Otherworldly Merchant

Chapter 297: Old Huang Was Murdered

We knocked on Old Huangs door with a heavy heart, but there was no reply. Zhang Ai anxiously kicked the door open and stormed into the house.

As soon as the door opened, a thick burning smell came to our nostrils, which made our scalps tingle.

I glanced at Senior Shu, who then looked at Zhang Ai and shook his head. I knew that he wanted me to stop Zhang Ai because the scene inside might be a horrible mess. He didnt want Zhang Ai to go in rashly.

I hurried to stop the worried Zhang Ai and made her stay put.

Senior Shu approached the bedroom and placed his ear to the door, trying to listen to the commotion inside. Then, he knocked on the door five times. Three knocks were long, and two were short.

However, there was only deadly silence; not a single sound was heard.

Senior Shu exhaled in relief and opened the bedroom door.

The moment the door was opened, a thicker burning smell exuded.

Although Zhang Ai had carefully covered her nose and mouth, she couldnt help but throw up.

A person lay quietly on the bed; it was Old Huang. He was naked, with a quilt covering the left side of his body, and he looked fine. There was nothing strange about his body. There were no burn marks, either.

I couldnt relax as everything looked too normal. If the dead body wasnt burned, where did the smell come from?

Senior Shu suspiciously scanned the room. There werent any burned or charred spots. We didnt even see a wisp of smoke.

Finally, Senior Shu gritted his teeth and walked forward, resolutely lifting the quilt.

What we saw under the quilt frightened us.

The part of Old Huangs body that the quilt had covered was hollow, and his bones were charcoal-like. His flesh had turned into ashes and was now stuck to the bones. At first glance, he looked like a pile of coke.

The right side of his body had intact flesh, while his left side was burned into ashes. This extreme contrast was too much to bear. My stomach twitched and churned. I turned around and puked.

Li Mazi had it even worse. He landed on his butt and shrieked, Holy moly!

Zhang Ais reaction was better than mine. Perhaps she had already prepared herself and only looked a little pale. She silently gazed at the burned body, and teardrops started falling from her eyes. In the next second, she burst out crying in front of us.

Senior Shu said helplessly, All right, dont cry. Since half of the body was burned, half of the soul would be damaged as well. This kind of ghost will go crazy and attack everybody. If we dont deal with this matter right now, things could get bad real quick.

Li Mazi and I comforted Zhang Ai. We asked her to report the case to her superior. A policeman was murdered. This wasnt a small case anymore.

Zhang Ai was very worried. What if they ask me why we were at Old Huangs place this late at night? They wont believe that a ghost killed him.

We also had a headache because of this. In the end, I decided to bet everything on the Zhang family. If they could arrange Zhang Ai to work in the police station, I was sure they had someone in the higher-ups. I called our contact.

The gold-toothed man picked up the call. I briefed him on the situation, and although he was surprised, he reassured us, Dont worry and do what you need to do. I will talk to the leaders of the police station. Just wait there.

Soon after, two leaders from the police station arrived. Zhang Ai called one of them Bureau Chief. It seemed the Zhang family had great influence over this local police station.

The Chief was very polite and greeted us warmly, apologizing for not coming earlier. I told myself that this Chief was probably involved in some shady business. One of his policemen was murdered, and he was still in the mood to fawn over us.

I didnt point this out as he was being polite. After a quick greeting, we urged him to deal with Old Huangs case.

The Chief nodded and bravely walked into Old Huangs room. However, as soon as he saw the tragic scene, he shrieked in horror. If we werent here, I guessed he would have vomited his insides out.

The Chief tried to refrain himself from vomiting. It took him a long time to adjust his mood and get himself together. His face gradually regained color.

Senior Shu said, Old Huangs soul has fallen into a frenzied state and is full of resentment. After twenty-four hours, he will adapt to his new condition and start harming people. I suggest we cremate his body as soon as possible. Although it will kill his soul, its the only way to prevent him from harming others.

The Chief kept silent. Eventually, he said with a reluctant face, Sir, I totally agree with your idea. However, Old Huang was a policeman at our department for quite a long time, and he had a very strange death. Our superiors will request us to investigate this case thoroughly. If we cremate his body now, it would look really suspicious. Thats fine by me as I would only lose my position, but the others might not be this lucky.

His righteous words werent enough to deceive us. The truth was that he didnt want to get involved in this mess. It definitely wasnt for other peoples well-being.

At the same time, his words were somewhat reasonable. The victim was an old-timer. If we burned his corpse right after his death without a thorough explanation, we would receive a lot of criticism.

After contemplating for a while, Senior Shu compromised. In that case, clean the scene and move the deceased to the morgue. Tonight, I will find a way to make Old Huangs soul ascend.

I knew that Senior Shu just wanted to comfort the Chief as there was no way to pacify Old Huangs soul. Since his soul was incomplete, we could only destroy it.

The Chief nodded and said that he would call a special investigation team to deal with the scene once we had left.

At this time, it was almost 4 AM, and the sky was getting brighter. We were exhausted, but Senior Shu didnt bring us back to Zhang Ais apartment to rest. Instead, we went to the morgue. On the way there, we grabbed the Wordless Heavenly Book and brought it to the morgue as well.

There were several souls in the morgue that had been murdered by the Wordless Heavenly Book, so the book had the power to subdue them to a certain extent. We didnt need to worry about these souls causing trouble.

We rested in the lobby beside the morgue. Before the sky brightened, the Chief called and asked us to open the morgue. They took photos of Old Huangs remains, and everything has been dealt with. As promised, were sending him to the morgue now.

I glanced at Old Huangs corpse. The undamaged half of his body was stiff and had turned purple-brown. The remaining half of his face had also twisted, with his eye rolling backward and gazing at the ceiling.

It was a sign that he was about to become a zombie, which kept me worried.

Having dealt with Old Huangs body, the Chief invited us for lunch to celebrate.

However, we werent in the mood for a party right now. Thank you, but well have to refuse. We have to watch the morgue for twenty-four hours. We dont want anything unexpected to happen.

The Chief didnt want us to stay in that cramped, filthy place filled with corpses. He cleared a room in which we could have a view of the morgue through the window.

After the Chief left, I asked Senior Shu, Why was only half of Old Huangs body burned?

Senior Shu sighed. Otherworldly items hate to be cut in half the most. Old Huang had used a pair of scissors to cut the paper into two pieces, which had also cut the soul that lived in the page into two pieces. Although only half of the soul was left, it didnt affect its power. Quite the contrary, it made it crazier and more resentful. Thats why it murdered Old Huang. Also, since the soul was halved vertically, it could only attach half of its body to Old Huangs. Thats why he died in such a strange way.

Something suddenly popped up in my mind. Senior Shu, it seems we havent found the evil soul that murdered Old Huang yet. Will it go around and kill more people? We cant let it run wild.

Senior Shu explained, Thats why we need to go back to Old Huangs place to find that piece of paper. Earlier, I was worried that we would provoke the soul, so I didnt ask you guys to search for it. But now, its broad daylight, and the soul must be sleeping. Its time to look for it.

Zhang Ai led us back to Old Huangs house, and we started searching for the page.

Eventually, Li Mazi found the piece of human skin paper inside Old Huangs working files.

Senior Shu carefully wrapped the piece of paper in a cloth. We then hurried back to reattach the piece to the Wordless Heavenly Book.

Next was a long wait for the night to fall. Only at that time would ghosts show up, and only at that time we could deal with them.

Our main mission was to lure out Old Huangs soul and destroy it to prevent it from harming more people.

It had been a very busy day. I rolled around in bed and couldnt fall asleep. The Wordless Heavenly Book kept appearing in my head.

Since so many strange things had happened, Zhang Ai was traumatized. She didnt dare to go home and decided to stay with us in that small office.

Around noon, when I started to feel sleepy, the Chief called us, asking us to join him for lunch.

Senior Shu and I hated these kinds of socializing meals, so we didnt want to go. However, the Chief kept begging us, and since Li Mazi also wanted to go, we had to agree.

The leaders of the Public Security Bureau also joined the lunch. It was enough to show how much importance the Chief attached to this matter. At the same time, I was curious about the power of the Zhang family. How strong were they, after all? How could they make the Chief pay so much attention to this case?

I tried to pry and learned that the Chief didnt actually know the Zhang family; perhaps he lacked the qualifications. He had received the order directly from the Provincial Public Security Department.

It was startled. I had never thought that the Zhang family could influence even the Provincial Public Security Department.

Still, even with such power, the Zhang family couldnt openly deal with the Longquan Villa. It seemed that the Longquan Villa was even stronger and far-reaching. If possible, I didnt want to provoke either of them.

Then, I remembered the trainee that had gifted Zhang Ai the shoes. That person must have come from the Longquan Villa. I asked the Chief if he knew about the trainee.

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward. The Chief forced a smile. Actually, that trainee was an impostor. We noticed only after they resigned.

An impostor? I was startled. Sir, what happened?

This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com