Chapter 20: Premeditated m*rder
That night, at the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, Office No. 6.
Inside the room, a display rack was filled with various peculiar bottles and jars. On the metallic long table, an alchemical cauldron was continuously heating a dark red potion, while a glass container beside it was cold-extracting some herbs.
At the corner desk, An Qing supported his face with one hand and spun a pen with the other, sitting slightly tilted with a pair of lazy and charming eyes scanning the computer screen.
The screen displayed an application document, sent five minutes ago by a member of the Special Action Team stationed at the Huacheng Central Hospital.
The gist of the application was that a student named Jin Yecheng from Huacheng University had encountered an urban legend incident and was requesting to use alchemical potions during treatment to clear residual spirit energy fluctuations.
For ordinary people like Jin Yecheng, who had come into contact with urban legends and survived, any alchemical potions needed during treatment must be reported to An Qing.
“Mhm, no problem…”
After confirming that the alchemical potions listed in the application were fine, An Qing mumbled, put down the pen, moved the mouse, and clicked the “Confirm” button at the bottom right of the screen.
Aside from being overly frightened and showing slight autonomic nervous system dysfunction, Jin Yecheng had not developed Nightfall Syndrome. He only needed to clear the residual spirit energy fluctuations and observe him in the hospital for a few days; there were no drugs requiring strict review.
“Knock knock knock—!” A knock sounded at the door.
“Come in.”
An Qing responded, and shortly after, the office door was pushed open, accompanied by a series of “sasa” sounds.
“Officer Li and your junior sister really have a deep bond! Pushing her in a wheelchair wherever you go—so, what brings you here at this late hour?” An Qing teased.
She recognized the sound of the wheelchair wheels. Earlier, Li Xuan had borrowed a wheelchair from her for Huasang.
When no response came from behind, a look of doubt gradually appeared in An Qing’s eyes. She turned around and was momentarily taken aback, “Whoa, who are you? Why are you in Huasang’s wheelchair?”
A swollen-faced man sat in the wheelchair, gazing at her with a longing stare. His arms and legs, exposed by his short-sleeved summer outfit, were covered with large areas of redness and eczema.
A disheveled girl stood behind the man, her right hand wrapped in bandages, gripping the wheelchair’s handles with both hands.
An Qing looked at the man with an unusual expression, then turned to Huasang, asking tentatively, “Is this… your senior brother?”
Although it was a questionable question, she could not believe that Li Xuan had used the wheelchair intended for Huasang.
Huasang nodded, “Yes, he needs treatment.”
An Qing rubbed her temples and sighed silently, “…” What a fine ancient-style warm man, and he’s almost unrecognizable; of course, he needs treatment.
“I see. Um… Why don’t you wait in the lounge for a bit? I’ll call you when I’m done.”
Huasang glanced at Li Xuan, her gaze lingering on his swollen face. After he nodded in acknowledgment, she withdrew her gaze and slightly bowed to An Qing, “Thank you.”
“If… if there’s anything you need help with, just call me anytime. I’ve learned some alchemy and healing spells, and I’ve also read a few medical books.”
Her eyebrows were lowered, and her tone carried a hint of eagerness, as if she were trying to rectify a mistake she had made.
Li Xuan, “…”
Please don’t help, just leave!
If you help any further, I might just d*e today.
Li Xuan thought and quickly shot An Qing a pleading look.
An Qing smiled wryly, shook her head at Huasang, and softly said, “No need, just leave this to me. You should rest for a while, especially since you just experienced that earlier today.”
Huasang hesitated for a few seconds, nodded, and quietly pushed the door to leave.
————
“Click!”
With a soft sound, the office door closed again.
An Qing took a chair and sat down in front of Li Xuan, casually putting on gloves she took from her lab coat pocket, then gently patted his cheek, “Alright, stick out your tongue.”
“Good grief, you’re in quite a state!”
“This one, this blister is the most standard blister I’ve seen in my years as a doctor! Makes me want to cut it off and make a specimen out of it.” Seeing the numerous blisters densely packed on Li Xuan’s tongue, An Qing smiled.
Hearing this, Li Xuan felt a wave of chills. He knew she wasn’t joking; if he were a corpse, his tongue would probably have already entered the specimen-making stage.
“Was this also an accident like last time’s diarrhea?”
“Ugh!” Li Xuan sighed, “Junior sister didn’t mean it; she’s quite unfortunate too.”
An Qing pouted and asked, “Speaking of which, with your junior sister’s spirit patterns being such a serious issue, you haven’t mentioned it to Dachunyang Palace at all?”
“Keep it up, and you might be in for big trouble!”
The recent Nightfall Syndrome outbreak had already worn An Qing out. She was concerned that Huasang’s abnormality could trigger a new outbreak.
From her observations, Huasang had the potential to become a source of Nightfall Syndrome contamination.
Li Xuan looked at An Qing and sighed silently, “Of course I’ve asked, but my master said that junior sister Huasang had also used spirit energy intensely before without any problems. They don’t know what happened this time.”
“My master also said that what the Chief Priest does must have his deep reasoning and told me not to worry excessively.”
“Oh, that person…” An Qing nodded thoughtfully, then checked Li Xuan’s eczema, gaining a rough understanding of his condition, before turning to the display rack and taking down several differently colored ceramic jars, moving to the workstation to start preparing the potion.
Since Disaster-Class Spiritual Energy Manipulator, [Black Emperor], who claims to glimpse fate, said there’s no problem, she felt a bit more at ease.
As far as it seemed, only Li Xuan was out of luck.
And besides, it was merely bad luck; even if he was further affected, he could fully recover within a month at most.
The office fell quiet again.
An Qing stood at the workstation, mixing several dried herbs together and carefully grinding them into powder, dispersing them with fire lizard tears, then setting it aside to preheat the alchemical cauldron.
“Speaking of which, there’s a lead on the identities of those two guys we caught at the airport.”
“Oh?” Li Xuan frowned and asked, “Have you finally pried their mouths open? It wouldn’t be that Luxianbei kid who came to interrogate them, would it?”
An Qing filtered the prepared potion, poured it into the alchemical cauldron, turned around, and tilted her head slightly, “Why do you think it would be that kid asking questions?”
The two exchanged silent glances for a few seconds, instinctively cradling their foreheads, as if they had both received the answer from each other.
“You know.”
That Luxianbei kid is so troublesome; he’s probably someone even urban legends wouldn’t tolerate! Li Xuan thought.
“Alright, I’ll pretend I didn’t ask.”
He indeed had great talent; if he were in a bigger city with more manpower, he could be working in a “psychiatric hospital” where he could truly display his abilities—he might even become the “director.” An Qing thought.
“It wasn’t Luxianbei who got it out; it was a brother organization from a neighboring country that forced it out. They also captured a spirit energy user who caused similar incidents; as for how they got it out…” An Qing shrugged.
“There are many types of spirit patterns in this world, with all sorts of strange abilities, and there will always be someone who can think of a way.”
“True.” Li Xuan nodded, “So what did they find out? Do they know who was orchestrating it?”
“They didn’t find anything that specific.” As An Qing poured the boiled potion into a beaker, she explained, “They only learned that those behind the recent attacks are members of the Miracle Cult. It seems they are looking for something.”
“There are no more concrete leads; those guys’ memories were severely damaged, and they could only get to this extent.”
“Miracle Cult? That’s a bit troublesome!” Li Xuan sighed.
“Who says it isn’t!”
Though the long-term threat of the Miracle Cult isn’t as frightening as that of the Solar Eclipse Society, based on their modus operandi, their short-term destructive capability is likely far greater than the Solar Eclipse Society.
It’s like the difference between a sociopathic madman and a terrorist with advanced technology.
Li Xuan couldn’t even comprehend how searching for something was linked to causing spirit energy attack incidents.
Among the members of the Miracle Cult, there’s a saying—“Whatever one desires, there will be a miracle!”
Their way of doing things can never be measured by normal logic; once you can understand their thinking, the odds are high that you’ve already become one of them.
At the workstation, An Qing added the last ingredient to the beaker, catalyzed it with spirit energy for a few seconds, and handed it to Li Xuan, “Here, drink this first.”
Li Xuan glanced at the alchemical potion An Qing had prepared, his eyes widening in disbelief as if asking, “Are you sure?”
In that small beaker, there was half a cup of thick, glowing red liquid, steaming and looking like lava.
“Of course! If you’re feeling unwell, just drink some lava!” An Qing nodded, teasing, “Aren’t you itchy all over? With your current situation, it would be more practical to stop the itching before treatment.”
“…”
Li Xuan remained silent, unmoved.
It itches, but he could still endure.
Seeing this, An Qing tilted her head slightly, gave a charming smile, leaned forward, and whispered in his ear, “Imagine a swarm of mosquitoes biting every joint in your fingers.”
“And then, a small hand with a feather gently rubs over those mosquito bites, again and again… At that moment, you come into contact with something you’re allergic to, and the place you can’t scratch on your back starts to itch, and then…”
An Qing’s words made Li Xuan’s eczema feel as if it had been triggered; he found it unbearable and finally grit his teeth, saying, “Stop, I’ll drink it!”
After saying that, he lifted the beaker, tipped his head back, and gulped it down.
In the next moment, he felt as if a flaming Thomas the Tank Engine rushed through his throat, and his expression turned sour like a live streamer who had just eaten a black salt plum.
It proved that under An Qing’s “gentle persuasion,” no patient could refuse to take their medicine.
————
The night was dark.
At Huacheng University, Gate Four Main Road.
Under the erosion of the black mist, what was already a dilapidated small warehouse had three of its four walls collapsed, exposing twisted and deformed steel frames, precariously teetering.
Around the small warehouse, within a ten-meter radius, all vegetation had died, turning into clumps of sludge. Even the soil and stones appeared scorched black.
This black mist was not only corrosive but also had a burning nature; wherever it passed, there were no visible flames, yet it left behind scorch marks.
It resembled a severely degraded version of Black Sun embers. After observing quietly for over an hour, Luxianbei had such thoughts combined with Zhang Shuo’s identity as a high-ranking member of the Solar Eclipse Society.
Once the black mist emanating from the time capsule fully dissipated, she observed for a while longer and conducted tests with Zhipianxian before temporarily confirming that the threat had been eliminated.
“You can come out, but stay back; I’ll go take a look.”
After dispelling the defensive spell, Luxianbei crawled out from the pit, directing the Decapitated Senior and the surrounding small urban legends to retreat while cautiously approaching the small warehouse.
Inside the small warehouse, on a pitch-black ground, two completely damaged time capsules lay in pieces.
The one belonging to the Decapitated Senior was already reduced to ashes, while the one belonging to Hu Chuan was piled with shards and slightly bulging, as if something was pressing down on it.
Noticing this, Luxianbei concentrated and directed Zhipianxian, who was following her, to fly up and start searching through the debris, soon making a discovery.
Two Zhipianxian twisted their small bodies to pull out several fragments of the time capsule, aligning them neatly on the ground.
On the inner surfaces of those fragments, some distorted inscriptions could be vaguely seen.
Luxianbei carefully examined them, but couldn’t identify anything crucial at the moment. She could only take out her phone and snap pictures to record them.
Next, a few Zhipianxian discovered a delicate thin necklace.
The necklace appeared to be made of pure gold, which allowed it to withstand the black mist’s erosion.
The two Zhipianxian, one on each side, flew in front of Luxianbei, who examined the necklace carefully, nodding thoughtfully.
This should be the gift Hu Chuan intended to give to the Decapitated Senior.
This item was purchased by him; he had also come into contact with it, and it should be usable to complete the summoning ritual, Luxianbei thought.
Just as she was pondering, several Zhipianxian made another discovery.
They unearthed a small black figure from the debris pile.
“…”
A group of white figures surrounded a single black figure; the scene was bizarrely subtle!
It felt as if Zhipianxian might suddenly unleash violence on it…
Luxianbei scoffed inwardly, controlling the Zhipianxian to spread out, moving closer to carefully observe the little black figure and furrowed her brows.
She had initially thought the figure had turned black due to exposure to the black mist but realized upon closer inspection that it was made from the hair of some creature.
Sticking out from its chest was a small, shiny, dark red wooden pin that pierced through its body.
Cursed Poison Doll!
The term flashed through Luxianbei’s mind, and then she discreetly glanced back at the Decapitated Senior, who was hiding behind a peach tree and watching her.
Was the hair used to make the doll the Senior’s?
If it was the Senior’s hair, did Hu Chuan put it in from the very beginning or later on?
Items like cursed poison dolls, Luxianbei had seen in both The Book of Siye and the knowledge of the Great Serpent God. Similar items exist in shamanic cultures worldwide, and their primary purpose is often to inflict curses on specific individuals.
If Hu Chuan had initially placed a cursed poison doll made from the Senior’s hair into the time capsule, it might not have been a momentary impulse that led to the Senior’s d*ath, but rather…
Premeditated m*rder!
When this crossed her mind, a chill ran down Luxianbei’s back.
Gugugug
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Today, I went to draw the spirit patterns (got vaccinated). I felt a bit unwell afterward, so I’m taking a day off to sleep early. Updates tomorrow. @@
