playground.
It was small, old, and very much like home.
Seeing him turn his head every few steps, the gatekeeper smiled at him.
“Young man, when you make a difference in the future, remember to come back and visit.”
“Nn!”
Guo Wei looked for a long time, then finally turned his head and walked in the direction of the intersection.
……
The grandpa gatekeeper, who he had never paid attention to, said “later”.
“I sacrificed my own son!”
In his vague consciousness, Guo Laifu’s roar sounded extremely distant.
“Didn’t you say that sacrificing relatives is particularly effective?! Why don’t they look at me? Why don’t they look at me?!”
Guo Laifu raised his machete high and slashed at Guo Wei’s head as if to vent his anger.
‘I’m dying,’ Guo Wei thought in a daze. He was about to die.
A little reluctance, a lot of anger and resentment were engraved into his bones, and amidst the severe pain was boundless, deep fear.
In his hazy vision, his luggage and backpack fell not far away.
From that day on, he no longer had a “future”.
…But that was truly a good day that he could never forget.
The moment he stopped breathing, in the deepest part of boundless fear, he even had a trace of stupid expectation.
Just like at this moment.
“That person” infused him with more intense hatred and burning malice. That man told him that as long as he gave up this campus, the pain would bring him back to the world and tear Guo Laifu to pieces with his own hands.
“That person” told him that there would be some strange people visiting here. They would definitely enter his school and help him destroy everything. He didn’t need to work hard to do it himself.
“That person” said that this was a deal that wouldn’t fail, as long as they were forced to destroy the building.
But when the four visitors entered the campus, Guo Wei changed the cruel rules he had prepared.
Among the four was a thin girl who was wearing their school uniform. She was the same age as him, with anxiety and longing in her eyes.
Just like himself at the beginning.
[Please try to leave the school.]
Maybe, just maybe, instead of destroying this place, find a way to calm me down and allow me to let you leave.
[Please try to leave the school.]
…Help me.
The long-haired man was still floating in front of him. The other party’s long black hair was scattered, and his eyes were almost gentle.
“I understand.” Even though he didn’t say anything, the man showed him a smile and tapped his headset.
“Xiaohe Jie, we need your support.”
“It’s about to explode. You—”
“You asked us to rely on you more.” Yin Ren spoke confidently. “We won’t hide it from you this time.”
There was a brief silence.
“…Alright, I’ll listen first.” On the other end of the headset, Lu Xiaohe frowned.
It was half past one in the morning, and they still had about half an hour left. She didn’t believe those two could do anything wrong.
“Guo Wei’s contacts—Lei Xiurong, Li Xiaoya, and his three roommates. Give me the birth dates of these five people.”
“It’s very dangerous inside. Don’t involve irrelevant people!”
“I won’t get them involved. It’s just saying a few words. Their phantom is enough. The time is just right at this moment.”
Yin Ren stared at Guo Wei’s slashed face, and behind him, a faint glow radiated from the rooftop.
Just when he “dodged”, the traces left by Yin Ren gradually lit up, forming a magic array.
“It’s a fairly common technique to let the living and the dead communicate in ‘one consciousness’. A science post must have heard of it—”
For thousands of years, the name of this technique had never changed. Whether it was a street scammer or a real metaphysician, whether it was an ancient tome or modern weird talk, it could never be avoided. The basics of the basics.
“—to dream.”
Kinky Thoughts:
What a grisly chapter. Does Nian Zhong have a thing for tortured children? Why does every arc that involves children make me cry? Poor Guo Wei.
The phantoms on the ground were so distorted that members of Unit 9 didn’t dare risk walking on the ground.
Yin Ren was sandwiched between Zhong Chengshuo and Huang Jin like a sack, with Ge Tingting floating behind him. With all his teammates piled on him, Yin Ren flew slowly and carefully, almost forgetting to breathe.
The light green scotch tapes intertwined with each other, forming a cobweb-like structure, and the sticky side was facing the four of them. In the center of the spider’s web, there was a pile of volleyballs and basketballs that looked like entrenched eggs. They would twitch from time to time, tilting in the direction of the four of them.
Yin Ren’s long hair flew about, but none of it touched the “spider silk”.
As the procession on the ground marched onward, the aberrant phantoms continued to throw paper, stationery, or their own body parts. Their heads moved with the four people in the sky, and the sensation of being watched tingled their scalp.
Zhong Chengshuo raised his head and looked at Yin Ren’s face.
Yin Ren’s face was highly concentrated and focused. There was also a faint concern about the current situation. They didn’t know if it was through disdain or not, but he had never hesitated to express his subtle emotions.
After entering the Archive, Yin Ren’s emotion undoubtedly became more obvious.
It was very human-like.
If he didn’t care about the others’ lives or deaths, Yin Ren wouldn’t be so restrained.
It was a strange, evil thing. So far, Zhong Chengshuo could only see this person’s obsession with concealing his identity. As for other purposes, he couldn’t analyze them.
What the hell are you?
Yin Ren’s hair was still lying in the inner pocket of his chest, already warmed by his body heat. Separated by a layer of flesh and a pair of bones, Zhong Chengshuo’s heart was beating. Those hairs would move from time to time, as if looking for the warmest position.
Unlike the severed hair that he secretly stole, they were still connected to Yin Ren’s body and were full of activity. At this distance, as long as Yin Ren willed it, they could pierce his heart in an instant.
But they just turned over quietly and arched around gently, as if they were hiding from Zhong Chengshuo.
Zhong Chengshuo pressed Yin Ren’s arm, and across the black cloth, the other’s body heat was soaked in his hands.
“What’s wrong? Is it hurting you?” Yin Ren quickly lowered his head.
“No,” Zhong Chengshuo replied softly. “Let’s go to the main teaching building first—”
Boom boom.
The small campus trembled slightly.
Hundreds of dark red utility knives rose from the ground and tried to stab the people floating in the sky. The attack came without warning, causing Yin Ren to accelerate. Even with his quick reaction, Huang Jin’s backpack was almost sliced by the blade.
Huang Jin: “What is this…”
“Quiet!” Yin Ren shouted.
He didn’t use his hair to extend, but two hands grew from his shoulder blades and quickly made a fist. In less than two seconds, a horde of jet-black lightsabers suddenly appeared around them; the tips of their swords rushed at them in all directions.
The next moment, countless black rays of light lashed out.
Like sharks that smell blood, they rushed toward the sky with the utility knives. After the continuous collisions and blunt sounds, countless black and red debris exploded above the blue sky.
Among the broken utility knives, a breath of air spread out.
Debris fell like snowflakes, while hostility and hatred flowed like sewage.
The peculiar cold evil qi unique to ghosts continued to stir, and the campus’s bright colors dimmed a few degrees. The bright sunlight became colder, showing an abnormal blue color.
More than 30 hours after they arrived on campus, Yin Ren finally noticed a real ghost.
This ghost was strange. It came from all directions and smelled extremely strong, indicating that it was a powerful ghost. However, it was extremely thin and unstable, and was hidden among the chaos.
Yin Ren didn’t stop attacking. He hung in the air and rarely looked up from the ground. Those spare hands of his pierced through his long shirt and kept casting spells.
A burst of red mist rose from around Yin Ren, flying towards the ground, like pouring blood.
Huang Jing was dumbfounded.
This was a blood mist art that was used to detect minute amounts of evil qi. It was an extremely rare and quite ancient human technique. Some old spirit smiths would use it to identify top cursed spirit weapons.
However, people usually only use a wisp of green smoke from the tip of an incense, carefully protecting it. It was the first time he had seen someone use it like a flood bursting from a riverbank.
Huang Jing instinctively looked at Zhong Chengshuo.
In fact, since Zhong Chengshuo found out about his abilities, he had been guarding against him. Zhong Chengshuo’s body was constantly filled with complicated thoughts, making it impossible for him to decipher.
But even if this were King Yama, he would at least react when encountering this kind of battle, right?
Huang Jin’s guess was accurate. He got what he wanted and saw Zhong Chengshuo’s thoughts—a conspicuous “like”.
Huang Jin: “?”
What do you like? Those black lightsabers? The blood mist art? Or is it the thrill of hanging on by a thread?
His mind was about to be overwhelmed by vigilance and anxiety. He really couldn’t understand this strange “like” and “interesting”. Huang Jin resolutely looked away and looked at the ground again.
The red mist became black when it touched the ground. It rolled close to the ground and turned different shades of black, like a mixed pool of stale blood. The only parts that were bright red were near the main teaching building. It was clean and didn’t contain any evil qi.
The last bit of pure land on this crazy campus.
Yin Ren flew across the sky like a bird and rushed straight to the roof of the main teaching building. Seeing the blood mist on the ground becoming darker, Yin Ren clicked his tongue.
He stopped on the edge of the roof and looked down at the bizarre campus.
The library, the lab buildings, the dorms, the cafeteria… Under the carnival of phantoms, the contours of these buildings became blurred. Their regular windows became crisscrossed and filled with slimy internal organs. The scratches from bloody handprints covered the originally flat walls that were now gradually covered in cracks.
The distorted phantoms tried to follow them into the main teaching building but were unable to enter. Guo Laifu walked in circles around the building, which was now like an island surrounded by a group of sharks.
Many phantoms tried to climb into the exterior wall of the building, but once they reached the first floor, they slid down like oil.
Seeing that the road was impassable, compasses and basketballs formed into spider-like monsters and began to climb to the roof along the scotch tape, but before they were halfway up, they trembled violently and fell apart, descending into the ground with crackling sounds.
The main teaching building was filled with the noise of students reading. Even with the twisted heads stuck to the windows and the blood-stained uniforms swaying in the wind, the students were still attending class seriously.
The situation became a deadlock.
Boom.
Another tremor shook the campus, and the fog on the ground approached an inky hue. The air became sticky, and there was an extra sense of oppression. The feeling of the ghost became a bit more obvious, but it seemed to be separated by a thick film, as if what was going on had nothing to do with it.
“Go to Class 2-3.” Yin Ren quickly made a decision.
If there was anything special about the main teaching building—Class 2-3 was where Guo Wei was. This was Guo Wei’s biggest, clearest, and strongest memory.
“Shouldn’t we blow up the building?” Huang Jin’s voice sounded bitter. “It’s too difficult to try to escape!”
“No. Zhong Chengshuo’s judgment is correct. He has found the right direction of the ‘game’.”
Yin Ren dragged his three teammates quickly through the corridor.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t a game. I kind of understand what Guo Wei is thinking… Come with me.”
……
Outside of Class 2-3.
The phantoms couldn’t approach the high-rise building. Looking out from the window, there was still a clear blue sky. Guo Wei was looking at the window blankly, when his table suddenly shook, causing him to almost jump up in fright.
Lei Xiurong slapped some paper hard on the table. “You still can’t do it. Come to my office between classes.”
During the break, Guo Wei first ran to the bathroom.
As soon as he locked the door to the stall, his three roommates walked into the bathroom with a cheeky smile.
“Let’s share the money from last night,” one of them said. “Don’t buy braised vegetables or barbeque next week.”
“There’s nothing to eat with barbeque. Just a few bites of meat. It’s better to buy a roasted chicken. With this much, it’s enough. It’s believable if we say we can’t eat it,” another person said. “In any case, it’s better if Lao Si* eats a little more—just the way he’s gnawing on steamed buns every day makes me feel aggrieved when looking at him.”
*Kind of like a nickname calling Guo Wei Ol’ Four (as in the fourth of their group/roommate).
“Oh, that kid’s just too stubborn and won’t eat with us.” The third person sighed. “Just buy roasted chicken.”
“Would it be too obvious to leave him a drumstick? Isn’t that bullcrap?”
Yin Ren leaned in front of the bathroom sink. Outside the narrow window of the bathroom, the branches of the green trees shook gently.
When Guo Wei walked out of the stall, his eyes were slightly red. He smiled hard at Yin Ren and continued to bury his head as he washed his hands.
Boom boom.
Not far from the window, between the branches of the green tree, there was a huge hand belonging to a man. His index finger was pointing in the direction of Guo Wei as stale steamed buns and rancid leftovers bombarded it in turns. Broken bowls splintered on the walls, and their porcelain surface was stained with eye-catching blood stains.
They couldn’t touch the glass.
The hand shook angrily, and the faint ghostly feeling swayed with its movements.
……
“Teacher Lei, aren’t you being unethical? The number of subsidized places in your grade is really limited.” A faint conversation came from the office. “Guo Wei really doesn’t meet the subsidy conditions. His father is still in the field and has income…”
“Is his father still human?” Lei Xiurong’s voice was as sharp as usual. “Whether he raised him or not, the wife ran away, and the child is covered with scars. He didn’t give him a single penny and threw the kid into the village like a dog. Is this call ‘not eligible for subsidy’? If it weren’t for that brat thinking about working during the holiday to earn money, he would’ve moved up a class already.”
“But what you’re saying, the one in your class is also difficult.”
“Difficult my ass. He’s easy to fool. Isn’t it just someone’s relative? The sophomore quota is set. If he has any opinions, he can say them to my face. Let’s see if he has the ability to get me fired!”
Guo Wei knocked on the door, and the conversation inside abruptly stopped.
“Come in!” Lei Xiurong glanced at Guo Wei and yelled angrily, “Look at these characters you wrote. Are you not taking what I said seriously? You have self-study for your next class, right? Just copy them here. I won’t let you go back until you finish copying them correctly.”
“…Hey, why are you crying? Do you just cry when it’s just a few words?”
Guo Wei clutched the edge of the test paper. He tried to pretend to be calm, but his moist eyes couldn’t be hidden.
Zhong Chengshuo stood at the corner of the teacher’s office and watched all this quietly.
“Okay, don’t cry. Don’t you know how old you are? It’s quite embarrassing.” Lei Xiurong turned her head. “I’m going to class, so just stay here and do your work.”
She picked up her books and lesson plans. Just as she was about to step out, she added another sentence.
“There are dried sweet potatoes in the drawer, so make do with them. You look like a dead person,” she said sharply without looking back. “Don’t faint in my office.”
Guo Wei sniffled vigorously as he neatly copied the paper.
“Thank you, teacher,” after Lei Xiurong left, he said in a soft voice.
There was a group photo of her and her family on her desk. After Guo Wei finished copying the paper, he looked at it for a long time.
A huge blood-red eye was next to the office window. The dilated pupil rushed straight at Guo Wei. On the surface of its eyes, countless banknotes were folded into frogs that chirped frantically, and the coins gathered together like tadpoles, swimming unhappily.
However, the boy didn’t even look at it. He just stared at Lei Xiurong, who didn’t have as much gray hair in the photo.
……
After copying his paper, Guo Wei rushed to the classroom before self-study was over. When he turned the corner, he bumped into two girls holding papers.
One of them screamed, and the papers in her hand spilled all over the floor.
“Are you sick!” A girl with a vague face yelled angrily. “Don’t you even look where you’re going?”
“It’s okay, Qianqian. We didn’t look ahead either.” The face of the other girl was clear. She looked beautiful. It was Li Xiaoya, Guo Wei’s seatmate at the next table. “Guo Wei, you hurry back. Just now, Lao Chen was lecturing, and he asked where you were.”
“But these…”
“I’ll ask the janitor for help.” Li Xioaya hurriedly urged Huang Jin, who was not far away. “It won’t take long.”
She smiled at Guo Wei and gave him a thumbs up.
“Okay, I’m sorry.” Guo Wei’s ears and neck turned red, and he hesitated before wiping his eyes hard.
“We see each other every day. Why are you being so polite?” Li Xiaoya laughed.
Blood-soaked uniforms and blades crackled against the corridor windows, like midsummer rain. Bright red entrails slid down the window glass, leaving no traces behind.
Inside the building, it was another trivial and ordinary day, like a dream. The student Guo Wei wandered in his biggest, clearest, and strongest memory, continuing a life that no longer existed.
The pomegranates were in full bloom, the grass was green; these countless clear details in his memories on campus couldn’t leave even after his death.
To whom was that school rule that represented the will of the master addressing to?
Was it “can’t leave” or “unwilling to give up”?
……
“When a ghost is born, if no one intervenes, they will descend into madness and pure malice.”
Yin Ren leaned against the wall of the corridor, looking at the students and teachers coming and going.
“Guo Wei, this kid… His attachment to the past is too deep, but his negative emotions aren’t heavy enough.”
“But he doesn’t want to be stuck here forever.” Zhong Chengshuo replied smoothly. “So he wants to use us to abandon these memories and officially become a ghost?”
“Maybe.” Yin Ren looked at the vision outside the window again without giving a solid response.
The more distorted the campus, the stronger the ghostly presence became. Once this campus was destroyed, the deepest memory of the child’s heart would be overwhelmed by blood and madness…
Guo Wei would be born as a true ghost.
The consciousness that was parasitic on the consciousness of others may not be so different from a parasite that latched on to others. He had been “nurtured” by Guo Laifu’s spirit, but he hadn’t been born yet.
They were literally in a “ghost fetus”, which was unprecedented.
“No matter what idea Guo Wei has, the game is still on.”
Zhong Chengshuo wiped his glasses and hummed.
“There’s Fu Xingchuan’s support outside. Since Guo Wei wants to become a ghost, let’s just push that boat along the water.”
“Indeed.” Huang Jin’s spirit was strong. “It’s like an egg here. Those things outside can drill into the seams. If we catch the moment it collapses… Well, we should be able to escape.”
After in-depth exchanges, Fu Xingchuan agreed with the opinions of the two.
“What a pity.” Facing the twisted ghost fetus, Minister Fu sighed. “If you guys weren’t inside, this would have been a wonderful research opportunity.”
“The ghost is quite manageable. You guys grab the right moment and destroy the key memories. While he’s confused, we’ll help you break out from our side. Bao Linlin, Wang Zhou, I’ll set up the magic array. You two record the data.”
“Yes!”
“Also, in order to ensure there won’t be any mistakes in the array, it’ll take me at least until 2 in the morning to finish. You still have three chances, right? Stabilize Guo Wei and protect yourself. Even if your memory is sealed, as long as you come out, there are ways to restore it.”
Huang Jin took a deep breath. His frown had finally relaxed a little.
So far, it sounded like they just needed to hide. When it became midnight, he would shoot himself in the head, and the remaining two shouldn’t have any problems.
They would finally be able to leave this shithole. Huang Jin closed his eyes and relaxed for a bit, then looked at the two powerful men.
Zhong Chengshuo took out a pen and paper. Using the windowsill as a table, he was steadily recording something. Yin Ren kept looking at the chaos outside the window, but there was no relief between his brows.
Yin Ren stretched out his hand and touched the wall of the main teaching building.
Thousands of years ago, he had come into contact with too many ghosts. Guo Wei was far from that desperate point.
The tiles on the walls were smooth and clean. There was not a single speck of dust in the corridor. Besides them, there was a clear sound of lecturing coming from Class 2-3 of the high school. Hope and longing were hidden in every corner of this memory, shining with clean light.
On the day of his death, Guo Wei was picked up from school by Guo Laifu and was mutilated by his biological father in a sober state. Despite such an impact, he still failed to become a ghost.
Would such a person really suddenly change his mind in half a year?
Yin Ren walked to the back door and looked inside the classroom. Guo Wei’s classmate sitting behind him was poking his back with a smile while whispering something. Student Guo Wei straightened his back and waved his hands helplessly at him as he continued to listen attentively.
Fu Xingchuan’s decision was indeed the safest, but…
Yin Ren left the back door and silently looked at the ground.
Just as he was lost in his thoughts, Zhong Chengshuo also looked back with interest. Yin Ren’s hair froze on his chest, quite depressed.
Zhong Chengshuo closed his notebook with a snap. “The game isn’t over yet.”
His voice was neither high nor low, and he wasn’t sure who Zhong Chengshuo was speaking to.
That night.
The main teaching building was locked as their group flew to the roof.
Time was approaching midnight, but the monsters on the ground didn’t disappear. It was a carnival on campus as the rest of the buildings became shadowy in the night, as if separated by a layer of fog. There were still dense crowds of monsters outside the barrier, and some of them even managed to squeeze half their bodies in.
The vestibule of the campus was full of entrails that nearly flooded the first floor. The sharp blades, which were higher than a flagpole, went up and down, constantly poking at the internal organs. The sky turned into Guo Laifu’s face, and they could almost smell his rancid breath. A thick ghostly presence rampaged in the night wind, giving rise to uneasiness.
The members of Unit 9 were waiting on the roof of the main teaching building, ready to usher in the second and final wave of elimination.
The windows on the second and third floors of the school were covered with spirit bombs, just waiting for Fu Xingchuan to complete his preparations. If the destructive power wasn’t enough, Yin Ren could supplement it with his spells.
It was 11:35 p.m.
“We have followed Guo Wei’s wishes, so he won’t make things difficult for us.” Knowing that he was about to be shot, Huang Jin was expressionless. “I’ll leave it up to you two.”
“Don’t be nervous,” Lu Xiaohe said through the headset. “Many ghosts can play with memories. Even if it doesn’t go well, we have a way.”
“I’m not—”
Before Huang Jin finished speaking, he suddenly choked.
Just like when he was attacked by the xanthium, Huang Jin’s pupils began to dilate, and his forehead was covered in sweat. His breathing was abnormally short, and his brows immediately furrowed. Yin Ren made a quick decision, and his sleeping technique was activated. Huang Jin was instantly wrapped into another cocoon.
A headless and tailless red rope fell from Huang Jin’s feet.
…It was exuding a weak Evil Force that was almost nonexistent and was tightly hidden by the ghostly presence.
Huang Jin fell just before midnight. At midnight, only Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were standing on the rooftop.
The staticky radio sounded.
“Welcome to Qingjiang No. 16 High School. Welcome to the last day of my life.”
There was a vicious smile in Guo Wei’s voice on the radio.
“You have not successfully left the school. Teachers and family members, please choose someone to exclude from the quota.”
The call was short-lived and ended with Mu Zhuo smashing the phone.
No matter who Mu Zhuo called, it was obvious the person on the other line was vigilant and didn’t give Mu Zhuo a chance to say much.
Naturally, they knew that the person on the other end of the phone could only be Li Jingtian.
Verifying this was also simple. Wang Chao quickly checked the call history and nodded at them.
Xing Conglian put down his headphones and said to him, “Consultant Lin, the current situation is a bit ridiculous. We have confirmed the criminal facts of Li Jingtian and Mu Zhuo, but there’s no evidence to convict them. Tell me, what do you think we should do?”
Lin Chen turned his head and looked at the banner on a booth from a distance. The two cartoons embracing each other seemed to be laughing mockingly at him. He turned his head and asked Xing Conglian, “How many years can I be sentenced for a false accusation?”
“Those who cause serious consequences shall be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but no more than ten years,” Xing Conglian replied.
“It seems a bit too light.”
“Indeed.” Xing Conglian paused, then asked, “Does Consultant Lin have any ideas?”
“Just as Captain Xing said, let’s crucify Li Jingtian.”
After he finished speaking, Lu Xu ran over angrily from the other end of the lawn and shouted before he reached them, “Mr. Police Officer, you must teach that little bitch Mu Zhuo a good lesson. It’s best to lock him up for eight to ten years, so that those guys in prison can make his grass bloom!”
Lin Chen rarely agreed with this kind of thing, but, although he frowned at Lu Xu’s request, in a rare moment, he nodded.
If they wanted to convict Li Jingtian and Mu Zhuo, they couldn’t rely on passion or hatred. Lin Chen began to analyze the information revealed in Mu Zhuo’s call. Although the conversation between Mu Zhuo and Li Jingtian was disgusting, this was almost the most important clue they had obtained in the investigation so far.
First, there was no doubt that Song Shengsheng was wrongly imprisoned.
Second, there was no doubt Li Jingtian did rape and treat Xu Ran inhumanely when he was soliciting for a prostitute.
Most importantly, their luck was good. In the phone call, Mu Zhuo revealed that there may actually be critical evidence.
But they didn’t know what key evidence could make Mu Zhuo so terrified.
Lin Chen looked at the time on Wang Chao’s laptop. Before he knew it, he and Xing Conglian had been frequently paying attention to the time. This was a normal reaction that people would make under the pressure of a time limit, just as Mu Zhuo chose to call and question Li Jingtian under pressure.
The pressure he exerted on Mu Zhuo was about Song Shengsheng, so what Mu Zhuo was worried about could only be evidence from that case. But if Song Shengsheng’s case was an injustice due to a false accusation, why was Mu Zhuo worried about the evidence being revealed? The unjust case was nothing more than perjury, so what exactly was it?
As Lin Chen thought about it, he found that there were more people around him. He looked at Lu Xu, who was naturally sitting next to them, and then at Xing Conglian.
Xing Conglian understood and said to Lu Xu, “Doesn’t Manager Lu have to go back to work?”
Lu Xu coughed dryly, and his face flushed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. This is my presumptuousness. Since the police are handling the case, I, as an outsider, shouldn’t be here, right?”
Lu Xu slapped himself lightly, and his eyes began to wander again, and his face became bitter. “Captain Xing, I want to go back, but you see, I have already offended the company’s cash cow in order to solve the case. What’s there to go back to?”
“Then resign. With Mr. Lu’s ability, you will certainly be able to find another job,” Xing Conglian said.
“Ha, it’s not as simple as that. You don’t know how powerful Royal One and CA are. If I go back like this, I might just be sunk directly,” Lu Xu continued to plead.
“What does Mr. Lu want?” Xing Conglian asked with a smile. “Have me collect your body or take care of your family?”
“Captain Xing, don’t joke.”
Suddenly, Xing Conglian said in a serious tone, “Lu Xu, I don’t have time to play games with you. Since you know very well that you only have two paths, stop talking nonsense and tell me whether you want to go back to die or continue to cooperate with the police.”
“Of course it’s to cooperate with the police!” Lu Xu almost kowtowed to Xing Conglian.
“Then explain clearly the inside story of CA Entertainment and Royal One and strive to be a tainted witness*.”
*In which a criminal admits guilt and testify as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.
“This… I’m just a little minion, but I’ll tell you everything I know!”
“Lu Xu, this is meaningless. Is it really because you’re a pimp that you can sit in a high position at CA Entertainment?” Xing Conglian asked sharply.
Lu Xu’s face suddenly paled. In fact, Xing Conglian never gave him a chance to choose from the very start.
“I took a look at your file. Before you organized a prostitution ring, you were in jail for robbery. You stole a backpack and broke the other party’s camera. If I’m not mistaken, the target of your robbery should be a certain reporter. He gathered some evidence that wasn’t conducive to an artist of CA. As Lu Xu, you have been responsible for dealing with some shady things for CA, right?” Xing Conglian said casually, “So, Mr. Lu, have you ever committed murder?”
Lu Xu was already sweating profusely. Even before Xing Conglian pressed him outside the window, he was still glib after recovering. Now, he couldn’t say a word.
The current scene was like a hunter who had cast his net and, after catching his prey, dragged the net a long distance before finally pointing a gun at the head of the prey. This would catch people off guard, not allowing them to give birth to any idea of resistance.
“You… What do you want?” Finally, Lu Xu asked.
Xing Conglian lit a cigarette and handed it over. “Give me some clues. Mr. Lu, help us nail Li Jingtian. If he doesn’t go to prison, believe me, you will have a very hard time.”
“I… I said I can commit perjury, but you don’t want it…”
“Look, Lu Xu. The biggest difference between people like us and people like Li Jingtian, Mu Zhuo, and even you is that we still have something to fear. You don’t believe there’s a god three feet above your head, but I do, so I don’t dare do unseemly things.”
Lu Xu had lowered his head so low that Lin Chen no longer could see his expression. However, Lin Chen thought that people like Lu Xu probably wouldn’t wake up because of Xing Conglian’s words. He was at most thinking about whether it would be worthwhile to cooperate with Xing Conglian.
But as the unhurried hunter said, Lu Xu actually had no chance to choose.
“You want evidence of Li Jingtian’s rape of Xu Ran, but I really don’t have any. All I can say is that Royal One and CA Entertainment are scarier than you can imagine.” Lu Xu still kept his head lowered. In a rare instance, his voice was actually calm and stern. “But I just heard Officer Lin mention Song Shengsheng. In fact, you’re too late. If you found me nine years ago, maybe you can really recover something. But now, it’s really too late.”
“Tell me, what the hell is going on.”
Lu Xu picked up the cigarette handed to him by Xing Conglian, took a deep puff, and slowly revealed a corner of this monstrous conspiracy.
As Xing Conglian said, nine years ago, Lu Xu was a small-time “fixer” of CA Entertainment. The most he usually did was either discipline disobedient trainees, or attack reporters who target artists under CA Entertainment by putting a dead mouse at their front door*.
*Term used basically means threatening them.
Regarding the real inside story in Song Shengsheng’s case, grunts like him wouldn’t know any details at all. However, at the time, news of Song Shengsheng’s rape case was overwhelming. As a fixer, he felt something odd about the company’s policies. The situation would be different if CA was trying to protect Li Jingtian, but at the time, CA directly gave up the opportunity to control public opinion for Song Shengsheng. They didn’t even get a lawyer for Song Shengsheng and instead promoted Mu Zhuo’s image as a strong and unyielding idol singer.
Looking at the company’s attitude, it seemed they were throwing Song Shengsheng away, like useless garbage. From the incident to the actual sentence, Song Shengsheng never once had the opportunity to defend himself in front of the media.
After disclosing his thoughts on the matter, Lu Xu extinguished the cigarette butt on the lawn. Lin Chen knew that the highlight was coming.
“Then what?” Xing Conglian asked.
“About a week after the crime, the company sent us to go to the crime scene again,” Lu Xu said.
“Sent you guys to do what?”
“I don’t know…” Lu Xu took a deep breath. “At that time, I was mainly responsible for being the lookout. It wasn’t me who did the job.”
“So, were you trying to erase evidence or trying to find something?” Lin Chen asked.
Lu Xu shook his head again. “I really don’t know.”
“Who was the person who did the job?” Xing Conglian asked decisively.
“Lao Quezi, my brother. He’s dead.”
Hearing that the key witness was dead, Xing Conglian didn’t show any frustration. He asked, “Did your brother say anything or take anything when he came out of the crime scene?”
Lu Xu looked at the sky and narrowed his eyes, as if he was trying to recall something.
“My brother brought a big bag at the time. When he came out, the bag was stuffed. It really seemed to contain a lot of things, but he didn’t show it to me.”
“Can you tell what’s in it?”
Lu Xu continued to shake his head. His expression didn’t seem fake.
“All right.” Xing Conglian stood up from the ground. “Then let’s go, Mr. Lu?”
“Xing… Captain Xing…” Lu Xu was at a loss. “Where are we going?”
“Of course, to the crime scene nine years ago.”
……
After listening to Lu Xu’s recount, when they got back in the car, Lin Chen recalled how he felt when he learned that Song Shengsheng was accused of sexually assaulting Mu Zhuo.
His emotions didn’t seem to fluctuate. For onlookers like him, major news happened every day, and sexual assault was just one of them. Compared to other things, Song Shengsheng’s case wasn’t even that important.
But even though the case wasn’t important, news about Song Shengsheng was everywhere at that time. Even those around him who didn’t like to gossip would talk about the progress of Song Shengsheng’s case in their spare time.
Some people with a strong sense of justice would angrily scold Song Shengsheng, calling him a beast and wishing to tear him apart, whereas idlers with a weak sense of justice would talk about the recent explosion, wondering what positions Song Shengsheng held Mu Zhuo in during the assault.
Lin Chen thought the voices of those conversations, discussions, and anger were already detached from him. He thought he should have forgotten what happened at that time, but as they got closer to the truth behind Song Shengsheng’s case, those voices suddenly became clear.
Every sentence was crystal clear.
He even clearly remembered what he himself said: “This rape case is pretty standard, but the social effects caused by it are very interesting.”
Thinking about it now, he was actually no different from every onlooker. They all watched the show and thought they were outsiders. This matter was none of their business, so they could evaluate it arbitrarily without fear.
Being fearless was the scariest thing.
In Song Shengsheng’s case, the only ones who felt heartbroken were probably his fans, and Xu Ran was one of those countless heartbroken fans.
In the materials compiled by Wang Chao, Lin Chen also saw that Song Shengsheng’s fan forum was still in operation, and some people would even check it every day, looking forward to the day when their idol would be released after serving his sentence.
Of course, some of those people, like Xu Ran, hoped their idol would be able to seek justice one day. Though originally this was a hopeless prayer, one day, it became possible due to a series of accidental coincidences.
Lin Chen thought that not everything in the world made sense and that not every thought would have an echo, but it was still good to have faith.
Thinking of the bed full of photos that Xu Ran kept until the end and Song Shengsheng’s unrestrained and indulgent smile, Lin Chen suddenly realized he had read so much information about Song Shengsheng, but he didn’t know where this person was now, so he asked, “How is Song Shengsheng doing now?”
The teenager, who was sitting in the backseat chewing on fruit candy, answered his question. “Song Shengsheng’s sentence got commuted last year, and he was released from prison…”
“Then?”
“Then I don’t know where he is.” Wang Chao shook his head. He typed down a line of text and then turned the screen around. “It’s very strange. There are no records of Song Shengsheng since he left prison. There’s no rental history, taxes haven’t been paid, and there’s been no movement on his bank card. It may be because he feels ashamed of being discovered by others, so he’s choosing to lay low.”
On the screen was a photo of Song Shengsheng, taken when he was released from prison. Looking at that photo, a strange familiar feeling flashed in Lin Chen’s heart.
Compared to the rocker youth who was number one in the world a few years ago, Song Shengsheng, who spent eight years in prison, had no semblance of what he looked like back then. He was as skinny as wood, his face was yellow, and his muscles were thin. The light in his eyes had been extinguished, just like that of a dying old man whose flame would go out from a gust of wind.
Recalling what Wang Chao told him, Lin Chen suspected that this person may no longer be in this world.
But in any case, he hoped he could hold on for another six hours.
……
Lu Xu’s car stopped at the entrance of the high-end residential area and the scene of the sexual assault case: Song Shengsheng’s home.
According to Wang Chao, Song Shengsheng’s parents died, and his property remained in his name and had never changed ownership. In other words, although nine years had passed, the crime scene was likely to remain the same as it was after Lu Xu’s brother’s raid.
Unless, Song Shengsheng came back here after he was released from prison.
Xing Conglian took measures to pick the lock. Lin Chen opened the door with some small hope. Sure enough, not all hopes came true. Song Shengsheng had indeed never returned.
After the door of the room opened, there was a stale and decaying smell. The air was dirty and musty.
Song Shengsheng’s home was covered in dust. Every time he stepped, it seemed to splash dust and smoke, making it difficult to breathe.
As soon as Wang Chao entered the door, he couldn’t help but rush to the window and open it as wide as it could go. The sunlight outside suddenly penetrated the house, basking the entire living room in a layer of bright light.
Facing the oncoming light, Lin Chen walked to the window and looked around the living room.
The living environment best reflected a person’s personality.
Despite the furnishings in Song Shengsheng’s home being searched by the police—the utensils were crumbling, the furniture was in disarray, and there were fluorescent labels on the walls and ground, which were probably reminders to collect fingerprints and footprints—after these traces were wiped away, Song Shengsheng’s home wasn’t as messy as it seemed on the surface.
This didn’t look like a home that belonged to a rocker.
The floor was the color of wood, and there weren’t many dark decorations or ironwork in the living room. There wasn’t any graffiti on the walls, and the furnishings were soft and low-key. There was a guitar in the corner and thick stacks of DVDs next to the TV. Lin Chen walked over, ignoring the fact the DVDs were scattered all over the floor, and took a rough look at the DVDs, finding that most of them were cartoons or science fiction movies. Song Shengsheng was probably a person who didn’t have many requirements in life.
For example, he would choose to use the photo wall as a background decoration for the sofa rather than an exotic painting that fringe artists like or how his DVDs were stacked randomly. Lin Chen didn’t find any TV cabinet, or a storage case dedicated to storing them.
Looking at everything in front of him, Lin Chen could imagine how Song Shengsheng casually took off his coat after returning home, went to the refrigerator with bare feet to get a bottle of beer, and then sat in front of the TV and casually flipped through cartoons.
He didn’t care too much about the stigma of watching cartoons as an adult. He was willing to watch the things he liked dozens of times and never grow bored of them.
Lin Chen took out a DVD that looked quite old from the box and turned the disc over. There were many deep and shallow scratches on the back of it.
This seemed to be a film that Song Shengsheng loved.
He didn’t hear the conversation between Otowa and Fujikawa. The reason he stopped was because he found himself in a mirrored space. With every step he took, he would enter a new mirrored space. These spaces were covered one by one and were endless. He would eventually be trapped in the deepest part of the space and could no longer break free of the enchantment.
“Li Ying, where are you?” he asked.
“I’m here!” Each of Li Ying’s mirror images replied, with countless identical voices stacked on each other, just like many people speaking at the same time.
Each Li Ying wasn’t far from Long Shen, but Long Shen could never reach them. The distance between the space didn’t look far to the naked eye, but in actuality it was infinitely far away, just like the stars seen by people on earth seemed to be the same distance as the sun and moon, but in fact they were hundreds of millions of light years away.
“Where’s Ding Lan?” Long Shen asked.
He had already asked this question before and now he asked it again.
“Ding Ge is dead!”
“Dead!”
“Dead!”
Countless voices sounded again. Long Shen quickly turned around. His sharp gaze swept across dozens and hundreds of “Li Ying”, as if to observe their expressions and discern authenticity from them.
On the other side of the mirror, Otowa seemed to see through his intentions and couldn’t help smiling.
“Director Long, do you think you’re a god? Can you really tell the difference between so many Li Ying? What if they’re all fake?”
“Then I’ll kill,” Long Shen replied coldly. The sword light in his hand suddenly brightened as it divided into several directions and flew towards each mirror image. Its target was directly at all the Li Yings!
Wherever the sword light went, the mirror images would shatter one after another. Fragments fell all around him. After it fragmented, everything seemed to return to reality, but Li Ying disappeared and was replaced by Wu Bingtian.
The other party was struggling forward in a sea of blood and skeletons. He was using a whip to knock away the surging monsters, but those monsters would resurrect once they fell into the sea of blood. They seemed to be unkillable. Wu Bingtian’s face was pale, and there were already many wounds on his body. His neck had been scratched by monsters, and blood was slowly oozing out.
Though Wu Bingtian aimed for higher prestige, it didn’t mean he only knew how to flatter others. All officials below the Director of the Special Administration Bureau earned their positions through real skills and experience. If Wu Bingtian only knew how to suck up to his superiors all day long, even if he had the status of a master of Mount Maoshen, he wouldn’t be able to gain the support of others. His ability was demonstrated by his appointment as a deputy director alongside Long Shen and Song Zhicun.
As for how strong he was, newcomers like Dong Zhi may not know much, but Long Shen once explored the remains of a shipwreck under the Yangtze River with him. At that time, Wu Bingtian was able to hold his breath and stay underwater for nearly an hour without any diving equipment and even defeat a water demon. But now, this strong Wu Bingtian was trapped in a sea of blood. His hands and feet were entangled with demonic qi, showing a desperate situation where he had almost exhausted all his strength and was unable to move. He was facing a life-threatening crisis before his eyes as countless demonic qi rushed towards him.
When he turned his head and saw Long Shen, he couldn’t help being overjoyed and urgently cried out, “Help me, Long Shen!”
Long Shen stared at him.
Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Wu Bingtian became shocked and angry. “Long Shen, help me!”
Long Shen finally moved. The sword of light shot out from his hand and straight into Wu Bingtian.
Wu Bingtian watched in shock as the sword light got closer and closer, until it finally overwhelmed him with its light.
The light covered the sea of blood, causing the demonic qi to wail as it disappeared. Even Wu Bingtian vanished as well into the white light.
Otowa said in surprise, “Director Long, I didn’t think your heart would be so cruel that you could kill your own companions. Sure enough, you don’t have such cumbersome and useless feelings like ordinary people, right?”
Long Shen didn’t answer. He stood quietly, waiting for the white light to spread out and swallow up the sea of blood.
Otowa didn’t care if he answered or not and continued to ask, “Director Long, I also have a spirit weapon, which was transformed from the Gold and Silver Pingwen Zither. However, he actually fell in love with the enemy and, in the end, didn’t hesitate to destroy himself. Shouldn’t all artifacts be as cold-blooded and ruthless as you?”
On the edge of the burning white light, the sea of blood disappeared little by little, and then another scene beneath it was revealed.
An isolated island surrounded by the sea.
The trees were all tall and gloomy, and the bottoms of them were covered with moss.
Someone came flying from a distance. The figure was blurry and small, but Long Shen recognized it at a glance. It was Dong Zhi.
Dong Zhi was running fast. It was obvious something was chasing him from behind.
He was holding his Changshou Sword, and his face was stained with blood. Perhaps he had just escaped from a fierce battle.
“Master!” When the other party saw Long Shen from a distance, after a moment of surprise, he ran towards him.
There was a familiar light in the delicate eyes. Even if he didn’t look at them, Long Shen could still picture those eyes smiling in his mind; they were curved and the eyebrows were softened.
Long Shen liked seeing those smiling eyes, as if they could illuminate the world and be carefree.
However, it didn’t mean he was heartless or blindly optimistic. Dong Zhi just treated life with an optimistic attitude, including the people and events in his life. He was like a small sun. Although he was consciously ordinary, he always radiated warmth.
Warming others, warming Long Shen.
“Master!”
At the moment Long Shen blinked, Dong Zhi let out a scream.
A huge figure descended from the sky, pressing Dong Zhi to the ground.
It was a monster with eagle wings and claws. It had the body and face of a woman. Its long hair covered half of its face, but it was as wild and rough as withered grass. The long claws of the monsters pierced into Dong Zhi’s shoulders. Blood splashed out suddenly, and even a few drops splashed on Long Shen’s face, leaving a sweet and warm feeling on his skin.
“Master!”
As Dong Zhi fell to the ground in exhaustion, he dropped the Changshou Sword. He raised his slender neck sadly, not understanding why his master, who was nearby, didn’t help and just kept watching him being eaten alive by a monster.
Long Shen looked into Dong Zhi’s shocked eyes, and the expression in his previous memory had changed to disbelief at this moment. The other party even stretched out his wounded hand, as if he wanted to grab onto his clothes.
“Master…”
Long Shen felt a tug in his heart. Before he realized it, his hand had already stretched out.
But at this moment, a sudden change occurred, and all the sorrow in Dong Zhi’s eyes suddenly turned into a weird smile. The other party took advantage of the situation and grabbed Long Shen’s hand and dragged it in his direction!
Long Shen wanted to break free, but he couldn’t. The surrounding scenery changed again!
Otowa laughed. “It turns out that Director Long’s weakness is his apprentice!”
Following his voice, a white mist surged from an unknown place. Black monsters moved with the mist, shuttling around it as they whistled and howled endlessly.
Long Shen’s fingers moved slightly. His entire body was suddenly covered by sword light, isolating all the demonic qi. However, the demonic qi surged and quickly gathered, suppressing the sword light. The sword light was suffocating, struggling in a difficult battle with the demonic qi; the two sides were in a deadlock.
Fujikawa couldn’t help but say, “Lord Otowa, do you need me to take this opportunity to take him out?”
Otowa said lightly, “The demonic qi can’t harm him for the time being.”
Fujikawa was surprised.
From his viewpoint, Long Shen had broken through the mirror trap just now and immediately got caught in another one. Now that he had lost his opportunity, it would be difficult for Long Shen to win.
But just as Otowa’s voice fell, the sword light around Long Shen suddenly exploded!
The extreme light was dazzling, and even the reflection from the mirror was blinding. Fujikawa subconsciously tilted his head and raised his hand to cover his eyes.
“Huh?” Even Otowa couldn’t help uttering a meaningless cry, seemingly confused.
Long Shen’s voice came from the mirror.
“So you’re here.”
His tone was slow, as if he was pausing after every word. The volume of his voice wasn’t loud, but Otowa’s face changed slightly.
Fujikawa turned his head and saw the mirror was slowly cracking.
“Lord Otowa!” He couldn’t help shouting.
With a crack, the mirror completely shattered!
Otowa was originally sitting cross-legged, but he straightened his body, showing an unusual loss of composure.
“He found our location!” Fujikawa looked pale. He didn’t expect this ancient mirror to be vulnerable.
“No, he didn’t.”
Otowa calmed down, but his face was still a little gloomy. “He’s using spiritual speech.”
Fujikawa was startled.
The art of spiritual speech, as the name suggested, was a technique that attached to syllables and the attack is achieved through language.
This kind of technique had been shown in many works in Japan, but in fact, there were few people who could be proficient in it. It was rumored that this was something taught by the Great Amaterasu. Until now, as far as Fujikawa was aware, almost no one in Japan could master it. Even if they dabbled slightly, they could only use a few syllables at most.
But Long Shen’s spiritual speech skills had reached the state of “beyond practice*”.
*(言出必践) It’s an idiom referring to “words must be followed by actions” or “promises must be kept”. It’s often used to describe someone who always follows through on their words. || In this context, it has a double meaning. First, referring to that Long Shen has practiced spiritual speech to the point of mastery, and second, in the literal sense that his words are used as an attack.
The most important thing was that the mirror was broken, and they didn’t have a way to detect Long Shen’s movements.
Seeing Otowa’s gloomy expression, Fujikawa took a deep breath. He thought about this in his heart, but he didn’t dare say it.
On Wu Bingtian’s side, he wasn’t as miserable as the illusion Long Shen saw in the mirror, but his situation couldn’t be considered all that great either.
He was trapped in an enchantment of a sea of blood and skeletons, fighting against many monsters. His dragon bone whip was wrapped around the neck of a monster. With a tug and twist, the monster wailed and scattered, but immediately, more demons swept in from all directions, like an endless tide. Looking around, all he could see was blood red, an ocean of dead bones and blood, and countless demonic qi that covered the sky and turned dark clouds into blood clouds.
No matter how powerful Wu Bingtian was, in the end, he was just one person. There would come a point where he would be exhausted. Now that Otowa had turned into a demon, his demonic qi would naturally flow continuously and inexhaustibly. Unless Wu Bingtian could find the key to breaking the enchantment, he could be trapped here forever and be exhausted to death.
While his hand was holding the whip and his steps were still steady, on careful observation, his breathing was slightly faster than before.
There were two ancient mirrors in front of Otowa. Although Long Shen’s side was broken, there was still Wu Bingtian’s side.
As soon as Wu Bingtian’s breath changed, Otowa immediately looked over.
“It seems that Director Wu is still slightly inferior to Director Long.”
His voice overlapped and spread into the enchantment where Wu Bingtian was.
The words were like edicts, instantly turning into demonic voices and causing countless waves of demonic qi to surge. The sneaky Yaksha and skeleton soldiers transformed by the demonic qi rose from the sea of blood and attacked Wu Bingtian like an army. One wave fell and another surged up. Wu Bingtian stood alone in the same spot, unable to move. If any of the demonic qi got to him, it would corrupt his sanity and cause him to fall into defeat.
Hearing Otowa’s words, Wu Bingtian sneered. “If you have the ability, come and try it!”
Naturally, Otowa wouldn’t fall for such provocation. He was just happy to watch Wu Bingtian, trapped like a beast, struggling to deal with those monsters that couldn’t be killed. Compared to the calm on Long Shen’s side, it was much more interesting watching Wu Bingtian’s side.
Fujikawa Aoi whispered, “Your Excellency, there’s another person among the first group of people who came that hasn’t been found.”
Otowa said lightly, “Don’t worry about him. At most, he’s just hiding somewhere. When Long Shen and Wu Bingtian are about to die, he’ll naturally jump out to help and we’ll clean them all up at the same time.”
Fujikawa Aoi responded respectfully, lowering his head slightly, “Then Kitaichi…”
Otowa glanced at him. “Are you sure you want to restore your female disciple?”
Fujikawa lowered his body and prostrated. “Kitaichi was raised by me since she was a child. She’s no different from my daughter. She’s talented and intelligent. If she can be properly trained, she will definitely be the number one onmyoji in Japan in the future. I hate that she has been injured by the Chinese and is now bedridden. Please, for the sake of my loyal service to you, save her life!”
Otowa: “There’s only one way for me to save her, and that is to infuse her with demonic qi, turning her into a half-demon.”
Fujikawa trembled slightly and was silent for a long time. Still, resolute with his original intention, he said, “As long as she can wake up and regain her sanity, I will not hesitate.”
Otowa suddenly showed a weird smile, but the smile was fleeting. Fujikawa had his head lowered and didn’t notice it.
“Okay then, take this box to her. As long as she absorbs the magic qi inside, those old wounds will soon heal.”
Fujikawa was overjoyed. “Thank you, Your Excellency. I can’t thank you enough!”
With Otowa’s permission, he couldn’t wait to get up and leave. He walked out on crutches, passed through the corridor, came to an inconspicuous hut, and pushed the door in.
Kitaichi Eiko, the talented girl who made a stunning appearance on Changbai Mountain but was eventually seriously injured when she returned, was lying quietly inside. She seemed to be asleep, and her life was uncertain.
Since returning to Japan, Kitaichi, who had been severely injured, had been coughing up blood from time to time. Even her two shikigamis failed and dissipated. Not to mention her abilities as an onmyoji, she had difficulties just getting up and walking. Fujikawa tried his best but was helpless. Later, he went to Yinchuan to destroy the stone tablet in order to ask Otowa to save Kitaichi, but he didn’t expect that even he would almost die there in the end.
He wanted to save this disciple with all his heart, not only because of the bond between a father and daughter, but also because Kitaichi was the best of all his disciples. If there was no accident, Kitaichi would inherit his legacy and carry it on. This meant that his legacy would not decline and the name Fujikawa would be passed down forever.
Fujikawa knew very well that he himself was already the lingering sun after autumn*. His other disciples had fought against the Special Administration Bureau, and they were either dead or injured. Their talents and abilities weren’t as good as Kitaichi’s, so the only hope for his legacy lay solely with this female disciple.
*(秋后残阳) Metaphor referring to the end of something. || In this context, it means he knows his peak is almost over and someone else has to take over.
After getting the box from Otowa, Fujikawa was excited. He carried it in his arms all the way to Kitaichi.
He pushed the boy serving the decoction away and carefully took out the box. He put the box under Kitaichi’s nose according to Otowa’s instructions and then opened it.
Black air diffused out of the box, soon following Kitaichi’s breathing and jumping into her nasal cavity.
Otowa was now a demon. Fujikawa witnessed such power with his own eyes. Even Long Shen, who he couldn’t beat before, was trapped in an enchantment, unable to move an inch. If Kitaichi became a real demon, her strength was bound to become stronger than before, and the status of the Fujikawa school would continue to be stable as a rock.
Fujikawa stared at Kitaichi nervously, feeling a hint of anticipation.
When all the magic qi was absorbed by the girl, the black qi slowly flowed through her entire body along the veins on the surface of her skin. Her once fair complexion turned greenish-black at a visible speed, and the black qi slowly flowed under her skin, being absorbed by her body. Her skin gradually regained its fair complexion and was even whiter than before.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and the girl finally opened her eyes.
“Eiko!” Fujikawa couldn’t help but cry out. He looked at his proud disciple expectantly. “How do you feel?”
The girl looked dazed and struggled to get up from the couch.
“…Master?”
Fujikawa: “It’s me. Are you uncomfortable? Do you feel the strength in your body has further increased?”
Kitaichi looked down at her palms. It was soft and white, with delicate fingers. Everything seemed to be the same as before she fell ill, but it also seemed to change a lot.
Her body no longer felt sore and weak, her internal organs and limbs no longer ached, and there was a surging power in her body. These forces were all gathered in one place, all of which were sending her a message.
“I’m hungry.”
Fujikawa was taken aback.
“I’ll let someone make you something to eat. You can take a good rest.”
After all, he was a little softhearted. He didn’t treat the girl in front of him as harshly as he did his other disciples. He raised his hand and tucked back the scattered bangs on the girl’s head behind her ears and was about to call for someone.
But when he suddenly turned around, he felt a pain in his back.
The severe pain came from his back, as if his flesh, bone, and blood had been cut open, and then the pain pierced his heart.
Fujikawa lowered his head.
There was a dent in his chest, and a hand pierced through his back, pulling out his heart. Blood gushed from his back, staining his entire back red as it flowed to the ground, seeping into the tatami.
Then there was a chewing sound behind him. Fujikawa turned his head slowly.
“Eiko…”
Kitaichi Eiko took another bite and ate the hot heart with relish. The heart that was still beating seemed to be a delicacy in her mouth. There was a look of contentment on her beautiful face. She didn’t bother to look up at Fujikawa, as if she was afraid he would steal her food from her, and continued to eat the heart until it was completely devoured.
She even stuck out her tongue and licked away the blood on her hands, little by little, even digging it into her nails. The pink tongue and the white fingertips formed an almost erotic ambiguity, but the room was deadly silent, and no one could appreciate such a scene.
“Master, your heart is delicious.”
Kitaichi finally licked her fingers clean. She raised her head and showed a bright and satisfied smile to Fujikawa.
With a thud, Fujikawa fell to the ground with eyes wide open, still filled with unbelievable shock and fear.
Kitaichi stretched out her fingers and dipped them in a bit of blood that was still flowing from her master’s wound. She put it in her mouth, puckered her lips, and seemed to feel that the taste wasn’t as good as before, so she didn’t go back for more. She slowly stood up. Her figure was delicate and weak, as if she were a little girl who had been bedridden for a long time, looking harmless and gentle. She looked around in confusion. After a while, she leaned against the wall and walked out, step by step.
Fujikawa laid on the ground and remained still, never moving again.
A few minutes later, one of the walls twisted and shook, and a person appeared in the room.
A young man walked towards Fujikawa, squatted down, and looked at him for a moment, then shook his head and said with a sigh, “Being killed by your most beloved disciple like this is considered karma.”
“I think this retribution is quite cheap for him.”
“Who!” Suddenly hearing a second voice, Yu Buhui instinctively looked towards the source of the sound, and a sword appeared in his hand.
“You haven’t seen me in a while that you can’t even recognize the voice of an old acquaintance?”
Another person “walked” out of another wall. It was Tang Jing who had followed Wu Bingtian and Long Shen.
After Tang Jing separated from Director Long and Wu in Tokyo, he went to Kyoto for a few days before coming to Atsuta Shrine to apply for a job.
The shrine recruited part-time mikos every year to help sell goods and attract customers during the tourist season. Tang Jing’s female attire and fluent Japanese were naturally quickly approved, but this kind of part-time status was limited, and generally he wouldn’t be able to enter forbidden areas of the shrine. Tang Jing used his identity to confuse a priest and asked him to reserve a place for him to help bring in offerings—the shrine would send people in regularly to bring in some melons and fruits every once in a while.
According to rumors, every time the mikos who were assigned to do this job would occasionally leave without returning. It was said that they were favored by the master here and were recruited to stay so they could train to reach a higher level, but there was also another rumor that this mysterious person liked to eat people’s hearts. Most likely, those mikos who have gone and never returned probably met misfortune.
Tang Jing knew that the latter rumor was the truth, but this didn’t prevent him from pretending to yearn for mystery and adore power, so he took the initiative to recommend himself to the priest. The other party might have known some inside information, as he hinted to Tang Jing not to be stupid, but Tang Jing acted perfectly like a high school girl and insisted on coming in and delivering the offerings. The priest had no choice but to agree.
So, while everyone else snuck in secretly, only Tang Jing came in openly.
After he came in, he didn’t dare go to the core area rashly. He first investigated the surrounding layout and ended up bumping into Yu Buhui.
Seeing him, Yu Buhui said in surprise, “You’re here too?”
Tang Jing nodded. “There’s also Boss Long and Boss Wu.”
Yu Buhui: “Ding Lan is dead.”
Tang Jing: “We expected it. His soul lamp was extinguished. Where’s Li Ying?”
Yu Buhui: “He should still be alive, but I don’t know where he is. The three of us also came in separately. The two of them joined up. Ding Lan blocked a fatal blow with his body to save Li Ying. If I had shown up, there would be only another body count.”
Tang Jing sighed. “You made a wise choice.”
Yu Buhui was silent for a moment. “But I have always regretted it. If I had come out at that time, I still had a certain chance to save them, but now I have completely lost that chance.”
Tang Jing patted him on the shoulder. “No, aren’t we here?”
Yu Buhui: “Otowa is an immortal who has already turned into a demon. He also has Kusanagi no Tsurugi to protect him, which makes things even more difficult to deal with.”
Tang Jing: “Even if we all die together, it doesn’t matter. Since we’re already here, what’s there to fear!”
Yu Buhui: “I heard your little lover is also here.”
Tang Jing smiled bitterly. “Maybe when we meet, the first person he wants to kill is me.”
Yu Buhui: “What are the arrangements from Boss Long?”
After Li Ying was captured, Yu Buhui had been lurking here.
This was the safest place outside the core enchantment and was still within Otowa’s territory. It was difficult for him to save people and kill Otowa alone. If he tried to save Li Ying and couldn’t kill Otowa, it would make Otowa more vigilant, which would make things more difficult if they were to infiltrate again, so he could only choose to wait and hope the Special Administration Bureau would send more people over.
“There are no arrangements. I’ll see how things go after I get in,” Tang Jing said while shrugging.
Yu Buhui was speechless. How can you be so casual?
However, he also knew that the situation here was complicated. Before he and Ding Lan came in, they didn’t have a careful plan, but when they entered, all their plans wouldn’t have worked anyway. Indeed, they could only act in accordance with what unfolded.
“Are you still chasing that little girl?” he asked.
Tang Jing chuckled. “When she went out just now, I’d already placed a tracking spell on her. It was given to me by Lao Wu. If it’s not authentic, I’ll demand compensation tenfold, and if it’s faulty, I’ll demand triple the compensation! After all, it’s from Yuanming Palace in Qingcheng Mountain.”
As soon as he finished speaking, his expression changed slightly.
“There are fluctuations in the enchantment. She seems to be moving. Let’s go and take a look!”
……
Under Yoshida’s farewell, Dong Zhi and the others took a speedboat to Full Moon Island.
This was an island that looked like a full moon from the sky; thus, it was named as such. Despite its romantic name, it didn’t reflect the dangers on the island. After their experience on Diana Island, everyone was cautious about the new island and never thought it would be easier or safer than before.
After they officially set foot on Full Moon Island, they were stunned by the scene in front of them.
Yellow sand, desert, endless.
It was hard to imagine that there would be such an island that was surrounded by the sea.
Compared with the wet and cold of Diana Island, although it was equally cold here, it was obviously much drier. The topography and climate were also different from Diana Island. The only thing in common was that the entire island was also covered in white mist, which made it difficult to tell whether it was day or night.
What appeared in front of them was a fortress made of loess in the distance.
Li Han’er snorted. “Why is the terrain and environment here completely different from Diana Island? Is it because of the mist?”
Dong Zhi said, “I guess this should be a man-made island.”
“Who would create this earthen city?” Zhang Song looked around.
It was truly appropriate to call the fortress an earthen city based on how it looked.
From a distance, those khaki-yellow buildings were short and flat, but they were like an unfinished earthen city piled up with only walls and no buildings.
“Americans, Norse, Africans,” Liu Si replied.
Liu Qingbo looked back at the seaside; beside their own speedboat, there was another one tied there.
“One of these three teams should have also landed here.”
They were on Zombie Island—ah, rather—Diana Island a few days ago, while the other teams were on different islands. They weren’t sure if whichever team was on this island had gained any valuable information. “It would be great if we could meet a team. At least we’ll know if they got anything from this island.”
If not, they could just turn around and go to the next island immediately.
“Didn’t the Americans give you a cellphone?” Liu Qingbo looked at Dong Zhi.
“Let me ask.”
Coincidentally, as soon as Dong Zhi picked up the phone, he heard the sound of a speedboat engine disturbing the waves from a distance on the other side of the foggy sea.
Everyone turned their heads, and after a while, a speedboat passed through the fog and entered their view.
There was a person standing at the front. Seeing Dong Zhi, his eyes lit up, and he waved vigorously. “Dong! Dong!”
Dong Zhi: “…Am I hallucinating?”
Liu Qingbo pursed his lips. “You’re not seeing things. It’s really the Americans.”
In traditional folklore, there was face reading, and in psychology, there have been studies on first impressions.
Psychologists often say that the first impression of someone would determine the direction of your subsequent interactions, and the influence of this first impression was often greater than subsequent impressions.
For example, when he first met Xing Conglian, Lin Chen’s first impression was that he was really a good-looking and interesting person. Then, when he saw Mu Zhuo, his first impression was that he was a very simple person.
Mu Zhuo had short blond hair, big eyes, and a dimple on his left cheek. Like many rock and roll youths, he wore a lot of strange metal accessories and had sporadic tattoos on his body and arms, but he was still a simple person.
This was reflected in his eyes, and it was also reflected in his messy dressing table. His keys, phone, and wallet were just thrown casually everywhere. Magazines and snacks were spread all over the table, and there were even half-eaten potato chips under the magazines.
It was natural to use the simplest method to deal with simple people.
Lin Chen said bluntly, “The rape case of your former band member Li Jingtian is very suspicious. We suspect that the person who sexually assaulted you wasn’t Song Shengsheng but Mr. Li Jingtian, so now we need you to cooperate with our investigation.”
He spoke in a very businesslike manner, which only made Mu Zhuo’s reaction more typical.
The expression of the young rocker changed drastically. He jumped off the dressing table, grabbed Lin Chen by the collar, and violently shoved him to the wall.
With a loud crash, Lin Chen felt as if his internal organs were about to be displaced.
“Are you kidding me?! You don’t know what I’ve been through!” Mu Zhuo roared in his ears.
Xing Conglian was about to step forward and pull Mu Zhuo away, but Lin Chen slightly shook his head at him.
Being scolded by the victim was a novel experience. Lin Chen carefully observed Mu Zhuo’s face, analyzing every trace of Mu Zhuo’s emotional reaction as he spoke.
He said, “Of course I don’t know what you’ve been through, but you should know it well.” He spoke calmly. “At that time, Song Shengsheng was convicted because the key evidence was male semen fluid that remained in your body, but what I find strange is that there was also lubricating fluid from a condom also detected in the semen. The question is, since Song Shengsheng used a condom, how could it be that you have his semen inside your body?”
Mu Zhuo was taken aback when he heard this. His eyes then flushed like those of an angry little lion. Lin Chen suspected that his crazy roar could be heard in the corridor outside the dressing room. “Are you trying to humiliate me?”
As Mu Zhuo spoke, he clenched his fists tightly.
Before Mu Zhuo could swing, Lin Chen kindly reminded him, “If you hit a police officer, you are suspected of obstructing justice, and you will be detained for not more than 15 days or fined.”
The fist brushed past Lin Chen’s ears and hit the wall beside him. Lin Chen could clearly hear the crisp sound of bones colliding with the wall.
Mu Zhuo said, “Nine years have passed, and I have finally moved on. Why are you trying to force me? Why!” After Mu Zhuo roared, his voice gradually lowered. “Whether it’s A’Tien or me, we’re both victims. Why should we victims be treated like suspects by the police? Is this what you call impartial law enforcement?”
Mu Zhuo finally backed away as tears flowed down his face. Seeing this, the manager raised her phone angrily. “Even if you’re the police, get out, get out! If you don’t get out of here, I’ll post this on Weibo and expose you!”
They didn’t know when it had started but public opinion had become a means of pressure or game. However, Lin Chen didn’t pay attention to her threats. He looked at Mu Zhuo’s face and felt sad.
In fact, before walking into the dressing room, he had also guessed what the stories of Mu Zhuo, Li Jingtian, and Song Shengsheng would be like. Perhaps Mu Zhuo was really a victim, and he misidentified Song Shengsheng because of some misunderstanding, but now Mu Zhuo’s reaction has told him that the real victim in this case should be the man who has been imprisoned for nine years now.
Sometimes real stories were bizarre. Some people who were murdered couldn’t get justice, while others who were innocent went to jail.
Lin Chen didn’t even know how this story would end.
Mu Zhuo’s voice was still echoing in his ears. His eyes were full of anger and timidity.
Lin Chen took a steady breath and said to Mu Zhuo, “You must know that the reason why I dare say these things in front of you means that I’m confident. No matter what, no matter how much time has passed, the truth will eventually come to light.”
After he finished speaking, he patted Mu Zhuo on the shoulder, then turned around and left. Xing Conglian shrugged and exited with him, while Lu Xu stayed inside to deal with the aftermath.
After leaving, Xing Conglian was by his side. They silently walked through the long passageway backstage, and only after they reached the sunlight did Xing Conglian speak. “There seems to be something wrong with Mu Zhuo’s reaction.”
Lin Chen took a deep breath. “His emotional reaction is too exaggerated. The acting is terrible, and he actually showed a guilty expression when he was angry. If Li Jingtian really has any loopholes, it must be Mu Zhuo.” Xing Conglian recalled how Lin Chen wasn’t an expert at micro-expression recognition but could still detect Mu Zhuo’s false emotional reactions just now.
When a rape victim’s victimization experience was brought up to them, their first reaction would often be shame and guilt, rather than anger.
The shame of being sexually assaulted was also the reason why victims often choose not to report the crime. Even a large proportion of victims would blame themselves after being treated inhumanely. They may be angry, but that anger came from shame, not from “Why don’t you sympathize with me”, like Mu Zhuo’s.
“So, Song Shengsheng’s rape case…”
“Although I don’t know what happened back then, I think it should be an injustice.” Thinking of the big star who was once wanton and unrestrained, he didn’t know what has become of Song Shengsheng in these past nine years.
“If Li Jingtian and Mu Zhuo jointly designed Song Shengsheng, why did Xu Ran’s letter say that Song Shengsheng took the blame for Li Jingtian’s crime? Have you ever thought about this question?”
“It’s been too long, so it’s hard to sort out the clues. Now we can only rely on Mr. Mu Zhuo to help us.” Lin Chen shook his head.
“Speaking of which, you lied hard to Mu Zhuo just now. You actually said you have confidence, meaning you have evidence?”
Lin Chen curled his lips. “This is a gamble. Although Li Jingtian cleaned up the evidence in Xu Ran’s case cleanly, letting us hit dead ends wherever we turn, for a rapist like him, it’s impossible he was this meticulous since birth. The earlier the time, the greater the possibility of him making mistakes.”
What he was betting on was that Mu Zhuo had a simple mind and would nervously call Li Jingtian and confirm something under blackmail.
Thinking of this, Lin Chen raised his head and asked Xing Conglian, “Did you install the bug?”
Xing Conglian gave him an OK gesture, but his tone was a little worried. “But the location isn’t good. If Mu Zhuo doesn’t choose to make the call in his dressing room, we won’t be able to monitor it.”
“Didn’t you notice something?”
“What?”
“Mu Zhuo is a very, lazy, person and simple-minded.” It was rare for Lin Chen to sneer. “As a lazy man, how can he leave a place that makes him feel safe and go to a strange place to make a very insecure call?”
“Consultant Lin…” Xing Conglian suddenly said.
“Hm?”
“I found that you’re quite good at calculating people.”
“As are you.”
……
Wang Chao had already set up the listening platform on the grass. The sun was shining brightly, and there was still laughter all around.
When they walked over, the teenager raised his head and said in a serious tone, “Captain, A’Chen, you guys should think carefully. This is unapproved surveillance. No matter what you hear next, it’s inadmissible to the courts as evidence. That is to say, even if you hear Mu Zhuo confide in Li Jingtian the truth about the events of that year, it will have no legal effects. You have to think clearly on this.”
The answer to Wang Chao’s warning was a rhetorical question from Xing Conglian, “What time is it?”
“9:40,” Wang Chao replied.
9:40, which meant their 6-hour time limit was getting closer.
“Then let’s get started.”
Xing Conglian sat down crossed legged and took one of the wireless headsets. Lin Chen sat next to him and picked up the other.
According to his prediction, a simple and impulsive person like Mu Zhuo, after learning that things might have been exposed back then, would certainly be eager to call those in the know to confirm things. Such an interval didn’t even exceed 10 minutes.
Through the monitoring, Lin Chen heard Mu Zhuo impatiently dealing with Lu Xu’s appeasement. He no longer had the previous humility and courtesy but exposed his irritable nature.
Mu Zhuo cursed at Lu Xu, then told the fat man to get out.
Xing Conglian’s bug worked well. He could even hear Lu Xu muttering “bitch” in a low voice after being reprimanded by Mu Zhuo.
In short, the dressing room had gone through a period of turmoil.
Afterwards, when Lu Xu slammed the door and went out, Mu Zhuo’s manager started cursing again.
Ms. Agent first called the upper management of the company to report the situation and said that she hoped the PR department would make a stink of it, but this wasn’t their goal. Although they couldn’t see the situation in the room, with the sound of a chair being thrown, Lin Chen probably guessed Mu Zhuo was venting his anger. After venting, fear would prevail, and Mu Zhuo would start to worry.
After the manager finished making her call, Mu Zhuo impatiently dropped something that sounded like a water bottle, which seemed to stop the manager.
“Get out and leave me alone!”
Mu Zhuo’s acting skills were really bad, to the point that he would use the most old-fashioned rhetoric to send people away.
When his manager wanted to say something more, Mu Zhuo yelled at the other party, “Get out!”
The sounds of footsteps and the door opening and closing followed, indicating the manager had left the room.
The background became quiet all of a sudden.
Mu Zhuo circled the room, seemingly waiting and thinking, and finally, he went to the dressing table, rifled through the messy pile of things, and picked something up.
The sound of buttons being pressed sounded.
Lin Chen felt Xing Conglian glancing at him, as if saying, “Here comes the main attraction.”
After a period of blankness, Mu Zhuo’s anxious voice sounded again. “Hey, don’t hang up. Listen to me!”
Since it wasn’t a phone bug, they didn’t know who the person on the other end of Mu Zhuo’s call was or what he was saying, but what they could infer was that the person on the other line wanted to hang up the moment the call was connected.
Mu Zhuo whispered. “The police just came to me just now and asked me about Song Shengsheng’s case. Didn’t you fucking say you cleaned it up? Why are the police coming to ask me this?”
The person on the other end seemed to say something that made Mu Zhuo choke. Suddenly, he raised his voice. “I’m stupid? It’s my fault? Who told you not to control your lower half and make such a thing happen, you stupid rapist? What kind of woman do you want? Why are you recruiting prostitutes, you fucking dick!”
Kinky Thoughts:
This is an extremely heavy subject, but to expand on the psychology aspect of this chapter, studies show that the most common effect of rape victims is self-blame, and with this comes shame and guilt.
There are two main types of self-blame: behavioral self-blame and characterological self-blame. Those who experience behavioral self-blame feel they should have done something differently, and therefore feel at fault. Those who experience characterological self-blame feel there’s something inherently wrong with them, which has caused them to deserve to be assaulted.
There are also many reasons why a rape victim doesn’t come forward, including sociological impact (negative views about them because of what happened to them), victim blaming, and not being believed or taken seriously, among myriad of other reasons.
The effects and aftermath of rape differ among victims, and many develop coping mechanisms that either benefit them, such as social support, or inhibit their recovery. It is best to seek support and professional resources (like counseling) to assist in recovery.
The gun turned into a plume of green smoke, and countless colorful shadows shot out of Ge Tingting’s temples and jumped into the sky.
Among the colorful shadows, they could barely distinguish the headphones package, the hotpot signboard, Feng Qi’s figure, and the smiling faces of strange men and women. They exploded in the dark like an unusually grand firework.
But they didn’t fall.
The brilliant shadows floated slower in the air, and in the next moment, they collapsed and froze midair, turning into a yellowed family portrait. A group of people was depicted in the portrait: a middle-aged man and woman, each holding a daughter and an old man sat in the middle with a flowery smile on his face.
This was her most cherished memory.
Ge Tingting staggered and fell to the ground. The photo frame seemed to have lost its support and fell straight down—
In just an instant, runes of spells exploded, and circles of dark light swirled rapidly around her. Her eyes suddenly lost their spirit and instantly closed. On Ge Tingting’s wrist, strands of jet-black hair surged.
The black hair proliferated explosively, as if it had life. Tens of thousands of strands of hair were spread out and wrapped tightly around Ge Tingting, forming a pitch-black cocoon.
The photo frame was also tightly wrapped in the hair and placed by her side.
Yin Ren graciously withdrew his hand that was casting the spell.
Under the sleep spell, Ge Tingting had fallen into a deep sleep. Before her brain could react, her consciousness had already fallen completely into darkness.
Unstable consciousness would be affected by the environment, provided that “she was still conscious”.
Now that both she and her memory item were isolated by the evil hair, even if Fu Xingchuan himself arrived, he couldn’t break through such a line of defense.
Yin Ren controlled the spindle-shaped cocoon of hair, gently descending it. It fell to the ground like a feather.
“Shian is lucky. With this strength of will, she’ll become a powerful corpse servant,” Yin Ren said softly.
Huang Jin’s eyes were a little more fearful.
Yin Ren’s actions had gone beyond the scope of “special abilities” and “strange spells”. They were truly evil things, and they all knew that Shian wouldn’t let a real evil being become a field employee.
In addition to King Yama, who was concealing his identity, this pair of partners…
Before he could finish his thought, he felt a particularly strong gaze.
Huang Jin raised his head subconsciously and met Zhong Chengshuo’s meaningful eyes. Huang Jin adjusted his breathing for a moment, raised his hand, and made a zipper movement across his mouth.
‘Alright. I probably can’t keep this memory,’ Huang Jin thought sadly.
Fwish.
The electronic screen in front of the main teaching building lit up again.
Broadcast Guo Wei was sitting around a table, looking closer to death than last time. The pupils of those eyes were completely cloudy, and there was a suspicious bulge on his temples. The gloomy aura around him had grown heavier.
Through the screen, he stared at the three of them, as if organizing his words.
“Let me give you some advice, boy.” Yin Ren patted his hair cocoon and made a preemptive strike. His face was smiling, but his tone was as if it had been soaked in ice water. “When you make an agreement, the first thing you look at is whether there are any loopholes—this is one of the basic rules of common sense in the metaphysical world.”
“Choose one to exclude from the quota, play their best memories, and stay here.”
Yin Ren repeated the words.
“We did all that. Is there a problem?”
Guo Wei on the screen didn’t answer. His expression was a little distorted. The cocoon shook a few times, and the position of the portrait, which was hidden, slightly protruded. Guo Wei seemed to want to take it away, but he couldn’t.
He clenched the black ballpoint pen and looked at Yin Ren with an ugly expression; there was a vaguely crazy color in his eyes.
“Welcome to Qingjiang No. 16 High School. Welcome to the last day of my life.”
A few minutes later, Guo Wei spoke again with a hoarse and sinister tone.
“Teachers, family members, and faculty, you have three chances left. Please work hard to leave the school.”
He didn’t say anything else. When the voice ended, the screen fell into darkness.
“What do we do now?” Huang Jin worriedly glanced at the cocoon.
“The direction of destroying memories is right. Let’s continue to destroy secondary memories and see how the environment responds.” Zhong Chengshuo cracked his neck and shoulders without any worry on his face.
“Even if I make all my luggage into spirit bombs, it may not be enough.” There was a faint trace of worry between Huang Jin’s brows.
“Small matter.” Yin Ren let the cocoon float slightly. “I can make up for it with some ordinary spells. Let’s try it. Zhong Chengshuo, what’s next?”
“There may be phantom students in the female dorm who won’t move for the time being.” Zhong Chengshuo thought solemnly. “First destroy the women’s bathrooms that are ‘inaccessible’ and then the men’s bathrooms with unclear details to see the effect.”
Yin Ren: “……” Oh, the public bathroom.
Yin Ren: “…Then it’s better to have Huang Jin do it. He hasn’t used his spirit weapon yet, right?”
Huang Jin sighed and suddenly felt tired. “Okay.”
He weighed the cloth bag, which caused the spirit weapon to rattle.
At 2 in the morning, a burst of fire exploded in the darkness. The public bathrooms in the corner of the campus disappeared. After that, several cracks appeared in the barrier with pale spider legs embedded in them.
Next to the ruins of the bathroom, Zhong Chengshuo was tapping on the headset in his ear, as if waiting for something.”
“Sss*… Sss… Sss… Hey… Sss.” The noise of the headset was cutting in and out.
*Clarity: This is supposed to be static SFX.
Zhong Chengshuo made a quick gesture at the two of them and motioned for them to put on their headset.
“Hey… Sss”
“Special Investigation Unit 9, Zhong Chengshuo.” Zhong Chengshuo spoke in a clear voice at a gentle pace. “Calling Shian. Calling Shian.”
“Sss… Xiao Zhong? Sss… Keep… Talking…”
Soon, the static gradually weakened and Lu Xiaohe’s tired voice came over.
“…Manual calculation and navigation complete… Sss… signal band… determined…”
“Hey, are you alright?” Lu Xiaohe’s voice was hoarse.
“We’re all still alive.” Zhong Chengshuo frankly summarized.
“Haha,” Lu Xiaohe laughed weakly. “I’ve stabilized the communication, but the signal is a bit weak.”
“The testing equipment can’t keep up, so you need to be more careful. If you have any abnormalities, you must report them in time.”
“Nn.” Zhong Chengshuo showed a relieved expression.
“Next, Minister Fu will communicate with you… I’m taking a nap… Wake up again…” Lu Xiaohe’s voice was cut off before she finished speaking.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Fu Xingchuan’s voice also carried some fatigue, but compared to Lu Xiaohe’s, his fatigue carried other implications. “Your Lu Jie hasn’t rested for 34 hours, so be considerate.”
“If the situation isn’t urgent, report everything to me immediately in full.”
….
The group abandoned the miserable public bathrooms and returned to the faculty dormitory.
Yin Ren carefully placed the hair cocoon containing Ge Tingting on the bed. The night outside the window was like ink, and the incandescent lights in the room would flicker from time to time. This dorm wasn’t big, but the ceiling was high, giving a sense of depression like a deep well.
Zhong Chengshuo pulled over a chair and sat down, then began to talk to Shian.
In the next half hour, Yin Ren and Huang Jin fully witnessed King Yama’s ability to talk bullshit.
Zhong Chengshuo wasn’t good at communicating with people cordially, but his skill at covering up traces was perfect. The vision of what Yin Ren did was completely omitted, and Ge Tingting’s coma was summarized as “she was knocked out by Yin Ren immediately after losing her memory, and Huang Jin kept her in a coma using a spirit weapon”.
Comrade Xiao Zhong’s tone was extremely solemn and sincere. If it weren’t for Yin Ren being part of the team, he would almost be taken in by this kid.
Fortunately, Fu Xingchuan didn’t focus on the details.
“Well handled.” There was no usual arrogance in his tone. “You guys saw Guo Wei? How strange.”
“There’s never been such a situation before?” Yin Ren held down his headset and curiously interjected. “I don’t know if he’s a ghost, but I can’t think of other possibilities for the time being…”
At least a thousand years ago, things like ghosts were like mushrooms after the rain. No one knew where they would come from or how many varieties there were.
Lord Ghost King didn’t have an inquisitive spirit like Zhong Chengshuo—at that time, Yin Ren didn’t even know why there was day and night or why there was a sun and moon. If their existence was reasonable, he didn’t delve deeper.
Besides, if he encountered someone looking to pick a fight, he would just beat them up.
“The cause of the ghost is still unknown, but Guo Wei does fit the characteristics of a ghost.”
Fu Xingchuan’s voice was a bit vague. It sounded like he was smoking. He paused for a moment before continuing on.
“Ghosts awaken when they have experienced the painful process of death soberly and carried strong negative feelings at the time of their death. This is one of them.”
Fu Xingchuan’s tone was rarely solemn. “Second, this one’s death is widely known, whether through rumors or the news, so it wasn’t some ghost that just died quietly.”
Guo Wei’s situation was too standard. After Guo Laifu’s murders were widely reported, the Shian division in Qingjiang monitored the vicinity of the crime scene. However, after investigating for a long time, they didn’t find any traces of Guo Wei turning into a ghost.
Half a year later, the teenager’s file was collecting dust in the depths of all the data.
“We have never found this phenomenon. In the present situation, it’s difficult to define Guo Wei as a ghost… Haa, let me think about it. According to the science post, Guo Wei’s consciousness has parasitized Guo Laifu’s brain.”
“A consciousness that parasites someone’s mind.” Yin Ren harped on these words repeatedly.
“I understand the general situation. Today, we’ll send Unit 7 in for support. Pay attention to your sleep and make sure you’re awake.”
Fu Xingchuan didn’t wait for them to answer and ended the call.
Unfortunately, with things having come to this point, Lord Ghost King naturally wouldn’t be getting any rest.
Zhong Chengshuo had put on his nightcap again and was sleeping quietly beside Yin Ren. His expression was relaxed as before, as if he were lying in his own bedroom. Huang Jin, on the other hand, was tossing and turning frantically on the single bed. It could be seen that he was quite restless.
“Parasitic consciousness,” Yin Ren murmured silently as he lay flat beside Zhong Chengshuo.
In the narrow faculty dorm, the old clock ticked away. Yin Ren was lying in the middle of the room, but his consciousness covered almost the entire school—while Shian’s monitoring failed to keep up, his hair flowed repeatedly throughout the campus.
However, Guo Wei’s consciousness was tightly hidden, and Yin Ren still couldn’t find anything.
This was Guo Wei’s consciousness. As long as Guo Wei wanted, he could have let them go directly, but he induced them to escape instead, knowing they would destroy his memory. This didn’t seem like he was just fooling around with them for fun.
What was this thin child thinking?
……
Lu Xiaohe also slept restlessly.
Her head appeared to be filled with molten iron after 34 hours of high-intensity brain use. The messy theory and data were on a rampage, and the tension of manipulating the AI still lingered. In her dream, she and the monitor that had hands and feet were fighting each other for 300 rounds.
When she opened her eyes, it was 7 in the morning. She had slept intermittently for more than 5 hours, but her body was covered in cold sweat.
Lu Xiaohe rubbed his aching temples and picked out a “Early to bed, early to rise” t-shirt. She barely washed her face with cold water and went to the cafeteria to pour a cup of espresso.
However, when she returned to the office of Unit 9, it had already changed.
There was another temporary console next to her console, and a boy who looked like he had just graduated high school was sitting in front of it.
“Xiaohe Jie!” The boy held a breakfast biscuit as he waved to her carefully. “Unit 7 has entered the Archive. I just came here to work so we can be together.”
“Xiao Zhao.” Lu Xiaohe pressed her forehead.
Zhao Shiyan was the rear commander of Unit 7, which was specially assigned. This child was extremely sensitive to data, was a good gamer, and had skipped a few grades to finish college early. Shian took fancy to his reflexes and decisiveness and poached him with a high salary so they could cultivate him.
Xiao Zhao, Bao Linlin, and Wang Zhou were collectively referred to as the Iron Triangle of Bad Luck. As strong as these three’s abilities were, their luck was just as bad.
“Wait a minute.” Lu Xiaohe came back to her senses, and her voice trembled a bit. “Minister Fu isn’t asking you to go in to rescue, right?”
Unit 7 had indeed entered the Archive many times and was experienced, but Unit 9 was already unlucky enough as it was now. They really didn’t need to make things worse.
This was the group that, because of them, had changed the rules of the Archive. Last time, when Unit 7 entered the human mind, the host broke free from Shian’s heavy shackles and successfully jumped off a building, creating chaos.
Facing Lu Xiaohe’s unabashedly horrified gaze, Xiao Zhao frowned. “This is discrimination! Here, connect your communicator, and tell Minister Fu yourself—he’s been listening just now.”
Sure enough, Fu Xingchuan’s voice came from Xiao Zhao’s headset. “Well, on some metaphysical issues, fighting poison with poison is very effective… Not to mention, it takes three people to enter the Archive. I personally took two of Unit 7 in, so don’t worry.”
Lu Xiaohe: “……”
Gee, thanks, but your group is still 66% made up of Unit 7. She had to pay the highest respect to Minister Fu’s courage.
Xiao Zhao snorted. “We did well this time. Wang Ge just told me that they locked on to the general position of Unit 9—they found the rescue target in 5 hours. This is a new record!”
“That’s pretty good.” Lu Xiaohe sat down with a blank face.
She performed a simple operation and shared Unit 7’s communication channel. As soon as the gentle and pleasant connection sound ended, there was a scream in her headset, which sounded like a male’s voice.
Lu Xiaohe’s scalp almost exploded. “What’s wrong?!”
“It’s okay, Wang Zhou was scared.” The voice of ghost master Bao Linlin came from the headset. “Don’t worry. Minister Fu is with us. What can happen?”
A trace of pain gradually appeared on Lu Xiaohe’s face. In an obviously weak mental mind, it was really dangerous to say this kind of thing.
Or rather, should it be said this was truly worthy of Unit 7?
Lu Xiaohe took a deep breath. “Wang Zhou was scared?”
“Yes, we suggest you contact your team members quickly.” Bao Linlin’s voice became serious. “Xiao Lu, how did Unit 9 describe the school to you?”
“It’s a high school with a small area. The gate is a metal sliding door, and there’s an old security guard with a melted face at the security booth. Blocks of color resembling students can be seen on campus, and the tone for the class bell is a bit distorted… Almost like this.”
Lu Xiaohe transferred the investigation reports of her team members.
At any rate, Unit 7 was a B-level Investigation Group, so it was impossible they would be frightened by something of this level.
“What’s wrong? Has the school’s appearance changed?”
“…You can say that.” Bao Linlin sighed.
In the Archive.
Fu Xingchuan guarded the two members of Unit 7 behind him and looked at the “high school” in front of him.
They could vaguely see some elements that resembled a school.
The security booth and the metal sliding door were still there, but they were twisted like liquid and melted into the edge of the huge hemisphere. Crumpled school uniforms, rotten internal organs, rusty bicycles, damaged textbooks, and test papers densely form this weird hemisphere.
The hemisphere was clinging to a block, incompatible with the surrounding vague buildings, like a tumor growing out of the street.
Its surface was covered with deformed veins, faintly pulsating. These things didn’t completely cover the campus, as there were many gaps between them, but there was only darkness inside.
As a science post, Wang Zhou took the lead in approaching this weird “school”.
He leaned close to the edge of the hemisphere, trying to investigate the part of what he suspected was the security booth. Who would have thought that the twisted window of the security booth was suddenly torn open and a deformed face was ejected out, almost making close contact with Wang Zhou?
The face was like wax melting, and the facial features were completely misplaced, resembling a post-modern figure painting. The old man’s face was nearly flat, and his elongated neck was as slender as a flower stem.
“What are you doing here?” His mouth on the left side of his face opened and closed.
Wang Zhou was caught off guard and almost choked. When he recovered, he let out a scream.
Fu Xingchuan knocked on the headset and directly contacted Unit 9. “We’re at the entrance of the school, and we can’t get in for the time being.”
He stared at the weird face that was the size of an old wash basin and let out a chuckle.
“Unit 9, report your situation.”
At the same time, the members of Unit 9 stood in silence at the door to the facility dormitory, and no one answered.
As soon as it was half past 7, everyone went downstairs. After the door opened, the world turned upside down.
The calm campus had turned into a nightmare. The scene outside was truly hard to describe with just words…
At this moment, the bombed-out senior teaching building and public bathrooms were completely black with a faint void remaining. It was as if someone completely cut these two public buildings from a picture of a “school”. The phantoms of the senior high school students were walking around the campus in… a very less-than-energetic way.
Some were crawling and squirming, with their heads retracted into their bodies, while others only had half their bodies as they walked around on the ground on four feet. There were even a few figures melting into a ball with their disordered hands and feet waving aimlessly around.
Accompanied by bouncing test papers, books, and rulers, the group of phantoms staggered across the campus. Their posture was raw and hideous, a bit like the pedestrians in Guo Laifu’s consciousness.
Scotch tape was woven into cobwebs between the buildings, and the green fence on the playground was covered with dark red blood stains and snow-white correction fluid.
The pomegranate flowers in full bloom were mixed with fragments of internal organs, and blood would drip down the petals from time to time. The flowerbeds were set up with utility knives and compasses, and the words on the sign became “The grass is red. Trample on it at will.”
There were even parts of Guo Laifu on campus.
Guo Laifu’s body was covered with minced meat and internal organs. His face had a twisted smile plastered on it. Wearing bloody clothes, he was squatting in a remote corner of the campus.
Above the chaos, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining brightly.
In the frenzied scene, there were many “normal” students.
The students in the main teaching building talked and laughed amidst the chaos of hell. They carried fragrant breakfasts as if the scene around them were just part of their daily lives.
Yin Ren let the cocoon of hair holding Ge Tingting float behind him and quickly swept his gaze around.
He then saw Guo Wei again.
Guo Wei was still carrying two steamed buns and was walking towards the main teaching building with his head down. The twisted student phantoms would rub on his trousers. As if he had noticed something, his body would tremble slightly.
“Minister Fu, the campus has become a bit weird, but everyone is fine for the time being.” Seeing that Zhong Chengshuo was unusually focused on observing the current scene, Yin Ren took the initiative to report. “We’re going to continue the investigation and keep in touch.”
His hair carefully swam across the ground. Despite this, he still didn’t find the slightest abnormal aura.
It was like…
Witnessing the gradual madness of another consciousness.
The author has something to say:
“It’s a bit weird” by the 1,000-year-old Ghost King
——————
Xiao Yin: Oh, if you only use magic, it’s easy to destroy buildings!
Xiao Zhong: I want to blow up the public bathroom.
Xiao Yin:
Xiao Zhong:
Xiao Yin: Let’s go, Huang Jin!
Kinky Thoughts:
For those who forgot who Unit 7 people are, they were the group that was initially assigned to find the corpse splitter in Arc 2, but due to their bad luck, Bao Linlin’s hang glider was shot down while Wang Zhou broke his legs trying to escape from the ghost master’s attack. Because both were hospitalized, Unit 6 took over the case in Ping’an Manor.
Last night, Unit 9 searched the entire campus all night, keeping the locations of the buildings firmly in mind. Out of caution, they didn’t immediately attack the locked buildings.
As the sky lit up, the chains on the buildings disappeared one by one.
After a short break, everyone ate breakfast and walked around the campus again—they planned to investigate the interior of the building during the day and find the campus radio station where Guo Wei was located.
The campus wasn’t large, so a day was enough.
Who would have thought that Guo Wei was carrying two steam buns like that and throwing himself into the net?
Guo Wei wasn’t tall and was quite thin; he looked kind of malnourished. He was hunched over, making his already hypertrophic school uniform look even more baggy. There was a faint hint of a cheap toothpaste smell coming from him.
From time to time, the students would pass by him, and several would nod to him. However, Guo Wei firmly kept his head down and clutched the bag holding his steam buns, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
Yin Ren rushed forward like an arrow and stepped in front of Guo Wei to stop him. “Classmate, wait!”
Guo Wei almost bumped into Yin Ren head-on. Finding someone was blocking him, he stopped in his tracks, and raised his eyes in confusion. “Are you looking for me?”
Seeing Yin Ren’s beautiful face was a bit off-putting that it made Guo Wei freeze for a moment.
Yin Ren took the opportunity to scan the other person from top to bottom.
Guo Wei had large scars on his forehead and chin, and there were typical burns and bruises that were hidden in inconspicuous places. He was used to hanging his head, which made it difficult to detect.
His complexion was dark, and his long hair was mixed with sporadic gray, making him look older than his actual age. With those sunken eyes always looking at the ground, it made Guo Wei look shrunken and sloppy.
However, his school uniform was extremely clean, and there were no traces of stains.
“I’m a family member of the new teacher, and I have something urgent, so I need to leave.” Yin Ren smiled gently. “I forgot where the gate is. Can you help show me the way?”
The remaining three people: “……”
Guo Wei’s expression finally moved. He looked around at the campus as if he heard bullshit, then looked at Yin Ren in shock.
“I have a problem, so I tend to forget things easily.” Yin Ren continued to cajole the young dead person. “Won’t you help me out?”
“No, we can’t leave here.” Guo Wei shook his head firmly. “This is the school’s rule.”
“Then forget it.” Yin Ren quickly pivoted. “Do you know where the campus radio station is? I’ll do a broadcast to find my lover.”
“Our school doesn’t have a campus radio station,” Guo Wei replied honestly as his eyes stared at his feet. “The broadcasts are all recorded and played directly. Usually, we use the loudspeakers to talk about things… If you want to find someone, it’s better to ask a teacher.”
“I see.”
“Is there anything else? If not, I’ll go first. My early self-study is about to begin.” Guo Wei continued staring at his feet, trying not to look at the snack bag Yin Ren was carrying.
“No, thank you.” Yin Ren took out a pack of fish chips and a pack of jerky. “Here, take them.”
“I don’t…”
“Thank you for telling me this. Just take it and share it with your friends.” Yin Ren’s smile remained motionless.
“Thank you.” Guo Wei’s voice was as tiny as a gnat. He cherishingly took the two bags of snacks and held them in his hand embarrassedly. “Then, uh, goodbye, teacher.”
He raised his head again and looked at Yin Ren carefully with a faint trace of gratitude on his face.
Among the students with blurred faces, this person’s characteristics stood out.
“He’s not a human.” Huang Jin had already developed a certain conditioned reflex. “He’s not the one from the radio station. This person is no different from the other students.”
It was just some kind of “set” that was extremely real and interactive.
“I think so too.” Yin Ren watched Guo Wei’s figure leave. “He has no impression of us and doesn’t look like he’s acting. How should I put this? This kid is too different from the one on the radio station.”
The student Guo Wei looked introverted and didn’t have any resentment or malice like the Guo Wei that was broadcasting.
Ge Tingting bit her lips as the electronic audio sounded. “What should we do now?”
She asked the common question that was in the hearts of the four of them.
The location of the broadcast Guo Wei needed to be found, and the interior buildings had to be checked. The “fresh Guo Wei” under their nose also couldn’t be discarded either. They had limited time, and no one knew what “four chances” meant.
But there was more evil on the other side, and being separated was tantamount to taking a big risk. Since they lost contact with Lu Xiaohe, all their remote communication methods had been invalidated, and they couldn’t even use WeChat to communicate.
Seeing Guo Wei walk further away, Yin Ren crumpled the empty snack bag into a ball and threw it into a trash can.
“Act separately.” He spread out his ponytail and neatly tore off a strand of long hair. “The three of you, put out your hands.”
Ge Tingting, Huang Jin: “?”
“Put this around your wrist. I can sense your location and basic situation from it.” Yin Ren quickly divided the hair into three bunches.
In a sense, this could be regarded as another kind of “traveling together”. He only had to deal with his companions’ memories after that, which wasn’t a big deal because he could just place the blame on Guo Wei’s head, Yin Ren thought deeply.
Huang Jin’s hesitant expression became even more obvious. He suspiciously accepted the hair and gently wrapped it around his wrist.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but Huang Jing felt that the hair had adjusted its position on his wrist.
The strand of hair seemed truncated, but the broken surface was close to a thin silk that connected straight to Yin Ren’s head. It vividly interpreted the fibers that still hold a broken lotus root together*, and on it the mosaic thinking didn’t stop flowing.
*(藕断丝连) Idiom referring to a broken relationship that’s still connected. It refers to the unbreakable love between people from Tang Mengjiao’s poem “Going to Wife”. || In this context, it has a double meaning. The hair is like the strands of a lotus root’s fiber when broken off that are still clinging on, and it also metaphorically represents the connection the four of them still have because of Yin Ren’s hair (fibers of the lotus root).
Huang Jin averted his gaze and decided not to delve further. Ge Tingting didn’t show any doubt as she silently tied the hair around her wrist and nodded.
“Huang Jin and Ge Tingting, you two implement the original plan and try to find the broadcasting room while investigating the inside of the buildings. The authority of ‘faculty’ and ‘student’ isn’t small, so you won’t be stopped like Yin Ren.”
Zhong Chengshuo stuffed the hair into his pocket without tying it to his wrist.
“Yin Ren and I will follow Guo Wei. At four in the afternoon, we’ll meet in front of the classroom that Guo Wei was in before his death. It’s in the main teaching building.”
Huang Jin’s expression froze for a moment. “Isn’t this wrong?”
At a time like this, the two big monsters were still acting together. No matter how he looked at it, the distribution of strength was uneven.
Zhong Chengshuo glanced at him but didn’t lower his voice. “Based on the comprehensive evaluation of strength, occupation category, and campus familiarity, assuming that Miss Ge has metaphysical combat power, it may be more appropriate for me to pair with Miss Ge and you with Yin Ren.”
“But here, Miss Ge has no combat ability, and I don’t have a suitable weapon. Once she’s attacked by the metaphysics, it will be difficult for me to properly rescue her.”
Zhong Chengshuo’s expression was calm and direct. Ge Tingting was silent, and her face turned a little pale.
“Indeed, Huang Jin can see my thoughts, so it’s easier for us to communicate.” After a while, the synthetic voice sounded. “We have limited time. Let’s go, Huang Jin.”
She smiled a little reluctantly.
Yin Ren’s hair gradually lengthened as they left. It was as thin as spider silk, as if it were a thread attached to a hero after he entered a maze. However, Yin Ren looked at Ge Tingting’s back with some worry and held back his consolation.
In Bai Yongji’s case, Ge Tingting used her special ability to fully support them. In this case, her special abilities wouldn’t play much of a role.
She knew this better than anyone else.
……
At four in the afternoon, outside the sophomore classroom, Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren were pasted close to the door together, waiting to meet with their teammates.
The main teaching building was the tallest building on the entire campus. Through the windows of the corridor, the campus outside had already alternated between day and night at least four times. The “monster siege” rotated with the time, which made Yin Ren vigilant.
Yin Ren was responsible for guarding the surroundings, while Zhong Chengshuo was incarnated as a stone gate. He seemed to be stuck in the front of the back door window. Behind the thin lenses, his eyes stared straight into the classroom.
Even though Yin Ren had never studied, he couldn’t help but find this scene weird and creepy.
The good news was that, so far, the environment wasn’t as dangerous as they thought. Most of the day passed, and there was no strange warning that came from Yin Ren’s hair.
The bad news was that the daytime here was quite dull.
It was like an ordinary day on an ordinary campus. White clouds floated over the false blue sky, and the continuous chirping of cicadas was intertwined with sporadic birdsongs. The pomegranates in the flower bed were in full bloom, covering the branches with orange-red flowers.
The sun moved slowly across the small piece of sky, making the shadows of the building slowly rotate.
At 4:50, Unit 9 converged again. Except for the exhaustion in their eyes, everyone’s body was clean, without any traces of fighting.
“We have traversed all the buildings and investigated the clinic and cafeteria,” Huang Jin said with some helplessness. “Some areas of the library, labs, and cafeteria are blurry. The senior teaching building, women’s bathroom, and girls’ dorms can’t be entered.”
Even if Ge Tingting, a “female student”, tried to enter, she would be stopped by the doorman under various excuses.
“How about your side?” After Huang Jin reported the situation, Ge Tingting took the initiative to ask. Her expression was serious, but they couldn’t sense any emotion in her synthetic voice.
Yin Ren covered his chest and sighed.
Guo Wei walked into the classroom at 7:30 and never came out again.
None of the imagined collisions, battles, or rescues with Zhong Chengshuo had happened. Looking from the back door window, Guo Wei was either listening attentively in class or reading during the breaks. At most, he would look out the window.
Guo Wei didn’t even go to lunch during the lunch break. He ate his two steamed buns with hot water; one was for breakfast and the other was his lunch. He didn’t touch any of the snacks Yin Ren had given him, but carefully put them in his backpack.
Ordinary student, ordinary behavior.
…But this was undoubtedly the center of the entire campus.
With Guo Wei as the center, the closer they got to him, the clearer the faces of the surrounding students became. It could be as big as the details of the backpack, or as small as the scratches on the desk and the dust on the windowsill; this place was no different from the real world.
The teacher behind the podium also looked like a living person.
At the moment, he was in math class. The math teacher looked to be in her early forties and had a shrill voice. They could even see the gray in her curly hair, the paleness of her cyan brows, and the black moles on the tip of her nose.
“Guo Wei, I have told you a hundred times.”
She knocked on Guo Wei’s table twice, grabbed his hand, and shook it.
“What the hell is with your writing? Can anyone understand this? It’s not uncommon for people to read papers for college entrance exams. This kind of work deserves a zero.”
There were a few chuckles in the classroom. The girl sitting next to Guo Wei turned her head to look at him. The latter just buried his head deeper; his ears and neck became a little red.
Yin Ren didn’t know how Guo Wei’s math scores were, but he remembered Guo Wei’s math teacher.
Lei Xiurong, 43 years old, taught math at No. 16 High School for 20 years.
“Copy it again. Tomorrow, I’ll check it separately. The next time you write like this, I’ll deduct ten points from your paper.” Lei Xiurong spoke loudly. “I don’t believe I can’t fix this stinky problem of yours.”
Guo Wei responded with an “Nn” in a low voice and quietly glanced at the girl at the next table. Unfortunately, the girl had already retracted her gaze and was seriously reading a wrong question. The male student behind him poked him in the back. “Looking at Li Xiaoya again? Be careful that the old witch doesn’t find out.”
Guo Wei shrank his shoulders and his whole face flushed. “I wasn’t looking.”
The boy smiled and covered his face with a textbook. “I have two copybooks that I’m too lazy to practice. Why don’t you take them? Just lend me your chemistry notes later.”
“…Ah, okay.” Guo Wei rubbed his ears and began to rewrite his homework one stroke at a time.
At this time, Lei Xiurong had just returned to the podium. She exhaled and fiddled with her curly hair. “There’s a small quiz for self-study tonight…”
The class continued as the two groups swapped. This time, Ge Tingting and Huang Jin monitored the class while Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren patrolled the campus, looking for any signs of the broadcast Guo Wei.
Soon it was dinner time.
Guo Wei didn’t eat dinner. He took out a washbasin from the dorm and went to the bathhouse alone to shower. Other than that, he didn’t do anything special.
His three clear-faced roommates hooked shoulders as they carried a bag of lo mein and returned to the dorms while talking and laughing.
At the same time, Yin Ren’s hair sneaked into the cracks of the bricks and quickly flowed throughout the campus. Unfortunately, they still didn’t return any suspicious fluctuations in power. Whether it was the “broadcast Guo Wei” or the “cause of Guo Laifu’s illness”, it seemed both had completely evaporated from this campus.
……
In the blink of an eye, it became dark.
At 9:30 p.m., the lights around the campus went out, and the iron chains appeared on all the buildings. A mediocre day had passed. Despite the peaceful atmosphere, it was enough to make them anxious.
Everyone ate a bit and then went back outdoors. There were less than three hours left until midnight.
Ge Tingting’s breathing was a little short. Huang Jin squeezed his spirit weapon until it clicked and would look at Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo from time to time.
“Didn’t that bastard tell us to leave the school?” Huang Jin kicked a trashcan nearby irritably. “At least have some weird things come out. Where can we find any clues if everything is so normal?”
“Don’t worry. We haven’t reached the end of the road yet.”
In order to prevent the “failure punishment” from suddenly falling from the sky, Yin Ren’s gaze swept across the playground from time to time. He began to calculate where protective spells would be best placed. There was no power without reason in this world. Even if the other party’s ability was strange, it wasn’t stronger than an Evil Spirit.
He already had some ideas, but unfortunately, if he could understand the nature of his opponent’s abilities…
“Actually, we got a good harvest today,” Zhong Chengshuo suddenly said. Despite holding a bag of spirit bombs, his tone was extremely calm. Huang Jin had to admit that though this person’s tone was sometimes irritating, when the situation was chaotic, it was inexplicably reassuring.
“Would you like to accompany me to do an experiment? I have an idea that needs to be verified,” Comrade Xiao Zhong asked seriously.
Three minutes later, everyone stopped in front of the senior teaching building.
It was an old independent building that was even older than the main teaching building. The gates were chained, and the glass doors were pitch black. It was one of the “inaccessible” areas on the campus.
Yin Ren hugged his arms. “Do you want to force your way in?”
“Not really.” Zhong Chengshuo tilted his head slightly. “I want to blow it up.”
Yin Ren: “……”
Yin Ren: “…What?!”
“It’s too slow for me to set up the bombs by myself. You guys help me put them in designated places.” Zhong Chengshuo pushed up his glasses, not feeling any kind of emotion with what he just said. “It’s getting dark outside the campus. We must hurry. I’ll explain later.”
Although Lord Ghost King was confused, he obediently followed as instructed.
After arranging the spirit bombs, Zhong Chengshuo went straight to the gate of the campus. The scrapped sliding door was still there. Seeing them approach, the old doorman narrowed his eyes, which were full of vigilance.
The barrier was still there.
The night outside the school quickly fell, and the tide of monsters came in, sticking themselves to the barrier again.
“Five, four…”
With his back to the countless monsters outside the gate, Zhong Chengshuo looked down at his phone screen.
“Three, two, one.”
The moment Zhong Chengshuo said the last number, a corner of the campus lit up with skyrocketing flames…
In a series of loud noises, the outline of a two-story building disappeared. It completely collapsed, and thick black smoke rose around it. The rest of the campus remained treacherously calm, without any response, as if the explosion that had occurred was in another time and space.
The last few wisps of smoke merged into the night, and the earth seemed to tremble.
“Crack.”
Not far outside the gate, there was a very slight noise. Everyone immediately glanced around—somewhere near the sky, a tiny foot of a spider passed through the barrier. It moved around suspiciously. Like the last remaining hair on a bald man’s head, it was so conspicuous it was hard to ignore.
Perhaps they picked up on the aura within as the monsters surged in an instant.
“Actually, from the beginning, I was a little curious.”
Before the squirming monsters, Zhong Chengshuo’s voice was steady; there was no joy or anger in his black eyes.
“Ge Tingting was outside school, and there’s no accurate school name on her uniform, which meant Guo Laifu didn’t remember his son’s school name.”
“But here, ‘Guo Wei’ reported the name ‘Qingjiang No. 16 Middle School’ very accurately. This scene inside the campus is also too clear. If it weren’t for living here for a long time, there’s no way the memory would be so clear.”
“The closed senior teaching building, the girls’ dorms, and the women’s bathroom are all places that Guo Wei himself hasn’t touched. The blurred areas are places that students wouldn’t frequent—the closer they are to Guo Wei, whether it be people or scenery, the more realistic the details.”
Ge Tingting looked at the screen with difficulty, while Huang Jin still had a look of confusion.
Yin Ren reacted quickly. “These are all Guo Wei’s memories.”
“Yes,” Zhong Chengshuo responded, slightly raising the corner of his mouth. “That broadcast Guo Wei seems to be able to materialize his memory.”
“Suppose this school and these people are all materialized memories of ‘Guo Wei himself’. On a large scale, according to the law of their own development of the combination of memories, I think this can be considered a ‘consciousness’.”
The excitement in Zhong Chengshuo’s smile became more obvious.
“If the memory item is damaged by more than 50%, this memory will be ‘forgotten’ and memory loss can cause instability in the consciousness. It seems that this rule also applies to Guo Wei himself.”
Yin Ren hummed with interest.
Indeed, this theory could explain many problems.
For example, losing contact with Lu Xiaohe, or their inability to feel the existence of the broadcast Guo Wei, or the strange attack of unknown origin—if they were in Guo Wei’s consciousness, as the master of the consciousness, Guo Wei had a greater home-field advantage.
Huang Jin’s focus was elsewhere. He rubbed his face hard and said, “It’s not too late yet. Let’s make another big explosion here and escape quickly.”
“No,” Zhong Chengshuo withdrew his smile.
“Why? There are less than two hours left!”
“Because there are not enough clues.” This time, it was Yin Ren who answered. He looked at Zhong Chengshuo with a bit of solemnity in his eyes. “Zhong Chengshuo, you blew up the most irrelevant memory to test this point, right?”
Why did Guo Wei die with his consciousness still intact but there was no ghost?
Why did he trap them in his own consciousness and force them to play this ridiculous game?
…Could they really safely escape if they were still inside this consciousness, and it completely collapsed?
Huang Jin: “Or we can just blow things up one by one.”
“I can’t gamble on everyone’s life.” Zhong Chengshuo took out his headset from his pocket and put it back on his ears. “If our judgment is wrong, we’ll all be annihilated.”
Huang Jin was silent.
“Are we going to wait and see how the so-called ‘four chances’ are consumed?” A moment later, Huang Jin spoke again with difficulty.
“This is the optimal choice.” Zhong Chengshuo sat on the blasted iron gate. His back was facing the bloody morning sun outside the campus.
“It’s okay. We can also see through his tricks.” Yin Ren wrapped the tips of his hair around his fingertips and looked at the dark campus. “The other party is just a child. Even if it’s a child corrupted by Evil Force, we have dealt with one in the past.”
“Don’t be afraid.” Yin Ren directed this to Ge Tingting.
However, Ge Tingting didn’t respond to him. She was looking at the receding monster outside the campus, unknown of what she was thinking.
Soon, the class bell rang at midnight—
“Welcome to Qingjiang No. 16 High School.” Guo Wei’s voice was as cold as usual. “Welcome to the last day of my life.”
“All of you did not successfully leave the school. Teachers, family members, faculty, and students, please choose one to exclude from the quota.”
Snap.
The attack that everyone imagined didn’t come. A gun that was rough in shape fell from the void and quietly lay in front of the four of them.
“Play out your best memories and stay here.” The voice over the loudspeaker repeated. “Stay here.”
“Otherwise, all four of you will have to stay here.”
“Removing the best memories… It seems that it’s still the way to induce instability of the consciousness and cause a mental breakdown.”
Zhong Chengshuo picked up the gun and weighed it in his hand.
“I’ll do it.” Huang Jin sighed and stepped forward. “You said that our memories are just suppressed. As long as we can get out, Shian must have a way.”
“Yes.” A synthetic voice sounded.
Ge Tingting grabbed the gun. Her hands were slightly trembling, but her movements were firm.
“Huang Jin is a spirit smith and can continue to support you guys. If the three of you are still conscious, you’re most likely to escape.”
“Xiao Ge?!”
“In all aspects, this is the most optimal choice.” Ge Tingting didn’t let go of the gun.
“We may not be able to save you,” Zhong Chengshuo replied calmly.
“I’m not that weak.”
The soft synthetic voice echoed in the air. Ge Tingting turned her head sideways and glanced at Yin Ren.
“…I’m not that scared either.”
Before she finished her words, she acted.
Everything happened in an instant. Ge Tingting didn’t give them a chance to speak again. She grabbed Zhong Chengshuo’s hand and put the muzzle to her temple, then directly pulled the trigger.
“Bang!”
The sound of a gunshot echoed, shattering the silence.
Although tempting, Lu Xu’s suggestion was obviously not taken into account.
Xing Conglian frowned and asked Lu Xu, “How can you not know who the customer who placed the order is?”
“Because now, customers all use their phone apps to place orders!” Lu Xu’s tone was inscrutable. “Rich people like to play like this, you know?”
“What do you mean by phone apps?” Xing Conglian asked calmly, as if he really didn’t understand the inner workings, but Lin Chen knew Xing Conglian was as excited as he was now.
Because if Li Jingtian had used his own phone to place the order, then there must be some records of it on his phone, and Wang Chao had gone through that phone because his Weibo account was “hacked”.
Since it was Wang Chao, naturally, there was an absolute possibility that he secretly backed up Li Jingtian’s phone data and usage.
“It means the customer uses their phone to order, and then a text message will be sent to my phone, telling me what kind of girl and which room to send her to. Isn’t this safe? It is said that when the guest departs, arrangements will be made to avoid meeting. Rich people love to do such nasty things all day long, so naturally they would pay attention to personal privacy, especially when they’re shameless.”
Xing Conglian nodded and called Wang Chao. After explaining the situation, Wang Chao asked him something, to which Xing Conglian turned back and asked Lu Xu, “Do you have that ordering software on your phone?”
Lu Xu sighed and said regretfully, “How can I have it? This is a treatment that can only be enjoyed by members who have paid a certain amount of dues and are very trustworthy. I hear that if the client isn’t satisfied after the order, they can leave a bad review and the lady who served them will have her salary deducted. That’s what I’ve been told anyway.”
“Truly keeping up with the times. Copy your text messages and send them to me later,” Xing Conglian said coldly to Lu Xu. He then asked Wang Chao to meet in the basement and hung up the phone.
Xing Conglian sighed regretfully and quickly switched topics, asking, “Do you know where Mu Zhuo is?”
Lu Xu didn’t react for a moment. “Who are you talking about? I don’t seem to have a lady under me named Mu… What?”
“Mu Zhuo.” Xing Conglian pointed to the advertisement on the large LED screen in the commercial plaza opposite of the building they were in. The image of a young man roaring on stage flashed away. “Is he here?”
“Oh him.” Lu Xu’s eyes lit up. “Ah, Mu Zhuo should be in Tianqing Lake on the outskirts of the city right now. Isn’t the Watermelon Music Festival coming up? He’s probably rehearsing there. Why are you looking for Mu Zhuo? Is it possible he’s also one of the guests?”
Lu Xu thought about it for a while.
“Why are you talking so much?” Xing Conglian walked out the door, hooked his finger at Lu Xu, and motioned for him to come out with him.
Lin Chen put down his coffee cup and stood up from the sofa.
When they walked out of the office, there was an instant change. Xing Conglian and Lu Xu seemed like good friends. Xing Conglian hooked his arms around Lu Xu’s shoulders as he faced the concerned eyes staring at the office. Lu Xu had to smirk, as if he were having a normal conversation with the police, and the events of being tortured to extract a confession and almost being shoved out the window never happened.
When they reached the elevator entrance, Xing Conglian shook Lu Xu’s hand and said, “I really appreciate Manager Li’s strong cooperation with our police work. If everyone could actively provide clues to the police like you, then our work would be so much easier.”
“Of course, of course.” Lu Xu finally noticed Xing Conglian’s abnormal attitude. He wanted to withdraw his hand but was still dragged into the elevator by Xing Conglian.
Lin Chen silently followed them.
After the elevator door closed, Xing Conglian instantly changed his expression. He let go of Lu Xu’s hand and wiped it on the neckline of his shirt. “Mr. Lu, look. If something happens to Royal One, will everyone suspect that you’re a mole?” After asking, he took the liberty to answer for him. “I think this is very likely.”
Just when Lu Xu thought everything would pass, he was so frightened his legs went limp again. “Captain Xing, what do you want? I told you everything you wanted to know!”
“Borrow your car to take it out for a spin,” Xing Conglian said casually.
“What?”
The elevator door opened with a ding, allowing the cool air of the parking lot to rush to their faces.
Wang Chao was at the elevator entrance, like an ant on a hot pan*. Seeing them, the teenager said anxiously, “Captain, Captain! Big news!”
*(热锅上的蚂蚁) Idiom describing the appearance of irritability, anxiety, and restlessness.
Xing Conglian raised his chin to Lu Xu and motioned for the other party to lead the way to the car, then asked Wang Chao, “What?”
“Li Jingtian bought a flight leaving Yongchuan at 15:30 to Xinni. He’s going to run away!”
“I know.”
“How do you know? How?!”
“Are you the only one who can surf the internet? There are only two flights a day from Yongchuan to Xinni. One at 9:50 and the other at 15:30 in the afternoon. Of course, I want him to leave during this period.”
Wang Chao turned his head and looked at Xing Conglian in disbelief. “I thought you were just talking about letting him go. What should we do now? Li Jingtian will leave in 6 hours!”
“Naturally, during this time period, we need to find key evidence to convict Li Jingtian.” Xing Conglian spoke nonchalantly.
While talking, they had already reached Lu Xu’s car.
Lu Xu drove a Mercedes-Benz S200. When Xing Conglian saw the car, he let out a “huh” in surprise.
Lu Xu was about to habitually sit in the driver’s seat when Xing Conglian patted him on the shoulder and motioned for him and Wang Chao to sit in the backseat.
Wang Chao showed a look of great reluctance, but under Xing Conglian’s gaze, he could only squeeze into the back seat with Mr. Lu, who was over 200 kg.
Lin Chen fastened the seatbelt on the front seat and heard Wang Chao shout from the back, “Captain, you still need to adjust for the time to get back to Yongchuan. If my math is right, that means we actually only have four and a half hours left to find evidence!”
Xing Conglian was fumbling with the Mercedes-Benz driving system, looking quite interested in the luxury car. “Mr. Wang…” He suddenly backed the car out of the parking space and slammed on the gas pedal.
“What?”
“What’s the situation on the internet now?” Xing Conglian wasn’t following Wang Chao’s line of thinking at all.
“Isn’t it still crazy from yesterday to today?” Wang Chao leaned towards the door on the other side and insisted on keeping his distance from Lu Xu.
Although the speed at which the car was going was a bit crazy and there was a time limit, Xing Conglian was still calm and relaxed. He rolled down the car window, lit a cigarette, and said to Wang Chao, “When you report to your boss, it’s best to be specific.”
“I—I—” Wang Chao suddenly blushed and quickly admitted his mistake. “Sorry, Captain. So far in 20 minutes, the ‘Report on the Xu Ran incident’ has received 3,000+ retweets and 700+ comments. Online comments are still roughly divided into two factions. Although there are signs of an increase in netizens who suspect that there’s something wrong with Li Jingtian, they are still overwhelmed by the vast number of fan comments. Li Jingtian’s fans are organized and planned to get people to give praise and attention to any comments that support Li Jingtian, pushing them to the forefront. They also are saying Xu Ran’s death was completely an accident during the police pursuit of a suspect and has nothing to do with the behavior of the fans… and…” Wang Chao paused for a moment before hesitating to speak.
“And what?” Xing Conglian asked impatiently.
“And, the hot comments are all conspiracy theories saying someone ordered the police to frame their idol and that the police are instructing others to target Li Jingtian all along.”
“Huh, the eyes of onlookers are indeed discerning.” Xing Conglian lamented.
Although Wang Chao was only summarizing, the online remarks would obviously be more heated than what he summed up. Of course, fans would continue to bite others in order to protect their idol, and they have less than six hours.
Lu Xu pulled on his seatbelt, looked at the scenery outside the elevated road, and suddenly said, “Captain, this road is going to Tianqing Lake. You—you just asked me where Mu Zhuo is. Are you really going to search for him?”
“Why? Does Mr. Lu have any objections?”
“I wouldn’t dare!”
Lin Chen raised his eyes and looked at the rearview mirror to where Lu Xu was sitting with an uncertain gaze.
“Mr. Lu, do you have any other clues that you want to provide to the police?” Lin Chen suddenly asked.
“Oh, it’s not that I have a clue. I’m just worried about the captain!” Lu Xu leaned forward and said very doggedly, “Based on what I just heard, you plan to fight with Li Jingtian. In this case, if you go to Mu Zhuo, CA Entertainment may not be happy about it…”
Xing Conglian held his cigarette and asked with a smile, “Whether they are happy or not, what does that have to do with me?”
“This… still has something to do with you.” Lu Xu acted like a loyal dog. “CA Entertainment isn’t like other entertainment companies. In fact, compared to them, CA Entertainment is much more powerful.”
“Mr. Lu, can you please speak clearly?” Xing Conglian dusted off the soot from his cigarette as he asked.
“CA is a veteran in the entertainment empire. For an entertainment company, what they are known for best is to make stars, right?” Lu Xu swallowed and continued, “But what is the essence of making a star? Isn’t it spreading layers upon layers of communication? Let a person or thing become popular—even the bad ones can be good for you. And CA is best at hyping and manipulating public opinion, and they have a very good relationship with the media that they could make an ugly monster reach the top 100 voted most handsome male stars. If you want to go head-to-head with CA, that’s like hitting a stone with an egg*.”
*(以卵击石) Metaphor for underestimating one’s own strength leading to self-destruction.
“They’re that powerful?” Xing Conglian seemed to have thought of something as he replied casually.
“More than that. Didn’t you just say that those fans on the internet are desperately attacking the police… CA must be involved. I know, you have been investigating Xu Ran’s case, but honestly, a beast like Li Jingtian can be whitewashed*, like now. See, his fans are still loyal to him. Isn’t it quite amazing the efforts that CA has put in?” When he said the worst beast, Lu Xu gritted his teeth.
*In terms of the entertainment industry, whitewashing is deliberately misleading people in various ways, causing them to forget a celebrity’s bad past.
“According to Mr. Lu, CA Entertainment is really scary,” Xing Conglian said.
In fact, from the start, a large-scale cleansing of online public opinion on the Li Jingtian incident wasn’t something an individual could do. It wasn’t surprising that there was a large company behind it.
Suddenly, Lin Chen heard Xing Conglian ask, “Consultant Lin, can someone who confounds black and white* remain invincible in public opinion forever?”
*(颠倒黑白) Metaphor for distorting facts and confuses right and wrong.
Lin Chen thought for a bit and replied, “This involves the issue of communication. Although in theory, there’s no possibility of manipulating every public opinion by 100%, it’s still possible to guarantee an approval rating of more than 70% if done properly.”
“Then wouldn’t this be a good time for us to find Mu Zho?”
“Indeed,” Lin Chen replied.
“Why?”
The person who asked was Wang Chao, so Lin Chen answered patiently. “The reason is simple. Now that Li Jingtian is planning to leave China, either Li Jingtian or CA Entertainment will have to find a proper reason for this matter in order to avoid looking guilty. From current online public opinion, the reason is probably us.”
“What do you mean, A’Chen? What’s wrong with us?”
“Let’s find Mu Zhuo and ask about Song Shengsheng. If I were CA Entertainment, I would probably realize that we have hit a dead end regarding Xu Ran’s case, so we now want to overturn an old case and crucify Li Jingtian. For this kind of established entertainment company, how can such a good opportunity not be used?”
“’Hongjing police persecuted a well-known singer in Xinni. The singer was forced to return to his country after being overwhelmed by humiliation’. Mr. Wang, what do you think of this headline?” Xing Conglian added another knife.
Wang Chao took a deep breath. “Fuck, shameless!”
“Cut the crap.” Xing Conglian pressed out the cigarette butt and solemnly asked, “What about the ‘ordering’ software? Is there any trace of usage on Li Jingtian’s phone?”
Wang Chao frowned and shook his head. “There may be traces of installation and deletion, but I still don’t know. If Li Jingtian’s phone is in my hands, I can restore the data, but I don’t have it.”
He looked annoyed, as if he wished he could travel back a day ago. If he could have completely restored the data on Li Jingtian’s phone at that time, they would probably be sitting in the police station drinking tea underneath the blowing air conditioning by now.
But perhaps there was some unknown reason that made them have to see Mu Zhuo, and this in itself was Xu Ran’s wish.
……
In fact, before meeting Mu Zhuo, Lin Chen still didn’t understand the meaning of such an arrangement.
The time was 9:10 a.m. on May 7th and the location was on the outskirts of Fengchun, on the banks of Tianqing Lake.
Because of the music festival, a magnificent steel stage was built on the vast grassland by the lake. From a distance, there was an inexplicable sense of awe.
There were music fans stationed on the grass who had come to camp early. They had set up an outing. Some were playing cards, others were chatting, and some were heavily asleep, most likely hungover, but most people in the venue were happy men and women. They were laughing or singing and dancing for self-entertainment, making it seem like this place had become paradise.
There were also some small booths that were selling souvenirs outside the venue. Because it wasn’t time for the performance, the booths selling support gear were half-closed.
Wang Chao walked there curiously and stood in front of a booth. He looked up at the two cartoon characters hugging each other printed on the banner and then became dumbfounded.
Lin Chen also raised his head. If he guessed correctly, the two villains hugging each other are Li Jingtian and Mu Zhuo. In addition, the cartoon avatars were encircled by a heart, and the words “T&M” and “Forever Illi” were marked at the bottom. Although they didn’t know much about current pop culture, it was obvious that this should be something like a fan CP*.
*Couple. You can think of them as “shippers” who pair up two people (usually celebrities or fictional characters) whom they imagine are in a relationship.
“What the hell? Didn’t Illi dissolve long ago?” Wang Chao asked incredulously. “Is this Mu Zhuo’s and Li Jingtian’s gay booth?”
Lin Chen didn’t have time to cover the teenager’s mouth.
A girl who was dozing off in the booth heard this and suddenly woke up. She glared at them with a strange look.
“Sorry.” Lin Chen nodded to the other party and apologized.
He wanted to pull Wang Chao away, but the girl in the booth jumped up excitedly and shouted, “Wait!”
Wang Chao looked strangely back and saw the girl pick up a brochure at the booth, run up to them, and stuff it into his hands. “Young man, you have a good eye. I’ll give this to you. I hope you study hard!”
After the girl finished speaking, she patted Wang Chao on the shoulder.
It was probably the first time he met someone who was more into 2D than himself. The strangeness in his eyes turned into horror. He looked down at the brochure in his hand, neither tossing it nor reading it.
“Hey, what’s that?” Xing Conglian casually took the brochure from Wang Chao and then flipped through a few pages. Sure enough, his eyes also changed. “What kind of relationship do Mu Zhuo and Li Jingtian have?” he asked.
“Isn’t it cute! So cute! Isn’t TianMu so cute*?!” The girl jumped up and asked enthusiastically.
*Clarity: She’s saying isn’t it meng (moe). TianMu = Li Jingtian x Mu Zhuo.
“Of course it’s cute.” Xing Conglian didn’t even know what “TianMu” was, but he lied smoothly.
“Ah, you’re the legendary Uncle Fan.” Upon hearing this, the little girl happily grabbed Xing Conglian’s hand and didn’t let go.
“Yeah, he has liked these two for a long time, since they were in Illi,” Lin Chen seriously lied for Xing Conglian.
“Oh my, you still like Illi. That’s great! It’s really rare to see such a discerning straight guy! Well, this year is Illi’s 10th anniversary, so maybe we can still expect Jingtian and A’Mu to make a comeback on the same stage, but now that Jingtian is in such big trouble, they may not have the opportunity to go on stage together again. It’s a pity.”
The little girl chattered nonstop. From her words, Lin Chen knew that Mu Zhuo and Li Jingtian had a very good relationship and often went out together, especially after Mu Zhuo was sexually assaulted by Song Shengsheng. Li Jingtian gave him great support. Their friendship had thus been maintained to the present.
Naturally, the public liked this kind of story about relying on and supporting each other to overcome difficulties together. This also made the fan groups of Li Jingtian and Mu Zhuo overlap a lot because their popularity complemented each other. Although the group disbanded, their performances after flying solo were much better than when they debuted.
Listening to what the fan was saying was far more useful than looking for hours of information elsewhere.
“It seems that CA is quite powerful. It’s rare for individuals to develop so well after their group disbanded.” Xing Conglian was dragged by the little girl for a long time before he finally managed to break free. He yawned and looked around. On the empty stage, there were only sporadic staffers debugging equipment. “Mu Zhuo is really dedicated. Didn’t he perform late yesterday and now he’s rehearsing?”
“This is what makes CA so great. Artists have the same working hours as employees and they need to be strictly followed,” Lu Xu said.
Xing Conglian smiled. “A company with strict rules—we generally call them a criminal syndicate.”
Lu Xu only nodded and smiled bitterly.
“Then please tell Mr. Lu, where are we going to find Mu Zhuo?”
“You’re too polite. What are you talking about?” Lu Xu hurriedly answered. “I’ve already called ahead and asked about it. Mu Zhuo is backstage right now, but there’ll be rehearsal soon.”
Before his voice fell, the lights on stage in the distance began to change, and after a cluster of violent, intense flashing lights, a person who they had only seen in advertisements so far suddenly appeared on stage.
Mu Zhuo was nearly 30, but he still looked like a young man. He had blond hair and a tender face. Although he was wearing plain clothes, he had infinite charm when he was holding the microphone.
The sound wasn’t turned on, so Mu Zhuo just walked around holding the microphone with his backup dancers. On the huge, elevated stage, he was as small as an ant, but such a small ant seemed to cast a spell over the audience.
The fans on the lawn also noticed him on stage and started cheering. Even if they couldn’t hear any sound, they were as excited as if they were listening to a real concert.
From start to finish, the cheers swept across the lawn without pause.
At the end of the rehearsal, Mu Zhuo stood panting on stage. The weather was hot, and he was sweating profusely. He seemed a little tired. At this moment, Mu Zhuo’s hand couldn’t help but grip the microphone tightly. Then, his finger began to gently scratch on the microphone’s non-slip sleeve, again and again. After a certain moment, he couldn’t help but close his eyes.
Mu Zhuo’s action was very brief, but Lin Chen saw all this clearly. He looked at Xing Conglian, and like countless times of tacit understanding, Xing Conglian was also looking at him.
“What’s wrong with this?” Xing Conglian asked.
For a while, Lin Chen couldn’t answer Xing Conglian’s question, but the scene in front of him reminded him of many things. “Did Wang Chao bring a bug?” He suddenly asked Xing Conglian rhetorically.
When they looked at the stage again, Mu Zhuo was already laughing and joking with the dancers as he walked down the steps. When he was with his dancers, he didn’t have any celebrity status and was acting as if he were the normal boy-next-door.
Although they had previously lamented how powerful CA Entertainment was, seeing the stars from CA revealed how strict and regular their training system was. Even Li Jingtian or Mu Zhuo were really different from those high-strung little stars.
Furthermore, such a system was evident not only in artist training but also in internal management.
Backstage security was extremely strict. If they didn’t have a “traitor” like Lu Xu, it would have taken a lot of effort for them to see Mu Zhuo.
Mu Zhuo looked like he was in excellent spirits. He had a ruddy complexion. He was drinking water at the moment after he just got off the stage. When he saw them enter his dressing room, he even winked at them.
“Manager Li?” Mu Zhuo politely put down the water cup and greeted Lu Xu. “You had free time to come here?”
Although Mu Zhuo responded well, the attitude of the manager in the lounge wasn’t as polite. “Manager Li, isn’t it clearly stated in the company’s regulations that you shouldn’t bring strangers casually in and out of the backstage?”
Unphased, since Lu Xu was a veteran at dealing with this kind of manager, he said, “What’s with your attitude? See these three? They are all police officers and came to Mu Zhuo to ask some questions.”
“What questions?” The manager instantly became vigilant.
It was probably because the role of a manger was like a lioness protecting her calf. Whether it was Liu Ying or Mu Zhuo’s manager, after hearing their identities, they stopped in front of Mu Zhuo and told them to leave immediately.
“I want to ask Mr. Mu Zhuo something about Mr. Li Jingtian.”
Lin Chen took a step forward, raised his eyes, and took a close look at this flamboyant and unbridled rock and roll youth.
It was no wonder that Lu Xu didn’t have any record of his identity for four years. Because, after he was released from prison, his name was no longer Lu Xu.
Lin Chen guessed that Xing Conglian had already figured things out by having Wang Chao wait downstairs, but his face was like usual. Before entering the general manager’s office, he took a roll of plastic tape from the secretary’s desk by the door.
The office was indeed empty.
Xing Conglian seemed to have expected this. He slammed the door and locked it, ignoring the shouts of the secretary outside.
At the moment when the office door was slammed shut, there was a brief silence, followed by the subtle sounds that echoed in the office.
Lin Chen looked around, and his eyes fell from the half-open glass window to the wine cabinet at the corner of the office, and finally landed on the European-style leather sofa on the other side of the room.
In fact, people like Li Gaoqiang or Lu Xu weren’t particularly smart, but they had rich life experiences. They lived in the dirtiest pit of society and were best at veiled compliance. In order to survive, they have done many ugly things in the world.
And, because they spent so long in the pit, they often mastered strong survival skills and could live well.
However, if their opponent was Xing Conglian, even foresight wouldn’t be enough.
Lin Chen walked to the wine cabinet and made himself a cup of hot coffee. He stirred in some sugar cubes with a small silver spoon, and then sat down on the leather sofa.
Xing Conglian turned around the office for half a circle. When he walked to the data cabinet, he kicked the iron door.
After a loud noise, a sibilant sound came from inside the cabinet.
“Come out,” Xing Conglian said lightly.
The door of the data cabinet opened abruptly, and a fat man rolled up like a small mountain and was lying on his back on the ground.
Sure enough, it was Lu Xu.
There were bruises and swelling on Lu Xu’s mouth and nose. He repeated the same trick and directly hugged Xing Conglian’s thigh and began to cry. “Captain Xing, I really didn’t know your true identity yesterday, so I did some bad things. Adults don’t really care about such small trifles. Please forgive me!”
Lin Chen took a sip of his coffee.
“Raise your head,” Xing Conglian said faintly.
Lu Xu raised his head obediently. His entire face looked like a mangy dog. As he looked up, he blinked nervously, as if his mouth would never snap back.
Xing Conglian took out the tape and easily sealed Lu Xu’s mouth.
Lu Xu opened his eyes abruptly, completely unaware of what was going on. He screamed twice, and then, seemingly like in those classic cop dramas, he widened his eyes and showed real fear in them. However, Xing Conglian didn’t have the mind to care about this. Before Lu Xu could reach out and tear off the tape, Xing Conglian had used a beautiful grappling technique to hold him back and drag the middle-aged man towards the window.
What happened next was somewhat frightening.
Xing Conglian first pushed the glass window that was on the 25th floor a little higher, then lifted Mr. Lu Xu and pressed him out the window.
In fact, this wasn’t really a dangerous action since, due to Mr. Lu Xu’s physical attributes, he really couldn’t fall out of the window. However, with the high-rise roaring wind pounding against him like a knife and the blaring honking noises from below, once he looked down, against all reason, it gave him the illusion that he would plummet 25 stories down.
Lu Xu struggled fiercely, slamming his body against the edge of the window, but Xing Conglian’s hand held him firm.
“Mr. Lu,” Xing Conglian got close to his ears and whispered. “Whether you believe it or not, even if I really push you out today, I’ll only sit in jail for a few years at most, but in your situation, you’ll certainly die.”
Naturally, to deal with a hob, they had to be ruthless. Lin Chen took another sip of his coffee.
Lu Xu shouted something and then nodded desperately. Finally, as if the window outside had blown enough, Xing Conglian let go, and Lu Xu fluttered to the floor.
He shivered, and his face was as white as a sheet of rice paper. He was so terrified that he couldn’t even make those disgusting groveling gestures.
Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian.
Xing Conglian squatted down and patted Lu Xu on the shoulder and said politely, “What I ask, you answer, just like the game you played last time.”
Lu Xu nodded his head fiercely as if he were pounding garlic. Xing Conglian stretched out his hand and took off the tape. Lu Xu panted suddenly and didn’t even dare to scream.
Xing Conglian took out his phone and started to read something.
“Three weeks ago, on the evening of April 15th, as Li Gaoqiang, you spent a total of 184,115 yuan using a credit card at the club named Royal One. May I ask if this credit card consumption was used to pay for all the entertainment consumption activities of CA Entertainment artists and employees at Royal One that night?”
Lu Xu kept his mouth shut. At this moment, all he would do was nod his head, as if he had lost his ability to speak.
“Was any money used to pay for sex services provided by Royal One?”
Lu Xu’s eyes rolled in half a circle, and he hesitated. “This…”
“Yes or no. Got it, Mr. Lu?”
“It was all normal alcohol consumption. You have to believe me. Although you know my background, our company…”
Lin Chen finally put the white porcelain cup down on the coffee table. He leaned forward slightly, staring at the fat face on the ground not far away, and said to Xing Conglian, “The answers just now are all lies.”
Xing Conglian shrugged and, without saying a word, pulled Lu Xu up and dragged him back to the window. Lu Xu was so scared that he hugged Xing Conglian’s waist and refused to let go.
Xing Conglian said with annoyance, “I say Mr. Lu, can you stop taking advantage of me?”
Lu Xu hurriedly let go, extremely frightened. He limped to the ground and no longer had any devious thoughts. “It’s… Actually, it’s not… The money wasn’t paid by CA Entertainment…”
Hearing this, Xing Conglian was quite surprised.
“What do you mean?” Xing Conglian asked.
“That… That CA…” Lu Xu looked up at Xing Conglian cautiously and said wretchedly, “It’s little artists from CA, sell… money from selling.”
Xing Conglian tugged at his ears and asked incredulously, “Money from selling?”
“Sell—selling their asses.”
In a rare moment, Lin Chen was also surprised. He looked at Xing Conglian and saw him point at the fat man who was spread out on the ground as he asked him, “Is there something wrong with my hearing?”
“No?”
“What the hell is going on?” Xing Conglian said as he irritably kicked Lu Xu. “Speak clearly.”
“You see, it’s the unspoken rule of the industry. In such a big entertainment company, there are dozens of men and women, and there are those who don’t want to work hard but still want to get ahead, so of course…” Lu Xu shivered. The thumbs on his hands did a kissing motion. “There are some trainees who are resourceful. They can make a little money and get to know a big boss. It’s a win-win. But this isn’t rape. We’re not forcing them since they are willing to do it, really.”
Lu Xu finished.
What he meant was that he was actually introducing CA artists to provide sexual services to Royal One’s customers while earning an intermediary service fee.
Lin Chen felt that his worldview was a little shaken.
Although he had heard of the unspoken rules inside the industry, those things were far from his life. Even if he had seen breaking news about a certain artist being caught at a hotel in newspapers and on TV, it was just a flash of news that didn’t affect his reality, making it seem unreal.
In short, it was probably because the entertainment industry was too glamorous that it separated itself from normal life with an unbreakable film.
On one side of the film were the stars, and on the other side were people watching the drama.
But now, because of this whole case, they seem to have gradually touched the other world. Although they couldn’t break the membrane, they had touched strange things in it.
Xing Conglian’s reaction was faster. “Mr. Lu sure is busy. It’s not easy matching both ends every night, right?”
“It’s not about making a living,” Lu Xu laughed.
But even if Lu Xu was the matchmaker for both ends, why was this so-called prostitution fund paid by Lu Xu to the club?
“What’s the relationship between CA Entertainment and Royal One. Is it a subsidiary of the same company?” Xing Conglian asked.
“This, how can we match CA? They are a large multinational company that’s particularly successful in the entertainment industry. Compared to them, we’re just a small business here. It’s a matter of mutual benefit. Who doesn’t do it?”
“Why are you paying for it?”
“You see, this is actually an account. I don’t know how you found it. If CA directly pays Royal One, won’t it be obvious what’s going on? I’m a middleman. The bosses give me the money, I transfer it there, and then it gets transferred to someone else. The water runs deep. I can go undercover for you if you really want me to look into it.”
Perhaps seeing Xing Conglian suddenly had a good attitude, Lu Xu became weaselly again.
Xing Conglian glanced at him and said, “Financial crimes are not my responsibility.”
“I know you’re here because of Xu Ran’s case. I deserve my bad luck in Xu Ran’s matter. You shouldn’t have asked about Xu Ran. I really didn’t betray you last night.”
Xing Conglian was still polite. “Then I violated a taboo?”
“Xu Ran is a taboo.” Lu Xu got up from the ground, trying to get closer to Xing Conglian, but in the end, he supported himself at the table and didn’t dare to get up again. “Think about it. Although I’m not the boss, what’s the most important thing to a boss that opens such a big club?”
“Please enlighten us, Mr. Lu.”
“Of course, it’s the privacy of the guests!” Lu Xu shook his head as if what he was saying was profound. “You have to make your guest feel safe before others will come to spend their money, right? But Xu Ran actually went to sue a customer. This touched the bottom line. If a club can’t even protect the privacy of a customer, how can the boss keep his doors open?”
Lu Xu’s look became deeper as he fawningly looked at Xing Conglian, as if he knew everything while saying nothing.
However, Xing Conglian already had a clear idea and didn’t dwell on these details. He simply asked, “Answer me directly. Was Li Jingtian at Royal One that night?”
Lu Xu shook his head and asked with a smile, “Do you want me to answer yes or no?”
Like the wise saying, a dog can’t change eating shit*.
*(狗改不了吃屎) Idiom referring to nature is hard to change.
“Tell the truth.”
“The truth is that I really don’t know who ordered her, but if you want me to testify in court, that’s not a problem. I promise that I can lie seamlessly and help you nail that little bitch, Li Jingtian.”
Looking at Lu Xu’s cunning and oily face, Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian in disappointment and shook his head.
The reason why he shook his head was because all of Lu Xu’s reactions were saying: I’m telling the truth. I really don’t know who was waiting for Xu Ran in the room that night.
Although all clues pointed to Li Jingtian, the club had already cleared all possible evidence for the so-called business in order to protect the privacy of their guests, so they still didn’t have anything substantial that could crucify Li Jingtian.
Lin Chen suddenly felt that Lu Xu’s suggestion just now was very enticing.
Kinky Translations 