My enemies became my companions

Chapter 479: No shortage of heroes (two in one)

The shadows of the trees are dim, and the pale ghost face with disheveled hair, empty eyes and a silently open mouth seem to be telling endless resentment.

Shao Bo stood still, his hair standing on end, shivering violently, and breathing heavily.

A chilly wind suddenly blew through the alley.

The ghost face floated over from the wall and slowly approached.

The coldness permeated his whole body, and Shao Bo even forgot to draw his sword, but then he heard a "click" sound.

The ghost face disappeared immediately.

"Where's the ghost?"

Shao Bo was still in shock and spoke out after realizing it.

"There are no ghosts." The Taoist priest stretched out his hand and spread it, revealing a red-faced mask that children wore at temple fairs. "It's just a Guan Gong mask."

With such a careful look, it was not a wandering ghost at all. Shao Bo looked at it with lingering fear, and suddenly realized that when Chen Yi clapped his hands just now, the ghost face suddenly deflated, and the hair was no longer disheveled. It was just a mask hanging on the treetop, and the lush shadows of the trees looked like loose black hair.

He was so confused that he saw Guan Gong as if he saw a ghost. Seeing the truth, Shao Bo calmed down, coughed twice and said:

"Master, you have seen that this kind of demon is insidious and cunning, with many tricks. Even I almost fell into its trap."

He took a deep breath and looked at Chen Yi's expression.

The wandering Taoist priest had no sadness or joy on his face. He threw away his mask and said, "I understand. I understand."

"Honestly speaking, if it weren't for these mysterious tricks, she wouldn't have been able to fight me for more than thirty or forty rounds."

Shao Bo loosened the knife handle, the rope on it was already wet with cold sweat. He clapped his hands to ease the panic and asked tentatively:
"Then... continue to lead the way?"

"Well, the sooner the better."

Shao Bo didn't delay any longer and started walking immediately. His scalp was still slightly numb. The terrifying glimpse still made him feel frightened.

Not long after they entered the alley, they turned into another alley. The walls on both sides were even higher, the eaves cast shadows, and the road was narrow. They walked down the slope, but they didn't know where they were going. The alley with no end in sight seemed to extend infinitely underground.

The bricks and stones on the streets are in disorder, and the wild grass in the cracks looks like little hands reaching upwards.

"The swallows drool, one after another..."

There was a faint sound of singing floating in the cold wind.

Shao Bo initially thought he had misheard, but the continuous buzzing in his ears gave him goose bumps.

"Mr. Shao, come and meet me..."

A chill ran up his spine, Shao Bo broke out in a cold sweat, turned around and said:

“…Did you hear that?”

"What did you hear?"

Chen Yi showed a dazed look, and the little girl beside him lowered her head.

"Song...someone is singing." Shao Bo wanted to point in a direction, but the singing stopped abruptly and no one knew where it came from.

"I think Constable Shao heard it wrong." Chen Yi said.

Shao Bo's temple trembled and bulged. He could only smile awkwardly, then pulled out the knife and held it in front of him to protect himself.

He tried to be calm and said, "Master, don't panic. These demons only rely on their esoteric tricks. We can't defeat them alone. If they show up, they will definitely not be a match for the three of us."

"good."

It was an ordinary reply, but Shao Bo caught a subtle detail.

From beginning to end, Chen Yi was the only one who responded.

He couldn't help but look back at the girl with long hair, and his heart beat faster... Why hasn't this little nun spoken a word since he met her? Is she mute?
Chen Yi behind him urged: "Hurry up, kill this ghost as soon as possible."

Shao Bo's thoughts were interrupted and he nodded quickly, then continued walking forward with his knife in hand.

In the dim and narrow alley, the blade was emitting a cold glow. The faint light of the blade could not give people peace of mind, but instead irritated their scalp.

The terrain that I was familiar with seemed unfamiliar in my fear. The alley seemed to have no end. The wooden doors of the houses on both sides of the road were closed, and there was an endless stream of dry, dark red inverted "Fu" characters.

Shao Bo felt that he was walking very fast, but in fact, his pace was sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Shrouded in fear, he wanted to finish the walk quickly, but after a few steps, he felt that there was something hidden in the shadows, so he slowed down, making this alley, which already seemed to have no end, even longer.

The three of them turned the corner again, but stopped again because there was no road ahead.

At the entrance of the alley, there was a mountain of miscellaneous items, which had strangely piled up to a height of ten and a half feet, emitting a furry black color. There was an old and moldy bed, a cabinet with a hole in it, and a dressing table with a bronze mirror covered in thick dust. Several long benches were placed crosswise, and on the corners of the tops were hung a few tattered children's bellybands.

As I got closer, I smelled a pungent and sickening smell. I looked down and saw a circle of dark red blood on the ground.

That's black dog blood.

Shao Bo shuddered, the pile of hills seemed to be sealing off whatever was inside and preventing it from coming out.

"Is there any other way?" Chen Yi asked.

“…Yes.” Shao Bo, whose scalp was tingling, took a while to respond.

He immediately walked back to the fork in the road ahead and turned left.

This road seemed even longer and more winding than before, and it was a less traveled path.

The knife in Shao Bo's hand was shaking slightly. As he walked along, he always felt the sound of children's songs floating in the air from time to time, clear and pleasant to the ears, yet with an indescribable weirdness.

When I reached the middle of the path, I looked up and saw a wooden alley gate in the middle of the road. The door front was mottled, with large patches of rot and black. I couldn't tell whether it was locked or not, and there was a gap in the middle.

Shao Bo moved closer, stretched out his hand and pushed hard, but it didn't move.

"Why is it locked?"

As he was talking to himself in confusion, suddenly, the rotten and dark alley door made a rapid "dong, dong" sound, as if something was violently ramming from the inside out, and the things locked inside would rush out at any time.

Shao Bo felt a chill down his spine, cold sweat broke out, and he froze in place.

A foot stretched out from behind.

Without saying a word, Chen Yi kicked the alley door hard.

boom!
With a deafening noise, the alley door was kicked open, and smoke and dust rose and fell.

Shao Bo was trembling as he saw the back of a woman with disheveled hair turning the corner and disappearing into the deeper alley.

"Mom!"

He could no longer hold on, his body tilted backwards, he took a few steps back and was about to fall to the ground, but the Taoist priest supported him from behind.

Shao Bo collapsed like mud, his hands and feet were powerless, and he even forgot to tremble. After a long time, his face began to tremble like a sieve.

"Master, Master, Master... We won't look for you anymore. We won't look for you anymore. Let's go back, let's go back!"

Chen Yi looked embarrassed and said, "We have to see where the ghost is."

"Don't, don't see her again. I can't do anything to her. I...I was scared back last time. I, I, I."

Shao Bo said the word "I" many times, and his pronunciation was unclear.

Chen Yi pointed his finger towards his Danzhong acupoint and shouted, "Calm down!"

The external impact took effect. Shao Bo straightened his neck and regained some rationality. He held onto the wall and slowly stabilized his body.

He took a long breath, breathing heavily.
"Can the Taoist really subdue this kind of demon?"

Chen Yi said slowly: "Don't panic, detective. From what I have seen along the way, this ghost is just using scare tactics. I think it is weak, so it can use such despicable techniques." Although he said so, Shao Bo barely managed to regain his soul from the fear and didn't dare to leave at all.

He held the knife in his hand, beads of sweat dripping down, and said in a trembling voice: "The Taoist priest has great magical powers, it is not a big deal for one person to go to find it. I will show you the way, and then go back first..."

Chen Yi did not embarrass him and nodded very understandingly.

Shao Bo quickly pointed the road and explained the specific intersection in a hurry. Then he sheathed his knife, passed Chen Yi and walked back.

"Wait, Constable Shao hasn't explained what she looks like yet."

Constable Shao stopped walking, a horrifying scene flashed through his mind, and after suppressing it, he slowly said: "Wearing a bloodstained white shirt, with disheveled hair..."

He spoke slowly, feeling a chill that made him shiver. He noticed a detail from the corner of his eye: the lips of the girl who had never spoken moved slightly, as if she made a sound...

"The swallows are drooling, one after another, Master Shao, come and meet me, alone, it's good to meet me..."

"The alley is icy cold. Swallows fly here and peck at the county nephew. When the county nephew dies, they peck at the county magistrate..."

Is that... a nursery rhyme?
Shao Bo felt a chill rushing to his brain.

The Taoist priest's figure floated in front of him, his Taoist robe disappeared, leaving only a blood-stained white robe and disheveled hair!
"Constable Shao, are you saying, it's like... me?"

…………

Boom, boom, boom, boom...

After three long and one short knocks, the cold, dark wooden door slowly opened.

Chen Yi raised his head and saw a woman with a lonely face. She took a few steps back and walked aside.

After entering the room and taking a few casual looks, I saw that in the not-so-large room, there was only a dark stove and five or six large dark-colored vats. As I looked around, the woman brought over the only chair.

"Master...Master..." the woman called out timidly.

Chen Yi did not sit down, but waved his hand to signal Yin Tingxue to sit down. The girl did not refuse and sat down.

He touched his neck and was about to speak when suddenly an abrupt black shadow was reflected on the window frame.

"come out."

Chen Yi stretched out his hand and grabbed out of thin air, and heard a few rapid "chirps". A struggling lark was restrained between his five fingers.

The lark bumped around and shouted, "Let go, let go!"

"Are you Xiao Qi? You're playing tricks on me. I thought there really was a Guhuo bird."

Chen Yi sneered.

"Let Xiao Qi go!"

With a few clicking sounds, several children's heads popped out of the big vat, ready to rush over to save people... no, to save the birds.

The children jumped to the ground, raising dust, and were about to knock Chen Yi down.

The woman shouted at this time: "Go back, don't be rude to me!"

The children stopped reluctantly and stared at the lark in Chen Yi's hand.

Chen Yi casually let go of the lark, and the lark named Xiao Qi immediately flew to the woman's shoulder. He naturally knew that the woman in front of him with a sad brow was Madam Yan.

"She told me the whole thing." Chen Yi said.

"It seems that the Taoist priest knows everything..." Madam Yan said with a smile: "There is no such thing as a Guhuo bird. It's just a few families who are fleeing from the debt collection in the county."

Chen Yi said nothing and agreed.

Yin Tingxue asked him to calm down that day first, and then told her the whole story. It turned out that she met Madam Yan returning with the forged blood-stained clothes and chased her all the way. Madam Yan saw that she couldn't scare her away, so she could only tell her the whole story.

It turned out that the county had been sending people to jail one after another, and everyone was already scared. The county government would certainly not sentence anyone to death openly. According to regular procedures, death penalty cases had to be reported from the prefecture and county to the Censorate, and then to the governor-general, the Ministry of Justice, and finally to the emperor for a decision. The process was lengthy, so there were only twenty or thirty death penalty cases reported to the court in the entire province. But if someone was imprisoned for ten days, a hundred days, or even a thousand days, who could guarantee that they would not die in prison for some reason?

At this time, the lark Xiao Qi accidentally met the lost eldest son of Madam Yan. After hearing about this, he borrowed the legend of the Guhuo bird. Madam Yan also dressed herself up as a madman and hung up a blood-stained shirt. The neighbors in this area also followed suit and hung up blood-stained clothes and hid their children. It was true that Xiao Qi's little skill could not harm anyone, but he could still scare away the officials and capture them easily.

Chen Yi raised his eyes and looked around. There were eleven children hiding here. If everyone added fuel to the fire, the matter would become a myth. He raised his eyes again and saw Madam Yan's white clothes stained with blood, her black hair disheveled and covered with scabs. He couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Xiao Qi didn't mean to scare people," Madam Yan said softly, a little embarrassed, pulling a child over to rub his head out of habit, "It's true that the officials are more powerful than the ghosts!"

Chen Yi exhaled and remained silent for a moment.

Yin Tingxue seemed to have heard his voice first and turned to look at him.

He raised his lips slightly and asked with a smile: "How about I kill the official?"

…………

Shao Bo didn't know how long he had been unconscious. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the alley, but sitting on a bench on the street.

He stood up suddenly, his eyes widened, cold sweat broke out, as if he had not yet recovered from the shock. At this moment, he heard a voice beside him: "Are you okay, Constable Shao?"

The bland sound gave him a startle. He turned around suddenly and saw the Taoist blowing the wontons and eating them leisurely.

"This, this, this! This..." Shao Bo shivered for a long time, pointed at himself and said, "I'm not dead?"

"Constable Shao is fine. As for the demon inside, it has been injured by my magic." Chen Yi ate a bite of wonton and asked again, "Constable Shao, do you want to go and take a look?"

Shao Bo was so scared that he dared not go again. He shook his head, stood up, took two shaky steps, and stood up straight by holding the pillar.

After a long pause, Shao Bo turned around and asked, "Master Dao... can you take advantage of the victory and destroy this demon today?"

Chen Yi ate the wonton slowly and didn't answer.

Shao Bo gritted his teeth and said, "There is a reward in the county."

Chen Yi immediately put down his chopsticks, clapped his hands, and said with a smile: "Okay, just take me to see the county magistrate."

Shao Bo secretly despised these Taoist priests for being blinded by money, saying that they were no different from those swindlers in the world, but his face was still attentive, and he bent down and made a gesture of invitation.

He took out seven cents from his pocket, put them on the table, and stood up to follow him.

The two kept walking and soon turned into a street. Although it was New Year's Day, the wide street was unusually quiet and every household tried their best not to go out.

Chen Yi followed Shao Bo around the corner and arrived in front of the vermilion gatepost of the county government office. The county government office was closed for the New Year and no one was on duty. He took out the key and opened the small door. He walked in front familiarly and led Chen Yi to the backyard.

“It tastes good.”

A strange fishy smell wafted in the air without wind.

Shao Bo wrinkled his nose and Chen Yi looked a little confused. He was very familiar with this smell.

The smell came from the lobby of the county government office.

Shao Bo was full of doubts. He moved forward and pushed the thick door with both hands, causing a creaking sound.

The fishy smell was so strong that it rushed into his nose. The lobby of the county government was as calm as ever. Shao Bo looked inside and saw a headless figure lying dead in front of the trial table, with a large area stained red with blood!
Where is the head?
Before Shao Bo could say anything, something seemed to roll beside his feet. He looked down while trembling.

The old face of County Magistrate Wei was staring at him with eyes wide open.

"what!"

Shao Bo howled loudly, like a crow.

Amid the panicked screams, Chen Yi looked around slowly with interest.

But on the wide wall with the plaque "正大光明" (Zhengda Guangming) there were large, dark red characters that smelled fishy:
The good man He Taixiong killed the official here!
Someone actually got there first. Chen Yi couldn't help but sigh and said, "There is no shortage of heroes in the world."

(End of this chapter)