A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

"Look closely, isn't that them?"

I watched as three men squatted at the edge of the flea market, yawning as they guarded a few muddy bottles and jars on a stall.

Li Shuwen, who was being pulled over by the scruff of the neck by Ji Zuodao and pointed at, nodded repeatedly:

"It's them! Those three were whispering amongst themselves next to the used bookstore this morning!"

Ji Zuodao squinted and sized him up, then clicked his tongue:

"Tsk, I've discovered that you all have some unique skills. One of you sells erotic pictures in the Qi cultivator market, and another sells newly unearthed funerary artifacts in the flea market... Pah, shameless. I have to do this kind of business in the dark."

Li Shuwen, though being dragged along, still managed to protest quietly:

"How can that be the same? What they're doing is grave robbing, desecrating tombs, and causing people to die out!"

"I dedicated myself to art, to promoting aesthetic reflection and emotional resonance regarding the origins of life..."

"Are the faces of you literary cultivators made of city wall corners?" Ji Zuodao said disdainfully.

"You seem to have a great prejudice against us scholars."

"Yeah, you have a problem with that?"

"No...no objection."

Li Shuwen shrank his neck, then lowered his voice, his tone slightly ingratiating and tentative.

"Investigator Ji, shall we go up there now, handcuff them, and take them to the police station? Wouldn't that count as a major meritorious service?"

"Send him to the police station? If the cops get involved, what will happen to my zombie?"

Ji Zuodao blurted it out without even thinking.

"A...a police note?"

Li Shuwen was taken aback by the authentic slang, and glanced strangely at Ji Zuodao's sharp trench coat and epaulets, feeling that something was amiss.

"Uh... Investigator Hime."

He swallowed hard and offered a careful reminder.

"Excuse me for saying this, but keeping zombies... is illegal. 749 is cracking down hard now; even orthodox Maoshan sects aren't allowed to keep them privately anymore, and those caught will be severely punished..."

"Snapped!"

Before he could finish speaking, he was slapped on the back of the head.

"I'm a full-fledged investigator from Bureau 749, and the head of patrols in Yuehai District. Do I need you to give me a legal lecture?"

Ji Zuodao glared, his neck stiff, his voice low but his aura imposing:

"Do you know I have connections? Huh? Raising zombies is nothing! That's called containing and managing high-risk supernatural beings, it's a job requirement! It's doing the country a favor!"

Although he spoke arrogantly, he was already rapidly calculating in his mind:

Tonight after get off work, should I take a couple of bottles of good wine and some good cigarettes to Deputy Director Liu's and Old Zhou's offices to report on my work and ask for their advice on business matters...?

We still have to go through this back door.

Ji Zuodao ignored the bewildered Li Shuwen and turned to give orders to Dog Master, who was wagging his tail at his feet.

"Dog, drive up and ram their stall. Watch my eyes."

"Woof! Yes, sir!"

Dog responded, skillfully stood up on its hind legs, and trotted toward the gray official car parked by the roadside.

"Holy crap?! A dog...a dog demon?!"

Li Shuwen was shocked only after a moment of realization; he had always thought it was a rather intelligent big black dog pet!

"How rude!"

Before opening the car door, Dog Master glanced back at him and curled his lip.

"Call me 'Dog Master'! I'm a legitimate specially appointed consultant for Bureau 749, with a secure job and government pay! How can I be compared to a petty scoundrel like you who walks the line of the law?"

Li Shuwen: "!!!"

He watched as Doggy skillfully jumped into the driver's seat and started the car, his mind buzzing, only one thought roaring in his mind:

Holy crap! Investigator Ji really does have connections!

That guy's got some serious connections!

Even the dog I raise... no, even my partner, the dog, is a government employee!

It seems a very important person has arrived in the coastal area this month!

A corner of the flea market.

Three rough men, dressed in thin jackets and with pale faces from the cold, squatted in the cold wind, shivering as they guarded a few bottles and jars covered in wet mud on the ground.

"Brother, how about... we go back?"

The youngest of the three brothers crossed his arms, his teeth chattering.

"I've been squatting here all morning, and not a single person has even bothered to ask the price, let alone sell anything..."

"Go back? Go back to your grandma's house and sit on the kang (heated brick bed)?"

The bald man, who was called "Big Brother," spat and touched the goosebumps that had risen on his shiny forehead from the wind.

"Can all the stuff we three have combined even buy a standing ticket out of Jinghai? If we don't sell this stuff today, tomorrow we'll be walking around begging for mercy!"

The tall, thin second brother, who had been silent until now, suddenly lowered his voice:

"What did they say at the fourth brother's family? He's the only breadwinner in his family, and now..."

"Oh?"

The bald leader glanced at him sideways and sneered.

"Second brother, are you being too kind-hearted, or are you just thinking about your brother's widow? What, want to be a live-in father? I've heard that every time fourth brother is away, you and his wife..."

"Hey! Boss! You can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want!"

"I'm talking nonsense? Who was it that night...?"

The three were chatting idly to keep warm when a drab, gray official car silently pulled up in front of their stall.

The bald leader's eyes lit up, and a smile forced across his frozen face—

Finally, a customer has come to our door!

The car door opened.

The young man who came down was wearing a light gray stand-up collar shirt and gold-rimmed glasses. He was gentle and unassuming, with a scholarly air about him. At first glance, he looked like a college student who had sneaked out to stroll through the market.

The bald man, all smiles, was about to greet them—

"Slap! Slap!"

The frail-looking young man rushed forward and slapped him hard across the face twice!

The force of the blow was so great that the bald leader spun halfway around on the spot, seeing stars before his eyes.

"You son of a bitch! You unfilial wretch!"

Li Shuwen pointed at the bald boss's nose, spitting almost onto his face, his voice urgent and angry.

"Your mother is having a difficult childbirth in the hospital, suffering severe bleeding! She's on the verge of death! The doctor wants a family member to sign the consent form! And what the hell are you doing, hiding here setting up a street stall?! Are you even human?! Huh?!"

The bald gang leader was stunned by the barrage of slaps and angry curses.

Covering her burning face, her ears were ringing, and she could only catch a few words: "your mother," "difficult childbirth," and "I can't go on."

In a moment of madness, his blind mother's face flashed before his eyes.

In a moment of panic, she stumbled and was pushed and shoved into the back seat of the car by Li Shuwen.

"You two! What are you standing there for?! Get in the car! We're going to the hospital together!"

Li Shuwen turned his head and shouted sternly at his equally dumbfounded second and third brothers, his tone leaving no room for doubt.

"Oh...oh! Okay, okay!"

The second and third sons were also shocked by this sudden "family tragedy".

Seeing that his older brother had been shoved inside, he didn't have time to think carefully. He hurriedly rolled up the bottles and jars on the ground with a rag and followed him into the car in a daze.

The car door slammed shut.

The engine hummed softly as it slowly drove away from the noisy street.

Only a few onlookers, drawn by the "family tragedy," remained, pointing and whispering at the rear of the car.

"Oh my god, look at these young people these days! My mother is in the hospital, her life hanging in the balance, and her sons are still out here selling junk? Have they no conscience?"

An old woman carrying a vegetable basket stood on tiptoe to look around, shaking her head repeatedly, spitting as she spoke.

"Absolutely! That young man did a good job! That's exactly what he should do! To wake this unfilial son up!"

The old man playing chess next to me slapped his thigh, sending several chess pieces flying, filled with righteous indignation.

"That young man seemed like a cultured person, all gentle and unassuming, but I didn't expect him to be so ruthless... But he deserved it!"

"Exactly! It would have been better to have a piece of barbecued pork than to have such a monstrosity!"

"Those two lackeys don't look like good people either; birds of a feather flock together!"

The buzzing of discussion quickly spread from "unfilial son" to "moral decline" and "the loss of traditional values."

Several emotional elderly people even began to share stories of their own or other "unfilial sons" with each other.

The crowd was immediately agitated, as if a small "seminar on criticizing unfilial children" had been held.

in the car.

The second son, sitting in the middle, suddenly slapped his thigh:

"Wait a minute! Boss, your blind old mother...didn't you accidentally kill her two years ago when you were drunk? Her grave's overgrown with weeds! Is this...uh?!"

His words came to an abrupt end.

It was as if an invisible hand had suddenly grabbed my throat.

Because directly in front of him, in the passenger seat, a person slowly turned half of their face.

A black trench coat, an unusually youthful profile, and a hint of a half-smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

What made his blood freeze instantly was the dark muzzle of the gun pointed steadily at them.

In the driver's seat, a dog's paw rested on the steering wheel, its head turned around, its eyes gleaming with an excited light that seemed to enjoy watching the drama unfold.

"Sit still."

Ji Zuodao's voice was not loud, and even had little inflection, but it was eerily clear in the suddenly deathly silent carriage.

He casually pointed to their side with his other hand.

"Seatbelts, buckle up."