Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Brother Liu told us that his workplace was haunted, which gave us a real fright.

“I thought government offices were supposed to ward off evil…”

I couldn’t help but ask, “How did it end up costing someone their life?”

Speaking of this, Brother Liu still looked shaken, his face pale. “After the forensic pathologist, Old Zhou, finished the autopsy on Li Xiumei’s remains, he started having nightmares. At first, Old Zhou didn’t take it seriously; he said he didn’t believe in that supernatural stuff.”

“Then one night, he was driving home after work and got into a car accident. It was severe, but he survived.”

“After he woke up, we asked him what happened. He said Li Xiumei was sitting in the passenger seat, asking him why he had used a knife on her body. He got spooked and crashed the car.”

“The doctors actually managed to save him, but who would’ve thought that two days later, he’d develop sudden sepsis? He died anyway.”

Even in broad daylight, the story made the hair on our necks stand on end.

Li Xiumei was being incredibly unreasonable. The man used a knife on her to perform an autopsy, helping her find her killer, yet she still harmed him.

Strictly speaking, she probably didn’t intend to kill him; she just scared him, and since Old Zhou happened to be driving at the time, an accident occurred.

It seems that humans and ghosts really need to keep their distance.

As the old saying goes: respect the gods and ghosts, but keep them at a distance.

“So, you guys had Li Xiumei cremated?”

“We had to.”

Brother Liu sighed. “After Old Zhou’s accident, we were planning to find an expert to take a look, but before we could get one there, Old Zhou kicked the bucket.”

“Later, we went to Green Lotus Temple and invited a high monk to perform a ritual. Only then did we put Li Xiumei’s ashes in a storage room. No one dared to throw them away.”

I asked him why he didn’t go to Old Zhao Seven.

Brother Liu said irritably, “You have the nerve to ask me that? Weren’t you guys caught with him a while back? The word I got was that you stole Du Ruhai’s things. That Old Man definitely offended Du Ruhai; there was no way I’d risk looking for him.”

Meng Yifan and I exchanged a look. I couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you one of Du Ruhai’s people?”

Brother Liu cursed, “Like hell I am! I’d like to be, but would someone like him even look at me? Even my boss isn’t qualified to climb that social ladder.”

“You people are crazy, daring to steal from Du Ruhai. How would I dare to stay associated with you?”

I understood now.

He wasn’t one of Du Ruhai’s men.

He had cut ties with us simply because he was afraid of getting dragged into trouble.

I said, “Fine then. Just bring out Li Xiumei’s ashes. Consider this us solving a major headache for your unit. After this, we won’t come back to threaten you again.”

He glared at me. “There are rules to being a person. Pushing someone too far isn’t good for anyone. I haven’t been a cop for over ten years for nothing.”

With that, he set a time with us and got out of the car.

He couldn’t bring the ashes out now. He had to wait until everyone finished work for the night before he could sneak them out.

That evening.

Around eight-thirty, Brother Liu called and told us to wait for him near his workplace.

We returned to that same alley entrance. For the sake of caution, we went deeper into the alley to wait.

Song Xiaotian had been acting uneasy, looking distracted.

I asked him what was wrong.

“What do you think? Cooperating with a ghost, asking a ghost for help… only you could come up with such a rotten idea.”

Song Xiaotian said crossly, “Old Zhou is a cautionary tale. The man was just doing his job and Li Xiumei got him killed for no reason. She wasn’t exactly a saint when she was alive, and yet you dare to work with her.”
I didn’t dare respond; truthfully, I felt a bit guilty myself.

But logic told me that Li Xiumei wouldn’t harm us. If she really wanted to do us in, Meng Yifan and I wouldn’t have survived this long.

After a while, the sound of footsteps suddenly echoed from the alley.

It was Brother Liu, arriving with the ashes.

From a distance, we saw him cradling a funerary urn, walking toward us with a completely expressionless face.

Looking at his expression, you’d think we owed him hundreds of millions, but on second thought, it was only natural for him to be unhappy after being threatened.

“Officer Liu, thanks for the hard work.”

Song Xiaotian waved and greeted him.

But Brother Liu remained expressionless and ignored him.

Finding himself snubbed, Song Xiaotian gave me a nudge. “What are you standing there for? Go get it.”

I walked toward Brother Liu and reached out to take the urn, but for some reason, he didn’t seem like he wanted to give it to me.

I thought to myself, he’s already brought the thing here, surely he’s not going to throw a tantrum now?

With that in mind, I reached out to grab it.

But the moment I touched the urn, a bone-chilling cold surged into my palm, as if I were touching a block of ice.

At that moment, I realized something was wrong.

“What do you want with my ashes?”

Brother Liu suddenly spoke, staring blankly at me.

I froze for a second, then reality hit me. I nearly pissed myself as I scrambled backward to put some distance between us.

Song Xiaotian and Meng Yifan sucked in sharp breaths, their eyes widening into circles.

It looked like Brother Liu had been possessed by a ghost!

I swallowed hard and summoned my courage to ask, “Are you… Sister Xiumei?”

Brother Liu nodded, but the movement was stiff, and his face remained devoid of expression.

He really was possessed by Li Xiumei!

The one speaking to us now was Li Xiumei!

I took a moment to steady myself and hurriedly said, “Sister Xiumei, we want to ask for your help… that’s why we had someone bring your ashes here.”

The possessed Brother Liu stared at me like a paralytic, waiting for me to continue.

I rushed to add, “We’ve already found Lv Zhengxian for you, but he holds a high position now and has changed his identity. It’s very difficult for us to deal with him on our own. We have something to do tonight, and we need your help.”

I didn’t even know if Li Xiumei could understand me.

In truth, what we were doing tonight didn’t have much to do with Du Ruhai, but it was related to Du Yuwei. If I linked the two together and kept things vague, it would seem like it was related to Du Ruhai.

If Li Xiumei was even slightly clever, I might be dead meat tonight.

He didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally, he spoke expressionlessly. “If you are lying to me, you will all die miserable deaths.”

I didn’t even dare to breathe. Song Xiaotian was so scared he looked like he wanted to bolt.

Just then, Brother Liu’s head suddenly slumped down as if he had died.

When he lifted his head again, he had regained consciousness.

He looked around blankly and started muttering to himself, “So tired… how did I fall asleep…”

Upon seeing us, he shuddered and handed over the urn with a cold face. “I’ve brought the thing out for you. Take it, and don’t ever look for me again.”