The following ten days were the busiest since I joined the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation. During the days, I was buried in the underground levels three, four, and five, sorting and packing all the belongings left behind by Gao Liang as well as Wu Rendi's private collection. This process took a full three days. On the night of the fourth day, while the streets were mostly empty, Vice Director Sun was on guard duty. Together with the two Yangs, I drove to transport Gao Liang's belongings to an old, remote residence that Sun Fatty had designated.
Before we even got out of the car, shadows flickered inside the residence, and occasional strange sounds came from within—breathing and wailing could be heard. Even without using the Heavenly Eye, it was clear this was a house heavy with resentment, a veritable haunted mansion.
"Chao Nei ×× number!" I thought. This place looked so familiar. When I first joined the Bureau, I had heard of this haunted mansion's notorious name. At that time, I wondered why in the capital area they kept such a cursed place untouched. Later, chatting casually with Sun Fatty, he joked that the place was kept just to entertain the capital's residents.
Although I no longer feared such haunted mansions, I still felt uneasy inside. While unloading from the car, I said to Yang Xiao, "Did you pick this place? Seems to fit your style."
Yang Xiao smiled and replied, "Actually, no. This spot was personally picked by your Director Sun. But when did his taste improve? He has some eye for things—hiding stuff here. I'll add a little extra; no one will dare come in and check."
"Are you two done chatting?" Yang Jun glanced at me and Yang Xiao before saying, "If so, let's get to work. There are hundreds of items. If we don't start soon, dawn will be here before we finish."
The haunted mansion was filled with restless spirits, but they were extremely wary of Yang Xiao. Whenever he appeared, all the souls vanished immediately without a trace. Having a spirit-cleansing expert like Yang Xiao around made things much smoother—at least we didn't have to worry about the spirits suddenly showing up inside. Accidentally breaking any porcelain treasures would have been a real headache.
Fortunately, the mansion's basement was large enough to hold all the Bureau's belongings with room to spare. After storing everything, Yang Xiao took out a dark brown pigment and began painting strange symbols all over the corners of the mansion. At the same time, a faint foul odor began to spread through the house. The smell was familiar—two years ago, that girl's school incident brought a nightmare with the exact same scent. But this time it was obviously diluted, at least not as pungent as back then.
By the time he finished painting, dawn was breaking. Before full daylight, Yang Xiao buried a handful of black polished stones in front of the mansion's main gate. Then, he took out a dagger, sliced his tongue, spat blood onto the stones, and covered them back with earth.
"All done. With my additions, no one will dare approach this house for another thirty or fifty years," Yang Xiao said, just as the faint morning sunlight touched the mansion. Moments later, it was fully bright.
Strangely, though bathed in sunlight, the sinister aura inside the mansion only grew stronger. Dark vapors began to seep continuously through the cracks around doors and windows. The feeling was exactly like when Sun Fatty and I first arrived in Qilin City more than two years ago and saw that fifteen-story building. Not to mention ordinary people—even I didn't want to step foot inside this mansion again.
As we were about to drive off, I still felt uneasy and said to Yang Xiao, "That's it? What if someone from the same field discovers something strange about this place, sneaks in to take a look, and then finds a way to cart off our stuff? What do we do then?"
Yang Xiao smiled slightly and said, "I've set a Blood Escape trigger inside this house. If anyone breaks in, I'll know immediately, and with one mouthful of blood, I can get there right away." As he spoke, I couldn't help but recall the scene from two years ago when he vanished in front of Wu Rendi with just a mouthful of blood...
Back at the Bureau, the two Yangs went to Section Six, while I was called to Vice Director Sun Fatty's office. As I entered, I immediately noticed the screen on Sun Fatty's computer showing footage from the basement of the haunted mansion, with cameras focused on the Bureau's belongings laid out on the floor.
I asked why Sun Fatty didn't come along to help move things. He just chuckled and said he had already installed hidden cameras. From now on, nothing that happens in the mansion's basement will escape his eyes.
"Better to keep a close watch," Sun Fatty said with a grin as he turned off the monitor and looked at me. "Tell Old Wu to dismantle the formations and mechanisms on the fifth underground level quickly. Start packing up Old Wu's stuff; in a few days, we're moving to a new place where we can keep his treasures."
"Moving?" I was a bit stunned. He had never mentioned this before.
Sun Fatty nodded. "Even if the Bureau disappears, we still need a place to land, right? I've already found the spot." He then pulled a photo out of his desk drawer and handed it to me. The photo showed a somewhat old but still solid four-story building. The original plaque had been removed, but judging by the two stone lions still standing guard in front, it used to be a local bank branch in the capital.
"Looks pretty good, right?" Sun Fatty smiled at the photo. "This used to be a local bank's capital branch. The bank merged with a commercial bank, and since their branches overlapped, this one was abandoned. I had to pull a lot of strings to get this place. How about it? This will be our new company's office. It even has an underground vault. With some renovation, it'll be good to go."
I was confused. "New company? Don't we already have one?"
Sun Fatty blinked and said, "Lazi, there's something I forgot to tell you. We brought in some new shareholders. They worry that if they join the current company, the accounts will get messy, so they suggested starting a new company. Don't worry, it's new on paper, but the rules stay the same. The way we split the money is just as before."
"New shareholders…" I looked at Sun Fatty's mischievous grin and guessed. "Come on, who else did you rope in this time?"
Sun Fatty laughed heartily. "Old acquaintances. Lazi, I'm not kidding—we went through life and death together before. Remember the Wolf Plague incident?"
My heart skipped a few beats after hearing that. After a moment, I looked at the still-smiling Sun Fatty and asked, "Big Saint, you didn't bring Huang Ran in, did you? Didn't you say he didn't even want to be the Committee chairman? How could he be interested in reorganizing a company with us?"
"Two different things, two different things," Sun Fatty shook his head with a smile. "He's just lost interest in the Committee. Think about it—every committee member is his elder, the youngest one still has to be called uncle or grandpa. Every meeting he has to go around calling them polite names—who would like that? But that's not the main point. The main thing is Huang Ran hates the pressure the Committee put on him since childhood. This is a new company—who's got time to oppress him?" With that, Sun Fatty chuckled again.
Looking at Sun Fatty's expression, I suddenly caught another suspicious point in what he said earlier: "You just said there were a few new shareholders, right? Big Saint, who else joined? Just say it all at once."
"Also familiar faces," Sun Fatty's smile grew wider. "It's Meng Qiqi and Zhang the Stammerer Zhang Zhiyan. You know them both, right?"
I looked at Sun Fatty helplessly. "Why did you rope them both in? Especially that Meng Qiqi — don't you know what kind of relationship she had with Old Wu in their past lives? If you were going to stir up trouble, why pick her?"
"They can guarantee overseas clients," Sun Fatty sighed. "I was actually thinking of pulling Xiao Heshang in too, but that old guy's too stubborn. He went solo with Ma Xiaolin. Recently he even tried to poach the two Yangs, but if it weren't for us guarding Old Wu, the two Yangs wouldn't have dared to leave."
Sun Fatty's words hinted at something unsaid, and I couldn't wait for him to spill it. I prompted him: "And the two Yangs… Big Saint, just be honest. How many people are in this company in total? Who else?"
Sun Fatty counted on his fingers: "You, me, Old Huang, Miss Meng, Stammerer Zhang, and Shao Yiyi. I plan to have Shao Yiyi manage the accounts, and if anything big comes up, I'll send her out to poke Old Wu."
I immediately noticed some names missing and asked, "What about Old Wu and the two Yangs? Did you forget those three brothers?"
"As long as Shao Yiyi's in, the three Old Wu brothers are covered," Sun Fatty said. "This account works like this: if we count those three, each person has to get a cut, but if we only add Shao Yiyi, then those three are pure helpers. You don't need me to explain why that's better accounting, right?"
"You really have this figured down to the bone," I said. "Then what about the rest? Like Old Xiong, Old Mo, and Big Official? What's their deal?"
"I told you before—after the Bureau got dissolved, everyone was reassigned. They're each starting agencies similar to the Bureau. At least when they go out to handle cases, they don't have to carry fake IDs anymore." Sun Fatty paused suddenly, as if recalling something very important. He slapped his thigh and said, "Damn, how did I forget him?" He pulled out a piece of paper, wrote the new company's personnel list, then added four characters at the bottom: Ouyang Pianzuo (欧阳偏左).
"I was wondering all morning why one person was missing," Sun Fatty looked at the list. "Director Ouyang absolutely can't be left out."
He glanced at his watch and said, "Lazi, it's about time. I'm taking you to pick someone up."
When I asked who, Sun Fatty chuckled. "An old friend. Once you meet him, you'll know."
After leaving the Bureau, Sun Fatty drove us to a maternity hospital. Just as I was wondering why, I suddenly saw Wu Rendi, white-haired from head to toe, coming out. Sun Fatty was stunned and said, "Director Wu, you came personally?"
Wu Rendi glanced at Sun Fatty. "He brought me in back then; now it's my turn to bring him in. Consider it seeing things through."
Sun Fatty blinked and thought for a moment, then said, "So Yang Xiao can't make it? Took so much money from me but never did his job!"
Wu Rendi snorted. "Am I any worse than Yang Xiao? By the way, about Shao Yiyi—we're going to have to settle accounts on that, too, right?"
After Wu Rendi said this plainly, Sun Fatty's face went pale. His eyes glanced toward me, and just as I was about to say something, Wu Rendi looked at Sun Fatty and suddenly changed his tone: "I'm keeping track of this debt. Don't think you won't have to pay." Without another word, he walked off into the crowd.
Only when Wu Rendi's figure completely disappeared did Sun Fatty breathe a long sigh and rush with me up to the third floor. After chatting briefly with a nurse, Sun Fatty's face showed surprise. He muttered, "It can't be this rough, can it?"
Before I could ask what was wrong, Sun Fatty dragged me into a large ward filled with infant incubators. Newborns stayed here a while before returning to their biological mothers.
Right now, only two babies were inside—twins, according to the nurse. But these twins didn't look alike at all. One was chubby and big, about twice the size of a normal newborn; the other was thin and small, like a premature baby.
Seeing the two babies, Sun Fatty's tears silently flowed. I was baffled and whispered to him, "Big Saint… did you give birth?"
"Stop talking nonsense." Sun Fatty wiped his tears and pointed at the chubby baby. "Tell me, have you ever seen a newborn baby who already smiles?"
"Is that rare? I was born smiling…" I said, noticing something strange about the twins. The chubby baby was giggling toward us with a familiar smile—just like Gao Liang's mold.
The other baby frowned at his brother and kept making a gesture like swinging a stick, swinging the imaginary stick at his sibling.
"Is that… Old Gao?" My voice trembled as I said this. Sun Fatty nodded, laughing and crying at once: "I originally asked Yang Xiao to help with this, but surprisingly, Old Wu volunteered, too. You should have said earlier. The birth was actually about an hour apart, and you bringing him out this early is messing up the timing. I even asked Blind Jin to calculate the birth dates, and this was the best timing. Now it's all messed up."
I still couldn't shake the shock. "You arranged Old Gao's reincarnation? So his brother is… Stick?"
Sun Fatty sighed. "Stick was an accident. I wanted Old Gao to be born into a good family with great fortune. But Old Wu messed it all up and stuffed Stick in there. Now they're real brothers, and whether Old Gao will be wealthy is hard to say. He even got an enemy brother."
The twins seemed to understand Sun Fatty's words. The chubby one kept giggling at Sun Fatty nonstop...
On the tenth day, news came from Taiwan that the Committee, after nearly a century, announced its dissolution for unknown reasons. That afternoon, the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation was also quietly disbanded. Most personnel received transfer orders to matching departments. Sun Fatty and I declined the opportunity, while the eldest, Ouyang Pianzuo, retired.
Shortly after, the big boss personally led people to take over the Bureau's building. After touring upstairs, the group requested to inspect the underground levels. Led by Sun Fatty, they arrived at the third, fourth, and fifth floors, but there was no trace of any supplies. Sun Fatty had been too thorough; not even scraps remained.
The big boss was furious, openly questioning Sun Fatty where the materials had gone in front of his subordinates. Sun Fatty looked up at the ceiling and pinned the blame on Lin Feng, saying Lin had emptied the supplies before fleeing. Everyone knew Sun Fatty had tampered with things, but no one could do anything. In the end, Lin Feng took the blame.
One month after the simultaneous dissolution of the Bureau and Committee, Meng Qiqi, Zhang Zhiyan, and Huang Ran gathered. Sun Fatty picked an auspicious day with Blind Jin, and the Folklore and Religious Studio was established, kicking off another chain of stories.
That winter, Xiao Heshang arranged a business deal in the Northeast. A local tycoon had been bewitched by the Five Immortals on his mountain home, losing his mind. His family paid heavily to find Xiao Heshang, who subcontracted the case to us.
Outside a luxury villa covered in heavy snow, a large Cherokee was parked. Huang Ran sat in the driver's seat, smoking and looking into the villa. The local custom believed only in shamanistic spirit possession. After a night of cramming, Sun Fatty and I were inside the villa preparing. We planned to use the guise of a shaman ritual to sneak in and solve the problem with a swift strike.
Inside the villa, Sun Fatty held a Wen Wang drum. After a stuttering opening, he began the incantation: "I invite the Immortals… first, the Primordial Supreme Lord…"
I followed Sun Fatty's words, adjusting my posture and hand seals to match the ritual.
"Second, the Grand Supreme Elder Lord… third, the True Warrior Great Emperor." I mimicked various poses to summon the Immortals.
When he reached the third, Sun Fatty forgot the rest, mumbling a few words, then started making things up: "Fourth, I invite Jay Chou." I was stunned. The crowd watching fell silent, dozens of eyes fixed on me. Though furious inside, I had to follow Sun Fatty's lead, so I awkwardly swung my hands twice, chanting, "Quick… use the nunchaku… hēng hēng hā xī…"
Seeing me pick up the chant, Sun Fatty continued inventing: "Fifth, I invite Song Zuying."(Note: Since Sun forgot the words he had memorized, the names of the following two people were all popular singers at that time.)
"...Lazi… girl… Lazi… Sun Da Sheng, your grandpa!"
(End of the Book)