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

However, despite his surprise, Li Qing did not comment much on Lao Zhang's hidden identity.

After all, in our folk culture circle, everyone has some secrets that can't be revealed.

He casually tossed the crushed Coke can into the nearby trash can, looking at me with amusement, and said:

"I say, Mr. Chen, your luck is truly unparalleled."

Other people go to work to drink tea and read the newspaper, but you, you manage to cause so much trouble in just half a day of work.

You even brought up old grievances from ten years ago.

I shook my head helplessly and said with a wry smile, "Who says otherwise?"

I only wanted to see why he was skipping work, but I ended up getting involved in this whole mess.

If I had known this would happen, I should have stayed in the office and had tea with Director Wang.

"Alright, why think so much?"

Li Qing stretched and stood up from the sofa.

"In any case, Director Lu has already led a team to intervene in this matter."

With the Bureau of Folklore's intelligence network and interrogation techniques, wouldn't it be easy to uncover an underground force that only knows how to hide in the shadows and cause trouble?

Let's not worry about it unnecessarily.

At this point, he patted his belly and raised an eyebrow at me:

"What do you want to eat for lunch? It's my treat today. Consider it a reward for your hard work all day."

After thinking about it carefully, I realized that Li Qing's words made sense.

Anyway, the trail went completely cold when it reached me. Old Zhang had disappeared, and the two suspects had been handed over to the authorities.

Moreover, strictly speaking, the whole thing doesn't actually have much direct relation to me.

My involvement was solely due to Director Wang's request, and also because Lao Zhang is my colleague.

Since things have come to this, let's eat first.

"Sure, I won't be polite if someone's treating me."

I smiled casually.

"You can decide what to order. Anything is fine with me, I'm not picky."

Li Qing chuckled, took out his phone, and skillfully dialed the number of a nearby upscale private restaurant, ordering several hearty dishes to be delivered.

Before long, the steaming hot meal was delivered.

We ate a simple meal at the coffee table in the lobby on the third floor.

During the meal, we tacitly avoided mentioning the unpleasant things from the morning and instead chatted about some lighthearted topics.

For example, the fighting game he just played, and Li Qing said that ranked matches have become increasingly difficult lately.

After I had eaten and drunk my fill, I was just about to relax on the sofa for a while and close my eyes to rest when my phone, which was in my pocket, suddenly vibrated.

When I picked it up, the screen displayed a completely unfamiliar number, and the number of digits looked rather strange.

It doesn't look like a regular mobile phone number; it looks more like some kind of internal private line.

I pressed the answer button, and a deep male voice came from the other end of the line: "Hello, is this Consultant Chen Yang?"

"Who is this?" I replied.

"Hello, I am a special deliveryman from the General Administration's Logistics Support Department."

The supplies you requested to redeem yesterday via the intranet have arrived in Jiangcheng. I am currently on the street outside Tingyuxuan. Please check your mail.

A thought flashed through my mind, and I immediately realized what it meant.

These are the materials I exchanged last night on the Folklore Bureau's intranet for crafting scabbards.

"Okay, I'll be right down."

After hanging up the phone, I said goodbye to Li Qing and quickly went downstairs.

When I arrived at the alley outside Tingyuxuan, I saw a black van with no markings and a very ordinary appearance parked on the side of the road.

A crew-cut man wearing a black jacket and sunglasses was standing at the back door of the carriage waiting for me.

The man stood with perfect posture, his back straight and his eyes sharp.

Although he tried his best to restrain himself, I could still sense a faint but powerful aura emanating from him.

Judging from their appearance, these must be elite personnel specially trained by the General Administration to be responsible for escorting the General Administration's core materials.

After confirming my identity and A-level consultant credentials, the crew-cut man carried a heavy alloy box, about a meter long and covered with a black waterproof tarpaulin, out of the carriage and placed it steadily on the ground.

"Advisor Chen, your supplies are all inside."

To ensure security, the box uses both iris and fingerprint encryption, so only you can open it.

If there are no further questions, I'll take my leave now.

The crew-cut man spoke in a businesslike manner, his tone devoid of any extra emotion.

"Thank you for your hard work." I nodded to him.

Without lingering, the man turned around and got into his car, quickly driving the black truck away from the old street.

I bent down, grabbed the handles on both sides of the alloy box with both hands, and applied a little force.

The box was heavier than I had imagined, weighing at least several tens of kilograms.

However, with my current physical strength, this weight is nothing.

I easily picked up the suitcase, turned around and walked back to the teahouse, carrying it all the way up to the third floor.

Back in the third-floor lobby, I placed the box on the large coffee table with a dull thud.

Li Qing was picking her teeth on the sofa with a toothpick in her mouth when she saw me carrying this futuristic-looking alloy box. She immediately became interested and came over to examine it curiously.

"Huh, what is this thing?"

"Making it all so mysterious, even putting it in a combination lock box."

Li Qing circled the box, marveling at it.

"Yesterday at Old Man Huo's, didn't he say that forging the scabbard for that black sword requires top-grade materials?"

As I spoke, I pressed my thumb against the fingerprint recognition area on the top of the box.

At the same time, I aligned my eyes with the iris scanner that popped up next to me.

"drop--"

With a crisp electronic beep, the lock on the alloy case popped open automatically.

I lifted the heavy lid of the box, and a chilling, yet violent, aura instantly emanated from it.

It made the temperature in the entire third-floor hall seem to drop a few degrees.

The inside of the box was lined with thick shock-absorbing foam, and three items were neatly arranged inside.

On the far left is an irregular piece of metal, about the length of an adult's forearm, with a dark blue color throughout.

The surface of this metal is covered with natural frost patterns, and just one glance at it can give you a bone-chilling cold.

What's even more peculiar is that within this chilling aura, there are also faint, visible wisps of black malevolent energy.

It is precisely from outside the Great Wall—the century-old, chilling iron from Liaodong.

In the middle, there was a piece of black wood, about one meter long and as thick as a wrist.

Although the surface of the wood doesn't appear particularly special, a faint, calming woody fragrance can be detected when you get close.

It comes from the deep mountains of western Hunan—a thousand-year-old piece of submerged wood.

On the far right of the box lay two crystals, each the size of an adult's fist, jet black, radiating pure, chilling energy.