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

The sky outside the window had completely darkened.

The weather, which had been just a light breeze, suddenly picked up, making the leaves on the trees lining the old street rustle.

From the depths of the clouds on the distant horizon, a few muffled rumbles of thunder could be faintly heard.

Jin Wanliang had just poured himself a cup of tea and was about to boast to us about how much trouble he had gone through to get this tea.

Just then, a rapid and piercing electronic notification sound broke the brief silence on the tea table.

"Ding-dong... ding-dong..."

The sound came from the cell phone in Jin Wanliang's inner pocket.

Moreover, the sound didn't just ring out briefly; it went on and on like a machine gun, relentlessly firing off.

Clearly, a large number of messages flooded in at the same time.

Jin Wanliang's smile vanished instantly.

He frowned, put down the purple clay cup in his hand, reached into his inner pocket for his phone, and muttered to himself:

"What's going on? This is such a late-night rush..."

He unlocked the screen and glanced down at the constantly popping-up message boxes.

With just a glance, Jin Wanliang's once rosy and chubby face instantly turned serious.

He stared wide-eyed, his fingers swiping rapidly across the screen. The more he looked, the more intense the shock and disbelief became on his face.

"Is this insane?!"

Jin Wanliang suddenly raised his head and gasped.

He stared at the screen, as if talking to himself, or perhaps reading it aloud to us:

"The feng shui of the underground parking lot of the largest commercial plaza in the east of the city suddenly went out of control. The entire second basement level was filled with yin energy, all the elevators malfunctioned, and dozens of people were trapped."

At the intersection in the south of the city, surveillance footage captured a large number of unidentified ghosts appearing in broad daylight, causing a serious chain-reaction car accident and turning the scene into chaos.

And that cemetery in the western suburbs…”

Jin Wanliang read out several intelligence reports in one breath. He swallowed hard, and his hand holding the phone trembled slightly.

"This...this is definitely not a coincidence!"

Jin Wanliang looked up at me and Li Qing.

"More than ten vicious paranormal events broke out at the same time in various districts of Jiangcheng. This is a premeditated riot!"

Who on earth is this reckless madman who dares to cause such a scene in Jiangcheng?!

As I listened to Jin Wanliang recount these locations and events, I sat in my chair, a slight thought stirring within me.

I am very clear in my mind that these seemingly unrelated, vicious paranormal events scattered throughout Jiangcheng are related.

This is exactly the "chaos" that Lu Yan mentioned to us in the office last night, created by the Qi family to distract the Folklore Bureau's police force.

Each of these dozen or so paranormal events, taken individually, would be enough to keep an action team from the Jiangcheng branch extremely busy.

With more than a dozen incidents occurring simultaneously, most of the police force of the Jiangcheng branch will inevitably be pinned down at these locations.

They had no time to attend to the defenses inside the branch office building.

The Qi family is truly prepared to burn their bridges.

Before Jin Wanliang could fully turn his astonished gaze to Li Qing and me, trying to get some answer from us...

The phone in his hand, which had stopped vibrating for less than two seconds, started vibrating violently again.

This time, it was an urgent phone call.

An unmarked number was flashing on the screen.

I suspect this was either a call from one of his intelligence-gathering spies reporting a more urgent situation.

Either a major customer in Jiangcheng, affected by a paranormal event, is desperately seeking help from him, a middleman with extensive connections.

Jin Wanliang subconsciously extended his thumb, ready to press the answer button.

Just as his finger was about to touch the screen, I extended my right hand.

Across the tea table, I stretched out my arm and gently placed my palm over his frantically vibrating phone.

Jin Wanliang paused for a moment, then looked up at me with some confusion.

I looked into Jin Wanliang's questioning eyes and slowly began to speak:

"Old Jin, don't get involved in tonight's events."

My voice wasn't loud; it even sounded faint amidst the distant rumble of thunder outside the window.

But I know that Jin Wanliang will understand the weight of my words.

Although I haven't known Jin Wanliang for a particularly long time.

But from the initial mutual probing to the many times they went through life-or-death situations together.

To me, he was no longer just a businessman who provided intelligence, but a friend I could trust.

Tonight in Jiangcheng, on the surface, it is the Qi family who are creating chaos.

But in reality, this is a contest between the state apparatus and the one who will hold the reins.

Faced with this level of confrontation, let alone a local bully in Jiangcheng.

Even second-rate sects that have been passed down for hundreds of years can be utterly destroyed if they get involved.

Jin Wanliang's intelligence network is indeed impressive, and his connections are indeed extensive, but this is ultimately only his influence within the secular and ordinary folk circles.

If he answers this call tonight, he might get involved in some trouble.

Keeping him out of the picture is the best way to protect him.

"It just so happens that you've come to Tingyuxuan too."

I looked at him, my tone softening slightly, but the meaning behind my words remained resolute.

"Then you'd better stay here quietly tonight and drink your tea."

Don't go anywhere, and don't answer any phone calls.

Jin Wanliang's hand holding the phone froze in mid-air.

He glanced at my hand covering my phone, then looked up and gave me a deep look.

Then, he turned his gaze to Li Qing, who was sitting next to me.

Li Qing had already dropped his smiling expression.

He picked up the slightly cooled teacup in front of him, tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp, then slammed the teacup down on the table with a crisp clinking sound.

He didn't look at Jin Wanliang, but stared at the empty teacup in front of him, and said in a flat tone, "I'll listen to Old Chen."

These four simple words completely shattered the last shred of Jin Wanliang's impulse to uncover the truth.

Jin Wanliang was a clever man, so clever that sometimes he didn't need to explain himself clearly.

Then, he took a deep breath, slowly released his grip on the phone, and let me press the still-sounding phone onto the tea table.

"OK."

Jin Wanliang leaned back in his chair and said with a smile.

"Since you two have said so, then I, Fatty, will pretend to be deaf and blind tonight."

I haven't had enough tea at Tingyuxuan yet.

Seeing that Jin Wanliang had given up on getting involved, I nodded slightly and took my hand away from his phone.

The phone rang until it reached its maximum volume, then automatically hung up, and the screen went dark.

The entire third-floor hall fell into an eerie silence once again, with only the increasingly loud wind and thunder echoing outside the windows.