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墨書 Inktalez
Without a word, Li Zhisheng and I drove directly to the exhibition hall. As soon as we got out of the car, we found the doors tightly shut.
"Now it's past ten o'clock; under normal circumstances, it should have closed by now. By the way, don't you have the Death Apostle's number? Call and ask," Li Zhisheng suggested.
I took out my phone and dialed the Death Apostle's number. His voice came through, "I knew you would come looking for me; I've been waiting for you..."
I glanced at the closed doors of the exhibition hall and said, "Then why don't you open the door?"
"I'm not at the exhibition hall right now; it's not safe there. I'll tell you my location, and you can come find me..." He proceeded to give me an address, which I quietly noted down.
After providing the address, the Death Apostle hung up before I could respond. Li Zhisheng asked, "What did he say?" I quickly jotted down the address on my phone and replied, "He’s not here; he wants us to go to another place... something about it not being safe here..."
Li Zhisheng took a deep breath and said, "I feel there are two possibilities for him wanting us to change locations. First, he might be coerced into going somewhere and wants to lure you there. The second is that this place is indeed being watched by someone."
Upon hearing this, I hurriedly looked around. Under the dim yellow streetlights, there wasn't a single soul in sight; the empty street felt particularly desolate. The more I sensed this emptiness, the more anxious I became. I could even feel a pair of eyes watching our every move from a dark corner where the streetlights didn’t reach.
"Do you think I have any other choice right now?" I asked. "In fact, you really don’t have any other choice. Even if you know it’s a trap, you still have to go; otherwise, your troubles will only get worse," Li Zhisheng replied as he walked over to the car. He yanked open the door and got inside.
Seeing me still hesitating in place, he shouted from inside the car, "Let’s go! What are you thinking about?"
With a sigh, I returned to the car. Sitting in the driver's seat, I pulled out my Cigarette Case, lit a cigarette, and then started the engine, driving toward the address given by the Death Apostle.
Li Zhisheng gazed out of the window. "Don't you find it strange?" he murmured. I scoffed lightly, "Strange? What has happened to me that isn’t strange?"
He didn’t turn around but continued looking outside. "That’s not what I mean. I'm referring to why that person trying to frame you would arrange for 'Xiu' to be there..."
I listened with some confusion and urged him to continue. "'Xiu' has no vision at all; it relies solely on keen hearing to hunt its prey. To be honest, 'Xiu' isn’t particularly powerful among the ghosts created during its refinement process; it can actually be seen with the naked eye from when it was first made. What’s the purpose of arranging such a weak entity here?"
I thought for a moment and replied, "I think this ghost was likely not arranged by whoever set up this trap; it might be something left behind by that Demon Sorcerer after causing harm."
"Why do you think that?" Li Zhisheng asked in confusion.
"Think about it: that old Taoist meticulously laid out his plans for ten years without anyone escaping during that time. He must have used this 'Xiu' to keep an eye on those people. If he used an invisible ghost instead, it might not have been as intimidating; his real goal was probably just to trap the villagers inside."
"You have a point, but there's one thing that doesn't make sense. That night when you were fighting with the old Taoist, there was such a commotion; why didn't 'Xiu' come out?"
I scratched my head, unable to come up with an answer, so I replied, "I guess the two of us wouldn't figure it out even if we thought about it until we died. Let's just ask the Death Apostle when we get there." After that, we both fell silent, lost in our own thoughts.
Not long after the car started moving, I spotted the house that the Death Apostle had told me about not far ahead. It was a standalone villa, three stories high, with a garage on either side and a fountain in front that stood two or three meters tall, making it look particularly grand.
Li Zhisheng pointed at the villa in front of us and exclaimed, "Is this it?!" Hearing his question made me nervous about getting it wrong, so I quickly took out my phone to confirm the address. "That's right, this is it."
Then I dialed the Death Apostle's number again. "Hello? Shen Xu, have you arrived?" I answered, "I'm not quite sure if I've made it..."
As soon as I finished speaking, I saw someone waving at us from the second-floor balcony of the villa. Li Zhisheng adjusted his glasses and leaned forward a bit, saying, "That must be the Death Apostle."
I parked the car and unbuckled my seatbelt. "It should be. Let's go check it out." With that, I opened the car door and walked toward the villa.
Just as we reached the front door, a tall man in a black suit and sunglasses blocked our path. "Who are you? Who are you here to see?" he asked.
Li Zhisheng muttered under his breath, "Isn't this a bodyguard?" I nodded at him and turned to the man who might be the bodyguard. "Well, I have an appointment with the owner here; I was just on the phone with them..."
As soon as I finished speaking, the large door behind the bodyguard swung open, revealing the Death Apostle standing at the entrance. "Come in..." he said, gesturing for us to enter.
Li Zhisheng and I exchanged glances. I thought to myself, "In such a big villa, if something happens inside, we wouldn't be able to escape; no one would even know if we died in there."
Thinking this made me swallow hard. The Death Apostle noticed we were hesitating and frowned. "What's wrong? Come on in; are you afraid I'm going to harm you or something?"
Since he had put it so bluntly, I couldn't refuse any longer and stepped inside first. Li Zhisheng followed closely behind me while discreetly hiding the cane he had found in his clothes.
The Death Apostle led us to a reception room on the second floor. As soon as we entered, I immediately asked, "What on earth is going on?!"
Seeing my urgency, a helpless expression crossed the Death Apostle's face as he replied, "To be honest, I'm not entirely clear about what's happening either. I brought you here to tell you about your village's situation, but shortly after you left, I received a letter—strangely enough, it was signed by you."
Hearing this, I couldn't help but ask in surprise, "My signature?!"
The Death Apostle replied affirmatively, "That's right, your signature. The letter instructed me to go to a place where I could find what I needed. At that time, I thought it was the Soul Sealing Talisman. I was so excited that I didn't think much and went to that location."
He sighed, looking somewhat regretful as he continued, "When I got there, I realized there was no Soul Sealing Talisman; it was just an abandoned factory. I searched for a long time but found nothing of value. Just as I was about to leave, someone knocked me out. I only woke up today, and if it weren't for a kind person who saved me, I might have been dead by now..."
At this moment, I began to feel anxious and asked urgently, "Wait... what did you just say? You just woke up today?! But I saw you yesterday!"
Li Zhisheng quickly chimed in, "Yeah, you saved Shen Xu yesterday..."
The Death Apostle seemed to sense something from our words. He hurriedly closed the door to the living room and said nervously, "No, no... you saw me yesterday, but I just came back from the hospital today. What on earth is going on?!"
Since meeting the Death Apostle, we hadn't interacted much, but now he seemed like a completely different person, devoid of his previous composure. He kept scratching his head as if he had suffered some heavy blow.
I thought for a moment and said to him, "How about this: you tell me what you know, and I'll share what has happened to me during this time..." With that, I recounted everything that had occurred previously.
After listening, the Death Apostle appeared even more confused and bewildered. He said, "I came back from the hospital thinking someone had sent a letter to the exhibition hall. I guessed that someone must be monitoring it, which is why I thought it was unsafe there and asked you to come here. And I thought you all just returned from that village today..."
Li Zhisheng interjected, "It's already late; there's no use in being anxious. Why don't we go to your exhibition hall tomorrow and check the surveillance? That will clarify everything."
But the Death Apostle insisted, "No way! You can't leave now; it's possible that whoever is watching me has already followed you outside. It could be dangerous for you to go out now. You should stay here for the night."
Li Zhisheng and I exchanged glances; I could sense his confusion through his eyes. I said, "We drove here; our car is parked outside. Don't worry; we'll be fine."
However, the Death Apostle remained adamant about keeping us there out of fear for our safety. Eventually, after much persuasion from both Li Zhisheng and me, we managed to leave the villa.
On the way back in the car, Li Zhisheng took out his cane from his clothes and said, "I feel like something is off with this Death Apostle." I agreed, saying, "Yeah, he seems like a completely different person. Could it be that getting hit changed his personality?"
As we drove along, we speculated but couldn't figure out what was going on. Confused, we arrived at the bottom of my building.
Just as we reached the elevator entrance, two uniformed police officers walked out and showed us their badges. They asked, "Who among you is Shen Xu?"
I was taken aback. "So soon?!" I thought, nervously saying, "I... is there something wrong?"
"We have a case and need you to come with us to assist in the investigation," one of them said as they grabbed me and headed outside, leaving Li Zhisheng staring blankly at my receding figure.
Once in the police car, I asked, "Uh... can I ask what the case is about?" The officer in the passenger seat glanced back at me and coldly replied, "You'll find out when we get there..."
After that, I didn't dare to speak again. The car drove straight to the police station. As soon as we got out, they pulled me into an interrogation room. I inwardly cursed, thinking that I was definitely going to end up in jail.
When the door swung open, I saw someone already waiting inside. He was dressed in a suit, casually sitting with his legs crossed, his polished leather shoes gleaming.
The two officers shoved me into the interrogation room and slammed the door shut behind me.
As soon as the door closed, the man spoke in a low voice, "What you just saw with the Death Apostle was fake..."
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