Chapter 24 Who is he? "You'd better never know who he is..."

Shu Qing tensed up completely, all her nerves going into high alert – her last meeting with Jin Wanli was far from unpleasant; to call it a confrontation would be an understatement. She hadn't forgotten how he almost violently took her little snake demon away.

She didn't want to open the door for him at all, but all she could see was a thin glass door, which couldn't possibly stop the strongest monster known in the world.

She had no choice but to reluctantly let him in, and politely said, "It's good that you can come, but I'm afraid our place is too small to accommodate you."

"If you can fit him in, why worry about not being able to fit me?" Jin Wanli finally spared her a precious glance. He walked in, plopped down on the sofa with an air of authority, and looked around. "Tsk, indeed a small temple. As the saying goes, a small temple has a lot of trouble, and you, well, you've got plenty of problems to deal with..."

Shu Qing ignored the sarcasm in his words and secretly glanced at the door of the room where the little snake was: she hoped that her little red snake would not come out at this time!

If Jin Wanli wanted to resort to violence again, she couldn't stop him, and none of the people who could control him came along.

Even if Jiu Su is incredibly powerful, you can't expect him to withstand this walking natural disaster with his bare hands...

Jiu Su glanced at Jin Wanli with a half-smile, a look that instantly diminished his arrogance. Jin Wanli cleared his throat and said in a pretentious tone, "Alright, didn't you report an abnormal energy incident to the Superpower Management Bureau? I'm the one in charge. Tell me, what's going on?"

Shu Qingxin said: If she had known it would attract this person, she would have been better off not reporting it to the police.

But she felt a little relieved. Since Jin Wanli had come under the guise of responding to a police call, it meant he wouldn't lay a hand on her, the person who reported the crime. Although the person responding to the call was someone she hadn't imagined before... a demon, his fighting ability was undeniable, and she had to make good use of him.

Shu Qing then calmly said, "This is what happened: Yesterday, my client Qi Yun and I were both cursed by an unknown source..."

Jin Wanli interrupted her gloatingly, saying, "Why should I curse you? Who have you offended?"

Shu Qing: "..."

If she knew, why would she report it to the police?

“It’s not certain yet,” she had to reiterate her and Qi Yun’s previous speculations, adding, “But that competitor has already publicly apologized, so whether it’s related to her or not, I don’t know…”

Jin Wanli was casually picking up some melon seeds from the table and cracking them open when he heard this. He gave her a very disdainful look and interrupted her, saying, "How come you don't know again? Tell me something you do know."

Shu Qing: "..."

Where is the complaint website for the Supermarket Management Bureau?

Jiu Su finally couldn't listen anymore. She silently placed a hand on Shu Qing's shoulder and said in a low voice, "You continue editing the photos. I'll talk to him."

Shu Qing felt that her tolerance for rare animals had reached its limit, and if she continued to communicate, the "calling the police" might escalate into an "assault on the police," so she simply shifted the blame: "Okay."

The three of them moved inside together. While listening to Jiu Su recount the whole story to Jin Wanli, Shu Qing worked quickly to fix the blurry video.

Jiu Su could repeat it much more easily than she could, while Jin Wanli listened attentively without asking any questions, and even took two sheets of paper to take notes.

It wasn't until Jiu Su mentioned the part about "Niannian's spying being thwarted" that he patted his chest and said, "That little brat is so young, of course he's useless. I have people to help. It's just tracking and spying, simple, brother, you don't need to worry about it, just watch me!"

Jiu Su gave him a silent, warning look.

Jin Wanli looked bewildered, wondering what he had said wrong again.

Shu Qing paused slightly, then looked up from behind the computer screen as if nothing had happened, and said, "No need, I've already fixed it."

Jin Wanli curled his lip, looking disdainful. However, Jiu Su had already stood up and walked around to Shu Qing's side, so he had no choice but to follow her reluctantly, glancing sideways at the computer screen.

Shu Qing first showed them the first picture after the restoration: "This is the person."

The photo shows a man in his thirties in a dimly lit place. Even at a 45-degree angle, he is still unremarkable, with a burn scar on his nose.

Jin Wanli was also startled, but quickly curled his lip and scoffed. After being glanced at by Jiu Su, he reluctantly stopped his outburst and asked Shu Qing, "No clear view of her face?"

Shu Qing shook her head. She had only minored in fine arts for animation, and being able to extract two clear images from those flickering screens and blurry frames was already the culmination of all her learning. She was simply incapable of doing anything more.

With her slender, pale fingers, Jiu Su gently tapped the scar on the man's nose and said, "Isn't this feature enough?"

Jin Wanli immediately changed his tune: "Enough, I'll have someone compare this." He added Shu Qing as a friend, asked her to send him the photo, forwarded it to his colleagues at the Traffic Management Bureau, and then asked, "Any other clues?"

Shu Qing nodded and said, "There's one more picture. It captures the environment, but I don't know if it'll be useful."

She clicked on another panoramic photo. The face wasn't as clear as in the first one, but the person's location became clearer—he was in a dark room without windows, surrounded by almost no modern electrical equipment; in the 21st century, he was relying entirely on candlelight for illumination. In the candlelight, there were faint, flowing patterns on the walls, the nature of which was unknown.

"Holy shit!" Jin Wanli blurted out a curse out of nowhere, then covered his eyes, "On the wall!"

He was, after all, a powerful demon. Even though he looked directly at the formation, he only felt a momentary glare from the sunlight and recovered in less than half a second, grabbing Jiu Su to support him.

Jiu Su calmly pushed away his support, showing no sign of pain. She simply kept her eyes closed, the corners of her eyes slightly red. When he opened his eyes again, his expression was completely normal. He even turned his head to look back, to make sure that Niannian was still resting in another room and would never see the computer screen.

Shu Qing was quick; she swiftly used the liquefy tool to smear all three walls on the screen into a black blob, asking, "Is this okay?" As she spoke, her hand continued to smear downwards.

“That’s about it,” Jin Wanli said, leaning closer to examine the screen. “There’s actually a counter-attack formation hidden behind the anti-spy array. They’re really something, rich people.”

Shu Qing stopped what she was doing and stared at them silently—if this was a counter-attack formation to prevent spying, why was she unharmed after seeing it?

Jin Wanli didn't pay much attention, stroking his chin as he analyzed, "Logically speaking, the scene traced back should be the situation where this person is performing the curse. Judging from this environment, this should be a curse medium that needs to avoid strong light—especially sunlight. Hmm, and the process is probably quite long, otherwise, they could just do it at night with the lights off, there's no need to set up a dark room..."

Jiu Su had been carefully examining the photos. Upon hearing this, she nodded slightly, then suddenly fixed her gaze on a corner of the wall, pointed, and asked, "Can this be restored?"

The corner he was pointing to had been liquefied into a black gooey mess by Shu Qing, with a faint green line visible through it.

Shu Qing smiled and gave him an "OK," carefully erasing the liquefaction layer. Jin Wanli squeezed in front of Jiu Su, his eyes fixed on the screen. After a while, he suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, like a little brat who hasn't grown up yet?"

For once, Shu Qing and he shared the same view. When Jin Wanli warned her earlier, she was in a hurry to liquefy the energy and thought the two green dots here were part of the array. Now, upon closer inspection, she realized they weren't, but rather the eyes of a small animal.

It was a black, furry thing, crouching in a dark room lit only by candlelight, almost blending into the wall, and could only be spotted with a close look.

"Why don't you two close your eyes first?" Shu Qing rolled up her sleeves. "I'll pry it out for you."

As she spoke, her gaze silently swept over Jiu Su again, and seeing that he obediently closed his eyes, the cloud over her heart seemed to dissipate another layer.

She manipulated the contrast and saturation settings to accurately bring out the fluffy tuft of fur, while the magic circle on the wall behind her still concealed it perfectly.

Jiu Su glanced at Shu Qing, her eyes filled with undisguised admiration, then focused on the little monster highlighted on the screen. Jin Wanli stepped aside to observe from the other side, hesitatingly asking, "Is this thing a 'Heavenly Yin Dog'?"

Shu Qing looked at Jiu Su very naturally, waiting for an explanation.

“A kind of monster that feeds on yin things, and looks like a dog. Yin things... corpses, lingering souls, funerary objects, all count.” Jiu Su’s expression remained unchanged, but her eyes were deep and unfathomable. “In short, they are things tainted with death energy.”

Shu Qing felt a chill run down her spine from his few words and subconsciously touched her arm. "This sounds like a monster version of a hyena... Okay, I can understand corpses and ghosts, but funerary objects? Aren't those burial vessels? Normally, you can't eat them, right?"

Jin Wanli scoffed, "You said it yourself, 'normally speaking'."

Shu Qing vaguely understood what he meant, and it sounded somewhat familiar. She hesitated and looked at Jiu Su.

“The Heavenly Yin Dog is not a naturally born monster.” Jiu Su confirmed her guess. “In your words, it is man-made.”

Jin Wanli also accessed the Super Management Bureau's intranet for information about monsters, found the Heavenly Yin Dog, and showed it to Shu Qing.

After browsing through the information, Shu Qing roughly understood the situation and why it was in such a retro setting—keeping a Yin Dog is all about yin and evil spirits; it fears sunlight, and the overly bright lights of modern incandescent bulbs are also no good. Such a ghostly creature, if even a little bit touched by it, will naturally bring misfortune, mostly attracting serious physical harm.

"Man-made" monsters... Isn't Nian Nian also a man-made monster?

"Alright, that's enough for today. I know everything I need to know." Jin Wanli received Jiu Su's wink, so he stood up, rolled up his notebook, and stuffed it haphazardly into his bag. "I'll let you know if I find anything. This is quite serious, not a small matter. Don't let your lucky bird feathers leave your side."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Jiu Su and asked, "Shall I leave now?"

So far, he hasn't asked the little snake demon a single question.

For the first time ever, Shu Qing stood up and said, "I'll see you off."

She escorted Jin Wanli all the way to the entrance of the photo studio. Once outside, Jin Wanli reverted to his previous sarcastic attitude: "I wouldn't dare trouble you. Now, turn around and go back. Otherwise, if you get hit by a car on the way, it'll be my fault again."

This guy is strong in combat, but he seems to be narrow-minded.

Shu Qing's heart skipped a beat, and she tentatively asked, "Aren't you and him brothers? You're even better at fighting than him, so why are you afraid of him?"

Jin Wanli scoffed, his mockery tinged with anger, and asked, "Are you serious?"

Shu Qing sensed that he would soon reveal some information, so she kept her composure and silently stared at his face.

“…Never mind,” to everyone’s surprise, this firecracker-like monster didn’t explode this time. Instead, he swallowed back all the words he had to say. With a sullen face, he muttered to himself, “Anyway, you’ve always been so muddle-headed. Think whatever you want. If you say too much, I’ll be the one who suffers.”

Shu Qing abandoned all pretense and went straight to the point: "Who is he?"

Jin Wanli let out a sharp laugh.

"You'd better never know who he is. Just remember, he has nothing to do with you," Jin Wanli said viciously. "Sooner or later, he'll come back to us. He won't stay with you forever. Asking me these questions today is completely pointless!"

When she went to the Supermarket Management Bureau to take the license test last time, Jin Wanli said something similar to her.

At that time, he kept mentioning her little red dog...

This time, Shu Qing surprisingly didn't retaliate. She stopped and silently watched Jin Wanli walk away, her feelings complicated.

When she returned to the photo studio, she saw Jiu Su still fiddling with something in the same spot, and her emotions became even more complicated. Standing outside the glass door, she couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

Jiu Su was the first to notice her return, and opened the door to let her in. "What are you spacing out for?"

Shu Qing said "Oh" and slowly walked in, bending down to look at what Jiu Su had just been doing.

On the table were several paper peach blossoms, each folded with exquisite care. He had finished two and was making the third. The paper peach blossoms contained incantations he had drawn, which did not look eerie at all, but rather peaceful and warm, reminiscent of the afternoon sun on a winter's day.

In that instant, she remembered the magnificent peach blossom forest in her dream yesterday and asked, "Is it my new talisman?"

Jiu Su nodded and added, "Yes, but it needs to be changed daily."

So it's a daily disposable type, no wonder it takes so much.

"I should thank you properly, but given our relationship, saying thank you would be too formal. You wouldn't want me to be so polite with you, would you?" Shu Qing picked up a paper peach blossom, seemingly admiring it, but her gaze met Jiu Su's directly, almost like a direct confrontation. She asked, "Isn't that right, Xiao Hong?"

A note from the author:

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Congratulations to Xiaohong for losing his first pseudonym.

If any comments are misplaced, it's due to editing the text. [Sad face]