Qin Zhi's brow twitched slightly at Jiang Si's joining the Special Affairs Department, but he remained silent.

"I'm glad you like it."

"My motto in life is never give up." As long as there is a glimmer of hope, she will never give up.

Because the villa was temporarily destroyed, Qi Yan and She Zhang temporarily stayed at Li Jianshan's grandfather's place.

Qin Zhi had no objections, and Guan Qingchen and Li Jianshan had even fewer objections.

Xie Wuyi said that he is too old and doesn't want to make any more trouble.

Li Jianshan had just finished work and was eager to try: "Master, can you take me with you?"

In fact, there are regulations in the special affairs department that require two people to act together in order to look out for each other.

However, Jiang Si refused.

She can handle it all by herself.

If she can't handle it alone, then one more person will die. Why bother?

“Okay,” Jiang Si paused for a moment and said, “However, we can only reimburse second-class seats on the high-speed rail.”

Li Jianshan: "..."

As a domineering CEO, Li Jianshan has a driver for short trips and a plane or even a private jet for long trips. He has never even sat in first class, let alone second class.

"Or we can pay for it ourselves." He can still afford the plane ticket.

Jiang Si was very pleased, "I definitely didn't choose the wrong apprentice."

Without further ado, they boarded a plane that afternoon and flew to the southwestern province.

Since this wasn't a business trip, Li Jianshan didn't have the local company staff meet him; instead, he rented a car as soon as he got off the plane.

They landed in the evening and stayed at a local hotel for a day before heading to Jiling Village the next day.

As for the hotel, it's naturally a five-star hotel.

Given the opportunity, Li Jianshan was unwilling to compromise.

The village is named Jiling Village because the valley where it is located resembles a rooster.

Of course, Jiang Si and Li Jianshan didn't notice.

The area has abundant tourism resources, and many tourists have been visiting here for more than a decade. As the local economy has improved, the government has been able to meet the target of connecting every village with a road.

After driving up the winding road, just when I was getting dizzy from all the twists and turns, we finally arrived at Chicken Tail Village.

Just as they were about to enter the village, Jiang Si said, "Stop."

Li Jianshan slammed on the brakes. "What's wrong?"

Jiang Si got out of the car and stood around a tree looking at it.

"Don't you think there's something strange about this tree?"

Of course, Jiang Si asked Li Jianshan a question casually, without expecting him to give any answers.

Li Jianshan's magic has now reached a new level, and the little light that followed him in the secret realm has reappeared.

The little light dot circled around a few times above his head, as if it had discovered something, and then suddenly flew back into Li Jianshan's hair.

Even a tiny point of light seemed to exude a hint of fear.

Upon seeing this small dot of light, Jiang Si was reminded of Li Jianshan, the mischievous white lion from her past life, and her heart became complicated again.

However, the tiny point of light is the most righteous thing in the world. It sounds very powerful, but it is too small to be of much use.

If it can be frightened, it means that the tree in front of it is an evil thing.

Although Li Jianshan couldn't understand it, his intuition told him that something seemed wrong. "It looks like an ordinary locust tree, maybe a bit lush, but it's just a little unsettling to look at."

"The locust tree has the character 'ghost' in its name. Legend has it that the locust tree is also called the ghost tree, the favorite resting place for wandering ghosts," Jiang Si said coolly.

However, such a statement is no longer likely to frighten Li Jianshan.

He looked at it carefully, "but I didn't feel any yin energy at all."

Jiang Si didn't say anything.

Yes, why is there no yin energy?

The locust tree is considered a ghost tree; it's normal for it to have yin energy.

It's impossible that this village hasn't had a single person or animal die in eight hundred years.

Li Jianshan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and understood Jiang Si's meaning: "If it is a ghost tree, it cannot be without yin energy. What is absorbing yin energy?"

Absorbing yin energy isn't inherently wrong, but it's generally associated with evil spirits and heretics.

It's obviously not something a respectable family would do.

Moreover, this tree is unusually large.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" A hoarse voice suddenly came from behind, and Jiang Si and Li Jianshan looked over at the same time.

He was an elderly man, about seventy years old, with white hair, holding a pipe in his hand, and staring at them with sharp eyes.

"We," Jiang Si was about to speak when Li Jianshan said, "Sir, hello, we are art students from a nearby university, and we're here to gather inspiration."

Jiang Si raised an eyebrow, tacitly agreeing with Li Jianshan's statement.

He's definitely a seasoned veteran in the underworld.

Jiang Si is used to being powerful, and if things can't be agreed upon, she'll most likely resort to fighting.

"Don't wander off, leave before dark." The old man tossed out these words, puffing on his pipe as he walked back.

After the old man had walked away, Li Jianshan said, "Master, that old man was a tough character."

"How did you figure that out?" Jiang Si asked, somewhat surprised.

She could tell from his face that this old man was no pushover when he was young; he was the kind of person who was involved in the underworld.

“It’s very simple. I just looked at his right hand. It’s a tattoo from a large gang in the Southwest Province decades ago. You can only get this tattoo if you’ve reached a certain level.”

Decades have passed, and gangs are long gone, but some of their marks will always remain.

"I didn't expect you to know this."

Li Jianshan said, "These are all things my grandfather told me. He was friends with the gang leader at the time."

"He's just a gang leader, he shouldn't have fallen to this level."

As far as he knew, that gang had actively sought amnesty during the later crackdown and had even made some contributions to social order at the time. They hadn't been made to suffer. How did he end up as a wretched old man in this dilapidated little village?

"Why think so much? Just go in and see for yourself."

Jiang Si and Li Jianshan entered the village.

Because of the recent disappearances, even fewer people are coming to the village now. In the past, there used to be quite a few art students coming here to sketch and paint.

The sudden appearance of two unfamiliar faces inevitably draws attention.

Jiang Si looked around the village.

The entire village, inside and out, exuded an aura of decay from within.

Tian Cang was heading towards the village store when he saw Jiang Si and whistled, "Hey, beautiful, what brings you here?"

With a sultry and unrestrained gaze, Li Jianshan looked Jiang Si up and down, and he could even see Tian Cang secretly swallow.

He had a mouthful of yellow teeth, and you could even see vegetable leaves hanging on his front teeth.

Li Jianshan blocked Jiang Si's path, saying, "Watch your mouth."

Jiang Si pretended to be very scared.

Li Jianshan: "..."

Master, you don't need to act so dramatic.

For a moment, he was actually afraid that Jiang Si would cripple the person in front of him.

Tian Cang's gaze left Jiang Si and turned to Li Jianshan, seemingly not taking him seriously at all.

He chuckled and left.

An older woman walked over and slapped Tian Cang hard on the shoulder. Despite her fleshy face, she forced a kind smile and said, "Please don't mind him, he's not a bad person, he's just a bit of a smooth talker."