◎Playing Dumb to Outsmart the Tiger◎
Following Dou Dou’s instructions, Zhong Yao waved down a taxi. The streets were empty at night, and the car soon arrived at its destination.
She looked at the grand building in front of her, puzzled. She had been studying in Dongchuan City for three years, yet had never noticed this building called the Investigation Bureau.
【That’s where the person works. His name is Xing Chu. Look for him.】
Dou Dou seemed wary of something and quickly retreated back into the phone.
Zhong Yao went straight to the guard and asked, “Sir, may I ask if someone named Xing Chu works here? I need to see him about something.”
The elderly guard, half-asleep, hadn’t heard her clearly. She repeated herself.
This time he caught it and slowly replied, “Yes, there is such a person. Little girl, do you have business with him?”
Zhong Yao’s eyes lit up as if she had found a savior. “Sir, it’s urgent. Could you help me call him down?”
“Uh…” The guard hesitated, sizing her up from head to toe. Seeing she didn’t look like a troublemaker, he finally made a call to summon someone.
Xing Chu had been working late and was a little confused when he got the call. He hadn’t made any plans with anyone today.
Still not sure what was going on, he bumped into his mentor, Qiu Zhan Bin, as he headed out. “Aren’t you working late?”
Xing Chu replied, “The guard said a strange little girl is here to see me. I’ll go check it out.”
Qiu Zhan Bin frowned. He had been uneasy since dusk, feeling that something bad was about to happen. Hearing that a strange girl had come looking for them, he immediately became alert. “I’ll go with you to see what’s happening,” he said.
Seeing the two of them, Zhong Yao hurried forward and got straight to the point: “Do you have a police friend? He’s in trouble.”
The relaxed air around Xing Chu vanished instantly. He had thought this girl was just some misunderstanding, but now it seemed the situation was more serious than he imagined.
He narrowed his eyes dangerously, sizing up the stranger silently.
Zhong Yao stomped her foot, silently cursing Dou Dou’s unreliability for sending her to say such a strange thing. Now, in their eyes, she must look like a weirdo.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. A tiny hand curled around her finger, seemingly signaling her to check the message.
And so, in Qiu Zhan Bin and Xing Chu’s eyes, the girl who had randomly come and said strange things suddenly started fiddling with her phone.
The two of them exchanged a glance, both feeling her suspicion was growing stronger.
“His name is Meng Yu, he’s 25 years old, and he’s a police officer in the city’s criminal investigation unit,” Zhong Yao read from the phone, then lifted her eyes to look at them, her expression serious. “I’m not trying to trick you. He’s really in danger right now and needs your help.”
Qiu Zhan Bin’s face grew serious. He placed the back of his right hand behind him, closed his eyes slightly, and began calculating with his fingers.
After a short while, his expression changed drastically, and he pursed his lips. “A dire omen.”
Hearing his master’s words eased much of Xing Chu’s doubt. He quickly said, “I’ll go get the car. Let’s leave immediately.”
Once they were both seated in the car, Xing Chu suddenly realized that he still didn’t know Meng Yu’s exact location. He instinctively looked at Qiu Zhan Bin, only to receive a helpless look in return.
Qiu Zhan Bin wasn’t particularly skilled in divination, and now there were no tools available to do it, so even if he wanted to, he couldn’t.
Zhong Yao glanced at her phone. “He’s in Apartment 1801, Unit 4, Building A, Jinyinhuayuan.”
Trusting her words for the moment, Xing Chu pressed the accelerator, and the car sped toward the destination.
On the way, Qiu Zhan Bin couldn’t resist probing. “Miss, how did you know Meng Yu was in danger? And why, after knowing, didn’t you go yourself, but came to find us instead?”
Zhong Yao looked at him as if she hadn’t understood the point of his question, her eyes wide in surprise. “It’s such a dangerous situation. I’m a weak girl, with no strength to lift or carry anyone. Of course, I’d need outside help.”
She tilted her head. “Is calling for outside help to save someone illegal?”
Qiu Zhan Bin’s lips twitched. “Of course not. Acting for justice when witnessing wrongs is exactly what society encourages, you did the right thing.”
Zhong Yao nodded solemnly. “I think I did the right thing too.”
Qiu Zhan Bin closed his mouth and turned to stare silently out the window.
He had intended to test her, but somehow the topic had shifted to whether she deserved praise.
Xing Chu, keeping a constant eye on Zhong Yao, smirked. He wasn’t sure if she genuinely didn’t understand or was pretending to, but somehow she had managed to wrap his master into this conversation, it was impressive.
After all, if [1]老 + 名字 (lǎo …) – familiar, senior, long-known jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1668854_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1668854_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Lao Chen was the soul of the Investigation Bureau, then Qiu Zhan Bin enjoyed a reputation as the “Old Fox.” Countless people in the bureau had fallen victim to his schemes, and yet today, he was outsmarted.
The three of them remained silent all the way to Jinyinhuayuan. But their start wasn’t smooth. The residential area had high security. The guard saw that they were strangers and, without a resident to escort them, refused to let them in.
Finally, they had to present their ID cards before being allowed inside.
Just when they thought that was enough, they were stopped again in front of 1802, staring at the keypad lock, exchanging glances, not sure what to do.
Zhong Yao sighed, beginning to wonder if Dou Dou had even needed her to bring these two for help. Somehow, it felt like they were even more clueless than she was.
She pulled out her phone and tapped a few keys. Dou Dou traced the network for a while and finally produced a string of numbers: “74577.”
The code didn’t look like a birthday or anniversary, and Zhong Yao muttered to herself, secretly guessing that these numbers must have some connection she didn’t understand.
She slowly tapped the numbers on the screen, and when she pressed the pound key, the door lock gave a “beep”, and the latch clicked open.
Zhong Yao, unaware of anything, was about to boldly push the door open when Xing Chu and Qiu Zhan Bin’s expressions suddenly darkened. One grabbed Zhong Yao and pulled her back, while the other pulled a talisman from his pocket and threw it through the door crack.
Through the narrow gap, they saw a black claw catch fire as it touched the talisman, flames roaring instantly.
Zhong Yao staggered back two steps, and once she regained her balance, she saw a talisman stuck to the door and the partially opened doorway shrouded in darkness.
What was happening?
She stared, dumbfounded, as the two men rapidly formed hand seals, completely not sure of what was going on.
Suddenly, a sharp, piercing roar rang out. Zhong Yao couldn’t help but break out in goosebumps, feeling a chill run down her spine.
Dou Dou tugged at her finger from her pocket. She glanced down at her phone like second nature. “This is an evil spirit, formed from concentrated malice. Its attack power is very strong. Don’t get too close, let those two handle it.”
Zhong Yao immediately stepped back two more paces, keeping herself out of harm’s way.
Seeing the black claw catch fire from the talisman, Xing Chu exchanged a glance with Qiu Zhan Bin. In a flash faster than the eye could follow, they threw the door open and charged inside.
Zhong Yao hesitated for a moment, then quickly followed.
Based on her horror movie experience, now was definitely not the time to be alone or far from the big guns, otherwise, it would only be more dangerous.
If any stray evil spirit suddenly attacked and she had no means to defend herself, she’d be done for on the spot.
As soon as she entered, a gust of supernatural wind slammed the door shut behind them. The three of them felt like little lambs stepping into a wolf’s den, their wide, innocent eyes unknowingly delivering them to the enemy’s jaws.
The house was fairly large, but the electrical system seemed to have failed, no lights could be turned on. The pale moonlight occasionally filtered through the clouds, making the already spacious living room even eerier and more menacing.
The black claw and the screeching evil spirit from before seemed to vanish in an instant. The room was silent except for the three of their breathing and the faint rustle of wind brushing past their ears.
Xing Chu and Qiu Zhan Bin tensed, constantly scanning their surroundings, wary of the evil spirit appearing in any unexpected place.
Zhong Yao quietly surveyed the silent room, swallowed the excess saliva her fear had produced, and stealthily took two steps closer to the men.
Had she known the inside would be like a haunted house, she would have just given them the code and retreated herself.
Xing Chu glanced at her and pulled a few talismans from his pocket, handing them over while instinctively lowering his voice. “Take these for protection.”
Zhong Yao glanced at him gratefully, quickly took the yellow talismans, and clutched them tightly in her hand, finally feeling a bit of security.
The three of them stood silently, seemingly waiting for the right moment.
Suddenly, before Zhong Yao could even react, she saw Xing Chu and Qiu Zhan Bin dash off simultaneously in completely opposite directions, moving so fast they were almost like streaks of lightning.
At the same time, several talismans flew out toward different directions, with the most flying in the directions the two men ran.
The next moment, red flames mysteriously ignited in midair without wind, and one by one, black shadows were forced to reveal their forms.
But the spirit didn’t realize that revealing itself and exposing its form directly to Xing Chu and Qiu Zhan Bin was its greatest mistake.
It screamed, trying to tear off the talismans burning its flesh, but before it could remove one, countless talismans rained down on it.
The evil spirit roared silently: Are your talismans wholesale or free or what?!
Seeing victory within reach, Xing Chu quickly formed hand seals with both hands, chanting incantations under his breath.
The spirit realized he was about to unleash a major attack and knew that if it didn’t escape, it would die here.
With nothing to lose, it tore a gap through the web of talismans, thrilled, and shrank its body into wisps of smoke, slipping through the opening.
But in its excitement, it didn’t notice someone standing ahead.
The person was small and quietly standing in a corner, unnoticed by the two men and the spirit absorbed in their battle.
By the time the spirit noticed her, it was too close to stop and crashed straight into Zhong Yao’s arms.
Unexpectedly, the moment its body touched hers, a blue light ignited on her, radiating an aura that was not to be trifled with.
The spirit trembled in fear. Before it could escape again, the blue light, as if it had spotted the killer of its father, opened wide and swallowed it in one bite.
Zhong Yao stood there dumbfounded, completely unaware of what had happened.
Throughout the entire process, the black shadows and blue light were invisible to the naked eye, all she saw were Xing Chu and Qiu Zhan Bin flinging talismans in every direction.
She was about to marvel at the resources of this Investigation Bureau, whose name she had never heard before, when a gust of cold wind hit her, but in an instant, the cold disappeared. Her body felt warm, and the air around her no longer suffocated her.
She squinted in relief and noticed the other two staring at her intently. Instinctively, she hid the slightly smug expression that came from feeling so comfortable and asked, “Are you done?”
Having opened their spiritual eyes and watched the entire process of the evil spirit being killed by her single move, Xing Chu and Qiu Zhan Bin stared at the utterly clueless girl…
Could this really be the legendary “playing the fool to eat the tiger”?
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