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

I stood in the corner of the hall, watching the team members busy at work.

Hong Gu has been taken to the special operations team's escort vehicle.

Before she left, her cloudy eyes stared intently at me, and she kept uttering incoherent curses.

But I know that with my dantian foundation shattered and her body locked up by the Folklore Bureau's sealing handcuffs, she will never have a chance to turn her life around.

"Mr. Chen, we've made a discovery here."

At this moment, Zhao Tie's voice came from behind the screen at the back of the hall.

I put away the blood-stained yellow paper, tucked the scalpel into my sleeve, and walked over.

Behind the screen was a small Buddhist shrine, but instead of a proper Bodhisattva, it enshrined a wooden deity statue covered in red paint and with a distorted shape.

The statue had no facial features, only a dense array of holes, which gave people the creeps.

Several members of the action team were squatting on the floor below the statue, repeatedly tapping it with a detection instrument.

"This place is empty."

As one of the team members spoke, he forcefully lifted one of the blue bricks.

What's visible is a dark pull ring.

Zhao Tie stepped forward, signaling the others to step back. He gripped the pull ring with one hand and suddenly exerted all his muscles.

"Creak—"

The heavy stone slab was slowly pulled aside, and a strong, putrid stench instantly gushed out of the cave entrance.

Even though I often spend time in funeral homes, I couldn't help but frown slightly.

Zhou Ming took out two flare sticks from his waist bag, turned them on, and casually tossed them down.

The cold white light instantly illuminated the space below.

This is a basement of about thirty square meters, with red talismans pasted on all four walls. However, the talismans have turned black and curled up due to the erosion of yin energy.

"I'll go down first."

I said softly, and before Zhao Tie could stop me, I jumped down.

The floor beneath my feet didn't feel hard; instead, it felt like something sticky, wet, and soft.

I looked down and saw a thick layer of black soil on the ground, mixed with some white powder, which was quicklime used for preservation and moisture absorption.

Zhao Tie and Zhou Ming also jumped down.

"Damn it, that old hag is a real beast."

After regaining his footing and taking in the surrounding situation, Zhao Tiegang couldn't help but mutter a curse under his breath.

In a corner of the basement, four semi-transparent plastic sleeping bags were neatly stacked.

Under the light of the lamp, the contents of the sleeping bag can be clearly seen.

That's a corpse.

To be precise, they were the bodies of four young women.

I approached one of the bodies and squatted down.

The deceased were all quite young, around twenty years old.

Their expressions were serene, even with a hint of eeriness in their smiles, as if they were lost in some beautiful dream.

There was a tiny red dot on each of their foreheads, chests, and lower abdomens.

I pressed my finger against the deceased's skin.

The muscles were not completely stiff, indicating that the time of death was not long, at most no more than two days.

"It's a life-borrowing technique."

I stood up, my voice almost indifferent.

"Hong Gu imprisoned their lives within her body and then slowly drained their lifespan."

These girls all believed they had met their soulmates before they died, but in reality, their lives were sold by Hong Gu to wealthy merchants or evil cultivators who were about to die.

Zhou Ming walked over, sprinkled a circle of realgar powder around the corpse, and lit a stick of incense to guide the soul.

The cigarette rose straight up without the slightest sway.

"His soul is gone." Zhou Ming shook his head, his tone heavy.

"They didn't even have a chance to be reincarnated; they were completely refined."

Enraged, Zhao Tie slammed his fist against the wall, shaking off a cloud of dust: "These evil cultivators deserve to be torn to pieces!"

I didn't reply, and instead turned my gaze to a dilapidated wooden table on the other side of the basement.

The table was cluttered with bottles and jars filled with liquids of various colors and the corpses of insects.

Among these things was an account book wrapped in a dark red cover.

I walked over and opened the ledger.

The ledger was written on rough paper, and the handwriting was illegible, but the contents were shocking.

The document details the recipient, amount, and source of the goods for each "transaction."

In the last few pages, I discovered some unusual records.

"Nanyang... Khun Sa?"

I stared at one of the lines of small print and read it aloud in a low voice.

The ledger shows that over the past year, Hong Gu has frequently provided a special "inducement" to a person codenamed Khun Sa.

In return, the other party gave her a large amount of cash, as well as some materials related to black magic unique to Southeast Asia.

"Southeast Asian influence?"

Zhou Ming leaned over for a look, his brows furrowed.

"In recent years, sorcerers from Southeast Asia have indeed been infiltrating the mainland and have caused quite a few disappearances."

This Khun Sa, judging from the name, seems to be from the area along the Thai-Vietnamese border.

"The clues are too fragmented."

I closed the ledger and handed it to the team member next to me.

"Aside from the name, there is no specific contact information or address."

This matter needs to be handed over to the interrogation department of the bureau; there's definitely more to Hong Gu's story.

Zhao Tie took the ledger and carefully put it into the evidence bag.

"Mr. Chen is right. As long as we have her in our hands, we're not afraid she won't talk."

The next two hours were spent on a tedious and tedious on-site investigation.

The task force brought in excavation tools and unearthed three more skeletonized remains in the corner of the basement.

These were clearly earlier victims.

I did not participate in the subsequent excavation work; instead, I climbed out of the basement and returned to the lobby.

Most of the cheongsams in the hall have been removed.

Although those imprisoned wronged souls could not be reincarnated, under Zhou Ming's salvation talisman, they could at least dissipate into the world and no longer be enslaved by Hong Gu.

I walked to the door, and the rain outside had stopped.

Lu Yan called at that moment.

"Chen Yang, how's the situation?"

Her voice sounded a little hoarse, indicating that the work on the other end was not easy either.

"nailed it."

I leaned against the door frame, lit a cigarette, and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Hong Gu is finished, and the person has been caught."

Seven bodies were found in the basement, along with an account book recording trade in Southeast Asia.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

"You've worked hard," Lu Yan said softly.

"It will take me another two hours to finish here. You should go back and rest. Leave the rest to Zhao Tie and the others."

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, I stubbed out my cigarette.

At this moment, Zhao Tie came out from inside and wiped the sweat from his face.

"Mr. Chen, we owe you a lot this time."

Director Lu said that your allowance will be deposited into your account tomorrow.

"If there's nothing else, would you like to leave now?"

"Okay, you guys be careful too."

I waved my hand and turned to walk towards the Badao parked at the alley entrance.

After starting the engine, the roar broke the silence of the night.

I drove with the car window down, weaving through the empty streets.

The streetlights receded rapidly in my sight, and the cold wind blew on my face, making me feel much more awake.