Chapter Thirty-six: A Night of Horrific Souls

  It wasn't until nightfall that everyone dispersed, even the filial sons and grandsons went to rest on their own, leaving only me, Fat Dog, Dazhu, Dachun, and Li Hongqi to keep vigil. However, due to Deputy Director Wang's presence, a group of police officers couldn't leave and continued to wait for an opportunity, but Huang Daxian wouldn't give them one. These dozen or so police officers still thought that if they waited until nightfall, perhaps when Wang became drowsy, they would have a chance. After all, more than ten people could wear down one person.

  The night grew darker, but the weather wasn't great, it had been overcast since afternoon and by evening it was pitch black. Fortunately, there were lights so it wasn't too depressing. Someone sent over food and wine, even the police officers' meals were delivered. We split into two groups, us inside the house and the police outside. Even Li Hongjun crawled out of his coffin to eat one last meal. This meal was also very sumptuous, with several bottles of good wine.

  With the addition of Li Hongjun, the few people in the house didn't have much to say either, and the vigil became somewhat strange. They just drank silently, with only Li Hongjun enjoying his food and drink the most, perhaps because he was in a different state of mind.

  Just as I was almost done eating, I heard the female police officer outside shouting towards the house: "Liu Hai, can you come out for a moment? We want to understand the situation with you."

  They finally couldn't take it anymore, I thought. When I arrived during the day, there were many people around and I was busy too, so I didn't have time to pay attention to them either. I had expected they would look for me, but I hadn't expected them to last this long. I glanced at Li Hongjun, who just smiled and didn't intervene on my behalf. After hesitating for a moment, I still walked out.

  As soon as I went out, I saw the female police officer looking at me with a gloomy face. When she saw me, she just nodded and made a please gesture. I didn't say much either, and sat down beside the captain. However, it was not the captain who spoke first, but the female police officer: "Liu Hai, you reported this case, now that things have turned out like this, shouldn't you tell us what's going on?"

  I cast a sidelong glance at the policewoman, and let out a bitter laugh. "Some things are hard to explain, it's better if you don't know. Yesterday, I didn't know what was going on either. At that time, Li Hongjun asked me to help him with the funeral arrangements, but you know even if he died himself, it would be a big deal. I'm afraid there would be trouble with the authorities too. So I pushed it off saying I needed the police to verify before I could do anything, and reported it to you. I thought when you arrived, you'd be able to control Li Hongjun, but I didn't expect things to turn out like this. Later on, I received some information that Li Hongjun had to die, or else he would harm the villagers nearby, so from initially trying to stop him, I became his supporter instead. For everyone's sake, I advise you to just turn a blind eye and let Li Hongjun kill himself. And tomorrow, Li Hongjun must be cremated - it's his request, and something I have to do no matter what. You can't stop us."

  The policewoman frowned and exchanged a glance with the captain, not doubting whether my words were true or false. After all, Li Hongjun had said it himself that he wanted to commit suicide. However, the policewoman still had other suspicions and hummed: "Is Wang Liang in this state because you controlled him? I advise you to stop now while you still can. If something really happens, you won't be able to escape responsibility."

  He glanced at the policewoman, sighed and shook his head: "You don't understand, Wang Shouzhang is not the problem. As long as Li Hongjun dies, Wang Liang will be fine. You don't need to make any decisions, Li Hongjun must die, even if it means taking the blame for something. But there are some things I still have to do."

  I know what I have to do, Li Hongjun must die. Otherwise, if he becomes a Jiangshi, we won't be able to handle it. This isn't just any ordinary Jiangshi or corpse, and when the time comes, Li Hongjun will retain some of his intelligence from when he was alive, as well as his agility. That would be very difficult to deal with, and who knows what kind of price we'll have to pay? The so-called "price" is that many lives in the surrounding villages, or even farther away, will be lost. I don't dare think about that outcome. Of course, the only advantage right now is that Li Hongjun himself also wants to die, so no matter what, I won't let anyone stop him from seeking death.

  "Liu Hai, you know that what you're doing is against the law -" The policewoman suddenly stood up, her face already greatly changed, with a look of indignation staring at me.

  But before I could speak up, the captain frowned and scolded, "Zhao Yan, you sit down first, let me have a good talk with Liu Hai."

  Zhao Yan hummed again, very dissatisfied and sat down, but still stared at me with a piercing gaze. The captain glared at her and took a deep breath: "Liu Hai, if I'm not mistaken, you and Li Hongjun shouldn't have known each other before, right?"

  "We don't know each other, we just met for the first time yesterday. I know what you want to say. Li Hongjun and I have no grudges or conflicts, but I still have a reason that I must do this. That's because of the lives of countless villagers around here. Whether you believe it or not, I must do it." I sighed, knowing that insisting on this would lead to consequences, perhaps even getting me into trouble.

  The captain didn't say a word, just looked at me with some confusion. I knew he was waiting for my answer, and couldn't help but sigh: "These things can't be explained to you guys..."

  I looked up and saw Sanmei standing behind the captain, who hadn't shown up all day. I gave a wry smile: "Maybe she can explain it to you, maybe then you'll understand some things."

  As soon as the words fell, I turned my head and left, leaving the rest to Sanmei. Can't let him do nothing, but as soon as I walked away, I heard a loud shout from behind: "Liu Hai, stop right there!"

  As soon as the words fell, a gust of wind suddenly rose, blowing with a coolness that made people shiver. However, the leaves outside the courtyard remained still, only the canopy of the spirit hall swayed back and forth, and the long-lasting lamp on the offering table flickered dimly. The summer heat seemed to disappear instantly, and everyone subconsciously shivered.

  However, at this time, many police officers had not yet fully realized that something was wrong. Zhao Yan still wanted to catch up, but as soon as she took a step forward, the wind suddenly grew stronger and blew over a chair in front of her, which fell to the ground with a loud "clatter" sound, blocking her path. It's unclear whether Zhao Yan was being reckless or foolish, but she actually kicked the chair away and insisted on continuing to chase after him. But as soon as she took another step forward, the chair in front of her suddenly fell over again. At this point, even a fool would have realized that something was off. Why did all the other chairs remain upright, while only the one in front of Zhao Yan kept getting blown over?

  She stood there, her face turning pale, and Zhao Yan didn't dare take another step forward. She just stared at the chair, swallowing hard, as the wind continued to blow, making people feel a bit chilly. Zhao Yan shrank back, instinctively retreating, and standing with the crowd, only then did she feel a little more at ease in her heart.

  As soon as Zhao Yan returned, the wind suddenly stopped, as if it had never happened. If it weren't for the chairs that had fallen to the ground, people might have thought that everything that had just happened was just an illusion. But looking at those chairs, everyone's heart felt a chill, and they instinctively leaned in together, wondering what on earth was going on?

  "Heh heh——" The silence was broken by Wang Liang's sharp, shrill laughter, which sounded eerie in the darkness. Turning back to look, under the dim light, a faint, indescribable glow flickered in Wang Liang's eyes, hidden in the corner.

  "It's just started to get windy—" Zhao Yan wanted to say something, otherwise the atmosphere was too depressing, but as soon as she opened her mouth, it was this sentence, and her heart became even more chaotic. Damn it, how could it be so weird, and what's even weirder is yet to come.

  Just as Zhao Yan's voice fell, a policeman suddenly exclaimed and stood up from his chair. Everyone looked over and saw that the man's face was pale white, his whole body shaking like a ball, unsure whether he was chattering his teeth or trying to speak. All they could hear was the sound of his upper and lower teeth colliding. But what really caught everyone's attention was that the man stretched out one hand, but it was unclear what he was pointing at. Following the direction of his finger, all they saw was Li Hongjun's photo on the altar.

  The photo was temporarily taken out, not very clear, but it's just a photo, although it looks a bit eerie under the flashing long light, but there's no big difference, almost everyone has seen this situation, but can a photo scare that policeman like that?

  Everyone was suspicious, feeling a chill run down their spines tonight, but the photo didn't show anything out of the ordinary, so they all turned to look at the police officer. Only Zhao Yan hesitated for a moment, and in that moment of hesitation, she froze. The Li Hongjun in the photo not only winked at her but also smiled and made a face. This must be an illusion, she thought, telling herself it was just her imagination playing tricks on her. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, rubbed them, and then slowly opened them again, still feeling apprehensive. The photo remained in the same place, unchanged. It must have been her eyes playing tricks on her, Zhao Yan thought, exhaling a sigh of relief. Her heart seemed to relax, and she was about to turn around when Li Hongjun's face in the photo suddenly smiled at her, his lips moving as if saying something, but all that came out was mockery, making it seem like he was about to crawl out of the picture.

  "Ahh!" A shrill and mournful cry escaped from Zhao Yan's mouth, causing her to instinctively retreat backwards, but in doing so, she knocked the team leader to the ground and frightened everyone else, who stared at her in bewilderment.

  "Zhao Yan, what the hell are you doing?" The captain got up from the ground, with a face full of complaints, but when he saw Zhao Yan's face, which had already distorted due to fear, and her pale complexion, the captain was stunned. He knew Zhao Yan's temperament well - she was someone who feared neither heaven nor earth, and normally relied on her good martial arts skills, plus her father being a leader in the municipal bureau, so she basically didn't know how to write the word "fear", but at this moment...