Chapter 28 When Truth Becomes False
Tan Xiao felt that Kong Xuan might have already seen through his face blindness, so even though he praised Kong Xuan so much, Kong Xuan did not look very happy.
Well, it turns out that people can sense if you are insincere.
Tan Xiao changed his words to be sincere: "Let me tell you about the midterm test paper when we get back to the classroom..." There was nothing else he could do to repay Kong Xuan's kindness.
Kong Xuan asked in confusion: "Didn't the teacher tell me that?"
Tan Xiao: "Do you think you have listened to it?"
Kong Xuan: “…No.”
That's it.
Giving Kong Xuan a lecture was much more difficult than teaching him rituals and spells. Tan Xiao dragged his tired body to finish the class. He remembered that he had to talk to Mu Fei about this matter, since it was definitely an unnatural case.
He picked up his phone and sent a WeChat message to Mu Fei, [Sister Mu, report the case!!]
Mu Fei seemed to be triggered by a keyword, and immediately replied: [Which grid, event or component? ]
Their 404 Office has divided important areas into grids and assigned them to different units and personnel to achieve comprehensive supervision. Of course, due to lack of staff, there are bound to be omissions.
Events and components are their classification of cases. For example, if there is no male viper in the tomb of the King of Chu, but there are only some magical spells left in the tomb, then it is a component category.
For example, if the magic circle was loose in the past, it was also considered a component, and the way to deal with it was to send relevant units to reinforce the seal or something.
At that time, because of the appearance of the male viper, the component category became the event category. After all, he triggered a series of consequences that required manpower and material resources to cover up.
Tan Xiao told Mu Fei about Wu Tianyu's situation, and confirmed with Mu Fei that the charlatan that Aunt Maomao wanted to find was not registered and was indeed a liar. Then he asked: [What kind of magical power do you think Wu Tianyu has? He actually knows what I want to do. ]
[From what you said, it's very accurate, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's a "supernatural" ability.] Mu Fei knew that Tan Xiaoling should be very strong, but he had more theory than experience.
Moreover, even with Tan Xiao's keen sense, he was unable to detect any abnormality in Wu Tianyu before he spoke. He must have deliberately hidden his strangeness. Hiding like this doesn't seem like a serious thing. There must be someone behind this.
[We actually divide various kinds of "supernatural powers" into cultivation, retribution, dependence, ghost and demon. The ones acquired through serious cultivation, like my sister, are called "cultivation", and the innate ability is "retribution". ] In fact, Mu Fei suspected that Tan Xiao had some retribution. He didn't see it in the tomb of the King of Chu, and he was not affected by any hallucinations.
[When a ghost possesses a person, it is called "ghost communication". Similarly, when a demon possesses a person, it is called "demon communication". The last type of "dependence communication" refers to relying on external objects, such as when you are powerless and rely on divination to learn something.]
[This person has used all his abilities to cheat and fight, and has become thin and out of shape. Although he is very capable, he does not seem to be a righteous person.]
Tan Xiao nodded. Yes, let's take the great god Kong Xuan as an example. He prayed to the god for better grades, and the god finally used a very torturous method to help him improve his grades...
[Haha, so my ability is also considered a supernatural power.] Still a true god.
Mu Fei: [Your is a cheat, right?]
Tan Xiao: [……]
Tan Xiao: [Well, I have a bird plug-in [laughing and crying]]
Mu Fei: [Hahahahahahaha! ]
Tan Xiao thought about it for a while: [His sister just happened to ask my family to handle this matter. If you guys go through the process, can you take me with you? ]
[Why, I haven't asked you to handle a case, are you free and want to practice?] Mu Fei said with a smile: [Of course, I can take you with me. You can take someone with you. I will file a case and send it down now. I will find someone to work with you on the case.]
Their unit handles cases in pairs. Since Mu Fei doesn't have time, he can find someone else to cooperate with Tan Xiao.
Tan Xiao was not idle. Firstly, he had promised Maomao that it would be easier to communicate with him. Secondly, Wu Tianyu's behavior was a bit irritating, which made Tan Xiao curious and unwilling to admit defeat. He had little experience, but he was eager to learn!
Mu Fei casually added Tan Xiao to a WeChat group named [Chu Province 404 Case Joint Management Group]. There were hundreds of people in the group. The group names all had their units in front of them, either a certain palace, a certain temple, or a certain mountain.
Most of the profile pictures are of blooming lotuses, wooden fish, and some selfies of old men.
An administrator said: [New comrades, please change the group name card and add the unit name in front. ]
What should I do if I don’t have a unit? Should I write Nanchu No. 1 Middle School?
Tan Xiao didn’t know what to do, so he just wrote [Nan Chu-Tan Xiao].
At this time, Mu Fei also filed a case in the internal system. After the operation was completed, it was immediately sent to the responsible unit through the internal system. However, she saw that the deadline was scheduled for 5 days later.
Mu Fei immediately took a screenshot of the case description in the dispatch group: [Does Qinghui Palace have any extra staff? Please help handle this case in advance, as it involves minors. ]
When Mu Fei asked, someone quickly replied to her. It was the representative of Qinghui Palace.
[Qinghui Palace - Duan Yang: Director Mu, I really don't have time, and this description is quite difficult to deal with. I feel like it is one of the hungry ghosts in the "Sūtra of Mindfulness of the True Dharma". I think it would be more appropriate to assign it to the Laomei Temple. Ask their Elder Baoping to help. ]
Representatives of Laomei Temple suddenly fought back.
[Laomei Temple - Danyun: How can it be a hungry ghost? Can a hungry ghost understand people's intentions? Why do I feel that it is a fox spirit that is possessed? This should be assigned to them. If you keep pushing it to me, I will seriously review the "Three Determination Plan" with you. This is originally your responsibility. ]
[Qinghui Palace - Duan Yang: [Poor] [Poor] I'm not trying to be pitiful, my feet are getting worn out recently. We really don't have enough manpower. Besides, the incense in our palace is far less than that in your Laomei Temple. How about this, your unit has more manpower, send someone to check first, and if it's not within your jurisdiction, then ask us to deal with it. ]
[Lao Meici - Danyun: If you say so, isn't that a waste of time? If we want to go, let's go together. Your family has more experience in handling this kind of thing, but we don't have the experience and authority.]
Mu Fei was annoyed by what she saw, so she tagged Duan Yang directly: [Duan Yang is a doctor and fortune teller, you go, stop talking nonsense, and bring Ah Jin with you.] Wu Tianyu is very skinny, so it would be best to ask someone who knows medicine to go.
Duan Yang replied listlessly after a long while: [Received]
He asked again, [Are you only taking Ah Jin with you? ]
As the 404 Office is short of staff, Jin has received training and is in the process of obtaining his law enforcement certificate, so he can certainly go on duty, but he usually assists and does some record-keeping work.
[No, you go with @南楚-Tan Xiao. One leads two.] Mu Fei said, she was worried about Duan Yang being alone, it would be much better if he went with Tan Xiao.
There were hundreds of people in the group, and although no one was talking, representatives from each company were actually paying attention to the group messages in real time.
Everyone discussed it privately for a while. Only a few people knew that Tan Xiao and Kong Xuan had signed the contract with 404 Office. Most people were confused when they saw the unfamiliar name Tan Xiao.
——However, due to the incident of Emperor Liujiang, the 404 Office has expanded a lot of cooperative units during this period, and some units with average strength have also been included, so new faces are not surprising.
There were also people with better memory who remembered something from the word "Tan". Could it be the Tan family of Nanchu?
Tan Chunying from the Tan family is a notoriously mediocre wizard.
Duan Yang also thought of this person, thinking, damn, the Tan family, plus A Jin, really let me lead two newbies? He wailed, but his men could only type fiercely: [Received! ]
Tan Xiao was a student who had never had this experience before. He responded curiously: [Received.]
…
Turning around, Tan Xiao curiously chatted with Mu Fei: [Why did you let A Jin follow you? If he goes out casually, wouldn't it arouse suspicion if he is seen? Or has he mastered the art of disguise? ] A Jin hadn't mastered it before, so he had to hide in the funeral home to cover his tracks.
Mu Fei said: [Don't worry, I've given him the equipment.]
Tan Xiao felt relieved. As an official organization, Office 404 must have some good equipment.
Since Wu Tianyu's condition was not caused by any disease, Tan Xiao certainly couldn't let Tan Chunying go, so after the 404 Office filed a case, he directly said to Tan Chunying, "Mom, this is a small matter, let me practice on my own."
Tan Chunying asked doubtfully, "Can you fool them?"
In the past, she always took Tan Xiao with her to work, as she was a little worried that Tan Xiao couldn't handle it alone.
"I'm an adult already. Didn't I go to the last performance by myself? If it doesn't work out, I'll just ask you for help." Tan Xiao was determined to hold Tan Chunying down.
Tan Chunying: "Okay, just say that I have something to do and I'll send you there first. If you can't handle it, call me on WeChat."
The Peacock God appeared at some point, staring at him with his arms folded. He was obviously aggressive towards the acting wizard's desire to go out and gain experience.
Tan Xiao said to Tan Chunying and Peacock God at the same time: "Yeah, I'll shake you anytime."
Tan Chunying went to play games happily.
Kong Xuan also nodded with satisfaction.
He was wearing a light golden robe today, which was shining. He also changed the hairstyle of his long hair, half tied up and braided with feathers. Although he changed his hairstyle, Tan Xiao recognized him.
After all, the clothes were given by Tan Xiao.
"Master, Sister Mu told me that they divided the plug-ins... no, the supernatural powers into five categories. I said, I have a stupid plug-in, hahahaha." Tan Xiao shared a joke he made with the master.
The Peacock God smiled slightly when he heard his words, casually waved his sleeves and hair, and then did it again from a different angle.
As Tan Xiao spoke, he looked straight at him.
Kong Xuan proudly floated higher, saying that there is no Kong Xuanshuai among peacocks? This is not staring at it.
Tan Xiao asked curiously, "Master, do you braid your hair yourself in the morning? We have a comb at home, would you like me to get you one? I see your hair isn't particularly straight."
Kong Xuan: “…No!”
He thought for a moment and cursed, “The joke you just told wasn’t funny at all.”
…
At the weekend, Tan Xiao received a WeChat message from Duan Yang, asking him to meet at the mall in front of Wu Tianyu's house. Tan Xiao agreed and told Maomao about it. Maomao, as the middleman, also had to be there.
When Tan Xiao arrived outside the mall, he saw Duan Yang had already arrived and was waiting for coffee. He had semi-long hair tied into a half-bun, and looked to be about 30 years old. He was leaning against the door with his hands behind his back. Because of his special hairstyle, he was recognized at a glance.
Tan Xiao likes people with unique hairstyle.
"Hello, senior brother. I'm Tan Xiao." Tan Xiao stepped forward and introduced himself.
"Well, I ordered a cup of coffee for you too." Duan Yang glanced at him indifferently and said, in a lukewarm tone. As a senior, facing this descendant of the Tan family who was notoriously incompetent in the industry and had escaped to change careers, his attitude could actually be considered amiable.
You know, after Tan Xiao joined the group, people who recognized his background discussed him privately in a rather harsh manner.
But then again, Duan Yang always felt that Tan Xiao looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.
He handed Tan Xiao a talisman and said, "According to the case, Wu Tianyu has the power of detection. If we wear this hiding talisman, we can conceal us and avoid being detected by him." They must do the opposite and investigate when Wu Tianyu is unaware.
"Oh, okay." Actually, Tan Xiao had made a lot of preparations before coming, including reciting the hiding spell, but he still put the talisman away. After all, he had so many cultural and creative products on him that it was never too much.
"Um, where is A Jin?" Tan Xiao looked around. There were not many people in the mall at this time. There were several beverage stores lined up where they were, and several mascots were on standby.
No one knew what good equipment A Jin had gotten, but he became invisible. Tan Xiao could feel the familiar feeling of being watched, but he couldn't tell where he was at all. It seemed that the 404 Office was quite well-established.
Duan Yang paused, pointed at a person wearing a frog costume nearby and said, "Here..."
The frog also raised his hand and waved to Tan Xiao, "Spiritual Master."
It was Ajin's voice.
Tan Xiao: “…………”
Tan Xiao: "...Is this your equipment?"
He kept guessing, but he never expected that the high-end equipment that the 404 Office issued to A Jin, which was supposed to be enough for him to use in broad daylight, would be so simple.
"Do you think 404 has a big budget?" Duan Yang laughed awkwardly, "You just asked me if I can walk around outside as I please?"
Tan Xiao: Damn, I can’t refute that.
During the conversation, Maomao also came, wearing a mask, recognized Tan Xiao at a glance, and waved to him. Tan Xiao introduced Duan Yang to him, and the reason they gave was that Tan Chunying had something to do, so they found a reliable friend.
When Maomao saw Duan Yang, who looked like a Taoist priest and drank coffee, and was introduced by Tan Xiao, he trusted him and took off his mask and said, "Then I'll leave it to you two later!"
When Duan Yang saw Maomao, he suddenly remembered why he thought Tan Xiao looked familiar. He had also seen the performances of these two people. However, he did not finish the performance. Now he felt that Tan Xiao was worthy of being a descendant of the Tan family. His main job was to be a mascot. He would have to work hard today.
"Okay, let's go." Duan Yang finished his coffee and said casually.
Tan Xiao wanted to call A Jin to join them, but when he turned around, he saw him fighting with the mascot of Mixue X City. For some reason, A Jin seemed to be at a disadvantage.
Tan Xiao: "..."
...You should be more promising.
Duan Yang and Tan Xiao persuaded Ah Jin to leave together, "Why did you fight with him?"
Ah Jin said aggrievedly: "He was the first to start." And due to the regulations of the 404 Office, he did not dare to use illusions to attack the other party.
Tan Xiao speculated that the other party might have thought that A Jin was hired by the coffee shop to solicit business. This was really an unexpected disaster.
Maomao was surprised and asked, "He... is he here too?"
"Yes, he has social phobia. Please wait at the door."
Maomao was wondering if this was a stall selling things. "Okay, a lot of people like to wear this when going out recently." She even walked up to A Jin and shook hands with him, feeling something hard inside.
Ah Jin quickly pulled his hand back. Of course it was hard. He had been slowly growing his hands recently, and they were all made of iron.
"What are you holding?" Duan Yang noticed that Tan Xiao was holding a bag.
Tan Xiao unfolded it for him to see. It turned out to be some frozen buns, placed in a thermos bag, not yet completely thawed, and there were some incense sticks, but not much.
Maomao asked in doubt: "It's fine if it's incense, but why did you bring buns?"
Tan Xiao asked back, "Sister Maomao, your cousin has become so thin, doesn't he have to eat something?"
For a moment, Maomao wanted to object but didn't know what to say... But you spiritual masters are not chefs! Forget it, Tan Xiao should have enough experience in bluffing people.
Wu Tianyu's home was on the top floor, and Ah Jin was waiting outside, because he was not good at direct attack, but was proficient in illusion, and his outfit was also quite conspicuous, so he hid outside just in case. Tan Xiao and Duan Yang went in with Maomao, and Tan Xiao looked around, Wu Tianyu's home was decorated simply, bright and clean.
According to prior inquiries, Wu Tianyu went to attend a special class. His grades had not been very good before, and he had been learning a special skill. They deliberately chose this time period.
After entering the room, Maomao introduced them to his aunt in a serious manner: "Aunt, this is the Heavenly Master and the descendant of the Chu witch I told you about. Don't look at their young age, even the Nanchu City Government wants to ask them for help."
"Oh, really?" Mother Wu was a little skeptical for a moment, but she was not skeptical about the young age of Tan Xiao and Duan Yang.
——In fact, in this industry, quite a few people prefer young people. As the saying goes, old doctors are better than young fortune tellers. Some skills in this industry are passed down from generation to generation and have nothing to do with age. Some people even specifically look for young people who have just started their careers to tell fortunes, because at this time, the masters are the most effective in order to become famous.
What Wu's mother doubted was, is it really that powerful?
The government also found her. The charlatan she originally wanted to find opened a Feng Shui Culture Communication Co., Ltd. He claimed that he was invited by a big business tycoon to look at Feng Shui.
Duan Yang immediately took out his ID and said solemnly: "We are professionals."
"Aunt, the Taoist priest won't act easily. This time he did it out of pity for the child, and also for my sake. He has to try today." Maomao was also fanning the flames.
Tan Xiao did not answer, but walked around her house and casually interrupted to ask, "Your child's grades have improved a lot recently."
Mother Wu hummed, "...Yeah, that's right." She saw Tan Xiao walk to the bookshelf, which was full of Wu Tianyu's things, some extracurricular books he liked to read, and a few photo frames containing photos she took when she took Wu Tianyu out for a trip.
"You are very good to the child. Even though his grades were average before, you would take him everywhere to play." Tan Xiao said while looking at the photo frame. Judging from the photos, they went to many places. One of them was of Wu Tianyu holding a snowball on a snowy mountain. He was not so thin at that time.
"Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles." The young man said in a calm tone, and Wu's mother started chatting with Tan Xiao unconsciously.
At this time, Tan Xiao suddenly whispered: "Even if he is 'capable of both literature and martial arts', you would still prefer the real him?"
Although the tone was light, it hit Wu's mother's heart.
When he asked this question out of the blue, Wu's mother was a little upset. From teachers to relatives, everyone thought that Wu Tianyu was getting better. They said she was possessed, but she just felt that there was something wrong with her child. Yes, she would rather have an imperfect child!
At this time, Tan Xiao took his hand down from the photo frame, and Wu's mother saw that in the photo of Wu Tianyu, blood was flowing from his face!
"Ah!!" Mother Wu screamed and almost fainted.
"He is haunted by evil spirits and his soul is trapped, but he can still feel your love." Tan Xiao wiped his hand lightly, and the bloodstain disappeared again.
Mother Wu covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face, "Wu...I..."
"Auntie, you have to have confidence and solve this problem with us." Tan Xiao said solemnly. He directly played a piece of news, which was the paragraph thanking him at the archaeological press conference.
Tan Xiao pointed and said, "These are all superficial explanations, but in fact, the incredible ghosts were dug out from the tomb of the King of Chu, and I was the one who helped to subdue them. Otherwise, with so many folklore experts, why would they need a high school student like me?"
If this could be subdued, then Wu Tianyu's weirdness was naturally not a problem. Mother Wu wiped her tears and said, "Please, please, I will cooperate with you in any way you need!"
This kind of thing requires the cooperation of family members. Tan Xiao nodded and said, "Then please find out how long it will take Wu Tianyu to come back. We need to make some preparations first."
Wu's mother immediately made a phone call.
As soon as Wu's mother left, Maomao couldn't control his expression and said to Tan Xiao with a grin, "Brother, you are really good. I admire you! And you are also good at combining current events!"
Tan Xiao's words just now were so convincing that my aunt was almost in tears.
"Very good." Duan Yang also praised, pointing at the photo of Wu Tianyu that Tan Xiao had just taken. He thought that since Tan Xiao was sent by 404, he seemed to have some skills. He used the connection between the photo and himself to perform magic in a short time, "Is this trick also inherited from the family?"
Tan Xiao: "No, Wang Jianyun taught me."
Duan Yang thought for a long time, but he didn't expect that there was a fellow practitioner named Wang Jianyun in Nanchu, "Where is this old practitioner from?"
Tan Xiao looked at him inexplicably: "My chemistry teacher."
Duan Yang: “…”
"Hahahahaha!" Maomao laughed wildly, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, "Okay, okay, you're awesome." She found it really interesting to see Duan Yang and Tan Xiao exchanging experiences of bluffing and making jokes.
Tan Xiao smiled. He had just communicated with Wu's mother using the tricks of a quack. It was nothing more than the six words "knock, beat, interrogate, cheat, shout, sell", plus a little alkali and alum, which was much more effective than Duan Yang's straightforward rhetoric. He used this trick not only on Wu's mother, but also on Maomao sister, otherwise Maomao sister would have been the first to shout liar.
Duan Yang touched his forehead: "...You are worthy of being the spiritual master of the Tan family, well done." The Tan family can achieve this level in cultural tourism, so their eloquence and posture must be sufficient, not to mention that it is more useful than real skills, he is far inferior to them.
He also knew about the case of the Tomb of the King of Chu, and had read the materials written by Mu Fei, but the files of such a major case required certain authority to view the details. He was only a member of the responsible unit associated with the 404 Office, but he knew that it must have been solved by Mu Fei and Mr. Xu.
Just as Maomao said, Tan Xiao is very good at connecting with current affairs.
Tan Xiao also smiled at Maomao: "Yeah."
This is what it means when the fake is made to appear real and the real becomes fake too!
Just like Maomao wanted to deceive her aunt before telling her the truth, Tan Xiao also had to deceive her aunt before telling her the truth: I'm sorry, I'm not a liar.
