Early in the morning, Jingxian fried eggs in the kitchen.
After Lu Ying sobered up, breakfast was placed on the table. He didn't sleep well last night, and was half asleep and half awake the whole night. He began to doze off in the morning. If he hadn't been tempted by the aroma of food, he would probably still be sleeping soundly in bed.
It's still raining outside.
It was just a light rain, very quiet, without the violent rain as before.
He took a bite of fried eggs, and Jingxian handed him a glass of water at the right time.
The cell phone rang. It was Ye Feng calling.
He picked up the phone, and Ye Feng said, "Hey, something happened. Last night, Chen was stabbed."
Lu Yingjiu's drinking of porridge slowed down for a moment and asked, "What do you mean by being stabbed?"
"He was stabbed several times in the literal sense and is now in the ICU for emergency treatment. He is still in critical condition." Ye Feng said, "The other party was very cruel. It was not because he had a talisman in his pocket that he could have survived. He could not have held on until Chu Banyang found him. It was just a coincidence that when Master Chu walked halfway, he found that he had missed submitting the documents, so he went to Chen's house."
He forced a smile and said, "This old fox is really lucky."
Lu Yingjiu put down the spoon in his hand and narrowed his eyes: "What's the situation at the scene?"
"Chu Banyang is investigating. A large group of people have come to the Chen family." Ye Feng said, "There is another piece of bad news. The first is that the key that Chen kept is missing. After checking the evidence room, we found that all the evidence is gone, including the human skin/mask that was found."
Lu Yingjiu's eyebrows jumped, and he asked again: "What is the second bad news?"
"Fan Xin is missing." Ye Feng said, "When the nurse came to check on the room this morning, she found that the room was already empty. Her whereabouts are still unknown."
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
He took a deep breath and rubbed his brows before he suppressed the urge to curse.
Then he stood up and said, "I will find him back."
Ye Feng was stunned: "How do you find it?"
"I always find a way, don't I? And I have a bad feeling that Fan Xin is in danger." Lu Yingjiu hung up the phone.
Fan Xin was haunted by a ghost, so she shouldn't have asked him for help, but should have asked the accomplice who provided her with the mask. But she didn't do that, and there was a high probability that something went wrong between them.
When sending Fan Xin to the hospital, Lu Yingjiu became cautious and left a small paper figure on her body.
His level is so low that if he really wants to hide it, other exorcists will not be able to find the paper man.
But Fan Xin couldn't escape from the ward by herself.
She must have been taken away by someone. In the best case scenario, it was an accomplice who wanted to rescue her; in the worst case scenario, it was an attempt to silence her.
There was a backpack at the door, which contained all the items Lu Yingjiu would need for his outings. He carried the backpack and also took out a thick raincoat.
He and Jingxian got in the car.
Jing Xian asked: "Where are you going?"
"East." Lu Yingjiu fastened his seat belt, "Drive straight to the beach."
…
The waves are rolling.
The abandoned warehouse was filled with the smell of seawater, and looking out of the narrow window, one could only see the iron-blue sky. The sky was covered with dark clouds and a light drizzle was falling.
The girl in hospital gown was huddled in a corner, her hair was disheveled, her hands were tied behind her back, and there were several dragging marks on her back and legs. The wounds were mixed with sand and looked bright red and hideous. She was forcibly dragged out of the hospital and brought here. The ropes on her legs had been loosened long ago, and she could have escaped, but...
In front of her, a golden monkey was squatting.
Seeing her move, it bared its teeth, revealing its sharp teeth that were strong enough to bite through steel plates.
Fan Xin knew how powerful the gods invited by the exorcist were.
It's definitely not something she can match.
There was a rustling sound at the end of the warehouse. The man was looking for something, and seemed to have noticed the ape's agitation, so he said, "I advise you to stay still. This guy has eaten human flesh before."
Fan Xin shuddered.
She looked at Chen Qi's back.
From the moment she started planning the murder, she knew that the other party was a cold-blooded person - she was not afraid at the time, but felt happy instead, because cold-bloodedness was what she needed most.
But she didn't expect how terrible it would be when this cruelty was directed at her six years later.
Chen Qi finished sorting out his things and found out more than a dozen fake passports and large sums of cash hidden in the warehouse. The bills were carefully placed in a box, and when they were opened, they were full of pink, which was very tempting.
These things have been here for who knows how many years, and today they finally came in handy. They are enough for him to fly away.
He carried these things, with his round body, and walked back with some effort, and sat on the wooden box opposite Fan Xin.
The wooden box groaned under the pressure of his body.
Chen Qi came here wearing a human skin mask, but when he was looking for something, he was accidentally scratched by a piece of scrap metal.
The mask was fragile to begin with, and the cuts were curling outwards, which looked particularly strange.
He touched his face, realized this, clicked his tongue, took off the entire mask and put it beside him.
Now, the familiar face appeared in front of Fan Xin again.
The speedboat hadn't arrived yet, and the sea breeze was howling outside. The black waves hit the pier, turning white.
Chen Qi smoothed back his sweaty black hair, looked at the shivering girl in front of him, and suddenly felt the urge to reminisce about the past.
He said: "When I first saw you, you were only 16 years old, and you are that big now."
Fan Xin didn't say anything.
Chen Qi shook his head and said, "You were so smart back then, how come you've become more and more retarded as time goes by? When you said you wanted to take revenge on Chen Yanyan, you were very decisive."
After a long while, Fan Xin said in a trembling voice: "If you let me go, I won't tell you anything. In the past few days, I haven't mentioned your name at all."
"Let you go?" Chen Qi smiled. "You made a mistake from the beginning. You shouldn't have asked Lu Yingjiu for help and brought him to the slaughterhouse. If it weren't for him, I could have delayed it for another year."
When Lu Yingjiu's name was mentioned, a flash of anger flashed across his brows, and he said in a low voice: "On the contrary, he is a man who will soon die... There is only half a year left..."
The voice of this sentence was too low and Fan Xin could not hear it clearly.
Chen Qi patted the suitcase behind him again and said with a smile: "They will definitely find out about me within a few days. Chen Ming is a loser. He was caught destroying evidence in a warehouse. He is not tight-lipped. He will definitely reveal everything he should and shouldn't say. They should have discovered it today, but my brother died, which is enough to confuse them for a few days."
Fan Xin looked at him in disbelief.
"What? You think I won't do anything to my brother?" Chen Qi clicked his tongue. "He's such a fool, but he's also very stubborn on some issues. I've spent so much time on guarding against him over the years. No matter what, you're not important at all, but you're the only one who knows the whole story. Until now, if you don't care, I'll always feel like I can't sleep well."
Six years ago, Chen Qi had already planned how to get rid of Chen Minlan's family.
He had been producing human skin masks at the Sidong slaughterhouse, and sold the masks without anyone noticing through logistics. Many years had passed like this, but unexpectedly, Chen Minlan suddenly discovered some clues.
As the head of the Chen family, Chen Minlan was a straight-forward person and would never tolerate such behavior, so she mobilized a large number of people to investigate. Chen Qi was always cautious, but after all, the truth could not be hidden, and seeing that it was only a matter of time before he was discovered, he immediately became murderous.
He never found a suitable breakthrough.
Murder is one thing, and how to cover it up is another. After all, Chen Minlan's family are all exorcists, so how could they be so careless and attract ghosts for no reason
He wanted to start with Chen Yanyan, who knew the least about exorcism, but time was running out and he didn't have much chance.
At this time, Fan Xin came into his sight.
When Chen Qi secretly observed Chen Yanyan, he noticed that they sometimes wore masks and exchanged identities - he knew the cloud weaving technique too well, and the mask Chen Yanyan used was made of animal skin, so he could see the flaw at a glance.
He spent a little more effort to inquire.
The thoughts of a high school girl were no secret to him, and he quickly found out the situation.
Chen Yanyan forced Fan Xin to exchange identities with her. She usually got along with her classmates, relying on her knowledge of simple spells and her beautiful appearance, and she was arrogant and unpopular.
But usually she likes to play with Fan Xin and calls her a "good girlfriend".
Fan Xin is plain-looking, and she wears rustic clothes because she grew up in a poor family. When standing next to Chen Yanyan, they look like an ugly duckling and a white goose. Fan Xin's boyfriend is Lu Fanghong, and I don't know if it's because of love or not, but when they play together, Chen Yanyan always tries to hold Lu Fanghong's arm, or pats his head, and makes some completely unnecessary physical contact.
Lu Fanghong didn't know whether he was weak in character and didn't dare to refuse, or he really had no bottom line, so he let Chen Yanyan do it.
Chen Yanyan enjoyed this contrast, but did not notice the jealousy and resentment in Fan Xin's eyes towards her.
Chen Qi noticed it.
One afternoon after school, he put on a human skin mask, carefully disguised himself as a high school student, and found Fan Xin alone.
"I know you have swapped identities." He said bluntly, "I am from the Chen family and I need you to do me a favor."
Fan Xin took a half step back cautiously.
Chen Qi said, "I specialize in masks. Do you want to be as beautiful as Chen Yanyan? I can help you do it."
Fan Xin's eyes moved.
Chen Qi continued, "What you need to do is very simple. Tell Chen Yanyan that you want to test your courage and play a supernatural game."
Fan Xin finally spoke: "Why? What do you want to do?"
Chen Qi spread his hands and said, "It's a private matter between her and me. I just wanted to scare her and make her think that she was possessed by a ghost. What? Think about it?" He smiled, "The mask I made is very realistic."
Fan Xin raised her head and looked at him: "... Will you hurt her?"
Chen Qi thought she was heartless and hypocritically assured him, "I was just trying to scare her."
Unexpectedly, Fan Xin shook her head and said, "I thought you could be more ruthless."
Chen Qi was stunned, then smiled: "You will know later. Now, I will tell you which date to choose. Chen Yanyan's brother's birthday is coming soon..."
Later, Fan Xin really made an excuse and said that she wanted to play a supernatural game.
Chen Yanyan was not interested at first, but she didn't want to appear timid, so she said, "Why don't we go to the slaughterhouse? I'm familiar with that place."
Chen Qi gave Fan Xin the object of the ghost's obsession in advance.
He had determined to kill Chen Yanyan from the beginning: if he wanted Fan Xin to impersonate her and contact Chen Minlan, then Chen Yanyan was a must.
But what they didn't expect was that Chen Yanyan and Ke Yu accidentally encountered the sheep ghost and saw the human skin/mask while escaping.
Fortunately, this change did not affect the plan: Ke Yu was a complete layman and was easy to fool. Chen Yanyan was killed by him in the identity of "Fan Xin" without anyone noticing and her body was thrown into the sea.
The real Fan Xin brought a ghost to the KTV.
She has been imitating Chen Yanyan for a long time, and even in front of her family, she can delay a lot of time.
At that time, Chen Yanyan's brother was running around screaming and singing out-of-tune songs. Unwrapped gift boxes were scattered all over the floor, colorful. There was also a cake in the private room to celebrate his 6th birthday. When it was cut open, there was delicious cream and strawberries.
Everyone is having a great time.
It was not until Fan Xin and the others were most relaxed that they released the evil ghost.
Time goes back to the present, in a seaside warehouse, Fan Xin closed her eyes, as if she could still recall the large patch of scarlet that bloomed before her eyes, the blood splattered on the unfinished cake and birthday presents. She was so scared that she collapsed to the ground, seeing the woman holding the child tightly, the talisman paper in the man's hand slowly soaked in red, and the old lady's bloodstained hand tightly holding the phone.
The phone displays sent text messages.
... Do you want to ask for help
Fan Xin was no longer able to think, and she didn't have the courage to go forward and check.
She just sat there in the blood and let out a little whimpering scream.
Time goes back to this abandoned seaside warehouse.
Chen Qi said nonchalantly: "Do you know what I regret most? It's that I gave you a talisman that year, so that you wouldn't be killed by that ghost."
Fan Xin opened her mouth.
She knew that she was going to die, and anger rose in her chest. She bit her lip and said, "But you didn't tell me that after killing their whole family, the ghost stayed on me."
"You should feel lucky: it was injured by Chen Minlan and fell into a deep sleep for six years. It didn't wake up until the old ghost of Chen Minlan came out again recently." Chen Qi smiled, "You should have woken up earlier."
"That's why I had no choice but to find Lu Yingjiu." Fan Xin looked at him, "and that's why I exposed you."
"Yes, yes." Chen Qi sighed, "That's why I said that what I regret most is that I couldn't kill you together. In the following years, I saw that you were young and I was soft-hearted. I really shouldn't have done that. But it doesn't matter. We can still make up for it today."
He checked the time: "It's almost time, let's go."
The spirit ape bared its fangs at Fan Xin, and when it saw that she was slow to get up, it swung its claws, leaving a bloody mark on her smooth calf.
Fan Xin groaned, and under its threat, she had to stumble and follow Chen Qi to the back door of the warehouse.
There was a car covered with a black dust sheet, and the rain hit the sheet, making a clattering sound. Chen Qi lifted the black sheet, and underneath was a Range Rover.
He opened the back door and said to Fan Xin, "Come in."
The spirit ape growled behind her at the right time, then jumped onto her shoulders and grabbed her hair. Fan Xin felt her toes curl up, but she had to get on the car.
Chen Qi started the Land Rover and drove along the seashore towards the wharf in the distance.
He drove and said, "Which sea do you like? We have known each other for a few years, I will drop you off at a place you like." He smiled again, "But there are not many choices, at most you can choose a north-south direction."
Fan Xin clenched her teeth and said nothing.
The car was driving smoothly, but her stomach was tight, and her body felt heavy as if a rock was falling madly. She felt so uncomfortable that she wanted to vomit, and she looked into the iron-blue sky in the distance, closed her eyes, and thought of the scene six years ago.
… This is probably what goes around, she thought.
But the death of Chen's family came quickly, while her death was slow, like a dull knife cutting into her flesh six years ago.
She looked at his face again in the rearview mirror of the car.
Her skin was dry and yellow, her lips were chapped, her hair was messy, her eyes were small and bloodshot, her nose was not straight, and she looked nothing like a beauty.
She hasn't seen anything like this for many years.
Chen Qi did not tell her that Chen Yanyan would appear under the identity of "Fan Xin".
By the time she realized this, it was too late to back down.
She couldn't take off Chen Yanyan's mask, otherwise, the truth would be revealed... Everyone would know that she was the murderer who killed that family.
She has been playing Chen Yanyan for so long. Sometimes she gets confused and doesn't know who she is.
I've finally waited until today, and I don't have to act anymore.
Fan Xin closed her eyes, her hands were hurt by the rope.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw in the rearview mirror that there was a black car following them.
In the fine rain, there is a black Maybach.
Her mind froze for a few seconds: How could there be another car here? Could it be someone who accidentally got lost and came here
Chen Qi noticed it, cursed under his breath, and stepped on the accelerator to speed up.
He was not sure who was coming, and was afraid that he would overreact and expose his abnormality.
The monkey lay on Fan Xin's shoulder, chirping for a few times, and suddenly seemed to have discovered something and reached out to grab it.
The sharp claws scratched across the back of Fan Xin's neck, and she got goose bumps all over her body.
“Sizzle—”
Then her shoulders lightened and the monkey screamed and jumped onto the front seat, with its outstretched paw emitting smoke!
It was burned so badly that its fur turned black, and you could faintly smell the smell of burnt flesh.
And behind Fan Xin's neck, a small white paper man stood up.
It stood with its hands on its hips, as if provoking the monkey.
Chen Qi's pupils suddenly shrank.
The runes on the paper man's body flickered slightly, clearly runes for tracking location!
How is it possible! When he took Fan Xin out of the hospital, he clearly examined her carefully!
After all, he is a member of the Chen family and his skills are quite good. How could he not even notice such an obvious paper man
unless…
Chen Qi felt a tingling sensation on his skin.
If it was another exorcist, he would be confident that he could handle it, but he was afraid that it was...
He slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the car roared towards the seaside.
The Maybach in the rearview mirror was chasing closely, gradually picking up speed. It accelerated very fast, crashing straight through the rain curtain, and no matter how high the needle on Chen Qi's dashboard rose, the distance between them was getting closer and closer.
The speed is still increasing.
80, 90, 100… 130, 150, 180.
Chen Qi was so nervous that his palms were sweating. The scenery outside the window became a straight line. Raindrops hit the window with a crackling sound. Lightning flashed palely and thunder rolled down from the side and exploded beside his ears.
The distance has shortened.
The Maybach was almost tightly pressed against the back of the Land Rover. Chen Qi looked back quickly and saw a completely unfamiliar man sitting in the driver's seat.
He was stunned for a moment.
There was no one else on the co-pilot seat, so the person who came was not Lu Yingjiu
But Jing Xian raised the corner of his mouth and smiled at him with a strong hint of sarcasm.
The Land Rover's car suddenly stopped.
Chen Qi abruptly withdrew his gaze, only to see that there was clearly one more person on the hood of the car.
But this was a car going at 200 kilometers per hour, how did this person get in
Facing the headlights of the car, he couldn't see the other person's face clearly, only a pair of bright, silver-gray eyes.
The next second, a hand pierced through the glass and grabbed his throat among thousands of glass shards!
Chen Qi had originally covered the interior of his car with talisman paper, which was now burning fiercely, and rushed towards the intruder with a fierce aura. However, this airflow, which was as sharp as cutting iron, fell on the intruder without even cutting his clothes, and was shattered. Chen Qi's skin went numb, and he turned the steering wheel sharply, causing the speeding car to turn urgently and rush towards the sea at a dangerous angle.
The inertia was too great, and Fan Xin was thrown violently, her head hit the glass, and everything in front of her was pitch black.
Before she could react, a sound came from the air.
Her eyes widened: The Land Rover was hanging in the air!
Bang!
After a brief loss, the Land Rover fell into the sea, splashing a huge amount of water. The seawater suddenly rushed in through the broken glass, and Fan Xin was hit in the face by the seawater. She drank several sips of water, and her hands were still tied. She struggled to twist, but it was useless. She wanted to open her eyes to see the situation clearly, but the pungent seawater made her eyes almost unable to open.
The next second, her collar opened.
She tried to look up, and in the dim light of the car lights, she saw Lu Yingjiu's face half bright and half dark, with her hair lightly blown by the sea water.
He stretched out his hand and pulled her out of the car.
Fan Xin felt a sharp pain in her foot again. She looked back and found that it was the spirit ape that grabbed her right ankle from inside the car!
The sharp claws scratched her skin, and blood floated in the sea water. The golden monkey's hair was like burning flames, and the sea water around it was boiling. It showed its ferocious appearance, opened its mouth, and was about to bite her with its sharp teeth!
From this hole, you can directly see the bones.
But it didn't work.
Fan Xin watched helplessly as a terrifying giant black hand appeared from the deep sea and under the Land Rover.
The ghost hand had sharp nails, and the palm alone was five or six times larger than the Land Rover. It looked like some kind of monster that had risen from the deep sea, its shadow covering the entire vehicle, gently grasping—
The metal was crumpled like a piece of paper. The spirit ape's body was still in the car. A large amount of blood mist spread out. It was crushed without even a cry.
The ghosts and gods invited by the exorcist cannot really be "dead" unless their real bodies are in the human world.
But the power of this grasp was still too terrifying. Lu Yingjiu had never seen a ghost or god that was so decisive.
In the cold sea water, Lu Yingjiu only felt warmth on his back.
Jing Xian drove the nearly 10 million Maybach without releasing the accelerator and followed them into the sea. At this time, he hugged Lu Yingjiu tightly from behind, trying to bring him to the surface of the sea.
Lu Yingjiu grabbed him with his backhand.
In the dark and cold sea water, they looked at each other.
A very short, then a very long glance.
It only took Jing Xian half a second to understand: Lu Yingjiu knew.
Know that he is a ghost, not a human.