[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-heavenly-official-bestows-evil":3,"chapter-heavenly-official-bestows-evil-heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-17":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Heavenly Official Bestows Evil",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2316636,4530,"Chapter 17: The Puzzle of the Past","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-17",17,"\u003Cp>Qi Zhiyong was in a foul mood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Apart from him, the most valuable and seemingly most confident person, He Qiong, had died mysteriously in that basement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the two sisters, covered in mud, returned to the inn; since coming back, they had clung to each other and wept continuously, adding a thread of sorrow to the bonfire banquet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crying made Qi Zhiyong restless; he slammed his tray hard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Enough! Don’t waste precious time on sobbing!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two women finally stopped, pulling out tissues to wipe their swollen eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point, Qi Zhiyong suddenly interrupted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Wu Xian curiously asked: “What feud did they have?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They only took over Ping’an Inn two years ago; before that, it was run by a couple surnamed An.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the insights gained from his research had made him understand what the old man intended to do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A woman named Zhao Juan, driven mad by her husband’s death, committed suicide in Ping’an Inn out of overwhelming grief—her room was 406.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This news was like a puzzle piece, connecting all previously gathered clues; the stories that had occurred here gradually became clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten years ago, they committed multiple major crimes in the area, with victims including the original inn owners, the community canteen owner, and the hanging spirit Zhao Juan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The canteen owner’s son vanished years ago; when found, he was already a mummy—police speculated he was starved to death; this is connected to Chen Yan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His instinct told him that uncovering what had happened here might be more helpful to survival than blindly boosting his strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So that’s how it was…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Chao was like a different person from yesterday; overnight, he seemed to have aged ten years—he no longer resembled a university professor, but a lost, soulless old vagrant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This evening gathering ended abruptly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For his ideals and research, he hadn’t drunk alcohol in thirty or forty years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His final conclusion was that robbing criminal gangs was the most convenient way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian returned to his room, washed up, lay on the bed, stared at the ceiling, and organized all the information he had gathered since the beginning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this sounded like just an ordinary case.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thump. Thump-thump!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a detective, Wu Xian had once studied what to do if weapons couldn’t be obtained through official channels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No one… lied to me!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shi Ji described his experience in the canteen, omitting any mention of the deity statue, but added some additional details.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Su Huilan’s side, the sisters kept whimpering, offering no useful information; their fragmented words were all about how they had killed He Qiong and didn’t want to live anymore—utterly meaningless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But today, there was no need to care about those things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The inn owners Wang Zhiwu and Yu Yinghua, Mr. Wang of Fuxin Huayuan, and the starving ghost from the canteen—all four belonged to the same criminal gang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was also why Wu Xian had been attacked by a xiechong from the very beginning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Room 406.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This clue ends here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He already knew what would happen; even awake, he couldn’t do anything—and if an emergency arose, he had already prepared contingency plans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian’s eyes lit up: “How did you respond?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I didn’t respond—I killed him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What about you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian hugged the quilt between his legs and snored soundly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Door-Breaking Spirit let out a roar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heavy footsteps echoed down the empty corridor; the Door-Breaking Great Spirit appeared precisely on schedule.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Satisfying!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The canteen owner had planned to kidnap Yu Yinghua, but by then she had already vanished, so the next kidnapping plan was forced to abort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hee-hee, come play, come play.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian stared thoughtfully at Wen Chao’s bag—the bag contained tape, wooden planks, firecrackers, steel pipes, some bottles and jars, and miscellaneous electronic components.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This old man didn’t gain anything—just picked up a pile of trash.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether it was Yu Yinghua’s knocking or the Great Spirit’s door-breaking, it only made him blink drowsily for a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qi Zhiyong frowned and turned to Shi Ji.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The footsteps stopped; the massive figure suddenly appeared at the door of Room 408.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This old man isn’t simple!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Door-Breaking Spirit raised its massive foot and kicked the door; the sturdy wooden door tore open like paper, and the grotesque, enormous head thrust into the room—but it saw nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These footprints led into Wu Xian’s room and the others’.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the canteen’s cabinet, he found a diary; it recorded the entire story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A newspaper carried a news report.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After speaking, he opened his small bottle, took a deep gulp of erguotou, and began coughing violently from the harsh liquor—his aged face instantly flushed red.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The starving ghost’s name was Chen Yan; he had come to Fuyuan City to join his relative Yu Yinghua.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s share today’s discoveries. The dead are dead—we must find a way to survive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I went to the inn’s secret room today and found some documents. The inn owner’s name is Wang Zhiwu, and the owner’s wife is Yu Yinghua—I’m sure everyone remembers these names.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian nodded and took over, recounting his findings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The inn’s secret room was the last place Wu Xian had visited today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One day, two days, three days…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Roar!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next second, the corridor lights went out; when they flickered back on, the Door-Breaking Great Spirit had vanished, leaving only a row of tiny footprints on the chalky marks on the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two years ago, this criminal gang retired; the gang leaders, the Wang-Yu couple, bought Ping’an Inn; Mr. Wang became entangled with Zhao Juan, the starving ghost was kidnapped, and they gradually became unable to hide…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also found a newspaper in the secret room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could it have become the starting point of this world’s xiechong disaster?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Xian was speechless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qi Zhiyong cared only for information that would help him survive tonight; Wen Chao was drunk, and the Su sisters were still sobbing—no one paid attention to this story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>3 a.m.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Yan ultimately starved to death in the canteen, surrounded by endless food!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Another interesting point: the An couple deliberately preserved the guest registration records from ten years ago, and the names Wang Zhiwu and Yu Yinghua also appear on those records.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This wasn’t carelessness—it was unnecessary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Chen Yan came to eat, he was recognized by the canteen owner, his enemy; the owner kidnapped him, locked him in the basement during the day with only basic water, and at night filled the canteen with food, gagged him, tied him to the central pillar, and left him there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By the way, today I met a wandering spirit who called himself An Xin; he told me that ten years ago his daughter vanished, and his wife went mad from grief. He fears that after his death, no one will care for her, and he hopes I can help.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mark… here… there’s a living person.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hee.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his sleep, Wu Xian suddenly heard a child’s voice calling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1161,"2026-06-20T14:31:06.102Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","4d1e94fe1f99d3c24f94e4c121d40cd0a550f13607317874c1b73eca624c62de","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-18","heavenly-official-bestows-evil-chapter-16",556,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fheavenly-official-bestows-evil-cover.jpg"]