Chapter 10

"Use a stone," I said calmly from the side.

The burly man, upon hearing my words, suddenly came to his senses and picked up a stone nearby, striking Zhang Kaifu's head with a thud. Zhang Kaifu's head split open, and blood splattered all over his face.

The unconscious Zhang Kaifu finally quieted down. The woman knelt on the ground, coughing continuously, with tears and snot streaming down her face.

"Xian! Are you okay?!" The burly man patted the woman's back, checking her injuries.

"I'm fine. I clearly drove away the evil spirit from his body," the woman shook her head, wiping her face with a tissue, still disbelieving that she had failed.

"Brother Tian, if it weren't for your reminder, she would have died." Yu Xiaoxue was a bit angry. "It was clearly me who saved her, but instead of thanking me first, she immediately fixed her makeup."

I didn't say anything, just watched quietly, finding it somewhat amusing. "Yu Xiaoxue, Yu Xiaoxue, you've never worn makeup in the village. How could you understand how much urban beauties care about their appearance? They would rather die than look bad! They even inject toxins to slim their faces, something you've never seen. Such news is reported every day, so you can't expect a beauty to apologize to you with snot and tears on her face."

Yu Xiaoxue didn't know what I was thinking, but seeing me smile at her, she blushed a little.

The woman, after wiping away her snot and tears and hearing Yu Xiaoxue's sarcastic remarks, said awkwardly, "Thanks to this friend's reminder, I, Zhao Xian, would have been in trouble. You saved my life, and I will definitely repay you."

After saying this, she glanced at Yu Xiaoxue. Although her expression didn't change, Yu Xiaoxue, despite her lack of worldly experience, knew it was a direct challenge and immediately glared at Zhao Xian.

"Hehe, no need to thank me first. I was just being meddlesome. Also, you should have the police officer handcuff the man on the ground first. Otherwise, you might not have a chance to thank anyone later." I had a poor impression of these two siblings and wasn't very polite in my words.

Zhao Xian looked at the unconscious Zhang Kaifu with lingering fear and then at Captain He. "Captain He, it's been three months since last time, right? I hope you're well. You can see the situation now. What do you think—"

"Xiao Zhao, no need for formalities with me, He Dade. I'll handcuff Xiao Zhang right away." Captain He then handcuffed Zhang Kaifu's hands.

"Captain He, what did this friend do? Why did you handcuff him?" Zhao Xian asked, looking at me.

"Oh, you mean him. You must have seen the corpse outside the village, right? When I found him, he was digging a hole to bury the body. I handcuffed him and his companion as suspects and planned to take them to the station for questioning. When I caught him, he said there was a disease in the village, and everyone had died. Neither I nor Xiao Zhang believed him. There was no signal, so we couldn't call for backup. We decided to take them into the village to check the situation, but then we ran into trouble. That's when you two arrived."

"That's how it is. Since he's a suspect, Zhao Xian didn't have much to say.

After Captain He finished speaking, he patted the burly man's shoulder. "Zhao He, you've really grown! After your military service, you're even better than Uncle He!"

"Captain He, you're too kind. I'm just helping my sister. How can I compare to you?" Zhao He scratched his head, smiling shyly but feeling very happy inside.

"The bridge is now very eerie, with spirits appearing during the day."

I looked at the spirits below the bridge, who had finished eating the incense and were about to attack again. "I don't want to die. I advise you to leave quickly. This isn't a place for casual conversation."

The three of them looked at each other, and after what had just happened, they seemed to believe me to some extent.

Captain He wanted to turn back, but Zhao He and Zhao Xian were heading into the village. Captain He thought for a moment and decided that the Zhao siblings were knowledgeable in these matters. Although they had been scared by Zhang Kaifu's madness, it didn't mean they were powerless. As a detective for over ten years, he knew some things couldn't be solved with just a gun.

He immediately took me and Yu Xiaoxue back to the village, carrying Zhang Kaifu on his shoulder.

"Captain He, are you going to investigate whether everyone in the village is dead?" Zhao He asked.

"Yes." Captain He answered, already sweating from carrying an adult.

"We've already crossed the bridge. It's daytime. You can put him down and investigate first. We'll go to the mountain to see if Zhou Xianniang is there. My father needs to talk to her." Zhao He helped Captain He put Zhang Kaifu down, indirectly reminding Captain He that it was daytime and they had important matters to attend to.

"Really? You didn't know? Zhou Xianniang has passed away. There's a white banner on the mountain. I was just about to go up and offer some incense." Captain He looked surprised. He wasn't stupid; he had almost seen a ghost in broad daylight. He decided it was safer to stick with the Zhao siblings.

I could tell that Zhao Xian and Zhao He hadn't developed the ability to see ghosts clearly, only sensing a vague aura. Captain He, being just a detective, needed the Zhao siblings here.

"What?! You mean Zhou Xianniang is dead?!" Zhao Xian asked directly, looking at her grandmother's house on the mountain, her eyes filled with concern. She then started to calculate something, her face turning pale as she looked at me.

It seemed Zhao Xian had some skills and could figure things out.

I pretended not to notice her calculations and said, "Since you know my grandmother, why don't you offer some incense before leaving?"

"You're Zhou Xianniang's grandson?" Captain He looked at me in surprise, then thought of some terrifying possibilities.

Zhao Xian and Zhao He were also surprised, as if they had connected the dots to the events on the bridge.

"What? Do you think anyone can claim to be Brother Tian?" Yu Xiaoxue said coldly.

All three were surprised. Captain He hadn't expected to handcuff Zhou Xianniang's grandson, but he had seen me digging a hole to bury a body, which wasn't a normal death. He couldn't just let me go.

"Since Zhou Xianniang is dead, let's offer some incense and leave. Also, Captain He, I think you should put your investigation on hold." Zhao Xian reminded him.

"Yes, Xiao Zhao is right. However, as a police officer, we have procedures to follow. I can't just let you go. How about this: when we get back to the station, I'll handle it fairly. If it's determined that this young man didn't kill anyone, he will be released." Captain He wasn't a naive rookie and understood that this was a serious matter, but he couldn't ignore the rules.

I smiled coldly and didn't say anything.

"Don't burn incense; it will attract evil spirits. Although my grandmother is dead, her body isn't in the coffin. Let us go. Brother Tian and I didn't kill Dan Ge; a ghost baby did. We were planning to bury Dan Ge and leave Xiaoyi Village, but you came in and are now putting yourselves in danger." Yu Xiaoxue, seeing that they didn't plan to let us go, said resentfully.

"What did you say?!" Zhao Xian looked at Yu Xiaoxue with alarm.

Captain He pinched his chin, staring at Yu Xiaoxue. He had interrogated countless people and could usually tell if someone was lying. Yu Xiaoxue's expression convinced him that she wasn't lying. Even if she was wrong, she had seen something real, not just a figment of her imagination.

"The dead person is my brother, Zhang Yuanyi, also known as Dan Ge. He died an unnatural death. Do you understand now?" I added, looking at Zhao Xian, not Captain He, clearly indicating that this wasn't a place to linger.

"Unnatural death? What do you mean?" Zhao He asked urgently.

"It's not that I look down on you, but I think the things here are beyond your capabilities. Once night falls, no one can leave." I continued to look at Zhao Xian, as she was the only one with any skills. If we wanted to leave Xiaoyi Village, we would need her. Zhao He and Captain He were just helpers and would be a burden in a ghostly situation.

"Hmph, scaremongering." Zhao He, seeing that I looked down on him, snorted.

Without a word, Zhao Xian took out some talismans and incense from a box, arranged the talismans in a pattern, lit the incense, and chanted silently while ringing a bell. She then took out a feng shui compass and started to calculate.

Zhao He didn't dare to speak, and Captain He held his breath.

In just a moment, the incense burned irregularly, as if bitten by a dog, and the compass needle spun wildly. Zhao Xian, who had never seen such a strange phenomenon, was drenched in cold sweat.

"We can't stay here! We must leave immediately, not even for a minute!" Zhao Xian said, lighting some talismans and pouring water from a flask to share with us. "Brother, Captain He, and the two of you, drink the talisman water."

Zhao He drank it without hesitation, and Captain He, despite being a detective, knew this wasn't the time for atheism and drank it immediately.

"Brother Tian, I don't want to drink it. It's so disgusting. Can Xiaoxue not drink it?" Yu Xiaoxue looked at the talisman water Zhao Xian was about to feed her and turned her head away.

"Then don't drink it." I sighed inwardly. Indeed, when beautiful women meet, if they aren't friends, they become enemies.

Yu Xiaoxue had drunk her grandmother's spirit-connecting talisman, which was more powerful than the ghost-avoiding talisman. Drinking it or not didn't matter much. Anyone could draw a ghost-avoiding talisman.

Zhao He, who had been about to feed me, immediately looked disappointed and threw the cup away, probably cursing me a hundred times in his heart.