Chapter 29 The Dust Settles
Xiao Chen's waving motion froze in mid-air. He looked blankly at Ye Zi and met her eyes, which were filled with sorrow and relief.
Suddenly, it was as if he remembered many things.
I remembered how they were separated in the haunted house, and how he tried to save Ye Zi but was killed by countless hairs.
The fear on his face gradually solidified, eventually turning into deep despair.
He stared at his translucent arm, flames raging fiercely, tears silently streaming down his face as he choked out, "So that's how it is..."
At this moment, Ye Zi suddenly took a step forward, ignoring the piercing heat, opened her arms, and tightly embraced the man who had once risked his life for her.
"Xiao Chen... thank you."
Her voice trembled, but was crystal clear, "Thank you for rushing in to save me back then."
Xiao Chen's large body trembled violently as grief overwhelmed him. He couldn't help but raise his not-yet-completely-transparent hand and clumsily wipe away the tears from her face.
"Don't talk nonsense." His voice choked with emotion. "How can I just watch you be alone..."
Before Xiao Chen could finish speaking, the two figures embracing were quickly engulfed by the enormous flames, gradually thinning out until they finally disappeared.
At the last moment, Ye Zi looked intently at Xie Xun, whose face was pale, her eyes filled with endless sorrow and relief.
With all her might, she gave him a bittersweet, sincere smile and silently said thank you.
Without leaving any ash, two wisps of faint blue smoke, intertwined together, drifted away.
Beside him, Liu Xiuyuan subconsciously took half a step forward, as if he wanted to do something, but in the end he just slumped down his hand that was about to form a hand seal, let out a long sigh, and turned his head away.
He had traveled the world for many years and witnessed too much joy and sorrow. But the scene before him weighed heavily on his heart.
Xie Xun stood still, his thin lips pressed into a straight line. A hint of reluctance flashed in his eyes, but there was nothing he could do, nor would he know how.
Ultimately, it's a cycle of cause and effect, and everyone has their place.
At this moment, Qiangzi, who had been huddled in the corner in fear, suddenly burst into a maniacal laugh.
"Hahaha... It shouldn't be like this! I did so much, I lured him in..."
He stared intently at the direction where Xiao Chen and Ye Zi had disappeared, his eyes filled with heart-wrenching resentment. Pointing at Xie Xun, he said, "I agreed to those things' conditions. I tricked Xie Xun into coming here not just to save my own life! I was also thinking, thinking that if I could get rid of them, maybe... maybe I could save you two too!"
His words stuck in his throat. As he watched the last wisp of smoke dissipate, he suddenly began to frantically pound his head, making muffled thuds.
"I even killed people! Just to buy time! But you...you just vanished like that?!"
Qiangzi became increasingly agitated as he spoke. He tilted his head and suddenly mimicked Ye Zi's tone, saying in a high-pitched voice, "Xiao Chen, shall we go to Yunnan?"
The next second, his voice reverted to his own, hysterically roaring, "Go! Go ahead and go! Now there's not even ashes left! Hahaha!!!"
He suddenly dropped to all fours, crawled like a wild beast to the corner of the wall, and frantically kowtowed in that empty corner.
"Please, give me another chance! This time I'll find you an even better offering! Please..."
Then, he backed away in terror, crying, "No, don't eat me..."
He huddled at the foot of the sofa, clutching his hair tightly with both hands, his body trembling violently, muttering incessantly; his mind had completely collapsed.
Xie Xun coldly watched Qiangzi crawl and writhe on the ground, a faint smile curving his thin lips, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
That's ridiculous.
He had seen everything clearly when he was trapped in the illusion. After Xiao Chen and Ye Zi died, the owner of the Liu family bewitched Qiangzi, telling him that if he didn't want to die, he should do things for him, and then led him to be fed to the evil spirits.
It wasn't to revive their companions.
It's all about survival, about online traffic, about that illusory fame and fortune.
Now that his backer has fallen and his dreams have vanished, this man has been driven mad.
Xie Xun sneered inwardly, looked away, and stopped looking at Qiangzi, who was crying and laughing in the corner.
One must bear the consequences of one's own actions; one's faults are one's own doing.
Just then, the sound of police sirens rang out from afar, gradually approaching, and finally stopped downstairs.
Xie Xun walked to the window and looked down in confusion. Several figures in dark uniforms had already walked quickly into the village and soon arrived at 1674.
The leader's epaulettes were rather distinctive. His piercing gaze swept over everyone present, finally lingering on Xie Xun and Fu Qinghuai beside him.
"Zhou Wei, Team Seven, State Special Affairs Bureau."
The man stepped forward, showed his identification, and nodded to Liu Xiuyuan. "Old Liu, thank you for your hard work this time."
After saying that, he turned to Xie Xun and said in a natural tone, "We've been watching Zhang Qiang's live-streamed soul-summoning business for quite a while. We were hoping to catch a big fish with a long line, but we didn't expect him to go this far."
"Fortunately, you managed to control the situation in time, otherwise this mess would have been even more difficult to clean up."
He glanced at Qiangzi, who was still rambling incoherently, and then took two envelopes from his subordinate and handed them over. "This is the bonus for this time, as a thank you for your help."
Then he took out a sealed bag and said to Xie Xun, "This is the money deducted from Zhang Qiang's account, including the outstanding payment owed to you and the live stream tips. According to regulations, this is considered embezzled money and should be confiscated, but the higher-ups have made a special approval to transfer it directly to you as compensation."
Xie Xun was overjoyed inside, but outwardly he accepted the item without even looking at it and put it away, nodding and saying, "Thank you for your trouble."
Liu Xiuyuan chuckled as he tucked the envelope into his pocket; clearly, this wasn't the first time he'd taken on this kind of job.
Zhou Wei's gaze swept over Xie Xun and Fu Qinghuai again, but in the end he didn't ask any more questions. He then instructed his men to pull Zhang Qiang away before giving them a brief instruction.
"We'll handle things here cleanly. We'll tell everyone it's a mass hallucination caused by a gas leak. You all know what's going on."
Several people nodded to indicate that they understood.
The officers from the station acted quickly, taking the erratic Qiangzi and the equipment with them and leaving. The dilapidated living room finally quieted down, leaving only a mess on the floor.
...
On the other side of the port city, inside an ancestral hall filled with the smoke of incense, the atmosphere was gloomy and oppressive.
Several ancient-style lanterns hang quietly, their candlelight flickering.
Suddenly, the candlelight in one of the lanterns went out with a "poof" without warning.
Wisps of smoke rose, like a silent sigh, and soon dissipated into the air.
Almost simultaneously, in a corner beneath the offering table, hidden by a heavy curtain, something seemed to move slightly.
Xie Xun, who had just reached the roadside to hail a cab, suddenly felt a pang of fear. He subconsciously looked back and saw only the abandoned village behind him.
"What's wrong?" Fu Qinghuai clung to his side, his arms naturally wrapped around his waist, and he rested his chin on his shoulder as he asked.
Xie Xun was already used to the ghost's physical advances, and as long as it didn't go too far, he wouldn't say anything more.
Just as they were about to speak, they caught a glimpse of a truck rushing out of control towards them!
His pupils contracted, and he was about to dodge.
Fu Qinghuai, standing beside him, maintained his smile, wrapped his arm around him, spun him around halfway, opened the back door of the taxi, and gently shoved him inside.
The whole process took only a fraction of a second; the truck almost grazed Fu Qinghuai's face as it sped past, the wind it generated blowing his long hair.
Xie Xun settled into the back seat, suppressing his racing heartbeat. He couldn't help but glance out the window at the truck speeding away, still feeling a lingering fear.
He was used to his perpetually unlucky constitution, but the fact that the truck had almost brushed against his face and nearly crushed him into a bloody pulp still made him break out in a thin layer of sweat on his back.
Xie Xun subconsciously clenched his fingertips, took a deep breath, and then turned his head to look at Fu Qinghuai sitting next to him, his voice softening.
"...Thank you for earlier."
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