Wu Weiwei picked up a piece of waste paper thrown by someone and used it to stop Zhu Peng from talking.
Chen Ling squatted inside the ceiling and walked around in circles like a duck, but he still couldn't find any trace of the earthbound spirit. He took out the Sanqing Bell and vibrated it violently, but it refused to ring.
It seems that it is no longer here.
Going down the ladder to the ground, Chen Ling pulled the rag out of Zhu Peng's mouth and asked, "Did you sneak in here to find the magic weapon that suppressed Mrs. Zhu?"
Zhu Peng had no way to defend himself. He was seriously injured and needed medical treatment. He didn't dare to lie and offend others, so he honestly admitted: "Yes, I came here to find the Wenchang Pagoda. I asked for it from the temple."
"You think that Wenchang Tower was able to suppress Madam Zhu in the first place. Even if she escapes now, it still has some effect and can save your life after you sneak away from here."
“Mr. Chen, how could you think of me like that? I didn’t…” Zhu Peng felt so guilty that he didn’t dare to look at anyone.
Chen Ling: "Of course you would think so. After all, you have to report to the police and turn yourself in after this is over. If you don't find a way to escape, are you going to stay and get caught?"
Zhu Peng stared at the young man in surprise, unable to say a word. He knew that everything that had just happened must have been heard by these two people.
What to do, kill them? Whether it was height, strength, or numbers, he had no chance of winning.
But he didn't want to go to jail, not even for a day.
Zhu Peng restrained his expression, controlled his emotions, and tried his best to stay calm.
After thinking for a moment, he tried to negotiate: "I can spend money to buy everything you just heard."
Chen Ling asked: "How much do you plan to give?"
Zhu Peng pointed to the number one, and when the young man didn't say anything, he added another finger, "Six zeros at the end."
Chen Ling: "Oh, your life is worth so much money." For such a scumbag, the value should be negative.
At this moment, the curtain on the right was lifted, and a figure carrying a copper coin sword flexibly flipped in from the window.
Li Hongyu's shirt was covered in dust, his copper coin sword hung crookedly on his back, and his hair was slightly messy.
Having just heard Zhu Peng's scream, he became determined and, regardless of his cool image, tried every means to climb up. He was nearly discovered by a patrolman passing by outside, but as soon as he got up, he heard a dirty deal.
Li Hongyu glared at Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei, his voice extremely angry: "Do you really want to agree to his conditions?!"
Wu Weiwei rolled his eyes and turned away.
When Zhu Peng saw the copper coin sword on Li Hongyu's back, he thought that he was in the same group as Chen Ling and others. Without thinking too much, he pulled him into his bribery team.
As soon as he said "you name a price", Li Hongyu was so angry that he drew his sword and pointed it at him. Due to his upbringing, he clenched his cheek muscles again and again, and in the end, he could only utter "bastard".
Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei couldn't help but almost laughed out loud.
Not to mention, Li Hongyu has a bad temper, but it's really interesting to see him get humiliated every time.
Knowing that the new person in front of him was a tough nut to crack, Zhu Peng was in a dilemma. He knew it would be difficult to impress these so-called upright people who were fighting against evil, but no matter how big the difficulties were, what could they matter in the face of money
Just as he was about to raise the price, Chen Ling suppressed the corner of his mouth and said to him coldly: "Mr. Zhu, I wonder if you have heard that good and evil will be rewarded in the end."
No one can escape the cycle of cause and effect.
Every sin committed and every evil done is recorded in the book of cause and effect.
Heaven and earth have their own laws, and retribution will come inevitably, sooner or later.
The veins on Zhu Peng's forehead were tense and his fists were clenched. He felt that these people were ungrateful.
"The Great Emperor Dongyue is in charge of the blessings, disasters, life and death of the world. There are 72 departments under his command. The 14th department is the evil department, which is dedicated to dealing with corrupt officials, murderers, arsonists, robbers, kidnappers, and those who bully the weak. After filing a case for investigation, the 14th department will punish them according to the degree of their crimes."
Chen Ling's voice was very soft, but it echoed in the huge classroom, giving off a solemn and awe-inspiring aura.
The young man's face was expressionless, and he continued clearly, "The 48th Department is in charge of past sins and diseases. Those who harm others, rape and kill women, and sell out their country for personal gain, once they are assigned to the 48th Department, they will not be able to escape the punishment of their sins and diseases even if they are reincarnated. People of this kind will be tortured in every life, without exception."
Li Hongyu subconsciously listened carefully until the young man finished speaking. Then he glanced over and realized belatedly that what had just happened was a misunderstanding between them.
His brows furrowed, and his eyes dropped to the young man's feet.
There lay a small piece of yellow talisman that was more than half burned. From the remaining seal on the talisman paper, it could be seen that there was a magic seal underneath the talisman paper.
He could sense the deterrent power contained therein without having to get close.
A seal like this, endowed with divine power, is not something that a small sect or a charlatan can get. I was mistaken before. These two people are not just half-baked people with no foundation and half-truths.
"Who are you?" Li Hongyu stared at Chen Ling closely and went through all the familiar sects in his mind, but couldn't find this person.
"Why do you care about me?" Chen Ling didn't give him face and continued to look at Zhu Peng without turning his head. "Even if you spend all your family wealth, you can't escape the punishment you deserve. I believe you have heard before that I kept you just to serve as a shield for Mr. Ding and as bait."
Zhu Peng's face turned pale and blue. He had no way to refute, let alone to excuse himself. He stood on the ground in a slumber, feeling an inexplicable chill from the tip of his toes to the top of his head.
For some reason, the young man's previous words kept echoing in his mind, and his brain uncontrollably constructed miserable pictures, of him covered in sores, crawling on the ground with broken limbs, lying on a sickbed breathing in pain but no one caring for him... There was even a scene of himself being thrown into a miserable hell.
"I... I was wrong..." Zhu Peng's pupils trembled and his whole body shuddered, "Little brother, please save me. I can copy scriptures and chant Buddha's name for her, do good deeds in her name, and accumulate merits and blessings for her... I can still make up for it, right?"
"Bullshit." Wu Weiwei was annoyed and shouted, "Brother Chen."
Chen Ling picked up a rag and threw it over, signaling Wu Weiwei to cover Zhu Peng's mouth.
"You..." Li Hongyu frowned in disapproval. Before he could finish the third word, Chen Ling glared at him. "You think we were too rude to him? Then do you know what he did?"
Li Hongyu didn't know that he had just received Zhu Peng's detailed information from the police station this morning, and before he even met Zhu Peng, he was taken away by Chen Ling and his group.
He pursed his lips, said nothing, and just looked at Wu Weiwei with a questioning look.
Wu Weiwei snorted and kicked Zhu Peng on the butt, "Don't dawdle, go back to the office."
Chen Ling was the second one to walk in, followed by Li Hongyu. As soon as they walked out of the studio, the ceiling above their heads creaked. It was the steel wires hanging the ceiling panels that made the sound.
The three young men who were dealing with each other had the same idea this time. They pretended not to hear and went back to the office quietly.
In order to find Zhu Peng as quickly as possible, everyone only ate a little food before going out. It has been almost six hours and everyone is hungry.
As soon as they sat down, Chen Ling took out his mobile phone, opened the food delivery app, and asked everyone what they wanted to eat.
Wu Weiwei smiled and raised his hand: "Brother Chen, should we each eat our own boxed lunch, or order some dishes and eat together?"
"I'm fine with either." Chen Ling looked at Ding Junyuan, "Mr. Ding, what about you?"
Ding Junyuan didn't have much appetite, so he said perfunctorily, "Whatever."
Chen Ling made a decision. "Let's order some stir-fried dishes and share them with everyone. Is spicy okay?"
"Okay, okay, the hotter the better." Among the group of people, Wu Weiwei was the one dancing the most happily.
Ever since I started hanging out with Brother Chen, I no longer have to be exposed to the wind and sun, no longer have to be bullied, and even no longer have to worry about three meals a day. My weight is increasing every day, and my life is both happy and sad.
Thinking of the spicy and delicious food, Chen Ling couldn't help swallowing his saliva, but his face was calm. He carefully compared every store and selected the takeaway merchants with strict standards.
Li Hongyu looked around. Except for Ding Junyuan who had a worried look on his face, and Zhu Peng who was huddled in the corner and dared not say a word even after his mouth was released, the other three people had relaxed expressions, as if they were here for an outing and did not take the complicated situation seriously at all.
He couldn't help but wonder if these three people were hiding some trump card, which was why they were so calm and at ease.
Especially the strange man who had been sitting steadily on the sofa.
The man crossed his legs, one arm resting on the back of the sofa, one hand resting on his knee, his eyes half closed, his gaze tilted, his attention focused on Chen Ling's mobile phone.
Every time Chen Ling added a dish to the shopping cart, he would raise his eyebrows slightly, as if he disagreed, or as if he found it amusing.
Li Hongyu was silent for a moment, and suddenly felt that he was the only one who took the earthbound spirit seriously.
He took off the copper coin sword from his back, held it in his arms, and was ready for battle, but his heart could not calm down. After standing there for a while, he could not help but coughed lightly and said to Ding Junyuan, "Mr. Ding, can we chat?"
Ding Junyuan: "What do you want to talk about?"
"Let's talk about your carving studio and Zhu Peng." After Li Hongyu said this, he found that Wu Weiwei, who was sitting diagonally opposite him, was staring at him with a smile.
When their eyes met, the young man, who was inexplicably noisy and always against him, made a face at him.
Li Hongyu felt awkward, as if he was trying to dig up information in front of others.
Thinking of his task, he turned his eyes away, trying to ignore Wu Weiwei's presence, and said to Ding Junyuan: "What is the relationship between Zhu Peng and the carving studio?"
"Well," Ding Junyuan looked at Chen Ling's small team, and seeing that no one was looking at him suggestively, he told them about the scumbag things Zhu Peng had done.
Li Hongyu was silent for a long time after hearing this. He didn't expect that such a vicious past would be hidden in the carving room.
He rubbed his toes on the ground a few times, and after he finished struggling, he walked up to Chen Ling and said with a tense face, "I apologize for my previous misunderstanding that you wanted to trade with Zhu Peng. Also, yesterday, I judged that you and Wu Weiwei were not from a good background just by your appearance. I was too superficial and ignorant. I hope you don't take it to heart."
He is the direct disciple of the sect leader and the deputy team leader of the Special Investigation Department's Group 1. He has long been accustomed to being flattered by his subordinates. He also knows that he has a bad temper, but he can't change it, and doesn't want to change it.
Now I have been completely defeated and realized that one should not judge a person by his appearance.
Chen Ling waved his hands sincerely: "It's okay, I won't take it to heart. Just don't be so aggressive when you speak next time." Otherwise, he would be squeezed out again.
Now that the big brother has let go, the younger brothers will naturally not hold on to it.
Wu Weiwei snorted, indicating that he agreed with his brother Chen. He folded his arms and turned to look at the leafless sycamore tree outside the window.
Li Hongyu relied entirely on the stiff muscles on his face to support his expression, "Yeah."
How can you change your temper? Chen Ling didn't take it seriously. He just showed him his order page and said, "I ordered a serving of Kung Pao Chicken for you."
Li Hongyu felt so ashamed that his face became more tense and he said thank you awkwardly.
The business was nearby, so the delivery guy arrived quickly. I don’t know if his hands were cramping, but he knocked on the door as frequently as drumbeats. The huge bang bang bang sounds continued, and the entire three-story building was shaking.
Wu Weiwei hurried out of the office and ran quickly through the corridor to the reception desk.
Along with the sound of banging on the door, the voice of the takeaway boy came through the thick wooden door: "Open the door, open the door quickly, someone is about to jump off the building!"
Wu Weiwei's heart skipped a beat and he quickly opened the door. A hot lunch box filled with food was stuffed into his arms.
The delivery guy was so anxious that he couldn't even speak straight: "There's someone on the third floor. There's a woman trying to jump off the building! Go up and see, quickly!"
Wu Weiwei subconsciously replied, "There's no one on the third floor."
"There's someone!" the delivery boy described her. "She has long hair, an oval face, and is wearing a floral dress. Her complexion is extremely pale. When I passed by just now, I saw one of her legs was out of the window!"
Seeing the person in front of him motionless, he jumped up and down anxiously and pushed him hard: "Don't just stand there, hurry up, human life is at stake!"
Wu Weiwei said "Oh", rushed to the office with the takeaway bag, and shouted to the people in the room breathlessly: "The takeaway boy said that there is a woman on the third floor who is about to jump off the building. Could it be a ghost?!"
Li Hongyu held the copper coin sword and left like a gust of wind.
The ghost actually showed up! Ding Junyuan was very excited, as if he had seen the dawn of victory, but when he turned around, he found Chen Ling still sitting on the sofa.
He urged anxiously: "Mr. Chen, please move a little, or it will run away!"
Chen Ling frowned slightly, a doubt flashed through his mind, he shook his head and looked at Jiang Yu sideways: "You stay here?"
Jiang Yu had no objection: "Okay, I'll wait for you to come back."
Chen Ling thought of those delicate and loving wives in ancient times who remained faithful to their husbands and stayed at home to wait for them when they went out on expeditions.
The terrible thought gave him goosebumps. He touched the back of his numb neck and finally took action under Ding Junyuan's anxious gaze.
Zhu Peng has been in business for many years and believes that he is very good at judging people.
Knowing that the man still sitting on the sofa would never help her in danger, she tried to persuade Ding Junyuan: "Old Ding, we only have this one left here, and we don't know if we can fight. Aren't we all safe? Why don't we join Mr. Chen and the others? There's strength in numbers, and the yang energy is stronger, right? It's safer than staying here."
Ding Junyuan pushed away the middle-aged man who was approaching him disgustingly, agreed after a brief thought, and turned around and left without caring whether Zhu Peng could catch up.
Zhu Peng chased after him while shouting, "Old Ding, wait for me!"
Ding Junyuan was almost sick to death. The louder the people behind him shouted, the faster he walked.
Gradually, he discovered a strange phenomenon: time was flowing with his footsteps, but the stairs under his feet seemed to never reach the end and he could never finish walking up.
A chill ran down his back, and he didn't dare stop. He just ran as fast as he could.
The sound of footsteps suddenly echoed in the corridor. Ding Junyuan couldn't tell whether it was his own or someone else's. He ran and shouted, "Zhu Peng, is that you?"
The echo was getting louder, probably moving towards him.
Ding Junyuan wanted to speed up, but his body was not strong enough. Not only did his legs feel weak, but his ankles also started to hurt.
I was not careful and my toe caught on the ladder and I fell down.
The pain made his consciousness clearer, and he finally realized that the footsteps following behind him were not his own, but the sound of bare feet stepping on the wooden floor!
However, it was too late for him to get up and continue running, as the feet had already stopped in front of him.
There was dark brown sand in his fingernails, his instep was swollen and blue, and turbid water dripped from above, wetting the floor in front of him...
Chen Ling stood on the platform leading to the third floor and looked suddenly behind him. The light at the corner of the stairs below was dim, the connected ladder was shrouded in mist, and the air became humid.
The doubt that had been rooted in his heart deepened, and he turned around and shouted from above: "Come back! The earthbound spirit is not on the third floor at all."
The target of the earthbound spirit is Zhu Peng and then Ding Junyuan. There is no need for her to go to the third floor to show up. The most likely thing is that everything that is happening now is a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
"Here they come." Wu Weiwei was the first to walk back from the corridor on the third floor. Seeing the inexplicable fog appearing downstairs, he did not dare to move forward.
Chen Ling took out the telescopic stick from the backpack which he had always kept with him, held it in his hand cautiously, and went downstairs step by step.
The fog was thick, rising from the ground in the second-floor corridor, and visibility was only two or three meters.
Chen Ling asked Wu Weiwei to take out the ink fountain and connect the two people's arms with the ink fountain line to prevent them from being bewildered and taking the wrong path.
Just as he was tied up, Li Hongyu arrived. Holding a copper coin sword, he appeared behind Wu Weiwei without saying a word, scaring him so much that he jumped up.
Wu Weiwei covered his chest where his heart was pounding: "Do you know that scaring people can kill them?"
Li Hongyu glanced at him without saying a word, and looked around with a serious face. There was also fog in the classrooms with open doors, and the fishy stench of water and the unique rusty smell of blood filled every corner.
Chen Ling raised his hand to block Wu Weiwei who was coming up from behind: "Did you hear that? Someone is talking."
Wu Weiwei listened carefully and found it was true. He bravely pushed open a half-open classroom door and found two people fighting in the corner.
One of them was bigger and was obviously at a disadvantage. As soon as he sat up from the ground, he was pushed back by the other person.
Chen Ling: "Ding Junyuan!"
Ding Junyuan was pinching Zhu Peng's neck with one hand and picking up the carving knife with the other hand. When he was about to cut, he suddenly stopped.
He was stunned for a moment, looked at the thing in his hand blankly, and threw it away in a hurry.
Zhu Peng was almost fainted from being strangled. He covered his neck and coughed violently. When Chen Ling came over, he couldn't help but complain: "He wants to kill me!"
"I had a stress reaction," Ding Junyuan said. "Zhu Peng and I wanted to go upstairs to look for you guys, but we got lost. We couldn't finish the short staircase. I accidentally fell, and it was like waking up from a nightmare. Everything in front of me returned to normal. Then fog came up and I couldn't see clearly. Then Zhu Peng rushed towards me from behind."
Zhu Peng was furious: "Bullshit, it was you who rushed towards me!"
Ding Junyuan's skinny body trembled when he was yelled at, and his eyes stopped at Chen Ling: "Mr. Chen, I don't have to lie."
"Let's go back to the office first." Chen Ling didn't say who he believed in the end. "The Earthbound Spirit is not on the third floor at all. She deliberately lured us out of the office so that she could take the opportunity to attack Zhu Peng or Mr. Ding."
Ding Junyuan stood behind Wu Weiwei and said fearfully, "But I didn't encounter any abnormality."
"The ghost wall is also considered unusual." Chen Ling said and left without looking back.
Zhu Peng followed closely behind, his eyes darting around, carefully observing his surroundings, for fear that an evil ghost would suddenly appear from somewhere and drag him away.
"Mr. Zhu, although I have some opinions about you, I really didn't mean it just now." Ding Junyuan slowed down and walked side by side with Zhu Peng.
Zhu Peng knew his situation and didn't want to make another enemy. He cursed in his heart, "It was you, a jerk, who attacked me first." But he said, "The fog was too thick and everyone was scared and panicked. It's understandable that they hurt the wrong person."
Ding Junyuan smiled, his eyes glued to Zhu Peng's arm which had been shaved unevenly by the utility knife, and said with a sigh: "Mr. Zhu, is there anything wrong with your arm?"
"How can there be no problem!"
Zhu Peng was tortured by severe pain all the time. He knew that these people deliberately didn't mention sending him to the hospital, so he didn't dare to say anything. Now that he was concerned about him, his anger could not stop pouring out, "I'm dying of pain! Mr. Ding, why don't you go and tell them, I'm going to die if I don't go to the hospital, look at my blood, it's stained my sleeves and clothes red."
The wound caused by the utility knife was not deep, just enough to solidify but also easy to break.
Ding Junyuan shook his head: "I dare not mention anything that Mr. Chen has not spoken about." After he paused, he changed the subject, "But I can help you deal with it first. I remember there is a medicine box in the office."
Zhu Peng was filled with gratitude and said thank you several times in a row.
The office was deserted. Jiang Yu was still sitting in the same position as before, even his posture had not changed. The only difference was that this time he was closing his eyes, resting.
The sofa beside him sank, and the man raised his eyelids and looked to the side: "I'm back."
"Yeah." Chen Ling looked at his lazy appearance and twitched his mouth. "Is there anything unusual in the office?"
"No." Jiang Yu blinked, raised his hand and rubbed his eyebrows, and the sleepiness on his face that had been well hidden disappeared.
He withdrew his arms from the backrest, sat up straight, and restrained his aggressive gaze, which suddenly became sharp when Ding Junyuan and Zhu Peng walked to the door.
Ding Junyuan's pupils trembled slightly, and he stepped back stiffly, saying to Zhu Peng, "Go get the medicine box under the desk. I'll wait for you in the bathroom."
Zhu Peng nodded, smiled ingratiatingly at the people in the office, walked to the desk with a hunched back like a thief, and opened the cabinet door below to take something.
Jiang Yu's gaze was still on Ding Junyuan, his thin lips curled into a cold arc.
Noticing this subtle reaction, Chen Ling moved closer. Afraid that Ding Junyuan might hear him, he put his lips very close to him, and his warm breath penetrated the man's ears wildly: "Did you see anything? For example, Ding Junyuan may not be Ding Junyuan anymore."
Jiang Yu had never whispered to anyone in such a posture and at such a distance. He thought about it and turned his head to look directly at the young man.
Chen Ling felt inexplicably guilty under the man's gaze, and subconsciously distanced himself, but Jiang Yu grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back to his original position: "Look at his shadow."