At half past eleven.
In the police station, there was Xiang Cheng's sports bag on the table.
"Is this his review material?" The policeman flipped through it and said, "Come to Beijing to take the exam for national director?"
"Yes." Chi Xiaoduo said, "Have you found his whereabouts? It's been 24 hours. I came here once, but the police station refused to file a case..."
"Don't be nervous." Chen Zhen said, "We haven't contacted him either."
Chi Xiaoduo breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at Chen Zhen.
Chen Zhen has short hair, is taller than Chi Xiaoduo, and slightly shorter than Xiang Cheng, wears google glasses, a pressed white shirt, cropped trousers, trendy clothes, and a silver bracelet, bracelet There was a small silver sword hanging from his shoulders. After Chen Zhen entered the police station, the mink on his shoulders jumped off and squatted in the corner.
While the police were taking notes, Mink jumped onto the table and watched him write curiously.
"What's its name?" Chi Xiaoduo said.
Chen Zhen was thinking, came back to his senses, and said, "What? Who?"
"Your mink." Chi Xiaoduo gestured to Chen Zhen.
Chen Zhen's expression changed instantly, and he looked at Chi Xiaoduo in disbelief.
"Can you see it?" Chen Zhen said.
Chi Xiaoduo: "..."
"What mink?" the policeman asked looking up.
Chen Zhen signaled Chi Xiaoduo with a look, telling him not to say anything, Chi Xiaoduo thought of what he saw on the train, and suddenly felt chills all over his body.
"Nothing." Chen Zhen said, "He asked me about the cartoon pattern on my wallet."
Chi Xiaoduo: "..."
The police can't see it? ! This mink is so big that it is running around on the table, but the police can't see it? ! Chi Xiaoduo yelled in her heart, "Mom, what's going on?" !
"Signature." The policeman said, "Together with Chi Xiaoduo's report transcript just now, it has been handed over to you."
"Thank you." Chen Zhen took the documents and brought Chi Xiaoduo out. The two stood at the gate of the police station. Chen Zhen let out a long breath and turned to look at Chi Xiaoduo with a solemn expression.
"Do you know Xiang Cheng?" Chi Xiaoduo asked.
"Strictly speaking, I don't know him." Chen Zhen said, "But I saw his photo in an internal publication. You can check it. Is it this person?"
Chen Zhen took out a piece of paper with a black and white photo of Xiang Cheng on it.
"Yes." Chi Xiaoduo panicked and asked, "What's going on? And your... pet."
Chen Zhen mink got out from the flowers. Looking around, he ran over quickly, followed Chen Zhen's legs to his shoulders, and lay quietly on his stomach.
"Let me ask you first." Chen Zhen took him to the streetlight, looked carefully at Chi Xiaoduo's left eye, and said, "Has anything touched your eye recently? Or something happened?" What's weird?"
"No." Chi Xiaoduo said, "On the way to Beijing, I saw something scary, and I thought it was a dream."
Chen Zhen said: "Lihun Pollen, it's really troublesome..."
Chi Xiaoduo looked at Chen Zhen anxiously, and Chen Zhen said, "Get in the car and talk."
Chen Zhen took Chi Xiaoduo into the car parked by the side of the road, inserted the key, and started the car, but he didn't drive away.
"The authority's vehicles are restricted. You have to wait until after twelve o'clock." Chen Zhen glanced at his watch, and there were still ten minutes.
Chi Xiaoduo asked again: "Who are you?"
"Relevant departments." Chen Zhen replied, and Chi Xiaoduo noticed a row of Q version Shi Gandang in front of the car, facing out of the car.
"Xiang Cheng told you to come to Beijing to take the national exam." Chen Zhen asked again, "What else did he say?"
Chi Xiaoduo remembered one thing: "A friend of ours asked him to do something..."
"I know." Chen Zhen said, "Qi Wei, I know, what else?"
"It's gone." Chi Xiaoduo said, "That's right! There's still Sigui! It's been a long time since I saw Sigui."
"What is Sigui?" Chen Zhen asked.
"A bird." Chi Xiaoduo said, "It was always with us before."
The alarm clock on Chen Zhen's cell phone rang, he drove, reversed the car, drove away from Longguan, and took Chi Xiaoduo on the road.
Chi Xiaoduo leaned on the passenger seat, and was about to speak, but Chen Zhen turned sideways, pulled out his seat belt, and signaled him to put it on.
"My name is Chen Zhen, and I'm the director of the Capital Exorcism Office." Chen Zhen adjusted his google glasses while driving, and said to Chi Xiaoduo, "I don't know what happened to your eyes, but listen to me, no matter what happens to you in the future, Don't tell anyone, if you see anything strange."
"There's someone in front!" Chi Xiaoduo called out.
Chen Zhen looked up, and a black shadow appeared in front of the car, but the jeep passed through the shadow.
Chi Xiaoduo: "..."
"Every day from 11:00 to 1:00 midnight." Chen Zhen glanced back, continued to drive, and said, "It's the time when the yin energy is at its heaviest. Ghosts, demons, and demons will all wander outside, so don't make a fuss. Recently, Beijing held an expo, and it has already Cleaned up a lot."
Chi Xiaoduo: "..."
Chen Zhen glanced at Chi Xiaoduo and said, "When did it start? It should be recently."
"Wait," Chi Xiaoduo said, "Why don't I know? Is what I saw a ghost?"
"Yes, has Xiang Cheng checked your eyes? He should have found out too. He is an exorcist." Chen Zhen pressed his google glasses twice and said, "Me too."
Chi Xiaoduo opened his mouth slightly, dumbfounded, and Chen Zhen said again: "I know this may be difficult for you to accept, I don't know what happened to you and your partner in the past. But you have to believe me, this is me If you want to find him, we must communicate frankly, if it is not for the sake of Wei Wei, I will not come to work overtime at this point."
As he said that, Chen Zhen took out his mobile phone, pressed the call record a few times, and showed it to Chi Xiaoduo that it was Wei Wei's number.
"Call him?" Chen Zhen said.
"No, I trust you." Chi Xiaoduo said hastily.
"Let's make a call." Chen Zhen connected to the car speaker, dialed Qi Wei's number, and he answered it quickly.
"Chen Zhen?" Qi Wei asked.
"Qi Wei!" Chi Xiaoduo said.
"I got someone." Chen Zhen said, "I'm looking for your friend."
Qi Wei hurriedly said: "Thank you, Xiaoduo, you help him, Chen Zhen is my friend."
Chi Xiaoduo hummed, and Chen Zhen hung up the phone.
Chen Zhen asked Chi Xiaoduo: "May I ask, are you two lovers?"
"No... not." Chi Xiaoduo replied, "Not at the moment."
"Not currently." Chen Zhen said, "That is to say, it may be in the future. Why did he bring you by his side?"
Chi Xiaoduo said: "We met in Guangzhou and took the initiative to follow him. He didn't want to do his previous job and planned to come to Beijing to take a test. I happened to have nothing to do, so I followed him."
Chen Zhen said, "What did he do before? Where did he meet?"
"Male... male public relations." Chi Xiaoduo said, "I met in the club, wait, you just said, who are you?"
"Exorcist." Chen Zhen stopped before the red light, shifted gears, and said, "As the name suggests, it exorcises all demons that harm people in the world, and protects ordinary people living in society from these forces."
Chi Xiaoduo groaned, nodded and said, "It must be very hard."
"It's okay." Chen Zhen said, "Would you like to join us?"
"Let me think about it." Chi Xiaoduo said.
Chi Xiaoduo thought wrongly, what the hell is an exorcist! I'm still a great magician! This is dreaming!
"This..." Chi Xiaoduo said with a blank face, "I can't believe it at all, but why do I feel like everything is normal?"
"Because you accepted all this subconsciously, your partner smelled Lihun pollen for you before." Chen Zhen said, "It made you forget something."
Chi Xiaoduo: "What?!"
Chen Zhen drove and passed the red light: "Before I set off, I read the work report of the last quarter. The owl kiss in Guangzhou has something to do with you, right." Suddenly Chen Zhen remembered something, turned his head to look at Chi Xiaoduo, and said, "I see... this is the power of the black dragon."
"What... what?" Chi Xiaoduo asked.
"No matter what." Chen Zhen said, "Don't tell anyone that you can see different things, otherwise you will cause trouble, understand?"
"Okay." Chi Xiaoduo said, "It means, like you, can I see ghosts and monsters?"
"No." Chen Zhen said, "We can't see it. Every exorcist has his own unique talents, but no one can directly see the monsters who deliberately hide themselves, unless the monsters take the initiative to show themselves to them, like Xiang Cheng, the hereditary talent of their Fengdu family is Fudo Mingwang's true power, but even he can't see it, and can only sense demons through experience and mana."
"Fudo Ming Wang's true strength?" Chi Xiaoduo was puzzled.
"I'll explain it to you later, it's too complicated."
"Wait... Let's start from the beginning." Chi Xiaoduo said, "My mind is so confused now. What are demons and demons? Are there really ghosts?"
Chen Zhen slowed down, paying attention to both sides of the long night road, and drove along the Xidan road. The road was still a bit congested in the middle of the night, and the traffic was moving forward slowly.
"Shanhai Mingguang." Chen Zhen said, "To explain this, you must first understand the concepts of life and death. In the Chinese system, death is not recommended to be studied. The three thousand years of Confucianism..."
"If you don't know life, how can you know death." Chi Xiaoduo said.
"Yes." Chen Zhen asked, "What major did you study?"
Chi Xiaoduo replied: "Architecture."
Chen Zhen nodded approvingly and said, "I did a good job in extracurricular reading. I study history."
"Go on."
Outside the car window, the lights of the street lamps flickered along with the jeep, and Chi Xiaoduo felt as if he had fallen into a long dream. Chen Zhen's voice was pleasant, and he felt a sense of comfort and stability.
"Life and death both have a strange power." Chen Zhen turned his head and drove into another road with almost no cars, saying, "Some scientists believe that the soul exists in the fifth dimension, while some theologians believe that in our In this world, another area that we cannot see with the naked eye overlaps, just like the hell and heaven in Western legends."
Chi Xiaoduo remained silent, looking at the empty road ahead.
"The living are passers-by, and the dead are returning to people. When the heaven and the earth travel against each other, they will mourn the eternal dust." Chen Zhen said, "Death, the original meaning is 'return', where to go? Naturally, it is in the sky and the earth. The soul is scattered in the sky and the earth, becoming A unique force, is this acceptable?"
"Yes." Chi Xiaoduo replied.
"So." Chen Zhen manipulated the steering wheel with one hand, snapped his fingers, and the fingertips burst out with flickering light. The little mink behind him straightened up vigilantly, observing the two of them.
Chi Xiaoduo exclaimed.
"This power is everywhere." Chen Zhen said, "It follows us like a shadow, and we call it 'spirit'. It is also the 'qi' that qigong masters and Fengshui masters who are deceived and abducted in the world often say 'qi'. This power will eventually flow into Two places, one is the sky vein and the other is the earth vein, which become the main energy source for the existence and evolution of spirits on the earth."
"Since ancient times, the totems of beasts and the totems of gods have been constantly competing and fighting. After the Battle of the Conferred Gods, the human totems suppressed the natural totems of the ancestors, and the system of worshiping beasts gradually disappeared. With the increasing number of human activities on the earth, The more extensive, the space of beasts is suppressed again and again, just like humans are smart and dull, beasts also have various levels of aptitude." Chen Zhen said leisurely, "Some beasts are affected by 'spirits', and their bodies will undergo slight changes. So it became a monster."
"If this demon is always living in resentment." Chen Zhen turned his head to look at Chi Xiaoduo, and said, "The power of the 'spirit' is getting stronger and stronger, and it will change again before it dies, becoming a 'demon'." '."
"Once the power of the devil is formed, it will not be restricted by time and life span, and will exist forever, causing harm to the world." Chen Zhen said, "Our job is to find a suitable way to dispel it."
"I thought only ghosts were meant to be dispelled."
"No, you replaced animals with humans." Chen Zhen explained, "Among humans, those who have acquired extraordinary abilities are equivalent to 'demons' among beasts. The only difference is that they are humans."
"Shemale." Chi Xiaoduo understood and nodded.
Chen Zhen:"… "
"Humans are also a kind of animal." Chen Zhen said, "The only difference is that human brains and thinking are more developed."
"But I've never met anyone with great ability?" Chi Xiaoduo said.
"Aren't these?" Chen Zhen casually pointed out the car window.
"Bright lights all night, endless cars, and endless inventions every day." Chen Zhen said, "This is the embodiment of the power endowed by heaven and earth to human beings. The only difference is that we admire wisdom, which is different from the beast race's worship of power."
Chi Xiaoduo: "..."
Chen Zhen said again: "We exorcists are also demons in a strict sense, demons among human beings. Don't say that word again, I have heard it countless times."
Chi Xiaoduo laughed out loud, and Chen Zhen had no choice but to smile bitterly.
"That sincerity..."
"Xiang Cheng earns his living by collecting monsters." Chen Zhen replied, "I guess he is a part-time male publicist? Looking at the photo, he looks like a very energetic guy... How old are you, Chi Xiaoduo."
"Twenty-six." Chi Xiaoduo replied.
Chen Zhen nodded and said, "You look small."
"And you?"
"Thirty-three."
"I can't see it at all." Chi Xiaoduo felt that Chen Zhen was very kind, and couldn't help asking, "Can everyone be an exorcist? Can someone like me be?"
Chen Zhen was thoughtful, turned his head and said, "Do you want to enter this business?"
Chi Xiaoduo shook his head, frowned deeply, and asked, "Xiang Cheng is an exorcist, right? Is this profession very dangerous? Just like this evening, if he disappears, he doesn't know what happened. Can't help, it's so frustrating."
"The salary of an exorcist is very average." Chen Zhen turned the steering wheel and said, "Your life is in danger at any time, and the rules and regulations are still very strict. Are you sure?"
"What good is that?" Chi Xiaoduo asked.
"It's no good." Chen Zhen replied with a smile and concentrated on driving.
"Impossible." Chi Xiaoduo said, "If someone is willing to devote himself to this profession, there must be something worth paying for."
Chen Zhen nodded and said, "That makes sense, so for the sake of world peace, does it matter?"
Chi Xiaoduo thought about it, and said, "It's one, but if it's for world peace, but it can't support itself, it's hard for anyone to be willing to do this job."
"In this industry, there are few people who need it. It is enough to rely on a small number of idealists. Now that there are so many idealists, it is considered too much. The country is still considering further reducing the scale. But so to speak Well, if you can barely support yourself." Chen Zhen said leisurely, "Is there a chance to know a completely different world, and to get in touch with the essence of the human world through the disturbing phenomena?"
Chi Xiaoduo thought this could barely be regarded as a reason, and Chen Zhen asked again: "Does the exciting and exciting adventure life every day count?"
"Forget it." Chi Xiaoduo said.
"To sum up." Chen Zhen said casually, "This is the benefit, the pursuit of material things, not material things, purely spiritual, so some people say that the driving committee is a bunch of idealists. But there are no such idealists in society. , and not. Just like civil servants, the salary is very low, and exorcists can still find some extra money, but now it is difficult for grassroots civil servants to make extra money."
"You can work part-time." Chi Xiaoduo said.
"Yes." Chen Zhen said, "But you are too old, and you are no longer suitable for this job. You must be seven or eight years old at the latest. At an age when the fire is low, practice the ability to contact the veins of heaven and earth."
Chi Xiaoduo was a little disappointed, but Chen Zhen said, "But if you're really interested, you can apply for the qualification as a demon-subduing equipment engineer."
Chi Xiaoduo became excited and asked, "What is this for?"
"It's equivalent to providing assistance for exorcists to identify the types of monsters and magic weapons." Chen Zhen replied, "It's just in the professional field, independent of each other. I'll give you some information next time."
"Okay." Chi Xiaoduo was very satisfied. If this is the case, maybe he can help Xiang Cheng.
"I guess Xiang Cheng came to Beijing with a mission in addition to research." Chen Zhen said, "Maybe Qi Wei told him something. When he was performing this mission, he encountered a little accident that was still within the controllable range. "
"Is Wei Qi also an exorcist?" Chi Xiaoduo said.
"Yes." Chen Zhen replied, "The Qi family is a very old family in the Guangdong-Guangzhou area. Even before the establishment of the Drive Committee, there were many Fengshui masters in the family in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Their family was very rich. .”
"Do exorcists get paid?" Chi Xiaoduo asked again.
"It used to be." Chen Zhen replied, "It doesn't exist now, wait for me here for a while."
The car stopped outside Lingjing Hutong, Chen Zhen got out of the car and ran away, Chi Xiaoduo felt that everything was so unreal, and stared out the window in a daze.
At the same time, in the darkness, Xiang Cheng hit the wall with the subduing pestle, looked up, and saw water dripping downwards in the deep tunnel. The tunnel seemed to never end. Xiang Cheng walked for a while, then simply sat down, took out the dusty Sigui from his pocket, closed his eyes, and stroked its body.
Sigui's body shimmered and stretched his feathers. Xiang Cheng sent his left hand forward, and Sigui spread his wings and flew along the tunnel.
Xiang Cheng tried to turn on the phone a few times, but it ran out of battery, and he was trapped in this dark cave.
A bird flew over from the passage behind and landed on Xiang Cheng's shoulder.
Xiang Cheng: "..."
Xiang Cheng looked back at the dark passage he had walked through, and then looked ahead, while Sigui raised his head and looked at the four walls of the passage.