Chapter 50: Who Stole My Curtains?

The cold light of the morgue was reflected in a grayish-blue hue on the metal dissection table.
The fingertips of Lu Qingyu’s rubber gloves brushed over the solidified brown spot on the edge of the suture line.

The corpse on the dissection table had a waxy luster in the mist of the preservative.

It had been ten minutes since the meeting that had declared the Lin’an Demon Suppression Division to be in a level two alert.

“I know this child.”
Lu Qingyu’s fingertips lightly touched the healed scar on the corpse’s right arm.
The brown blood scab of the suture line peeled off.
“Last month, in order to pass the Demon Suppression Officer’s assessment, he fell from the roof while pursuing a demon and broke his arm…”

On the twisted elbow joint, there were still the titanium alloy bone nails that she had personally inserted.

Her voice was still gentle, but her face was as cold as freshly frozen ice.

“Are there any civilian casualties?”
The fibers of Xu Zhi’s tactical gloves caressed his wrist.
The bulletproof glass reflected his tense jawline.

“No, all the victims were attacked in areas far from the crowd.
There are not even any civilian witness reports.”
Zhou Xuan looked at the content on his tablet.
“I speculate that he might be avoiding making a move in front of civilians.”

“In other words, his target is only demon slayers?”
He suddenly thought of Bai Ling.
Bai Ling was also a civilian demon slayer.
In that case, would she also become the target of that long-haired figure?

Xu Zhi suddenly felt that he had to find a way to get Bai Ling to hide in the Demon Suppression Division’s headquarters.
After all, this was the safest place in the whole of Lin’an City.

“Those nine sword marks, is there a result from the comparison?”

“There is no similar data in the existing database.
I don’t have enough authority for the deep database…”

“Use my authority.”
The friction of the stainless steel door being pushed open pierced the dead silence.

“Inspector Ai?”
Xu Zhi turned his head.
The hem of Ai Zun’s Zhongshan suit swept across the crystallized disinfectant on the doorframe.
The smell of cologne mixed with aged tobacco instantly overpowered the smell of formalin.

“Use it secretly.
Don’t tell my junior sister.”
The sandalwood prayer beads on his wrist brushed against Xu Zhi’s shoulder blade, and the cinnabar talismans on them glowed with a blood-red light in the cold light.
“She hates those who don’t follow the rules the most.”

“You don’t mind me, an inspector, participating in your internal meeting, do you?”
Ai Zun bent his knuckles and knocked on the metal edge of the dissection table.
The cold white light refracted a fine cold light on the scalpel rack.

“It’s normal for you young people not to have seen this thing.”
He raised his hand and brushed away the frost that had condensed on the dissection table, revealing the dark cyan livor mortis pattern on the corpse’s neck.

“After all, that thing disappeared 27 years ago.”

“27 years ago…”
His pupils suddenly constricted to a pinpoint, and his Adam’s apple rolled heavily above the collar of his tactical suit.

The smell of disinfectant suddenly became pungent.
He remembered the kraft paper bag he had found in the archives—in the yellowed photo, the cliff was covered with honeycomb-like pitch-black holes, like the teeth marks of some giant beast.

The north bank of the Xiling Gorge, the Fengdu incident!

“It seems you’ve also seen that file.”
Ai Zun pinched his chin, and his fingers paused.
There was a dark brown old scar on the web of his hand.
“But your security clearance should not be enough to see the whole picture.”

“27 years ago, Fengdu revived.
The legendary demon slayer, Ming Yun, led tens of thousands of demon slayers to suppress it.
After that bloody battle, the water of the Yangtze River was rust-red for a full seven days.”

He pulled open his collar, revealing a hideous old scar on his collarbone.

“I was lucky.
I survived.”

A cold wind brushed past the back of Xu Zhi’s neck.
He heard the light sound of his tactical suit’s plastic buckle hitting the dissection table.

“Those old bones from the Profound Gate Council are still setting up the Seven Star Nails on the outskirts of Fengdu.”
Ai Zun’s thumb unconsciously caressed the notch on the edge of the dissection table.
The sound of metal scraping mixed with the auditory hallucination of bronze chains.
“As for Ming Yun… the soul-suppressing pillar of the Heavenly Palace needs a living person as its core.
The talismans on her body are probably heavier than the bronze chains of the Dragon-Locking Well.”

“That battle wiped out many sects, including the Spirit-Transferring lineage of Xiangxi.”
Ai Zun leaned against the edge of the dissection table, the cloud patterns on the hem of his Zhongshan suit sweeping across the tabletop.

“The last descendant of the Spirit-Transferring lineage was named Liu Qi.
That kid was only 25 when he died, without a wife or children.
The Spirit-Transferring secret technique was thus lost.”

“The most terrifying thing about the Spirit-Transferring secret technique is that it can permanently anchor a person’s time at the moment of death.”

“After all, no one can kill a person who is already dead.”

Xu Zhi’s gaze fell on the corpse’s ashen fingertips.
As Ai Zun’s words fell, the nails, which should have been stiff, actually gave off a strange metallic luster in the cold light, like a frozen blade.
The slender shadow cast by the dissection knife on the tabletop suddenly trembled.
Only then did he realize that his wrist was shaking.

“The corpse he left behind, the War Preparation Bureau used three tons of cinnabar to seal it in a bronze coffin.
It’s still buried under the Three Gorges.”

A malfunctioning ultraviolet lamp on the ceiling flickered with his words, tearing everyone’s shadows into jagged and strange shapes.

“You mean, that guy is…”

“That guy is a zombie?!”

In the ancient building in the demon market, Bai Ling’s amber-gold vertical pupils widened.
She wrapped the curtains into a cloak, and the fine tassels swept across the dragon-patterned relief on the sandalwood floor.

This curtain was something she had casually grabbed on her way back to the demon market.
At this moment, it was stained with three or four orange cat hairs, and it shimmered in the light of the octagonal glazed lamp.

She didn’t know which unlucky person would wake up to find their curtains missing.

“It’s not a bone, it’s not a soul.
It’s a living dead person stuck in the crack between life and death.”
Guan Qing’s pipe knocked on the window lattice, and a few sparks flew.

“It’s full of the aura of death.
I don’t know why it doesn’t wash.”

She lowered her eyes and looked at the black gas swimming between the girl’s scales.
The mist exhaled from the jade mouthpiece condensed into a half-inch-long wind blade, which instantly blew away the black gas.

“What on earth is going on?”

The smoke rising from the celadon incense burner suddenly froze.
The lights of the demon market outside the window reflected an orange-yellow on the scales on the girl’s neck.

“That thing has been indiscriminately attacking ancient demons and demon slayers in Lin’an recently.
There have been many deaths.”
Guan Qing looked at the unique hustle and bustle of the demon market outside the window.
“I heard that many people from the Demon Suppression Division have died.”

“The Demon Suppression Division…”
Her trailing voice trembled, like a kitten with its tail stepped on.

She remembered the incident of Xu Zhi being attacked before.

“Pa!”

Guan Qing’s pipe hit the girl’s wrist horizontally, leaving a red mark.

“You should just stay in the demon market for a while.”

As she spoke, a blue bird with a bamboo slip in its beak suddenly landed on Guan Qing’s shoulder.
Its jade-green tail feathers swept across the bronze dragon-patterned tripod on the curio cabinet.

Glancing at the content of the bamboo slip, this master of the demon market suddenly spun and walked towards the screen.
The hem of her moon-white cheongsam swept across the star chart on the floor.
“Don’t go anywhere until this is resolved.”

The moment the carved wooden door creaked shut, the girl’s bare feet stepped on the cold lapis lazuli floor tiles.

‘No, I can’t wait here.
Xu Zhi has already been attacked before.
It’s very likely that he will be attacked again.’

The girl looked at the half-closed carved wooden door.

‘I have to find a way to knock Xu Zhi out and bring him to the demon market.
After all, there’s no place safer in the whole of Lin’an than here!’

But…

As soon as the girl pushed open the door, she saw the two standing at the door.
One was a wolf demon and the other was a tiger demon.
Their bulging muscles stretched their suits taut.
Standing at the door, they looked like two gangsters.

“Young master, the master wants you to stay here.”

The hexagonal palace lantern hanging under the corridor outside the door suddenly swayed.
The wolf demon grinned, as if trying hard to put on a friendly smile.