Chapter 54 Killing someone who isn't human is actually a physically demanding job.

After a night, Zhou Yaren regained some of her hearing and began a new round of searching.

Bai Yuan sat on the green tile as usual, coldly watching a group of yamen runners who were wearing mourning clothes in place of Lu Bing, busy setting up the mourning hall and arranging for the burial of Lu's parents if they could not find Lu the constable.

They believed in the importance of burial for peace, and they all seemed to have a deep affection for this family and for Lu Bing. They would often weep bitterly in front of the two coffins, truly resembling a group of filial sons and grandsons who had lost their loved ones.

Zhou Yaren didn't come out to cry; he just kept exhausting himself, turning his eyes, which had been blind for who knows how many years, bloodshot, and making him look no different from the group of tearful yamen runners.

This reminded Bai Yuan of the young man named Lu Bing, whom she had only met a few times and never had a close relationship with. She only vaguely remembered that he was somewhat loud and had a rather eccentric personality...

Hmm, he seems quite enthusiastic. Bai Yuan recalled that when he left, he gave Zhou Yaren a tael of silver to pay for Bai Yuan's room at the inn. Although he said it was to repay a debt of gratitude, repaying kindness is a virtue.

Bai Yuan numbly swept his gaze across the desolate mourning hall, his chest seemingly devoid of a heart, instead filled with a block of frozen iron. Having witnessed countless deaths and deaths, Bai Yuan felt it was none of his business and found it difficult to be moved.

She looked away and caught a glimpse of Zhou Yaren through the window.

If Zhou Yaren continues his endless and unrestrained antics, he will eventually go completely deaf.

Bai Yuan didn't want to cause trouble or interfere, but he repeatedly performed acupuncture on him, which already counts as meddling.

She should just turn around and leave; why waste time here?

Bai Yuan had certainly passed by, but she always stopped when she stepped out of the North Qu City wall, as if two hands suddenly grabbed her legs from behind and a voice pleaded: Help me.

Then they dragged her back to the small courtyard of the mourning hall, which was covered with white mourning cloth.

That's exactly why she was being held back by him. The restriction Zhou Yaren placed on her bloodline hadn't been lifted yet, which was equivalent to binding her hands and feet. The world was vast, and she couldn't move freely.

But she had no obligation to waste time with Zhou Yaren, so Bai Yuan couldn't help but speak up: "If you continue like this, not only will you not be able to find anyone, but you will also become a deaf and blind good-for-nothing."

Perhaps these lukewarm words had an effect, because before long, Zhou Yaren slowly withdrew her extended consciousness, managing not to exhaust herself to the point of losing consciousness.

Bai Yuan was taken aback for a moment: He actually agreed to listen?!

Amidst a ringing in his ears, Zhou Yaren thought: Seven days have passed. He, along with the Taihang Road officials and the yamen officers, have searched for seven days, but Lu Bingsheng has neither appeared nor been found dead.

The two elders are about to be buried. If Lu Bing were alive, how could he not go home?

If Lu Bing is alive but doesn't go home, has he been kidnapped?

Zhou Yaren had always been bothered by the carriage that drove past the window, and the faint smell of blood that lingered in the air later made him think it was the blood on Lu Bing's body.

At the same time, Hei Zi spurred his horse and galloped into the city gate at breakneck speed, whipping up a long gust of wind. When he reached the Lu family compound, he barely had time to rein in and tumbled off the saddle in a flurry. Without even regaining his footing, he crashed through the gate and shoved Zhou Yaren in the face, gasping for breath as he held up a black iron plaque: "M-Sir, the waist token... the leader's waist token..."

Constables have always carried their waist badges with them.

Zhou Yaren suddenly stood up. The movement was so sudden that he felt a darkness before his eyes. He swayed for a moment, then snatched the cold, hard black iron from his hand: "Where did you find this?"

The waist tag was covered in dried mud and blood.

"Xiaoshu Village, about 15 miles from Beiqu, is on a south-facing sloping road."

Zhou Yaren's breath hitched: "South?"

"The boss hasn't been to Xiaoshu Village at all these days. How could his waist token be left so far away? Does this mean that Chen Ying kidnapped the boss and then secretly threw the waist token away by the roadside when the other party wasn't paying attention?"

Ever since he heard Zhou Yaren's words last time, he has been convinced that the Lu family was harmed by Chen Ying.

The moment Hei Zi found the waist tag, he trembled with excitement. Could this prove that the boss was still alive?

Zhou Ya's emotions were in turmoil. Sure enough, Lu Bing had been kidnapped and taken away from Bei Qu.

Heading south, they actually went south.

Zhou Yaren felt a chill run down his spine, because he had given Bai Yuan the wrong directions and foolishly wasted seven days in Bei Qu. It was too late to chase after him now, as Lu Bing had long since been taken away.

Zhou Yaren's heart started pounding wildly, and her temples swelled violently.

How is Lu Bing now? Where is he injured? How serious is his injury? Is his life in danger? He already had old wounds that hadn't healed, and he lost so much blood. Can he withstand it?

A multitude of thoughts clashed in Zhou Yaren's mind, but he couldn't find any answers. He couldn't understand why the perpetrator would kidnap Lu Bing.

Regardless of the perpetrator's motives or any other purpose, Zhou Yaren gradually calmed his agitated emotions and secretly made a decision: even if he had to travel across mountains and rivers, he would find Lu Bing.

The following day, Old Man Lu and his grandmother were buried. After Zhou Yaren kowtowed before their graves, she resolutely left Bei Qu.

Hei Zi and several yamen runners who were very close to Lu Bing wore mourning clothes and escorted Zhou Yaren and Bai Yuan to the city gate.

As the carriage drove further and further away, Hei Zi couldn't help but chase after it: "Sir, please, you must find our leader."

"I will," Zhou Yaren replied, as if it were a promise.

Hei Zi slowly stopped chasing, watching the southbound carriage, but lingered there for a long time.

It seemed that from that moment on, they had been waiting and anticipating, hoping that Lu Bing would return triumphantly and then command them to handle the case as if he were in charge of everything, making them run around in circles.

Over the years, this group of people had developed a habit of not thinking things through when they did things, since they weren't very bright to begin with. They would just listen to their boss, Lu Bing, and follow his instructions. He led them to advance the case in an orderly manner.

With the people under the yamen capable of handling things smoothly, the county magistrate naturally had less to worry about and could practically become a hands-off manager.

But Lu Bing was suddenly murdered, and these lackeys and generals were like a group of leaderless sand, feeling lost and uncertain, suddenly not knowing who to rely on.

So Hei Zi turned around and happened to see the county magistrate standing at the city gate.

The county magistrate was old enough to be Hei Zi's father, and the clerk beside him was even older, with graying temples and a goatee. He always had pen and ink in his hand and was currently recording what the young cultivator next to him was saying.

Despite his young age, Li Liuyun possessed an air of nobility between his brows, and spoke with meticulous care, appearing even more composed and dignified than the two elders.

They were saying that the series of murders that had occurred in Beiqu in recent days were definitely the work of the Gu Master. In order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, the disciples of Taihang Dao would take full control, and the government would only need to cooperate.

Perhaps because they were talking about Chen Ying being the ruthless Gu master who killed without blinking an eye, Hei Zi heard the county magistrate sigh as he approached, "In that case, the Shen family has truly let a wolf into their house."

The clerk paused, pen in hand: "Young Master Shen's conduct is improper, and with the two elders' indulgence, Chen Ying will surely hold a grudge..."

"But it's not enough to go to such lengths; it's utterly heinous. Those innocent people who died tragically were completely innocent, even the Lu Bing family fell victim to her!" The county magistrate was indignant. He then continued, "Master Li, later those dead suddenly rose from the dead, carrying their coffins to jump into the Yellow River. I don't know why, but now everyone is spreading rumors that they died with their eyes open in dismay. This matter has caused widespread panic, and no one dares to take on the night watchman's job anymore. I can only have the constables in the yamen take turns to cover for them. This involves so many murders; we can't just let it pass by in a muddled way. Even if it's transferred to the Taihang Circuit for handling, before that, as the head of the county, I must at least give the people an explanation."

Li Liuyun calmly said, "The reason why those dead who had their flesh and blood drained came back to life is because they were possessed by the Wangxiang."

The county magistrate was shocked: "Wang Xiang?"

Li Liuyun had to explain things like the "Wangxiang" to the county magistrate, while his clerk followed behind, writing furiously and frantically dipping his brush in ink.

Hei Zi stepped forward and silently carried the inkstone for the clerk.

"There's a water monster in Beiqu?!" The county magistrate turned pale with fright upon hearing this. He recalled, "The weather was so cold a while ago, but then the river suddenly thawed, making a huge commotion. It's definitely not normal."

What happened? All the dead people came back to life, and they were even seen carrying coffins and jumping into the river.

It turned out that the culprit was a water monster that crawled out of the river.

Li Liuyun didn't explain much. Hearing the wind, he set off, while Li Liuyun stayed in Beiqu to handle the aftermath. This was something they had discussed the night before.

Li Liuyun said, "We don't know the whereabouts of the 'Wangxiang' or when and where it will reappear. It's best to keep the people in the city and countryside away from the river."

This was also what Tingfengzhi meant. Although he hadn't found any trace of the Wangxiang in Beiqu, it didn't mean they weren't there. Since Tingfengzhi was on the shore, he couldn't hear anything underwater. What if the Wangxiang had turned into ripples in the water? Tingfengzhi couldn't guarantee that. Therefore, for safety's sake, the disciples of Taihangdao also had to wait in Beiqu for a while and observe the situation.

Furthermore, Li Liuyun said, "Wangxiang has donned the skins of those dead people, so we need to trouble you, sir, to find the best painter in the city to paint the likenesses of those dead people one by one, and then issue notices and post the portraits so that all the people of Beiqu can recognize them. If they see these faces again, they must stay away and notify us."

The clerk finally finished recording a long passage, his hands trembling slightly.

Hearing this, Hei Zi suddenly interrupted and asked, "Then, what about that Taoist priest Fang from Renzu Mountain who disappeared by the river and whose whereabouts are still unknown? We've been searching for days and only found his Taoist robe in the dockworker's thatched hut. Is it possible that he was dragged away by a water monster?"

Li Liuyun didn't hesitate and nodded, saying, "That's possible."

Speaking of Master Fang, the county magistrate couldn't help but sigh: "Master Fang was a very good person. It's such a pity that we were never able to find him."

Li Liuyun had never met Master Fang before, so he didn't lament too much for others, only saying that life and death were uncertain, and then changed the subject: "There is also the matter of building high walls in the Ghost Bureau to prevent living people from accidentally entering and causing trouble, which should be of utmost importance at present..."

The county magistrate and his clerk turned pale at the mention of the ghostly yamen and dared not slack off in the slightest. Of course, they rushed to recruit workers and build as high as possible. If their strength allowed, they wished they could build a wall hundreds or thousands of feet high to isolate this place from the north of Qucheng.

Because all of this seems to be a great calamity that spread from that ghostly government office—Sun Xiuniang offered sacrifices in the ghostly government office, and Young Master Shen was covered in pustules in the ghostly government office. Those pustules, each the size of a walnut, were actually the nests of blood leeches. Therefore, Young Master Shen was like a human-shaped "beehive," from which countless man-eating poisonous insects hatched.

Although everything later pointed to Chen Ying, who was suspected of being a Gu master, the county magistrate still trembled at the mere mention of the Ghostly Yamen, a place that could kill him. As the head of Beiqu County, whether through hearsay or by checking the county annals, how could he not know how many wronged souls were buried in that haunted place? Probably more than the ghosts on the road to the underworld.

This county magistrate was sent to Beiqu by the imperial court to serve as an official. During his tenure, it was inevitable that he would engage in favoritism and corruption. Otherwise, as an outsider from a remote and unfamiliar place, it would have been difficult for him to gain a foothold in Beiqu. It was not easy for him to establish himself and protect himself. Therefore, he had to give face to the local gentry and give face to the local bullies, while also appeasing his subordinates and maintaining order both internally and externally.

Lu Bing, that hothead, knew nothing about how to conduct himself in society. Even his father, who had served as an official in Chang'an, didn't know how to conduct himself in society and was dismissed from his post after a few years, packing his bags and returning to his hometown. How could Lu Bing, as his son, possibly know the intricacies of officialdom?

Therefore, Lu Bing often held a grudge against him, secretly cursing him as an incompetent fool and a traitor to the government. Don't think he didn't know; he just pretended not to hear, too lazy to argue with this hothead. After all, you can't fight city hall, and a constable can't fight the county magistrate, so Lu Bing couldn't fight him either. Whenever the magistrate wanted to protect a local gentry or merchant, he would use his official power to suppress Lu Bing, or simply send Lu Bing away and hand the matter over to another particularly obedient and sensible constable. As long as the result was harmless, they could get away with it.

Over the years, the county magistrate had worked hard to maintain his position. Although he had turned a blind eye to a few cases involving interpersonal relationships, he believed that he was not so lawless as to wrongfully kill innocent people. Therefore, he was not afraid and felt guilty at the same time.

Just thinking of Lu Bing made the county magistrate so worried and distressed that he couldn't sleep well for days. He only secretly wiped away tears in front of his clerk. For example, on this day, he dozed off for a while in his study, then woke up with teary eyes and grabbed his clerk who was writing at his desk, saying, "I just dreamed about Lu Bing. I dreamed that the brat was out there starving."

The magistrate's rough tug on the clerk's arm caused his brush to leave a diagonal ink mark on the paper, rendering the page unfinished. The clerk stopped writing and sighed, "Sir, only you would worry about whether Constable Lu has enough to eat and wear at a time like this."

After all, everyone's top priority right now is the safety of Constable Lu. Being alive is more important than anything else, so what does it matter if he goes hungry for a couple of meals?

After speaking, the clerk suddenly realized something: "Is the master hungry? Should I go to the kitchen and get some snacks?"

The magistrate glared at him with teary eyes, and said irritably, "I'm not hungry! My heart isn't as big as yours. What time is it and you're still thinking about food? I dreamt that Lu Bing was starving outside!"

In fact, Lu Bing was indeed starving, just as the county magistrate had dreamed. Qin San had only fed him a few sips of water to keep him alive when he was half-conscious, because once he woke up he refused to eat or drink. No matter how Qin San fed him, he wouldn't open his mouth, as if he was determined to starve to death.

Chen Ying didn't care. Let him go on a hunger strike, eat or not, she didn't think it would be a pity if he starved to death anyway. She even said in a very heartless way, "Oh? If he doesn't eat, then you starve with him. Neither of you should eat. Let's see who starves to death first."

So Qin San also went hungry along with Lu Bing, going hungry for two days in a row.

Actually, Qin San was alright. She was used to a life of poverty, and in the past, when there wasn't enough food, she often didn't know where her next meal would come from. She was used to being hungry, so she was able to withstand that kind of hunger.

However, Lu Bing's wounds began to fester and ulcerate, and he developed a persistent high fever. Qin San was terrified, fearing that the fever would damage his brain. But that wicked woman refused to treat his injuries, seemingly intent on torturing Lu Bing to death. She even went so far as to say, "If it's rotten, just cut it off. Cut off wherever it's rotten. My worms will have plenty of rotten flesh to eat. Ah Cong, go and cut off the rotten flesh from his body."

Then the masked man named Acong came over with a dagger.

Qin San would tremble uncontrollably whenever she saw him pull out a knife, because she had witnessed it firsthand. This man in the iron mask hadn't uttered a single word the whole way, but he was a ruthless and vicious villain, a true killer who wouldn't blink an eye.

He skinned a piece of rotting flesh from Lu Bing's body and threw it into a ceramic jar that Chen Ying had opened.

Lu Bing's face was deathly pale. He could feel the excruciating pain, but he endured it without uttering a sound.

Qin San witnessed the scarlet flesh and blood of Lu Bing after his rotten flesh was cut off. Unable to bear the intense shock, he turned his head away with large tears rolling down his cheeks.

She could do nothing but turn her head away; they were both fish on the chopping block, lambs to the slaughter, not knowing when they would become victims of this iron-masked man's knife.

Because Chen Ying's temperament was erratic; she would turn into a ghost one moment and a pervert the next, never acting like a human being.

If Chen Ying were to go berserk, she could kill Qin San and Constable Lu with a single stroke. Qin San was so afraid that she didn't dare to breathe.

In fact, apart from the brief time she spent taking care of Lu Bing, Qin San's mouth was gagged with burlap and her hands were tied behind her back to prevent her from causing trouble or unnecessary attention when others were around.

But now that her restraints were off, Qin San didn't dare utter a sound even when she saw a burly, imposing man passing by. Earlier, she had taken the opportunity to ask a passerby for help, but before the man could even react, he was cleaved in two by the masked man's blade, hot blood splattering all over Qin San's face, as scalding as if hot oil had been poured over her.

Qin San was terrified and became completely obedient.

She dared not speak out of turn, much less ask for help. But if she passed through villages or towns or entered the city, the man in the iron mask would still gag her and tie her up to prevent any further complications.

After all, if something goes wrong in a crowded place, he can't possibly kill everyone; killing is actually a physically demanding job.