Chapter 40: Self-Drawn Symbols

  Look at Zhang Jianchen, I suddenly understood the reason. That night, Master said that as long as one has been punished in the mortal world, they can eliminate this sin in the underworld. Compared to the uncontrollable underworld, whether it's Li Yanzhong or Li Chengdong, the only choice is to be punished in the mortal world. No matter what, Li Yanzhong is still the vice secretary and can at least take care of Li Chengdong. Moreover, Li Chengdong surrendered voluntarily, so the death penalty is impossible. Maybe after ten or more years, he'll find some connections and get out, or maybe not even seven or eight years will pass before he's released. Of course, now Li Chengdong is probably also scared to death and won't dare do evil again. Actually, this is for the best - at least one scourge has been eliminated from the world.

  In my opinion, it's not bad to understand it this way. Zhang Jianchen, the person involved, doesn't have any objections either. This way, it's good for everyone. At least Zhang Jianchen won't have to bear a grudge and affect his life. However, I suddenly remembered something and hesitated before speaking in a low voice: "Captain Zhang, I want to ask you for a favor. Li Chengdong killed my brother Dazhuang, shouldn't there be compensation? He still has parents who are getting old and a two-year-old child to raise, can you help facilitate things and get more compensation? My brother Dazhuang was the pillar of our family..."

  Zhang Jianchen nodded and looked at me: "Don't worry, Li Yanzhong has already made a promise. He will definitely compensate for what he should, and try to compensate more. I believe he won't treat the Li Dazhu family unfairly."

  I finally felt at ease, and as we spoke, we arrived at the restaurant downstairs. Zhang Jianchen was also happy and insisted on treating us to dinner today. Originally, Sun Chuanming had wanted to pay, but since Zhang Jianchen was a police officer, Sun Chuanming felt inferior and didn't dare argue with him. However, I questioned why Zhang Jianhua was so diligent, yet Zhang Jianchen was lukewarm towards him and didn't even want to talk to him much. I took the initiative to introduce Sun Chuanming and Zhang Jianhua to Zhang Jianchen, but unexpectedly, Zhang Jianchen snorted and looked at Sun Chuanming and Zhang Jianhua with disdain: "Brother, no need for introductions. I know them all. Zhang Jianhua is even my cousin, but I'm too lazy to deal with useless people who can't be taught."

  It turns out they are actually cousins, no wonder. From the moment they appeared, I felt that there was something strange about them. Zhang Jianhua seemed to be trying to curry favor with Zhang Jianchen, but Zhang Jianchen didn't even give him a glance, not even a good face. However, Zhang Jianhua seemed to be used to it, looking like he had really gotten accustomed to it. It's normal for police officers to look down on thugs, but I don't want things to get so awkward around me. I coughed and said: "Captain Zhang, actually you might not understand them very well. I think Zhang Dage and Sun Dage are both good people, at least they're very righteous, better than most people. Last night, Sun Ge knew it was dangerous but still accompanied me until midnight, when the whole world was full of evil spirits and vengeful ghosts, he didn't abandon me to run away alone. As for Zhang Dage, he has helped me a lot, I think they're both okay. Captain Zhang, maybe you can try to get in touch with them."

  Zhang Jianchen nodded and didn't dwell on the issue, after all, it was up to him to decide what to do next. So he busied himself with eating and drinking. However, during dinner, he handed me a file bag and gave me a mysterious look, squeezing his eyes at me: "This is the developer's information for Tianhua Community. Guess what? I heard that before construction began, they invited a Taoist priest from Maoshan to perform rituals to ward off evil spirits. Do you think the ghost thing in the water might be their doing?"

  Dumbfounded, the Taoist of Mao Mountain said, "I don't dare to speak rashly about this." After a moment's hesitation, he spoke in a low voice: "Captain Zhang, have you told Master?"

  Who would have thought that Zhang Jianchen took a sip of wine, but instead let out a sigh: "Forget it, your master didn't even bother to acknowledge me. Originally, I wanted to talk to him, but your master just sat next to you with his eyes closed, ignoring me completely. How could I say anything? Anyway, all these things are now on your head."

  He suddenly stopped talking and hesitated for a while before gritting his teeth and saying, "In a few days it will be July 14th, and I should also send my sister to reincarnate, but I'm not confident in my heart. At that time, I'll still have to trouble you, brother, otherwise my parents won't be able to rest assured."

  It's a sigh of relief, it can be seen that Zhang Jianchen attaches great importance to family relationships. He lightly sighed: "Alright, I'll definitely go at that time, as long as there aren't any major unexpected events. You've also seen it, but don't know how to deal with this matter."

  Zhang Jianchen didn't say much more, after all, the matter of carrying coffins for the three corpses was very important at the moment. Of course, he also believed that as long as I wasn't held back, I would definitely go. So he just kept pulling me to eat and drink. It wasn't until we were full that I whispered to Zhang Jianhua: "Zhang big brother, trouble you to help me buy some yellow talisman paper and cinnabar, and a few live chickens, I need to prepare some talismans."

  Zhang Jianhua responded with a sound, and then went out on his own. However, I didn't expect him to be so quick. By the time I arrived at the room, Zhang Jianhua had already come in carrying things. Of course, the few live chickens still needed to be taken to the execution ground to be slaughtered. This time, Master also followed me, wanting to see what was going on.

  Seven live chickens are a big bowl of blood, I drew the symbols according to my memory, but as soon as I started writing, Master hummed: "Little boy, this thing has no spiritual power at all, it's just the resentment of a few chickens, take another look and see if there's anything wrong."

  This left me stunned, and I also felt that there was no spiritual energy in it, which is different from the first talisman. At that time, although the spiritual energy was very little, but there was still a little spiritual energy, now it's just the resentment of a live chicken condensed on it, it's completely useless. But how could I have expected this? This talisman was indeed drawn according to the manual, so where did the problem lie? The next few talismans also failed, and by the time the sky darkened, I still hadn't made any progress, which made me more and more annoyed, but I couldn't find the key to the problem.

  During this time, the master also let Zhang Jianhua run a trip and prepare some things, including inkstone, thread, soul-calling flag, red rope, incense, candle, mud figurine, and so on. There were more than ten items in total, but it was unclear what they were used for. What's even more puzzling is that there were also five jars. These things had been fetched with great difficulty by Zhang Jianhua and Sun Chuanming after running around until their legs were broken.

  It was already dark when he finished speaking, and the master led us to Tianhua Community. When we arrived again, the security guard was very respectful as soon as he saw us. However, there were several people in suits standing at the entrance, and a few luxury cars were parked outside. As soon as they saw us approaching, a middle-aged man with a flattering smile came up to us: "I am Wang, the general manager of Tianlong Real Estate..."

  Unfortunately, the master didn't even wait for the person to finish speaking and just walked inside without intending to pay attention to them. This was also the reason why the master didn't take money seriously. However, this made those people feel that the master was a high-ranking Taoist who looked down on ordinary people like them. Originally, they didn't dare to be too rude, but the key point was that they didn't dare to go inside. They hurriedly grabbed my arm and said: "High-ranking sir, we don't have any other intentions, we just want to ask you to catch a ghost for us, you absolutely won't lose out..."

  I was pulled back, and everyone naturally stopped. The master looked at that Manager Wang with a cold face: "How much money can you come up with? If you want me to make a move, don't think about it if the money is too little."

  The manager's eyes lit up when the master asked for money, and he couldn't help but smile. He straightened his waist and said, "Great man, as long as you can get rid of the ghosts here, we'll give you one million."

  Unfortunately, the amount of money to the master was just a number. The master didn't even raise an eyebrow, but let out a cold snort: "Ten million, do you think I'm a fool? Or are all of you idiots? Do you know what's inside here? To be blunt, if this thing gets out, I'm afraid not many people in Jiang City will be able to escape unscathed. You included, don't even think about escaping with your lives. How much do you think your lives are worth?"

  Manager Wang was stunned for a moment, and for a while, he didn't know what to do. He still didn't know if the master was dissatisfied with the money, but the master really didn't have the mood to entangle with them now. It wasn't about the money anymore, it was that once the three corpses carried the coffin to its destination, or even now, this thing is terrifying. Maybe it's true what the master said, there are only a few people in Jiang City who can escape unscathed, just based on that ominous aura, this must be an evil creature. We don't have time to entangle with them anymore.

  But Wang didn't know that the master had misunderstood him, seeing that the master wanted to leave, he was anxious and loudly said: "I'll give you 30 million, as long as..."

  "Alright, you'll donate all this money to the impoverished mountainous areas, and I'll take care of things here. But let me tell you something, the feng shui in this place is problematic, and I'm going to have to tear down some things. Don't blame me for that." Before Manager Wang could finish speaking, Master already knew it was all just a matter of management, and getting more donations wasn't bad either. However, Master didn't trust these people, so he suddenly leaned in and lightly patted Manager Wang's shoulder: "Man proposes, Heaven disposes, don't try to pull any tricks on me."

  "Don't worry, don't worry, whatever you say we'll do. Demolish it, just demolish it, absolutely no need for you to be responsible. I'll arrange a demolition team to come over right away." Manager Wang finally let out a sigh of relief. He had already found several experts, but was becoming increasingly disappointed. Several experts mysteriously disappeared, and although he hadn't paid them yet, they were getting anxious to the point of desperation. If things continued like this, wouldn't this entire neighborhood be left to rot? This was a matter of hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.

  Manager Wang did not disappoint us, and soon a Iveco car came with a group of people. These people didn't know about the haunting here, but under the temptation of high wages, they still came without hesitation, even though it was late at night. Master was quite happy about this: "This is also good, it reduces our trouble."

  We immediately led the demolition team into the community, and the master arranged for workers to take over the lights from the security guards. More than a dozen high-wattage daylight lamps illuminated the area around the pool, making it very bright. Tonight was no longer as gloomy and terrifying as last night, and with more people, I didn't feel so scared either.