Although I remained calm on the surface, my hands hanging by my sides unconsciously clenched.
Just like Xie Wanhua said, I can't just turn a blind eye to dozens of lives. But once I reach an agreement with Xie Wanhua, I'm gambling with my own life!
Xie Wanhua said softly: "Wu Zhao, no matter how calm you appear on your face, the subtle reactions in your body will betray your inner thoughts. Give up the meaningless struggle! Sometimes, it's not a bad thing to bow your head a little. At least, you don't have to feel guilty for the rest of your life for killing so many people in vain, right?"
Without waiting for me to speak, Xie Wanhua continued, "You can deny it, or you can pretend to be indifferent, but I don't believe you can remain indifferent after a few more people die. Since we will surrender sooner or later, why sacrifice a few more innocent people?"
I took a deep breath and said, "You win! Let them go, and I will cooperate with you."
Xie Wanhua looked me straight in the eye from a distance of several meters away and said, "You and Monk Shi should swear to the gods and ghosts together!"
Monk Shi and I drew out our daggers, cut open three fingers of our left hands and swore to the gods and ghosts. Then Xie Wanhua kicked away a stone beside her. The illusions around us disappeared immediately. The armed police who were struggling desperately all stopped, just like drowning people who had just been rescued from the shore, covered in water and breathing heavily...
I turned to Lao Du and said, "You have seen the current situation. With the warlock prepared, the soldiers you brought can only serve as food. You and them should retreat quickly and don't make unnecessary sacrifices."
Lao Du shook his head slightly and said, "I have to follow up on this case. Platoon Leader Li, take your men back and explain the situation to Director Wang and the others. If I can't come back, just help me file a missing person case!"
Platoon Leader Li, who was pulled up from below by us, was just possessed by a ghost, but now he has recovered. After hearing Lao Du's instructions, he opened his mouth to say something, but finally nodded silently.
The three of us jumped down from the stone, and Xie Wanhua turned around without hesitation: "Come with me, I will take you to the real Black Concubine's Tomb."
Xie Wanhua took a few steps and suddenly stopped: "Brother-in-law, please don't shoot me in the back! Wu Zhao and the others have sworn a solemn oath. If you kill me, they will die under the heavy punishment of ghosts and gods. If you catch me, it will be the same as killing them."
When I turned my head to look at Lao Du, he really slowly released his hand from the gun handle.
Xie Wanhua said as she walked: "I just left you all behind without any worries, because, in a sense, you are all the same kind of people. Although Wu Zhao is a man of the underworld, he is more disciplined and more committed to his duties than many people."
"Just like in the haunted building, you could have left your brother-in-law behind and broken through on your own, or even ignored his request and continued to charge to the roof. Why did you stay and fight with your brother-in-law? For loyalty?"
Xie Wanhua smiled faintly and said, "I believe you have a sense of loyalty, but I don't believe you can have a life-or-death relationship with someone just by meeting him a few times. You stayed, just following the rules of the sorcerer. However, I also know that sorcerers do have ways to circumvent the rules. Don't tell me you don't know how to use it."
I snorted coldly, which was considered an answer to the other party.
Xie Wanhua continued, "If you can risk your life to follow the rules once, you can follow them a second time. The second iron rule of the art is that you cannot implicate innocent people. Am I right?"
I said calmly, "You are right."
When Xie Wanhua fell silent again, Lao Du couldn't help but ask, "Xie Wanhua, how can you use magic?"
"You don't even call me 'Xiao Hua' anymore?" Xie Wanhua's voice was filled with a hint of loneliness. "Before, you called me Wan Hua, then you called me Xiao Hua, and now you call me by my name. Each time you call me by my name, you're getting more distant than before, hehe..."
Old Du had a cold face and didn't say anything, but Xie Wanhua continued, "I know what you want to ask. It's boring to keep your head down and hurry on, so I'll tell you the whole story."
None of the three of us said anything, quietly waiting for Xie Wanhua to reveal the answer. Xie Wanhua was silent for a while, as if organizing her words before she said, "In fact, Wu Zhao's speculation is very close to the truth. I want to ask you, do all fortune tellers have extraordinary insight?"
I responded calmly, "Aren't you a warlock? Why are you asking about me?"
It is common knowledge in the art of magic that fortune tellers are divided into three grades and sorcerers are divided into nine levels.
When a fortune teller first learns about fortune-telling, it is "three parts calculation and seven parts rumor", which means that he can calculate some things, but more importantly, he needs to observe the other person's words and expressions to judge whether his calculations are right or wrong, and even try to trick the other person into saying something. This is similar to psychological diagnosis.
The second-class fortune teller is just the opposite, "70% calculation and 30% rumor". At this stage, the fortune teller can already calculate a lot of things, and the remaining 30% is uncertain, and still needs to rely on reasoning to judge.
The third-class fortune teller has reached the level of "predicting without revealing the secrets", which is what is often said as the secrets of heaven cannot be leaked.
As for the fortune-tamperer, he has already surpassed the scope of the fortune-teller and reached a transcendent level.
Xie Wanhua was obviously testing me to see what level of fortune teller I was. Seeing that I didn't give her a direct answer, she continued without taking it as an offense, "Just as Wu Zhao speculated, Tongtong suffers from autism because he was born with the ability to see the yin and yang. At that time, as his attending physician, I had never come into contact with magic, nor did I consider the supernatural aspect."
When Lao Du heard this, he couldn't help but say, "How come I didn't know that Tongtong was suffering from autism?"
Xie Wanhua replied, "Because my sister never told you. At that time, you were always out investigating the case, and Tongtong was taken care of by my sister alone. She felt that Tongtong's illness was entirely due to her, so she always felt sorry for you and Tongtong. Out of guilt or the fear of facing you, she chose to conceal it."
Although Lao Du didn't say anything else, his eyes were slightly red.
Xie Wanhua continued, "After my psychological interventions on Tongtong failed several times, my sister accidentally heard that Tongtong could be treated with superstitious methods. At that time, although I repeatedly stopped her, she still went."
"To my surprise, Tongtong's condition improved significantly overnight. At that time, I couldn't believe that there was a psychologist in Sanxi City who was better than me. Out of curiosity, I kept asking my sister. But she told me that the man was not a psychologist at all and didn't want her to reveal any information about herself."
"The less my sister talks, the more curious I am." Xie Wanhua glanced back at Lao Du and said, "I am not like my brother-in-law, who needs to use criminal investigation methods to obtain evidence. I can get the information I want by just chatting with my sister slowly."
Xie Wanhua paused for a moment before saying, "Just like Wu Zhao's analysis, Yang Jiakai opened up a whole new world for my sister. The world of warlocks made my sister feel surprised and excited, and it seemed to add a lot of color to her ordinary life."
"But when it comes to love and body, my sister didn't give him anything. Maybe my sister was hesitant in love for a while, but she quickly put an end to that unrealistic idea."
Xie Wanhua's voice sank, and she said very seriously: "Brother-in-law, you should understand that my sister's world is actually very contradictory. Traditional ideas are deeply rooted in her mind, but she has a rebellious spirit that goes against tradition in her bones. Otherwise, she would not have broken through many obstacles and married you when you were penniless, and raised your children."
"Brother-in-law, I have to say that you don't understand your sister, nor do you understand yourself. You have your persistence, unshakable persistence, and this is what attracts your sister the most. She knows that you are worthy of her entrusting her life to you."
Xie Wanhua stood up and said, "It's been eight years. My sister left you eight years ago, and you have been pursuing her case for eight years. With your current position, you can definitely find a new love, but for the sake of your sister's case, you turned down several promotion opportunities and stayed in Sanxi. In a world where everyone knows how to weigh the pros and cons, many people can't do this."
Xie Wanhua turned around and said, "I can tell you clearly that my sister did struggle between you and Yang Jiakai, but she quickly sorted out her feelings."
"In her heart, Yang Jiakai is nothing more than a boy next door. That is not love."
When Xie Wanhua said this, tears already fell from Lao Du's eyes. As for what he was thinking, I don't know, and Lao Du himself never told me.
Perhaps, among the three of us, I was the only one who felt relieved.
Monk Shi was watching calmly from beginning to end. Lao Du might have known the answer a long time ago, but he needed someone to help him confirm it.
I don’t know why, but I am always moved by a story that doesn’t belong to me, and I even want to know the truth more than Lao Du.
Later, I realized that it was the oath that my grandfather forced me to make before his death that left me with a knot in my heart, or a demon in my heart. He asked me to marry a woman I had never met before. Not to mention whether she was willing to marry me, what would happen even if I married her
Will we stick together? Maybe!
Will we sleep in the same bed but have different dreams? Maybe!
Will we be incompatible, or even become strangers? I don’t know!
Perhaps, I am also afraid of being betrayed, so I have been paying attention to Xie Wanqiao's past. Although fortune tellers don't tell their own fortunes, they always have some premonitions. Xie Wanqiao's emotional experience always makes me feel an indescribable palpitation. This is a feeling, a feeling that I can't grasp and can't find out the cause and result.
This feeling is terrible, but a certain feeling of a fortune teller may become a premonition.
We all stood there in silence for a long time, each with our own thoughts in mind. Only then did Lao Du reluctantly say, "Go on." (To be continued)