Chapter 22: Could Senior’s Ancestors Be Related to Taotie?
Chapter 22: Could Senior’s Ancestors Be Related to Taotie?
If she did not trust Zhu Chun’an, Chai Sitian would never have believed it.
At such a young age, possessing that level of strength and casually subduing Lan Ying, not even the previous generation of Celestial Masters, or the generation before that, could have done it.
Chai Sitian would rather believe that the cigarette Pei Ye used was some spiritual artifact specifically capable of suppressing evil entities!
That was what she thought inwardly, but she did not voice her complaints. Instead, she revised Zhu Chun’an’s application and converted part of the reward into cash and a mobile phone.
Relationships needed to be maintained.
Only through give-and-take could relationships become closer.
By maintaining a good relationship, Zhu Chun’an’s life would gain an extra layer of protection.
Before leaving, Zhu Chun’an asked Chai Sitian,
“Lan Ying has been handed over to the underworld, but how will the other cases involved be handled in the end?”
“Naturally, they’ll be handled according to the law. This case had an extremely bad impact, so it won’t be treated lightly.”
That hair salon was not only involved in prostitution but also served as a transportation channel and transit point for a trafficking organization.
When Lan Ying was interrogated, she confessed everything without resistance, readily admitting that she had devoured nine trafficking victims.
Four women, three boys, and two girls.
When she consumed the victims, Lan Ying devoured their souls completely, leaving not the slightest trace behind. No wonder the department’s attention had been drawn by the salon owner’s traffic accident, yet no traces of those victims had been discovered. The relevant authorities planned to use this lead to uproot the trafficking organization. Those rich second-generation scions who had harmed Lan Ying would also be arrested and prosecuted according to the law. However, because this case involved ghosts from the underworld, the truth could not be disclosed to the public and would have to be handled privately. No matter what, those second-generation scions could not be let off lightly!
Hearing this, Zhu Chun’an felt relieved.
“You normally wouldn’t care about things like this.”
Zhu Chun’an said, “That Senior Pei Ye seems to care quite a lot.”
The Celestial Masters Alliance cooperated with the state, and every year a large sum of funding was allocated to the Special Public Security Investigation and Management Department specifically to reward Celestial Masters who had rendered meritorious service.
Therefore, as soon as Chai Sitian submitted the application report, it was approved after a simple procedural review.
The efficiency was astonishingly high.
“Senior Pei Ye, the bonus subsidy has already been approved. Where shall we meet?”
He sent Pei Ye a message and rode his little scooter away from the T City branch of the Special Investigation Department.
When the message arrived, Pei Ye was so poor that she could not even afford food delivery.
Looking at the message, her favorability toward Zhu Chun’an increased by more than ten points.
“The Shaxian snack shop near the school.”
Zhu Chun’an: “???”
Even experts of this era could not resist the charm of Shaxian snacks?
Very soon, he learned just how naïve that thought was.
Even when eating at a Shaxian snack shop, this senior possessed the appetite to eat him into bankruptcy.
“Senior... forgive my boldness, but may I ask whether your ancestors are related to Taotie?”
One person alone contributed nearly a thousand yuan in revenue to that Shaxian restaurant.
The last time Zhu Chun’an had seen such an enormous appetite, it seemed to have belonged to a starving ghost that could never be full.
A Shaxian snack shop.
Nearly a thousand yuan.
In a single meal.
It felt as though someone was joking with him!
Pei Ye picked her teeth with a toothpick and casually replied, “No relation.”
Did she really eat that much?
Not really.
Before her body had developed problems, her energy requirements had been even greater than this.
After all, this body was not her original one. Its various attributes lagged far behind. If it were the former her, Zhu Chun’an really would have gone bankrupt.
“You said the bonus has been approved? How much?”
Zhu Chun’an took out a cheque.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand? That’s a pretty generous bonus. Thanks, you’ve solved an urgent problem for me. By the way, have the taxes already been paid?”
Zhu Chun’an silently glanced at the mountain of bowls and chopsticks piled on the table.
It truly had solved an urgent problem.
Given Senior’s appetite, eating nearly a thousand yuan worth of Shaxian snacks in one meal, two hundred and fifty thousand yuan would only be enough to feed her for a little over three months.
Terrifying!
“Don’t worry, it’s tax-exempt.”
Pei Ye also did not let Zhu Chun’an pay for the meal.
Although he had said it was his treat, making a student spend nearly a thousand yuan of living expenses on one meal seemed a bit too shameless.
Pei Ye asked about the details of the Lan Ying case. Zhu Chun’an told her everything he was allowed to disclose, while withholding details that could not be revealed.
Even if he had not said anything, Pei Ye had already learned most of it from the boy ghost in the morgue, so she did not press further.
Before they parted ways, Zhu Chun’an suddenly made an overstepping request.
“Senior Pei Ye, I’ve heard from colleagues in the department that the mortal world has not been very peaceful lately. If this junior encounters a difficult problem, may I ask for your assistance?”
Pei Ye said, “Of course. As long as the bonus money is in place.”
She was completely alone now. One could say she was fed as long as she herself was fed, but the problem was that she ate far too much. Supporting herself alone was already difficult.
If there was an easy way to earn money, why would she refuse?
“Oh, right. I remember Lan Ying called you a Taoist priest, didn’t she?”
Zhu Chun’an nodded.
“Then could you help me burn a few pairs of glasses for a friend?”
It was a trivial matter, and Zhu Chun’an naturally agreed without hesitation.
“Don’t worry, Senior. Leave it to me.”
“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way~~~”
A ringtone sounded, and Zhu Chun’an pulled out his phone and answered the call.
This ringtone had been specially assigned to his master, Realman Qingxuan. It suited the man’s childlike heart quite well.
“Master, what’s the matter?”
“Chun’er, where are you right now?”
Zhu Chun’an was riding his little scooter toward the parking lot, holding the phone between his shoulder and head.
“The school parking lot.”
Realman Qingxuan said, “Your senior sister sent me the information on that Pei Ye...”
“Master, did you calculate something?”
Realman Qingxuan’s voice was grave.
“Whether I calculate her birth chart or examine her physiognomy, she is a dead person.”
A dead person?
Zhu Chun’an was so shocked that he twisted the brake handle all the way. The little scooter let out a screech and came to a stop.
“Dead?”
Realman Qingxuan said, “The time of death was no more than two days ago. I even specifically consulted the underworld messengers.”
Xiao Hong was merely an orphan from a remote mountain village. Investigating her information required almost no effort.
No matter how one looked at it, she did not possess the ability to easily subdue Lan Ying, much less that strange aura of fierce baleful energy surrounding her.
“Master, did you discover the cause of death?”
Realman Qingxuan said, “I did. I’ll send it to you on WeChat.”
Zhu Chun’an switched to the WeChat page and briefly read through the series of messages.
Xiao Hong’s hospitalization records were easy to investigate.
The surveillance footage showing her jumping from the second floor had also been retrieved from cameras near that club. The footage even included Young Master Du ordering people to dump Xiao Hong’s body onto a section of street outside the cameras’ view. When Xiao Hong next appeared, it was when a kind-hearted person drove her to the hospital for treatment and paid the medical expenses in advance. Up to that point, Xiao Hong was still alive.
“These details have also been confirmed by Xiao Hong’s own soul. She died from delayed intracranial hemorrhaging.”
Her soul had only just been taken away by the underworld messengers, and before her corpse had even cooled, someone else had already occupied it.
“Then doesn’t that mean the current Xiao Hong is actually Pei Ye returning to life by possessing a corpse? Then who exactly is Pei Ye?”
Realman Qingxuan said, “At first I suspected she was one of the old ghosts that escaped from the eighteenth level of hell over twenty years ago, but after comparing her against the list of fugitives still at large, that possibility was ruled out.”
The baleful energy around her was indeed heavy, but she also carried an awe-inspiring righteous aura.
According to Realman Qingxuan’s speculation, before Pei Ye returned to life by occupying Xiao Hong’s body, she had been a soldier. Most likely she had held a fairly high position in the military, the kind of person with numerous military achievements to her name.