The cold wind carried the drizzle and poured into the narrow alley, making it look somewhat miserable.
The eyebrows moved with the wind, falling silently on the bluestone floor that was littered with water and fallen flowers. Under the slender and powerful waist, the frost-white sword blade and the fiery red skirt contrasted with each other.
She remained silent.
Just behind the ghost face, two stern eyes were cast.
If there is a wrong explanation, then yesterday's covenant will be overturned. At this time, right here, there will be another fight.
Li Changan nailed Zu Gui to the sword.
He pondered for a while.
He did not rush to explain the reason for saving the ghost, but asked a question.
"Miss Yu, can the demonic plague in your mouth be cured?"
"Absolutely impossible."
"Have you tried it?"
Yu Mei's answer was decisive, and Li Changan's rhetorical question came out of his mouth.
However, when I asked this question, I got no response at all.
Li Changan frowned and gradually understood.
What are the duties of the Zhenfu Division?
That is to say, he is in charge of the affairs of the world's demons, ghosts, witches, monks, and Taoists, and patrols and suppresses all kinds of monsters and disasters. As for the safety, misfortunes, wealth, and lives of the common people, it is not within the scope of his responsibilities, and he will not take it seriously.
Therefore, this generation often behaves cruelly and violently, and is often looked down upon by the world and scholars.
However, this is the true nature of an eagle dog!
People like Yan Xinglie and Long Tu are the few who put the cart before the horse.
"Humans can become diseased and turn into monsters, so why can't monsters be cured and turn back into humans?"
The Taoist priest asked bluntly.
"Have you ever tried the possibility of a cure? If not, how dare you kill innocent people indiscriminately?!"
this time.
Yu Mei finally responded.
"How can you be innocent if you kill someone and suck blood?"
"This is caused by the demonic transformation, not its nature."
"If you fall into the devil's path, it's hard to turn back." Yu Mei's voice was as cold as ice, "So what if you save one person? As long as the culprit is still there, the demon will continue to change. It is only right to abandon the minutiae and hurry up to track down the culprit.
"
These "correct" words made Li Changan shake his head and laugh.
"So, one person can't be saved?"
"insufficient."
The Taoist priest took a deep breath.
"Okay, okay, okay. Even if this person devours his wife and children, it is not a pity to kill him. But next time, another innocent person is unfortunately infected with the epidemic. What should we do?"
Yu Mei's answer was very simple.
"Just kill him."
Li Changan almost laughed out of anger at her.
"One person can be killed if he catches the disease, but what about ten people? What about a hundred people? What about tens of millions of people? The city will be transformed into demons, and the city will be destroyed?"
The Taoist priest sneered and bowed his hands.
"If that's the case, please take care of it yourself, Mr. Yu. A poor man is greedy for life and is afraid of death. He doesn't want to be devoured by thousands of monsters and only leave a few bones and dregs behind."
When these words came out, the atmosphere on both sides dropped to freezing point.
In the narrow alley, both sides were speechless.
Only the rain and the wind were crying, accompanied by the intermittently painful moans of the ghosts.
Quite a while.
Just when the Taoist priest thought that the other party couldn't bear it anymore and was about to take action.
Yu Mei silently sheathed her sword, which was a sign of relief.
Li Changan also got off the donkey along the slope, put away his aggressive attitude, and patiently persuaded:
"Besides, killing is just a symptom. Finding the culprit is the root cause."
He pointed to the demon at his feet.
"This guy retains his wisdom as a human being. He can even pretend to be a normal person during the day and deceive us. Maybe he knows the culprit behind the scenes..."
The words are not finished yet.
"Taoist Priest..."
At the back door of Zhou's house outside the alley, the call stopped abruptly, and then Bo Ziyu's voice suddenly sounded.
"Don't panic, I'm here to help you."
Help you big-headed ghost.
Li Chang'an just slandered the person opposite him and tried to get out of the way as the red dress with crimson eyebrows floated.
He hurriedly called her:
"Wait a minute."
Yu Mei glanced at the entrance of the alley and whispered:
"I can't expose (Harmony)'s identity yet."
"I know."
Li Changan nodded.
This Yumei always put on a false face and was secretive in her actions, which led to the encirclement and suppression by officials. If she had revealed her identity early in the morning, how could the county government have announced a reward? But she must have had some scruples in doing so.
, has a plan.
The Taoist priest had noticed this a long time ago, so he didn't tell anyone about what happened between the two of them. But now he called her to stop because...
"I am not good at magic. I don't have the means to suppress demons. I have to borrow the girl's soul-stabilizing needle."
When dealing with another ghost before, as well as the tiger aunt last time, Li Changan had vague thoughts of capturing them alive, but he really didn't have any magic at his disposal, so he could only kill them hastily.
But now, although I don’t have one, Yumei does.
Otherwise, according to the Taoist priest's temperament, he would have been chatting nonsense with her for a long time.
Yu Mei did not answer after hearing this, only when the figure disappeared over the wall.
A short needle came through the air and sank into the back of the ghost's neck.
At this time, Bo Ziyu finally arrived, stepping on the stagnant water.
He pulled out the blade and made random gestures, until he was out of breath.
"Where is the demon...the demon girl?"
"Ran."
"Run away?" His face was stunned, "Why don't you chase me?"
"How to chase?"
In the empty alley, Bo Ziyu was speechless. His eyes turned coldly and caught a glimpse of the things under Li Changan's feet that were neither humans nor ghosts nor fish.
"This is?"
"Zhou Huai."
"Hiss~"
He choked on a mouthful of cold rain.
…………
The main hall of Zhou's residence.
Li Changan held up the candle.
The candlelight was dim and illuminated the hall.
Bo Ziyu was sent out to dispose of the corpses of his colleagues. There were only Li Changan and Zhou Huai in the room, and oh, there was also someone listening in the corner.
The Taoist glanced at a certain spot on the beam, where there was a faint corner of bright red.
"I don't like to talk nonsense with others. I know you can hear and see, so you can talk after I finish."
Li Changan put Zhou Huai on the bed, who was as if he was dead after being hit by the soul-fixing needle, took a stool and sat down opposite him, and said straight to the point.
"You recognize me?"
That’s all.
The tone of voice is gentle and eloquent.
"During the day, although you pretended to be foolish and filial, you deceived us. In fact, you deliberately revealed the clue of 'pancake'. Although this clue is obscure (harmonious), as long as someone with a heart can actually tell it,
It's not difficult to detect, and it's easier to follow this clue to find out where your father is."
"After all, in this small Xiaoshui City, it is really eye-catching for a famous person like you to appear in front of people disheveled and buy a large basket of cakes with your own hands."
"Why did you betray your father?"
Taoist priests ask and answer questions for themselves.
"My guess is that your disguise only works during the day. At night, you will change back to this half-human, half-fish appearance. So you need to divert your attention to get away. But you never expected that we would come back
It’s just so quick.”
Li Changan paused.
"But the prerequisite for all this is that you know those people can threaten you and threaten a monster. After all, ordinary government servants will only become your food.
But in Xiaoshui City, there are very few people who can really threaten you.
For example, poor Taoism.
For example, someone who is secretly cleaning up the monsters."
On the beam, Yu Mei's breathing became rapid for a moment. Li Changan ignored him and just leaned over to take out the short needle from the back of Zhou Huai's neck. Shi Shiran asked:
"So, who is warning you?"
Is Li Changan's inference rigorous?
No.
It's simply full of mistakes.
He just picked the one that looked like a bluff among thousands of possibilities. Of course, everyone was happy if he guessed correctly, but if he didn't guess correctly... the worst he could do was make up another one and continue the bluff. Anyway, everyone is in his own hands.
, just cook it slowly.
as expected.
After taking off the soul-fixing needle, Zu Gui said nothing and just stared at the Taoist priest with a strange expression.
Guessed wrong?
Li Changan scratched his head.
Infinite Heavenly Lord, we are really not qualified for this line of work.
But what else can we do? Leave it to the government, I'm afraid the officials will be frightened to death first; leave it to Yu Mei, I'm afraid they won't be able to survive afterwards.
With no choice, the Taoist priest had to change his strategy and give gentle advice.
"Don't worry, I don't mean to harm your life. On the contrary, I will invite mages and famous doctors to treat your illness. Even if it cannot be cured for the time being, I will only temporarily detain you until I find out the culprit behind turning you into a monster.
, I will definitely pay you back..."
"puff."
A sneer sounded particularly harsh in the spacious and bright room.
This laughter did not come from Li Changan who was so sincere, nor did it come from the eyebrows on the roof tiles, nor did it come from Bo Ziyu who was "humming" and carrying the corpse outside.
The Taoist priest's eyes grew colder, and he looked at Zhou Huai with a sarcastic grin.
"turn out to be."
it says.
"You know nothing."
A cold wind came from nowhere and slipped into the house.
Shake the candle.
The dark and messy candle shadow reflected on the Taoist priest's face, making his expression even more indifferent.
"what for?"
"You want to know?"
The corners of Zhou Huai's mouth became more and more cracked, revealing two rows of fine teeth.
"You idiot, you dream bug! It doesn't hurt to tell you, this Xiao..."
Halfway through his words, he suddenly stopped.
The remaining half was stuck in the throat, making only a few "whoosh" sounds.
Li Changan frowned.
"What about you?"
It was unable to respond, its body was trembling violently, and fine drops of blood could not help oozing from under its scales.
Its mouth was wide open, as if it had used all its strength to spit out four intermittent words.
"Peel...the belly..."
Then, he stared straight, and a pair of pupils became more dilated and diffused, like two deep holes, through which life and soul quietly slipped away, leaving behind a shriveled body that gradually became cold and hard.
he died.
…………
Red shadows flip.
Yu Mei finally couldn't hold it any longer, so she jumped off the beam and fell into the house.
Li Changan winked at her, and she nodded silently, holding the sword in her hand.
The Taoist priest drew his sword and turned the corpse of the ghost over. The tip of the sword penetrated the fish's belly and opened the flesh bit by bit.
However, a foot-long opening was opened.
suddenly.
Zu Gui seemed to have come to life, his stomach suddenly expanded and contracted.
Immediately afterwards.
A long shadow emerged from the mouth of the fish's belly, carrying a fishy and strange stench, and hit the Taoist priest's face.
The eyebrows next to you have been waiting for you for a long time.
The sword light flashed one after another.
The thing was sent back and cut into several pieces.
The Taoist priest's expression did not change, he picked up the tip of his sword and took a closer look.
That long shadow turned out to be a slender insect.
The head is like a lamprey, and the torso is about the thickness of a goose egg and is in the shape of milky white links. There are thin tentacles at the links, like the roots of a plant. It can be imagined that when it hides in the belly of the demon,
How do these "roots" penetrate into the host's flesh and blood and absorb the host's essence and blood?
Yu Mei only cut off its head and a small part of its body, while most of the body was still in the belly of the fish. With slight twitching, it slowly slipped out of the fish's belly.
Yumei was wearing a mask, so his expression could not be seen clearly.
Anyway, Li Changan felt very numb when he looked at this ghost thing.
All right.
Now I probably understand who that jar of internal organs is for.
"Taoist Master."
Bo Ziyu's voice sounded outside the door.
However, Yu Mei remained motionless and did not react at all. Li Changan quickly pushed her, and she seemed to have come to her senses. She stepped forward and jumped onto the beam.
"I heard something moving, but what happened?"
Bo Ziyu opened the door and rushed in. But as soon as he saw the scene in the house, his face turned pale, he covered his mouth and hid outside to retching.
Li Changan quickly grabbed him back and asked immediately:
"Where are the bodies of the other two ghosts?"
…………
Yizhuang in the north of the city.
The guard was a stooped old man. He might have been around corpses for many years, and his complexion looked no better than the corpses.
He pointed at the three corpses in the courtyard, as if introducing the cabbages in his garden.
"The hairy woman the day before yesterday said it was filth. She pulled the firewood and the kerosene had burned it early. It's this weird fish and the weird fish-like guy. If you two are late, I will They were also burned together. As for those who died violently before, including the woman who ate her own child, they had already been taken away by their relatives and they didn't know where they were buried. Only Qian Dazhi, because he was a merchant, was waiting for his fellow villagers to drop by. He sent the body back, so it remains in Zhuangzi."
After he finished speaking slowly, Li Changan bowed his hand.
"Sorry, husband."
The old man waved his hand.
"I'm serious. This guy can be considered a nephew of an old man. He can help with some small things if he can."
After saying that, he smiled and stepped aside, leaving Bo Ziyu standing in front of the corpse, holding a knife and tremblingly looking at Li Changan.
"Taoist Priest?"
Li Changan nodded.
"Watch out for corpse energy."
The smile on Bo Ziyu's face was uglier than crying.
The Taoist priest could only say, half comforting and half urging: "Don't worry, I'll be there to protect you."
The young policeman was helpless.
Whoever dared to follow him had the courage to follow, but his martial arts skills were low and he couldn't do the job of protecting him, so he had to be responsible for skinning the belly of the corpse.
He gritted his teeth and slashed the stomachs of the three corpses one by one.
But luckily, no more bugs came out of it.
Just then he breathed a sigh of relief, but saw the Taoist priest's face solemn.
"No intestines."
What?
He turned his head and took a closer look, but saw that the three corpses had all the internal organs in their abdomens, but there was no intestines.
Where did the intestines go?
Or.
Where did the things that occupied the intestines go in the belly of the corpse?
…
The two of them thanked the guard and said goodbye to Yizhuang.
Looking outside the door, the night was as dark as iron.
Li Changan couldn't help but recall the question and answer he had with Yu Mei on the top of the Temple of Dionysus.
"How many murders are there?"
"Seven out of thirty."
The Taoist priest let out a deep breath.
Thirty-seven people!
Among these thirty-seven people, how many have this kind of strange insect in their stomachs? Is this kind of strange insect the source of the demonic transformation? If so, have those escaped insects created more monsters that are lurking in Xiaoshui City?
middle?
"Taoist Master." Bo Ziyu was a little worried. "What should we do next?"
Li Changan rubbed his temples a little tiredly.
I haven't had a good night's sleep in the past two days.