Chapter 203: The Dead Come Back to Life (Part 1)
Chapter 203: The Dead Come Back to Life (Part 1)
“No no no, I didn’t go easy on him on purpose.”
Siyuan didn’t know where to begin when explaining to Little Dragon Maiden. She meant that he had gone easy on that Talisman Sect disciple named Shanyu, but Siyuan himself knew that he really hadn’t.
He didn’t even know his opponent’s abilities. Just those fierce moves alone gave him a headache. If it weren’t for that spoon helping Siyuan analyze how spiritual power worked, he might not have even won, let alone gone easy on him.
Of course, saying this didn’t sound very believable. No wonder Little Dragon Maiden kept blaming him.
“Are you sure he was injured?”
“Very sure. When he ran away at the end, I thought he was going to self-destruct. Someone who doesn’t get hurt from that level of reversed meridians would have already beaten me.” Siyuan analyzed it logically. “I don’t think he ran far. He’s still in this area.”
“Hmm… Then I will send people to search.”
Little Dragon Maiden was temporarily in charge at the Special Cases Division headquarters, so her information was a bit better than Siyuan’s. She was also the one giving out tasks now. Although most tasks were handed over to the Special Affairs Division, some specifically kept tasks still needed the original Special Cases Division team to handle them.
“Is it that child corpse case?”
“Don’t get involved in that case for now. I already had Qiu Yin and the others follow up. Right now, there are two matters. One is the earth vein eruption at Yimeng Mountain. The other is an epidemic in a remote small town. Which one do you want?”
“Epidemic? What do you mean? That’s not our business, right? Shouldn’t the CDC handle that?”
“The dead coming back to life. Do you think that’s our business?”
The dead coming back to life? Siyuan had read some records about the dead coming back to life in books. The most recent one was probably in the ninth year of Ming Jiajing’s reign. The worst place at that time was near the Imperial Capital. Finally, under the control of an organization similar to the Special Cases Division back then, they built a Square Altar to suppress the strange events of the dead coming back to life.
The specific details were a bit unclear, but the general record in the book said that in mid-June of the ninth year of Ming Jiajing, a widow named Chen was found dead in her home. Her death was tragic; her whole body looked like it had been bitten by wild animals. Later, the investigation found that the person who killed this widow was actually her husband, who had been dead for several years. After that, many similar cases happened, so the local authorities couldn’t handle it. Eventually, because the situation became too big and alarmed the whole city, the Special Cases Division of that time stepped in. According to records, to deal with this matter, they lost over a hundred and sixty top experts. You can imagine how serious it was.
Of course, compared to back then, technology was more advanced now, and communication methods were better. So the situation hadn’t spread further. The local government had already started curfews and information control and reported it to the central government immediately. Originally, the Special Affairs Division should have handled this, but they clearly had no experience with this kind of near-mass incident. In the end, they had no choice but to hand it over to the remaining members of the Special Cases Division to manage.
And Siyuan understood that this matter must be quite serious. Otherwise, Little Dragon Maiden wouldn’t directly assign the task to someone at his clan leader level.
“So you’ve decided to handle this one?”
“Alright, give me the address.”
Little Dragon Maiden cheerfully handed the task list to Siyuan. But when Siyuan saw the address, he was completely stunned. Because this address… was exactly the place Chen Ming had told Siyuan was the real location of Dazhuang. Since Siyuan learned this news last time, he hadn’t had time to check it out. Now, by sheer coincidence, he really had to go to that area for a mission.
“Depart this afternoon. You decide the personnel, but no more than five people. Too many people would cause panic. Your cover is arranged; just say you are a criminal investigation expert from the Central Judicial Police College. I think it would be good if you take Qianruo and Ning Qingyuan. They know a lot about corpses.”
“Yeah, and they are also very good at arguing.” Siyuan shook his head with a bitter smile. “I don’t even dare to look for Ning Qingyuan now. Qianruo gets jealous…”
“Women, getting jealous is very normal.” Little Dragon Maiden smiled knowingly. “Don’t worry, I’ll coordinate for you. Leave your two little ones to me. By the way, it’s best to leave Ghost Mother here. If it really is the dead coming back to life, that place would definitely be harmful to her.”
“I’m counting on you to coordinate then.”
“You really… no major problem can stump you, but when it comes to these romantic matters, you’re helpless.”
“Sister Xue, you probably never had a relationship.”
This sentence from Siyuan left Little Dragon Maiden speechless for a long while, her face red. She just waved her hand helplessly. “Prepare to leave. There’s no formation array for teleportation over there. Take a plane to Hanzhong, then transfer by car. Someone will meet you there.”
“Understood.”
After receiving the instructions and arrangements, Siyuan immediately started picking his team. But he didn’t rush to pick Qianruo and Ning Qingyuan first. Instead, he picked the one codenamed Kaguya, Old Zombie.
Old Zombie was quite impressive now. His human form was a total middle-aged handsome man. He now ran a teahouse in Demon Capital. Because his tea-brewing skills were authentic and he was good at playing chess, he got to know many retired officials. Now, he sat in his teahouse every day with a pot of tea, telling stories about the past. Siyuan had listened twice. Stories about leading troops in battle, or palace intrigues—he told them vividly. With his storytelling skill, he made many old friends, all well-connected old-timers. So Old Zombie was not what he used to be.
“General, long time no see.”
When Siyuan entered the teahouse, Old Zombie, who was selecting tea, quickly hid all the good tea on the table. He looked at Siyuan warily, spreading his hands. “I have no tea left. None.”
“Hey…” Siyuan scratched his head. Last time he just took two pounds of top-grade Biluochun tea. Did he have to guard against him like a thief…
“No… I don’t want tea this time. There’s a task.”
A task? Hearing there was a task, Old Zombie got excited immediately. Since the Special Cases Division temporarily closed, Old Zombie suddenly felt the loneliness of retiring in his old age, sitting in the teahouse every day wasting time. Now, great, there was a task!
“Good good good, are there monsters and ghosts again? This old man will show them that an old dog still has a few teeth.”
“Probably this task suits your taste.” Siyuan handed the brief to Old Zombie. “General, get ready. Meet at the airport at four this afternoon.”
“Sure thing!”
Watching Old Zombie start busily clearing the place and packing, Siyuan pushed the door open and stepped into the void, directly crossing over a hundred kilometers to his own base. He found Xianshui, who was sitting in front of a slot machine madly throwing coins.
“You wouldn’t come find me for no reason. Speak.” Xianshui whistled, not turning his head. “Look, this round I’ll definitely hit big.”
“Want to come with me?”
“Where?”
“There’s a place where dead people are causing trouble.”
“Not going. Juhai went to Yunnan to buy medicinal herbs. I just opened a pharmacy. He won’t be back for over half a month. If I leave, no one will take care of Moli.”
“Really not going?”
“Really not. But since it’s about dead people causing trouble, I can recommend someone to you.” Xianshui struggled to pull his wallet from his pocket, took out a business card. “Find him.”
“This… who is it?”
“Zhao Shun. Isn’t the name on it? Nicknamed Mule. He’s quite into these kinds of things. He can’t beat you, but when it comes to these crooked paths, you aren’t fit to hold his shoes.”
“Okay, I trust you.”
“Got any cigarettes on you?”
“Yeah.”
“Give them here. I’m out.”
After being extorted for a pack of freshly bought Zhonghua cigarettes by Xianshui, Siyuan held the business card and found that Zhao Shun guy, nicknamed Mule. This guy actually sold spirit money by the roadside. He looked about thirty-five or thirty-six, dark and thin with a scruffy beard, sitting drowsily in a paper effigy shop. A small TV played boring programs.
“Small stack, five bucks. Large stack, eight bucks. Gold or silver ingots, ten bucks each. Paper figures fifty, paper mansion one-twenty, Mercedes-Benz eighty, paper phone forty. Custom orders cost extra.”
“Mule?”
Mule opened his sleepy, bleary eyes, looked up at Siyuan, and said lazily, “Friend from the circle, right? Ritual ceremony, twelve hundred. Summoning spirits, three thousand. Exorcism, five thousand.”
“I was referred by Xianshui.”
Hearing the name Xianshui, Mule instantly became alert. He slipped right off his lounge chair and scurried over, eagerly bringing a chair and placing it in front of Siyuan. “Please sit. Would you like water or tea?”
“Water is fine.” Siyuan smiled and nodded at him. “Are you very familiar with that guy Xianshui?”
“Hey, you’re joking. Who around here doesn’t know Brother Shui? He’s a big shot.” Mule grinned, poured a paper cup of hot water, and placed it in front of Siyuan. “Is there something you need?”
“Since you understand these matters, I won’t beat around the bush. I have a case about dead people coming back to life to investigate. That guy Xianshui couldn’t leave, so he recommended you. What do you think?”
“This…” Mule was stunned for a moment, then looked at Siyuan with a bitter smile. “Brother, look. I just run this little shop to make a living. This…”
“Eight hundred a day.” Siyuan smiled and nodded. “Consider it my treat.”
“Eight hundred a day?” Mule counted on his fingers for a bit. “Then you gotta hire me for at least ten days. Otherwise, I won’t even have enough for food.”
“I’ll pay you for a full month at once.” Siyuan nodded, took out a slip of paper with an address. “So you agree? Then get to this place by tomorrow afternoon. Call me when you arrive.”
After saying that, Siyuan took out five thousand yuan from his pocket, freshly withdrawn from the bank and still warm, and placed it in front of Mule. “Deposit.”