Chapter 205: Old Tree Entwined Roots (Part 1)

Chapter 205: Old Tree Entwined Roots (Part 1)

“Expert, everything depends on you this time. Our place can barely survive. Oh my mother…”

After several rounds of drinks, Siyuan just returned to the most luxurious guesthouse in the small town to rest. The drunk county police chief came to find him. He held Siyuan’s hands while crying and begged.

“First Old Sun’s wife, then my second brother’s new wife. I fear it will be my family’s turn next, Expert… I kneel to you!”

Siyuan saw this forty or fifty-year-old man about to kneel. He immediately supported his elbows with both hands. He said seriously, “Since I came, I will definitely handle this matter. I will start investigating tomorrow morning.”

“Expert, they all said they don’t believe someone so young can achieve anything. But I saw at a glance you are no ordinary person. I believe in you!”

Although these guys always forgot Siyuan’s name and just called him Expert, the helplessness and sorrow in their tone was truly genuine.

Someone would surely ask why they didn’t just leave this place and move somewhere else since things had reached this point. After all, the government could lead the relocation. Moving this small town of just tens of thousands of people wasn’t particularly difficult.

Indeed, if state resources were used to relocate these people, this place would become an abandoned town within three days, completely ending the so-called dead attacks. But there was an old saying about how hard it is to leave one’s homeland. Never mind just a few resurrected dead people—even near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant there were residents. Perhaps poverty was a factor, but what difference did being poor in that barren land make compared to being poor elsewhere? Humans were complex creatures. Often, people wouldn’t easily abandon where they had lived for so long, just like how despite knowing the Spring Festival travel season was painful and time at home short, hundreds of millions still embarked on journeys annually. This was the power of home. Even if there was just a sliver of hope, people wouldn’t readily give up their homes.

So to prevent more people from getting hurt, Siyuan had to resolve this crisis as quickly as possible. If there was time, he could go with Qianruo to investigate that Zhen Dazhuang’s situation. After all, public and private matters had to be kept separate no matter what.

After seeing off the sobbing county police chief, Siyuan leaned against the windowsill and lit a cigarette. After taking a puff, he suddenly felt quite literary.

“What’s wrong? Turning serious again all of a sudden?”

Ghost Mother’s voice abruptly came from behind him. But Siyuan didn’t turn around. He knew she could appear before him anytime, anywhere. There was no need to guard against it because it was simply impossible to guard against…

“A very strange feeling.” Siyuan sighed. “I don’t know when I became so compassionate.”

Ghost Mother leaned back against Siyuan’s back, seeming to ponder something. After thinking a while, she chuckled lightly. “When I was little, I asked my mother, ‘Mom, who will I marry when I grow up?’ My mother told me I would marry a good person. I was so happy then.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“My wish back then was so simple, so small.” Ghost Mother sighed softly. “Over so many years, I’ve seen too many people and too many things. So now I have no wishes left. And you? From that nobody at the start, you’ve become someone capable of carrying others’ hopes. Life has many steps. Each time you climb higher, what you see is completely different from before. At your current height, you are full of pity for these helpless people. That is why enlightened monks always feel everyone in the world is pitiful.”

“Wait!”

Siyuan turned around and pinched Ghost Mother’s cheeks. “This style isn’t like you. This should be something Sister Xue would say.”

“I am older than her, more senior than her.” Ghost Mother raised her eyebrows and smiled charmingly. “When I was working in the world, she was still an egg.”

“What a weird way to say it.” Siyuan smiled and shook his head. “Thank you.”

“Thank me? Why thank me? You should know you gave me a second chance to start over. I should do anything for you unconditionally. Demons have their own rules too. A demon’s resolve is unmatched by humans. Even though I was once human, in my eyes, humans are truly low-level creatures.”

“I’m not that low-level…”

“Not that high-level either, right?” Ghost Mother’s eyes sparkled as she stared at Siyuan, her usual teasing starting another round. “Now that no one’s around, should big sister see how low-level you are?”

“Stop messing around. I have work to do tomorrow morning.” Siyuan patted Ghost Mother’s head. “And you think you can still make me blush now? Too naive. I’ve been trained by you for so long after all.”

“Really so uncouth and boring. I’m going back now. I still have to send those two little troublemakers to class tomorrow morning.” Ghost Mother stretched, fully displaying her exquisite figure before Siyuan. Then she leaned close to his ear and breathed softly. “But if you ever want to try something different, just quietly tell me.”

As she spoke, her hand slid around his back, slowly moving down his spine. He couldn’t help but shiver and quickly grabbed her hand. “Luofu, stop playing around…”

“How am I playing around?” Ghost Mother pressed almost her entire body against Siyuan. “I’m being very sincere.”

“Stop! If you keep this up, something will happen.” Siyuan pulled both sides of Ghost Mother’s cheeks, dragging her aside. “Alright, go back now. You still need to help take care of that Sword Immortal too.”

“Fine, fine, so boring.” Ghost Mother pouted, looking entirely displeased. “I’m leaving now.”

“Go—”

Before Siyuan finished speaking, he felt a gentle breeze behind him. When he turned back, the warm fragrance and soft jade had already vanished without a trace, leaving only a faint scent filling the room.

Truth be told, perhaps because of her demon nature, the scent on Ghost Mother was more pleasant than that of human women and lasted longer too. Basically, if she stayed somewhere, you could still smell her scent half an hour later. Those familiar would know immediately she had been there. A similar but not identical scent, Siyuan had only smelled on that strange little Sword Immortal. So Siyuan judged that little Sword Immortal probably wasn’t human either, or at least not purely human.

Not long after Ghost Mother left, Qianruo walked into the room drying her hair, muttering, “They even have shared bathrooms for showers here, really… Wait! Luofu?”

Hearing this, Siyuan could only smile awkwardly and spread his hands. “Yeah, she came to hang out just now.”

“Let me remind you, you’re getting a bit too close with her.” Qianruo took off her pajamas and sat on the bed. “Sigh… I really have no way to deal with her. She’s too powerful.”

“Yeah, too powerful…” Siyuan said smiling. “Are you even jealous of her?”

“Duh! If you saw a guy way handsomer than you feeding me in the kitchen every day, wouldn’t you go crazy? I know about her relationship with you, so I’m turning a blind eye. But what about this situation… What to do?”

Qianruo knew about the relationship between Siyuan and Ghost Mother. Due to the punishment from the Myriad Spirit Cards, the two of them were linked together in life. That meant… If either one died, the other would die too. This could be considered one of Siyuan’s weaknesses. Besides Qianruo, no fourth person knew about this.

Similarly, everything had two sides. Besides sharing lives, they also shared abilities and auras. That meant Siyuan and Ghost Mother could use each other’s powers. Siyuan’s ability to jump around was Ghost Mother’s, and Ghost Mother could use most of Siyuan’s Arcane Arts. In a way, this was like giving Siyuan a female physical mirror image. Except for lacking the Guardian Seal, everything else was practically identical. But… Siyuan’s greatest strength was the Guardian Seal enhancement. So Ghost Mother was more easily hurt than Siyuan. If anyone knew about this situation, Siyuan’s doom would likely come.

In such circumstances, Qianruo could understand why the relationship between Siyuan and her was so ambiguous, but it still didn’t sit right with her.

“Let’s sleep. I’m a good person.”

“Yeah, precisely because you’re a good person that I can’t feel at ease.” Qianruo put on her underwear and got under the covers. “If you were a bad person, I wouldn’t have to worry.”

“That’s a bit profound.”

“Profound is correct. Anyway, your intelligence is what it is, so it doesn’t matter. Sleep sleep, I’m dead tired.”

Honestly, this day had been exhausting enough. In just a few hours, they traveled a full two thousand kilometers, from a developed big city to this haunted poor remote area. So… they didn’t do anything, just went to bed and slept until Ning Qingyuan knocked on the door early next morning.

“Wake up, something happened again last night.”

Ning Qingyuan’s voice was outside the door, sounding quite displeased. She seemed very irritable. “Hurry up. If you want a honeymoon, apply to go to Maldives.”

Before she finished her subsequent sarcastic remarks aimed at Qianruo, the door opened. Siyuan stood before her fully dressed.

“Time for work.”

Siyuan glanced back at Qianruo, who was getting dressed, and nodded awkwardly. “We didn’t do anything…”

“Just today you didn’t do anything, right?” The sour smell on Ning Qingyuan could be detected from far away. “No time for this now. The car is waiting outside.”

Hearing this, Siyuan had no words to retort. He could only wait for Qianruo to finish washing up, then quietly bring her along as they followed Ning Qingyuan and got into the county’s best police car.

“This time the deceased is the county’s Forest Ranger, sixty-two years old. He lived near the county forestry center, lived alone, and had no children. This morning he didn’t show up for work on time, so his apprentice went to find him. When he found him, he discovered he died in his own room. The scene was very frightening.”

Siyuan nodded. “This should be our first time encountering a fresh case. Strange, why don’t I sense it?”

“Right, my talisman paper cranes didn’t burn either, but we’ll only know after reaching the scene.”

Ning Qingyuan also frowned deeply. “Qianruo, prepare the autopsy tools.”

“Oh…”

Qianruo replied with a wronged tone. She actually minded that Siyuan didn’t step up to defend her when Ning Qingyuan nagged at her. But since it was work-related, there wasn’t much to say… Qianruo was quite reasonable after all. Work matters couldn’t be mixed up with daily life. So she just silently blamed Siyuan a little and didn’t say anything.

After about twenty minutes on the rugged mountain road, Siyuan and his group arrived at the Forest Ranger’s residence. The place was now surrounded layer upon layer by uniformed police officers. The county mayor, deputy mayor, and police chief were all at the scene, especially the county police chief. His eyes were red, clearly having stayed up all night without sleep.

“Make way, make way, the expert is here!”

Seeing Siyuan and the others arrive, the county mayor immediately became excited. He personally pushed through the crowd to greet them, his face full of sorrow as he led them inside. “And the other two experts?”

“Oh, they went somewhere else to look for clues. Let’s check the situation here first.”