What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

I smiled and poured some tea into their cups.

"Don't worry, if I don't have enough money, I'll be the first to run away, leaving you two to wash dishes."

Amidst the banter and jokes, the dishes were served one after another.

After several rounds of drinks and five courses of food,

I put down my chopsticks, picked up my wine glass, and gently tapped it on the table.

"Old Jin."

My voice wasn't loud, but the seriousness in my tone made them both stop what they were doing.

With half a piece of abalone still in his mouth, Jin Wanliang asked somewhat indistinctly, "What's wrong? Doesn't this wine suit your taste?"

I shook my head, my gaze falling on Jin Wanliang's round face, and slowly said, "There's something I think is better said face to face."

So that we two brothers won't have any grudges later.

Li Qing seemed to realize something, put down his wine glass, and his eyes became somewhat deep.

Jin Wanliang swallowed what was in his mouth, dropped his playful expression, and said seriously, "You speak."

"About the matter concerning Zhao Jianguo."

I looked into Jin Wanliang's eyes and said frankly, "Actually, after the old shipyard incident, I had some doubts about you."

The private room fell silent, with only the soft crackling of the charcoal fire in the copper hot pot.

"That was such a coincidence."

I continued, my tone remaining calm.

"You're a businessman, you have connections in both the legal and illegal worlds, and you're well-informed."

I'm wondering if the Shadow Sect offered you an irresistible price to lure me in.

Li Qing opened his mouth as if to say something, but I raised my hand to stop him.

"I know Li Qingxin believes in you, and I also know that you put in a lot of effort in the battle later on. That formation cost you a lot of money."

But doubt, once it takes root, is like a seed; if it's not unearthed, it will sprout and grow when problems arise later.

After saying that, I picked up a full glass of baijiu and stood up.

"Old Jin, I, Chen Yang, am a straightforward person. Except when it comes to enemies, I don't like to hide things from my friends."

I was wrong to doubt you before; I'll offer this drink as an apology.

As soon as I finished speaking, I tilted my head back and downed the glass of Moutai in one gulp.

The spicy liquor rolled down my throat, like a fire exploding in my chest.

I showed the empty wine glass to Jin Wanliang.

Jin Wanliang sat there and stared at me for a few seconds.

At that moment, all the shrewdness, worldliness, and greed in his eyes vanished, revealing a rare and complex expression.

Suddenly, he grinned.

"Hold."

He cursed and stood up, picking up his glass.

"Chen Yang, you're a real man, you bastard."

He downed the drink in one gulp, not stopping even after coughing twice.

"Ahem... Actually, your suspicions are correct."

Jin Wanliang wiped the wine stains from the corner of his mouth, sat down again, his eyes somewhat unfocused.

"The Shadow Sect did indeed contact me. Before Zhao Jianguo contacted me, a masked person delivered a letter to me."

He said that as long as I lead you to the designated location, he'll give me twenty million, no matter what.

Upon hearing this, Li Qing's expression instantly changed, and he slammed his hand on the table: "You fatso, you..."

"Don't rush, let me finish."

Jin Wanliang waved his hand and grinned.

"Twenty million! It would be a lie to say I wasn't tempted."

I'm a businessman; profit-seeking is in my nature. But…”

He glanced at Li Qing, then at me.

"But I have my bottom line."

"Although Li Qing is usually a smart aleck, I've always treated him like a younger brother."

Although I haven't known you, Chen Yang, for very long, you're a loyal and righteous person, and we get along well."

"So, while keeping Yingzong in suspense without alerting him, I accepted Zhao Jianguo's order."

I was thinking, since this is a trap set for you, why don't we take the initiative to break it and make some money off him?

"I know you're not that simple. Not only do you have a close relationship with Director Lu, but you also have Li Qing by your side. You're not going to be a pushover."

Jin Wanliang shrugged. "The battle at the shipyard that day, if I hadn't been able to play both sides with the Shadow Sect and keep them off guard, my deployment of the outer formation wouldn't have gone so smoothly."

Those elders of the Shadow Sect are no pushovers; they almost messed things up.

After hearing this, Li Qing's expression softened, and he snorted coldly, "At least you still have some conscience."

If I find out you dared to sell me out, I'll set up a trap of a thousand arrows piercing your ancestral graves.

"No, no, no, please spare my life, Master Geomancer!" Jin Wanliang hurriedly bowed and begged for mercy.

As I watched this scene, a weight was finally lifted from my heart.

"Now that we've talked things out, let's put this matter behind us."

I picked up the wine bottle and filled Jin Wanliang's and Li Qing's glasses.

"From now on, the three of us will share both good times and bad."

Whether it's the Shadow Sect or the Guardians of the Cauldron, as long as we stick together, the sky over Jiangcheng won't fall down.

"Well said!"

Li Qing raised his glass, his eyes gleaming. "The Three Musketeers of Jiangcheng, bottoms up!"

"Dry!"

The three wine glasses clinked together loudly in mid-air.

The snow outside the window stopped sometime ago, and a clear, cold moon hung on the treetops.

The meal was very enjoyable.

But after that, the three of us tacitly stopped drinking in moderation.

After all, Jiangcheng is currently rife with undercurrents, and I need to stay alert at all times to deal with unexpected events.

……

Early the next morning.

When I arrived at the funeral home in my Santana, I instinctively tried to turn into the parking space, but I noticed that the atmosphere was a bit off.

Two police cars with flashing red and blue lights were parked at the main gate, along with a black SWAT riot control vehicle.

Several uniformed police officers were setting up a cordon, completely blocking the road leading to the morgue.

"What serious incident has occurred?"

I muttered to myself and parked the car.

As soon as I reached the office building entrance, I saw my colleague Xiao Liu huddled in a corner smoking. His usually cheerful face was now as white as a sheet of paper.

"Xiao Liu, what's going on? Why is there such a big commotion?"

I patted him on the shoulder.

Xiao Liu jumped in fright, dropping his cigarette. He only breathed a sigh of relief after recognizing me: "Oh my god, Brother Chen, how come you walk so quietly? You scared me to death!"

He looked around and said in a low voice, "A corpse was delivered this morning, it's really weird."

"They were fine when they were taken in, but the forensic doctor went in to examine the body, and within two minutes he came running out screaming, saying the body... the body was laughing."

The corpse laughed?

I frowned slightly.

Having worked in a funeral home for a long time, it's not uncommon for corpses to show changes in facial expression due to muscle spasms, but for a forensic doctor to be this frightened is definitely not a simple physiological phenomenon.

Just then, Director Wang's chubby figure ran out of the hall, covered in sweat, and looked at me as if I were his savior.

"Xiao Chen! Oh, you've finally arrived!"

The director grabbed my arm with surprising strength.

"Quick, quick, come with me to the morgue. No one else can do this job; only you can."