The incident in Wuyan Village had ended. For a long time afterward, Li Mazi hadn’t brought any dangerous business to me, nor did the Longquan Villa’s people come to trouble me. My life seemed to have quieted down. 

Besides spending quality time with Yin Xinyue, I drank some liquor with Li Mazi every day and listened to his babbles. 

There were many moments where I had thought it would be nice to live like this. However, I was an otherworldly merchant, and my life was not predestined to always be calm. 

One day, I had opened a Baijiu blue bottle and was drinking with Li Mazi when Chuyi came in all of a sudden. He looked tired and worn out.

My heart sank, and I hurried to pull him into the shop. “Hey, how are you? Did you get hurt?” 

With his personality, I was sure he didn’t come for a casual visit. 

“I’m okay.”

Chuyi received a glass of water from Li Mazi. He took a sip then said coldly, “I’m here to ask for your help.” 

“It seems I’m going to the battlefield again!” Li Mazi patted his thigh and asked with a grin, “Could you tell me in advance how much we’ll earn from this case?”  

I slapped his head, then asked, “Chuyi, what happened?”

If Chuyi came to me, it would be something related to otherworldly items. However, I didn’t understand why he didn’t solve it himself. Why did he need my help? There was something strange here. 

Chuyi stared at Li Mazi and answered, “This time, it’s purely a favor for me. No payment. Moreover, it’s going to be a dangerous task.” He then handed me a piece of paper. 

I unfolded the paper. It had an address and someone’s phone number. 

I took a glance at the information and carefully folded the piece of paper. I waited for Chuyi to tell me the details. 

“Our client this time is a national entity, the Shenyang Museum,” said Chuyi. “When the security guards patrolled at night, they heard footsteps from the exhibition hall. They thought there were some intruders, but as soon as they went there, the sound of footsteps disappeared. At first, they didn’t pay much attention to it. However, the commotion eventually grew louder. From time to time, they’d even hear a man crying.” 

He continued, “The curator noticed that the situation wasn’t simple. He hired a few professionally trained guards and had them hide behind the glass counter of the exhibition hall. He wanted to see who was creating trouble at night time. But after one night, all those security guards lost their minds and died one after another. From that night onward, no guard has dared to stay on night duty. The curator was helpless, and he had to use his connections to reach me…” 

When Chuyi told me the details, his eyes showed a complex expression. I knew this case wasn’t simple. 

According to what he had just told me, I concluded that there the paranormal activities were caused by an otherworldly item. There shouldn’t be any ghosts there. 

Since the Shenyang Museum used to be a part of the Manchurian Qing’s imperial palace, it had an imperial aura that could scare away wandering ghosts. The strange commotion in the museum could be caused by the antiques stored there. After a long time of staying idle, perhaps one of them had become an otherworldly item.

“It’s no wonder you didn’t want to take this mission. No payment, and it’s dangerous.” Li Mazi cocked his head to one side and assessed Chuyi. “Little Brother Zhang, this case won’t earn us anything. No one will pay for the train tickets, either. I don’t think I’m going to join in this time.” 

I ignored Li Mazi. “Chuyi, why do you want my help in this case?” 

“I know what’s causing the problem there. However, I can’t put my hands on this. It’s not an evil item, and it’s doing what it thinks to be right. If you have a chance, please show mercy to that otherworldly item.” When Chuyi said this, he took in a deep breath. 

I was puzzled. Otherworldly merchants were the nemeses of otherworldly items, but they could still be killed if the item was too powerful.

If I showed mercy to that otherworldly item, would it show mercy to me too? 

That was why I didn’t answer and gave Chuyi a skeptical look. 

“All right… Just do what you need to do! As long as you don’t violate your principles, it’ll be fine.” 

After talking, Chuyi left. 

I rushed to the door and shouted, “Don’t worry. I’ll accept this case!” 

Chuyi halted for a moment. Then, he disappeared from my sight without turning his head around to see me. After looking at his tired, lonesome figure, I suddenly felt that he wasn’t that invincible. He also had things he didn’t want to face.

But if he had entrusted this case to me, did he think that I was the only one he could trust it with? 

I sighed and took out the paper Chuyi handed to me. I just hoped that I could smoothly solve this otherworldly item case so that Chuyi wouldn’t have to worry anymore. 

“Little Brother Zhang, are you going to accept this case?” 

Li Mazi snatched the piece of paper from me and mumbled discontentedly, “It’s not that I don’t want to help my friend. However, we’re supposed to fight with our lives on the line without earning anything...” 

I didn’t know why, but my flame of anger burst when Li Mazi said that. I turned and shouted at him, “Do you only have freaking money on your mind? Chuyi has saved your life several times. How could you look at his face and ask for money?” 

I proceeded to ignore him. Then, with a dark face, I called Yin Xinyue and told her that I was going to solve another otherworldly item case. These days, she was with the filming crew in the studio, shooting a drama.

“Can you not go?” Yin Xinyue asked with a soft tone. Since I didn’t answer, she understood my will and asked me to be careful. Then, we hung up. 

I didn’t know why, but I didn’t feel strong enthusiasm for new otherworldly items anymore. Yin Xinyue somewhat lost her excitement, too. She didn’t ask to join the trip as she didn’t want to take such risks anymore. To me, we hadn’t changed that much. We just became more responsible after we got engaged. 

For this sort of matter, I knew that I shouldn’t be late. I decided to prepare my tools and was prepared to leave. As part of my routine, I picked up my phone and was about to call Li Mazi to drive his car to the shop and fetch me. 

But then, I remembered his annoying face and shook my head, heading to the garage to get my car. I would drive there myself. However, I later saw Li Mazi standing at the intersection, waving at me. 

He was holding a big bag. At first glance, I knew he had prepared all the stuff. 

I smiled then pulled my car in front of him. With a cold face, I asked, “What are you doing here?” 

“I just figured out that I’m shamelessly in love with you…” Li Mazi laughed and pulled the door of the passenger seat open, hurling himself into the seat. 

I snorted, “Yeah, right. You’re indeed shameless.” 

He didn’t mind me and just smiled and joked to earn my favor. 

Along the way, I didn’t respond to him. When we arrived in Shenyang, he suddenly waved his fingers in front of my eyes. “Little Brother Zhang, are you still mad at me?” 

“I’ll forgive you just this once.” After I said that, I couldn’t hold in my laughter anymore. Li Mazi was the sort of man who was cowardly, lustful, and always afraid of trouble. However, he was a great friend when you needed him. Not to mention, he was also loyal. 

It was evening. We met our contact in a small restaurant near the museum. 

He was called Yu Hua and was around forty or fifty years old. He was the manager of the museum. 

Yu Hua had a square jawline and carried a small crocodile leather bag under his arm. At first look, he looked upright and honest. 

After greeting us, he told us about the situation at the museum. He didn’t look like he despised us for being young. Li Mazi felt much better with the way he treated us.  

I had thought about the plan on the way here. I wanted to go to the museum directly at night time to check the situation. However, Yu Hua told us that not all of the five security guards they had arranged on duty that night had died. There was one survivor. 

“Oh, where is he now?” I asked in a hurried voice. If we could get some clues from the security guy, it would be helpful to the case. 

“He’s lost his mind. His family has taken him back to his hometown to recover. Given the time, he should be about to die…” 

When he came to this part, Yu Hua scanned the small restaurant and lowered his voice. “Mr. Zhang, I need to tell you something. After the four security guards became crazy, they didn’t die at the same time. Their deaths were one month apart. And, the ways they died were also strange. One sharpened a toothbrush and committed suicide with it. Another used a pair of scissors to open his tummy. Moreover, they all died on the tenth day of the month.” 

“What?” 

After listening to him, I recognized that the last security guard was in grave danger. I instinctively took out my phone to check. Today was the tenth day of the month! “Mr. Yu, do you know where that guard lives?” 

“Yeah, I do. He lives in a village in the countryside area outside of Shenyang.” 

“Take me to his house, now!” I didn’t have time to explain and pulled Yu Hua into my car. 

It was past twilight now. We had just a few hours before the next day. If we went there on time, perhaps we could save that guard. Otherwise, he would die. 

Yu Hua appeared to be a man who wasn’t afraid of hardship. He continuously showed me the way. My impression of him became better. 

It was our luck that Yu Hua was familiar with the streets in Shenyang. I stepped on the accelerator, and at around 9:00 PM, we arrived at Sheshangou Village

.

Since the village was by the foothills, the route was extremely bumpy. I had to park my car at the village entrance and walked into the village with Yu Hua and Li Mazi. 

In the mountainous area, the villagers often went to bed early. Most of the houses here had their lights off, and only a small grocery store was still open. When we arrived there, the shopkeeper was putting the instant noodles away. 

When the shopkeeper saw us, she grew vigilant. “What are you doing here?” 

Li Mazi used his silver tongue to buy two packs of cigarettes and asked the shopkeeper for the security guard’s address. 

When we were about to leave, the shopkeeper muttered, “What’s the point of coming here when he’s dead already?” 

What? The security guy is dead?

I hastily turned and asked the woman, “When did he die?” 

She was scared and backed off. “He had just passed away this morning.” 

Then, she quickly closed her grocery store. 

“Mr. Zhang, should we go there?” asked Yu Hua anxiously, gulping his saliva. He was just a normal man, afraid of a situation that involved the dead, which was considered to bring bad luck. 

“Of course! We’re already here, so we need to take a look.” 

My voice was strong, but my heart wasn’t equally firm. The only survivor was dead. I was afraid that the trip had been in vain this time. 

When we walked deeper into the village, we found a road filled with ashes and paper money. It seemed the shopkeeper had told the truth. However, why did they deliver the coffin as soon as the deceased passed away? The common practice in Northeastern regions was that the family would keep the deceased in the house for three days so that friends and relatives could pay the deceased the last visit before they took the coffin away. 

Was there more to his death?