After thinking, I said to Li Mazi, “We’re not going to the security guard’s house. We’re going to take a look at his grave first.” 

“How can we know where it is?” asked Li Mazi. 

Yu Hua had a wry smile. “We can follow the trail of paper money, I guess.” 

I gave him a thumbs-up. It was a pretty good idea. 

The three of us followed the ashes and pieces of paper on the ground, easily reaching the cemetery of the village. Like most cemeteries in the countryside, Sheshengou Village’s cemetery was a grassy graveyard. There were graves here and there, covered in tall grass. However, there was no newly buried grave. 

“Was he not buried here?” 

Li Mazi smacked his tongue. “But the ashes and papers lead to this place.” 

I didn’t mind him and carefully observed the graveyard. I then found that not only did this place have no new graves, but it also had huge resentful energy. The Sirius Whip in my hand was vibrating. It was a sign that a large number of ghosts were in the area! 

I quickly told Li Mazi and Yu Hua to return to the village. I didn’t want to mess with a bunch of wandering ghosts before I could deal with the main issue. 

As we walked back to the village, I saw a man walking toward us. He seemed headed to go to the graveyard since this path only led there.  

I greeted him and asked if he knew where the villagers had buried the man who had passed away in the morning. 

The man didn’t even lift his head. He kept his head low and pointed in the direction of the graveyard. Then, he walked past me and left.

He probably meant to say that the security guard was buried in the graveyard. But why couldn't we find him? 

The way the man was walking was strange. His body gently ‘glided,’ just as if his soul was gone. I felt more vigilant toward the people here. I was about to turn to Li Mazi and Yu Hua and tell them that we should pass the night in this village as I wanted to ask the folks here for more information in the morning. 

However, when I turned around, I saw Yu Hua gawking at something. His eyes bulged as he looked at the man.

I suddenly had a bad premonition and asked, “What’s wrong?” 

Yu Hua shivered. “He... He’s the security guard.” 

“What’s going on here?” Li Mazi was also shocked. 

I shook my head to signal at Li Mazi not to talk. Then, I turned to Yu Hua. “Although that man looks strange, he’s a living person. Did you mistake him for someone else?” 

“Impossible. That’s definitely him!” 

Yu Hua confirmed it. He even showed me the security guard’s picture on his phone. 

Although I didn’t see the man’s face, I also confirmed that he was the security guard. It was because of his prominent hawk nose that I could recognize him. 

“Maybe he knew that he was about to die and faked his death to avoid this deadly tribulation,” said Li Mazi in a lowered voice. 

“It’s possible. Let’s follow him,” I said. 

Yu Hua was scared but nodded. 

At this moment, the entire mountainous village was covered by dark clouds. Cold winds blew above our heads, which brought waves of chilling air. 

The three of us silently followed the security guard. We wanted to see what he was up to. It seemed he had noticed that we were after him, or perhaps he knew since the beginning. He was walking at a normal pace. When he reached the corner, he stopped. It seemed he was waiting for us. 

“It seems he wants to tell us something,” said Yu Hua sternly as he watched the man.

“I guess so.” I sped up to catch up with him as we didn’t need to hide anymore. However, when I quickened my pace, the security guy suddenly turned and ran. 

Soon, he disappeared into the darkness.

Li Mazi boldly dashed forward to chase after him, but I pulled him back. “Don’t you feel that something is wrong?” 

“What is it?” asked Li Mazi. 

I pointed at the surroundings. “Do you know where we are?” 

Li Mazi looked around and gawked in shock. “Hey, weren’t we heading toward the graveyard? Why are there no graves here? All I see is grass.” 

Inadvertently, we were led to a place we had never been to before. Our surroundings were unfamiliar. 

“We shouldn’t walk any further. Let’s go back.” 

I was a little panicked and asked the team to leave. Whatever reasons the security guard had, it wouldn’t be anything nice as he had ditched us in a place like this! Perhaps he had purposely waited to lead us here. 

On the way back, I kept checking our surroundings. When I recognized the small path we had walked on, I heaved a sigh of relief. 

We headed toward the village, and the moment we reached the entrance, Li Mazi suddenly pulled me and pointed suspiciously at a big tree not far from us. “Little Brother Zhang, look. What’s that?” 

I turned to see and found a shaking dark shadow. It seemed someone was hiding behind the tree. 

“Who’s there?!” 

I called loudly a few times. However, no one answered. The shadow seemed to shake harder. 

It was already past midnight. If someone was hiding there, it certainly wouldn’t be a person with good intentions. With that thought, I felt braver and walked forward to see. It was the shopkeeper from the grocery store. She was squatting sneakily behind the tree. 

As she was busted, she grimaced. She turned and rushed back to her grocery store. Yu Hua and Li Mazi wanted to chase after her, but I stopped them. 

“If she doesn’t want to talk to us, we should leave!” 

I didn’t mind their questioning and surprised looks. I started my car engine and deliberately passed by her shop before I drove out of Sheshangou Village. 

After we had left the village, I stopped the car and turned off the engine. 

“What did you find?” asked Li Mazi. 

“That shopkeeper is hiding something! If we didn’t pretend to leave, we wouldn’t have been able to collect any information.” 

I handed Li Mazi the key and asked him to return to the city and buy some sea salt, a rooster, some big eels, and a few ancient copper locks. 

Li Mazi was experienced with the stuff we often used to invite or expel evil spirits. He took the key and left with Yu Hua. 

When I drove out of the village earlier, I had carefully observed the path that led to the village.

Since I was afraid that I would be busted on my way back, I chose a small trail along the mountain flank to get to the village. While I was walking, I felt that someone was following me. However, that feeling disappeared when I turned around.

I sighed and thought that my courage had shrunk since I hadn’t had a thrilling case for quite a long time. Anyway, I had the Sirius Whip with me. If something dangerous was coming, it would alert me. 

When I entered the village and approached the woman’s grocery store again, I saw that the light was still on. I was encouraged by this. I tiptoed to her store and leaned against the wall. 

Thanks to the light, I saw two people in the shop. One was the shopkeeper herself, and the other was the security guard! 

Since I knew the security guard was a living man, I didn’t worry much. I immediately banged on their door. When the woman impatiently opened the door, I didn’t say a word to her and immediately slid into the house to search for the security guard. I wanted to know what he was up to. 

However, I found that the room was empty. The security guard was nowhere to be seen. 

“What the heck do you want?” 

The shopkeeper approached me. At this moment, she was wearing a coat and exuded the aura of a mature woman. It was midnight and this woman was in the room with the security guard, alone. I suspected they had an affair.  

“You have a good relationship with Song Zhong, right? I’m sure you don’t want him to die.” I smiled.

Song Zhong was the security guard’s name. I had read his profile before we came here. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

The woman’s eyes sparkled, but her mouth remained shut. I checked the time, and it was close to midnight. If I couldn’t find Song Zhong before the day was over, he would die. However, I couldn’t just search around the woman’s house. I felt worried. 

“Get out of here! Now! If you don’t, I’m going to call people!” 

Seeing me hesitate, the woman braced her hands at her hips and scolded me. Then, she grabbed a broomstick and hit me with it.  

However, since she had kept her voice low, I knew that she was having an affair with Song Zhong. 

 “If I’m not wrong, Song Zhong pretended to die. The other folks in this village don’t know that, right?” I sneered, fixing my gaze at her eyes. 

The woman’s spirit subsided. “I’m a widow. If this rumor spreads out, I won’t be able to show my face around anymore.”

She thought that I was a bad guy, so I patiently explained to her why I had come here.

In the end, she sighed and told me the story. 

Song Zhong had lost his mind, but it wasn’t permanent. Every day, he would have his sanity returned to him for a few hours. Since his co-workers had died one by one, Song Zhong understood that they were taken away by a ghost. While he was still sane, he had asked his family to arrange a funeral for him. 

Song Zhong thought that if he faked his death, that thing would leave him alone. However, we had busted his plan. 

“Why did Song Zhong go to the graveyard? And why did you hide behind the tree to watch us?” I asked the shopkeeper.