CH 27

Lu Yingjiu had been preparing for a long time, and as soon as he pinched his hands, the black hairy dumpling appeared at his feet with an “Awooo—————”. Its chubby body showed great agility, jumped high, and directly bumped into the chest of the comer.

There was a muffled sound.

The comer let out a muffled grunt, and the sharp blade in his hand missed its aim. Seeing that he completely lost his balance, and was about to fall with his face facing the ground, but in mid air, his every inch of muscles tensed up, making movements that were difficult for ordinary people to achieve: his figure twisted around in a very strange posture.

Just like a cat quickly adjusting its posture before landing. He landed steadily, propped up with one hand, turned around, and jumped up to the shelf more than ten meters high in half a second!

It’s as nimble as a monkey.

Lu Yingjiu clicked his tongue.

During the brief confrontation, he did see the opponent’s eyes, which lit up faintly in the darkness with yellow pupils.

The other party must have also invited a spirit.

And judging from the agile posture and yellow pupils, it was the Spirit Ape of the Chen family!

He is fighting with a person from the Chen family.

But if the Chen family was here to investigate, there was no need to be sneaky. As soon as the flashlight shone, he should have shouted at Jing Xian and Lu Yingjiu with, “Who are you! Show yourself!” and then wrestled together, trying to capture these two thieves. (TL: JX and LY)

Since the comer dared not speak up, there was only one possibility: He has something to do with the human skin mask!

The other nimbly hid his figure between the shelves.

The Spirit Ape must have given him amazing flexibility. There were so many clothes on the shelves, and the packing bags would rattle when touched, but the other didn’t make a sound. Not to mention the sound of rain, thunder, and wind mixed together, even if the other had flaws, he couldn’t hear it at all.

Jing Xian didn’t know what he was thinking, he reached out to touch one of the shelves—— and then pinned down his hands.

Lu Yingjiu stopped his movements and said in a low voice, “Don’t take any action, let me do it. Jing Xian?”

For a moment, he felt like he was being despised, and was a bit hurt in his heart. “Why?”

“This is a place with evidence,” Lu Yingjiu said, “You are too destructive every time, I’m afraid that once you take action, this warehouse will be gone.”

Jing Xian assured, “I can control it.”

“Oh——” Lu Yingjiu said, “Isn’t that just in case, you should still stay here obediently.”

Jing Xian still wanted to speak, but Lu Yingjiu poked his forehead neither lightly nor harshly.

Lu Yingjiu laughed and said, “It’s not like I can’t handle it.”

As before, this poke as always was numbing and itchy.

Jing Xian touched his forehead subconsciously, and quickly compromised under the beauty.

It’s okay, he said in his heart, a man must know how to give up the stage at the right time.

Lu Yingjiu walked quickly into the darkness.

The little black beast followed closely beside him, blinking its silver-gray eyes.

The spell of “Inviting the gods” was rapidly taking effect on Lu Yingjiu’s body.

Gradually, the outline of the objects became clearer. The clothes on the shelves had a fluffy texture, every drop of rain could be seen clearly outside the window, and the dust in the air was flying up and down. The five senses became sharp, he could distinguish the sound of every drop of rain, he could hear the conversation of several guards outside the door, and he could hear Jing Xian’s breathing through the thunder.

In such a world, everything had nowhere to hide.

When he walked past the third shelf, he raised his head silently, and a talisman flew out of his hand!

The person directly above was startled and avoided flexibly. But the talisman paper seemed to have eyes, passing through every gap precisely, approaching with the whistling sound of wind.

The other was terrified for a moment: How did this man know his position!

Both Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian covered their faces. The other didn’t know who it was, and only thought he was an ordinary ghost exorcist, but now it seemed that the strength of the other party should not be underestimated.

Pinching a spell, a small golden-haired monkey appeared on his back. The other’s eyes lit up, and he climbed across every compartment of shelves in a strange posture, using both hands and feet, and escaped another 20 to 30 meters in the blink of an eye, jumping across three or four shelves.

Did I finally get rid of them?

With lingering fears in his heart, the person who was lying on the top of the shelf, was just about to poke his head to see where Lu Yingjiu was, when he suddenly heard a voice coming from directly behind. 

Lu Yingjiu’s tone was teasing. “Why don’t you run away?”

At this moment, the person turned over and stabbed out a blade in his hand. This move was full of killing intent, and was aimed at his heart.

However, there was a sudden force on his wrist—

Lu Yingjiu seemed to be only grasping his wrist loosely, but the strength was actually unbelievable. The person only felt a sharp pain in his wrist, as if some muscle had been tightly strangled. The hand couldn’t help but loosen, and the blade made a clanging sound as it fell to the ground.

The blade was still quivering due to the fall, when the person suddenly bent his knees and kicked.

Although the strength of the Spirit Ape is not strong, if he kicks like this, if the other is caught off guard, a few ribs will still inevitably be broken.

However, he only kicked air.

Lu Yingjiu’s figure flashed, and he had already circled to his right side. While still grabbing the other’s wrist, he exerted force in a light and effortless manner.

“Ahhh!” the person screamed miserably. His wrist was directly broken!

The pain was excruciating. Originally, there was the power of the “Inviting the gods” to suppress the other, but it was not enough for the other to not put up resistance and be willing to be captured, however their fighting spirit had already been shattered in this less than 5 seconds of confrontation.

Being able to dodge the kick at close range, the opponent is much more flexible than him.

The wrist was also easily broken, the opponent’s strength is terrifying as well.

He’s no match at all, it’s… what kind of monster is he?!

He had no fighting spirit left, he just wanted to roll off the shelf and rush out the door.

Of course, Lu Yingjiu couldn’t give him such an opportunity, so he struck the back of his neck, and the man’s head immediately tilted.

Completely passed out.

Lu Yingjiu picked him up with one hand.

This man weighs about 80 kilograms, which in his current opinion was completely not a problem. Like this, he held the man while jumping off the shelf five or six meters high, and landing steadily.  

Jing Xian was already standing at the bottom waiting for him. As soon as Lu Yingjiu came down from, he saw an extra bottle of water in his hand.

Lu Yingjiu:?

He had a feeling that he was in a school sports meeting.

I ran 1,500 meters hard, and a girl who liked me came to deliver water as soon as I finished.

………Although this “girl who likes me” is a bit wrong, and doesn’t quite fit the script. 

Lu Yingjiu glanced at Jing Xian, and secretly compared the heights of the two for who knew how many times. 

He’s still a head shorter.

He said, “Where did you get the water?”

Jing Xian coughed, “Incidentally.”

In fact, he asked a few brats to get it from the car. 

After Jing Xian handed him the water, he saw him casually throwing the man beside the shelf, and stepped forward to take a look. “We have seen this man before.”

“That’s right, I didn’t expect it either.” Lu Yingjiu said, “This is a surprise.”

This person happened to bump into them, if it was someone else that came, it might be impossible to discover their identity.

At the very beginning of this case, he and Jing Xian tried to find Jin Xiaoyang—that was, the one who first posted that he had met a supernatural old lady.

In the end, when they went to the building where Jin Xiaoyang lived, he couldn’t find anyone, but instead met Chen Zheng’s younger brother, Chen Qi. Chen Qi chatted with them all the way, and gave Lu Yingjiu a book before leaving. When they went downstairs, Jin Xiaoyang jumped off the building, killing himself.

The exorcist who was with Chen Qi at that time, was the one in front of them.

Lu Yingjiu said: “When the Chen family sees him, they will definitely be pleasantly surprised.”

He took out a piece of talisman paper.

His eyes had completely turned silver gray. The physical and mental burden brought by “Inviting the gods” was very heavy, and must be lifted in time, otherwise it would be counterproductive.

He pinched the talisman paper to release it, and the little black beast reluctantly rubbed against his feet and disappeared.

Lu Yingjiu said wearily, “Jing Xian, will you tie the person up?”

“Tie him up?” Jing Xian said, “I can only say that I have seen a few police and robbers films……”

For the next 10 minutes, Lu Yingjiu sat beside him, drinking water slowly. Jing Xian found a long rope from the warehouse and tied the man up in various ways. After tying him up, Lu Yingjiu pasted a talisman on the man’s head.

——This time even supernatural beings wouldn’t be able to escape.

After finishing these, he clapped his hands with satisfaction. “Let’s go.”

He and Jing Xian went back the same way and went out quietly through the back door.

Before getting into the car, Lu Yingjiu flick out another talisman paper.

The talisman floated through the rain curtain and landed next to the warehouse. A few seconds later, there was a loud noise.

The loud noise was earth-shattering, and it immediately attracted the attention of the guards. There were voices, and a bunch of people rushed into the warehouse.

Lu Yingjiu didn’t have to worry about the next thing.

The Maybach started silently, left the dilapidated parking lot, and drove towards the end of the rainy night.

In the car, Lu Yingjiu saw his silver-gray eyes in the reflection of the car window.

‘Inviting the gods” traces had not yet dissipated.

When every ghost exorcist invited the gods, his appearance would be affected. If he abused the power of ghosts and gods, it would backfire, and even make him lose his sanity.

Lu Yingjiu didn’t often use “Inviting the gods”.

He was born with bad luck, and since he was a child, he had seen too many things that ordinary people couldn’t see, almost never surviving his childhood.

This weird physique was reflected in all aspects, for example, “Inviting the gods” had a much greater influence on him than ordinary people. The duration of using it should not be too long to avoid backlash, as it would also take a long time for him to get rid of the traces of the ghosts and gods.

In other words, he was closer to being a “ghost” than anyone else.

A few drops of rain flowed down the glass, condensing the lights in the car.

As before, Lu Yingjiu subconsciously rubbed the longevity lock on his chest.

After a long time, he remembered the master’s words again.

Although judging from various results, the master was just a scammer. But at least, the ghost marriage did solve his bad luck. Lu Yingjiu was skeptical of that master.

In addition to arranging the ghost marriage, the master also told his fortune—saying that he would die at 27.

At that time, the master finished his fortune-telling, tears were streaming down his face, and shouted, “This is really heaven’s jealousy of talents, the way of heaven is impermanent!” He wiped away his tears, and tightly grasped little Lu Yingjiu’s hand, “I am so sad for you, so the 200 yuan for fortune-telling, can you give it now?” 

(t/n God is jealous of a person’s talent and makes his fate rough; or it describes a person’s underappreciated talent . Generally refers to a very talented and outstanding person who died at a very young age!)

(t/n way of heaven is impermanent- It means that the operation of nature is irregular and unpredictable.)

Little Lu Yingjiu disdained him as his tears dripped down in his hands, and struggled to get away from him, but in the end he didn’t give him a penny, and was nagged by the master for several days.

At present, Lu Yingjiu was 26 years old. Thinking about it, he only had half a year before turning 27.

A thunderbolt rolled past, and there was a loud bang between the sky and the earth.

“……What are you thinking about?” Jing Xian asked.

“It’s nothing.” Lu Yingjiu came back to his senses, shook his head, and said with a smile, “I was just thinking that this world is a wonderful place, and tonight is just a coincidence, if we were 5 minutes late, maybe we wouldn’t have bumped into that person. You and I as well, after so many years, I didn’t expect to meet you again.”

This time, Jing Xian was silent for a few seconds.

He said, “Some people appear by chance, while some are destined by fate.” He also smiled, “Like me, there is a reason for my appearance.”

Lu Yingjiu let out a “hmm” and asked, “You, what is the reason then?”

Jing Xian said: “For me, it’s everything.”

****

The next day.

Early morning inside the office, Chen Zheng was furious. “How do you all do things! How did he slip into the warehouse!!” In front of him was a photo of the man who was beaten up by Lu Yingjiu last night.

The man’s name was Chen Lin, and he used to be a staff member of Four Hole Slaughterhouse.

“No, no, I don’t know!” A younger generation member of Chen family in front of him trembled, “Maybe he used something, a very powerful talisman.”

“But you don’t even know who knocked him out.”

The man stopped talking, and asked Chu Banyang next to him for help with his eyes.

Chu Banyang sat upright, well dressed as usual, and his hair was specially styled.

He said unhurriedly, “Chairman Chen, let’s talk about Fan Xin first.”

As expected, Chen Zheng’s attention was diverted, and he asked, “The girl is willing to speak?”

“Yes.” Chu Banyang nodded.

If the Peacock God of the Chu family used its abilities deliberately, it would have a certain hypnotic effect on people’s minds.

Although the effect of hypnosis was not strong, it’d even be more difficult for people who were wary.

From the very beginning when he chatted and questioned Fan Xin, he used the ability of the Peacock God. He noticed that Fan Xin was not only wary, but also full of fear.

This fear answered all the questions he asked.

Therefore, after six or seven days of intensive questioning, coupled with the new evidence constantly discovered by the Chen family, it finally shook the defense line in the girl’s heart.

Just this morning, sunlight came in through the glass of the ward, and the recording pen in front of the bed was working.

In the bright morning light, Fan Xin with trembling lips, said: “…Yes, on the day of the extermination case, I went to the bar pretending to be Chen Yanyan.”

Chu Banyang asked: “How did the real Chen Yanyan die?”

Fan Xin showed a strange smile: “The ghost killed her. Who told her to play some supernatural game.”

Chu Banyang asked again: “Over the years, who provided your human skin mask?”

Fan Xin tightly shut her mouth and refused to speak again.

Back in Chen Zheng’s office, Chu Banyang said, “The extermination case is a murder.”

Chen Zheng couldn’t help sighing.

Chu Banyang continued, “Now there’s a turning point in the case, I don’t think it’s necessary to continue investigating Lu Yingjiu.” He paused for a few seconds. “Not only that, he had sufficient alibi evidence when the extermination case occurred. In fact, Lu Yingjiu and I were both handling commissions in Z City two months before and after the case occurred.”

City Z and Lujiang City were in the south and the north, and they were thousands of kilometers away from each other.

That was the only time Lu Yingjiu did a commission with Chu Banyang. The two of them and several other ghost exorcists met every day, and they were so busy that they had no free time at all. Sometimes they all fell asleep on the table when they were tired, and every phone call was a race against time.

Back then, Lu Yingjiu was indeed listed as a suspect. But this powerful evidence directly let him get rid of the suspicion.

Chu Banyang was one of the witnesses. It could be said that he was the person who knew that Lu Yingjiu was innocent at best.

Chen Zheng sighed heavily, his fat body slumped back on the chair. “In the past few days, I have withdrawn the investigation personnel and focused on studying the issue of human skin masks.” 

Chu Banyang sat up slightly, “That is to say?”

“That is to say,” Chen Zheng rubbed his eyebrows, “Xiao Lu really has nothing to do with this matter. Once we finish dealing with the matter at hand and find out the truth, we don’t need to continue investigating him.”

In this way, everyone was kept busy.

Until the night fell and it was getting late, Chen Zheng and Chu Banyang left the building.

The driver was waiting for Chu Banyang on the side of the road. It was very late at night, and there were no other cars on the street.

Chu Banyang said to Chen Zheng, “Chairman Chen, didn’t you drive here, do you need me to send you back?”

“No need, no need.” Chen Zheng waved his hands again and again, “My house is near, and I have been exercising recently.”

Chu Banyang got into the car. The car started slowly, and he saw Chen Zheng riding a small shared bicycle on the street and leaving in a hurry. (TL: refers to the bicycle sharing service, and is a time-sharing rental model.)

He rode pretty fast.

Chu Banyang: “……….”

Half an hour later.

Chen Zheng had just finished taking a shower, and while drinking tea, he flipped through the documents on the table.

As a prominent figure in the Chen family, he had actually been supervising the “human skin mask” matter.

The last person who cared so much about masks was Chen Minlan.

The old lady was an upright person and did not tolerate any stains in the family. Chen Zheng had learned the Cloud Weaving Art from her, and had inherited many of her concepts, along with a deep hatred for human skin masks.

Later, Chen Minlan’s family unfortunately died, other people were also not interested in supervising the mask. If Chen Zheng hadn’t been taking the lead, no one would have cared about it.

But his persistence paid off.

Once the matter of the Four-Hole Slaughterhouse came out, all the bright and dark lines he had found in the past could be slowly connected. If he’s lucky, he could follow the vines and easily trace everyone.

Chen Zheng took a deep breath, took a sip of the scented tea, put on his glasses and continued to read the materials.

If human skin had been used in the slaughterhouse for a long time, then that person must know the structure of the slaughterhouse very well, and may also be one of the persons in charge. And over the years, that person had been continuously providing Fan Xin with human skin masks, which proved that the production line had not yet been cut off.

Human skin masks were still being sold to this day.

That person’s abilities are so great, he must have a high status in the Chen family, that he can receive a lot of information in the first place.

……… No, not just the information obtained from the Chen family.

Back then, the investigation of the Green Lantern Association was so rigorous, that person must have understood the entire set of procedures and methods used by the Green Lantern Association to investigate exorcists that he’d avoid it perfectly.

Chen Zheng frowned.

What a hell of a day, why does the more he looks at it, the more he feels that the mole is himself?!

He turned to the record of the scene again.

The extinguished cigarette butts in the slaughterhouse, and the 45 size of footprints left behind.

Understood the layout of the slaughterhouse, have a high status in the Chen family, have an inseparable relationship with the Green Lantern Association……

Smoking, size 45 shoes.

Chen Zheng faintly felt that he thought of someone.

But the thought flashed so fast that he couldn’t distinguish it. His brain was aching, and he was just about to think about it when the doorbell rang twice.

Only then did Chen Zheng remember that Chen Qi said that he would come over tonight.

Chen Qi was also a very busy person, often turning day and night upside down, Chen Zheng had long been used to it.

He opened the door.

Chen Qi really stood outside the door and called out “Elder brother”.

He wore a full black suit today. The current temperature was humid, and even in the middle of the night, his attire was out of place.

Chen Zheng sighed and said, “It’s really not the right time for you to come, you’ve messed up my train of thought.”

Chen Qi smiled, the flesh on his face squeezed together. “You told me you’d make me a cup of tea, don’t you remember it?”

“What kind of tea do you want to drink?” Chen Zheng asked, “Is Pu’er tea okay? I’m not in the mood to do it right now, so just make do with it.”

He turned around and walked a few steps, but he didn’t hear the footsteps of Chen Qi following behind.

Chen Zheng looked back, Chen Qi was still standing at the door of his house.

Chen Qi said with a smile, “Elder brother, do you want to smoke a cigarette?”