A Good-for-Nothing

116. The Settlement of the Matter (2)

 

Translator: Dragon Rider

 

Li Zong winked at Zu Zhichong, who hurriedly bit through his fingertip and drew a Purification Fu in the air. The enchantment landed on the quilt and produced the intended effect on Zhao Yao. Instantly, she became a trifle more composed.

A flicker of surprise crossed Qin Huai’s eldest sister’s eyes.

It was normal for someone, who had received higher education and had a decades-long unswerving belief in materialism, to be amazed by this scene.

“Yaoyao, let us see your face, okay?” Qin Huai asked in a gentle voice.

Zhao Yao still refused to relax her tight grip on the quilt, as if not having heard him.

Qin Huai’s eldest sister apologetically looked at these men standing before her and said, “I’m sorry, but my daughter had a very traumatic experience and I’m afraid she cannot communicate with you for the moment.”

He Zheng, with a frown on his face, was just about to say something.

“Actually, you didn’t see the phantom of Xu Tianhao, right? All this is just your imagination. What you saw was something else, a more horrifying truth.”

The pleasant male voice sounded rather bland and emotionless, but it helped Zhao Yao, who had been restless all along, gradually calm down. She found this unbelievable.

After a few moments’ silence, from beneath the quilt, a fair-skinned delicate hand covered with bite marks stretched out and with that, Zhao Yao, eyes red from crying, teeth marks on her lips, craned out of her quilt, cutting a terribly sorry figure. The dark areas under her eyes, in particular, was an unmistakable suggestion that Zhao Yao had been having great trouble sleeping for quite a few days.

She timidly looked at these people in her bedroom. Zhao Yao didn’t know exactly which one of these men had just said those words, but her eyes still rested on Li Zong.

“Do you believe me?”

Li Zong inclined his head. “I do.”

A mixture of delight and surprise glinted in Zhao Yao’s eyes. Had she not experienced this herself, she wouldn’t have believed that there were so many strange things existing in this world.

“You know the truth about Xu Tianhao’s death, right? He didn’t commit suicide.”

“Yes.” A flicker of sadness mixed with uncontrollable fear crossed Zhao Yao’s eyes. “I saw it. I saw all of it…”

Recalling what she saw on that day, Zhao Yao still involuntarily gave a cold shiver. There was so much on her mind that she wanted to spit out, but she was unable to utter a syllable.

“Relax. Take it easy.”

Li Zong casually gave Zhao Yao a pat on the shoulder. It was just a consoling pat, but He Zheng, who was standing quite close, with his Yin Yang Eyes saw distinctly every detail of what Li Zong had just done.

He had used his internal energy to strengthen the weak vital flames on Zhao Yao’s shoulders, which were now an inch higher than they’d been a moment ago.

Everybody had three vital flames. Two of them were on the shoulders, and the third in the middle of the forehead. If all three vital flames were out, the person’s soul would be disembodied from them or even perish for good.

It was rumored that when traveling at night, one must not turn their head back if they heard someone called them from behind, because their vital flames would be blown out by a ghost if they did. Without vital flames which gave off yang Qi protecting them, they would be more vulnerable to ghosts and demons. This was what people called “A ghost blowing out a candle”.

That pat given by Li Zong noticeably invigorated Zhao Yao. She felt much better now, and her fear and panic had also been dissolved considerably.

Others on the side, though curious, merely believed that she’d drawn some comfort from Li Zong’s consoling hand.

With that words which had sprung to the tip of Zhao Yao’s tongue spontaneously came out of her mouth. “That day, after hearing news of Haozi’s death, I played the surveillance video filmed with my pinhole camera. I saw…”

As Zhao Yao told them all she knew and handed over the video recording of everything that had happened between Xu Tianhao and Liu Lanxue in the office before his death, this case involving two people’s deaths was finally cracked, but there was still a questionable point: how did Liu Lanxue get into contact and made a deal with a demon?

Or had the Demon King run out of patience, made numerous doppelgangers of himself and been taking advantage of human’s greed and desire, making trouble in various places? All this required further investigation.

Li Zong handed the thumb drive to Zu Zhichong. This case was manifestly beyond the definition of human criminal case. “I want you to go back to the funeral parlor. Liu Lanxue died not long after she swallowed those diary pages. Maybe they’re still in her esophagus and haven’t entered her stomach to be digested yet.”

In this case, Liu Lanxue had been the murderer, but she’d also been a victim, while Xu Tianhao, though the victim, to some extent had invited his own destruction.

Under no circumstances would such deeds as taking someone else’s life be tolerated by the law, or else murder of common people would become a frequent occurrence.

This was why the law existed.

But now, Liu Lanxue was dead, and all this should be brought to an end.

“You are to handle the rest of this,” instructed Li Zong. Zu Zhichong didn’t really need Li Zong’s instruction to know what he should do. Eventually, the part of this case involving demons would be erased, and the rest of it would remain unchanged.

In the car.

Members of Qin family’s memories needed altering, so Qin Huai was not present. Zu Zhichong and Tun Shanhai, having orders to clean up the mess, were busy doing their jobs. Li Zong and He Zheng were on their way home.

He Zheng unnoticeably observed the man sitting beside him. This man was powerful, confident and highly observant. They had been on the run for a whole day without much progress, but only a short time after his arrival, the case had been cracked. He Zheng had to admit that Li Zong was indeed quite badass.

He felt that he couldn’t hold a candle to Li Zong.

Of course, such thoughts of He Zheng’s were too inopportune. Supt. Li had followed Mrs. Li’s instructions and returned home early, only to find that Mrs. Li had gone to a high school and got involved in the case which Zu Zhichong and Tun Shanhai had been assigned to handle as a punishment.

‘This little guy seems quite relaxed, totally not worried about the training that’s going to start in a few days. All other applicants probably have been practicing like crazy at this moment.’

A look of determination flashed across Li Zong’s eyes. ‘It’s indeed high time that I gave him a reminder.’