CH 26

Back at the office, the sign of [Lu Ying Bar] was still shining upstairs.

Although Jing Xian was a registered employee of the firm, this was the first time he had come here.

Lu Yingjiu opened the door and walked in. The air in the room was a little dull, and a dozen bottles of wine stood quietly on the wine rack. In a fake bar like this, they probably wouldn’t serve a real purpose in their lifetime.

Lu Yingjiu pushed open the window, the wind rushed in and lifted his white shirt. 

In the back room, there were many exorcism tools. He was planning on staying here tonight, drew talisman papers, and prepared all kinds of ghost exorcism techniques, so that there’s no need to do it afterwards.

When he was preparing the talisman paper, Jing Xian wandered around the house and found the small kitchen.

Jing Xian said, “Let me cook tonight.”

Lu Yingjiu responded and concentrated on drawing the talisman paper.

Drawing talisman paper was actually a very labor-intensive task.

He drew quickly and well, but he was very picky about the details. He paid attention to the radian of each curve, and the angle of the smallest corner must just be right: this was why his talisman paper was always the most effective.

Lu Yingjiu changed different pens, from simple ballpoint pens, fountain pens, to wolf hair brushes, to draw complex lines on different papers.

Some lines were simple and smooth, flowing like clouds and water.

Some lines have sharp turns, like a knife’s edge.

There were also some drawings that vaguely resemble birds and beasts, or the faces of priests.

The little black beast appeared by itself, lying on the table to watch his movements.

Lu Yingjiu picked out a few packets of biscuits and green beans from the snacks that Jing Xian gave him, and opened it for it to eat. The black fur dumpling never refuses anybody, and with a strong appetite, he swallowed them all like a trash can.

While eating, it slowly fell asleep, with its head tilted and its belly spread out on the table.

It was unknown how long it took, but when Lu Yingjiu broke free from this tedious process, he smelled the aroma of food.

There was a light knock on the door, then Jing Xian said, “It’s time to eat.”

Lu Yingjiu got up and went out, and saw two dishes and one soup on the table, which happened to be enough for two people.

Jing Xian’s cooking skills were really good, the seafood porridge brought to Lu Yingjiu last time was enough to savor for a long time. Now on the table, a dish was exceptionally green and tender, the aroma of braised pork belly filled the whole room, he stir-fried it well, and the fat and thin meat appeared delicious. Pork bone lotus root soup was placed in the middle of the table, with very little oil and exuding delicate fragrance.

Lu Yingjiu was a little surprised. “Where did you buy the vegetables?”

There were no places selling vegetables around here.

He thought Jing Xian would use the eggs in the refrigerator at most to make fried rice with eggs.

“I ran out and passed by one.” Jing Xian coughed.

He actually sent a few brats out to buy groceries. He originally wanted to buy some expensive ones, but when he thought about it, the explanation of expensive ingredients was really unclear, so he decided to let it go. Also, it’s good to eat light at night, which was in line with Lu Yingjiu’s appetite.

The two with full rice, sat facing each other.

Lu Yingjiu thought while eating: Jing Xian has such cooking skills, he can become popular when he goes out to open a restaurant, it’s really a waste of talent to only cook for him alone.

He picked up some green vegetables with his chopsticks, and heard Jing Xian ask, “I just took a look, Yunxiao Amusement Park has been severely restricted recently, and reservations must be made more than half a month in advance.”

Lu Yingjiu smiled, “Are you still thinking about this? You are so courageous. Haunted houses and roller coasters are no fun. I thought you would be more interested in shooting ranges.”

“Just to experience the atmosphere.” Jing Xian said, “I’ve never been there.”

He really has never been there.

The playground didn’t quite match his aura, but he knew it was a great place for a date.

Roller coasters, pirate ships, haunted houses, etc. It doesn’t matter at all, the point is dating!

That’s a date!

Lu Yingjiu said “Oh”, and then, “As I said before, I don’t know when this matter will end. But you can make an appointment first,” he smiled, “Just treat it as the first team building of our firm.”

Thus Jing Xian made an appointment for tickets half a month later, and made an appointment in advance for this team building with only two people.

Lu Yingjiu finished his meal, filled a bowl of soup, and accidentally caught a glimpse of Jing Xian’s mobile phone screen: There were more than a dozen pages open in the browser, and he couldn’t see the content clearly. In a blink of an eye, there were names that were all related to “amusement park”, which he should have searched for a long time.

For some reason, a soft spot in Lu Yingjiu’s heart was poked.

It seemed that Jing Xian really wanted to go.

During Lu Yingjiu’s childhood, he also wanted to try various things, but unfortunately there was no one to accompany him.  Amusement parks were indeed on his wish list, but until the end, it was not put into action.

Although he didn’t know about Jing Xian’s past.

But looking at it like this, Jing Xian……..went to such lengths just to find someone to go with, right?

Thinking of this, Lu Yingjiu couldn’t help softening his expression while drinking the bowl of hot soup.

He wanted to say a few more words, then glanced at Jing Xian, but suddenly stopped.

The latest two interfaces of the browser read……………….Dating Holy Land??

Lu Yingjiu froze for half a second.

Before he could figure out what was going on, Jing Xian had already put away his phone, seeing that his expression was wrong, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“……Nothing.” Lu Yingjiu murmured, “Probably hallucinating.”

He took a sip of soup to suppress his shock.

In the next few days, Lu Yingjiu had nothing to do, he simply waited for the Chen family to check the mask, while Chen Xiaoling continued to inform him.

Things like cooking and cleaning at home were all taken care of by Jing Xian.

Lu Yingjiu used to have an irregular diet and lacked interest in food but he couldn’t bear the delicious dishes cooked by Jing Xian. In the past few days, he had been dragged to eat by Jing Xian, and unexpectedly he started eating three meals on time.

After waiting like this for a few days, on the fourth night, Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian nestled on the sofa and watched a movie together.

In order to understand the common sense of the world, Jing Xian had watched many movies and was very interested in this kind of art.

In the past four days, they watched several more movies, ranging from action movies to suspense movies, from romance movies to science fiction movies, good movies and bad movies were divided in half.

It was raining outside today, and the night was so thick that it felt like it’s the end of the world. The darkness of the rainy night was overwhelming, the sky and the earth were dark, and even the lights in the distance could not be seen clearly, all of them were submerged in the rain. Occasionally, a car drove by in a hurry, and disappeared in less than two seconds. The whole process was so short that it seemed to be preyed upon by some kind of monster and disappeared forever in this night.

The wind was whimpering, the atmosphere was suitable for horror, thus Jing Xian turned off all the lights and found a ghost movie to watch.

—It turned out that this was a very wrong choice.

The two of them were, quite literally, the worst ghost movie audiences in the world.

At the beginning of the film, the protagonist’s little red car started from the small town and drove towards a haunted deep mountain.

In the fifth minute, something seemed to flash past between the shadows of the trees, with utter dreary cries and screams, people’s faces could be faintly seen, and the thriller value was stretched fully.

Lu Yingjiu yawned and started to eat the potato chips that Jing Xian gave him.

In the seventh minute, a few ghost hands hit the rear glass of the car with a “bang!”,and the protagonist shook his hand and started screaming. The camera gave several close-ups of the ghosts, highlighting their ferocious faces and big bloody mouths.

Jing Xian began to frown, “This kind of ghost looks like an earth-bound spirit, how could it run with the car?” 

Lu Yingjiu yawned again.

In the eleventh minute, a few more ghosts wandered among the trees.

Jing Xian frowned again, “The variety is all wrong.”

Lu Yingjiu was about to fall asleep, his head nodding.

In the seventeenth minute, a corpse fell from the sky and hit the front of the protagonist’s car. The protagonist was frightened crazily, and took out a bunch of protective talismans while screaming. 

Jing Xian: “……..”

He was too lazy to complain.

This time Lu Yingjiu suddenly woke up from his sleep and began to frown, “What’s going on, all the talisman papers are drawn wrong.”

The next thing was the chase, the plasma bag was used like it costs nothing, the camera swayed, the screams continued, and the screen was full of grimaces and scarlet.

Lu Yingjiu was completely asleep. He crossed his legs on the sofa, closed his eyes in an extremely relaxed manner, leaned back, while the protagonist screamed heart-piercingly, all were white noise.

Jing Xian also felt bored to death, in his opinion, all the ghosts here were just talking nonsense, it’s impossible.

It’s like a person looking at the animal world and discovering Teacher Zhao Zhongxiang saying seriously “Ah, this is our emperor penguin. Emperor penguins are distributed in the African savannah. They live alone and like hot weather. Their main prey is the Tibetan antelope….” Really rubbish.

He looked sleepy as well.

Ghosts don’t need sleep, but they could fall asleep if they’re really bored.

Jing Xian turned his head and saw the light of the TV falling on Lu Yingjiu’s face. His skin was fair, the shadow on his nose bridge obscured a bit of brightness, and the curvature of his eyelashes was heart-stirring.

The sound of rain outside was intermittent, the crystal rainwater flowed down the glass, the wind bent the branches, and thousands of leaves danced together.

At this moment, it seemed that time had slowed down by a second.

He watched for a while in silence.

He really wanted to hug Lu Yingjiu tightly on this cold and dark rainy night. It would be best if he could kiss him, let the other party make a few vague complaints in his sleep, then hug him back, and sleep until the night rain stopped and light burst in the sky.

But in the end, he just quietly grabbed onto the shoulder of Lu Yingjiu, letting him lean on his shoulder and sleep more comfortably.

He himself leaned back on the sofa, finding a comfortable position.

This sofa was so soft that it seemed that people could sink into it and fall asleep without paying attention.

……….What does it feel like to fall asleep?

There was an abyss in the ghost world, everything that fell into it would perish, only he dared to step into it. Every time he walked in the air above the abyss and his robe rustled in the strong wind, he would think that there was no difference between deep sleep and death, they were both endless darkness.

But at this moment, listening to the majestic sound of the rain and watching such a boring ghost movie, he thought, maybe it’s still different.

That sense of peace was completely different.

He felt that he and Lu Yingjiu could sleep on this sofa for as long as ever, sleep as long as he wanted, and still see each other when he woke up.

Jing Xian also slowly closed his eyes.

As the second hand ticked by, the boring ghost movie began to take a curtain call, and finally the TV screen went black. There was no other light source, and amidst the sound of wind and rain, there were only two people leaning on each other in the dark.

After an unknown period of time, the gust of wind became stronger and knocked on the window.

Lu Yingjiu’s phone vibrated.

He groaned and woke up.

His mind was not so clear all of a sudden, and his thoughts seemed to be muddy. He half squinted his eyes to unlock the screen. A harsh light illuminated the living room, lengthening the shadows of all the furniture.

It was a message from Chen Xiaoling.

She said: [The Chen family found a clue]

[117 Xinxi Road, Zhongli Warehouse]

****

The Maybach drove through the storm, the tires rolled up muddy water, and the headlights were bright. From a distance, it looked like a monster riding the wind and rain.

The surrounding rain was so loud that nothing couldn’t be heard clearly. There was no one on the road, and the water gurgled into the sewer, making a gurgling sound. After the car made a sharp turn, Jing Xian turned off the lights, and drove the car into the dilapidated parking lot in the thick darkness.

The wipers rubbed across the glass, but they were powerless to resist the torrential flow that fell from the sky. The warehouse appeared in front of their eyes, and the big red characters [Zhongli Warehouse] on the top floor appeared scratched and mottled by the years.

The Chen family had sealed the scene and conducted a round of investigation. Now the entire warehouse was sealed by an invisible barrier.

But for Lu Yingjiu, barriers have never been a difficult task.

The rain was enough to cover up all movement.

He and Jing Xian got out of the car, put on a black mask, pressed down their hats, and sneaked around to the edge of the barrier at the back door.

He flicked his finger, and a few talisman papers flew out. White streams surged, opening a gap in the barrier. The two went in easily, and what appeared in front of them was an old iron door with a rusty red lock on it.

Perhaps because they were rest assured of the barrier, the Chen family did not change the old lock on the back door.

Lu Yingjiu used his lockpicking skills again, put on gloves, and easily pried open the door, then they slipped in quietly.

This warehouse was for storing clothing, and there was a very obvious smell of fabrics in the air. There were stacks of large and small cardboard boxes, and piles of clothes wrapped in plastic bags, which looked like hills on the shelves.

Lu Yingjiu made a spell to make his and Jing Xian’s clothes dry. 

He walked slowly between the shelves, his footsteps making no sound.

According to the news inquired by Chen Xiaoling, two days ago, the Chen family seemed to have traced it down: There were indeed people who were still making and selling human skin masks. The production site was Four Hole Slaughterhouse, and the place where the masks were hidden, packaged and transferred was in this Zhongli warehouse.

Where the leather was kept in this warehouse, one or two missing human skin masks were found.

But after searching for two full days, the Chen family did not find many clues.

Lu Yingjiu wanted to come over and take a look for himself.

Anyway, he was the pinnacle of the industry, and coming to the scene would definitely bring rewards.

When he was still the Chief, the Chen family also invited him to be the consultant many times. If he hadn’t been investigated this time, the Chen family would have moved him here as a rescuer.

Along the tall shelves, they slowly searched, and finally came to the leather area.

Pieces of clothing have been turned upside down, every package was unpacked, and the clothes have been touched from the inside out. A pile of used talisman paper was scattered on the ground, enough to show how many people had been busy.

Several genuine leather satchels were scattered outside. Lu Yingjiu knelt down and picked up one, and looked it over carefully.

The inside of the satchel had a faint yin energy, and when he touched it lightly, there was a sticky touch on the bottom side. Like something, once stuck to it.

He proceeded to the ground and found an empty thin plastic bag.

The plastic bag was just about the size of a human face, with traces of clear glue on the top where it stuck to the bottom side.

Lu Yingjiu lifted it up, and a bolt of lightning happened to strike outside the window, a pale light descended from the window, tearing apart the darkness and illuminating his brown eyes. With the light of lightning, he saw that the plastic bag had faint lines.

It was the kind of very common line that suppressed Yin energy.

He whispered, “The human skin masks are packed into plastic bags here, and then shipped out together with various kinds of clothes, following the circulation of physical goods, and going to various places.”

Putting down the plastic bag, Lu Yingjiu walked carefully around the warehouse.

An exception was found.

He squatted down and swept the ground, and faint symbol marks appeared.

Jing Xian also squatted down and looked at the mark together with him.

This was exactly the same as the mark in the mask processing room of the slaughterhouse.

Lu Yingjiu erased the traces, and shoe prints suddenly appeared on the ground. They were still shoes of size 45-46.

Someone has erased traces of himself.

And it is almost certain that it is the same person in the slaughterhouse.

Still with the same thought in mind: the level of the visitor is very high, and the members of the Chen family are definitely not idiots. It’s a pity that exorcising ghosts requires extra talent. No matter how many tricks and amount of careful thinking, in front of Lu Yingjiu, it would be like playing tricks, with nowhere to hide.

The person only went to the slaughterhouse once, and there were very few exposed traces, so it was impossible to confirm the person’s identity.

But judging from the dense footprints in front of him, the person had been active here for a long time. Just leave the traces like this, and when the Chen family discovered them tomorrow, they would definitely be able to track them down.

This process was much easier than Lu Yingjiu thought. He brought a lot of talismans and planned to stay here all night looking for clues. Fortunately, that person’s vigilance was too low, or he underestimated Lu Yingjiu’s strength.

Lu Yingjiu took out his phone.

To be on the safe side, he took a few photos.

Jing Xian watched beside him, then Lu Yingjiu whispered, “At the moment, there is another person here. That person is watching us.”  

After he finished speaking, he was about to stand up-

When another lightning struck, a pale light illuminated the hill-like clothes.

Thunder sounded, and an icy chill fell from the sky!

Lu Yingjiu raised his head, and a figure leaped high from the shelf in the darkness, with a sharp knife pointing at his most vital part!