When I returned

 home from Europe, the first thing I did was call Chuyi to ask if he needed help. 

“Everything’s solved. How are you?” I asked.

“The Longquan Villa has 

targeted

 us again. Do you know their purpose?” 

“It 

might just be a coincidence

.” 

Chuyi understood my idea, but he didn’t think that the Longquan Villa had deliberately troubled us at once. 

If they did,

 the Zhang family in Jiangbei wouldn’t stand still and watch. 

I thought it 

sounded

 logical. I didn’t linger on this subject further

. I 

said goodbye and hung up the phone

. 

Afterward, I called 

Senior Shu

.  

Although this old man was despicable, he had saved my 

life

 at critical moments many times. Moreover, he was a member of the Zhang family, and he was from the same generation 

as

 m

y 

grand

father

. I had always considered and treated him as though he was my 

senior

. I was really worried 

about him

 since he told me the enemy had found him and 

went

 to his door. 

As soon as the line 

went

 through, 

Senior Shu

’s despicable voice 

echoed.

“Hey grandson, why are you calling me?” 

When I heard

 his voice, I knew 

he was safe

. I exhaled

 and smiled

. “Old man, don’t bully me. 

Do you want my grandpa to

 beat you up?”

Then, I stopped smiling

, and my 

voice 

grew

 serious. “How are you doing? Do you need help?” 

“How am I doing? Oh well, they can’t find me that eas

ily

. Also, 

i

t’s not simple for me to get rid of them completely

, so

 I

’ve

 decided to ignore them for now. I can enjoy my time 

traveling

 during this period.” 

Senior Shu

 sounded carefree and positive. I admired his boldness. 

We

chatted for a while. 

When

 I was about to hang up, 

Senior Shu

 lowered his voice into a whisper. “Hey kid, do you have free time these days?” 

“

What

?” I frowned, thinking that he might entice me to accept a case.

“Old man, don’t 

try to trick

 me. 

I was in so much trouble

 this time

 that

 I’m 

lucky that I was able to return

 home safe and sound. I want to take a vacation for a while.” I shook my head

 and was prepared to deny 

whatever he was about to talk me into doing. 

“What are you talking about? You are Yaoyang’s grandson

, so y

ou’re not different from my grandson.”

 Senior Shu

 laughed 

and

 told me the story. 

A few days ago,

 during 

his escape, he had passed by Linzhang County in Hebei Province, where he 

caught wind

 of a strange case. 

A local man went out 

during a heavy

 snowstorm to capture some wild hares

, but h

e disappeared mysteriously

, coming back home only t

hree days later. 

The night he returned, 

his wife and son were murdered

, and t

heir heads were chopped off. However, 

the man

 wasn’t heart-broken. He laughed at the bodies and cursed as if the deceased were his enemies. 

All the villagers knew that he had disappeared for three days

, and m

any people 

suspected that

 he had either encountered something 

foul or was

 possessed. Some said he was pretending 

to lose

 his mind and

 that

 he was the murderer. 

The police investigated the case. They confirmed that 

the man was in his right mind

 and that he wasn’t the 

one

 who massacred his wife and kid. 

There 

were

 no fingerprints found at the crime scene. The man’s wife and

 child 

looked as if their heads 

had fallen

 off their bodies 

on their own

. 

The

 police had no choice but to 

close

 the case. However, the masterful 

Senior Shu

 seemed to sense something odd. He decided to stay in Linzhang County to observe. 

Indeed, in the next few days, the same mysterious decapitation cases happened again. The police 

tried their best,

 but they couldn’t get a clue. Fortunately, they found 

Senior Shu

, who was also following the case. 

The two parties discussed 

the matter.

 Chief Liu from the local Police Bureau asked 

Senior Shu

 to help them. 

Unexpectedly, as soon as 

Senior Shu

 accepted this serial murder case, his enemy came. 

“Jiulin, my grandson, I’ve received the payment from the Police Bureau

, so y

ou have to make thi

ngs right!

 What I mean is that you should

solve it nicely and neatly. I don’t want my 

name

 to be 

tarnished

!” 

Senior Shu

 sounded pitiful. However, his voice was more despicable than ever to my ears. 

I deliberately teased him

 and said in an 

angry 

tone,

 “

You

 got the money

, but you want 

me

 to 

do the job for you? Oh well, 

I guess 

I’m not going to take this case!” 

“Are you sure you don’t want to take this case?” 

Senior Shu

’s voice showed a trace of threat.

Oh well, I said I 

didn’t

 want 

it

. What else 

could you

 do to me?

“

All right, so

 I’

ll

 work on this case myself. If the enemy 

gets

 me, let’s see who 

will

 come to rescue you when you 

get

 your

self

 in trouble

!

” 

“Okay, I’ll take it. You’re ruthless, old man!” I said reluctantly. I was always helpless when I dealt with this despicable, childish grandpa. The only thing I could do was to agree with him. 

Senior Shu

 gave me Chief Liu’s number 

and

 told me to contact him when I arrived 

in

 Linzhang County. 

In ancient times of China, Linzhang County had been called Yecheng. It was the capital of the Wei Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms era

. It was also 

the most lively and bustling city in the North. Unfortunately, after two thousand years, it gradually declined in importance. In modern times, it couldn’t be compared to big cities like Beijing or Shanghai.

Since

 I had 

agreed to help Senior Shu

, I knew not to linger. I called Li Mazi to join me

. Then, we 

drove to Linzhang County. 

Yin Xinyue and Ru Xue were 

S

outhern women. As soon as they heard that we wanted to go to the North, they were stirred up

 and asked 

to go with us. They wanted to play with snow,

 make 

snow

men, and throw 

snowballs. In the end, I had to coax them that it was almost the New Year and that they should stay home to prepare for

 it

.

We arrived at Hebei at night. As the snow had stacked the entire road, we decided to stay there for one night. 

When we 

reached

 the hotel, I called Chief Liu

 and told 

him the reason

 for our arrival. 

He didn’t sound happy when he heard that. He thought that 

Senior Shu

 couldn’t solve the case so he sent me

—

a young apprentice of his

—

to deceive him. 

However, as soon as I told him my achievements of helping the police 

solve 

mysterious cases in other 

parts of the country

, he changed his attitude. 

H

orrible murder cases like the 

human bone

 necklace 

and

 the ancient painting were all recorded in the police’s national archive, which Chief Liu could 

access

 if he wanted to.

After that, Chief Liu asked us to 

come over

 immediately. 

“I’m sorry, but we’re not familiar with the traffic here. We’ll depart in the morning.” 

He was persistent. 

“

Please, 

I’ll be waiting for you guys at the Bureau

.”

Li Mazi and I had to drive through the night to the Police Bureau of Linzhang County. 

As soon as we got out of the car, a policeman in a coat with big eyes and thick brows

 hurried to welcome us.

In an excited voice, he said,

 “

You’re finally 

here! If you didn’t come, I wouldn

’t

 know what to do!” 

“Who are you?” Li Mazi snorted

, pretending not to

 know the man. 

F

rom the police badge he was wearing, I knew he was Chief Liu. Li Mazi had asked that to vent out his dissatisfaction. I didn’t stop him.

Chie

f Liu was surprised 

after Li Mazi said that

. 

Then, he embarrassedly introduced himself. “I am Liu Zhangyi. I’m the incumbent Chief Police of the Linzhang 

County

 Police Bureau. On behalf of the people in Linzhang County, I would like to send my warm welcome to you guys!”

Then, he extended one hand. 

I knew it 

was

 enough. I smiled

 and gently shook 

his hand. “Otherworldly merchant Zhang Jiulin.” 

Chief Liu then 

led

 us to his office. 

When

 we walked past the threshold, 

there was

 a strong smell of burning coal. 

T

he corner of the room had an old coal 

stove that was

 burning hard. Except for that, there were only a few chairs with backrests and a 

pile 

of documents 

stacked on a desk. 

“We

 live 

in a po

or area, so w

e couldn’t afford 

a

 heating system. Although it’s makeshift, it’s good to be able to work.” 

Chief Liu invited us to have a seat

,

 then drew a file from his desk

 and handed 

it to me. At first glance, I recognized it 

contained

 the documents of the victims of the decapitation case. I read it carefully. 

The man that 

Senior Shu

 had told me about

was called Zhu Fengchun. His profile was placed 

on top

. 

Apart from

 his family’s case, there were three other similar cases. The second case was Wang Zhuangzhuang. At around twilight, he went to the Bronze Bird Terrace historic site to take some photos. He disappeared mysteriously. After a few days, he 

returned

 home. 

The same

 night, his head left his body. 

The third victim was called Li Tian

s

heng. On 

his

 way home from work, he unknowingly tripped himself. 

That

 night, he was decapitated. The fourth victim was Zhang Yang. He was also beheaded. However, since he was an old bachelor, no one knew what

happened 

to

 him when he was still alive. 

After reading through the documents, I asked Chief Liu with a stern look, “

Besides these files,

 have you found anything else?” 

The victims of all four cases had been beheaded. It wasn’t hard to tell that there was one murderer behind all of 

this

. 

In

 the latter three cases, the victims were dead

, so

 Zhu Fengchun 

was

 the most important clue!

Moreover, the other three were all killed, but he remained alive. 

This was very strange

.

However, from the documents the police had gathered, Zhu Fengchun had done nothing suspicious. They didn’t arrange any cops to watch him

, either.

I suspected there was more to it. 

“They were found dead 

in

 their 

beds. 

We’ve inspected the scenes thoroughly and carefully. We didn

’t find anything. Not a 

single clue. From the evidence at the sc

ene

, we have 

ruled out

 the possibility of homicide. Unless…” 

When Chief Liu said that, his voice shivered

 and 

his face paled. 

I opened my arms. “So, the three latter victims were dead

, and o

nly Zhu Fengchun’s alive. 

Haven’t

 you 

thought

 about sending some men to watch him?” 

After talking, I stared at Chief Liu. However, his eyes were calm. I didn’t see any change. 

It didn’t look like he was hiding anything

 from me. I didn’t understand it, so I asked him

directly. 

“We did watch him. However, after the homicide in his home, he hasn’t 

left

 his house

.

 He only goes out to buy food

, and h

e goes home right after that. We

’ve made random and sudden stops at

 his house. Everything 

seemed

 normal. Then, three more incidents happened aft

erward

. We don’t have enough men in the station

, so we

 had to summon them back…”

 Then

, Chief Liu suddenly

 realized something

. He dropped his jaw in shock

 and looked 

at me. “You 

mean,

 Zhu Fengchun is the murderer?” 

“He may not be the murderer, but he

’s

 surely 

connected to

 the murder. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have survived until now.” 

Afterward, I insisted that Chief Liu take us to Zhu Fengchun’s house. He agreed

 and nodded 

continuously. Then, he went out to take the police car.

I thought for a moment, then told him not to do that. “We should take our car!

The police car is eye-catching. When we enter the village, we could alarm the others.” 

According to my experience and intuition, I was certain that Zhu Fengchun had something to do with the three murder cases that happened after his family’s case. Although the police had checked his house a few times, they found nothing. It could be because the police car had exposed them. 

Chief Liu nodded

 and appraised 

me. “You are really smart!”

I 

gave a slight smile, then closed

 my eyes to rest for a while. 

There was a thick layer of snow on the road, which was rather dangerous. Chief Liu 

drove carefully. I thought it 

would be much faster if we left the car and walked there ourselves. Fortunately, Zhu Fengchun’s house was in 

a

 suburban area. We arrived there after half an hour. 

As he was an experienced cop, as soon as we reached the village, Chief Liu quietly turned off the car’s headlamps. Using his senses and 

intuition

, he drove the car forward. 

It was late at night

, and t

he entire village was 

shrouded

 in darkness. The sky was 

gray, and t

h

e moon and stars were covered by the clouds. 

When we reached the village, the dogs at the village entrance began to bark. However, the

howls from the s

trong wind

subsided the barks

. 

Chief Liu pointed at a house that had lights on. “That’s Zhu Fengchun’s house.” 

Then, he opened the door of the car. 

It was very cold outside, and the wind billowed 

our clothes. I 

pulled 

my jacket close to my body

 and got out of the

 car after him. 

When we got there, I 

noticed

 that it was a blue brick house. I couldn’t help

 but furrow

 my brows. 

Li Mazi asked

, 

“What’s wrong?” 

“

What

 era are we living in? They still use blue bricks to build houses

!

It’s no

 wonder he’s provoked something foul.”

I 

could

 almost 

conclude

 that this serial decapitation case wasn’t caused by 

a

 human. It 

was

 related to something foul. 

After the Chinese Economic Reform, the structures 

throughout China were

 built with red bricks. There weren’t many people 

that chose to build their homes with

 blue bricks

. 

Speaking of 

practical aspects, blue bricks were more durable 

as

 they resisted corrosion better than red brick. The ancient proverb that mentioned bricks from Qin and tiles from Han, referred to the blue bricks. So, 

why did

 people 

choose 

to use red bricks? 

The blue bricks had Yin 

properties

. That

 was

 why Chinese people often used blue bricks or stone slabs to build tombs or graves. The old houses built with blue bricks would possibly become a new, comfortable lair for the wandering ghosts to dwell and cultivate in. 

Zhu Fengchun’s house was made of blue bricks, 

which was

 a 

bad sign

. However, his house didn’t look old

, so w

hy did something so powerful

 start to l

ive there?