Chapter 215: Chapter 178: Killing in the Dream, Miss Yue Family Falls in Love!
Translator: 549690339 |
The young man was hysterical, screaming at the woman.
The woman backed up two steps, fell to the ground, and burst into tears, crying out, “I screwed up Xiaoou, I screwed up Xiaoou…”
The surrounding spectators, hearing this, began to gossip.
“380,000 for a betrothal gift, they are selling their daughter!”
“What kind of thing to say? Selling their daughter? Isn’t this the market rate here nowadays?”
“Everyone else is giving 300,000 to 400,000, if your child’s betrothal gift is less than that, people will definitely laugh at you… Is my daughter worse than others? I worked hard to raise her, put her through school, and helped her grow, so what’s wrong with asking for a bit of betrothal gifts?”
Xu Yang listened attentively, shaking his head after hearing their conversation.
These years, exorbitant betrothal gifts often trended on social media.
Take Wu City for example, the countryside was a bit better off, they just wanted a betrothal gift, a self-built rural house was enough, but the city required a house, a car, and a large chunk of cash for betrothal gifts. Calculating things like appliances, an ordinary family would need to borrow money or take out loans to afford a marriage.
Wang Lin asked the detective team for handcuffs and restrained the young man’s hands behind his back, angrily saying, “Even so, you shouldn’t have killed someone!”
“I didn’t kill anyone!”
The young man regained a bit of his sanity, saying, “A while ago during their engagement, I did send Xiaoou threatening messages, but they were all said in anger. After that, we completely cut off contact, and haven’t seen each other since!”
Captain Chen of the detective team approached.
He was clearly more skilled in interrogations than Wang Lin and Bai Wei, asking, “What do you do for work? How did you come to know Wang Xiaoou?” “Xiaoou and I were high school classmates.”
The young man truthfully said, “We started dating during high school, later I got into Silver City Medical University, studied orthopedics, she studied nursing, originally we both worked at the People’s Hospital, but after she got engaged to Gao Mingyi, I quit my job and now I work at a private hospital.” captain Chen continues, “since you’ve lost contact and are no longer working together, how did you hear about the death of Gao Mingyi and Wang Xiaoou?”
The young man paused, “I…”
Captain Chen continued, “You’re a orthopedic doctor, and certainly you’ve performed surgeries, right? It’s difficult for the average person to skin someone’s face, but for you, whether psychologically or technically, it’s not a problem!”
“WangXiaoou betrayed you to be with Gao Mingyi, you harbored resentment, and therefore wanted to kill out of anger… coincidentally yesterday Wu City was plagued by a series of murders. After hearing about the the killer’s technique, you temporarily decided to call and lure Wang Xiaoou and Gao Mingyi out?”
The young man’s emotional defense seemed to crumble. He lowered his head and burst into sobs, chokingly saying, “I didn’t mean to do it, I merely imagined it in my mind during the day; I definitely don’t have the guts to kill!”
“But… but I had a dream last night, dreamt that I killed someone, the dream was too real, so after I woke up this morning, I came to investigate, how could I’ve known that Gao Mingyi and Wang Xiaoou were really dead!”
As soon as these words came out, the faces of Xu Yang and the three from the Spirits Management Bureau all changed.
Captain Chen also slightly furrowed his brows.
The lines he’d just spoken were more or less a plot.
But he soon discovered some loopholes.
There were no obvious wounds on the two bodies and no signs of struggle at the crime scene. It’s not possible that the two victims were lying on the ground letting this guy skin their faces, right?
Feng Zhaoqing took a look around and asked, “Have we gone through the nearby surveillance footage?”
Captain Chen said, “This road was built after the high-speed rail was completed, aside from crossroads, there are no surveillance cameras.”
Feng Zhaoqing thought for a moment and said again, “You guys take the bodies away and let the forensic team take a closer look to see if they can find anything else… We will take this man with us, once the investigation is clear, if proven that he truly is the killer, we will hand him back over to you.”
As soon as the family of the deceased heard this, they immediately exploded.
The sobbing aunt from earlier grabbed Feng Zhaoqing’s clothes and said, “What’s there to investigate? He already admitted it, why not just sentence him?”
While saying this, she reached out and scratched the young man’s face.
While scratching, she swore, “Bastard, you killed my daughter, you won’t have a good death either…”
Women, you know.
Fighting and scratching faces, that’s a normal move.
But-
An unexpected scene occurs.
The woman reached out and scratched the young man’s face, pulling it and with a ripping sound, the young man’s entire facial skin came off.
The bloody skin was grasped in the woman’s hand. She was stunned for a full three seconds before screaming “Ah,” and then she fainted right away.
The young man, however, seemed to feel no pain at all.
He looked at his face skin held in the woman’s hand, and wanted to touch his own face with his hand, but… his hands were cuffed behind his back, he simply couldn’t reach.
Blood droplets seeped from his face, trickling down his bloody cheeks, pooling and dripping from the chin. The young man exclaimed in shock, “My face… did she rip my face off?”
“Mirror… who has a mirror? Let me take a look!”
The scene becomes chaotic.
The onlooking crowd dispersed in all directions, frightened by what they had just witnessed.
“Master Xu, what’s happening here?”
Feng Zhaoqing was slightly taken aback. His true meaning of martial arts surged forth, trying to discover something on the young man, but he found nothing!
Xu Yang activated his Heavenly Eye, a faint golden light flickering in the depths of his gaze. He looked at the young man and saw an increasingly strong eerie and sinister aura emanating from him. This aura was not that of Yin spirits or any evil energy found in zombies, nor did it resemble a cursed god’s breath!
“Monster!”
Xu Yang’s expression shifted as he spoke a single word.
This monstrous aura was too elusive, and even Xu Yang had a difficult time detecting it without activating his “Heavenly Eye.” Upon his revelation, Feng Zhaoqing and the others immediately changed their expressions, hurriedly ordering, “Quick, pick up his face and take him to the hospital!”
Wang Lin and Bai Wei took immediate action, taking the young man to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Feng Zhaoqing pulled Xu Yang aside and asked in a low voice, “Master Xu, is it truly a monster?”
“I have cultivated the Heavenly Eye. I shouldn’t be mistaken.”
Xu Yang was a bit surprised. Feng Zhaoqing’s reaction… seemed a bit extreme!
“This is trouble… I never thought a monster would appear in Wu City while I’ m stationed here.”
“Captain Feng, it’s just a monster. With the power of the Spirits Management Bureau, there’s no need to be so apprehensive, right?” Xu Yang couldn’t help but say: “Also, Wu City is my hometown. If there’s a demon causing trouble, I can’t stand by idly.”
“Master Xu isn’t aware…”
Feng Zhaoqing sighed: “In the martial world, we categorize monsters into two classes, major monsters and minor ones…Unlike Yin spirits and humans, monsters cultivate by absorbing the aura of heaven and earth, the essence of the sun and the moon, primarily by gaining perception…That’s what we call opening their wisdom, afterwhich they can cultivate!”
“However, the world’s aura has been depleted for over five hundred years, and monsters have no written language of their own. Therefore, the lineage of monsters has already ceased to exist. Even if the animal chances upon awakening its wisdom through sheer luck, it can only cultivate instinctively.”
“Besides, monsters inherently cultivate at a slower rate than humans. So, despite forty years of aura recovery, those who happen to awaken their wisdom can only inhale and exhale aura instinctively, making significant progress highly unlikely.”
“This is what we call minor monsters; ordinary police and military personnel can deal with them just by using firearms and ammunition, let alone you, Master Xu.”
Xu Yang finally understood, saying, “Then the major monsters… They must be beings that had already existed before the depletion of spiritual aura? They’ve managed to survive for over five hundred years during the aura famine… such monsters must be frighteningly powerful!”
“Indeed.”
Feng Zhaoqing added, “Unlike humans, monsters cultivate differently. Master Xu, have you ever noticed news reports about water monsters and mountain monsters? Like reports of the monster in the Heavenly Pool and Kanasi Lake, those are just old monsters hiding in rivers and lakes being discovered whilst hunting for food.”
“According to the information we hold at the Spirits Management Bureau…Among the monsters that have survived the five hundred-year aura famine and are still alive today, even if their cultivation strength has declined, at least they are equivalent to those at the Martial Arts Heavenly Being Realm, comparable to the Ghost King. For example, Minister Wang’s old lover, who was even stronger than the Martial Arts Heavenly Being Realm…”
At this point, Feng Zhaoqing paused momentarily, cleared his throat, and said, “Master Xu, let’s keep this information between us. If Minister Wang found out I told you, he would kill me.”
“I understand.”
Xu Yang laughed as he replied.
After asking further information about “monsters”, Feng Zhaoqing said, “In our region of Xi Xia, there is a major monster. The monster resides deep within the Helan Mountain north of Silver City. Its true form is unknown, and it’s been chased by Minister Wang before. It hasn’t been seen for over a decade, right?” “Oh?”
Xu Yang’s eyes slightly moved.
He quietly made up his mind to visit Helan Mountain when he got the chance.
When he went home, he mentioned the matter, hoping to get some information from the Yue sisters. But as soon as he finished speaking, Miss Yates turned pale and said sternly, “Murder in dreams… that’s a trick of the big rat in Helan Mountain. It likes to control people’s hearts, amplifying their desires and resentments, then controlling people to kill in their dreams….”
After taking a deep breath, Miss Yates continued: “The big rat went to the Ghost Market two years ago. It was drinking and visiting the brothel with the Chiyan Ghost King…it seems to have been summoned by Chiyan Ghost King!” “Oh?”
Xu Yang’s eyebrows raised. “So, does that mean the major monster deep in Helan Mountain is a rat demon? It came to Wu City to target me?”
“It’s probably not aimed at you.”
Miss Yates gave a bitter laugh. “It was probably targeting me. When it entered the Ghost Market those years ago, it wanted to pursue me and has harbored resentment ever since I rejected it. It probably wants to take this opportunity to target me specifically.”
She slowly stood up and said, “Xu Yang, the main purpose of Chiyan Ghost King summoning experts from all directions this time is to get rid of me… If I continue to stay here, I’m afraid I’ll involve you… Perhaps it will only attract their attention if I leave here.”
With a flick of her body, Miss Yates transformed into a stream of Yin energy, preparing to leave.
Xu Yang immediately rose to his feet, reached out, and…
“Sister, don’t go. I’ll bear the burden even if the sky falls down!”
The strand of Yin energy slowly began to take form, and Xu Yang’s hand just happened to hold Miss Yates’s. He looked into her eyes seriously and said, “You can rest assured that I have already invited two experts. When the time comes, even if the Chiyan Ghost King or the Lord of the Ghost Market arrive personally, we’ll deal with them!”
At this moment, Xu Yang was domineering and confident.
In Miss Yates’s eyes, Xu Yang seemed to be radiating light. She stared at Xu Yang, and for a while, she felt suddenly and hopelessly in love!
PS: The third update is here, with 10,000 more words to end today. Thanks to the generous 5000-point reward from Big Boss ‘Just Five Words’!