After Marrying the Evil God - Chapter 21

Shen Hanwu let out a sigh of relief. “How much do you know about the Yuan family?”

“The Yuan family has five members in total, but the dossier says there are six ghosts. I originally thought the extra one was the murderer, but the file states the killer was caught. That means this sixth ghost is someone else.”

Shen Hanwu furrowed his brows deeply. “Could it be that an ordinary person was caught in the crossfire at the time?”

“Hard to say. It’s better to be cautious.” Xie Chouzhuan paused. “I did some research before coming here. Yuan’s Restaurant is a three-story building: the first floor is the restaurant, the second floor is for food storage, and the third floor is for miscellaneous items. The Yuan family lived together in the courtyard behind the restaurant. They lived here even before Qinghe Road was built, and the courtyard wasn’t demolished. There are three rooms and a kitchen. I don’t know much else.”

“That’s already good intel. What branch of metaphysics do you specialize in?” Shen Hanwu nodded, shifting the subject.

“I haven’t been at it long. I’m mostly proficient in drawing talismans.”

“I was born with Yin-Yang Eyes and excel at catching ghosts,” Shen Hanwu explained. “Once the assessment starts, we’ll move together. If we encounter a ghost we can’t beat, you throw your talismans first—but watch the intensity. Don’t scatter their souls completely. For this assessment, I specifically stole—cough, borrowed—my Master’s Ghost-Suppressing Jar. This isn’t some ordinary jar you find on the market; once a ghost is sucked in, it can’t struggle at all. When we’re done, we’ll split the six ghosts evenly.”

“Deal.”

“Alright, the assessment is about to start. Get ready to enter. Old Feng and I went in for an evaluation before you arrived; the mission rank hasn’t changed. If you hit a wall, just shout—though I might not necessarily hear you.”

“Old Qian, stop scaring them off,” Feng Hui chimed in from the side. “A Level 3 practitioner doing a Rank D mission might end up with a broken limb or, at worst, turn into an idiot, but there won’t be any fatalities. Just go for it.”

Hearing this, Shen Hanwu looked even more dejected. “Uncle, how about you give me a life-saving trinket instead?”

“You kid, quit the yapping. It’s ten o’clock. Are you taking the test or not? Get in there!”

“On it!” Shen Hanwu turned and headed toward Yuan’s Restaurant with Xie Chouzhuan.

To their surprise, the door was locked.

“Holy crap!” Shen Hanwu stared in disbelief at the two examiners who were standing back to enjoy the show. “Isn’t this an assessment? Why is the door locked?”

Feng Hui stood by with a sage-like air. “Picking locks is also part of the assessment. Young man, if you suddenly encounter a ghost and the door is locked, are you going to wait for someone to open it for you?”

“Do you know how to pick a lock?” Shen Hanwu turned to Xie Chouzhuan.

“No,” Xie Chouzhuan shook his head.

Feng Hui reminded them, “Four minutes left. Failure to enter the assessment site within four minutes will be deemed a failure.”

“Damn it, let’s climb the wall!” Shen Hanwu cursed as he circled to the side to climb into the courtyard.

The courtyard wall of the Yuan house was a full four meters high and exceptionally smooth, topped with a dense layer of jagged glass shards. The two of them scrambled and pushed, barely managing to tumble into the courtyard in the final seconds.

Shen Hanwu wiped his scraped palms and collapsed onto the ground. “If I’d known, I would’ve listened to the old man and exercised more.”

The moment Xie Chouzhuan stepped into the courtyard, a wave of coldness slithered up his spine like a venomous snake, instantly soaking into his marrow and causing him to shiver involuntarily.

A hoarse, piercing cry echoed from above. Xie Chouzhuan looked up and saw an entirely pitch-black crow perched on a branch of a large tree in the yard. Its sharp eyes were fixed intently on them, emitting one hair-raising caw after another.

The crow’s cries echoed through the silent courtyard, making the already gloomy and terrifying atmosphere even more eerie.

“Screw you!” Shen Hanwu raised his hand and threw a stone. The stone hit the crow dead-on; it fell straight down and unexpectedly transformed into a pool of foul blood.

“Whoa! That’s Nie (wicked energy),” Shen Hanwu leaned in. “Looks like the Yuan family died a very miserable death.”

Xie Chouzhuan felt a gaze watching him from the moment he entered the yard. He quietly pulled a high-powered flashlight from his pocket and shone it toward the upper floor. A pale face flashed by the second-story window.

“Chase it!”

The two kicked open the door and rushed to the second floor.

The second floor was piled with countless packaging boxes. At the spot where the pale face had been, only a curtain fluttered in the light breeze.

“What was that thing just now?”

“Don’t know. Looked like a paper effigy.”

“Looks like this floor has issues. Let’s stay together and search the rooms one by one.”

Xie Chouzhuan swept his flashlight around and found three rooms on the second floor.

“Searching them one by one.” The two stealthily entered the nearest room.

Just as Shen Hanwu approached with his peach-wood sword, the door opened on its own.

The room was clean, containing only a bed with a quilt on it. The quilt was slightly bulging, as if someone were sleeping underneath.

They approached with light steps. When they flipped back the quilt, they found a shivering little boy inside.

“Who… who are you?” the boy asked with a trembling voice.

“He’s the one from the photo…” Shen Hanwu spoke hesitantly.

Xie Chouzhuan nodded with certainty.

“Big brothers, you must be good people, right? Please save my mommy, she’s dying.” The little boy wailed to himself, his voice carrying an infectious quality that filled the heart with grief. “Brother, save my mommy…”

“Your mom is so pitiful, boohoo.” Shen Hanwu covered his face and wept.

Xie Chouzhuan’s lips twitched as he silently followed Shen Hanwu a few steps forward.

“Tell me, what happened to your mom?” Shen Hanwu walked right up to the child.

“My mommy, she… boohoo…” The boy hammered his head fiercely with his fists while letting out a painful, wretched cry.

He wept as if his heart were breaking, but on his lowered face hung an extremely eerie and terrifying smile. His heart was chanting incessantly: Closer, just a bit closer…

Finally, Shen Hanwu stood right in front of the boy. Under the cover of the night, the boy’s fingers began to stain black, and his nails grew rapidly at a rate visible to the naked eye—sharp and lethal.

He slowly raised his hand, aiming for Shen Hanwu’s heart, intending for a one-hit kill.

In the next second, a pitch-black jar suddenly appeared in Shen Hanwu’s hand. He flipped it over and slammed it down toward the top of the boy’s head, shouting at the top of his lungs: “Get in there, you!”

In an instant, the boy’s eyes, previously filled with killing intent, showed extreme shock. He instinctively tried to flee.

Unfortunately, it was too late. He had no time to react before a powerful suction force erupted from the black jar. In the blink of an eye, he was sucked entirely into the vessel.

Little boy: “???”

“Nice try. Did you really think such clumsy acting could fool me?” Shen Hanwu weighed the jar in his hand. “Master always said ghosts are full of lies, and he wasn’t wrong.”