The flesh had completely fallen away, and the skeleton had turned to dust.

Old Woman Yu had been utterly destroyed.

The Dragon King of yesteryear had started it, and now Li Zhuiyuan had finished it.

Her death must have been incredibly humiliating for her.

She died before fully recovering, remaining insane the entire time. She barely had a chance to show her true power, acting like a mad cow initially and a defeated dog later.

Yet, there was nothing to sympathize with her about.

Li Zhuiyuan felt no pangs of conscience about an unfair victory.

It was she who, back then, stood outside the threshold, carrying two cursed lanterns specifically made for A-Li.

A creature that only bullied children had no right to talk about what was fair or not. Did she really think she was something special?

Li Zhuiyuan picked up a tree branch nearby and began sifting through Old Woman Yu’s ashes.

He didn’t care if anything fell out; the act of sifting itself was a rewarding pleasure.

With a bang, the White Crane Boy delivered a punch, exploding the old woman’s head and utterly ending her last breath.

He had done it on purpose.

He controlled the timing, intentionally delaying the old woman’s departure so she could witness Old Woman Yu’s end.

At this moment, the Boy faced Li Zhuiyuan, watching his actions, and a look of contempt reappeared in his eyes, as if he hadn’t expected such a crude act from him.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t be bothered to respond to him, continuing to revel in his morbid pleasure.

Every emotion that arose was incredibly precious to the young man, especially such positive joy.

He could quickly learn many things, but these kinds of emotions were different. He had tried for a long time, only able to experience them but never to replicate them himself.

Lacking the inner substance and only showing the outward appearance was called acting.

“Oh?”

Li Zhuiyuan genuinely unearthed something.

Hidden beneath layers of thick ash, he hooked out a bone. It was the size and shape of a Chinese chess piece, ancient and smooth in texture, with evenly spaced bone nodes around its edges, displaying remarkable symmetrical beauty.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled out a talisman he had drawn from his pocket.

The talismans A-Li drew had specific effects, but the ones he drew himself were more like pH indicator strips.

Fortunately, it was genuinely sensitive.

He pressed the talisman onto the bone, and the paper didn’t change color.

Old Woman Yu was truly dead, with no surprises or lingering presence.

Upon touching it, he felt a distinctly smooth and flowing sensation, as if it possessed a property that amplified emotions. After contact, the joy in Li Zhuiyuan’s heart immediately increased.

This was a real effect, definitely not a psychological one, as the young man lacked that particular attribute.

Li Zhuiyuan wrapped the bone carefully and put it in his pocket.

When he returned, he could give it to A-Li as crafting material for the girl, which would also lighten the burden on the ancestors of the Qin and Liu families.

Turning to face the reservoir, Li Zhuiyuan squatted down and began washing his hands. Then he cupped a handful of water and splashed it onto his face, starting to wash his face.

“Phew…”

That felt good.

Although he wasn’t completely drained, he was genuinely tired.

In the reflection of the moonlight on the water, the White Crane Boy appeared beside him.

He knew the Boy was angry, but he truly didn’t care.

Now, he officially walked the River of Souls, carrying the heritage of the Qin and Liu families, representing the Heavenly Dao in suppressing evil.

It wasn’t like that night on the school playground anymore, when the Boy could still use the excuse of him raising ghosts to attack him.

Now, if the Boy dared to do so, he would risk losing everything he currently had; the Heavenly Dao was watching.

A formal official status, how precious that was. He should cherish it.

Li Zhuiyuan shook the water from his hands. When he turned to the White Crane Boy, the Boy lowered his head slightly, his vertical pupils fixed on Li Zhuiyuan, seemingly issuing a warning.

“My apologies, this was an accident. It won’t happen again.”

Hearing this, the Boy straightened up again.

He knew there were some things he couldn’t do. Since the young man in front of him had changed his previous attitude, he might as well stop while he was ahead and maintain a semblance of decorum.

In reality, however, Li Zhuiyuan’s words meant that this operation had been too rough because Zhuangzhuang, as a temporary operator, was unfamiliar with the job.

Next time, he would personally oversee the operation, ensuring he could escalate the damage step by step, achieving sustainable, thorough exploitation.

Of course, that was assuming Lin Shuyou could still be saved.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and first pulled out the four Evil-Breaking Talisman Needles.

The talismans had already changed color, and the needle tips were rusted, making them unusable for a second time. He simply discarded them.

When pulling out the sealing talisman needles, Li Zhuiyuan hesitated for a moment, but upon seeing Tan Wenbin’s figure approaching in the distance, he no longer delayed and pulled them out directly.

In an instant, the vertical pupils in Lin Shuyou’s eyes vanished, and he collapsed to the ground, like a balloon rapidly deflating after being punctured.

The good news was that he wasn’t bleeding anymore;

the bad news was that he didn’t have much blood left in his body.

His skin was a severe waxy yellow, a complexion that, for elders, typically meant it was time for family to prepare funeral arrangements, lest they be labeled unfilial by relatives and neighbors, leaving the elder restless before their passing.

Tan Wenbin ran over, breathless. Seeing Lin Shuyou in such a state, he assumed the man had already passed away.

“He’s gone?”

Li Zhuiyuan said faintly, “Not yet.”

“So, he’s close?”

Li Zhuiyuan pulled back Lin Shuyou’s sleeve and saw two red strings on his wrist.

“He won’t die. Someone is praying for him.”

Tan Wenbin asked in surprise, “Does praying actually work?”

“Does he have any tattoos?”

“Yes, he does. I saw it last time when I took him to the infirmary to change into a patient gown. Below his ribs, above his navel, there’s a painted facial mask. I even thought he seemed dull and honest, but he turned out to be quite interesting in private. He told me his grandfather personally tattooed it for him, and it hurt him for a long time when it was done.”

“Then that’s it. It’s not just about prayer; when he’s suffering from illness or misfortune, as long as he doesn’t die instantly, the other end has a chance to extend his life.”

“That powerful? It can extend life?”

“It should be a characteristic of the Guan Jiang Shou lineage. They truly are prone to accidents.”

Li Zhuiyuan felt that those who were invited down fought in their own style, not caring much about the spirit medium’s physical condition. Over time, this forced the mediums to devise methods for preserving and extending their lives.

However, in the current situation, it seemed that his life couldn’t be extended much further.

Li Zhuiyuan’s eyes narrowed. His fingertips first grasped the two red strings on Lin Shuyou’s wrist. With a gentle rub, the red strings became even brighter.

“Brother Binbin, pull up his shirt.”

“Alright.”

Lin Shuyou’s shirt was pulled up, revealing a damaged facial mask above his navel.

Li Zhuiyuan pressed his fingertips down and completed the facial mask by tracing its lines. His fingertips didn’t actually have any pigment, but as he traced, the colors of the original mask faded and flowed into the cracks, essentially taking from one area to mend another.

Although the overall color had significantly lightened, it was indeed completely mended and usable.

After doing all this, although Lin Shuyou’s face remained waxy yellow as if burdened by severe illness, his breathing finally became smooth again.

Li Zhuiyuan returned to the reservoir to wash his hands again and asked, “Brother Binbin, can you still carry someone?”

“No problem.”

Tan Wenbin was utterly exhausted tonight, but at this point, if he didn’t carry him, was Little Yuan supposed to?

Gritting his teeth, Tan Wenbin gripped Lin Shuyou and hoisted him onto his back. Although his steps faltered a bit, he managed to steady himself.

The three of them slowly walked back to the circus’s location.

Within the inner formation, those people were still trapped.

The outer formation was still active, effectively preventing the earlier commotion from spreading and keeping unauthorized personnel away.

Many ghost-wall stories circulating in society occur when people go to secluded places late at night. Sometimes, it’s not that they’ve encountered something sinister, but rather that they’ve accidentally walked into a formation someone had just set up.

Li Zhuiyuan had originally returned to retrieve his bag, but just as he picked it up, he noticed movement ahead.

“Thud.”

Tan Wenbin directly dropped Lin Shuyou onto the ground.

Then he picked up his Yellow River Shovel and slowly approached.

He suspected it was a straggler from the circus who hadn’t stepped into the formation, or had somehow managed to escape it through a series of coincidences.

At this point, there was no need for mercy. Since they were part of the human trafficking gang, killing them was fine.

But just as he pushed aside the tall grass ahead, a small boy poked his head out, his large eyes staring at Tan Wenbin, who was holding the shovel.

“Huh, it’s a child?”

Tan Wenbin lowered the shovel.

Liangliang was startled by Tan Wenbin. Instinctively, he looked towards the younger Li Zhuiyuan, thinking that the big brother in front of him looked fierce, but the younger brother surely must be gentle.

“Brother, save my dad! My dad is inside, my dad is in there!”

Li Zhuiyuan ignored him, busying himself with organizing his hiking bag.

Tan Wenbin asked, “Little one, where is your dad?”

“There.” Liangliang pointed towards the circus supply tent. “My dad bit through the rope for me with his teeth, and he told me to run.”

“Little Yuan, it seems he’s not an accomplice of the human traffickers. Should we help him?”

“Brother Binbin, whatever makes you happy.”

Li Zhuiyuan took a can of Jianlibao from his hiking bag, opened it, and began to drink.

Tan Wenbin, shovel in hand, led Liangliang to the supply tent. Pushing aside the curtain, he saw extremely exaggerated signs of a struggle inside. It was clear, without guessing, that the White Crane Boy and the old woman had left them.

Inside, there was a pile of iron cages, already warped. A man lay on the ground, bound hand and foot, with blood all over his mouth.

The ropes binding the children weren’t as thick or tight, so he could bite through them with his teeth. However, the ropes on his own body were too much for a child to help with, and he didn’t dare let his son stay there, having urged him to run away repeatedly earlier.

Tan Wenbin squatted down and used the sharp edge of his Yellow River Shovel to cut his ropes.

“Dad, Dad.” Liangliang rushed to Xu Dong.

“Liangliang, didn’t I tell you to leave?”

“Dad, I brought Brother Binbin to save you.”

“The police are here?” Xu Dong breathed a sigh of relief. “Officer, I’m guilty.”

“Wait until the actual police arrive, then you can tell them.”

After untying the man, Tan Wenbin didn’t delay further. He went back, found Brother Yuan, and left the place with him.

As they passed a roadside phone booth, Binbin first put down Lin Shuyou, letting him sit propped against the phone booth’s post. Then, he walked inside and called his father’s pager.

After hanging up, Tan Wenbin said to Li Zhuiyuan, “Little Yuan, let me carry the backpack.”

At this moment, Li Zhuiyuan was carrying a large hiking backpack, holding Lin Shuyou’s bag in his right hand, and a half-finished bottle of Jianlibao in his left.

“No need, I can carry it.”

From this, it was clear that the young man’s physical foundation had already been laid.

However, with Runsheng around on weekdays, he didn’t need to do any work, and he preferred riding on Runsheng’s back anyway because it was easier.

“Carrying people isn’t tiring at all; it’s like resting, haha. If carrying people is tiring, then what kind of corpse-retriever would I be?”

As Tan Wenbin spoke, he tried to take the bag from Li Zhuiyuan.

Just then, Lin Shuyou, who had been sitting propped against the phone booth post, tilted sideways and fell over. There happened to be a stone on the road, and with a ‘thud,’ his head directly hit it.

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at Lin Shuyou with his Jianlibao bottle and said:

“Brother Binbin, you’d better take good care of him. Don’t let all the effort they’re putting into extending his life with a ceremony be undone by you killing him here.”

“Oh, right, right.”

Tan Wenbin propped Lin Shuyou back up, and at the same time, kicked away the stone that dared to ‘attack’ Lin Shuyou.

“I imagine someone from Lin Shuyou’s hometown will come to the school before long.”

“I know, Little Yuan.”

Lin Shuyou had suffered two serious injuries in a short period, and this time was even more absurd and exaggerated.

People from his hometown would definitely send someone to check on the situation afterward.

They were probably wondering how their child, going to university here, kept getting possessed and battling evil spirits every now and then. What kind of den of dragons and tigers was this Jinling City anyway?

Li Zhuiyuan meant for Tan Wenbin to keep Lin Shuyou stable and handle the visitors from his hometown without causing any trouble.

Tan Wenbin indicated that he understood and would be responsible for ‘taking care’ of him.

Even though Lin Shuyou was unconscious and couldn’t hear, some things were pointless to spell out too clearly.

However, this matter wasn’t a big problem. Li Zhuiyuan believed Tan Wenbin could handle things, and the straightforward Lin Shuyou was also quite easy to appease.

He estimated that when Lin Shuyou woke up, his first words wouldn’t be questions, but self-reproach: “I’m sorry, it’s my fault for not dealing with that old woman in time.”

“Ring! Ring!”

The phone in the booth rang; it was Tan Yunlong returning the call after receiving the pager message.

Tan Wenbin went back inside and answered the phone:

“Hello, is this Officer Tan?”

“It’s your dad.”

“Officer Tan, we’re discussing serious matters here. Please be more dignified.”

“Name.”

“Tan Wenbin.”

“Gender.”

“Male.”

“Family situation.”

“Raised by my mother.”

“Heh.”

Tan Wenbin covered the receiver and called out to Li Zhuiyuan, who was standing outside, “My dad’s been drinking, quite a lot.”

Tan Yunlong had indeed been drinking. It was a celebration dinner his department had thrown for him, and he had drunk a lot.

Just then, Tan Wenbin heard a few consecutive slapping sounds from the other end of the line.

Immediately after, the voice on the phone returned to its usual composed tone:

“Comrade Tan Wenbin, have you located Old Woman Yu’s criminal gang?”

“Yes, Officer Tan. They are at the circus’s base in Tong’an Town, West Suburb Plaza. This entire circus is a human trafficking operation.”

“Alright, I understand.”

The call ended. Tan Wenbin shrugged, walked out of the phone booth, and happened to see Lin Shuyou tilting to the other side. He lunged forward and kicked a stone on the ground nearby.

“Thud!”

Lin Shuyou’s head simply hit the ground.

“Phew, Little Yuan, I was quick this time, right? Haha.”

“Why didn’t you just hold him up?”

“Uh…”

“You’re exhausted. Take a taxi back and get some good rest.”

“Little Yuan, we really need to get our own car, even if it’s a used one.”

Getting a taxi in the suburbs late at night was truly inconvenient.

“You two should get your driver’s licenses first.”

“Oh right, I completely forgot about that. I’ll go get mine first; they don’t have time right now. By the way, Little Yuan, do those formations not need to be dealt with?”

“No need. Their effects will dissipate before dawn, and the police will certainly have arrived by then.”

“But what if my dad and the others get trapped inside, then…?”

“They won’t. That bit of residual formation power will be broken the moment a police badge clashes with it.”

“It has that effect too?”

“Guan Jiang Shou, aren’t they basically the police station of the underworld?”

“Oh, a car! Lucky us today.”

A taxi arrived, pulled over, and rolled down its window. It was surprisingly the same driver who had taken them earlier that afternoon.

“Hey, it really is you guys.”

“Well, isn’t that a coincidence? This is fate. It’s about seeing things through from start to finish for long-lasting good fortune, wouldn’t you agree, driver?”

Tan Wenbin realized the driver was off duty and heading home. He had mentioned his home was in this town, so Tan Wenbin had to get ahead of him.

A look of clear hesitation appeared on the driver’s face, but considering Tan Wenbin’s auspicious words, he waved his hand and said, “Alright, get in. I’ll take you back to school. So, no meter then?”

“Sure, no meter then. Whatever it cost during the day, that’s what it’ll cost to get back tonight.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

“Then, driver, do you mean you’ll take us back for free? That works too!”

“Alright, let’s just go with the original price, the daytime original price.”

With fewer cars at night, the taxi sped along and finally dropped the three of them off at the school gate. Tan Wenbin paid the fare.

The driver counted the money and sighed, “Well, I guess I’ll be driving back empty.”

After saying this, the driver restarted his car. Just as he pulled away, whether due to a driving error, distraction, or a problem with the car itself, he inexplicably drove directly onto the flower bed, with the front of the car lifting high into the air.

The commotion was quite loud, and the school security guard came out to help.

Tan Wenbin spoke up, “Little Yuan, is it because he really shouldn’t have charged us the fare?”

The driver had said earlier that day that he would take his child to see the circus performance tomorrow. If Li Zhuiyuan and the others hadn’t dealt with it tonight, then his clever son would have been at significant risk of being abducted tomorrow.

This act of kindness, not properly repaid, would then rebound in other ways.

It was the same principle as elders saying ‘broken pieces bring peace’ when a child breaks a dish.

“Perhaps,”

Tan Wenbin continued, “But him charging us the standard meter fare and taking us back is already good enough. How would a normal person know what to do? It’s too difficult.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “So, in reality, who can always have abundant good fortune?”

After saying this, the young man thought of his own great-grandfather.

Entering the campus, they arrived at the dormitory building. The new dorm supervisor auntie had already locked the door.

“Little Yuan, I’ll climb over.”

“No need. It’s almost dawn anyway. You take Lin Shuyou to the infirmary, and I’ll go sleep over there.”

“Alright.”

Tan Wenbin walked towards the infirmary with Lin Shuyou on his back, while Li Zhuiyuan, laden with bags, headed towards the faculty housing.

He pushed open the courtyard gate; it was very quiet inside.

There was no sound from inside even after Li Zhuiyuan reached the French window.

The girl didn’t open the window as before, nor did she stand there barefoot.

The French window was unlocked. Li Zhuiyuan gently opened it and stepped inside.

The girl was lying in bed, sleeping.

Li Zhuiyuan stood by the bed, watching her for a while in the moonlight streaming in.

The quilt was beside her.

Li Zhuiyuan reached for the quilt. Sensing the residual warmth within, he knew the girl had originally been covered by it and had just gotten up, intending to open the window and greet him as usual.

But she remembered what he had said, so she lay back down, pretending to be asleep.

However, she had folded the quilt according to his habit, covering her stomach, and there hadn’t been time to refold it properly.

After folding the quilt neatly, Li Zhuiyuan gently placed it over the girl’s stomach.

Then he put down all his bags, lay down on the carpet below the bed, and closed his eyes.

He was tired; he wanted to sleep.

Old Woman Yu being dealt with earlier meant he would have a period of peace, allowing him to sleep without any worries.

After a while, the girl slowly sat up, carefully lifting the quilt the young man had folded for her, and placed it aside.

Then she turned and came to the side of the bed, resting her chin on her left hand, simply watching the young man sleeping soundly on the carpet.

Moonlight also fell upon him, as if casting a layer of radiance.

As for the stars, they were all in the girl’s eyes.

Police cars were deployed in large numbers, entering the western suburbs of Tong’an Town, along with many green trucks from which armed police officers disembarked.

First, they completed the encirclement, then they proceeded with the raid and arrests.

The entire process went much more smoothly than expected.

This was because all the circus members were sitting in place, waiting to be arrested, each more spiritless than a grasshopper in late autumn, completely unable to move.

The entire circus, apart from the old woman and Sister Rou, consisted of ordinary people who were genuine human traffickers.

Consequently, many people, affected by the ‘ghost wall,’ had already shown symptoms of mental breakdown. Upon seeing the police rush toward them, they acted as if they had found ‘saviors,’ weeping bitterly while voluntarily confessing their crimes.

Tan Yunlong stood beside a police car, lighting a cigarette. He was very sleepy and forcing himself to stay alert.

He had drunk quite a bit of alcohol because he had the morning off tomorrow, but then something else happened.

At the celebration dinner, his superiors had been praising his excellent performance, noting how he had continuously solved cold cases since starting his new position, and urging everyone to learn from him.

When he received the pager message, went out, and called everyone to assemble, his superior was surprised and even said, “Another case solved already?”

He hadn’t intended to be so conspicuous, but his son kept calling him repeatedly, lighting him up like a lightbulb.

“Captain Tan, a body has been found in the performance tent.”

“Male or female?”

“I… I can’t tell.”

“Take me to see it.”

Tan Yunlong entered the performance tent and saw the peculiarly shaped body, its bones and flesh separated.

Furthermore, the flesh part clearly showed signs of prolonged, extensive beating and was completely mangled.

Tan Yunlong approached, examined it, and said, “It’s a female body.”

Little Zhou, standing nearby, asked curiously, “How was this done?”

“Beaten with stones.”

“Huh?”

Tan Yunlong pointed to the numerous blood-stained stones near the body.

Little Zhou clicked his tongue, saying, “Just how much hatred was there? They kept smashing even after the person was dead.”

“Unless the killer rearranged the scene after the murder, judging by the distribution of stones on the ground and the bloodstains on the floor, the victim must have still been alive and moving when she was being beaten.”

“She was hit with so many stones and didn’t die immediately? This victim is too unbelievable!”

“Let’s secure the scene first.”

Tan Yunlong and the others exited the performance tent. Outside, armed police were escorting circus members into vehicles.

Officer Xiaoyun from the same department asked curiously, “Captain Tan, how did you know this was a human trafficking group again?”

“My son studies at Jinling University.”

Everyone present had previously worked in the same office and were now part of Tan Yunlong’s team. They all found this opening line a bit familiar.

Tan Yunlong continued, “You’ve met Binbin; he visited our office last time and even brought you breakfast. Today, he and a classmate came here to have some fun, noticed something amiss with this circus, and told me about it.”

Everyone nodded.

Only Little Zhou, likely due to having too much to drink, boldly stated, “Captain Tan, it’s your son again… I don’t quite believe it.”

They were all police officers, working in this line of duty, and weren’t easily fooled or dismissed. It was just that they had been too embarrassed to say anything before.

Just then, an armed police officer walked over, pointing to a man and a child standing in the distance, and said, “That man wants to surrender.”

Little Zhou: “Is he a human trafficker too?”

“No, he said he originally came here to sell his son but regretted it. When he tried to get his son back, he was refused, beaten by them, and then locked in a cage with his son. The child said a brother named Binbin rescued them.”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s expressions changed. It turned out to be true; Captain Tan hadn’t lied.

Little Zhou immediately said, “Captain Tan, I was wrong.”

“Heh heh, it’s fine.”

Tan Yunlong waved his hand, displaying a look that clearly said: ‘See, what I said was true.’

But what he was thinking was:

Why were those brats so messy this time? They rescued someone and actually let themselves be seen.

Now they’d have to go through the whole process at the police station. Don’t let it delay Little Yuan’s matters.