C2

My name is Chen Sanjin, and I was given this name by grandfather. The reason I chose this name was because it implied the five elements, or perhaps it was also because the people here have a saying that metal is the bane of jade, so grandfather helped me choose this name.

My family owns a jade business in a city in the south. My grandfather usually bought and sold jade sources in Myanmar, and I became a nominal shop owner with the Heaven Punisher Fourth Uncle, learning to sell jade.

The thing that made the most money in the jade business wasn't buying and selling jade, but scattering jade!

The so called Scattered Jade was to help some Jade Picker exchange jade pieces they got from unorthodox channels into real gold and silver. From that, the Rogue Cultivators would take out 30% of the jade pieces, which was similar to washing black money.

Other than having a lot of connections and face, one had to have a good relationship with him. Those who did not have the ability to do so would not be able to eat like this, and Chen Family and jade drops were always handled by his grandfather's last disciple, Xing Sihai.

The second disciple, my father, the son-in-law of the Burmese jade tycoon, has nothing to do with Chen Family anymore. The third disciple is the best with my grandfather and works hard on everything, but a year ago, he mysteriously suffered a strange disease, his body was covered with white hair, and he looked like an ape. His body became thinner and thinner, and like a bag of bones, he finally died on the wall of the shop.

The state of death was extremely miserable. It was as if clothes had been hung on the wall to dry, causing the wind to blow, making them look like paper men!

After the death of the third disciple, the medical examiner had examined the corpse. Apart from a blood-red circle imprint on the body for no reason, there were no other symptoms. The medical examiner suspected that this red circle was the source of the illness.

But my grandfather knew that this imprint was the Zimu Jade's curse, he thought that since he had lost three children, the debt should have been paid off, but he never thought that the curse would be endless, and might even affect his own disciple, causing his personality to change greatly. He travelled around the world everyday, and heard that he had found a way to remove the curse, because he was worried that the curse would affect me as well.

When I asked the Heaven Punisher Fourth Uncle why did his personality change so greatly the moment he saw the red circle imprint, the Fourth Uncle told me about the Wild Mountain and Zimu Jade!

I thought it was ridiculous when I heard about the Zimu Jade, because I've never seen it at home before. Furthermore, the curse is too illusory, let alone such a strange story as the Zimu Jade turning into a spirit.

Although there were many strange things happening in the jade circle, there was a saying that jade could raise people and hurt people, but when it involved curses, it felt too fake!

I scoffed at the words of the curse and told my grandfather that it was all feudal superstition and there was no need to be bothered about it. The old man simply ignored me and continued to search for a way to remove the curse.

The thing that really changed my mindset was that after the curse, something unbelievable happened. It was precisely because of this that my life was completely turned upside down and I embarked on a strange and dangerous path.

At eleven o'clock that night, I closed the door of the shop and was about to go home to shower and sleep. As I passed the entrance of the alleyway, I suddenly felt two eyes staring at me from behind, but I couldn't see anything when I turned around.

The address of my store is rather remote and there are many alleys with broken streetlights and no surveillance. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but speed up my pace.

However, just as I turned the corner, a hand suddenly reached out from behind and grabbed my neck. The hand was very cold, like the hand of a dead person.

My body was strong, and I had learnt a few more moves before I was about to turn around and fight back. I didn't expect the person behind would have such a strong strength, so he grabbed onto my neck and instantly suffocated me, while at my waist, I felt something sharp and hard. It should be a dagger.

I hurriedly relaxed. In my heart, I was panicking for a while but feigning calmness on the surface. "I have some cash in my pocket. You can take it all away. There's no need to kill me."

I looked up to see who it was, but he was standing in the shadows behind me, and I couldn't see anything. I could feel his body was cold and wet, and his hair was dripping with water.

"Where's Chen Yihuo?" An indistinct voice came from behind him.

So it was to find the old man. I heaved a sigh of relief and said, "He left half a month ago and hasn't returned yet."

The lordmaster had left half a month ago to continue searching for the antidote to the curse, and he still hadn't returned as if he had been possessed.

"Then bring me something for him!"

After the figure said those vague words, a punch suddenly landed on the back of my neck. My eyes rolled back and I fell to the ground dizzily. I could only vaguely hear the figure mumbling something like 'ghost ship' or 'ghost ship' before completely losing consciousness.

I woke up the next day from the hospital. When I opened my eyes, I felt an intense pain coming from my left arm. I looked sideways and found that my left arm was bandaged.

After checking my injuries, the doctor said, "It's nothing serious. I was just scared. My hand was injured."

The doctor's words weren't directed at me, but at a middle-aged yellow-faced man sitting beside the sickbed. This yellow-faced man wore a police uniform, had a square face, and had an imposing manner without getting angry, and introduced himself as the captain of the Criminal Police Headquarters, his name was Pan Guowei!

"Why am I here?" I bared my teeth as I asked. The pain from my arm stabbing continuously spread out.

Pan Guowei looked at me strangely, making me feel a little scared. After a while, he said, "Last night, someone reported that you fainted in the alley."

I recalled what happened last night and touched my body. Pan Guowei seemed to have seen through my thoughts and directly said, "Your ID certificate and wallet are all here. I didn't lose anything."

I was stunned and asked, "What about the person who robbed me?"

When Pan Guowei heard this, he looked at me with an even stranger expression. "You don't know that person?"

I said speechlessly, "If I knew you, I wouldn't be lying here today."

"That person is already dead!"

"Dead?"

I was a little confused. It was just a robbery. Besides, I didn't put up any resistance, so how could I die? Did he resist arrest? That's not quite right, Pan Guowei said that someone saw me faint in the alley before he called the police, which meant that the police weren't there when I fainted.

"How did he die?" I asked again.

Pan Guowei had a strange look in his eyes, as if he didn't want to tell me the reason for my death. After hesitating for a moment, he slowly opened his mouth and said, "I drowned you to death!"

"What kind of joke is this? Drown to death? "

I was taken aback, and wondered if I had heard wrongly. How could a perfectly fine living person drown in an alley?

Pan Guowei nodded. "When we found you, he had already died by your side. The medical examiner had determined that he drowned!"

A robber drowned in a place without water, my first thought was that it was outrageous, the medical examiner must have made a mistake. Although the person who robbed me last night was wet, he didn't die. And drowning?

I asked tentatively, "Could he have died somewhere else and then the killer moved the victim into the alley and caused the drowning?"

Pan Guowei took a deep breath, and immediately said in a disbelieving tone, "We have already thought of what you said long ago, but the alley is the crime scene, and when you were found, the body was already long dead. Not only was it drowned, but the medical examiner also verified that it must have been at least ten days. In other words, when he robbed you, it was a corpse. We don't want to believe it, but we have to admit that you were beaten unconscious by someone who had been dead for more than ten days …"