Chapter 48 Corpse Ghoul

Just as the Corpse King erupted with necrotic Qi, attempting to finish off Molie and the old man in one fatal blow, the mysterious power enveloping the old man reached its completion. The patriarch possessing the old man’s body flicked his right hand, causing dark clouds in the sky to churn as lightning continuously wove through them, gathering immense power. The Corpse King seemed locked in place by a mysterious force, completely unable to move. Soon, a gigantic sword forged of lightning condensed in the sky. Guided by the sweep of the patriarch's arm, the colossal blade slashed down with a momentum that felt as though it could cleave heaven and earth in two.

The Corpse King’s bronze skin and iron bones were like fragile tofu before this giant sword, utterly defenseless as it was sliced cleanly in half. Without even deigning to look at the Corpse King, the patriarch used his copper coin sword to scratch a few words onto the ground before instantly departing the old man’s body.

Once the mysterious power vanished from his body, the old man collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. Suddenly noticing the characters carved into the earth, the corners of his mouth twitched. The inscription read: "You untalented piece of trash."

Molie walked over, hoisted the old man up, and supported him to the side to rest. She then used a Departing Fire Talisman to completely incinerate the Corpse King’s remains.

"Uncle Li, what should we do next?"

"Find a place to rest first. I need a few days to recover before rendezvousing with the others to track down the other corpse," the old man replied.

"The boundless horizon is my love, flowers are blooming at the foot of the rolling mountains..." The continuous ringing of a mobile phone pulled Liu Jun groggily from his sleep. He answered the call.

"Master Qianjin? This is Lin Lei," a voice came from the other end of the line.

Liu Jun scratched his head, struggling to wake up as his sluggish brain began to process the situation. *Bureau Chief Lin, what does he want with me? I haven't broken any laws.*

"It's me. Bureau Chief Lin, is something the matter?"

"Well, there have been several murder cases recently with extremely cruel methods. We suspect they weren't committed by human hands, so we'd like to ask for your help to take a look and handle it."

"I've got a bit too much on my plate lately," Liu Jun muttered, feeling unenthusiastic. He had been lacking motivation for ghost-catching recently.

"The reward offered by the higher-ups is fifty thousand."

"I think my other matters can be postponed. As a Taoist priest, I simply cannot allow demons and ghosts to run amok. Tell me the location," Liu Jun stated righteously.

"Master Qianjin, come straight to my office. Call me when you arrive, and I'll come out to meet you."

Bureau Chief Lin on the other end felt a surge of triumph. Chu Feng was right—you really had to mention money to Daoist Priest Qianjin; everything was negotiable as long as the price was right.

***

Liu Jun hung up the phone, tossed his mobile phone aside, and went back to sleep for a bit longer. After waking up, washing his face, and kicking the fatty awake, they ate a quick meal and headed downstairs to the car.

Upon arriving at the precinct entrance, Liu Jun called Bureau Chief Lin, and he and the fatty walked inside. Waiting in the ground-floor lobby, it wasn't long before Bureau Chief Lin came out to lead them to his office. True to his background as a former soldier, Bureau Chief Lin didn't waste any time; the moment Liu Jun sat down, he handed over the case files for the recent murders. Liu Jun took the files and opened them up.

First Case File:
Deceased: Bian XX, male, born in 1983. Occupation: White-collar worker. Time of death: 2:00 AM on May 7, 2006. Location: The alley on the left side of Bin X Road. Cause of death: Disappearance of internal organs and the entire body's blood, expression frozen in terror, etc.

Second Case File:
Deceased: Yang XX, male, born in 1981. Occupation: Ordinary worker. Time of death: 1:00 AM on May 8, 2006. Location: The alley on the right side of Bin X Road. Cause of death: Disappearance of internal organs and the entire body's blood, expression frozen in terror, etc.

Third Case File:
Deceased: Sui XX, male, born in 1986. Occupation: Student. Time of death: 2:00 AM on May 9, 2006. Location: The alley on the left side of Bin X Road. Cause of death: Disappearance of internal organs and the entire body's blood, expression frozen in terror, etc.
Note: On the corpse...

Liu Jun was familiar with Bin X Road; it was an area of old-style residential complexes filled with numerous alleys. The perpetrator didn't seem like a ghost, but rather more akin to a zombie or a monster. Ordinary ghosts usually just scared people to death and weren't particularly interested in human flesh and blood.

Whoever was doing this had plenty of nerve, committing crimes in the exact same location night after night. They clearly weren't afraid of having their soul scattered to the winds. He immediately decided to head to Bin X Road that very night to see what manner of beast this was.

"Bureau Chief Lin, we'll keep watch there tonight to see if we can catch the bastard red-handed and annihilate him. Please help us prepare some black dog blood—make sure it's non-lethal extraction."

Everyone knew what black dog blood was used for, so there was no need to elaborate. Bureau Chief Lin arranged for someone to prepare the black dog blood for them while personally escorting them to the cafeteria for a meal. After all, an intense battle might break out tonight, and going in on an empty stomach would never do.

With their stomachs full, they waited until nightfall. Once everything was ready, they set off directly for Bin X Road. Bureau Chief Lin also led a team of police officers trailing behind them; to avoid alerting the enemy, they would stand by in a slightly more distant area. Liu Jun and the fatty wiped ox-tear eye drops onto their eyelids and began pacing back and forth through the small alleys.

Only Bin X Road itself had streetlights, while the alleys only caught a faint sliver of illumination before plunging into pitch darkness further in. From time to time, the sounds of stray cats and rats echoed through the surroundings.

Liu Jun wasn't actually terrified as he walked; after all, he had seen plenty of ghosts both big and small, but he still felt a slight creepiness prickle at his skin.

As they walked, the sound of a woman's coquettish giggles and a man's playful banter suddenly drifted from a nearby alley. Listening closely, it definitely wasn't the fatty's voice. *Who the hell is this? Can't they use some common sense? People have died in this exact spot for three consecutive nights, and they're still out here flirting? Aren't they afraid of losing their lives for a moment of fun?*

Muttering to himself in rising anger, Liu Jun strode toward the adjacent alley, intending to chase away these reckless lovers before they threw their lives away.

Just as he reached the mouth of the alley, Liu Jun halted in his tracks. *Something is seriously wrong here. Why is there a stench of corpse rot? And why has the surrounding temperature dropped so sharply?*

These two definitely had issues. Based on his analytical deduction, the woman was most likely the problematic one, since all the previous victims had been men.

Yes, the woman was definitely the problem.

*What kind of grand entrance should I make? I'm a professional ghost-catching master now, after all. I've got to make a stylish entrance.* Following this thought into action, Liu Jun leaped directly into the alley.

"Demon, cease your harm! I am the Great Ghost-Catching Master Qianjin! Surrender immediately!" Liu Jun shouted, pulling out a delicate wooden axe and pointing it straight at the woman.

The woman was average-looking, nothing special, but she made up for it by wearing hardly any clothes, exposing a large portion of her torso. She was pressed against the wall embracing a man; the two of them were still kissing when Liu Jun landed. *Damn it, what public indecency.*

The pair stared at Liu Jun in utter astonishment, and the woman even looked somewhat frightened. *Oh ho, putting on an act, are we? What an Oscar-winning performance.* Liu Jun slapped a Golden Body Talisman onto his chest, clutched his small axe, and swaggered up to the woman. He was going to tear off her disguise.

Stopping right in front of them, he raised the little axe and saw the woman staring back at him with a face full of terror. *Heh, little girl, know fear now, do you?*

"Ghost! A ghost!" The woman let out a terrified shriek, her eyes rolling back as she fainted, leaving a puddle of suspicious liquid pooling beneath her.

*What is going on here?* Three huge question marks popped up in Liu Jun's mind. *Even if I'm not drop-dead gorgeous, I'm still reasonably presentable. Why did I scare her into peeing herself?*

*Oh crap, wait.* Liu Jun slowly turned his head. The man behind him had vanished completely, replaced by a corpse-fiend with a pale, rotting face. Liu Jun swallowed hard. *Damn it, my deduction was wrong. This corpse-fiend doesn't play by the rules.*