The Puppet collapsed on the ground, utterly powerless to resist. Gasping heavily, it glanced sideways at Wu Rendi and sneered coldly, "I'm done for, but you haven't really gained anything. Losing to you is just losing to a puppet. You only win if you can find me."
Wu Rendi's smile vanished. His face sank like a still pool of water as he coldly stared at the egg-shaped face. After a long moment, his expression suddenly returned to a mocking smile as he said, "Puppet Technique, huh."
The egg-shaped face's smile stiffened. "What... do you mean?"
Wu Rendi's grin grew wider. "Looks like I was right. Puppet Technique requires placing a mark on the puppet. You used your own soul as the mark, didn't you?"
The egg-shaped face turned deathly pale and trembled violently. Wu Rendi looked at him for a moment, then suddenly bent down and kissed the barely mouth-like part of the egg face.
Sun Fatty and I watched from behind, our jaws nearly dropping. Sun Fatty said, "That's some heavy flavor, La Zi. Are we dreaming, or did our dream never wake up?" I replied, "Want me to slap you to test? If it hurts, then it's not a dream." Sun Fatty rolled his eyes and said, "Why don't you slap me instead?"
Before I could respond, the scene shifted again. Wu Rendi sucked out a faint cyan-colored Corpse Aura from the egg face's mouth — the same azure energy that separated from the walking corpses.
The drained egg face shriveled like a deflated doll, its skin drying into a thin layer. Wu Rendi pulled out a small porcelain bottle and stored the Corpse Aura inside.
"You two still alive?" Wu Rendi turned to me and Sun Fatty.
Sun Fatty grumbled, "Thanks to you, we're still breathing."
"If you're not dead, then go back. That's it for today," Wu Rendi said, ignoring the shriveled husk on the ground. He walked over to us without acknowledging us and reached into the cyan qi mass floating above our heads. The Corpse Aura felt like dough, pliable and soft in his palms.
Wu Rendi plucked out a strand of the Corpse Aura and tossed it into the air. The strand seemed to have awareness, drifting around the warehouse before passing through the wall and floating northeast. He kept separating and tossing out the Corpse Aura continuously. After more than a minute, Wu Rendi had completely dispelled the mass.
Sun Fatty and I watched silently. Only after Wu Rendi finished did I dare to speak, "Director Wu, can you say something? Da Sheng and I are just two complete fools right now."
Although I said this, I didn't expect Wu Rendi to explain the full story. Unexpectedly, he glanced at me lightly and told a bit of the background: "I had you track the Corpse Aura on Wang Ziheng because I tampered with it. Once this Corpse Aura leaves its host, it returns to the caster.
"These cadavers used for anatomy studies at the medical school were modified into containers to store the captured Three Celestial Souls and Seven Earthly Spirits — the cyan qi I just dispersed. The souls recognize their masters and have mostly returned to their bodies by now."
Sun Fatty, used to interrupting Director Hao Wenming, couldn't help himself and cut in, "Director Wu, the one you kissed just now — was it human or ghost?"
Wu Rendi remained calm and replied, "That's the puppet controlled by the real master. Neither human nor ghost. It guards the captured souls and spirits."
I jumped in during Wu's pause, "Director Wu, since you extracted its soul, does that mean the puppet is dead?"
Wu Rendi shook his head. "The puppet carries only the real master's one Celestial Souls and two Earthly Spirits. It can't really die, but it will fall into a coma, becoming like a vegetable. If the local police check, anyone who fell into a severe coma during today's timeframe is almost certainly the true culprit."
Sun Fatty seemed about to say more, but I stopped him with a look meaning, "Enough questions, let's go." He understood, nodded, and fell silent.
Seeing we were fine, Wu Rendi led us back to the hospital, letting us return to our bodies.
By then, dawn had fully broken, and the hospital was bustling. Without warning, the seventy or eighty vegetative patients began waking up one after another. Three or four awoke agitated, preparing to be transferred to the psychiatric hospital.
A little later, the young police officer stumbled in, clearly exhausted from a sleepless night roaming the streets.
He carried a thermos, apparently filled with something like white porridge or wonton soup.
"Just show up and bring something? Won't let that happen again," Sun Fatty said, stepping forward to take the thermos, but the officer stepped back, avoiding his hand.
"Leader Sun, sorry, this pot of porridge is for my wife. She's also hospitalized here."
"What's wrong with her? Nothing serious, right?" I walked over and asked.
The young policeman sighed and said, "She was in a car accident three years ago. Her spine was injured, and she's been paralyzed for three years. This is her fourth surgery. They say there's a ninety percent chance she can stand up again. Sigh, hopefully." After saying that, he nodded to us and walked into the ward.
I watched the young policeman's back, and before I could even sigh, Po Jun came back. He had been driving around Qilin City several times and only returned to the hospital at dawn.
Po Jun contacted the police station, and over an hour later, news came from their side. During the time period last night, there was only one person unconscious in the entire Qilin City. That person was already on the way to the hospital.
After a while, the unconscious person was brought directly before us. The patient's family members were asked to leave. Wu Rendi closed the door, carefully examined the unconscious person, and after confirming the loss of one Celestial Soul and two Earthly Spirits, he took out the small porcelain bottle containing the Celestial Soul and Earthly Spirits of the goose-egg-faced original owner. Opening the bottle, the spirit aura drifted out. Wu Rendi reached out to guide the azure spirit energy toward the unconscious person, but unexpectedly, there was no response. The azure Celestial Soul did not approach the unconscious person at all.
Seeing this scene, Wu Rendi was somewhat surprised. After thinking for a while, he withdrew the spirit energy and said, "It dodged it. I underestimated you."
Inside the hospital, chaos had broken out. Besides the eighty-plus people who woke up, the doctors and nurses were running around busily in the wards. Almost every ward had one or two policemen taking notes. Of course, there were also family members of patients. In short, the entire hospital was as chaotic as a boiling pot of porridge.
Wu Rendi was a man who liked peace and quiet. Seeing this scene, he couldn't tolerate it even for a moment. Without a word, he left the hospital. The few investigators who just woke up in Division Two wanted to follow him, but Wu Rendi stopped them with one sentence: "You don't have to follow. Watch your Deputy Director Wang carefully. If he gets out of breath, Qiu Bulao will nag me again."
"You three follow me." When Wu Rendi reached the door, he suddenly turned around, tilted his chin toward the three of us in Division One, and said, "There's something I need you to do."
After leaving the hospital gate, the four of us split into two Jeep Cherokees. Before the cars even started, we heard someone shout from behind, "Leaders, please wait!"
Through the rearview mirror, I saw the young policeman running over, sweating profusely. When Po Jun saw him coming up, he frowned and asked, "Did something else happen?"
"No, no," the young policeman waved his hands quickly. "Our bureau chief just called. The unconscious people have all woken up now, and the patrol police outside aren't needed anymore. They only want me to continue serving the leaders."
"No need, you can go back." Wu Rendi didn't even look at him, sitting in the front passenger seat and telling Po Jun to drive. Unexpectedly, the young policeman blocked the car in front, frowned, and said to Wu Rendi, "Leader, please understand. I'm just following orders from above. This is a task assigned by bureau leadership, and if I don't complete it, I'll definitely be punished. Considering I have an eighty-year-old mother at home and a wife paralyzed for many years, please grant me this."
Wu Rendi couldn't bear the annoyance and said, "Shut up, get in the car!"
About ten minutes later, the two Cherokees arrived at Qilin Century Hotel. The hotel was booked by the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation a long time ago. Only Wang Ziheng had stayed there overnight. After the main group arrived, one incident after another happened. This was the first time staying at this hotel.
After entering the hotel, Wu Rendi locked himself in the suite, leaving a message: "You guys are free to move around, but don't leave the hotel. And whatever you do—eat, drink, gamble, or prostitute—just don't bother me. No matter what happens, wait until I come out." After saying this, Wu Rendi locked the door from the inside.
Suddenly, it became quiet. A few of us went to the restaurant for a buffet, then each went back to our rooms to sleep for two hours. The young policeman took this opportunity to buy lunch and deliver it to his wife. When he came back, we were playing Dou Di Zhu (a card game) in Sun Fatty's room. Halfway through, Po Jun received a call from Director Wu and hurried to the suite.
The young policeman took Po Jun's place. After a few rounds of cards, he was already familiar with us. His name was Yang Xiao, a name with grandeur. Everyone called him "the young policeman," but he was already in his early thirties. He just had a baby face that made him look like he was barely over twenty. As Sun Fatty said, that's called "childlike looks."
When talking about Yang Xiao's family situation, the expression on the young policeman's face dimmed. He wasn't a native of Qilin City either; he was from Yunnan. After graduating high school, he got into Qilin City University. In university, he met his now-wife. They married in the year they graduated. At that time, Yang Xiao's father-in-law was a deputy director of the Qilin Police Sub-bureau and used his connections to get his son-in-law into the police force. That same year, the deputy director died in a car accident on his way home from work.
Since then, Yang Xiao never had the benefit of his father-in-law's support. Moreover, Yang Xiao had little ambition and had been a low-ranking policeman for five or six years. Three years ago, Yang Xiao and his wife finally conceived (Yang's wife had a Yin-Cold constitution, making conception difficult). After a prenatal checkup at the hospital, she took a taxi home. On the way, the taxi collided with a pickup truck. The taxi driver died instantly. Yang's wife was rescued but had lost all feeling below her waist. The hospital diagnosed a spinal dislocation and high paraplegia below the waist.
Although the child in her womb was unharmed, the pregnancy had to be terminated. The nearly fully developed fetus was removed. After suffering these two blows, Yang's wife's mental state completely collapsed. While Yang Xiao was away, she broke her IV drip and tried to slit her wrists with glass shards. Fortunately, Yang Xiao returned in time and saved her.
Seeing Yang Xiao's tear-streaked face, his wife gave up on suicide. Over these years, not counting minor surgeries, she had undergone three major spinal operations. Yang Xiao's already thin savings were wiped out, and they had taken on a lot of debt. Fortunately, this last surgery was very successful. If the postoperative treatment goes well, she should be able to walk and live independently.
When Yang Xiao talked about his wife's accident, his eyes reddened. When he spoke of her suicide attempt, he broke down completely, tears streaming uncontrollably. Sun Fatty and I felt deeply moved. I patted Yang Xiao on the shoulder and said, "Old Yang, look on the bright side. These things will pass. Besides, the surgery was successful, right? You two still have a good life ahead."
Sun Fatty also encouraged, "La Zi is right. Besides, old Yang, that's nothing compared to me. My dad died when I was three. My mom remarried when I was four. I lived with my grandpa's big family. And that's not all. Every year since I moved in with my grandpa, a few relatives came down to reunite with my dad — uncles, grandfathers, then aunts, and finally my cousins... Sigh, my grandpa died when I was twelve. Later, I went to live with my mom and stepdad, but they refused to open the door. That was my real mom and my real stepdad!"
Sun Fatty's words gave me a bad feeling.
Before he finished, he went on, "The government raised me and sent me to the police academy. I thought being a cop would be smooth sailing. Turns out, cops die comrades, and undercover cops die bosses. Eh? Why are you two sitting so far apart? La Zi, why do you look so pale?"