Chapter Forty-Eight: Pursued by a Spirit

"Uncle Zhao. What’s going on?" Seeing how much Zhao Dongsheng had changed, I was stunned. What happened? Just a month ago he was lively and shrewd! Now, in such a short time, he’s become like this.

Zhao Dongsheng’s eyelids flickered, and he said nothing, slowly moving to close the door. I hurriedly reached out to stop him. "Uncle Zhao, I came today to talk to you about something important!"

He remained silent, turning away to walk inside. I exchanged a glance with Wei Qi and followed him in. Entering the courtyard, we were met with a scene of decay; the ground was strewn with brightly colored paper used for funeral decorations, scattered and disordered, clearly vandalized.

Inside, the chaos was even worse—furniture was smashed to pieces.

"Uncle Zhao, what happened?" I asked again.

Zhao Dongsheng lifted his face and looked at me blankly. "Who are you?"

I was dumbfounded. He still hadn’t recognized me. How could this be? Had he lost his memory due to some illness?

"Uncle Zhao, it’s Dachuan! Wang Jun is my uncle. I came to ask if you have any good wet goods?" I moved closer and lowered my voice.

At my words, Zhao Dongsheng suddenly sprang up. "No, no, I don’t deal in this business anymore. I don’t deal in death." With that, he dashed outside, and by the time Wei Qi and I followed, he was already gone.

"What’s going on?" I asked Wei Qi.

Wei Qi glanced around. "Forget it. Let’s see if there’s any wet goods here."

We searched Zhao Dongsheng’s house for a while, especially his freezer—it was unplugged. Clearly, he hadn’t been doing business recently. We couldn’t figure out what had happened to change him so drastically.

There was no one to ask, and with other matters pressing, we returned to Wei Village. On the way, both Wei Qi and I felt strange: why had my second uncle and my mother left without a word, and why had Zhao Dongsheng changed so suddenly? Had something happened to our generation of those who walk in the shadow world? The more we thought, the stranger it seemed; tomorrow, we’d have to find someone who understood.

When I got home, I carried Wang Ying’s corpse into the room, took the blood amber from the mature woman’s body, and placed it on hers. Shangguan Wan’er looked at Wang Ying’s corpse and kept praising her beauty.

It was true—Wang Ying was beautiful. Even in death, one could imagine what a dazzling life she must have had.

The next day, Wei Qi and I rushed to the county criminal investigation team and met Yu Fang. In just a few days, she looked thinner, but her spirits were good. When she saw me, her face turned red. After all, we had slept together, and she’d taken my first kiss—even if it wasn’t her intention, since she’d been possessed by a ghost, her body was still hers.

She was straightforward enough to drop her work and take Wei Qi and me to a teahouse. Over tea, I explained why we’d come: about my second uncle and my mother. Yu Fang said she couldn’t open a case, since two people had left together, so it wasn’t considered missing, but she would keep an eye out and could post a notice on the national police network, letting me know if any information came up.

After that, I asked if it was possible to buy a female corpse from the county hospital morgue.

Yu Fang glanced around and whispered, "Corpses aren’t allowed to be bought or sold. There are many unclaimed bodies at the county hospital morgue, some left for years, but they can’t be sold."

"So what should we do? We urgently need seven corpses!"

"Well… you can’t buy them, but you can steal them," Yu Fang said quietly.

"Steal them? That’s illegal!" I’d never done anything like that.

Yu Fang thought for a moment. "But you can steal them. They’re all unclaimed bodies. Selling them is illegal, but if you steal them, no one will really ask questions."

Her words made something click in my mind. But I had no experience in this area. How was I supposed to steal them?

Yu Fang said she’d help gather information and let us know when she had something. That reassured me—after all, she was a police officer, and it would be easy for her to find out things.

After parting with Yu Fang, we waited for her message. Instead of returning to Wei Village, we wandered around the county town. Wei Qi even parked his car in front of Shang Xiaoyun’s villa.

He’s such a romantic—what was he doing here? Shang Xiaoyun had a man already, so was this worth it?

While we were watching the villa from the car, Shang Xiaoyun walked over, dressed in a pale purple dress, swaying gracefully.

"Uncle Qi, go say hello. We can’t have come for nothing," I nudged Wei Qi, who was slumped over the steering wheel.

Wei Qi gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "No need. Just seeing her is enough. She has a man now."

This guy—waiting for her even though she’s taken, and not even going to see her when she appears. What kind of devotion is this?

"Dachuan, do you notice anything strange about Shang Xiaoyun?" Suddenly, Wei Qi perked up, his usually squinty eyes wide open.

"Strange? Nothing really, just that she seems thinner, and her figure looks even better." To be honest, Wei Qi did have an eye for women—if Shang Xiaoyun were ten years younger, she’d be a stunner, and even now, she was a gem among mature women.

"No, she’s got a heavy aura of darkness about her," Wei Qi said, narrowing his eyes and getting out of the car.

I hesitated but followed. I hadn’t planned to get out—if Wei Qi wanted to talk to her, I’d leave him to it—but his tone told me he had something else in mind. His skills were deeper than mine, so if he said the aura was heavy, I believed it.

Seeing us, a hint of joy broke through Shang Xiaoyun’s pale face. "Why are you here? I was just about to look for you."

While she spoke, I studied her face carefully. There was indeed a dull, deathly pallor—not like a normal person.

"Sister Yun, what did you want to see us for? Going to visit Brother Wei?" I couldn’t help teasing, thinking of Wei Qi’s devotion.

She pouted sweetly, shooting a playful glance at Wei Qi. "He promised to come see me but never did."

I hesitated, then said, "Sister Yun, you’ve wronged my uncle. He did come to see you, but you were with a handsome guy, so he slipped away."

I said this to let her know Wei Qi liked her.

Shang Xiaoyun paused, her eyes confused, then turned to Wei Qi. "What do you mean? You came to see me?"

Wei Qi blushed. "Last Saturday I had nothing to do, so I came here. You came home late, and I saw you..." He couldn’t resist her, so he told the truth, though he didn't mention seeing her with another man.

"So? What did you see?" she asked, puzzled.

Wei Qi stammered, not revealing the whole truth—maybe to spare her feelings, or maybe he couldn’t bring himself to tear open old wounds. If he said it, Shang Xiaoyun might not be able to handle it.

I couldn’t stand it. Shang Xiaoyun was being unfair—if she did it, she did it; if not, Wei Qi wasn’t pestering her. So I said, "He saw you with a man that night."

Shang Xiaoyun’s confusion deepened. "Did you really see that?"

Wei Qi blushed, as if caught spying. "I saw it, but it was dark, I couldn’t see clearly."

"Wei Qi, what are you implying? Why are you spreading rumors about me? Is that fun?" Her face grew paler, her chest heaving with anger. "I was thinking of finding someone, but after everything, it just seemed pointless. And you saw me with another man?"

Now both Wei Qi and I were stunned. What was going on? Did Wei Qi mistake someone else for her, or was he making up rumors? Wei Qi looked up and stammered, "Sister Yun, I’m not lying. I really saw you with a man that night!"

As soon as he finished, the air went thick. Suddenly, I sensed something strange. If both were telling the truth, what did it mean? It meant the one with Shang Xiaoyun wasn’t a person—something only Wei Qi could see.

If that was true, things were serious.

Shang Xiaoyun seemed to realize it too, fear creeping into her expression. "Brother Wei Qi, you’re not lying? You’re not trying to scare me?"

Wei Qi came to his senses, realizing the man he'd seen walking beside Shang Xiaoyun that night might not have been human. He hadn’t looked closely—jealousy got the better of him—he saw a man with her and left immediately, never checking if it was a person or a ghost.

"Sister Yun, maybe I was mistaken that night," Wei Qi said, not daring to be too certain, worried that Shang Xiaoyun couldn’t handle the truth. If she knew a male ghost was following her in the dead of night, she’d be terrified.

"Don’t dodge the question. Come to my house and look. If there’s something evil here, I won’t stay another night!" Shang Xiaoyun grabbed Wei Qi’s hand and pulled him towards her house, ignoring me. Watching her grab his hand, I felt happy for them—clearly, there was something between them.

I followed, and immediately sensed the heavy aura of darkness in her home. Wei Qi was right—there was definitely something evil here.

"Sister Yun, have you felt anything strange lately?" Wei Qi asked quietly as we sat inside.

"Not really, but at night I keep feeling someone touching me, even kissing me," Shang Xiaoyun blushed.

With those words, it was clear she was being haunted. Probably, the ghost found her attractive and wanted to take advantage.

"Sister Yun, you really can’t stay here. You’re being followed by a ghost. Maybe it’s living in your house," Wei Qi’s eyes searched every corner, as if expecting to find a ghost lurking within.

"Really? How can there be so many ghosts? Didn’t you two catch and kill them?" Shang Xiaoyun trembled, clearly frightened.

Wei Qi shook his head. "Remember? When we opened the coffin, there were three ghosts—two pallbearer ghosts and one was your husband. Your husband’s evil ghost was destroyed, a little girl ghost at Yu Fang’s house was destroyed by Dachuan, but one escaped. It’s probably that one."

Hearing this, Shang Xiaoyun moved closer to Wei Qi. "I’m scared. You have to protect me."