Chapter 58

This morning, Zhao Zhu drove to an old district, where old apartment buildings were densely packed, and narrow alleys crisscrossed between them. This was another face of the city.

Zhao Zhu sat in his car, holding a cup of soy milk and a steamed bun, eating while observing the situation in the alley in front of him. In half an hour, four or five luxury cars had driven here, and the people inside had gotten out to look around before leaving dejectedly. Zhao Zhu knew that these rich people had come to burn incense.

Indeed, there was a small temple inside the alley, so small that it was about the size of an ordinary house. There were no statues inside, only a few scrolls, and no young monks, just an old monk. The old monk was blind in one eye and lame in one leg, and he liked to wear a tattered robe,敲着一个破旧的木鱼念经。

All of this, Zhao Zhu's mother had told him before, as part of a circle's folklore. In reality, there was no temple in the alley; there was only a garbage pile, and the only things around it were flies.

However, some people who really went in found the temple and burned incense under the guidance of the lame and blind monk. Among them was Zhao Zhu's mother, but the incense burning and praying here were not very effective.

Zhao Zhu's mother had mentioned that a few people who, like her, had the good fortune to find this temple and burn incense there were not doing well now. Some in politics had been investigated, and some in business had gone bankrupt. However, people in this circle still came to burn incense one after another, and most of them could not find the place because it appeared in the alley at an unknown time.

Clearly, this temple was not very effective, but its elusive state and form attracted a large number of upper-class people.

After finishing his breakfast, Zhao Zhu took a box from the car. Inside was an array stone. Chen Hong had been dismembered by Zhao Zhu and sent back to Liaoning, but the array stone remained with Zhao Zhu.

Indeed, Zhao Zhu could not set up a powerful array because he lacked the foundation, but following the diagram given by Zhu Jianping, he could easily set up a simple directional array. After all, Zhao Zhu's mental strength had been initially enhanced, giving him abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.

Seeing that there were fewer people around, Zhao Zhu got out of the car with the box, stood at the entrance of the alley, and began to place the stones one by one. He placed them very slowly and carefully, and anyone who saw him might think he was engrossed in a game of Go, replaying a match. It took him about fifteen minutes to place the stones, and then he stood in the center of the stones, feeling slightly dizzy. After overcoming this feeling, he looked into the alley and indeed saw the door of a temple. Zhao Zhu walked straight to the wooden door draped with a yellow curtain and gently knocked on it.

For a long time, no one answered. Zhao Zhu peeled a piece of gum, put it in his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and then kicked the door open. The door was not locked because it did not need to be; no one could enter if the owner did not wish it.

Inside the house, Zhao Zhu saw three incense sticks rising in a fragrant mist. In the courtyard, there were a dozen hand-painted scrolls, depicting the Buddha, Guanyin, and other arhats. At the back of the courtyard was a small room.

As Zhao Zhu continued to walk in, a lame and blind old monk wearing a tattered robe came out from inside. Although the old monk was indeed disabled, his every move exuded an unusual aura of a sage, which paradoxically made his physical disabilities seem like a mark of divine envy. These days, if you didn't have some kind of physical imperfection, you wouldn't dare call yourself a sage.

"Amitabha, layman, meeting is a form of destiny. You can see our temple and meet me, which proves that we have a connection."

The old monk spoke with a powerful and resonant voice, giving a sense of trust.

However, Zhao Zhu immediately pulled out a gun and pointed it at the old monk's forehead, sneering, "Screw your destiny. You set up a cheap illusion here and regularly let some rich people in to offer incense money. Don't think I don't know about your schemes."

"Layman, what do you mean by that?"

"What do I mean? The fact that I walked in today without you opening the array is the best proof."

"Ah..." The old monk sighed, "I didn't expect to meet a fellow practitioner."

"I don't want to be associated with you. I have no connection with you. My purpose is simple. You want money, right? I'll give you money, and you sell me everything you have."

"Layman, no, no, please don't do that," the old monk said with a mournful face. "This is how I make a living."

"I'll give you money."

"But... this..."

"Alright, I won't force you," Zhao Zhu's tone softened. "But can you sell me one or two things?"

"That's fine, that's fine," the old monk sighed in relief.

However, at that moment, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet hole appeared between the old monk's eyebrows. He fell backward, his face still showing a look of disbelief.

Zhao Zhu put away the gun and walked directly into the room. The room was simply furnished with a straw mat and a clay pot. However, there was a elmwood chest in the corner that stood out. Zhao Zhu walked over, opened the chest, and found a few scrolls, a bell, and a compass inside. The compass was still moving, and when Zhao Zhu picked it up, it felt as heavy as a lead weight.

Zhao Zhu took out his phone and called Zhu Jianping, but the call went unanswered. He then called Xiong Zhiqi, who answered quickly:

"Hello, Brother Zhao, what's up? Did you find the temple?"

"Yes, the array diagram Zhu Jianping gave me was quite useful."

"Oh, did you see the monk?"

"I took care of him."

"Damn, Brother Zhao, you've been pretty tough lately. You're not hesitating to kill in the real world, and you're even killing like a pro."

"Cut the crap. Where's Zhu Jianping?"

"He's at school."

"At school?"

"Yes, he's still in high school. He went back to school today, probably thinking about some girl or his female teacher, or maybe he wants to play some school drama A~V."

"Never mind, come here if he's not there. Come to the address I told you this morning."

"Ah, Brother Zhao, why do you need me? You can just take whatever you like. There won't be anything extraordinary in a place like that, just some ancient artifacts. In the group, they're worth only a few dozen to a hundred low-level consumables. These days, there are very few real and valuable things left outside."

"The problem is, I don't know what's valuable and what's junk. Come over quickly, I'm waiting for you."

"Okay... I'll be right there."

Zhao Zhu hung up the phone and walked around the room. Suddenly, he felt thirsty and looked at the water jar in the room. There was only some tea dregs left. Licking his lips, Zhao Zhu decided to go outside to find water, or he could just get some from his car. He walked out of the room and was about to leave the courtyard when he suddenly froze. He turned around and looked back at the courtyard, sensing something was off...

What was off?

Zhao Zhu furrowed his brow in thought, and then his eyes widened as he realized what was wrong!

Where was the body?

Where was the body?

Where did the old monk's body go?

Zhao Zhu ran back to the center of the courtyard. He clearly remembered shooting the old monk and leaving the body there, without touching it or moving it.

"What's going on... Where did it go?"

At that moment, Zhao Zhu's gaze fell on a painting hanging in the courtyard. Among the many paintings, this one showed a young man in light blue jeans and a black shirt standing in a courtyard, looking around in confusion. Outside the courtyard, it was pitch black, but it seemed as if many hidden eyes were watching, exuding a deep sense of eeriness.

The person in the painting was clearly Zhao Zhu himself!