Things had gone exactly how I’d guessed. Li Mazi had received a message from Yin Xinyue, and the content left no room for misunderstanding. She’d asked him out for a date beside the Qinjiu River.

However, the one waiting for Li Mazi beside the river wasn't Yin Xinyue but Kay-Z.

Li Mazi realized that it was a trap, and he tried to flee. Unfortunately, the other party knocked him unconscious, and when he woke up, he was already in the apartment.

He thought of retaliating, but before he could even get closer, Kay-Z smiled and lay on the bed. He then cut the rope above his head, saying that he would give Li Mazi a gift.

Before Li Mazi could even react, the straw cutter fell, neatly cutting Kay-Z in two.

In the next moment, Li Mazi passed out from fright.

After listening to the story, my complexion was terrible. I muttered, "You’re also going to die at this pace..."

Li Mazi was shocked. "W-What do you mean by that?"

I explained, "When we entered the room, we saw Kay-Z lying on your body, and he’d forced his hand into your mouth. I'm afraid that he pushed the Human Bones Necklace into your belly."

Li Mazi was dumbfounded. Then, his face paled, and he burst into tears. "Little Brother, save me! You have to save me!"

I comforted him. "Don't worry, we'll find a way. Let's return to the hotel and carefully discuss this matter. Aji, we'll leave this place to you!"

Song Longji nodded. "I'll bring you back to the hotel. I’ll ask someone else to take over the investigation here."

I didn’t decline his offer. Li Mazi was, after all, covered in blood, and we couldn't take a taxi in these conditions.

After a few other police officers arrived at the site, we got into Song Longji's car and returned to the hotel. Li Mazi went to take a shower, and he vigorously rubbed his skin as if he wanted to rub the Human Bones Necklace out of his body.

Yin Xinyue quietly asked me, "Will Li Mazi also act like the other victims? Like pulling his intestines out or cutting his waist...?"

I helplessly shook my head. I had no idea, and I didn't even know if I could deal with the Human Bones Necklace at this point.

I even forbade Li Mazi from defecating. If he defecated out his intestines, it would be game over.

When Li Mazi came out of the bathroom, he stared at me. "Did you think of a method?"

I shook my head. "No, but there’s no rush. The Human Bones Necklace won't harm you for the time being. We have plenty of time to come up with a plan."

Li Mazi sat in front of me. "You have to think of something quickly! Still... I'm really unlucky. Why did this damned thing have to target 

me

?!"

I glared at him. "If not for you being greedy, why would the Human Bones Necklace even notice you?"

Li Mazi retorted, "When did you see me being greedy?"

I continued, "Weren't you coveting Yin Xinyue's beauty? Isn't that being greedy?"

Li Mazi was rendered speechless. After a while, he said, "Who doesn’t like beautiful things? However, I promise I won't think of beautiful women anymore. They’re just an endless source of trouble!"

...As a result, Yin Xinyue lost her temper and kicked Li Mazi away!

Returning to the original topic, the Human Bones Necklace had caused so many victims due to the extreme hate that permeated its body. To solve the problem, we had to get rid of it!

Since we knew that the hate of the Human Bones Necklace was related to Chao Cuo's unjust execution, we had to bring him justice.

But, how could we clear his name? It’s not like we could go back to the Han Dynasty...

I closed my eyes and fell into deep thought, recalling a story that my grandfather had once told me.

When my grandfather was younger, he got his hands on a golden tablet, which turned out to be one of the twenty golden tablets of General Yue Fei from the Southern Song Dynasty. The tablet was permeated with strong resentment, and its owner would be afflicted with all kinds of diseases.

To solve the problem, my grandfather played the role of Yue Fei and found another person to play the role of Qin Hui, the traitorous chancellor that had caused the death of the loyal general. What differed from the original version was the ending.

In the play, Yue Fei killed the traitorous Qin Hui, which helped dispelling the hate of the tablet.

According to my grandfather, this was the 'substitution method'.

Given the situation, perhaps we could use the same method.

As such, I told Yin Xinyue and Li Mazi about it.

After listening to my plan, the duo kept silent; they were afraid it might not work due to how absurd the whole idea was.

Honestly, they did have a point. Firstly, it wasn't like the Human Bones Necklace had a mind of its own and could see. Secondly, even if it could see, it would be able to tell that it was just a play. If the necklace was enraged, Li Mazi would be in even greater danger.

It was a risky move.

However, I couldn’t think of any other method.

Li Mazi hesitated for a while before saying, "Maybe keep that method as a backup. I’ve thought of another way."

I looked at Li Mazi.

Li Mazi continued, "We can go look for that mysterious man! He’s already saved us twice, and perhaps he can even do it a third time! That guy’s an expert, he might know how to deal with the Human Bones Necklace!"

Right, the man in Kumamon t-shirt! How could I forget about him? Earlier, he even said that I could find him at Hong Kong's Mitu Temple if I needed help.

An expert like him should know how to save Li Mazi!

Therefore, we borrowed Song Longji's car and set Mitu Temple as the destination on the GPS.

Mitu Temple was a small Daoist temple in the middle of Hong Kong. It was plain, with basically no incense burning. It was completely different from the Shaolin Temple in mainland China, where the price of the incense alone was hundreds of thousands of renminbi.

Upon seeing the temple, I was somewhat disappointed. Did that man really live there?

However, I still entered the temple with Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue.

I politely knocked on the door.

Very soon, a small Daoist child with braided hair that looked around 13 or 14 years old opened the door.

The small Daoist child smiled and asked, "Which one of you is Zhang Jiulin?"

I was surprised. 

This guy actually knows my name?

However, I still replied, "That would be me."

The small Daoist child nodded. "Senior Brother said that you would come today, and he asked me to wait for you guys in the temple. Come in! Senior Brother had some business and went outside. He'll be back in the evening."

Li Mazi didn't miss the opportunity to flatter the other party. "What an expert! He even correctly guessed the day that we would come!"

The Daoist child smiled and brought us inside the temple.

The Daoist temple was very small, but according to Yin Xinyue, the land where it was built was extremely expensive. Hundreds of thousands of renminbi[1] wouldn't be enough to buy a single square meter.

To be able to buy a Daoist temple here, that man was definitely very rich.

The Daoist child brought us into the main hall, where we found a life-size statue of Wong Tai Sin. Although three sticks of incense were burning, there wasn't much smoke.

Upon seeing the statue, I found myself at peace and calmed down quite a bit.

The Daoist child told us to sit while he ran to the courtyard to boil some water.

Since I was bored, I decided to take a look around. The place was very ancient-looking.

The Daoist child soon returned and said to Li Mazi, "You, take off your clothes and bathe in the scented water."

Li Mazi opened his eyes wide. "That water is boiling! Wouldn't I get roasted if I were to bathe in it?"

The Daoist child said with a smile, "Senior Brother said that we would get to eat spicy pig intestines in the evening if you don't bathe in this water."

Li Mazi was dumbfounded. "What do you mean by that?"

The Daoist child explained, "If you don't get into the water, you'll throw up your guts tonight."

Li Mazi was scared out of his wits. He jumped into the large barrel of water without hesitation.

The bath was enjoyable at first, but the temperature rose very quickly, and Li Mazi was already screaming by the end.

Yet, the Daoist child didn’t stop and kept increasing the temperature.

It continued until evening, when someone knocked on the door of the Daoist temple.

The Daoist child smiled as he ran toward the door. "Senior Brother has returned."

Sure enough, the person that had knocked on the door was indeed the mysterious man. He had a high nose, fair skin, and slanting eyebrows. He was so handsome that he made me feel jealous.

He was still wearing that loose Kumamon t-shirt. Was he such a big fan of Kumamon that he wore the same clothes every day...?

He had a bundle wrapped in a cloth on his back.

After raising his head and coldly gazing at us, he headed toward Li Mazi, who was still soaking in the large wooden barrel.

[1] 100,000 renminbi is around 14,000 USD.