Chapter Seventy-Four: Deaths in Succession

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2:00 a.m., Xiao Qi’s home.

At this hour, the entire residential complex was sealed off, with Xiao Qi’s building encircled by police tape. The scene inside was so horrific that several young detectives, along with Old Liao, were bent over by the wall, retching.

Officer Yezi looked at me with a troubled expression. “Why are you at another crime scene?”

I forced a sheepish smile. “I can’t help it, Officer. I found the body and reported it to the police right away.”

The coroner was carefully picking up scattered finger and hand bones from the floor, delicately placing them in an evidence bag.

“Your Majesty, this girl seems to have been bitten to death. Could some strange beast have crept into the complex?”

The coroner waved the evidence bag in front of Officer Yezi, the stench of death making her wrinkle her nose and push his hand away impatiently.

“Take it back for analysis. Examine the wounds and determine the exact cause of death. The corpse is bizarre. The last dismemberment case at the mansion remains unsolved, and now we have another. If we don’t catch the culprit this time, the chief will have us all in for a ‘chat’.”

Yezi scolded the coroner and the detectives, her stern gaze falling on me as she spoke.

It’s not that I didn’t want to explain—who would ever believe the truth?

Another case destined to become an unsolved mystery. After giving our statements, we could only return to the shop to rest. But this time… a black Iveco van was conspicuously parked downstairs.

It seemed the detectives were now keeping us under 24-hour surveillance.

Well, what could we do? It was our misfortune to always be present at the scene of the crime. Like shining a flashlight into a cesspit—courting death.

Old Liao, Hu Ji, and I sprawled across the sofa, discussing the day’s events.

“Tell me, what exactly is this strange ability of mine? Why can I see things that happened before?”

“It’s normal. Look at Sherlock Holmes—one touch and he sees the crime scene. Work a little harder, get a position with the police, and you’ll be solving cases in no time. The future looks bright, my friend,” Old Liao quipped, lounging with his arms behind his head.

“Is this really the time for jokes? Xiao Qi died so horribly. What if we end up like that—dropping dead out of the blue?”

“Honestly, a person like Xiao Qi can’t be called blameless. She refused a proper yang tattoo and insisted on getting a yin tattoo, even threatening you with it. Even if she was killed by a vengeful spirit, isn’t that her own doing?” Old Liao remained staunch in his ‘not responsible for clients after they leave the shop’ philosophy.

Unexpectedly, Hu Ji agreed. “Exactly, Xu. We work in the shadows—we can’t afford to be sentimental. You’re a businessman, not a savior. Don’t take everything to heart.”

Could it be that I’m just too soft-hearted?

“Old Liao, send a message to Lin. See if he can come back. Damn it, he promised to keep the shop safe until the mural was finished!” The three marks glowing on the door left me uneasy. For now, Lin was the most skilled among us—I had no choice but to call for help.

Old Liao nodded and pulled out his phone to compose a message.

Staying up late was exhausting—nothing like when we were young. Back then, pulling all-nighters at the internet café with Xiao Wei, playing League of Legends for days on end, was a breeze. Now, one night without sleep left me aching all over.

Gradually, our consciousness faded, and soon the shop was filled with the sound of all three of us snoring.

Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!

The clatter on the rolling shutter woke me. I dragged myself up to open the door.

A delicate-looking boy stood outside.

“Big brother, a sister asked me to give you this.”

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“A sister?” I wondered aloud, but the boy shoved a package into my hands and darted off.

The noise woke Old Liao and Hu Ji; both came over, curious.

I peeled away the layers of wrapping to reveal a small, exquisitely packaged box.

Who on earth would send me something so mysterious?

“What are you waiting for? Open it already,” Old Liao said, impatience in his voice. He snatched the box and flipped open the lid.

With a clatter, the box tumbled to the floor, landing upside down, its contents trapped underneath.

Looking embarrassed, Old Liao crouched to pick it up.

“Damn!” he exclaimed, stumbling backward in alarm.

The little box now sat in his hand, and on the floor lay a small, motionless centipede.

It looked identical to the half-centipede I’d vomited up earlier.

Was this box a gift from Yang Zi?

Was she trying to harm me? But if she planned to curse me again, why send a dead insect?

A thousand questions flooded my mind, but I dared not get any closer. The memory of violently vomiting it out still made my skin crawl.

But Hu Ji was unfazed. He walked over, picked up the centipede, and fiddled with it.

“I thought it was something special. It’s just a juvenile gu worm, and it’s been dead for more than twenty-four hours—completely harmless. Relax.”

Relieved, I snatched the bug from his palm and smashed it to pulp beneath my heel.

Dead as it was, I ground it into the floor for good measure.

Damn that Gu Mistress—she’d better hope she never crossed my path again!

I was both angry and baffled by Yang Zi’s actions, unable to fathom why she’d send me a dead insect.

Another night came. What information would the mark on the door reveal this time?

Old Liao and I leaned in the doorway, smoking, while Hu Ji sprawled on the sofa playing mobile games, cursing into his microphone.

I was anxious for my life, while he still had the leisure to game—unbelievable!

As an alarm chimed, the mark on the wall beside the door began to glow.

The fourth mark responded.

It shimmered with the same crimson light as before, drawing everyone’s attention.

I slapped my palm onto the glowing sigil.

Immediately, the scene around me began to shift.

Darkness enveloped me.

The air was thick with the scent of decay, tinged with the sterile tang of hospital disinfectant.

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The black room felt small. I fumbled about in the dark, brushing past what seemed like tables and chairs. Following the wall, I spotted a faint glimmer of light beyond the door and found the power switch.

Click—the harsh glare of a fluorescent bulb made me shield my eyes.

When I opened them again, I was stunned by what I saw.

Lab tables and chairs, a small couch by the door, an empty desk, specimen jars lined up at the back—this was a laboratory.

More precisely, it was Yang Zi’s lab, a place I’d been before.

On the floor… lay a headless female corpse.

From the figure, the clothes, and the exposed tattoo, I recognized the body—it was Yang Zi.

Emboldened by my experience with Xiao Qi, I forced myself closer. There was no blood spatter on the floor. Yang Zi’s limbs were twisted outward, her hands and feet mottled with bruises. She lay quietly on the floor, her head nowhere to be seen.

The cut at her neck was smooth, as if her head had been severed by a sharp blade. The body was prone, and I noticed the "Vermilion Fire and Green Smoke" tattoo on her skin. There were flecks of blood around the incense burner motif—could that have been the murder weapon?

But an incense burner is a blunt instrument—how could it leave such a clean cut?

I had no answer. Suddenly, a loud crash sounded behind me.

The display cabinet of specimens began to shake violently. From the last cabinet, a large glass jar fell and shattered, spilling formalin across the floor.

From the broken jar, a round object rolled out with a glugging sound.

Yang Zi’s head lay there, eyes wide open, staring straight at me. Her mouth quivered as if trying to speak.

“Run… run…”

From her grotesque, disembodied head, I could barely make out those words.

Run? What did she mean?

Suddenly, a shadow materialized, descending from above like a great bird, its wings beating as it landed.

The man in the rainbow robe appeared. The moment he touched down, he stomped hard on Yang Zi’s head, grinding it mercilessly underfoot.

As his boot twisted, Yang Zi’s head let out a spine-chilling shriek—a hollow, uncanny sound that seemed to claw at my soul.

With a final kick, the rainbow-robed man sent Yang Zi’s head rolling away, then pointed at the "Vermilion Fire and Green Smoke" tattoo on her body and said in a low, mocking voice, "Heh heh heh. How will you break this game?"

I clenched my fists, powerless to do anything but watch as the villainous figure chanted incantations, and the world around me crumbled into dust.

The cool night air did nothing to stop the cold sweat dripping down my forehead.

“What happened? What’s going on?” I looked up to find Old Liao and Hu Ji crowding in anxiously.

“It’s bad… Yang Zi is dead.”

“Yang Zi? Didn’t she have some skills? Besides, she tried to hurt you—what’s there to pity? She got what she deserved,” Hu Ji replied, detached and unconcerned.

“This is all the work of the rainbow-robed man! The bug curse Yang Zi used on me must have been a warning, but why did he kill her?”

I frowned, analyzing the situation for the others. Old Liao, stroking his goatee, looked deep in thought.

“This is bad, very bad! First Sun Xing, then Xiao Qi, now Yang Zi—all three had your Yin-Yang tattoos! He’s framing you, using you to kill by proxy!”