Chapter Eighty-Seven: Testing the Waters

Fate can be uncanny. Just as I was thinking of going to the Capital to find Lu Zhiruo, Zhao Zheng brought me a fresh lead.

Lu Zhiruo would be coming to River City tomorrow to take part in a music station promotion campaign, and to attend the launch ceremony for a real estate project under the Xu Group.

“Is there something off about this Lu Zhiruo?” Ye Luo asked me at the Three Group base.

“Maybe,” I said, taking a sip of coffee.

At that moment, Ghost walked over and said, “Brother Qin, we’re investigating a skinning case these days. We were hoping to fight alongside you, Brother Qin.”

I chuckled and patted Ghost on the shoulder. “There will be chances enough. What’s the situation with this skinning case?”

“At Xiahe Primary School in Linjiang, and in Xinnan City to the west, there have been three consecutive skinning incidents. All the victims were girls around ten years old. Their skin was stripped off alive, and the methods were vicious beyond words.” Ghost ground his teeth.

“My first guess is that it’s the work of some cult again,” Ye Luo said.

A cold light flashed in my eyes, and I said with murderous intent, “A cult like that deserves death a thousand times over.”

Then I suddenly thought of something: whether it was the Manichaean Society or the White Lotus Sect, both seemed to be inseparable from the Netherworld.

I gave them a few instructions, telling them to pay close attention to any such signs during their investigation.

After Chen Ying’en’s team set out, I called Xu Baoguo.

When Xu Baoguo heard it was me, he was both shocked and delighted, and immediately wanted to meet.

I went to Xu Baoguo’s home, where he personally came out to welcome me. His expression was so intense it looked as though he might burst into tears.

“Mr. Xu, you don’t look quite right. Something happened?” I asked.

Only then did Xu Baoguo tell me the reason. There were two. First was Xu Bao’er. Ever since the two souls that had been stolen from her were returned and she woke up, she had become as though stripped of joy, anger, sorrow, and delight. She could not smile and could not cry, and her reason was astonishingly intact.

The second was the company. For one real estate project, the Xu Group had been locked in open and covert struggle with Everlasting Properties, a powerful outsider from the Capital. Though the project had ultimately been won by the Xu Group, Everlasting Properties had deep backing, and rumor had it they were connected to a big shot in the imperial capital. And recently, the Xu Group had begun to feel pressure from all kinds of methods, leaving them nearly unable to breathe.

Because of this, before this project had even begun, Xu Baoguo had already been met with cold shoulders.

So tomorrow, for the official launch, Xu Baoguo had invited the wildly popular singer Lu Zhiruo to lend her name, hoping to stir up attention and heat.

“I can’t help you with business matters, unless the other side uses special methods against you. But Xu Bao’er’s condition is strange. Where is she?” I asked. Losing joy, anger, sorrow, and delight was a sign of damage to the soul.

“She’s still at the company,” Xu Baoguo said.

But the words had barely left his mouth when the door opened and Xu Bao’er walked straight in on high heels.

Her gaze swept over me and only paused for the briefest moment before she went upstairs expressionlessly.

From her eyes, I could tell that she remembered me, knew me, but only that much. There was no trace of emotion.

“Ever since she woke up, she’s been like this. We’ve taken her to see many doctors, but none of them had any effect,” Xu Baoguo said bitterly.

“I’ll go take a look,” I said, rising and heading upstairs.

When I reached Xu Bao’er’s room, I tried the lock. It was bolted from the inside.

For me, though, opening a lock was child’s play.

With a surge of power, I opened it directly.

The moment I stepped inside, I saw Xu Bao’er wearing only her undergarments, changing into loungewear.

When she saw me, she did not scream and did not blush. She simply glanced at me and went on dressing.

“Get out,” Xu Bao’er said coolly.

I said nothing. My Yin-Yang Eyes swept over her, and her three vital fires were all quite strong. Only deep within her soul, a wisp of black energy lingered without dispersing.

This was neither sinister qi nor ghostly qi, but a depressive miasma born from Xu Bao’er herself.

In other words, Xu Bao’er’s emotional flatness came from self-sealing.

“Get out!” Xu Bao’er repeated.

I raised a hand and brushed power against the back of her neck. She immediately went limp and fell.

I caught her, laid her on the bed, pressed my palm to the center of her brow, and sent my mental force probing into her soul.

When I reached that black wisp, it twisted and took on the shape of a ghost infant, roaring at me in fury.

I suddenly understood. When Xu Bao’er’s two souls had been taken away, she must have witnessed the tragic scene of the Manichaean Society’s hall master refining a ghost infant. Though the soul that had been taken could not retain memories, Xu Bao’er possessed an alluring yin soul, so perhaps she had retained some fragments.

Thus, a heart demon was born within her. Such a heart demon arose from the subconscious as a means of self-protection. It sealed those fragments of memory, and with them her emotions, creating the illusion of soul damage.

This was troublesome. It was not an external evil invading her, so outside methods would naturally be of little use. A heart demon like this could only be overcome by the person herself.

...

Outside the Grand Joy Hotel, reporters and thousands of fans had gathered shoulder to shoulder. The fans held up support signs for Lu Zhiruo, waiting for her convoy to arrive.

I sat in the rest area inside the hotel lobby, behind the floor-to-ceiling glass, a cigarette between my lips as I watched the scene outside.

Before long, a convoy of five cars arrived. Flashes burst into a brilliant chain, and the fans raised their signs and shouted Lu Zhiruo’s name at the top of their lungs.

“Heh, she’s certainly popular,” I thought.

The door of the luxury nanny van in the center opened, and the first person to step out was Lu Biyu. She was now Lu Zhiruo’s manager and assistant.

Then a red high heel descended from the vehicle, and the pale line of her calf was enough to make one’s eyes blur.

Then Lu Zhiruo got out.

She wore oversized dark sunglasses and a custom starry-night gown of the highest quality. A charming curve lifted at the corner of her mouth as she waved to the reporters and fans.

After that, under the escort of a group of security guards, she entered the hotel and did not answer a single question from the reporters.

Once inside, Lu Biyu glanced in my direction. I smiled at her, and she immediately looked away with a blush on her face.

She had not recognized me.

But Lu Zhiruo noticed her sister’s odd reaction and also turned to look at me. Then she lowered her head and said something to Lu Biyu with a soft laugh.

I did not know what she said, but I knew Lu Zhiruo had not recognized me either.

My face with a beard and my face without one were indeed two different people. It was no wonder they failed to recognize me.

The group took the elevator upstairs. They had booked the entire nineteenth floor of the hotel.

I raised an eyebrow, walked to the route they had just taken, crouched down, and drew out a transparent film from a gleaming tile.

A formation pattern suddenly surfaced on the film. I took one look and murmured to myself, “How odd. Lu Zhiruo left no sinister qi behind, but Lu Biyu did.”

Two hours later, Lu Zhiruo and Lu Biyu arrived at the underground parking garage with a group of assistants, then drove straight to the Xu Group’s project office to attend the launch ceremony.

Xu Baoguo had spent a great deal of thought and money on this ceremony. Not only had he invited Lu Zhiruo, he had also invited several film stars and a number of other singers. They were all first- or second-tier celebrities. The scale was far from modest.

The return on that investment was that there were two or three hundred reporters drawn to the project, not to mention the fans of those celebrities, too many to count.

Lu Zhiruo was exchanging pleasantries with an old senior in the film industry, while Lu Biyu stepped out to catch her breath.

Then her gaze suddenly sharpened as she spotted the man she had seen earlier in the hotel lobby, not far away.

She still remembered how hard her heart had leapt then. Lu Biyu had seen no shortage of excellent men, yet there had never been one who made her fall at first sight.

Lu Biyu came over and smiled at me. “Hello. We met at the hotel before, didn’t we?”

I had not expected her to come over, but since she had, I nodded. “We did meet. But we should have met even earlier.”

“Oh? Really? Why don’t I remember?” Lu Biyu said, stunned.

“For example, on the road to Western Cool,” I said cautiously.

Lu Biyu thought hard for a long while, then said helplessly, “I can’t remember. But that doesn’t make sense. I have no reason to forget such a handsome young man like you.”

“At the time, I had a beard. You called me uncle,” I continued.

Lu Biyu shook her head, then suddenly smiled. “You’re lying to me, aren’t you?”

My eyes flickered. “Actually, I saw you before. You didn’t see me. In Ruyi Town, I even saw you with a strange wandering doctor from the martial world.”

“You’re really good at joking. How can you make up a story so convincingly? I almost believed you were telling the truth.” Lu Biyu thought I was teasing her and laughed sweetly.

At this point, I could already be completely certain that Lu Biyu had forgotten that whole period entirely.

“Actually, I know how to read faces. Want me to take a look for you?” I used the old trick for flirting with girls. It was old, yes, but effective.

Lu Biyu’s pretty face flushed slightly, and she held out her hand to me.

I took her hand, and a needle pricked her skin before vanishing in an instant.

As I coaxed Lu Biyu into laughing until she was nearly bent double, Xu Bao’er stood off to the side in a business suit, her arms folded across her chest, watching the scene coldly.