Chapter 140 Chapter 140 Taolin Village
In the blink of an eye, two months passed.
The scorching summer heats up the earth mercilessly, and the long-awaited summer vacation for students has finally arrived.
As soon as the holiday came, Ning Siyuan boarded the green train to Guangzhou. His second uncle worked in Guangzhou, so he followed him there to work during the summer vacation.
Song Chengli moved out of the dormitory long ago after that incident, and his other roommate went abroad as an exchange student last year, so only He Junxia and Xie Qi were left in the dormitory.
That's right, this fun-loving guy with a weird and changeable temperament ate, lived and slept with He Junxia and Ning Siyuan for two whole months, and because of his outstanding performance, he was respected as the matchmaker killer by a group of college students.
——In just three months, he broke up at least 15 couples, including some same-sex couples. He is truly popular with both men and women.
Xie Qi was as thick-skinned as a city wall, and remained indifferent to the gazes of others, whether they were scrutinizing, curious, or disgusted. This made things difficult for He Junxia and Ning Siyuan.
Although He Junxia is no longer at the age where he cares about what others think of him, it doesn't mean that he likes being admired like a monkey.
Ning Siyuan was not used to being stared at by a large group of people, so whenever he went out, he would keep several meters away from Xie Qi. But Xie Qi liked to approach him and tease him, forcing him to fight back.
The two tortured each other until the end. Ning Siyuan wanted to wear a mask stuck to his face when he went out in the hot summer, and it would be better to wear a pair of sunglasses.
Once he put on his sunglasses, he ignored everyone and just rushed forward, trying to leave Xie Qi far behind.
So Ning Siyuan couldn't wait to leave as soon as the summer vacation started.
Without the noisy chatter, the small dormitory was unusually quiet. Xie Qibai twirled the dagger on his fingertips in boredom: "Why don't you go with him to work during the summer vacation?"
Of course it’s because I don’t want to.
He Junxia wanted to roll his eyes. His upbringing and self-control had been completely worn away by his interactions with Xie Qi. This guy was nothing more than a psychopath who acted recklessly.
However, despite his illness, Xie Qi's strength was indeed very strong and should not be underestimated. Although he was not very diligent in teaching him, he was not perfunctory either. He also saved him several times from sneak attacks by evil spirits.
He Junxia smiled politely: "Brother, I want to take advantage of the holiday to practice diligently and practice drawing low-level spiritual fire talismans so that I can have the ability to protect myself as soon as possible."
Xie Qi held his chin in his hand and said, "I remember you have already reached the first level. Now is the best time to do it. Go to the Xuan Realm and take on a small mission."
He Junxia: "Okay, Senior Brother."
Xuanjie is a dedicated APP for people from all walks of life in metaphysics. It was developed by the state and has complex and diverse functions. It is equivalent to a combination of WeChat, JD.com, electronic library and other APPs.
People in the Xuanmen sect usually use Xuanjie as a communication software.
He Junxia took out his mobile phone, opened the APP, and found the low-level task reward column in the task interface.
[Low-level tasks (available at levels 1-3)]
1. Resolve the haunted incident in Room 402, Building 8, Chuxin Community (Level 1)
Mission Reward: Contribution Points X300 Cash X4000
2. Relieve the soul of the child in the abandoned well at No. 28, Dawang Village (Level 1)
Mission Reward: Contribution Points X100 Cash X2600
3. An evil spirit is suspected to be causing trouble in the abandoned teaching building of Yunshi Normal University (Level 2)
Mission Reward: Contribution Points X700 Cash X8000
…
He Junxia looked around and felt that the tasks ranked first and second in the bounty column were the most suitable.
However, accounts below LV.5 can only accept one task at a time. After thinking about it, he chose the first one.
After all, Dawang Village is too far from the school, and there is no dedicated subway line, so you can only take a taxi or take a six-hour bus.
Although Chuxin Community is not close, it is still in the city. It only takes 40 minutes to get there by subway, and it is even faster to take a taxi.
He Junxia clicked to accept the task, and after a while she received the detailed task information from the assistant.
On April 4, 20xx6, a fire broke out in Room 402, Building 8, Chuxin Community, resulting in the deaths of an elderly man and a child.
[Name of the deceased elderly person: Wang Xiaocao, age: 76; Name of the deceased child: Qi Tingting, age: 7. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she lived with her father and grandmother.]
[On June 26, the residents of Room 401 called the police and reported that they heard a child screaming in Room 402 at around 1:00 a.m.
At 1 a.m. on the 27th, residents of rooms 301, 302, 401, 501, and 502 heard screams again and smelled thick smoke. At the same time, a delivery driver called the fire department and saw a clear flame in room 402.
After reading the detailed introduction, He Junxia called a high-end online taxi, picked up the peach wood sword hanging beside the bed and said, "Brother, let's go."
The two of them arrived at the school gate to wait for the car. The phone showed that the online taxi would arrive in ten minutes. He Junxia asked, "Brother, do you want some milk tea?"
Xie Qi said disdainfully: "I don't drink that kind of sweet stuff."
He Junxia: "But X's just launched a new sweet-scented osmanthus rice wine."
Xie Qi; ...
Xie Qi changed the subject: "But it's not bad to try it occasionally."
He Junxia came to the milk tea shop with a smile and ordered a cup of osmanthus rice wine and a cup of milk and mung bean ice. In summer, drinking mung bean soup is the best way to cool down.
I still remember that when I was in high school, the classroom was crowded and stuffy, and he would buy a cup of boxed mung bean soup every time he ate.
However, the mung bean soup produced in the factory had no soul and was not as delicious as the one his mother made herself.
He Junxia handed Xie Qi the osmanthus rice wine and a straw, then lowered her head to take a sip of the milk and mung bean ice cream. The icy cold milk and mung bean ice cream flowed into her mouth and esophagus, dispelling much of the summer heat.
Xie Qi frowned and inserted the straw into the milk tea, lowered his head and took a sip. There was still a look of disgust on his face, but his frown unconsciously relaxed.
Little guy, can’t I catch you?
He Junxia hummed twice in her heart, then lowered her head and drank a sip of milk tea, feeling a little proud.
Although Xie Qi often got into some big or small troubles, such as suddenly throwing him to some remote place in the name of building up his courage, and asking the school's second cafeteria to add twenty more chicken-related dishes.
But after two months, he had gained a lot of understanding of Xie Qi. Putting aside the big things, he almost knew everything about the small things.
After all, Xie Qi's personality is very typical, so he, who has read a lot of psychology books, can't help but analyze his behavior based on the logic in the books.
Hmm?
Seems a little perverted.
He Junxia laughed dryly in his heart. After realizing this situation, he had been trying to control his habitual behavior. There was no need to use these things on his friends.
*
The ride-hailing vehicle arrived three minutes earlier than estimated.
The driver wearing white gloves trotted forward, bent down and opened the car door with a very friendly smile on his face.
Xie Qi sat down naturally, but He Junxia was still a little uncomfortable with it.
When he needed to take a taxi, he would usually just take the most common express taxi on the market, but Xie Qi had a sensitive nose and couldn't stand the smell of ordinary taxis.
So when the two of them travel together, He Junxia usually takes a high-end private car. The car is clean and hygienic, and the driver has an excellent service attitude. Except for the high price, all other advantages are there.
This trip will cost at least two or three hundred yuan.
He Junxia put down the milk tea, lay down on the reclining chair, closed her eyes slightly, and quietly enjoyed the coolness brought by the air conditioning in the car.
Xie Qi had woken him up at around four in the morning to draw talismans, and he really wanted to sleep now.
Half an hour later, the vehicle stopped smoothly at the gate of Chuxin Community. He Junxia opened his eyes from his doze and looked down at his mobile phone. Very good, today's income was -213 yuan.
He Junxia woke up instantly.
As the only son of a liquor dealer, he naturally has no shortage of money. He has 3,000 yuan for living expenses every month. But even if he has no shortage of money, he cannot afford such spending.
After completing this task, he will go to Aunt Wen to apply for the first-level Xuanli Master assessment. After passing the assessment, he will receive a subsidy of 2,000 yuan per month, which will be automatically deposited into his bank card.
He Junxia and Xie Qi followed the property staff to the downstairs of Building 8. Before getting in the car, he contacted the property management of the community and asked them to take the residents on the upper and lower floors of Room 402 away from their residence first.
Therefore, there were quite a few people watching downstairs, and many people from the neighboring community came to watch the fun.
"Here I come."
"Hiss, this young man is so handsome. Where is the master?"
"Could it be these two guys?"
A group of people chattered and glared at the three people approaching. Xie Qi raised his eyebrows and reached out to push He Junxia forward: "Here we are, Master is here."
He Junxia: ...
He Junxia was on guard but it was useless. She silently wrote down another crime of Xie Qi in her grudge notebook.
He Junxia quickly came to the door of Room 402. The staff handed him the key and left. Now, only he and Xie Qi were upstairs and downstairs.
Of course, Xie Qi is the supervisor who is watching the show.
He Junxia did not rush to open the door and go in. Instead, he stood in front of the door and quietly looked at the charred outer layer of the security door. He took out a small and exquisite compass and injected mysterious power into it.
The needle on the compass immediately began to spin violently, and in the next second it pointed directly to room 402, indicating that there was a lot of negative energy in this room.
It seems that the haunting is most likely not man-made.
He Junxia took out a forest purification talisman and pasted it on the security door, then picked up the peach wood sword and opened the door. As soon as the door opened, a strong gust of biting cold wind blew in his face.
He Junxia couldn't help but gasp.
It was not because of the cold wind, but because of the "special decoration" of Room 402.
——What caught my eye was a sofa that had been burned to a skeleton and black walls covered with traces of smoke and burns. The ground was covered with ashes from the fire, and there was no sign of it having been cleaned.
The mission details state that the child's father was deeply affected by the death of his mother and child, and left Yun City after taking care of both of their affairs.
He Junxia sighed.
Perhaps the poor father was unable to face and accept this cruel fact, so he did not let anyone clean the house that had brought him so much pain.
He Junxia also placed a cleansing talisman under the peephole on the inside of the security door. The talismans he used were all drawn by himself during the night using the moonlight. According to the agreement between him and Xie Qi, this didn't count as cheating.
"Squeak--Ga--"
The security door, which had two low-level purification talismans pasted on it, opened automatically without wind, making a teeth-grinding sound.
There seemed to be a force trying to close the door, but when it was about to succeed it was stopped by another invisible force.
He Junxia gave herself a thumbs up.
Even if you haven't eaten pork, you have always seen pigs run. Horror novels have long been tired of the common door-killing tricks. This time, he predicted the opponent's prediction.
The two purifying talismans stuck on the security door became slightly hot, and the edges began to curl and turn black. They probably wouldn't last much longer.
He Junxia waved his hand and sent out a stream of mysterious energy. The security door, which was sandwiched between the two forces and had no door inside or outside, finally got a chance to rest. It fell to the ground with a loud noise under the heavy weight.
He Junxia: ...
Shouldn't this cost me money?
With the mentality of not wasting anything, He Junxia bent down and was about to take down the two purification talismans on the door to reuse them, but his consciousness was always paying attention to the movements behind him.
As expected, a blurry black shadow suddenly attacked, and the hairs on He Junxia's neck stood up instantly, and his movements were faster than his reactions.
“Swish!”
The peach wood sword thrust backward accurately pierced the upper body of the black shadow, but the black shadow was not the child that He Junxia had expected, but a hunched old man.
He Junxia was stunned.
He hadn't used his full strength to begin with, and the moment he was distracted gave the shadow a chance to escape. In the blink of an eye, the shadow disappeared without a trace.
He Junxia was not in a hurry.
The poor people who died in the fire would basically become earthbound spirits, unable to leave the place where they were trapped. There were also two spirit-purifying talismans blocking the door, which would issue a warning if a ghost passed by.
He Junxia stood in the living room, looking at the completely burned second bedroom in front of her. "Grandma Wang, I'm a commissioner sent by the state to handle supernatural events. I want to have a good talk with you."
The haunting case in Room 402 only disturbed the neighbors and did not cause any substantial harm to others. He Junxia hoped to resolve the matter peacefully.
There was no sound in the room.
He Junxia continued, "I know you're trapped here and it's hard. If you'd like, I can send you and your granddaughter to reincarnate. Or if you have any other needs, you can tell me."
"As long as it's something I can do and it's not illegal, I will definitely help you complete it. I just hope that you two, grandfather and grandson, can resolve your grudge soon."
There was still no sound in the room.
He Junxia still didn't care. He knew that the old man's ghost must be hiding somewhere watching him.
"It's okay if you don't want to come out. I won't disturb you and your grandson too much. I'll set up a sound-absorbing array in the room and have someone fix the door, then I'll leave."
Xie Qi, who was standing outside the door, snorted coldly: "Womanly kindness."
He Junxia ignored him: "Please don't destroy the silencing array, otherwise the next supernatural event handling specialist who comes may not be me, and I might force you and your grandchildren to be reincarnated."
"Forced salvation will harm the spirit being saved and may even damage the spirit's body, leading to physical defects when it is reincarnated as a human."
After finishing this long speech, He Junxia felt thirsty and drank up the remaining milk tea in one breath.
He turned and left Room 402: "Thank you, Brother. I'm going downstairs to buy some things and will be back soon."
Xie Qi responded neither lightly nor heavily.
He wanted to see what this kid was going to do.
He Junxia hurried downstairs to find the property staff member who was in contact with them, informed him of the falling security door, and asked for the phone number of a business that specialized in making metal doors.
Then he went to a nearby small shopping mall while talking on the phone, bought a lot of things, and spent several hundred dollars before leaving.
He Junxia went upstairs carrying large and small bags of things, which shocked the onlookers along the way and also confused Xie Qi.
"Why did you buy these things?"
He Junxia said as a matter of course: "Let the children play."
Xie Qi watched him take out a Barbie doll, a remote-controlled car, a large box of building blocks, a thick stack of picture books, watercolor pencils, crayons, and several large spools of wool for knitting sweaters. Finally, he straightened up and wiped the dense beads of sweat from his forehead.
"Stupid thing."
He opened his mouth to curse, but his voice was so soft that no one except him could hear it.
He Juanxia wiped the sweat from her forehead and nose and said, "Grandma Wang, there will be a master coming up to install the door later. Don't scare them, otherwise you won't be able to use the door."
Two hours later, three installation masters appeared with a hastily made iron door. They were shocked to see the burnt-out Room 402 and almost went back home.
He Junxia hurried forward to greet him: "Master, this is it. We just talked on the phone."
The bald master in the lead smiled awkwardly: "I thought we were in the wrong place."
If a good person’s house is burned down, the first thing to do is to repair the door.
Wait a minute, this is Room 402, Building 8, Chuxin Community, where two people were burned to death.
News reports they had read flashed through the minds of several installation masters at the same time, and the hot sweat on their foreheads almost turned into cold sweat.
But now that I'm here, I can't go back.
The craftsmen looked at each other, gritted their teeth, and quickly replaced the new door. After collecting the money, they ran downstairs without even saying goodbye.
He Junxia: ...
He Junxia touched his nose embarrassedly. Nothing strange happened when installing the iron door, so it shouldn't cause any psychological trauma to the masters.
After finishing all the chores, He Junxia took out five spirit-purifying talismans and the jade pen given by Xie Qi from her bag and began to draw the formation.
——His current level is not enough to draw the formation with his bare hands, he needs the support of the mysterious power of talismans.
He Junxia pasted a purification talisman on the five directions of Room 402, and used ink made of cinnabar and black dog blood as a guide to draw complex array patterns.
During this period, Grandma Wang did not show up, but she did not stop him from drawing the formation.
"Gurgle gurgle"
The remote-controlled car in the living room suddenly ran a few steps forward. He Junxia took a moment to look at it without saying a word and continued to concentrate on the work at hand.
Seeing that no one cared about him, the man controlling the car gradually became bolder.
Sometimes he plays with building blocks; sometimes he opens a picture book and takes out watercolor pens; sometimes he changes Barbie doll's clothes into new ones, having a lot of fun.
The corners of He Junxia's mouth rose slightly.
Xie Qi stood in the corridor and looked at the extremely harmonious scene in the room. He pursed his lips, wanting to say something but stopping himself. Finally, he simply turned his head away and didn't look.
Five hours passed...
He Junxia lowered his trembling and aching wrists and raised his hands above his head to loosen up his stiff spine and lumbar vertebrae.
Five hours of intense concentration had already exhausted him, not to mention the profound energy required to draw the formation.
I really want to sleep.
He Junxia rubbed her sore eyes and said, "It's finally over."
Although I still have to write a task report after returning, I can at least go back and rest for a while, so there is no rush to write the report.
"Grandma Wang, I'll come see you again in two months."
"goodbye"
"Wait a moment."
Just as He Junxia was about to close the door, an old and hoarse voice called him.
"Grandma Wang, do you have anything else to say?"
He Junxia looked at the hunchbacked old woman who finally appeared. Her face was blurry, her body was blurry too, and there was a faint smell of being burned by fire.
She said, "I want to see Qi Dabao."
Who is Qi Dabao?
He Junxia was stunned for a moment before realizing that Qi Dabao was the father of this family. He left Yun City after dealing with the funeral of the mother and child.
I think Grandma Wang wanted to see her son again and tell him the things she didn't have time to say before she died.
But would a mother habitually call her son by his full name in front of others?
He Junxia always felt something was wrong.
"Okay, I'll have someone look up your son's address later, but it will take some time."
He apologized, "After your grandparents got into trouble, he was heartbroken and couldn't accept the fact. He quickly moved out of Yun City."
"Grief-stricken?"
As if squeezed out from between teeth, these words confirmed He Junxia's guess that there must be some unknown friction between the mother and son.
But how much conflict can a mother who can name her child Dabao have with her son?
He Junxia's thoughts turned again and again, but she remained oblivious. She nodded seriously and said, "Yeah, I heard from the property management that he almost fainted from crying at the funeral hall."
"Yes, yes, you are my good son."
"Tingting and I both miss him."
He Junxia smiled innocently, "Don't worry, I will find your son as soon as possible."
He Junxia turned around, gently closed the iron gate, and left with Xie Qi. His expression only turned cold after they left the building and arrived at the property management office.
"There's something wrong with this fire."
Grandma Wang's tone when she spoke was so vicious that she herself was not even aware of it. It was obvious that she hated her son to the extreme.
However, when the property staff talked about the relationship between this family, they all said that the family had a very harmonious relationship and they were walking together in the community the day before the fire.
Therefore, Grandma Wang’s sudden change in attitude towards her son must be closely related to the fire.
He Junxia found the staff member who had been there before: "Sister Wang, the noise nuisance has been temporarily resolved. I will come back soon. Please ask the residents to stay away from Room 402 as much as possible."
Sister Wang smiled brightly: "Don't worry, Mr. Ji, we will fully cooperate with your work."
He Junxia smiled and asked, "Sister Wang, what kind of person is Qi Dabao, the owner of Room 402? Do you still remember him?"
Sister Wang thought for a moment. "He's a bit out of character. He harassed a female resident in another building and was visited by the police. I heard he owed online loans and beat his wife, so she divorced him because she couldn't stand it..."
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