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The umbrella was closed, and the figures of Jiang Chenyi and Huo Yunxi were immediately exposed before the two men.
Their appearance was something the Captain had never anticipated.
He had no idea how the two had managed to evade the officers he had arranged and made their way to the hospital, even launching an attack on the Celestial Master by his side.
Their assault was so sudden that the Captain had no time to stop it. What he was even less prepared for was being pushed forward by the Celestial Master he trusted and be used as a human shield!
Mr. Meng, you...!
At this moment, the Captain felt a pang of regret, as if he had been betrayed.
In that instant of betrayal, a strange thought suddenly crossed his mind—he asked himself: Why didn’t I choose Gu Sheng instead? If it had been Gu Sheng who appeared, Old Master Gu would never have done such a thing.
Yes, why had he been so adamant about choosing this Mr. Meng?
But now, it was too late to dwell on it. As the price for choosing the wrong person and placing his trust in the wrong man, he could only watch helplessly as the bullets struck his body... Wait? They passed right through!
The Captain had braced himself for sacrifice, but to his surprise, the bullets couldn’t harm him?
Then... what was the target of these bullets?
Staggering slightly as the bullets passed through him, the Captain quickly turned around to look at the Celestial Master behind him.
Then, he saw that the bullets, harmless to him, had become the most effective weapon against the Celestial Master, Mr. Meng.
To be honest, Huo Yunxi was somewhat surprised when he saw the bullets pass through the Captain.
According to Jiang Chenyi, these bullets only targeted those with heavy Karmic Sin. Ordinary people would never be hit!
If it had been those people from the association that Jiang Chenyi had encountered before, even White Hair would likely have been attacked—even if he wasn’t inherently evil, some actions, whether intentional or not, were still actions.
He had initially thought the Captain would be someone like White Hair, but it turned out... this seemingly unreliable Captain was actually quite reliable?
No wonder Jiang Chenyi had handed the weapon to him without any warning!
After a brief moment of surprise, Huo Yunxi quickly focused all his attention on Mr. Meng.
As the bullets struck the man, he heard a crisp shattering sound, and the once gentle and refined Celestial Master instantly turned ferocious and repulsive.
The shattering sound was the sound of Mr. Meng’s facade being easily shattered by the bullets.
Hearing this, Mr. Meng’s heart skipped a beat, and a sense of foreboding suddenly arose.
Without his facade, Mr. Meng’s appearance underwent a drastic transformation in front of everyone, and Jiang Chenyi and Huo Yunxi immediately wore expressions of disgust and revulsion.
It was like seeing a giant cockroach crawl out of a sewer right in front of you—they really, really wanted to swat him dead immediately!
‘The Facade was gone!’
Through their expressions, Mr. Meng quickly realized this.
‘But how could this be?’
Mr. Meng instinctively touched his face, only to find it had become pockmarked, and the two young men’s gazes grew even more disgusted.
However, despite the disgust, Jiang Chenyi continued to charge forward with the Golden Abacus in hand.
Seeing the young man's fierce gaze, Mr. Meng quickly snapped back to reality and hurriedly pulled out all the talismans he had on him, tossing them out in one go.
These were all offensive talismans.
However, no matter how many attack talismans he threw, they were all blocked by a large black umbrella that was flung over.
Jiang Chenyi, with one hand gripping the umbrella thrown by Huo Yunxi and the other holding the Golden Abacus, which had grown significantly larger, closed in on his opponent. With a graceful swing of his arm, he slammed the Golden Abacus hard onto the man's forehead.
With a loud thud, Mr. Meng felt his head was like a coconut that nearly cracked open.
Even if it wasn’t cracked, he felt as if his brain was about to be shattered!
It had been a long, long time since Mr. Meng had suffered such a heavy blow. After all, most people who met him would be captivated by the aura his facade exuded and wouldn’t easily lay a hand on him.
Even if they did, with his talismans, few could actually defeat him.
The man fell heavily to the ground as a stream of blood slowly trickling down his forehead.
Seeing this, the Captain, whose eyes had just cleared up, became somewhat dazed again and took a step forward, wanting to approach.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and firmly pressed down on the Captain’s shoulder. The man behind him coldly scolded, "Open your eyes and take a good look at what kind of thing you’ve been trusting!"
The Merit and Baleful Aura in Huo Yunxi’s hands dispelled the bewitchment on the Captain. When he saw the dark red blood slowly flowing from the man’s forehead, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Even a fool could tell at this point that this man was no good, yet he had been so blinded that he actually felt a pang of concern for him!
‘Had Mr. Meng done something to him?’
At this thought, the Captain felt as if he had been struck by a sudden realization. Memories of the doubts he had previously suppressed flashed through his mind.
Back then, he had blindly trusted others and buried those doubts deep within.
Only now did he fully wake up.
But upon waking up, when he thought about what he had done…
Gu Sheng was the Supervisor of the Celestial Masters Association and the Association’s greatest guarantee. Being able to enlist his help was the dream of every law enforcement officer.
And yet, he had refused.
‘Good heavens! What had he been doing? He had actually refused Old Master Gu’s help!’
Was he out of his mind?
Huo Yunxi watched as the man under his hand, in pain and shock, covered his face and slowly crouched on the ground, looking as if the sky had fallen and the world had ended.
He reached out and poked him, "Are you okay?"
The Captain’s eyes were now completely unfocused with his expression of utter despair, "Not so good…"
He looked at Mr. Meng, who had been smashed into the ground by the Golden Abacus, and the thought of how he had once been so respectful to such a despicable man made him feel as if he had swallowed a giant southern cockroach—utterly nauseating.
The only silver lining was that this giant cockroach seemed to have met its match!
"Did he… did he do something to me?" The Captain’s face turned slightly pale.
Huo Yunxi, who had previously found him so irritating, now felt nothing but sympathy, "He didn’t do anything to you. He did something to himself."
Or, to be more precise, someone had done something to Mr. Meng, which in turn caused the Captain to act as if he had lost his mind.
But Huo Yunxi had a feeling that there might be quite a few people like the Captain who had been similarly bewitched.
The Captain took a sharp breath, then asked in confusion, "But why would he do that? What does he want?"
Huo Yunxi slowly lowered his head with his dark eyes quietly fixed on the other person.
Captain: ???
"Are you the police or am I? How would I know if you ask me?" He wasn't even clear about what this person had done. On the contrary, among those present, the Captain was probably the one who knew Mr. Meng best.
The Captain, upon hearing this, immediately lowered his head in shame.
‘Oh no, could it be that his brain had really been nibbled on by a giant cockroach?’
He heard that the giant cockroaches in the south eat people!
Jiang Chenyi's side was quickly wrapped up as well.
There were only a few villains who could withstand the Golden Abacus, and Mr. Meng, who clearly wasn't the mastermind, was even less likely to hold out.
After being forcibly struck a few times, he collapsed on the ground like a pile of rotten meat—don't misunderstand, it wasn't Jiang Chenyi who beat him into this state; it was mostly due to the backlash he suffered himself.
"Heh heh heh... you... I won't let you off!"
‘Oh, this guy still has the strength to talk?’
Jiang Chenyi raised an eyebrow, put away his Golden Abacus, and took a few photos of him to send to Gu Sheng.
"Come on, clean up this mess."
Gu Sheng, an old man nearly a hundred years old, actually sent back a cat with a puzzled expression emoji.
"Did you kill someone???"
"What are you thinking? I'm a law-abiding good citizen. There's even a Captain from the Criminal Investigation Team next door. There's no way I would act in public."
‘Oh, I see, so you would act if it's not in public, right!’
Hearing Gu Sheng's meaningful "oh," Jiang Chenyi felt a pang in his heart and quickly finished his words: "This person suffered a backlash. Get someone over to clean up."
At the same time, he detailed how the other person had put on a Facade, and even deceived the Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team at the Capital Public Security Bureau. The number of people he had deceived must be considerable.
After hearing the whole story, Gu Sheng realized how serious the matter was.
He and Jiang Chenyi shared the same thought: the Facade this person wore was definitely not put on by himself.
So the most crucial question arises: who did it? What does the other party want to achieve by doing this? What does he want to do to the police by having such a person approach the public security?
Especially since this is the capital!
Gu Sheng also took a sharp breath, and besides the cold air, he felt a slight headache.
Good grief, why does it feel like since this kid came to the capital, things have become so much more complicated!
And none of them are small matters!
"Hey hey hey..." Jiang Chenyi protested strongly, ‘You can't say it like that! It's as if I'm the one who did all these things!’
The Old man chuckled, left a "wait" and hung up the phone.
Jiang Chenyi stuck the Golden Abacus into the ground. With the Golden Abacus suppressing him, this person couldn't run away unless he could cleanse the Karmic Sin on his body in one second.
Then, he came over and squatted down next to the Captain.
"Are you awake now?"
The Captain nodded, but his expression was grave: "I'm thinking about how many people this person has come into contact with."
And the more he thought about it, the more serious it seemed.
When he decided to choose Mr. Meng over Gu Sheng, he actually felt a bit uneasy, as if he had betrayed Old man Gu Sheng.
However, he wasn’t the only one who made this choice. Apart from him, his superiors also didn’t see any issue with this decision.
He wasn’t sure if his leaders felt the same sense of guilt as he did, or if it was something else…
After listening to his words, Jiang Chenyi, like Gu Sheng, felt a faint headache coming on.
‘Why is there so much trouble in the capital!’
Huo Yunxi pressed his temples and, upon hearing the Captain’s words, couldn’t help but laugh in frustration. “Do you really not see even the slightest problem with this?”
The Captain guiltily averted his gaze.
Fortunately, they didn’t dwell on the issue.
By the time Gu Sheng arrived with Gu Yuan, only two people remained at the scene.
To prevent the pile of rotten flesh from being discovered, Huo Yunxi had thoughtfully covered it with a black umbrella.
Gu Sheng glanced at the pile of flesh and turned his eyes away in disgust. “Where’s Little Jiang? Didn’t he call me here? Where is he now?”
Huo Yunxi pointed to the hospital behind him and explained, “He went to check on the victims.”
Gu Sheng stroked his beard, glanced at the still dejected Captain, and then turned his attention back to the pile of flesh on the ground.
“Let’s restore him to human form first.” It’s impossible to have a clear conversation with him in this state.
Huo Yunxi grabbed Jiang Chenyi’s Golden Abacus and effortlessly pulled it out from the ground.
The moment the Golden Abacus was removed, Mr. Meng, who had been waiting for this, instantly regained his human form. He then pulled out a talisman from his body and tried to make a run for it.
However, the moment Huo Yunxi grabbed the Golden Abacus, he had already been on guard against any escape attempts.
Mr. Meng, who had turned to flee immediately, had no idea that Huo Yunxi was holding a loaded Gatling gun in his other hand.
As Mr. Meng took his first step forward, Huo Yunxi coldly pulled the trigger. With a burst of gunfire, Mr. Meng, who had just regained his human form, collapsed once again.
This time, however, he wasn’t a pile of rotten flesh but a human-shaped sieve.
After putting away the black umbrella and the Golden Abacus, Huo Yunxi looked down at the overly clever Mr. Meng and stepped on his calf.
A crisp crack echoed—the sound of a leg bone breaking.
By now, Mr. Meng was in so much pain that he could barely speak. The bullets from the Gatling gun were all condensed from the Merit on Huo Yunxi’s body.
It’s worth noting that, apart from having an abundance of Merit, Huo Yunxi also carried a dense Baleful Aura.
And he was filled with killing intent toward Mr. Meng.
“I may not know how to extract a Soul, but you’re in a human body, right? Coincidentally, I do know a thing or two about interrogating prisoners.”
***
Fifteen minutes before Gu Sheng arrived at the hospital, Jiang Chenyi decided to take a look at the victims.
He wanted to see if any of the girls were capable of making a deal.
As he approached the door of their ward, before even entering, he heard a barrage of harsh and vulgar insults.
He quietly pushed the door open and saw a hunched woman berating one of the girls on a hospital bed, calling her shameless and saying she deserved to be taken away.
Hearing this, Jiang Chenyi raised an eyebrow, and the color in his eyes faded slightly.
He saw a gray mist swirling around the woman who was hurling insults with such fervor, and this mist continued to pour out from her mouth.
According to Buddhist teachings, this was the act of creating negative karma through speech.
He leaned lazily against the doorframe, and the girl near the entrance was the first to notice his presence. However, a gesture from him to stay quiet halted all her movements.
The person being verbally abused by the woman was the only one among the six who had been caught at the airport.
From the woman's harsh words, Jiang Chenyi roughly understood what had happened to the girl.
She had run away because her parents had been staying in the capital, trying to "persuade" her to return home and get married. The reason was absurd—they had already accepted a bride price and used the money to pay the down payment for their son's house.
"I'm telling you, Zhang Di, you have to marry whether you like it or not!" the woman, who was Zhang Di's biological mother, roared furiously in the hospital room.
For the woman, she was genuinely angry and couldn't understand.
What was a girl doing running so far away? If it weren't for her decent looks, no one would want her at her age!
And her! She had worked so hard to find a good family for her daughter, but her daughter didn't appreciate it at all and even tried to run away!
Did she even have her mother in her eyes?
The more the woman thought about it, the angrier she became, and the angrier she got, the more vicious her words turned. As for Zhang Di, she remained expressionless from start to finish.
Earlier, there had been people who wanted to stop the woman from continuing her tirade, but she not only lashed out verbally but also dared to get physical, so gradually, no one dared to approach anymore.
As for Zhang Di, after her failed escape attempt, she had become like a wooden puppet.
Even when she saw her mother raise her hand as if to slap her, she remained unmoved.
However, that slap never landed on her face.
Jiang Chenyi stood behind the woman and firmly gripped her wrist. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't break free from his grasp.
"Who are you? Let go of me, or I'll scream for hel—" The woman suddenly fell silent when she met Jiang Chenyi's gaze.
She opened her mouth and made a few sounds, but she couldn't form any words.
"Go on, why aren't you speaking? Could it be that you've cursed so much your vocal cords have rotted?" The young man's tone carried an inexplicable chill.
And the target of his words felt this chill even more intensely than anyone else!
The woman felt as though she had been submerged in a freezing mountain stream in winter, the cold water making her bones tremble.
After Jiang Chenyi released her hand, the woman, realizing she couldn't speak, had no mind to deal with her daughter. Instead, she covered her mouth and ran out to find a doctor.
Seeing the woman leave, the other patients in the room turned their attention to Jiang Chenyi.
Thanks to this young man, their ears were finally at peace!
Their eyes lingered on Jiang Chenyi and the girl named Zhang Di with curiosity and gossip gleaming in their gazes.
In truth, Zhang Di didn't know the young man in front of her.
But the first sentence he spoke after sitting down left everyone in the room stunned: "I was the one who called the police. I found you in those suitcases!"
So he was her savior!
In an instant, the family members of the other patients showed expressions of gratitude, and a few of the more emotional ones even had tears in their eyes.
Seeing them approach to express their thanks, Jiang Chenyi quickly raised his hand to stop them: "Wait, I didn't come here to listen to your thanks. There are some things I need to ask you about."
He inquired about each person's experience of being taken away. As he had previously suspected, except for Zhang Di, none of the others were taken from the airport.
Of the remaining five girls, two were taken from a corner while shopping at a mall, one was taken from a dark spot in a movie theater, and two were taken from a library.
If we're talking about abduction, these locations don't fit the usual habits of human traffickers.
Whether it's a mall, a movie theater, or a library, these are all places with a high flow of people and where it's not easy to escape. If they didn't handle the situation properly while capturing the girls, even a single shout from the girls could attract a lot of attention.
"It's really terrifying... The only thing I remember is that after smelling a faint floral scent, I lost consciousness."
A floral scent?
Jiang Chenyi paused for a moment, then pulled out a Spirit he had crumpled into a ball and waved it under the nose of the girl who was speaking: "Is this the smell?"
The people in the hospital room couldn't see what he was holding in his hand, but they could all smell a refreshing fragrance.
The six victimized girls were all sniffing this scent and trying to compare it with the smell in their memories.
Finally, they all spoke in unison, "It's very similar, but it's not the same."
Jiang Chenyi retrieved the Soul sphere and ignored the wailing of the Soul within.
Since they said it was similar, the fragrance that could render people unconscious must also be the work of that perfumer.
He then asked a few more questions: for example, what were they doing before they smelled the fragrance? Where had they been before arriving at the destination where they were attacked? And so on.
These questions should have been asked by the police, but considering he was their savior who had saved their lives, they didn't hide anything.
After obtaining the information he needed, Jiang Chenyi prepared to leave.
However, before he did, he handed Zhang Di a business card: "I can hear your thoughts. If you need anything, you can come to this place to find me, or call me."
He paused, then added, "If you're worried, you can also inquire about this address with the Ancheng Public Security Bureau."
With the police as a guarantee, she should feel a bit more at ease.
After her mother left, Zhang Di's eyes were no longer the numb and lifeless they had been before. Upon hearing the young man's words, a glimmer of something unreadable flickered in her eyes.
From the outside, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking but Jiang Chenyi heard it clearly: ["I don't want to go back... I don't want to be forced into a blind marriage... I want to leave them... leave them! I hope they never find me!"]
Jiang Chenyi gave her a deep look, then, ignoring the gazes of the others, he left.
When he returned to the courtyard, he saw Huo Yunxi and Gu Sheng sitting on a stone bench with their feet resting on a half-dead humanoid figure, while the Captain was nowhere to be seen
Gu Sheng immediately noticed his confusion and explained with a smile, "Right now, he’s heading back to the bureau to conduct a thorough investigation."
After Huo Yunxi shattered the facade of this person, those who had been bewitched by him would gradually regain their senses.
However, this "gradually" had no fixed timeline.
As the first to regain clarity, the Captain wanted to take advantage of this period to thoroughly investigate just how many people Mr. Meng had deceived!
"The sooner they regain their senses, the sooner they can assist you in investigating the case." Gu Sheng sighed.
"Earlier, while you were away, Mr. Huo briefed me on the case you’re currently investigating." His eyes darkened with a shadowy hue.
"By the way, what exactly is this 'Human Aroma' all about?"
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