The bodyguard received the room key card from the front desk and gave it to me. “Excuse me, I’m going back to protect our Chairman!”
I smiled and waved at him. “Just go, I’m not a three-year-old kid.”
The bodyguard turned then left.
He had taken me to the VIP suite on the highest floor, which cost at least five thousand renminbi per night. I went to the floor-to-ceiling window where I could observe half of Taiyuan City. I moved an armchair to the window and casually watched the scene out there.
If Jiang Teng loved his son so much, why is he worried so much about something else?
And, if he wanted to solve something that was related to his son, why did he hide it from me?
After thinking about it for a long time, I still got nothing. I simply stopped contemplating and got something to eat. After lunch, I directly took a nap. I needed to prepare for anything that would soon come.
When I woke up, it was evening. The blocks of bright lights outside the window looked magnificent. I couldn’t help but take a photo of the beautiful scene with my phone and posted it on my WeChat Moments.
After posting the photo, I found it strange that Jiang Teng didn’t come to see me. He hadn’t called me, either. I frowned while thinking about it. Most of the people that had trouble with an otherworldly item would wish to get rid of it as soon as possible. That man was different. He put me in this luxurious hotel to enjoy a leisure day.
I was afraid that the otherworldly item had harmed him already, so I called him. The phone rang for quite a long time before the line went through.
“Mr. Zhang, Mr. Chairman is in a hurry. What do you need?”
Hearing the bodyguard’s voice, I was assured. “No, it’s nothing. I just wanted to ask when I can start working.”
The bodyguard kept silent for a while. “Our Chairman has encountered something tough to solve. I don’t know when he can finish. When he’s done, he will come to pick you up.”
I was speechless and hung up the call. I put on a thick coat and left the hotel. Taiyuan was a famous city with a great history. It wasn’t like I could visit such a city whenever I wanted. It would be a big waste if I didn’t tour around!
I took a leisure walk and tasted some Taiyuan delicacies, including oily meat, steamed mutton dumplings, and Taiyuan tender tofu. After my stomach turned rounder, I decided to head back to the hotel. That was when I received a call from Jiang Teng’s bodyguard.
He sounded panic-stricken, and his voice was intermittent. I had to listen to him carefully to know that he was waiting for me at the hotel. He asked me to return quickly.
It felt like the sky was going to collapse on them! I stopped a taxi and returned to the hotel. When I arrived, I saw the bodyguard waiting for me in the lobby, his head held low. One of his hands tightly pressed on the electric baton on his waist. He looked tense.
I patted his shoulder. “What happened?”
When he lifted his head to look at me, I saw that he was pale, and the muscles on his face twitched. It seemed he was greatly shocked.
He looked at me as though he had just seen his savior. He sprang up and grabbed my arm. In a trembling voice, he said, “Zhang… Mr. Zhang…”
The bodyguard had to gather all of his strength to tell me a full sentence. “Another person got his head blasted!”
I was aghast. I hurried to pull the bodyguard into my room. After he finally calmed down, I asked him to tell me the details.
The bodyguard took a few deep breaths. When he looked better, he started to say slowly, “The victim was our Young Master’s friend.”
It turned out the issue Jiang Teng had to deal with today was related to his son. Jiang Guanguan’s friend had recorded part of the party, capturing the events that happened that night. He didn’t know how, but the video was later leaked.
Rich kids’ birthday parties always had something they didn’t want to be public. Jiang Teng didn’t want to see his kid be insulted or criticized after he was gone. He hurriedly contacted the media companies to erase those negative posts.
However, there was one netizen that was stubborn enough. No matter how much Jiang Teng had offered him, he didn’t want to delete the video he had posted on Weibo. It was also the reason Jiang Teng was so busy today that he didn’t have the time to see me.
In the end, Jiang Teng didn’t have any choice but to get a hacker to hack that Weibo account. Unexpectedly, that netizen was also an excellent hacker. They were entangled in the battle for a long time. Jiang Teng’s side had to struggle hard to delete the other’s Weibo account completely.
After solving this matter, Jiang Teng wanted to come and fetch me at the hotel.
When Jiang Guanguan’s friend had heard from Jiang Teng that I could help them take revenge for Jiang Guanguan, he also wanted to come and see me.
Jiang Teng knew that he was Jiang Guanguan’s best friend, so he didn’t deny him. The boy had acted normally along the way until their car reached a traffic light at an intersection. All of a sudden, he struggled and demanded to get out of the car. No matter how hard Jiang Teng pulled the young man back, he couldn’t stop him.
As soon as the boy got out of the car, he started to move around. Then, the green light was on. The cars behind started to honk.
Jiang Teng craned his head through the window to call the young man to return to the car. The man didn’t listen to him but moved to the front of the car as though he wanted to stop it from moving forward.
Right when Jiang Teng didn’t know what to do, the young man’s head exploded. His blood and brain splashed on the windshield…
The bodyguard was the driver, so he saw everything. The windshield was dyed with red blood, which scared the wits out of him. His body softened, and he couldn’t get a hold of himself. After a long time, he realized he had to call the police.
He knew it wasn’t something a human could do, so it was no use in calling the police. However, if he didn’t call the police, he and Jiang Teng wouldn’t be able to explain themselves. The police arrived quickly. Being suspects, the bodyguard and Jiang Teng were brought to the police station. After checking the on-dash camera, they agreed that this murder case was beyond their capacity.
“Where’s Jiang Teng?” I asked the bodyguard. They were together, but I didn’t see him.
The bodyguard wore a wry smile. “Although the police believed that we weren't the murderers, the boy’s parents think that we did something that caused his death. They didn’t want to let us go.”
Feeling hopeless, Jiang Teng had to send the bodyguard to pick me up. He stayed in the police station to deal with the boy’s parents.
“Our Chairman wants you to go there to see if you can find anything.”
I nodded and grabbed my bag, then left the hotel with the bodyguard. As his car was kept at the police station as evidence, we had to take a taxi. Fortunately, the road was clear and we got to the police station quickly.
Before I entered the place, I heard people crying at the top of their lungs. From the bodyguard’s countenance, I knew it was from the deceased’s parents.
Indeed, in the lobby, a woman and a man were grabbing and pulling Jiang Teng’s tie. Some policemen were trying to calm them, but the parents still insisted that Jiang Teng had killed their son.
Jiang Teng let them pull him back and forth, but when he saw me, he moved away from the crying couple and walked toward me. He held my hand and said with emotion, “Mr. Zhang, you’re finally here!”
As it was an urgent situation, I didn’t want to talk nonsense. “Take me to see the surveillance video.”
The policeman in charge of this case knew that I was specialized in dealing with paranormal activities. He immediately took me to the control room.
The situation wasn’t different from what the bodyguard had told me. On the screen, the boy looked restless and annoyed as he walked back and forth. When the green light glowed, Jiang Teng urged him to get into the car. All of a sudden, the young man walked to the front of the car. His head abruptly exploded without any prior indication. Blood and pieces of brain splashed everywhere.
After watching the video, my stomach churned. I had almost vomited. I didn’t have a big reaction when I heard the story from the bodyguard but now, with visual images, it was so gory!
I had encountered many spirits that had killed people, but this kind of bloody violence was so rare. Most of the time, spirits would just clang pots and bowls to create loud commotions. However, this spirit only had one purpose: it wanted to kill people.
I thought, then asked the policeman, “Can I see the body?”
“According to the judicial procedure, the body should be in the Forensic Department. I can take you there if you want to see it.”
When the deceased’s parents heard that I wanted to see the body, they jumped toward me and begged me to find the murderer. While talking, they glared at Jiang Teng.
Jiang Teng didn’t say anything. He reluctantly sighed.
Looking at the heart-broken parents, I knew it wasn’t useful to say anything to them now. I said some simple comforting words then left with the policeman.
The Forensic Department was on the sixth floor. The forensic doctors were busy with this murder case. However, from their faces, I knew they hadn’t made any progress.
After seeing us, a forensic doctor wearing a white lab coat and a surgical mask came to greet us. He handed the report to the policeman standing next to me, then said in a serious voice, “Old Wu, this case is the same as the previous one. We don’t have any clues.”
Old Wu nodded to him, then handed me the report.
“And who is this gentleman?” The forensic doctor was curious as Old Wu had given me the report. He gave me a curious glance.
Old Wu simply introduced me as a master that was specialized in dealing with mysterious cases like these. The forensic doctor gave me a faint nod. I could capture the incredulous gleam in his eyes.
I greeted him, then asked Old Wu to show me the body.
The body was put in the freezer storage at the back of the sixth floor. Old Wu and I had to put on lab coats, disposable gloves, and shoe protection before entering the storage area. At the first step, I shuddered. I had to pull my clothes close to me.
The deceased was covered with a white fabric sheet. Although I had taken the time to prepare myself, when the white sheet was lifted, the sight scared the wits out of me! The body was clean, and there were no cuts on it. However, the deceased only had one-third of his head left. It was a shocking sight to see the mess of blood and brain on his head.
I tried to not vomit at the scene. Anyway, it appeared that the victim’s head was smashed by something blunt and heavy. Moreover, there was no black mark around the wound.
Normally, when a spirit killed someone, it would leave some black marks around the wound. Those who knew something about this profession all knew this feature.
After working in this business for a long time, I had accumulated quite a bit of experience. Two kinds of spirits could kill people without leaving any Yin energy behind. The first kind was a spirit that had power at the Ghost King level. These spirits could conceal their Yin energy.
The other kind was a spirit that people had started worshipping posthumously, like the monk Jigong or the Tea Sage Lu Yu I had encountered in the past. However, no matter what kind of spirit it was, it wasn’t easy to deal with!
I felt like there was a small drum beating in my heart. After lingering in this cold room for a while, I hadn’t found anything else. Soon, I asked Old Wu to leave this freezing place.
When we came back to the lobby of the police station, Jiang Teng and the deceased’s parents rushed to me and asked if I found anything.
“It’s troublesome.” I frowned.
Jiang Teng’s face darkened. He hurriedly asked, “What should we do now?”
The bodyguard received the room key card from the front desk and gave it to me. “Excuse me, I’m going back to protect our Chairman!”
I smiled and waved at him. “Just go, I’m not a three-year-old kid.”
The bodyguard turned then left.
He had taken me to the VIP suite on the highest floor, which cost at least five thousand renminbi per night. I went to the floor-to-ceiling window where I could observe half of Taiyuan City. I moved an armchair to the window and casually watched the scene out there.
If Jiang Teng loved his son so much, why is he worried so much about something else?
And, if he wanted to solve something that was related to his son, why did he hide it from me?
After thinking about it for a long time, I still got nothing. I simply stopped contemplating and got something to eat. After lunch, I directly took a nap. I needed to prepare for anything that would soon come.
When I woke up, it was evening. The blocks of bright lights outside the window looked magnificent. I couldn’t help but take a photo of the beautiful scene with my phone and posted it on my WeChat Moments.
After posting the photo, I found it strange that Jiang Teng didn’t come to see me. He hadn’t called me, either. I frowned while thinking about it. Most of the people that had trouble with an otherworldly item would wish to get rid of it as soon as possible. That man was different. He put me in this luxurious hotel to enjoy a leisure day.
I was afraid that the otherworldly item had harmed him already, so I called him. The phone rang for quite a long time before the line went through.
“Mr. Zhang, Mr. Chairman is in a hurry. What do you need?”
Hearing the bodyguard’s voice, I was assured. “No, it’s nothing. I just wanted to ask when I can start working.”
The bodyguard kept silent for a while. “Our Chairman has encountered something tough to solve. I don’t know when he can finish. When he’s done, he will come to pick you up.”
I was speechless and hung up the call. I put on a thick coat and left the hotel. Taiyuan was a famous city with a great history. It wasn’t like I could visit such a city whenever I wanted. It would be a big waste if I didn’t tour around!
I took a leisure walk and tasted some Taiyuan delicacies, including oily meat, steamed mutton dumplings, and Taiyuan tender tofu. After my stomach turned rounder, I decided to head back to the hotel. That was when I received a call from Jiang Teng’s bodyguard.
He sounded panic-stricken, and his voice was intermittent. I had to listen to him carefully to know that he was waiting for me at the hotel. He asked me to return quickly.
It felt like the sky was going to collapse on them! I stopped a taxi and returned to the hotel. When I arrived, I saw the bodyguard waiting for me in the lobby, his head held low. One of his hands tightly pressed on the electric baton on his waist. He looked tense.
I patted his shoulder. “What happened?”
When he lifted his head to look at me, I saw that he was pale, and the muscles on his face twitched. It seemed he was greatly shocked.
He looked at me as though he had just seen his savior. He sprang up and grabbed my arm. In a trembling voice, he said, “Zhang… Mr. Zhang…”
The bodyguard had to gather all of his strength to tell me a full sentence. “Another person got his head blasted!”
I was aghast. I hurried to pull the bodyguard into my room. After he finally calmed down, I asked him to tell me the details.
The bodyguard took a few deep breaths. When he looked better, he started to say slowly, “The victim was our Young Master’s friend.”
It turned out the issue Jiang Teng had to deal with today was related to his son. Jiang Guanguan’s friend had recorded part of the party, capturing the events that happened that night. He didn’t know how, but the video was later leaked.
Rich kids’ birthday parties always had something they didn’t want to be public. Jiang Teng didn’t want to see his kid be insulted or criticized after he was gone. He hurriedly contacted the media companies to erase those negative posts.
However, there was one netizen that was stubborn enough. No matter how much Jiang Teng had offered him, he didn’t want to delete the video he had posted on Weibo. It was also the reason Jiang Teng was so busy today that he didn’t have the time to see me.
In the end, Jiang Teng didn’t have any choice but to get a hacker to hack that Weibo account. Unexpectedly, that netizen was also an excellent hacker. They were entangled in the battle for a long time. Jiang Teng’s side had to struggle hard to delete the other’s Weibo account completely.
After solving this matter, Jiang Teng wanted to come and fetch me at the hotel.
When Jiang Guanguan’s friend had heard from Jiang Teng that I could help them take revenge for Jiang Guanguan, he also wanted to come and see me.
Jiang Teng knew that he was Jiang Guanguan’s best friend, so he didn’t deny him. The boy had acted normally along the way until their car reached a traffic light at an intersection. All of a sudden, he struggled and demanded to get out of the car. No matter how hard Jiang Teng pulled the young man back, he couldn’t stop him.
As soon as the boy got out of the car, he started to move around. Then, the green light was on. The cars behind started to honk.
Jiang Teng craned his head through the window to call the young man to return to the car. The man didn’t listen to him but moved to the front of the car as though he wanted to stop it from moving forward.
Right when Jiang Teng didn’t know what to do, the young man’s head exploded. His blood and brain splashed on the windshield…
The bodyguard was the driver, so he saw everything. The windshield was dyed with red blood, which scared the wits out of him. His body softened, and he couldn’t get a hold of himself. After a long time, he realized he had to call the police.
He knew it wasn’t something a human could do, so it was no use in calling the police. However, if he didn’t call the police, he and Jiang Teng wouldn’t be able to explain themselves. The police arrived quickly. Being suspects, the bodyguard and Jiang Teng were brought to the police station. After checking the on-dash camera, they agreed that this murder case was beyond their capacity.
“Where’s Jiang Teng?” I asked the bodyguard. They were together, but I didn’t see him.
The bodyguard wore a wry smile. “Although the police believed that we weren't the murderers, the boy’s parents think that we did something that caused his death. They didn’t want to let us go.”
Feeling hopeless, Jiang Teng had to send the bodyguard to pick me up. He stayed in the police station to deal with the boy’s parents.
“Our Chairman wants you to go there to see if you can find anything.”
I nodded and grabbed my bag, then left the hotel with the bodyguard. As his car was kept at the police station as evidence, we had to take a taxi. Fortunately, the road was clear and we got to the police station quickly.
Before I entered the place, I heard people crying at the top of their lungs. From the bodyguard’s countenance, I knew it was from the deceased’s parents.
Indeed, in the lobby, a woman and a man were grabbing and pulling Jiang Teng’s tie. Some policemen were trying to calm them, but the parents still insisted that Jiang Teng had killed their son.
Jiang Teng let them pull him back and forth, but when he saw me, he moved away from the crying couple and walked toward me. He held my hand and said with emotion, “Mr. Zhang, you’re finally here!”
As it was an urgent situation, I didn’t want to talk nonsense. “Take me to see the surveillance video.”
The policeman in charge of this case knew that I was specialized in dealing with paranormal activities. He immediately took me to the control room.
The situation wasn’t different from what the bodyguard had told me. On the screen, the boy looked restless and annoyed as he walked back and forth. When the green light glowed, Jiang Teng urged him to get into the car. All of a sudden, the young man walked to the front of the car. His head abruptly exploded without any prior indication. Blood and pieces of brain splashed everywhere.
After watching the video, my stomach churned. I had almost vomited. I didn’t have a big reaction when I heard the story from the bodyguard but now, with visual images, it was so gory!
I had encountered many spirits that had killed people, but this kind of bloody violence was so rare. Most of the time, spirits would just clang pots and bowls to create loud commotions. However, this spirit only had one purpose: it wanted to kill people.
I thought, then asked the policeman, “Can I see the body?”
“According to the judicial procedure, the body should be in the Forensic Department. I can take you there if you want to see it.”
When the deceased’s parents heard that I wanted to see the body, they jumped toward me and begged me to find the murderer. While talking, they glared at Jiang Teng.
Jiang Teng didn’t say anything. He reluctantly sighed.
Looking at the heart-broken parents, I knew it wasn’t useful to say anything to them now. I said some simple comforting words then left with the policeman.
The Forensic Department was on the sixth floor. The forensic doctors were busy with this murder case. However, from their faces, I knew they hadn’t made any progress.
After seeing us, a forensic doctor wearing a white lab coat and a surgical mask came to greet us. He handed the report to the policeman standing next to me, then said in a serious voice, “Old Wu, this case is the same as the previous one. We don’t have any clues.”
Old Wu nodded to him, then handed me the report.
“And who is this gentleman?” The forensic doctor was curious as Old Wu had given me the report. He gave me a curious glance.
Old Wu simply introduced me as a master that was specialized in dealing with mysterious cases like these. The forensic doctor gave me a faint nod. I could capture the incredulous gleam in his eyes.
I greeted him, then asked Old Wu to show me the body.
The body was put in the freezer storage at the back of the sixth floor. Old Wu and I had to put on lab coats, disposable gloves, and shoe protection before entering the storage area. At the first step, I shuddered. I had to pull my clothes close to me.
The deceased was covered with a white fabric sheet. Although I had taken the time to prepare myself, when the white sheet was lifted, the sight scared the wits out of me! The body was clean, and there were no cuts on it. However, the deceased only had one-third of his head left. It was a shocking sight to see the mess of blood and brain on his head.
I tried to not vomit at the scene. Anyway, it appeared that the victim’s head was smashed by something blunt and heavy. Moreover, there was no black mark around the wound.
Normally, when a spirit killed someone, it would leave some black marks around the wound. Those who knew something about this profession all knew this feature.
After working in this business for a long time, I had accumulated quite a bit of experience. Two kinds of spirits could kill people without leaving any Yin energy behind. The first kind was a spirit that had power at the Ghost King level. These spirits could conceal their Yin energy.
The other kind was a spirit that people had started worshipping posthumously, like the monk Jigong or the Tea Sage Lu Yu I had encountered in the past. However, no matter what kind of spirit it was, it wasn’t easy to deal with!
I felt like there was a small drum beating in my heart. After lingering in this cold room for a while, I hadn’t found anything else. Soon, I asked Old Wu to leave this freezing place.
When we came back to the lobby of the police station, Jiang Teng and the deceased’s parents rushed to me and asked if I found anything.
“It’s troublesome.” I frowned.
Jiang Teng’s face darkened. He hurriedly asked, “What should we do now?”
