Chapter 17: Dilemma of the Art Sect
More than half an hour later, the jeep and the car behind it drove to the Funing District in the west of the city. This area of the city is older, without many high-rise buildings, and many buildings from the last century are preserved.
Soon after, the car passed through an iron gate, drove into a courtyard, and finally stopped in front of a three-story building.
The walls of this white building are covered with emerald green ivy. The style of the house is from the Republic of China period and it is obviously quite old.
However, it is well preserved and does not make people feel old and dilapidated. Instead, it gives people a sense of rich historical accumulation.
"Mr. Liao, take this man up first." Huang Shaotang gave an order and took Cai Fei, who was driving, to the car behind.
"Please come in." Liao Huaixian was in his fifties, wearing a pair of glasses and a little overweight. He looked quite amiable and said with a smile to Xu Lai.
Xu Lai was led by him to the three-story building and saw a sign hanging on the door with the words "Section 9" written on it.
There were several people in the room, each busy with something. The two went straight up to the second floor, which was probably an office area, not much different from an ordinary company department, and beyond that was a reception room.
"Sit down for a while." Liao Huaixian led him into the reception room and pointed to the sofa with a smile.
After a while, he brought two cups of tea, sat down opposite Xu Lai, and said, "Our Ninth Department is a newly established department. You don't have to worry."
Xu Lai smiled, took a sip of tea, and looked around the room. "This is where you work. It's quite expensive, isn't it?"
According to the housing prices in Jiangning City, every inch of land is valuable, and such an old building is extremely valuable. It would be quite a luxury to use it for office use.
"This house was donated by our Section Chief Huang." Liao Huaixian explained with a smile.
"Oh, then your Section Chief Huang is quite rich." Xu Lai was surprised.
Liao Huaixian smiled and didn't say anything else.
"So do you usually bring people here?" Xu Lai asked casually while drinking tea.
"Mr. Xu is the first one." Liao Huaixian said with a smile: "Ordinary people are usually taken to the police station for questioning."
Xu Lai understood as soon as he heard it. The ninth subject was divided into different groups. Since he was a magician, he was brought directly here.
"How is it? Are you used to it here? How many things have you accomplished?" Xu Lai asked.
Liao Huaixian was so amused that he asked, "Are we used to your concern?" "We have accomplished several things. This is confidential. Is it your responsibility to ask?"
I didn't know how to answer for a moment.
Fortunately, at this time, footsteps were heard, and Huang Shaotang brought Cai Fei into the reception room.
"Do you know the ninth subject?" Huang Shaotang stared at Xu Lai.
"I know. Lao Liao just introduced him to me." Xu Lai said while drinking tea.
Liao Huaixian broke into a sweat. He was the most experienced person in the Ninth Section, and even Section Chief Huang had to call him Old Liao. He didn't expect that in this person's mouth he would be called Old Liao.
"I was asking you before!" Huang Shaotang said coldly.
"Oh, I've heard of it." Xu said.
Huang Shaotang was a little surprised. Even in the martial arts circle, only a few people knew about the establishment of the Ninth Department. He didn't expect that this person had also heard about it and was quite well-informed.
In fact, it was normal for Xu Lai to know about the Ninth Department, because the establishment of the Ninth Department was jointly promoted by several top sects at the top level of the martial arts sect.
The art of martial arts has existed since ancient times, and its inheritance has continued to this day. In the thousands of years of ups and downs, countless martial arts schools have risen, and countless martial arts schools have fallen.
But today, the art of magic has reached its weakest point. Sects, big and small, have lost their popularity one after another and are on the verge of collapse.
So some of the remaining sects began to seek change.
For thousands of years, the art of magic has basically belonged to people outside the world, but at this moment, it seems that one has to consider entering the world.
However, different schools and sects have different opinions on how to enter the world.
This ninth section is an attempt promoted by several top schools in the art sect. A group of people are selected from the art sect to cooperate with the government to establish a special department, and the appointment and dismissal of personnel in it are decided by the art sect itself.
When this plan was proposed, there were supporters and opponents, and the debate was fierce. The final formation of this plan was closely related to Xu Lai.
At that time, it was he who, as the head of Tianshi Temple, overcame all objections and finally finalized the plan.
This was also the last thing he did before leaving Tianshi Mansion.
"Tell me, what happened?" Huang Shaotang sat on the sofa with his legs crossed.
Xu Lai was quite cooperative and told him the general situation. After all, he was the one who made this ninth subject happen, and it was almost like his child.
Although the personnel of the Ninth Section were appointed by the top sects that originally decided on the plan, Xu Lai left the Tianshi Mansion shortly after the Ninth Section was established, so he had no idea who the head of the Ninth Section of Jiangning was.
But since this man's surname is Huang, he should be from the Huangmen of Dongting.
The Huang family has a close relationship with his master, so even though Huang Shaotang always has a sullen face and a bad temper, Xu Lai doesn't mind.
"You said you were the one found by tracking the corpse qi?" Huang Shaotang couldn't help but sneer.
It is summer now and the temperature is quite high. Zhao Wenjun's body has been in the house for a few days and will emit corpse odor. However, he has checked carefully and found that the door of that family's house is extremely sealed. If you just stand outside, you can't smell the odor inside at all.
And even if you can smell a little bit of it, how can you tell that it is corpse gas and not some other smell?
"Just because you can't do it doesn't mean others can't do it." Just listen to what Xu said.
Huang Shaotang snorted coldly. It was hard for him to refute this. Since he could become the head of the Ninth Section, his magic skills must be very high. However, his sense of smell was not his strong point. Who could guarantee that someone had a better nose than a dog?
It's normal that he can't compare to dogs in this regard.
"By the way, the eldest daughter of the Kang family, named Kang Lu, was also attacked. Did you know that?" Xu Lai said while eating the pastries brought by Liao Huaixian.
Huang Shaotang glanced at Cai Fei next to him.
Cai Fei shook his head and said, "No, I haven't received any report from the Kang family."
"That may be because the Kang family didn't take it seriously." Xu Lai recounted what happened that night while eating.
"You said you removed the yin tattoo from Miss Kang's body?" Huang Shaotang stared at him and asked.
"Yes." Xu said, and then said to Liao Huaixian: "Old Liao, your red bean cake tastes pretty good. Go and get some more."
Liao Huaixian was sweating. What the hell did this guy think he was? A waiter? He pretended not to hear and sat there motionless.
Huang Shaotang stared at Xu Lai and sneered in his heart.
The art of Yin tattooing is strange and unusual. Tattooing Yin patterns on the body can have many bizarre effects, and is not necessarily fatal.
The reason why Zhao Wenjun and others died was because of a "heart-eating talisman" stabbed in the middle of their bodies. Once this talisman enters the body, it will eat away at the bones and heart, killing people invisibly. Ordinary forensic doctors have no way of detecting it at all.
The reason why Huang Shaotang was able to determine that several people died from the Heart-Eroding Talisman pierced by the Yin-Wen technique was because he himself had a very high level of magical skills, and he also had a master of autopsy under his command.
The two confirmed each other's information and finally deduced the cause of death of several people.
This Xu Lai, who could talk about Yin Tattoo and Heart-Eroding Talisman before, was already enough to surprise him. Now he actually talked about expelling the Yin Tattoo that had already entered the body!
This is simply nonsense!
Since Tattooing the Yin is a kind of magic, there must be a solution. However, once the Heart-Eroding Talisman pierces the body, it will quickly dissolve into the body, and at that time the person will be beyond help.
The time required is extremely short. He doesn't think anyone can remove the Yin tattoo in such a short time, unless they can invite some senior masters who have been famous in the art.
"You said you live in the house in Zijinyuan?" Huang Shaotang stared at him and asked.
Xu said yes.
"You are now living in the house of the three murdered female models. You happened to see Kang Lu being murdered last night, and you were the one who discovered Zhao Wenjun today. Don't you think this is too much of a coincidence?" Huang Shaotang asked coldly.
Xu Lai thought: "If you hadn't said it, I wouldn't have realized it. This is really a coincidence."
Huang Shaotang stared at him for a long time. He simply didn't believe that there was such a coincidence in the world!
"Okay, you've asked all the questions you wanted to ask. I should go now. I didn't sleep well last night and I'm a little sleepy." Xu Lai stood up from the sofa, yawned, and patted Liao Huaixian's shoulder. "Old Liao, go get some more red bean cakes. I'll take them on the way."
Liao Huaixian was speechless and said, "Do you think this is a hotel?"
At this moment, there was the sound of footsteps, and a man hurriedly came in from outside.
"What's the matter? Have you finished the corpse experience?" Huang Shaotang asked with a frown.
The man was wearing a dirty white coat, his hair was messy, and his beard looked like he hadn't been groomed for more than half a month. He was very sloppy, his face was pale and slightly swollen, and he looked like a nerd who stayed up all night in an Internet cafe.
"The body has been examined according to the three methods of corpse dissection." said the visitor.
The so-called three methods of dissecting corpses is a set of autopsy rules passed down in the art of magic. It is different from the common autopsy methods today, and it mainly looks for traces of magic.
"That's fine. I'll take a look later." Huang Shaotang waved his hand and smiled, a rare moment.
Although his subordinate Qian Kun is unkempt and not very worldly-wise, he is an expert in dealing with corpses and is highly trusted by him.
"No..." Qian Kun said anxiously, "I just received a call from the police station, saying that her family is here to see her daughter, and asked us to send her over quickly."
Huang Shaotang said: "Then send him over." Since the inspection here has been completed, it doesn't matter if we send the person back.
"But I can't do that!" Qian Kun shook his head desperately and said, "It's too ugly. I can't let the family see it."
"What's too ugly? What can't be seen by family members?" Huang Shaotang couldn't help but sigh. His subordinate is definitely a good hand at his job, but he always speaks incoherently.
"It's just...it's just that the person is different...ah, I can't explain it clearly, boss, you will know if you go and see for yourself!" Qian Kun said, pulling his hair.
Huang Shaotang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What did "people are different" mean? How could people be different? What the hell was going on.
In desperation, he was about to ask Liao Huai to keep the person. He and Qian Kun went downstairs to check on Zhao Wenjun first, when Xu Lai beside him suddenly said, "Is he out of shape? Has his appearance changed so much that he is unrecognizable?"
"Yes, yes, that's it! It's out of shape, out of shape!" Qian Kun clapped his hands and shouted.
Huang Shaotang found it unbelievable. How could such a healthy corpse change its shape?
"What's going on?" asked Qian Kun.
"Maybe... should... probably... it has something to do with the Heart-Eroding Talisman... right?" Qian Kun was struggling.
Huang Shaotang was so angry when he heard this. It was possible, should, and probably, and at the end he even threw out a "maybe". Is there any accurate number at all?
