Chapter 133: The Missing Persons Case

[Page 1 of 3]

That night, I headed to the Moonwatch Tower.

Before I could enter, a horn sounded behind me.

I turned and saw the window of a luxurious stretched limousine lowering beneath the shadows. The face of Old Fox Zhou appeared before my eyes.

I walked over and got into the car.

“You’ve tied yourself to the Ling family. That wasn’t wise, you know,” Old Fox Zhou said gravely.

“Wise or not, the deed is done. Director Zhou didn’t come all this way just to tell me that, did he?” I replied.

Old Fox Zhou sighed. “You’ve offended Shang Wuwei, which means you’ve offended the Kunlun Sword Sect. The Three Sacred Lands are not merely a name.”

“Heh. The Kunlun Sword Sect? The Three Sacred Lands? When we were fighting for our lives in the Netherworld, we’d never even heard of them,” I said with a cold laugh.

“You’ll understand in time. I came to discuss something else,” Old Fox Zhou said.

“What is it? I’m not with the Ninth Bureau, so I don’t take assignments.”

“Even if you refuse to admit that you’re part of the Ninth Bureau, are you truly going to ignore everything concerning the Netherworld?” Old Fox Zhou asked.

“What is it?” I said.

“You must have realized that the Netherworld rifts in Southern Su have been fluctuating frequently. There’s a strong possibility that one of them may form an entrance directly connected to the Netherworld. As a result, occult sects have been increasingly active throughout Southern Su lately, stirring up trouble.”

“Recently, there have been repeated reports of disappearances in Bailing City, Southern Su. The Ninth Bureau doesn’t have enough people. Why don’t you go and take a look?” Old Fox Zhou suggested.

“Damn it, isn’t that still an assignment? And one without any contribution points,” I grumbled.

“It’s up to you whether you go or not.” Old Fox Zhou sighed.

I got out of the car and walked a few steps before turning back and knocking on the window.

“Information,” I said impatiently.

A file folder was immediately handed to me.

I took it and entered Moonwatch Tower without looking back.

When I stepped inside, I startled Chi Yun, who was watching television with a facial mask on.

“Well, well. Whose husband has come running to my house?” Chi Yun said, her voice thick with jealousy.

“Yours, of course.” I chuckled as I sat beside her and slipped an arm around her waist.

“Really? Mine?” Chi Yun asked, tugging at my ear.

“One hundred percent.” I cooperated by pulling a pained expression and nodding vigorously.

“If you’re mine, then have you prepared enough provisions for the household?” Chi Yun asked.

“You’ll know once I hand them over.” I lifted Chi Yun in one motion and laid her down on the sofa.

A great battle erupted at once, followed by yet another sleepless night of aching backs and sore waists.

…

Bailing City in Southern Su was a relatively remote coastal city, blessed with beautiful scenery and a long, rich cultural history.

In ancient times, Bailing City had been a fishing port, and many legends concerning the sea had been passed down through the ages.

[Page 1 of 3]

[Page 2 of 3]

There were legends of all kinds—sea demons, ocean spirits, and, naturally, immortals as well, with numerous versions of each tale.

Bailing City had a Sea Demon Hall, filled with statues of various sea demons sculpted according to the descriptions found in those legends.

Along the Chinese coast, many fishermen worshipped a goddess known as the Sea Goddess. It was said that she could walk upon the water and, with a lift of her hand, calm tsunamis and turn hurricanes aside.

When I stepped off the high-speed train, it was only just past noon. I wandered around the city with considerable interest.

By then, I had arrived at the largest temple dedicated to the Sea Goddess on the coast.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I bought a stick of incense and bowed before the statue of the goddess.

Just then, I saw a ragged little girl take one step, drop to her knees, and prostrate herself in worship. She rose, took another step, and prostrated herself again. In this manner, bowing once with every step, she slowly made her way toward the statue of the goddess.

Quite a few visitors gathered around her, pointing and whispering among themselves.

“What is that little girl doing?” someone asked.

“Poor thing. This is already her ninth day here. Every time, she uses the most devout form of worship from ancient times to pray to the goddess, hoping that her father and elder brother—who went out to sea six months ago and never returned—will come home safely,” a sympathetic woman explained.

“Six months? Then they may already be…”

“She’s from Sanshui Village. I heard her mother died young, and she depended on her father and brother. Now she’s become an orphan.”

I listened to the people around me discussing the girl but paid little attention. There were simply too many wretched people in this world.

But then someone said, “I hear the girl also has an uncle who lives in Pearl Town.”

“Pearl Town? I heard that place is haunted.”

“Keep your voice down. Some people say that when the hauntings first began in Pearl Town, her uncle visited their house. According to the people of Sanshui Village, he looked terribly grim that day—something about him seemed wrong. He may well have encountered a ghost. After that, the girl’s father and brother went out to sea and never came back,” someone whispered.

My heart stirred. I activated the power in my eyes, and a faint white light shimmered in my pupils as I looked at the stubborn little girl again.

This time, I saw wisps of faint black vapor still coiling around her body beneath the sunlight.

“It doesn’t seem to be yin energy. It looks more like baleful energy,” I thought. Yin energy would disperse rapidly under the sun, but baleful energy would not.

Pearl Town?

I remembered the description in the file folder Old Fox Zhou had given me. Over the past six months, people had begun disappearing frequently in Bailing City, with most of the cases concentrated in Pearl Town and White Salt Town.

I made up my mind to follow the girl home later and have a look around.

By then, the girl had reached the temple of the goddess. Her forehead was already bruised blue-black, with thin trails of blood seeping from it.

I sighed inwardly. Gods and Buddhas of every kind were worshipped throughout the world, and so many believers prayed every day. How could they possibly have the time to fulfill every single wish?

“Filthy beggar, get out of here! You’ve dirtied my clothes!” At that moment, a shrill curse rang out inside the temple. A richly dressed woman kicked the girl, sending her tumbling aside.

The girl said nothing. She crawled back to her feet and continued to kneel and bow.

The woman, still unsatisfied, kicked her down again.

“You little wretch! You dirtied my clothes and you still won’t apologize? You won’t apologize? You won’t apologize…” The woman kicked her again and again. The girl curled up on the ground beneath the blows, yet she remained silent.

At last, the people nearby could stand it no longer and began condemning the woman.

“All of you shut up! My husband is Tian Erlong. Believe me, I can make every one of you regret it!” the woman snarled.

At once, everyone fell silent, fear appearing on their faces.

[Page 2 of 3]

[Page 3 of 3]

Tian Erlong, whose original name had been Tian Ergou, had risen from the lowest levels of society. He had once been nothing more than a wastrel, yet in the past five or six years he had suddenly risen to prominence. No one knew what methods he had used to seize control of several major companies in Bailing City. He was also vicious by nature. Those who offended him either died horribly or were left crippled.

After gaining power, he changed his name to Tian Erlong and became known as Brother Long.

I frowned as a surge of murderous anger rose within me. My gaze flashed, and I sent a burst of magical power through the air.

The statue of the goddess inside the temple suddenly trembled. A ray of light shot from it and struck the woman directly.

The woman screamed as she was hurled into the air and slammed into the wall, immediately splitting her head open.

“The goddess has manifested! The goddess has manifested!” the surrounding people cried, one after another dropping to their knees.

The little girl’s face filled with wild joy. Ignoring the pain in her body, she knelt on the ground and began striking her head forcefully against the floor.

The woman, her head covered in blood, struggled to her feet and looked up at the statue. Boundless fear surged through her heart, and she staggered toward the exit.

I raised my hand and imprinted a seal through the air, leaving a Yin-Gathering Mark upon her body.

“You hold people in contempt? Then I’ll let some ghosts keep you company,” I thought with a cold laugh. The Yin-Gathering Mark would ensure that spirits haunted her from that day forward.

News of the goddess’s manifestation spread rapidly. People rushed in from the surrounding area, packing the temple until it was impossible to move.

Yet the statue of the goddess never stirred again.

I sat on a chair outside the temple, a cigarette between my lips, my eyes fixed on the entrance.

Before long, the ragged little girl emerged from the temple. Her face was full of excitement, the despair she had worn before completely gone.

I sighed inwardly. I had made the goddess manifest and punished that arrogant woman, but I had also given the girl a false impression. She surely believed that the goddess had appeared because of her devout prayers, and that her father and brother now had hope of survival.

But that hope was undoubtedly faint.

I followed the girl on foot for more than an hour before arriving at a small fishing village by the sea. A sign stood at the village entrance. It read: Sanshui Village.

The fishing village was tiny, with perhaps only a dozen households. The girl’s home was a wooden house at the very edge of the village, and it looked quite old.

As soon as she entered, the girl began tidying up with practiced efficiency.

I stood outside and glanced into the house. It was extremely simple. Several fishing nets and various tools hung from the walls, while a square table stood in the center, surrounded by piles of miscellaneous items.

Just then, the girl sensed someone outside and turned around warily.

“Big brother, who are you looking for?” she asked guardedly. When she saw the faded, crisscrossing scars on my face, she took two steps back.

“I’m with the Ninth Bureau. I heard that your father and brother went out to sea and haven’t returned for six months, so I came to learn more about the situation.” I took out my Ninth Bureau identification.

The girl glanced at the booklet in my hand. She did not know what the Ninth Bureau was, but she recognized the national emblem of China printed on it.

“Are you a police officer? I reported this months ago. Why have you only come now?” the girl asked angrily.

All right, a police officer it was.

“Cases involving people lost at sea are difficult to investigate. You’ve grown up on the sea, so you should understand that,” I said. Ordinary people knew that missing-person cases were generally no more than recorded in a file. Unless the missing person had an important identity, resources would rarely be mobilized to search for them. In most cases, all one could do was wait.

The girl’s expression softened somewhat. Fishermen who made their living at sea—especially poor fishermen like them, who could not afford large boats—risked their lives every time they sailed out. She had heard of many fishermen vanishing at sea. It was simply that she could not accept it now that it had happened to her own family.

[Page 3 of 3]