After breakfast, Xiao Quan took me to see Ye Weiguo as he had an appointment with him. 

Ye Weiguo appeared, wearing the standard uniform of a soldier. He 

donned

 dark green trousers and a loose military uniform vest. He 

looked as though he could 

mingle with people on the streets and n

obody w

ould recognize him. 

Judging f

rom his appearance, I knew that Ye Weiguo had struggled and thrived from 

nothing

 to what he was today. I

’d

 always admired and respected this sort of man. I took the initiative and asked him what had happened. 

He didn’t use the arrogant style of a

n

 official

to address me. 

He acted 

friendly

 and 

poured me a cup of tea

. Then, he 

told me what he remembered. 

I had listened to him for a while and found that he was telling me the same as what Xiao Quan had told me. The only thing I noticed was that he didn’t mention the relationship between him and the one who had died instead of him. 

However, from his frightened and angry expression, he and the deceased didn’t just have 

a

 superior-

subordinate 

relationship. 

The crime scene was also in the Haidian District. However, as Ye Weiguo was based in Guangzhou, he had come to Beijing this time to join a new weapon

s

 research team. That

 was

 why he didn’t bring his family with him. Every day, he stayed in the house that was allocated to him.

I took a glance 

at the

 scene. It wasn’t much different from the previous 

ones

. This unlucky man was also chopped in

 half

. Since he was slashed as soon as he passed through the door, his blood 

dyed

 the snow-white painted wall. 

After collecting the information from the crime scene, Xiao Quan asked his staff to remove the dead body. I guessed he did that to facilitate the next operation. 

No matter what, the spirit would come to trouble Ye Weiguo again. He needed to stay in this house to be 

the

 prey. If we left a dismembered body on the floor here, 

all the p

eople would feel 

sick

. 

However, 

I had a feeling that 

things

 wouldn’t be

 that

 simple. “

I think w

e should keep the body here. Will you be scared, 

S

ir?” 

“I came back alive from a counterattack against Vietnam. I

’ve 

rolled between dead bodies. This doesn’t 

scare me

.” Ye Weiguo sounded bold and strong.

At noon, when the sunlight was the strongest, I went to the victims’ houses to check if the coins 

had

 changed. Indeed, all the coins had turned dark. 

In other words, the spirit had returned to the murder scene. I was skeptical. It had already killed the 

people

 it wanted to kill

, so w

hy did it return to their houses?

I had thought about it for quite a long time and didn’t come up with any 

ideas

. The only thing I could confirm now was that the spirit had used the coins to keep track of me! 

It 

reminded me that

 I should always put up my guard.

Ye Weiguo had escaped death once. Would he be able to do it again? 

After p

ondering for a while, I decided to take action. I needed to know the

spirit’s identity first! 

To ensure Ye Weiguo’s safety, 

that afternoon, 

I went to a shop that sold funeral items to make a paper stand-in. The shop owner was quite skillful. From a distance, the paper stand-in looked similar to a real person. When I put Ye Weiguo’s clothes on it, even Ye Weiguo was surprised. 

I asked Ye Weiguo about his birthday and birth hour

. Then, I 

wrote 

the information

 on a talisman, which I later 

stuck

 on the paper stand-in’s forehead. To finish the preparations, I asked Ye Weiguo to cut his fingertip and drip some drops of blood on the talisman. 

It was the tactic called “

c

oncealing the sky to cross the sea.” The spirit targeted and killed people using 

a person’s 

Yang energy and their blood essence. 

After preparing the paper stand-in with Ye Weiguo’s birthday and blood, I used the Yang Concealing talisman to

 hide

 Ye Weiguo’s Yang energy. 

Once

 the spirit 

came

, it would deal with the paper stand-in as if 

it

 was Ye Weiguo.

When everything was done, it was twilight. Xiao Quan took us to dinner.

“Mr. Zhang, do you think something unexpected 

will

 happen to Ye Weiguo?” He asked me over the table. 

It was no wonder Xiao Quan looked panic-stricken when he heard that Ye Weiguo had a

n accident

. It turned out they 

had a good

 relationship. I took a sip from my tumbler of wine. “Don’t worry. At most, we 

will

 spend the night watching nothing. However, I’m sure people 

will

 be safe.” 

The Northern people drank generously. Moreover, the two of them were hospitable and friendly. I didn’t refrain myself anymore

 and drank 

with them. 

I

t wasn’t 

like

 I could drink with high-ranking leaders like them every day. I was sure that when I came home and told Li Mazi about this, he would blame me for not being generous enough to bring him along. 

Even though I liked to drink 

a bit

 in my free time, I rarely drank a lot. Under Xiao Quan and Ye Weiguo’s continuous 

encouragement

, I was soon drunk. Dreamily, I la

id

 on the table. Since we had something to do at night, they didn’t 

insist on me

drinking

 more. 

I had la

id

 on the table for a while. When I felt better and my head stopped spinning, I wanted to use the bathroom. When I lifted my head, Ye Weiguo and Xiao Quan weren’t there. I asked their assistants and 

learned

 that they had gone to the toilet. 

“Oh, they even go to pee in unison. Why 

don’t

 they share the same trousers…” I mumbled, then got up to go to the toilet. 

Since we had reserved the entire floor of this hotel, there was no shadow 

in

 the corridor.

As soon as I reached the toilet room, I couldn’t wait anymore. While walking into the restroom, I unbuckled myself. All of a sudden, I heard Xiao Quan shout, “Old Ye, please listen to me once, can’t you?” 

“Xiao Quan, we are the people’s soldiers. 

As

 humans, we can’t forget our roots!” Ye Weiguo’s angry voice followed. 

My head boomed at this moment. I knew they had 

a

 secret. I sil

ently 

tiptoed to a toilet stall to eavesdrop.                                                                         

Xiao Quan suddenly smiled

 and faced 

Ye Weiguo’s bold attitude. His tone changed into a persuasive one. “Old Ye, my friend, it’s not something you should care about. You should back off. Why do you want to step into this dirty puddle?” 

“Don’t talk nonsense. I’m a loyal Chinese. As long as I am not dead, I am not going to let them do that!” Ye Weiguo sounded strangely enraged. However, the

 argument ended here

. I heard the door 

slam

 and Ye Weiguo 

grunt

before

 leaving. 

At this moment

, only Xiao Quan was in the restroom. I inched toward the door of my stall to peep through the slit. The man was clenching his fists

. H

is red eyes 

gazed

 at the direction Ye Weiguo 

went

. He spat maliciously, “Haha

,

 I’m sorry, then!”

Then, he left. It took me a lot of time to pull myself together and react to the situation. 

Xiao Quan had probably done something dirty that Ye Weiguo had accidentally discovered. Being a righteous and straightforward soldier, Ye Weiguo wanted to report him. Xiao Quan knew he couldn’t persuade him, so he wanted to murder him. 

This was the playground of the officials. There was no smoke from the muzzle, but it was more ruthless than any battlefield. Of course, I didn’t want to put my nose in their business. 

But

 now, I was suspicious that Xiao Quan was somehow related to these serial murder cases. 

It was logical that Xiao Quan 

went

 to talk to Ye Weiguo after the 

man

 had undergone a horrible incident. Still, 

a

lthough I had just listened to the latter half of their conversation, I felt it sounded like an ultimatum! 

While thinking, I heard Xiao Quan 

call

 me from the corridor. I knew I must

n’t 

let them know that I had eavesdropped on them. Otherwise, 

perhaps I wouldn’t even know how I had died. 

As the footsteps drew nearer, I took the opportunity 

to crawl

 out the window

. I 

followed the 

drainpipe

 to reach the room upstairs at my max

imum 

speed. 

“Mr. Zhang, where have you been?” 

When I returned to the 

dining

 room, I saw Ye Weiguo drinking alone. He looked a little down. He poured me another tumbler when he saw me. 

I pretended to know nothing

 and drank 

with him. A moment later, Xiao Quan rushed 

into the

 room

. Hi

s face

 looked

 worried. When he saw me, he heaved a gentle sigh of relief. “Mr. Zhang, where did you go?” 

“I went downstairs for some fresh air. I felt dizzy…” I pretended to be drunk

. M

y voice was dr

owsy. 

However, I had discreetly started to put up a guard against Xiao Quan. I had a feeling that 

there was some

 conspiracy! 

After drinking, we stayed in the hotel to rest. At around twilight, we returned to Ye Weiguo’s house. The paper stand-in was tucked in bed during the day. Now, we needed to check it 

one last

 time. We didn’t want any 

mistakes

. 

After c

onfirming that everything was all right, I left the house and waited in the car. I gave Ye Weiguo a Yang Concealing Talisman. He didn’t trust the talisman, so he put it 

in

 his pocket. Anyway, the talisman still worked even if he kept it in his pocket. I didn’t comment on anything. 

As the night grew

 deeper

, the temperature dropped. I 

rolled

 up the window. Inadvertently, I took a glimpse of Xiao Quan grunting through the rearview mirror. He looked as though he was contemplating something. 

The spirit would show up 

at

 any minute. Looking at Xiao Quan’s anxious countenance, 

it was easy to guess why he was worried

. I decided to pretend 

to be 

dozing off. I leaned on the wheel

 and slept 

while calculating things. 

If Xiao Quan did something in the next moment, should I bust him? If I let him do what he wanted, perhaps Ye Weiguo

’s life

 would be over tonight. But if I interfered, I would offend Xiao Quan… 

And, if I let him run away, 

it would be too late to regret it

. 

After all, h

e 

had

 my criminal profile!

At this

 moment, I felt so anxious, more than I had ever felt before. 

Once

 Xiao Quan made a move, I would have no room to advance or retreat!