Xie Chongyang stared at him. “You need an ID card to go online. How could there be no record?”
Xiao Zi looked away, using a leg tremor to hide his awkwardness. “I did not open a terminal; I just watched other people play.”
Xie Chongyang raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
Xiao Zi’s hand moved in his pocket. “I had no money.”
“The internet cafe will still have surveillance.” Xie Chongyang lowered his head to take notes. “Give me the name of the cafe. We will verify the time you entered and left.”
“Oh, you can go check. I am telling the truth.” After speaking, Xiao Zi became a bit uneasy again. “Are you asking me for an alibi? What exactly happened? What happened to them?”
While Xie Chongyang was questioning him, Cui Renwang had already scanned the apartment.
He crouched in front of a dried up fish tank and asked, “Why did you not join them yesterday? Are you not good friends?”
“What else could it be?” Xiao Zi lowered his head and said vaguely, “We had a falling out.”
Cui Renwang intended to get to the bottom of it. “Why did you fall out?”
Xiao Zi remained stubborn. “That should have nothing to do with you.”
Xie Chongyang tapped the table again. “Whether it has something to do with us is for us to judge. Just speak.”
Xiao Zi let out a long breath and said listlessly, “I told them I was not hanging out with them anymore. I was going out to work.”
Like a child asking a thousand questions, Cui Renwang asked again, “Why?”
Xiao Zi hung his head. “I need money.”
He originally seemed to intend to say only that one sentence, but he could not resist the urge to confide. He continued, “My mother is sick.” He turned his head and sniffled. “It is a cerebral infarction.”
“She already had high blood pressure. The last time I was locked up for a few days, she heard about it and just fainted in the field.”
“I wanted to go see her, but my father told me to get lost.”
He tried to act like a deep, weathered character, telling his story with casual indifference, but his red rimmed eyes and heavy nasal tone could not hide his grievance and resentment. “I know I do not deserve to go back to see her. I just want to earn some money to send her for medical expenses.”
“A fellow townsman said his factory is hiring. Room and board are included; the more you work, the more you earn. I wanted to give it a try.”
He sniffled hard again. Xie Chongyang originally wanted to hand him a tissue, but the pack on the table was empty. It was Cui Renwang who pulled a pack of tissues from his pocket.
After thanking him, Xiao Zi wiped his face messily, clutching the crumpled tissue tightly. “I told them about this, and the result was that Brother Yi, the one wearing red, thought I was blaming him.”
“The last time we fought with the Grey Snake Gang, it was because Brother Yi got into a conflict with the other side that we all ended up in lockup for two days. So this time, when I told them I was not hanging out with them and wanted to work, he felt it was because of last time and that I was being disloyal. So we fell out.”
“We have not been together for the past two days. I really do not know what they did.”
He licked his lips and asked in a raspy voice, “So, what exactly happened to them?”
Xie Chongyang and Cui Renwang exchanged a glance, feeling that eighty percent of what he said was the truth; the grave robbing quartet likely did not include him.
In that case, the one possessed by the Madam and currently missing was almost certainly Xiao Lan.
Suddenly, there was a heavy knocking on the door. The three people in the room turned their heads simultaneously.
“Delivery!” the delivery guy outside shouted at the top of his lungs. “Your phone will not go through!”
“Coming!” Xiao Zi was startled and stood up somewhat restlessly. “Um, Officer, can I get my delivery?”
“I will go.” Xie Chongyang opened the door. The delivery guy originally wanted to say a few more words, but Xie Chongyang had already taken the food and gave him a bright, sunny smile. “Sorry for the oversight.”
The delivery guy was momentarily speechless and stammered, “Oh, oh, it is fine, it is not a big deal. Your phone service has been cut off!”
Xie Chongyang closed the door. Cui Renwang asked Xiao Zi, “Your phone is out of service?”
“Huh?” Xiao Zi hurriedly took out his phone, fiddled with it for a bit, and scratched his head awkwardly. “Oh, it has been overdue for too long.”
Cui Renwang was silent. He asked, “Do you have no money to top up?”
Xiao Zi nodded awkwardly. “But when I am at home, there is internet; I borrow it from the neighbors.”
Cui Renwang had lacked many things in his life, but he had rarely lacked money. He sighed and said, “Give me your phone number. I will top it up for you.”
Xie Chongyang frowned. “Again?”
“If you argue, I will top yours up too. I have your number.” Cui Renwang’s single sentence made Officer Xie shut his mouth.
“Huh? Really?” Xiao Zi was overwhelmed by the favor and hurriedly called him Brother. “Brother, what is your surname?”
Cui Renwang did not look up. “Cui.”
“Brother Cui, if you ever need anything, find me.” Xiao Zi patted his chest as a guarantee. “Leave me your number. When I earn money in the future, I will pay you back tenfold.”
Cui Renwang let out a laugh. When he laughed, his already beautiful face became even more captivating. Xiao Zi, who had not seen much of the world, was a bit dazed by the sight.
Cui Renwang looked up at him. “Tenfold? Even loan sharks are not that cruel.”
Xiao Zi lowered his head sheepishly and scratched it.
“All done.” Cui Renwang topped up his phone bill. Within a few minutes, the service restoration message arrived, followed by several notification sounds.
Xiao Zi originally wanted to dismiss them, but the moment he saw the messages, a complex expression, somewhere between crying and laughing, appeared on his face. Among the junk promotional messages, he saw one belated text.
Brother Yi wrote: “The brothers have thought it through. You want to work for your mother’s sake; that is filial piety, and we cannot stop you. The bus fare to Huacheng is not cheap, but do not worry. The brothers will find a way for you; wait for our good news. Rest assured, even though we are taking different paths this time, the bond between the five of us is unbreakable! If you run into trouble, come back to your Brother Yi. The five of us will shoulder it together!”
The tears finally welled up in Xiao Zi’s red eyes. He stood up abruptly with a panicked expression. “They did not go to steal something, did they? Officer, I will write you an IOU! Whatever money they stole, count it as mine. I will pay you back tenfold in the future. Just do not let them go to prison, I beg you.”
Cui Renwang was puzzled. “Why did they send a text message instead of a WeChat message?”
“A sense of ceremony!” Xiao Zi clenched his fists with red eyes. “Important information must be sent via text! This is the sense of ceremony for us! Just like the oaths of brotherhood cannot be sent casually!”
“Oh.” Cui Renwang pointed to the last line of the message. He said, “It says shoulder it together, not shoulder pole it together. There is a typo here too.”
Xiao Zi was speechless.
Cui Renwang added, “Also, begging the police about going to prison will not do any good.”
Xie Chongyang covered Cui Renwang’s mouth.
He roughly understood the motivation of these men for the midnight grave robbing. He cleared his throat. “Ahem, we will consider the circumstances. The case is currently under investigation, so I cannot reveal too much information to you, but we need your cooperation.”
“The one wearing blue is currently missing. We need to find him as soon as possible. Has he contacted you since last night? Do you know where he might go?”
Xiao Zi wiped his face and thought seriously, trying to provide some useful information, but Cui Renwang did not listen carefully.
The one currently occupying Xiao Lan’s body and leading its actions was not his friend, but the Madam dug out from the tomb. Even if Xiao Zi racked his brain, his information would not have much reference value.
However, he glanced at Xiao Zi, who was considering the situation seriously with red eyes. Letting him speak a few more words would at least make him feel like he was helping.
After his mouth was covered, Cui Renwang obediently remained silent, his gaze falling aimlessly on the not so clean ceiling.
By now, Old Zhang should be using his own methods to calculate the location, and Xiao Tao was searching for Xiao Lan’s tracks in the surveillance system. With both science and metaphysics working together, finding him should only be a matter of time.
They just needed time.
When the default ringtone of the phone rang, Xiao Zi was so focused on his memories that he jumped in surprise.
“Hello.” Cui Renwang answered the phone and finally spoke again. “Yes, good, I understand.”
He hung up the phone and looked at Xie Chongyang. “Let us go, Captain Xie. We found him.”
Xiao Zi stood up abruptly. “I will go with you. Officer, I,”
Xie Chongyang was about to refuse, but Cui Renwang had already spoken. “The Third Hospital.”
“You can go wait at the Third Hospital. Everyone else is there, and the police are there too.” He looked at Xiao Zi. “But if you go, you can only wait. You might not be able to talk to anyone, and it might not be of much use.”
“I am going!” Xiao Zi did not even finish listening. With red eyes, he said, “Thank you, Officer! Thank you, Brother Cui! I will definitely repay you in the future!”
He rushed out of the door ahead of the two of them, his thin legs moving very fast as he went downstairs like the wind.
“Hey! You have not eaten your delivery!” Xie Chongyang still wanted to hand it to him, but in the blink of an eye, he could only see the young man through the hallway window as he had already reached the ground. His limbs were thin and gangly, like a Chinese Fine Haired Greyhound running wild in the night.
He turned back in disbelief and asked, “He does not plan to run all the way to the Third Hospital, does he?”
“He will walk when he gets tired of running.” Cui Renwang considerately closed the door for Xiao Zi; he hoped the boy had remembered to bring his keys.
Xie Chongyang withdrew his gaze. “Did Xiao Tao find Xiao Lan?”
“Yes.” Cui Renwang responded. “He was found fainted by the roadside. The Madam is no longer with him.”
“The location where he was found has been sent to me. Let us rush over. We might still discover something.”
A short time ago, at the unfinished building.
After accepting the gift from the man, a change quickly occurred in the Madam.
Her confusion turned to resentment, and her terror turned to rage. This ghost from the tomb, who had not seen much of the world, was filled with a full chest of resentment in a short time. She was visibly transforming into a fierce ghost.
The souls following her in a line were still floating in place, bewildered. It was not until the Madam lunged forward and bit Xiao Lan’s soul that they broke out of their dazed state. They let out screams inaudible to living ears and scattered in fear.
The Madam dashed across the road without any regard, her path blocked by a wall amidst a chaotic mess of honking horns. She was possessing Xiao Lan’s body, chasing those incorporeal souls, and she quickly realized the inconvenience of it.
She was no longer the timid little ghost who needed to hide within a human frame. She hurriedly cast off the cumbersome human body that restricted her movements and continued chasing after the soul of Xiao Lan, whom she had bitten once.
Using the cover of the night, she closed the distance between herself and her prey with the posture of a predator.
The soul fled in panic, weaving through the flickering lights of the night. Just as she was about to catch up, a small electric scooter nimbly turned a corner across the street. The person on the scooter turned on a Bluetooth speaker, and a burst of high energy Daoist music echoed through the street with a volume that was absolutely a public nuisance.
“Heaven and Earth are natural,”
With wind and percussion instruments playing together, Old Zhang opened his throat and began to sing. The Madam clutched her head and let out a shrill shriek.
One side had just delivered a Daoist talent display, while the other responded with a world destroying high note.
Cui Renwang and Xie Chongyang arrived at the concert scene one after the other. Under the startled gaze of Captain Xie, Cui Renwang bit his finger without blinking and drew a talisman in the air.
Xie Chongyang was hesitating whether to remind Old Zhang to turn off the speaker, otherwise they might have to report to the police station for a noise complaint in a moment, when suddenly there was a crackling sound. The air twisted as if someone had gripped and squeezed it.
The streetlights flickered rapidly, exploding with a spark before going out completely. The falling electric sparks faintly traced the ghostly silhouette of a screaming woman.
Xie Chongyang was stunned.