Chapter 32

Li Zhuiyuan now had only one thought left in his mind:

That was:

Does the Homecoming Net still have any effect?

Although he could not see Runsheng now, nor could he see the net, he should still be within the range covered by that net.

The shadow under his feet was slowly extending forward, carrying a leftward sway, which meant it was walking slowly toward him.

The boy's inner torment and fear were constantly intensifying.

Li Zhuiyuan looked up again at Brother Leopard and Zhao Yi kneeling over there; they were still wailing in pain, but their gazes were not focused on him.

Fortunately, he was not tall to begin with and was crouching, while the person behind him could be seen to be quite tall from the shadow; therefore, even though both sides were currently on the same line of sight, one could clearly distinguish the difference from the gazes of the "two" opposite.

This meant the Homecoming Net's effect was still there; it could not see him!

But the problem now was that it was getting closer and closer; in a few more steps, it would bump into him.

Li Zhuiyuan maintained his crouching posture and began to carefully move his feet, trying his best not to make any unnecessary noise.

He was leaning toward the position where Runsheng was; he could not walk in any other direction, for if he left the Homecoming Net's range of effect, he would be directly exposed.

Li Zhuiyuan felt like a crab now, walking sideways.

At the final step, just as his foot moved away, another pair of strange, large feet landed; if it had been half a beat later, their feet would have touched.

Immediately after, the other party's feet came into Li Zhuiyuan's line of sight; these feet were highly decomposed, yet where the flesh and skin should have fallen off, they were filled with layers of yellowish-white tumors.

The color of these tumors was exactly the same as the Tai Sui in the water vat.

So, this was how the health-preserving divine object, regarded as a treasure by the Jiang family, came to be?

One had to know, they not only ate that Tai Sui themselves, but also used the water from the vat to boil tea and cook rice every day.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze moved slowly upward; the other party had no clothes on, which was the same as the two white skeletons dug up later in the pond—before they were murdered and buried, they must have been stripped naked.

And Jiang Dongping had been wearing clothes and a watch, so it could be determined that this "dead-fall" before him was indeed transformed from the victim.

The rest of its body was similar to its feet, rotten beyond recognition, and that Tai Sui-like substance covered its entire body, like glue, re-adhering the flesh and skin to the skeleton, maintaining a relatively complete form.

Its left leg was somewhat bent and turned outward, as if it were lame, which was why it had walked slowly before, also with a slight leftward sway.

However, it stopped in front of the tombstone.

The next moment, it knelt down.

Only then did Li Zhuiyuan re-examine this tombstone; previously, he and Runsheng had only felt that this tombstone was larger than the surrounding ones and suitable for the two of them to hide.

Only now did he discover that this was a joint burial tomb for a husband and wife.

Quickly scanning the characters on the tombstone, Li Zhuiyuan noticed that the husband's surname on the tombstone was "Zhou."

Therefore, the dead-fall before him was, in all likelihood, the Zhou-surnamed person buried by Brother Leopard himself, and what it was kneeling before now was likely the tomb of its own parents.

It had been murdered and buried by Jiang Dongping, completed its revenge after turning into a dead-fall, and came before its parents' tomb.

Li Zhuiyuan noted the year and month of death; it was two years ago, and the old couple's time of death was only one month apart, meaning they had left one after the other.

Nowadays, unless one went through official channels, most movie posters were printed on calendars to enhance practicality.

And on the wooden board at the entrance of Sister Mei's video hall, the largest and oldest poster of Joey Wong also had the time marked as two years ago.

In other words, it was very likely that Brother Leopard had relied on helping Jiang Dongping murder and bury people to earn a large sum, which allowed him and his girlfriend, Sister Mei, to open a video hall in the town.

The dead-fall did not kowtow, just knelt before the tombstone; it made no sound, but the surroundings were filled with the screams of Brother Leopard and Zhao Yi.

Li Zhuiyuan finally understood; no wonder it deliberately chose not to kill them but instead tortured them for so long, because only the wails and screams from the enemies were the best sacrifice.

But gradually, the dead-fall's head suddenly swayed slightly.

It was sniffing, then slowly turned its head toward Li Zhuiyuan's side; it seemed to have discovered something.

The boy's heart also rose to his throat at this moment; his purpose for coming out today was to connect theory with practice, but the targets he had chosen for himself were Brother Leopard and Zhao Yi, these two lackeys who actually dared to come to the door to threaten and provoke.

With him and Runsheng cooperating with the newly crafted professional tools, dealing with them shouldn't be much of a problem.

But this dead-fall that could control lackeys was actually a bit beyond his level; facing such difficulty right from the start, he really felt a bit unsure.

Most importantly, this dead-fall was a victim while alive; if it had been Jiang Dongping transformed, he would have done it if he had to, but toward this one, taking the initiative to attack it seemed somewhat inappropriate.

But just as its head turned halfway, and with a little more movement it would have been eye-to-eye with the boy, bursts of black mist actually rose from its body, as if the water vapor inside its body were being evaporated.

The dead-fall turned its head back, facing the tombstone.

From deep within its throat came a hoarse, grinding sound, and the Tai Sui all over its body began to tremble.

Li Zhuiyuan had seen a similar scene with the Cat-Faced Old Lady; that was after he gave the revenge plan, and her resentment had a tendency to dissipate.

Wei Zhengdao had written in "Records of Jianghu Monsters":

【Dead-falls are born from the gathering of Jianghu resentment and filth.】

【If the resentment is unresolvable, they wander the Jianghu marshlands, harming the human world, and must be suppressed and killed by the Heavenly Dao.】

When reading the book earlier, Li Zhuiyuan had noted this latter sentence, especially this "resentment is unresolvable."

Since dead-falls were born with resentment as a carrier, then if one resolved its resentment, wouldn't it dissipate?

Just like that black cat; it was about to complete its revenge and was also about to be liberated.

Then, the "resentment is unresolvable" in the book seemed to refer to the enemy being gone or impossible to find, so the dead-fall could not self-dissipate through this method and could only keep wandering between water systems, causing harm to the living, and must be solved.

Really, was it just that simple?

Then why not mention "resentment is resolvable"?

In "Records of Righteous Demon Suppression," all that was recorded were methods to suppress and kill dead-falls; it seemed that in the author's perspective, it was long assumed that "resentment is unresolvable" was the only option.

But he could have not mentioned it, and the sentence would still be coherent.

Li Zhuiyuan guessed that this should be the political correctness of that era, which was that such evil things as dead-falls must absolutely not harm the living.

The reason Wei Zhengdao added this sentence "if the resentment is unresolvable" in the book was actually a deliberate gilding of the lily; he neither wanted to oppose the political correctness of his time, yet added a suggestive backdoor while writing the book.

Because, "if the resentment is resolvable," there was no need to teach any specific method; you just help the dead-fall resolve the object of resentment.

But helping an evil thing harm the living, wasn't that typical aiding and abetting?

How could righteous people do such a thing?

Don't mention anything about "every debt has its debtor," and don't think about making any excuses; if political correctness could be influenced like this, it wouldn't be called political correctness.

However, Li Zhuiyuan suddenly discovered that every event he and his great-grandfather encountered seemed to follow "resentment is resolvable."

It seemed that what he and his great-grandfather were walking was indeed not the "righteous path."

The interrogation regarding the Jiang family was underway.

Dead people were actually not a big deal; those who died of old age, illness, accidents, or incidents—as long as a region was sufficiently densely populated, it would be strange if no one died on any given day.

But homicide was different; the public's attention to this was extremely high, and it was very easy to cause social panic.

Therefore, this time, digging up three corpses in one pond, the nature of it could be described as extremely vile; he feared that even the Municipal Bureau was paying close attention to this matter, and Tan Yunlong estimated that a special task force led by the Municipal Bureau would soon come down.

Besides this, if it were confirmed to involve organized crime and violence, then a subsequent crackdown and cleanup activity across the city would inevitably be carried out.

However, these were all matters for later.

Tan Yunlong, walking out of the station chief's office, rubbed his nose; with such a vicious case appearing in his jurisdiction, not only the station but the county was under great pressure, and the only remedy now was to solve the case as quickly as possible and strive for outstanding performance.

Pressure, passed down layer by layer, finally fell on Tan Yunlong.

Tan Yunlong lit a cigarette and walked into the interrogation room; he was going to personally interrogate those Jiang family members who attempted to stop the excavation by the pond.

The interrogation went very smoothly; first, their psychological quality and professional competence were not good to begin with, and the Jiang family was actually supported by Jiang Dongping alone; now that Jiang Dongping was gone, the remaining few were just a bunch of stinking fish and rotten shrimp.

Second, Tan Yunlong used inducement, hinting that Jiang Dongping was already dead, and they should confess quickly and splash all the dirty water onto Jiang Dongping, this dead man.

This was considered a violation of regulations, but if he, Tan Yunlong, were a "good baby," he wouldn't have been demoted to the town police station.

In short, the case had already made a huge breakthrough and progress, and they had also bitten out quite a few people; arrests were already being made now.

It was just that there was a victim surnamed Zhou in this, and the corpse had not been found.

Because this person surnamed Zhou had a fractured left leg and was a lame man, and the other two skeletons had been checked and had no fracture marks.

And according to the Jiang family's confession, this person surnamed Zhou had business competition with Jiang Dongping, so Jiang Dongping colluded with a friend of the Zhou-surnamed person, a Zhao-surnamed person from Shi Village, to lure him out under the name of celebrating his son's birthday and killed him.

That Zhao-surnamed person had already been arrested; it seemed he had just lost his son not long ago, and the surrounding police all said one after another that this was retribution.

Tan Yunlong did not believe in these things, but he did not reject them either; if retribution for doing bad things in this world came very promptly, then the police would absolutely be the most happy to see it.

It was just that the problem now was, how to reasonably explain this missing Zhou-surnamed victim and this inexplicably dead Jiang Dongping?

Of course, if one didn't pursue reasonableness, that was also fine; the Zhou-surnamed victim's corpse was transferred, discarded, and re-processed, while Jiang Dongping died in the Jiang family's own infighting—anyway, those few were not good things either, so it wouldn't be wrong to pin the blame on them.

However, these had nothing to do with him anymore; with the case breaking through to here, he could already report back.

Tan Yunlong, holding a cigarette, had his thoughts return to that pond that had not been excavated or damaged recently; he was very puzzled, how was Jiang Dongping's fresh corpse buried inside?

However, not many people knew about this matter, and even if the scene was carefully protected at the time, what should have been excavated had been excavated, and it was difficult to determine again that the pond hadn't been touched recently.

"Team Tan, it's organized."

"Mm."

Tan Yunlong took the document and looked at it, nodding: "Dig deeper, don't let anyone who should be caught go."

"Okay, understood."

"Is that Old Man Li still at the station?"

"He is, he's chatting happily with our little forensic doctor Wang."

"Really?"

"I just went to the forensic room to get documents, and that Old Man Li was pointing at the corpse and talking, while little forensic doctor Wang was holding a notebook and taking notes, just like a teacher giving a lecture to a student."

Little forensic doctor Wang was very young and had just started working; it was precisely because she came that the town police station had its own forensic room configuration; in the past, one would either have to invite someone from the hospital or borrow someone from a neighboring unit.

It was just that little forensic doctor Wang had a cold personality; several young single male officers in the station had thought about trying their luck, but all were rejected coldly without hesitation, leaving not even a chance or polite words.

Tan Yunlong remembered the scene of little Li Zhuiyuan digging up the corpse and could only sigh: "Actually, some folk experts also have real skills; it cannot be generalized as pure feudal superstition."

The telephone on the desk rang; Tan Yunlong picked it up, said "yes" several times in a row, and hung up.

He stood up and tidied his clothes:

"The Municipal Bureau task force is here; let's go report the progress of the investigation."

Before the tombstone, more and more black mist rose from the dead-fall's body, and faster and faster.

Li Zhuiyuan knew it was about to be liberated.

It was just that he didn't know specifically because of what its process was able to accelerate so violently midway.

Could it be because the police were handling the case?

But... was the efficiency that high?

"Squish! Squish! Squish!"

After the black mist evaporated to a certain amount, the dead-fall's body also shrank a bit, and at the same time, the Tai Sui on its body began to crack, splashing out pus.

The surroundings immediately filled with a rich, fishy stench.

Li Zhuiyuan knew this should be the "water corpse stench" that his great-grandfather and the others often kept on their lips.

A floater that just died was easy to fish out and not that disgusting; the kind that had been dead for a long time and soaked into pork jelly was truly heavy.

Fishing them out, even if one bathed seven or eight times with soap, three days later one could still smell the stench on one's body.

The Tai Sui began to crack, the dead-fall's body also lost its adhesion, the rotten flesh and skin began to fall off rapidly, and the body gradually shrank as if ice were melting.

Li Zhuiyuan noted that in the disgusting bubbles, a black, round object seemed to be tossing inside; this thing should have originally been located inside the dead-fall's body.

It seemed to be a copper coin.

However, an accident still happened.

The dead-fall stretched out its hand; its palm was left with only white bones, and its fingers pointed at Brother Leopard and Zhao Yi kneeling over there.

It should have intended to end this sacrifice and take these two lackeys down, but it somewhat miscalculated its own dissipation speed; the hand that had just been raised gradually lowered powerlessly.

By comparison, that black cat was much shrewder; when black mist rose from its body at that time, it could still suppress it itself, stubbornly waiting for the revenge to be completed.

And that black cat even understood some of the rules of righteous people, expressing astonishment and incomprehension at his help more than once.

But this dead-fall clearly didn't have that ability, which meant it... played itself out.

Brother Leopard and Zhao Yi, who had lost their shackles and oppression, even though they were already broken all over, still slowly stood up.

Now they looked like plastic mannequins at the entrance of a clothing store that had been smashed and had their paint severely damaged.

But the resentment in their eyes grew even more intense; clearly, the previous torture and suffering had thoroughly ignited all the malice within their hearts.

They did not walk toward this side but walked toward another tombstone.

Although it was empty there, Li Zhuiyuan knew clearly that that was where the two thugs were kneeling in reality.

"Crack..."

The dead-fall had almost completely merged into the pus, with only a head left carrying a bit of Tai Sui and flesh; it twisted its head with difficulty, and the white bone arm beside it also moved slightly toward Li Zhuiyuan's side.

Li Zhuiyuan blinked, feeling very baffled; he seemed to be able to feel the meaning that this dead-fall, about to dissipate, wanted to express.

Just like A Li's expressions and actions were usually very subtle, and he could also understand her.

Li Zhuiyuan nodded and said: "You can go in peace; you must believe that the police will uphold justice for you."

Immediately after, Li Zhuiyuan added another sentence: "Those two, I will solve them for you."

Just as the boy's voice fell, the flesh and blood on the dead-fall's head also peeled off; it completely turned into a pile of white bones and completed its dissipation before its parents' tombstone.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't like innocent people dying and then sighing: justice may be delayed but will never be absent.

But under such circumstances, as a bystander, sometimes to comfort oneself, one would also do some beautification as much as possible.

For example, he now felt: this family of theirs was finally reunited at this moment.

This was the boy's kindness and blessing.

Because Li Zhuiyuan, until now, could not be one hundred percent sure of one thing.

That was, the Homecoming Net could indeed complete concealment before Brother Leopard and Zhao Yi, but facing this kind of dead-fall that could control lackeys, was it really useful?

If it were really useful, then after it knelt down, why did it turn its head to look toward his side?

Is it possible,

That it had actually always been able to see the two teenagers hiding behind its parents' tombstone?

"Ding..."

A crisp sound rang out; that pitch-black copper coin rolled down along the white bones and rolled all the way to Li Zhuiyuan's feet.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't dare to reach out and take it directly; he suspected that behind this strange phenomenon, there was its instigation.

He didn't want to be covered in Tai Sui all over his body.

Suddenly, Li Zhuiyuan began to feel a wave of dizziness, and soreness came from all over his body.

He roughly guessed what had happened outside, because soon, Runsheng's shouting came from his ears:

"Little Yuan, stop sleeping, wake up quickly, wake up quickly."

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes; Runsheng was grabbing his shoulders and shaking him hard.

"Phew... Little Yuan, you finally woke up."

"Brother Runsheng, do you know how much strength you actually have?"

"Ah, sorry, it's that they stood up."

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head to look; those two thugs had ended their kneeling posture and began to walk toward this side; the distance was already very close, but because they were inside the Homecoming Net, they couldn't see the two of them.

"Little Yuan, tell me what we should do!"

Runsheng gripped the Yellow River shovel tightly with his right hand; he had long wanted to move.

"Brother Runsheng, cripple them."

"Hey!"

Runsheng immediately let out a low roar, his muscles tensed, his left hand pulled, lifting the net, and his right hand raised the Yellow River shovel and rushed up.

Those two thugs were also startled for a moment seeing the living person who suddenly appeared, retreating repeatedly.

But Runsheng didn't care, raising the shovel and smashing it into one thug's arm.

"Crack!"

The sound of bone breaking came; this arm was directly crippled, but the thug didn't scream in pain, instead bending down, swinging his body, and the other hand hugged Runsheng, his head and shoulders stuck at Runsheng's waist, entangling Runsheng.

Runsheng raised the shovel, wanting to smash it at his head, but thinking of Little Yuan's instruction that it was only to cripple and not to kill, he could only flip the shovel, using the handle as a fulcrum between himself and the thug, using his own chest as a leverage point, and directly exerted force, just like a bottle opener, forcibly pulling the thug away from his body.

But behind him, the other thug rushed up with his mouth open, biting down on Runsheng's arm; this posture was like a mad dog.

"Hiss..."

Runsheng gasped in pain, but the excitement on his face immediately intensified.

At this moment, he seemed to be a completely different person from the Runsheng who was usually timid and pushed a cart to farm.

Seeing this, Runsheng also opened his mouth, lowered his head, and bit down on the thug's neck.

"Splash!"

This thug only used his teeth to bite, but Runsheng was tearing with his mouth!

After biting down, he immediately raised his head and shook it, and a large piece of flesh and skin was torn off.

Runsheng's face was covered in fresh blood, but his excitement was still continuing to rise.

To put it plainly, those who acted as lackeys were originally low-down things among ghosts;

And Zhao Yi and Brother Leopard, who controlled these two small thugs, one was a physically weak young master who liked to play relying on his family's money, and the other was a middle-aged thug who bullied the weak and feared the strong.

Li Zhuiyuan remembered that once during a family dinner for the New Year, Grandpa North was lecturing his cousin who liked to fight at school and scolded: If you want to find a real hero among the old ruffians, it's like panning for gold in shit!

To put it plainly, those who were truly tough wouldn't do such ruffian things.

And look, these two were actually scared by Runsheng's momentum, forgetting that they were the ghosts, and actually wanted to run away directly.

However, Brother Runsheng was truly fierce.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but suspect that if he tailored a few better tools for Brother Runsheng, then even if the previous dead-fall had attacked the two of them, Brother Runsheng wouldn't necessarily be unable to handle it.

During the fight earlier, Li Zhuiyuan had very sensibly not joined in, but now, he could make a move.

Holding the Seven-Star Hook in his right hand, he pressed his left thumb into the inkpad, then pointed it at the side of the Seven-Star Hook, pulled with all his might, and the seven sections of the Seven-Star Hook extended out, all smeared with red ink.

Crouching in a horse stance, exerting force from his waist, Li Zhuiyuan first swept the Seven-Star Hook toward one thug's ankle, and the foremost section immediately split into two openings like mantis pincers, hooking the other party's ankle.

"Thump..."

Li Zhuiyuan was pulled by the force, his body tilted forward, struggling to stabilize his figure, while that thug fell face-first, eating shit.

This was a move to catch dead-falls from the second volume of "Records of Righteous Demon Suppression."

"Ah!!!"

The thug lay on the ground, holding his ankle and began to scream.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up the Homecoming Net and covered it over him.

The other thug was pounced to the ground by Runsheng; Runsheng raised his fist and punched his face; in an instant, it was like smashing a dye shop, and all kinds of colors overflowed.

Li Zhuiyuan immediately shouted: "Brother Runsheng!"

Runsheng seemed to have suddenly shuddered; the second punch was forcibly restrained and did not fall, and the expression on his face gradually changed from intense excitement to honest and wooden.

Li Zhuiyuan breathed a sigh of relief; if that second punch had fallen, that thug would definitely have died. He wasn't pitying that guy, and subconsciously, he wasn't afraid of killing, but rather didn't want to cause subsequent trouble due to taking a human life.

"Here, Brother Runsheng."

Li Zhuiyuan threw the black canvas to Runsheng; the interlayer of this black cloth was filled with wooden shavings, and on each piece were patterns carved by A Li.

The purpose of coming out this time was to test the tools, to see which were useful and which were useless.

Runsheng covered the black canvas over the thug; all of a sudden, the thug began to wail and struggle, and actually rose some white smoke.

In the white smoke, Zhao Yi's face seemed to form, but it quickly dissipated, and this thug also stopped struggling.

Runsheng moved the black canvas away, felt the other party's breath, and said: "Little Yuan, still alive."

Li Zhuiyuan nodded; the effect of this black canvas was surprisingly good, but one also had to consider the reason that the dead-fall had tortured these two lackeys for a very long time earlier.

Immediately after, Li Zhuiyuan looked at the thug wrapped in the net under him and took out the stack of talisman papers he had drawn himself from his bosom.

Yes, he still hadn't given up.

After all, other tools were all made by him "following the book" according to the content of the book; only these talisman papers could be considered to truly carry a bit of his own original attributes.

One talisman was stuck to the thug's forehead; the talisman quickly turned black, then slid off.

Another one was stuck down, continued to turn black, and continued to slide off.

The third, fourth, fifth... all the way until all the talismans brought were used up.

The talismans were all black, but not even a bit of white smoke rose from the thug's body.

Li Zhuiyuan was silent.

The talismans he drew could turn black, proving they were a little useful, but only being able to turn black was also useless.

That sense of frustration of a poor student once again surged into his heart.

"Brother Runsheng, canvas."

"Alright."

The black canvas was thrown over; Li Zhuiyuan caught it, then covered it over the thug below.

White smoke rose, vaguely forming Brother Leopard's desperate face, then quickly dissipated.

Li Zhuiyuan lifted the black canvas; a hole was actually burned in the middle, and many wooden shavings inside had turned black, with only one-third still their original color.

This meant this tool had to be remade.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the tombstone; a black copper coin lay here.

"Brother Runsheng, dig a pit on the side."

"Understood."

Li Zhuiyuan began to observe this copper coin, while Runsheng was digging the pit.

After a long while, seeing Runsheng still digging, Li Zhuiyuan turned his head in confusion and found that Runsheng had actually dug a deep pit that could bury several people.

"Brother Runsheng, what are you doing?"

"Ah?" Runsheng scratched his head, pointing at the two thugs who were unconscious and tied up, "Aren't we going to bury them?"

"No, it's to bury this copper coin."

"Oh, I thought wrong."

"Don't touch it with your hands, use the shovel." Li Zhuiyuan reminded while stepping forward, smearing a large amount of inkpad onto the Yellow River shovel.

Runsheng used the shovel to pick up the copper coin and carefully placed it into the pit.

"Brother Runsheng, first repair that dirt wall over there; the person's urn was almost dug out by you."

"Oh, good."

This was a graveyard, and Runsheng had dug too deep, and a corner of an urn was exposed.

After repairing the tomb wall, Runsheng began to backfill the pit; after filling it, Li Zhuiyuan made a mark there with a few stones, then bowed toward the direction of the underground urn:

"Sorry, I disturbed you; please help me watch over that copper coin; next time I come back to get it, I will burn paper for you."

Before confirming the function and harm of that copper coin, Li Zhuiyuan would not only not take it away, but wouldn't even touch it.

Looking down again to check Runsheng's Yellow River shovel, he was surprised to find that the positions originally smeared with red ink had all turned white.

Turning black, purple, or other dark colors when digging soil could be understood, but turning white only meant that the copper coin was truly fierce.

"Brother Runsheng, let's go."

"Going home?"

"Going to the police station."

"What else are we going to the police station for?"

"Fulfilling a vow."

Tan Yunlong, who had just finished the meeting with the Municipal Task Force, walked back to his office while yawning; pushing open the door, he saw the boy sitting in his office.

Tan Yunlong picked up the thermos, poured a cup of tea, and placed it before Li Zhuiyuan.

He didn't feel there was anything inappropriate about doing so, and his next question was:

"Where are the skeletons?"

"Hmm..." Li Zhuiyuan showed a troubled expression, "Uncle Tan, you skipped many steps."

"Because the last time you entered my office, you told me the location of the skeletons; now, you've come again."

"In the graveyard at the junction of West Suburb Village and East Suburb Village, and there are two people unconscious beside it."

"Are they accomplices responsible for transferring the skeletons?"

"That requires the police uncles to investigate."

"Thank you, Little Yuan; this time, you really helped a lot from beginning to end."

"My great-grandfather often educates me to keep in mind the fish-and-water relationship between the police and the people."

"Little Yuan, where is your household registration?"

"Uncle Tan, don't scare a child."

"I was just asking casually, caring about you; my son should be a few years older than you."

"Then you must not have a very good relationship with your son."

Tan Yunlong was choked; this was indeed true; only when he bought food and toys for his son could he see his son smile at him.

"Uncle Tan, is the case progressing smoothly?"

"The investigation speed is very fast; once this set of skeletons is confirmed, the case can basically be closed."

"That's really good."

After saying this, Li Zhuiyuan picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea; it was very hot, so he just touched his lips to it, then put the teacup down.

"Uncle Tan, I'm going home; you're busy."

"I'll have someone send you."

"No need, my driver is waiting for me outside."

After the boy walked out of the office, Tan Yunlong seemed to remember something, came to the corridor, stopped someone, and asked: "Little Zhang, has that Old Man Li left?"

"Just left, Team Tan; do you need me to call him back?"

"No need, it's fine. By the way, call a few people to go out with me to pick up the skeletons."

"Pick up ribs? Are we having a gathering tonight?"

There were several empty cars parked at the entrance of the police station; there were cars outside that couldn't get in, and cars inside that couldn't get out; people had already been sent to call others to move the cars.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the plaque of "Shigang Town Police Station," opened his arms, and hugged it.

He vaguely felt that the reason that dead-fall dissipated so quickly this time, thoroughly helping him eliminate potential threats in advance, had a lot to do with this plaque.

At this time, the cars blocking the entrance were cleared.

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head to look and found that on the other side of the entrance, there was an old man also hugging a plaque.

The old and the young looked at each other. Both silently let go.

"Oh my, oh my, seeing it, I couldn't help but want to hug it." Li Sanjiang patted the dust on his body, "Little Yuan, why haven't you gone home yet?"

"I came to pick you up, Great-Grandfather."

"Oh, alright, let's go home."

After returning home, Li Zhuiyuan went upstairs to take a bath first, while Runsheng used well water to rinse himself directly beside the wellhead on the dam.

Liu Yumei, who was drinking tea, shook her head slightly and let out a sigh.

Li Zhuiyuan, after bathing, went downstairs, waiting to eat dinner.

"Little Yuan, come with Grandma for a moment."

Li Zhuiyuan stood up and walked over; A Li, who had already sat down waiting for the meal, also stood up and followed.

Liu Yumei led the boy into the east room; what made Li Zhuiyuan feel confused was that Grandma Liu didn't lead him toward the ancestral tablets this time, but led him into her and A Li's bedroom.

After entering, Li Zhuiyuan knew what Liu Yumei meant.

Almost half the area of the bed was used to neatly place Jianlibao, and the distance between each bottle was exactly the same.

Liu Yumei had no other way; she and A Li slept in the same bed, and now she had to sleep on a floor mat.

"Grandma Liu, are there any empty boxes?"

"Yes, here."

Li Zhuiyuan started working, picking up the Jianlibao on the bed bottle by bottle and placing them into the box.

A Li stood on the side, head lowered.

"How good it would be to use this box for collection; let's find a way to fill this box early; what do you think?"

A Li raised her head, looked at Li Zhuiyuan, then turned around, picked up the energy drinks on the bed, and placed them into the box.

Liu Yumei was already used to this; she had spent days and nights earnestly persuading, but it wasn't as effective as a single word from the boy.

"Little Yuan, do you want to turn back?"

"I don't."

"This road is not easy to walk."

"Mm, if it were easy to walk, it wouldn't be interesting."

After dinner, Li Zhuiyuan accompanied A Li to watch an episode of "Ultraman Leo," then went to the terrace alone and finished today's horse stance.

Returning to the bedroom desk, he turned on the desk lamp, took out his notebook, and flipped to the first page; it was the plan he had written for today's action.

"Rrrrip..."

The plan paper was torn off, crumpled into a ball, and thrown into the dustpan beside it.

After today's events, Li Zhuiyuan discovered that no matter how good a plan was, once it started, at least half of it could be directly discarded.

Picking up his pen, Li Zhuiyuan began to record the mistakes he had made today.

First: Encountering a special classic environment like a graveyard, one shouldn't follow and enter too early; one must explore and confirm the situation on the periphery.

Second: Before entering a dream and walking in the underworld, one must predict the accidents that might happen next in advance.

Third: Not walking the righteous path seems to make dead-falls easier to solve.

Flipping to the next page, Li Zhuiyuan began to record the test usage of each tool today.

Finally, writing to the talisman paper, Li Zhuiyuan hesitated for a moment, then wrote:

Talisman paper function: Can be used to detect whether there are dirty things nearby; if there are, it turns black.

Just as he put down the pen, he heard a knock on the door:

"Little Yuan Hou, Great-Grandfather is going to take a bath; you go wait in Great-Grandfather's bedroom."

"Oh, alright, Great-Grandfather."

Li Zhuiyuan entered Great-Grandfather's bedroom; just like the first two days he came, a circle of candles was placed on the tiles, and a very familiar formation was drawn.

The reason it was called familiar was because this formation was a bit different from the previous few times.

And that "Jin Sha Luo Wen Sutra" was still spread open on the ground.

This meant that even though this formation had been drawn several times, every time Great-Grandfather drew a new one, he still had to continue copying it.

Li Zhuiyuan picked up this book, flipped to the page of the fortune-turning ritual, glanced at the book, and then glanced at the formation diagram on the ground.

"Hmm?"

Immediately after, as if he felt his eyes were playing tricks on him, he looked at the book again, then looked carefully at the formation on the ground.

"This time... Great-Grandfather actually drew it correctly?"

This should have been a good thing, but Li Zhuiyuan couldn't be happy.

Because when Great-Grandfather drew the formation wrong, the formation's effect was controllable, but who knew what would happen after Great-Grandfather drew the formation correctly?

The most terrifying thing is always the unknown.

Standing from Li Zhuiyuan's position, he knew what Great-Grandfather's purpose for turning his fortune was; it was to hope to turn away those dark sides in the eyes of secular people on him, letting him return to being a normal child and live a normal life.

But this was not what he wanted; he had already walked onto this road.

Furthermore, even without considering the possibility of Great-Grandfather's fortune being too deep and blowing him up, what would he do with Great-Grandfather's fortune?

Great-Grandfather had lived a happy and carefree life for a lifetime; if something bad happened to him in his old age because of sharing his fortune, why bother?

Grandpa South and Grandpa North didn't have only one grandson, but Great-Grandfather only recognized him as his only great-grandson.

Others coveted this fortune, but Li Zhuiyuan had no interest in it at all.

"Great-Grandfather, you should just enjoy your old age properly."

He crouched down, picked up the cinnabar box and rag beside him, first wiped away a small corner in the due north of the formation, then used cinnabar to fill it back in, only the original small corner was facing inward, and was changed by Li Zhuiyuan to face outward, while originally, the two small corners in the north and south were both facing inward.

Although he hadn't started reading books related to formations, he had also copied and carved quite a few on tools during this period; he knew that this kind of counter-effect in details could easily make the formation lose its effect.

Li Zhuiyuan nodded secretly: such a large formation, changing such a small corner, Great-Grandfather shouldn't be able to see it.

"Little Yuan, Little Yuan!"

Runsheng's shouting came from downstairs.

"Coming."

Li Zhuiyuan went downstairs and saw Runsheng grabbing the TV antenna and shaking it constantly:

"Little Yuan, look, why is there no picture on this TV?"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the night sky outside: "It seems like it's going to thunder; the signal must be bad. We're going to see Grandpa Mountain tomorrow morning; you should sleep early too. If the TV is still not working tomorrow, just take it to be repaired on the way, and bring it back when you return."

"Uh, Little Yuan, do you have money to repair the TV? I heard that repairing a TV is quite expensive."

If the TV was broken by him watching it, Runsheng wouldn't dare tell Great-Grandfather.

"It's fine, Brother Runsheng; if nothing unexpected happens, we will have money tomorrow."

Li Sanjiang, after bathing, wearing red underpants, walked into the bedroom while wiping the water droplets on his body with a towel.

"Eh, where is Little Yuan Hou?"

Throwing the towel on the ground casually, Li Sanjiang walked toward the head of the bed to get a cigarette, preparing to light one.

Who knew that just as he wasn't paying attention, his foot stepped on the semi-wet towel, and he directly slipped, losing his balance.

Fortunately, although the old man was old, his body was still sturdy, and his reaction was fast; he quickly turned to one side, his left hand supporting the ground, and only his knee bumped slightly, not falling completely.

Climbing up with some relief, Li Sanjiang looked at his reddened knee.

"Eh, is it bleeding?"

Reaching out to touch it, he didn't see a wound; putting his hand before his eyes to look, it wasn't blood, it was cinnabar.

Li Sanjiang looked down at the formation on the ground and found that a small area of the formation in the due south position had been wiped away by his knee.

He hurriedly dragged the cinnabar box over, preparing to fill it back in.

"Hey, what was this here?"

He had drawn this formation diagram many times; although he had to follow the book every time, he had roughly grasped some patterns, for example, this formation diagram was symmetrical.

Looking up at the opposite position, which was the due north position.

"Oh, it's a corner facing outward."

Li Sanjiang carefully filled it in with cinnabar, clapped his hands, and nodded with satisfaction.

Next, he lit a cigarette and held it in his mouth, then lit all the candles on the ground.

Li Zhuiyuan returned at this time.

"Little Sparrow, I told you to wait; why are you running around blindly."

"Hehe, didn't I come, Great-Grandfather."

"Quickly sit into the formation."

"Alright, Great-Grandfather."

Li Zhuiyuan sat into his position and specifically looked at the due north position of the formation; mm, that corner was still facing outward.

Li Sanjiang also sat down at this time, picked up a talisman paper from his crotch, lit it, and while waving it, muttered words.

Finally, he took a deep breath, gathered his strength, and prepared to slap the ground hard, because only then could he bring up the wind to blow out the surrounding candles, while simultaneously causing the lightbulb overhead to short-circuit and flash.

Reciting silently in his heart, one, two, three!

Slapping down with the talisman paper in hand,

"Slap!"

Darkness,

Instantly swallowed everything.

———

At the editor's request, asking for monthly tickets.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 33 =====