23: Chapter 22: Senior, Are Your Ancestors Related to Taotie?
23: Chapter 22: Senior, Are Your Ancestors Related to Taotie?
If Chai Sitian hadn’t trusted Zhu Chun’an, she never would have believed it.
To possess such strength at a young age, casually capturing Lan Ying—not to mention the previous generation of Heavenly Masters, even the generation before them couldn’t have pulled it off.
Chai Sitian would rather believe that the cigarette Pei Ye used was a spiritual artifact capable of suppressing evil entities!
Thinking this, she didn’t voice her complaints.
Instead, she revised Zhu Chun’an’s application, exchanging a portion of the reward for cash and a smartphone.
Interpersonal relationships needed maintenance.
Only with reciprocal exchanges could a relationship grow closer.
By building a good rapport with Pei Ye, Zhu Chun’an’s life would gain an extra layer of protection.
Before leaving, Zhu Chun’an asked Chai Sitian, “Lan Ying has been handed over to the Fengdu Yin Cha, but how will the other related cases be handled in the end?”
“Naturally, they will be handled as they should be.
The impact of this case is egregious, so it won’t be treated lightly.”
That hair salon wasn’t just a front for prostitution; it was also a transit hub for a human trafficking syndicate.
During her interrogation, Lan Ying confessed to everything without hesitation, readily admitting to devouring nine trafficked victims.
Four women, three boys, and two girls.
When the victims were eaten, Lan Ying completely devoured their ghost souls as well, leaving no trace behind.
It was no wonder that when the hair salon owner’s car accident drew the department’s attention, they couldn’t find any evidence of these victims.
The relevant authorities planned to follow this lead to uproot the trafficking syndicate.
The spoiled rich kids who had harmed Lan Ying would also be legally prosecuted and arrested.
However, because this case involved an underworld ghost soul, the truth couldn’t be revealed to the public, so everything had to be handled privately.
Regardless, those rich kids wouldn’t be let off easily!
Hearing this, Zhu Chun’an felt relieved.
“You usually don’t care about these things,” Chai Sitian remarked.
Zhu Chun’an replied, “Senior Pei Ye seemed quite concerned about it.”
The Heavenly Master Alliance collaborated with the government.
Every year, a large sum of funds was allocated to the Special Investigation Department, specifically to reward Heavenly Masters who made significant contributions.
Thus, as soon as Chai Sitian submitted the application report, it went through the procedures and was instantly approved.
The efficiency was incredibly high.
“Senior Pei Ye, the bonus subsidy has been issued.
Where should we meet?” he sent Pei Ye a message before hopping onto his scooter and leaving the T City branch of the Special Investigation Department.
When Pei Ye received the message, she was so broke that she couldn’t even afford to order takeout.
Seeing his text, her impression of Zhu Chun’an shot up by a dozen points.
“The Sha County place near the school.”
Zhu Chun’an was speechless.
Could even a top-tier expert nowadays not resist the charm of Sha County snacks?
Very quickly, he realized how naive his thoughts were.
Even if they were just eating at a Sha County restaurant, this senior had the stomach capacity to eat him into bankruptcy.
“Senior…
pardon me for asking, but do your ancestors have any connection to a Taotie?”
She alone had contributed nearly a thousand yuan in revenue to this Sha County joint.
The last time Zhu Chun’an saw such an enormous appetite, it was from a starving ghost who could never get full.
Sha County!
Almost a thousand yuan!
For one meal!
It felt like a sick joke!
Pei Ye twirled a toothpick and picked at her teeth, casually replying, “No connection.”
Was her appetite that big?
Not really.
Before her body had issues, her need for energy was even greater than this.
After all, this body wasn’t her original one, and its stats couldn’t keep up in any aspect.
If it had been her past self, Zhu Chun’an truly would have gone bankrupt.
“You said the bonus came through?
How much?”
Zhu Chun’an took out a check.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand?
That’s quite a generous bonus.
Thanks, this really solves an urgent problem.
By the way, has it been taxed?”
Zhu Chun’an silently glanced at the mountainous pile of bowls and chopsticks on the table.
It certainly solved an urgent problem.
Based on this senior’s appetite, eating almost a thousand yuan worth of Sha County food in one meal, two hundred and fifty thousand would only be enough to feed her for a little over three months.
How terrifying!
“Rest assured, it’s tax-free.”
Pei Ye didn’t make Zhu Chun’an pay for this meal, either.
Even though it was supposed to be his treat, eating up nearly a thousand yuan of a student’s living expenses in one sitting seemed a bit too shameless.
Pei Ye asked about the details of Lan Ying’s case.
Zhu Chun’an was honest about what he could disclose, while keeping the classified details under wraps.
Even without him saying it, Pei Ye had already gleaned most of the information from the teenage ghost in the morgue, so she didn’t press the matter.
Before they parted ways, Zhu Chun’an suddenly made a presumptuous request.
“Senior Pei Ye, I heard from my department colleagues that the mortal realm hasn’t been very peaceful lately.
If this junior encounters a difficult problem, I wonder if I could ask you for a bit of help?”
“Naturally.
As long as the bonus is sufficient,” Pei Ye said.
She was a lone wolf now.
The saying went that if one person was full, the whole family wasn’t hungry, but she simply ate too much.
Even feeding herself was a struggle.
If there was a channel for easy money, why would she refuse?
“Oh, right.
I remember Lan Ying called you a Daoist, correct?”
Zhu Chun’an nodded.
“Then could you help me burn a few pairs of glasses for a friend?”
This was a minor task, and Zhu Chun’an felt duty-bound to accept.
“Rest assured, Senior, leave it to me.”
“JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE ALL THE WAY~~~”
A ringtone sounded, and Zhu Chun’an took out his phone to answer the call.
This was the custom ringtone he had set for his master, Master Qingxuan, which perfectly suited the old man’s childlike innocence.
“Master, what’s wrong?”
“Chun’er, where are you right now?”
Zhu Chun’an rode his scooter toward the parking lot, tilting his head to clamp the phone against his shoulder.
“The school parking lot.”
Master Qingxuan said, “Your senior sister sent me the information on that Pei Ye…”
“What did you calculate, Master?”
Master Qingxuan’s voice turned grave.
“Whether calculating her birth chart or reading her face, everything points to a deceased person.”
A deceased person?
Zhu Chun’an was so startled that he twisted the brake handle all the way down.
The scooter came to a halt with a loud SCREECH.
“Dead?”
Master Qingxuan said, “Her hour of death was no more than two days ago.
I even specifically sought out a yin messenger to ask about it.”
Xiao Hong was just an orphan from a remote mountain village; investigating her information took no effort at all.
No matter how one looked at it, she didn’t possess the ability to effortlessly subdue Lan Ying, let alone exude that eerie, menacing aura.
“Did you find out the cause of death, Master?”
Master Qingxuan replied, “I did.
I’ll send it to you on WeChat.”
Zhu Chun’an switched to his WeChat app and briefly scanned the string of messages.
Xiao Hong’s hospitalization records were easily found.
The video of her jumping from the second floor was pulled from the security cameras near that clubhouse, which also included footage of Mr.
Du, that spoiled rich kid, having Xiao Hong’s body dumped on a street corner in a surveillance blind spot.
The next time Xiao Hong appeared, a kind-hearted person had driven her to the hospital for treatment and covered her expenses.
Up until that point, Xiao Hong was still alive.
“This was also confirmed by Xiao Hong’s own ghost soul.
She died from delayed intracranial bleeding.”
Her soul had just been taken away by a yin messenger, and before her corpse even had time to grow cold, it was possessed by someone else.
“Then doesn’t that mean the current Xiao Hong is Pei Ye resurrected in her body…
So who exactly is Pei Ye?”
Master Qingxuan said, “At first, I suspected she was a Ghost who had escaped from the Eighteen Layers of Hell over twenty years ago.
However, after cross-checking the list of fugitives, I’ve ruled out that possibility.”
Her menacing aura was indeed heavy, but she also carried an awe-inspiring righteousness.
According to Master Qingxuan’s speculation, before Pei Ye resurrected in Xiao Hong’s body, she must have been a soldier.
Her rank in the military was likely not low, the type with an illustrious record of military merits.