Master Hui could never have imagined that the stranger before him would be so unruly, completely disregarding the rules.
The instant the hammer struck, his entire body turned into mist and dispersed, seemingly unaffected.
But Sun Yan's action undoubtedly infuriated the immortal enshrined in the Yin Residence.
Immediately, a sharp cry echoed throughout the main hall: "Disrespect me, and your soul shall remain here for eternity in servitude!"
The mist condensed into a gray rat as large as a cat or a dog, with red eyes, pouncing towards Sun Yan.
Just as it leaped at Sun Yan, the General Sun Mask burst into a brilliant blue light, the fierce mask with a blue face and fangs seeming to come alive, its eyes glaring menacingly.
Master Hui shivered all over, an ominous premonition suddenly gripping his heart, could this mortal possibly have divine protection?
Before it could react, in this critical moment, the adrenaline in Sun Yan's body surged; he couldn't spare a thought, raising the hammer in his hand to smash it at the gray rat before him.
The moment the hammer made contact with Master Hui, a burst of cyan-green flames erupted, starting to scorch Master Hui's body.
It let out a heartrending scream, collapsing to the ground, rolling and turning madly, but to no avail.
Seeing this, Sun Yan quickly stepped forward to deliver the coup de grâce, and after a dozen blows, the rat lay on the ground bleeding from its mouth, completely lifeless.
With Master Hui's death, the entire Yin Residence suddenly shook violently, with tremors beginning everywhere, hinting at a collapse.
The Yin Residence and its master are one; when the master dies, the residence collapses.
Sun Yan quickly ran outside, not even sparing a glance at the two priests still kneeling at the door, took out his phone to send Henry a message, and dashed towards the Yin Residence's entrance at full speed.
The soul-locking of the Yin Residence, if destroyed before one escapes, would cause one's three souls and seven spirits to scatter, resulting in either becoming soulless or a vegetative state—an outcome Sun Yan surely wanted to avoid.
...
"Quick, quick, quick! Surround this apartment, no one is allowed to let him escape!"
On the early morning streets of Shajiao District, several police cars parked at the apartment entrance, and under Henry's command, officers armed with guns stormed into the apartment.
Soon, they found the white-haired elderly man surrounded by a group of bodyguards in room 201 on the second floor.
During the day, Henry had brought people to inspect the rooms of the apartment but found nothing.
However, at this moment, room 201 revealed an unordinary feature previously hidden; an unassuming wall was pushed open, revealing a hidden secret room.
Inside stood a great cauldron blazing with fire, emitting a nauseating stench that was even more pungent under the high temperatures.
The corner of the secret room was piled with a large number of human bones, and the walls hung with intact human skins, resembling a hellish scene, providing crucial evidence.
"Mr. Phil Kahn, I suspect you are connected to several recent murders in Shajiao Street. Please come with me to the police station for investigation." Henry said, covering his nose, suppressing his nausea as he took out an arrest warrant directed at the white-haired elderly man.
Once Henry's investigation identified this elderly man as the chairman of the Forest Organization and the owner of the apartment, he quickly applied for an arrest warrant.
As a local tycoon, it's challenging to arrest such a wealthy person without prior legal preparations.
"You have no evidence and no right to arrest me. I want to see my lawyer!" The elderly man protested anxiously, his expression extremely irritable.
Just one last ingredient, and tonight the Longevity Pill would be complete; once made, he could achieve the long-desired cancer cure and potentially immortality.
At such a critical moment, how could he give up and be captured by these police officers?
"Aunt Yun, get Aunt Yun for me!" Phil Kahn shouted, rare color appearing on his pale face.
"Take him down." Henry had no intention of giving this businessman any chance to delay; the alchemy room was nauseating. Remembering the strange smiles on the faces of the deceased at the crime scene, Henry just wanted to leave this place quickly.
But Phil had gone mad; he was just one step away from the Longevity Pill he had worked on for years, and he couldn't give up, even at the cost of offending the police officers.
Thus, he directly instructed his bodyguards to fight with the surrounding officers, causing a chaotic scene like a cooking pot.
"Still daring to attack the police! Requesting backup, requesting backup!" Henry's eyes widened as he hastily drew a radio, reporting the situation to the Shajiao District Police Station.
Despite Phil's bodyguards being quite formidable, the large number of officers arriving eventually overpowered them.
As Phil was taken busily into the police car, Henry received a sudden text message on his phone—it was from Sun Yan.
'I'm on the seventh floor, come break the wall and save me.'
Seeing the message, Henry's expression shifted; he promptly motioned to several officers: "You guys, follow me."
With that, he sprinted towards the seventh floor.
...
In the pitch darkness, Sun Yan reached up to remove the mask from his face, leaning weakly against the wall and sitting on the ground.
After running out of the gates of the Yin Residence, he found himself here. He didn't know what this place was, could only smell a stench of long-standing mold mixed with some foul odor.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Accompanied by the heavy banging sound from outside, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in the originally pitch-black room.
It turned out that the wall had been struck from the outside, causing several cracks that allowed light to seep in.
Rumble!
With the sound of a brick wall collapsing, a large hole appeared on the wall, through which Sun Yan heard Henry's call.
"Jackson, Jackson!"
Holding a flashlight to explore the inside of the hole, even Henry, a seasoned officer who had investigated hundreds of murder cases, couldn't help but feel a chill at this moment.
This was a room completely sealed with cement, with two dark red coffins inside.
In the middle of the coffins was a traditional Eight Immortals table, on which were placed three spiritual tablets, and a large paper mansion with three entrances and three exits.
'Spiritual Tablet of Husband Zhang Zhe'
'Spiritual Tablet of Daughter Zhang Wanrong'
The third spiritual tablet was mysteriously broken in the middle.
A gray-haired rat, as large as a house cat, lay dead with blood oozing from its orifices inside the paper mansion, collapsing quite a few structures.
Around the coffins, several bodies lay, including the police officer missing since two nights ago, as well as Raine, Betar, and several people unknown to Henry.
"Chief Henry, look!" A nearby officer exclaimed, pointing at the ceiling of the room.
Henry shone his flashlight up and immediately saw two large red lanterns come into view.
Eerie, sinister... This was the overwhelming sensation in Henry's mind at that moment; the place was simply too uncanny.
Who had sealed this room on the seventh floor, and who had arranged it in such a chilling layout, and how had no one discovered this place in the apartment all this time?
"You finally came. It seems the message I sent you must have gotten through. The murderer of the homicide case and another survivor are hiding on the rooftop. Go check on them quickly."
Seeing Henry appear, Sun Yan breathed a sigh of relief, got up, and walked over.
Seeing Sun Yan appear in this completely cement-sealed burial chamber, Henry and several officers couldn't help being taken aback.
"How did you get in here?" Henry couldn't help but ask.
"Some things cannot be explained by science. Do you believe in gods in this world?" Sun Yan stepped out of the hole, breathing the fresh air, and asked Henry in return.
...
Ambulances, police cars.
The sound of interwoven sirens echoed through the night sky of this street.
Those who mistakenly entered that burial chamber, some had already lost their lives, while others were still salvageable.
The residents of Room 201 and this house too underwent rigorous investigation by the police.
When the officers opened the cauldron in the dark chamber, everyone couldn't help but vomit on the spot when they saw human hearts floating in the foul-smelling broth inside.
This was definitely the most egregious case in the history of Shajiao District, enough to go down in police station history.
At the entrance of the apartment, an elderly woman in handcuffs was escorted by two officers into the police car.
Sun Yan stood on the roadside smoking a cigarette; both matters had revealed their truths and his task was considered successfully completed.
As the car window was lowered, the elderly woman stared venomously at Sun Yan: "Young man, the old saying goes 'the well water does not intrude upon river water,' and neither should the lower classes sabotage each other. Now you have destroyed my hope; this feud between us is not over."
"The two coffins in that burial chamber on the 7th floor are your husband and daughter. You offered that rat inside to help it become an Immortal, hoping one day it could resurrect your loved ones, right? To think you know a bit of Yin-Yang Magic but don't understand the separation of life and death. How could there possibly be resurrection of the dead in this world?"
Sun Yan remained calm; before he could say more, the window was closed again by the officers.
As the police car drove away, it quickly disappeared into the night.
"Confusing oneself with illusions," Sun Yan muttered to himself, exhaling a puff of smoke.