Chapter 115: Impermanence of the Four Chasing Spirits
Meng Zhao shook his head: "Bai Heng, it's not funny."
Bai Heng's expression remained unchanged, and his tone became more serious: "This is not a joke."
Meng Caiyun came back to his senses, turned his head to look at the two people in the standoff, and forced a laugh: "Xiaobai, is there some misunderstanding between you two?"
"There's no misunderstanding, Sister Meng," Bai Heng stepped forward. "Since I'm the advisor for this team, I have a responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone in the bureau."
Meng Caiyun discovered that Bai Heng's serious expression was somewhat similar to that of the former Director Bai.
Weiwei watched the two sides deadlocked and tried to mediate: "Advisor Bai, how about we go outside and talk about this?"
Bai Heng was silent for a moment, then displayed the screen of his phone. "Actually, just now, I asked Turtle Soup, but unfortunately, I only got one question—Is the dead person among the seven of us?'"
On the screen, a red "yes" filled the entire interface.
"So you suspect it's me?" Meng Zhao found it unbelievable and raised his lip in amusement. "We've been on missions together before. If it were me, I would have been discovered long ago."
"That's not necessarily true," Bai Heng stared at him, not giving him any respect. "If a dead person has been able to sneak into the Abnormal Control Bureau for this long without being discovered, then that means they're even more feared, isn't it?"
Meng Zhao pursed his lips: "Ridiculous."
Meng Caiyun glanced at him, then turned his head with a complicated expression. "Xiaobai, if the dead were among us, why did you single out Ah Zhao?"
Bai Heng spoke calmly, "Aside from the Willow Immortal Temple, the Zhao Mansion doesn't have any public remains. This is everyone's first time entering this formation, so why is he so familiar with the route? I told him I wanted to find the burial site, and he led us there in one go. Even more coincidental, there really was a door there."
Meng Caiyun's heart skipped a beat.
She had seen the tragic scene in the West Courtyard in another space, so she tacitly accepted that the West Courtyard was a burial place. But just now, it was indeed Meng Zhao who was walking in front, but he did not take a detour or the wrong way.
Meng Zhao sneered, "Of course, the burial ground is where the resentment is strongest. You know, my paper figurines are good at searching for auras."
"Okay, assuming you found this place through aura," Bai Heng quickly took over, seemingly unwilling to give the other party a chance to breathe. "But you only got the general direction, right? University students going to the next teaching building might get lost, but we have a smooth journey through this century-old house? We didn't encounter even a single blocking wall or dead end, and we made the right turn every time. Pure luck?"
Meng Zhao frowned: "I think you are too prejudiced against me."
"Actually, the burial ground was just something I mentioned casually. After so many missions, you understand how random the formation is. There are so many ways to exit, and the exit isn't necessarily where the strongest resentment is. But you didn't refute me, but instead followed my lead. You really want everyone to go through this door, don't you?" Bai Heng refused to give in, his gaze pressing. "If you can't give me a reasonable explanation, I won't let anyone in. Don't underestimate the intuition of a fangirl."
"You said it was just your intuition, your guess," Meng Zhao shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I agree with what you said before. This formation is indeed very dangerous and strange. So I don't have time to consider other answers. I just want to try them one by one."
"I'm Director Bai's daughter. My intuition carries enough weight for you to answer my questions seriously," Bai Heng's eyes were cold, yet a hint of sadness lingered in them. "Meng Zhao, is that 'dead man' you?"
"You don't answer me, because you don't want to lie to your sister?"
Meng Zhao's expression changed suddenly, and a murderous look was brewing in his eyes. He bit his lip and said emphatically, "No!"
Bai Heng stood quietly with her hands in her pockets. Contrary to her usual behavior, she did not respond. Her brows were still furrowed, and the collar of her shirt rose and fell rapidly, as if there was a storm in her heart that was waiting to be vented.
She took her phone out of her pocket again and lit up the screen with her trembling fingers: "...Is he telling the truth?"
Two words automatically popped up on the screen.
--no.
"I'm sorry," Bai Heng said, tears welling up in her eyes. "That's the real question I want to ask."
Sliding the interface with your finger, the picture showing "yes" was clearly stored in the album, which was obviously a temporary forgery.
It was true that only one question came up, but she didn't ask at all "Is the dead person among the seven people?" Everything was just a trick based on her intuition.
"Meng Zhao, I've always considered you a friend," Bai Heng said, suppressing her frustration. "I don't believe you'll hurt anyone. Can you honestly tell us the truth?"
The young man in the blue-black combat uniform raised his head in a daze and looked in the direction of Meng Caiyun at the first moment, but saw that the other party looked confused and full of disbelief.
He turned his face to the side in shock, gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and the paper figures in his sleeves flew out and hovered in the air. The spiritual power in his body began to become impetuous and chaotic, as if deviating in an uncontrollable direction.
"A Zhao..."
Meng Zhao's breathing suddenly became heavy, and the air around him gradually distorted, like a mirage caused by the evaporation of hot air.
The environment began to change subtly, thick fog rolled in, the ground shook, and a powerful resentful force swept through the ruined courtyard. Countless shadows shuttled back and forth, leaving behind faint sounds of play.
The team members looked at their once revered captain in horror, not knowing where to point their weapons.
"Advisor Bai, the resentment data is soaring, the core of the formation is likely still there! What should we do now!"
"Captain...Captain really is..."
"Bai Heng, why do you have to be so ruthless?" Meng Zhao murmured softly, then slowly raised his head again. His expression was unusually calm, as if he had made some kind of decision and felt unprecedented relief. "Now, none of you can leave."
Bai Heng's eyes suddenly widened, and before she could react, the young man grabbed her throat without warning.
She choked and spat out a mouthful of blood. At that moment, she saw the young man's lifeless black eyes through the icy lenses - they were just as indifferent and calm as before, but with a completely different fierce murderous intent.
He really meant to kill him.
Bai Heng was grabbed by the collar by the other party in a daze, and tried to struggle hard.
The next second, a furious blade gleamed, slicing through the shackles. The Imperial Spirit Scissors flew back into Meng Caiyun's hands. She embraced the fallen Bai Heng and stared at her cousin, her eyes burning with rage, her voice filled with grief: "A Zhao."
She didn't say anything more, but the other party already knew what she wanted. What she wanted was an explanation.
"I'm sorry, this day has finally come," Meng Zhao said, deliberately keeping his tone light. He tilted his head slightly, his gaze focused far away, and his voice was barely audible: "Who told me to die here too?"
-
Abnormal Control Bureau Building.
As soon as Bai Jingze returned to the office, Wang Lingqi jumped up from his chair, looking like he had been waiting for a long time.
"Urgent?" Bai Jingze nodded hurriedly and asked someone to start the large circular screen. A light blue light curtain appeared, almost covering half of the wall of the hall.
The above is a map zoomed in to Hecheng, which has a similar UI to the merit map. Blue represents spiritual power, brown and black represent resentment, gray dots represent ordinary people, and red dots represent the locations of dead people. There is also real-time spiritual and resentment balance monitoring in the upper right corner. If an area is out of balance, an alarm will be sounded to prevent the formation of a formation.
This system has been in operation for many years, and there have been almost no errors in sensing. There are also dedicated personnel in the background to maintain it, which is more than enough to deal with some low-level evil spirits.
Wang Lingqi asked people to focus the position on the screen to Hongfu Village.
"Director, I received a report from Xiao Wang from Team 13. Meng Zhao led his men into the formation near Liuxian Temple, and Bai Heng was also inside."
Bai Jingze frowned. "Is there a formation there? Wasn't the safety rating in last month's inspection log an A?"
"That's what's strange. This formation suddenly appeared, beyond our radar. It's very rare," Wang Lingqi said quickly. "I don't think they can handle it. I'd like to ask you to allocate some manpower. Just ten minutes ago, the resentful power of this formation suddenly increased."
Bai Jingze was about to nod when he suddenly thought of something: "You are the minister now, and you don't need to go through me to assign more people."
Wang Lingqi knocked on the table, his tone somewhat ambiguous, "That place is the remains of the Zhao Mansion, so I'm here to ask 'you' to send some help."
Bai Jingze understood this time. He signaled the others in the office to leave and locked the door. Then he straightened his expression and asked, "Do you think it has something to do with the Three Death Gates?"
"It's not necessarily the Three Death Gates, but it's definitely related to the Zhao family," Wang Lingqi pulled up a stool and sat down. "That matter has always been confidential. I can't send someone who doesn't know the details. Knowing too much would be dangerous."
"If it's the Zhao family who's taking action... they're probably targeting Old Meng," Bai Jingze sighed. "I'll call him right away. Just send an agent to follow them, as a token of your respect. Old Meng knows what to do."
With Meng Chengyin taking action, the Abnormal Control Bureau actually does not need to send any more staff.
Wang Lingqi understood that this was done to comply with the regulations and prevent others from seeing the special features of this formation.
"Alright," she quickly gathered up the documents on her desk and stood up. "Let's let Team 10's Wild Dog go. He's got a keen nose, and he'll be able to get up close and personal with the idol. He'll definitely enjoy it."
…
At eight o'clock in the evening, the Liuxian Temple ceremony had ended.
The crowd gradually receded like a tide, and the streets were littered with gold paper scraps. There were also volunteers who stayed behind to pick up the garbage that the tourists did not take away. After the hustle and bustle of the day, the streets seemed a bit deserted at this moment.
On a corner of the long street, a young woman in Hanfu was browsing her phone, excitedly passing beautiful photos around with her companions, muttering, "Absolutely stunning! This one is so beautiful... What a shame I didn't get a photo with 'Lady Liu'. I thought I'd be able to see the whole temple, but it closed so early."
"Yeah, the person who plays Lady Liu this year is so cool. Even with such a heavy mask, her posture is still so chic and natural. I really hope it will be her next time. I will take a leave to come and watch it." The companion held his chin and sighed happily.
"The temple gates were always closed. Where do you think they left from?"
"I don't know, maybe there's a back door? Only tourists were allowed out at the time, and I didn't see where the staff went."
"It's still very strange. The official publicity said there would be programs inside the temple, but I didn't expect it to be cleared out so suddenly."
"Indeed... Hey! Where's your camera!"
"Oh my god! Where's my camera?!"
The two girls rolled up their sleeves and walked around, but found nothing, so they hurried back. When they were almost in front of Liuxian Temple, they saw a man wearing a baseball cap with a familiar SLR camera hanging around his neck.
"Brother, can you show us your camera?" The girl came forward politely and said hello, then said politely, "It looks very similar to mine. Maybe I got the wrong one."
The man in the baseball cap's face changed. "What do you mean by wrong? This is mine! How dare you, a little girl, slander me?"
Seeing that the other party was showing no mercy, the girl refused to give in and pulled the other party's arm and refused to let go: "Who slandered you! Are you hiding something if you don't let me see it?"
The man in the baseball cap was very confident: "Look, look, see if there is one. You said it's yours, but are there any photos of you two in the album?"
The girl was unwilling to accept it: "You must have changed my memory card!"
Both sides insisted on their own opinions and started arguing in the street.
Passersby who didn't know the truth stopped to watch. The girls felt a little embarrassed by being stared at, but were more angry at the other party's shamelessness. They were about to call the police when a hand reached out from the side and grabbed the wrist of the man in the baseball cap.
A young man wearing a hood and with a mouth full of nails rolled his eyes and said, "Give it back to the owner."
The man in the baseball cap was unhappy and cursed, "Who are you? This is mine. Where did you get the help from? Is there any law?!"
"Seven forty-three, there's surveillance on the street," the non-mainstream-dressed young man said listlessly, pointing toward the corner. He then scouted the man from head to toe, his lips raised as he read out a dish: "Jacket lining, left trouser pocket, right back trouser pocket, insole—um, insole seam? Hey, don't you mind the stink?"
With every word he uttered, the man in the baseball cap's face turned paler. Finally, he glanced frantically at the surveillance camera location pointed out by the other party. There was indeed a surveillance camera, but it was actually covered by the leaves and was not conspicuous.
The man in the baseball cap hurriedly pushed the camera over and said, "I don't know what you are talking about." Then he lowered the brim of his hat, trying to run away before anyone could react.
The two girls happily took the camera and were about to thank the young man when they saw him coldly grab the collar of his baseball cap and remind him, "Memory card."
The man in the baseball cap frantically fumbled around his body, finally threw it back and slipped away from the crowd.
The girl picked up something from the ground and angrily yelled at the man in the baseball cap: "I told you you pulled my card!"
After packing up their belongings, they turned around and were about to express their gratitude, but the kind-hearted person had disappeared without a trace.
Inside the tightly closed Liuxian Temple, a man was standing quietly in front of the courtyard.
A shadow fell to the ground from the wall. The hooded young man dusted his hands and stood up. He straightened up and bowed respectfully to the man in front of the court: "Master Meng."
The elegant man withdrew his gaze from the willow tree, reached out to adjust the edge of the gold-thread mirror, and nodded with a smile: "Team Ten's Wild Dog? I heard you're good at tracking. I wonder which school you learned from."
"I don't have any sect. My parents used to work at the Taiqing Palace. Chasing spirits is also a family secret technique. I took the exam to become an official myself."
Meng Chengyin was a little surprised: "Chasing spirits? This is rare."
Wild Dog rubbed his nose and said, "Yes, the bureau said this formation appeared suddenly, and asked me to help find the entrance."
Meng Chengyin: "Then I'll trouble you."
Wild Dog nodded, his eyes shrugging off the admiration and respect he had for his senior. He walked to the willow tree in the courtyard, raised one hand, and opened his palm. "The vanishing point is around here. There's some residual spiritual energy on this tree. I'll start from here."
Meng Chengyin raised his eyebrows: "Oh? You can detect such a faint aura just by perception?"
"I can smell it," Huang Quan was very happy to hear the other party's praise. He explained, "This is my ability to track spirits. No matter how long it has been, no matter how complicated it is, I can tell it."
Meng Chengyin raised his eyes suddenly.
Wild Dog stared intently at the tall, twisted willow tree before him. Remnant spirits appeared in his mind like pinpricks of light, tracing paths across the sky. He traced them, eyes wide open. "Some are recent, others from long ago... Hmm, this trace must be ten years old, right? And yet something so overbearing still remains..."
Chasing the spirit was like peeling off a cocoon. He was completely absorbed in it and subconsciously squatted down, touching the roots of the tree, and observing the remnants of the spiritual energy from ten years ago.
"Is it a sealing technique? Strange, Madam Liu is the land deity of Hongfu Village, who would dare to seal her?"
Isn't it an immoral act that harms others and oneself to seal away the earth immortal who protects a region?
"Is that why the Nightmare Ghost took advantage of the situation?" Wild Dog muttered to himself, strengthening his spiritual perception. Following the light in his mind, he slowly raised his head and said, "Master Meng, I don't know if this sealing technique has anything to do with the formation, but I can smell the traces. The caster is nearby!"
Meng Chengyin asked with a smile, "Oh? Where is it?"
The faint trace of light turned in mid-air and finally fell straight behind him.
The wild dog turned around eagerly, then his pupils suddenly shrank and he stood frozen in disbelief.
The trajectory... all connected to the gentle and kind man behind him. He kept smiling, as if he was still the headmaster Meng who looked after the younger generation, but a chill suddenly passed through the wild dog's neck.
Meng Chengyin put his hands behind his back, looked at him gently, and smiled softly, "Why aren't you talking?"
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