When Shen Wei said nothing, Zhao Yunlan looked back at him, eyes smiling. “Hmm?”
Shen Wei’s dark expression made it abundantly clear that he was displeased over Zhu Hong’s name coming up. After a few more seconds of silence, he replied coldly. “The bodies of those whose souls are taken by reapers have clean eyes. But if someone’s life had yet to reach a natural end and their soul was stolen by something or someone from beneath the Huangquan, the body’s eyes will reflect the shadow of their attacker’s origin.”
“Mm… Then what do you think this is?” Zhao Yunlan asked.
“How would I know?”
“Oh? What’s wrong? Unhappy? Jealous?” Zhao Yunlan looked like a cat who’d gotten the cream. “I love it when other people are jealous. Won’t you let this lord see?”
Shen Wei answered with silence.
“You used to keep up a facade, like a god among men who was above mortal desires. I’m tired of watching you pretend. I get tired on your behalf just from watching.” Zhao Yunlan casually stuck his sticky note on the back of one of Shen Wei’s lesson plan drafts. “Come, Adonis, there’s a scanner beside the computer on the desk. Scan this for me and send it to the office. Tell them to find out as much as they can before I get there.”
Shen Wei accepted it, only to wind up standing stiffly in front of the computer. After turning it on, he just stared at the contraptions in front of him. This “god among men” essentially only knew how to do two things with computers: turn them on and off and deliver PowerPoint presentations that other people had prepared for him. Everything else was his TA’s job. He wasn’t even sure which device was the printer and which was the scanner.
Zhao Yunlan suddenly came up behind Shen Wei. Wrapping his arms around Shen Wei, he guided his hands through the steps, starting with putting the sketched outline into the scanner. That done, he deliberately blew into Shen Wei’s ear under the noise of the machine. “You should’ve said something if you didn’t know how to use it. Why didn’t you ask your husband to teach you?”
Shen Wei refused to grant Zhao Yunlan a response.
Laughing, Zhao Yunlan copped a feel, squeezing Shen Wei’s ass. Shen Wei’s face and ears flushed red, but before he could get mad, Zhao Yunlan sidestepped and flipped the calendar on the desk over. He tapped on the email and password written on the back. “You at least know how to do this, right? Find the category that says ‘Coworkers’ in the contacts and send the scanned image to them.”
Next, Zhao Yunlan called 4 Bright Avenue. “Wang Zheng? You’re still awake? Thanks for your hard work. Make sure the curtains are closed tightly—yes, I know. Something’s happened to Lin Jing. I’m sending an image over to you, so make sure everyone at the office gets a look. Ideally, someone can figure out what it is. Get lao-Li to prepare two cars. We’re leaving for the crime scene in half an hour.”
At that moment, the ground below the city shook slightly, gently swaying the pendant light in the room. As soon as the tiny earthquake passed, an email notification chimed on both ends of the phone call.
“Hold on, Director Zhao,” Wang Zheng said. “There’s an email from Lin Jing.”
On his side of the call, Shen Wei turned to look at him. “The person you’re looking for seems to have sent an email.”
“Don’t hang up,” Zhao Yunlan told Wang Zheng.
Lin Jing had sent a cell phone video of himself.
He was a selfie king, endlessly admiring himself, so he had superb filming skills. But in this video, the camera shook constantly. Lin Jing was breathing harshly, and the screen was jostling. He seemed to be running. Then the camera cut to Lin Jing’s face. His mouth opened and closed, but there was no sound.
Brow creased, Zhao Yunlan lip-read with great difficulty. “I…lost my voice, I can’t…hare—hear very well… My fungers…no, fingers are stiff. I have…a bad feeling.”
Lin Jing’s hand shook, and the camera moved away from his face, pointing toward the buildings across from him. He was at the wellness resort where the life-lending case had occurred. At first glance, the little houses were all beautiful, but Zhao Yunlan realized at once that something was off about them.
At that moment, they heard the sound of Lin Jing tapping on the back of the phone. The sound was very loud and a little piercing. It showed just how deathly silent the entire resort was.
In front of the camera, Lin Jing wrote in the air, “It’s deserted. Not one person’s here.” Zhao Yunlan noticed that the second joint of his finger was stiff, as unbending as a rock, with a weird blueish-gray hue appearing on it. Then Lin Jing paused. He pointed the camera at his face, then at his ear, and shook his head. Expression solemn, he took out his Buddhist prayer beads, closed his eyes, and started reciting scriptures to force himself to calm down.
Next, Lin Jing’s eyes flew open, a stunned look crossing his face. He narrowed his eyes with great effort. The camera shook furiously, and then the video ended.
“At the end there, he probably realized he was losing his vision and hurried to send the video,” Zhao Yunlan said. “With his vision going, maybe he made a mistake and scheduled it instead. That could be why we’re only seeing it now. Or…”
“Or for some reason, the email was unable to send until now,” Shen Wei finished.
Zhao Yunlan turned to look at him. Their gazes met, and then, in unison, they both said, “The earthquake just now.”
No sooner had they spoken when the vague shaking came once again. Just as during the aftershock of a normal earthquake, footsteps and people’s voices could be heard in the hallway. Zhao Yunlan’s apartment was a bit high up, so the shaking was probably more pronounced up there. When a second quake happened, people had started to run out in a panic.
Laying a hand on the wall, Zhao Yunlan carefully assessed the tremors. “Does this ‘earthquake’ seem a little weird to you? Like it’s not the Earth’s crust vibrating. It feels more like…trembling.”
Shen Wei said, “It seems to be coming from the Netherworld.”
Zhao Yunlan loaded his gun with special bullets and sheathed his talisman-inscribed dagger under his pant leg. He pulled all the money out of his wallet, stuffing it randomly into his pockets, and filled the wallet with a thick stack of talismans. Finally, he pulled out a thin carved piece of wood from the drawer: the true Soul-Guarding Order, made from the bark of the genuine Great Divine Tree. The words “Soul-Guarding Order” burst into eye-catching sparks the moment it touched Zhao Yunlan’s skin.
“Let’s go,” he said to Shen Wei, cramming the Soul-Guarding Order into his pocket.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at 4 Bright Avenue and collected a few coworkers. In two vehicles, they all raced to the spot where Lin Jing had run into trouble.
Dragon City was less than three hundred kilometers from the scene of the incident—four hours by highway. Between the mountains and the hot springs, it was a classic location for a wellness resort. The villages that had been nearby had all been relocated so as not to mar the glorious scenery. Day after day, the only people who came through here were service workers or employees who were making purchases for the business.
The resort was too quiet—practically a ghost town. There was a large delivery truck parked randomly in the middle of the road at the entrance. It still had its full load of fresh fruits and vegetables, with no sign of anything missing…except the driver. The driver’s door was open, but there was no one to be seen.
“Lots of service workers must come here from the nearby villages every day,” Zhao Yunlan said. “Xiao-Guo, take the second car to the town police station and ask our colleagues there if they’ve received any missing-person reports in the last few days.”
Guo Changcheng was already keenly aware of the resort’s creepiness. Just standing there was making his legs shake uncontrollably. Director Zhao was clearly protecting him by asking him to leave, which made him sigh in relief, but for some reason, his heart seemed to jump even further up into his throat.
“Zhu Hong will go with you,” Zhao Yunlan added.
Zhu Hong wasn’t like xiao-Guo, so easily ordered around. She objected immediately. “I’m not leaving! I’m sticking with you! I’m not going anywhere!”
Zhao Yunlan got out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. “What, disobeying orders before you even officially resign?”
“I…”
Leaving no room for argument, Zhao Yunlan got back into the car and closed the door. “Lao-Chu, get in this one.”
Zhu Hong stood rooted in place, glaring furiously at Zhao Yunlan.
Chu Shuzhi waved at her from inside the other car. “Get moving. Director Zhao’s plan makes sense. You won’t be much help here, and xiao-Guo might not be able to communicate very well. Help him out.”
Before Zhu Hong could say anything else, that asshole Zhao Yunlan had already slammed his foot on the gas and was driving away.