Theft
The ghosts capable of possessing someone are all malevolent ghosts that have cultivated their power for a long time. They would never choose someone like the elderly as a host.
The physical condition and birth chart of the host are important factors for the possession process. Moreover, the malevolent ghost’s illusion had just been disrupted by him, and the backlash from this had already taken away half of his soul. It would be impossible for him to remain standing in front of him with a stable soul right now.
Lu Congxing dismissed his doubts about the old man and nodded slightly, no longer hiding the truth. “Yes, so if you know anything, you can tell me.”
The old man fell silent, shaking his head. “No… I can’t say.”
He Zhouyan extended a finger and pointed into the air. “He made a contract with the malevolent ghost.”
A chain made of dense small characters gradually appeared around the old man’s neck, clinging tightly to the loose skin like a tattoo.
“A contract?” Lu Congxing raised an eyebrow slightly.
He carefully observed the small characters, recognizing them as an ancient script he had never seen before.
Though he didn’t understand, Bai Ze, who knew everything, merely glanced at it and understood instantly. He said, “He made a wish to the malevolent ghost. The price was to offer his soul after death to the ghost. In addition, he agreed to many unequal terms.”
“Unequal?” Lu Congxing’s eyes widened with curiosity.
He Zhouyan glanced at him, swallowing hard, enjoying the moment of suspense before saying, “Yes, one of the conditions is that he cannot reveal the existence of the malevolent ghost to anyone and must not leave the building.”
The contracts between humans and malevolent ghosts or demons are absolute, verified by the Heavenly Dao. Though the presence of the Heavenly Dao has weakened over the years and spiritual energy has thinned, no human can resist the absolute nature of such a contract.
Once a contract is signed, it is acknowledged by the Heavenly Dao.
This is why the old man pretended to be mad. He feared that one day he might lose control and reveal the truth. Only by making everyone doubt his words could he prevent that from happening.
It was clear that He Zhouyan was right. The old man’s eyes, looking at them, showed more hope than before. It was easy to tell that he regretted making the contract with the malevolent ghost, and it was likely that he had been deceived into signing it.
Lu Congxing asked, “Do you have a way to break the contract?”
This was a naive question. Breaking a contract would be like defying the Heavenly Dao, challenging the rules set by it. But Lu Congxing felt that Bai Ze had the power to do so.
It was a kind of blind trust.
He Zhouyan smiled, savoring the trust in the cub’s eyes. He didn’t say it directly but nodded slightly. “We need to catch the malevolent ghost first.”
Lu Congxing understood and stopped asking. He turned to the old man. “Do you know who the malevolent ghost is? Just nod or shake your head.”
This question was phrased cleverly. They had already guessed that the old man knew there was a ghost, so the power of the contract didn’t manifest at this point.
The old man hesitated for a moment before slowly shaking his head.
He really didn’t know who it was. He had signed the contract with the malevolent ghost in a muddled dream.
The reason he wandered the hallway at night was that someone had died in the building. He wasn’t sure if it was the malevolent ghost who had killed them. He was very afraid, but he wanted to see the ghost again to beg it to cancel the contract.
However, he didn’t see the ghost, but he did see two exorcists.
Lu Congxing nodded gently and said kindly, “You can go back now. We’ll find the malevolent ghost.”
After saying this, he was pulled away by the slightly impatient He Zhouyan. Unlike the cute, small Bai Ze, He Zhouyan, in his adult form, exuded a dominating aura that was hard to resist.
He Zhouyan escorted the cub back to his room and simply said, “Sleep.”
Lu Congxing nodded, smiling sweetly with a twinkle in his eyes. “Goodnight.”
He Zhouyan parted his lips slightly, awkwardly returning the words, his voice carrying a slightly magnetic charm.
“Goodnight.”
. . . . .
The next day, Lu Congxing received a message from the young police officer.
The officer told him that a suspect had been caught.
It was Chen Jiatai, who had previously clashed with Chen Fei.
Lu Congxing replied asking “Why?” and quickly received a response:
[We found Chen Fei’s belongings in his house.]
[Oh, and a lot of things from other tenants.]
“Hmm?” Lu Congxing paused for a moment while drinking milk.
He Zhouyan peeled an egg and handed it to the cub. “Eat your food, and after you’re done, I’ll take you there.”
Lu Congxing, already standing up, obediently sat back down. Without realizing it, he had completely started relying on He Zhouyan as his guardian demon. Normally, he would have already run off to the police station, but now he sat and finished the egg.
The egg was perfectly cooked. He Zhouyan had followed the detailed young-care guide from the Deputy Director, making Lu Congxing’s favorite soft-boiled eggs, fully correcting the cub’s dislike of eggs.
When they walked out, they happened to run into Li Guodong, who was about to leave. His expression wasn’t good, he was almost ashen.
The moment Lu Congxing saw him, he was taken aback. He didn’t expect him to look so different after just one night.
If it weren’t for the absence of any traces of a ghost on him, he would have suspected that Li Guodong had been possessed by one.
When Li Guodong saw them, he forced a smile. “Hello,” he said weakly.
They had to walk downstairs together, and it was inevitable that they’d be close. Lu Congxing politely said, “Hello, you look like you didn’t get enough rest?”
Li Guodong touched his head, where patches of hair loss were already visible, and nodded helplessly. “After what happened, who can sleep? I even had a fight with my wife last night. I told her to stop overreacting all the time.”
This left a somewhat awkward silence, but luckily, he didn’t seem to care if Lu Congxing replied. He gave a nervous laugh and walked away.
When they arrived at the police station, the police chief was already waiting. He stepped forward to greet them, eager to make a good impression in front of He Zhouyan.
Probably sensing his indifferent expression, the chief turned and explained the situation regarding Chen Jiatai to the more approachable Lu Congxing. “We take what you said yesterday seriously. We did a quick investigation, and we discovered that this guy had a watch belonging to Chen Fei. According to Chen Fei’s girlfriend, the watch was still on him a couple of days ago, and it was missing the day of the incident.”
The connection between the murder and Chen Jiatai suddenly having money to buy equipment seemed to be clearer now.
Lu Congxing asked, “Can you take me to see him?”
The chief nodded eagerly. “Of course, of course.”
He opened the interrogation room door and invited Lu Congxing in. Chen Jiatai was sitting inside, looking agitated.
When he saw him, his eyes widened, and he lunged forward. “Congxing! Please tell them I didn’t kill anyone!”
The police officer warned him and pressed him back down. “Don’t stand up!”
Lu Congxing, still puzzled, said, “But they say you have Chen Fei’s watch.”
Chen Jiatai seemed genuinely confused and frustrated, as though this accusation was pushing him into a corner. The pressure from the situation was clearly overwhelming him.
He was forced to sit back down, his thoughts tangled with agitation. “I didn’t! Someone threw that watch into my house! I don’t know anything about it! I didn’t steal anything from him!”
He unconsciously used the word “steal,” which made Lu Congxing’s expression darken. “Steal? So, you admit you stole other things?”
Chen Jiatai’s face grew awkward. It was clear he was trying to think of some excuse.
However, seeing the serious expressions of the surrounding officers, he eventually lowered his once-raised head in resignation.
His face revealed a kind of defeat. “Yes, I did steal things.”
Lu Congxing stared at him and continued, “You’ve been spying on the lives of the people in the building.”
That explained why the sensitive Huang Xin often felt like someone was watching him, and how Chen Jiatai could describe the people in the building so clearly when he was inquiring about them.
He even knew the story about Zeng Chengping before he rented there.
One couldn’t help but suspect that he had been secretly watching the people in the apartment building all along.
His eyes were clear and sharp, almost as if he could see through people.
Under that intense gaze, Chen Jiatai awkwardly tried to avoid his stare, lowering his head even further, resigned. “Yes, that’s true.”
He then added, “But I didn’t steal the watch. I never steal obvious things. I only take what they hide.”
The police exchanged glances.
Though both spying and stealing were illegal, they were not on the same level as murder and dismemberment.
Chen Jiatai clearly didn’t admit to murder, but he was reluctantly confessing to stealing. The only thing he denied was the watch that belonged to Chen Fei.
But the watch had been found among his stolen items, and the evidence was irrefutable.
Meanwhile, there seemed to be a growing argument outside, escalating rapidly.
The police’s warnings were mixed with the voice of an agitated woman.
Lu Congxing walked out to look outside and met eyes with Huang Xin, who was dressed in a pale yellow maternity dress.
Huang Xin immediately waved at him, fuming, “Mr. He, Xiao Lu, come and take a look!”
Lu Congxing paused for a moment, unsure why Huang Xin addressed them differently.
He still walked over and saw the pile of things that had made Huang Xin angry—disorganized items, including women’s underwear and some small gadgets full of life’s little details.
A quick glance at the scene suggested that Chen Jiatai had stolen just about everything, which fit with his habit of peeping.
There weren’t many valuables, even the noticeable necklace was worth at most two hundred yuan. It had been a gift from Li Guodong to Huang Xin.
“He’s a perverted murderer,” Huang Xin said through gritted teeth as she picked up the necklace. She then turned to Lu Congxing and whispered, “It has to be him, right? He’s the one who’s possessed by a ghost, isn’t he?”
Lu Congxing shook his head. “Miss Huang, I’ve told you—the person possessed by a ghost and the one who committed this murder aren’t the same.”
Huang Xin was reluctant to accept this. She glanced inside. “That person must have been killed by him, right? Anyway, I’m never renting my house to someone like him again.”
Lu Congxing didn’t argue. Whether or not Chen Jiatai had committed murder, his peeping and stealing were facts, and Huang Xin had every right to reclaim the house.
As for whether he was the murderer, his intuition told him it wasn’t the right time to make a final judgment.
He subtly changed the topic. “Miss Huang, why didn’t your husband come with you to take a look?”
Only Zhou Zijie had accompanied Huang Xin, and she had been staring blankly at the items on the table since earlier.
Huang Xin curled her lips. “What good is he? He’s more cowardly than anyone else. I’d rather rely on myself than on him.”
Lu Congxing replied, “I heard you two argued last night. I ran into your husband this morning, and he looked pretty upset.”
Huang Xin was quite surprised. “How could that be? We went to bed early yesterday.”
Although this answer was unexpected, it also made sense.
He had suspected what Li Guodong had said for a while. Previously, Li Guodong had also told him that he had argued with Huang Xin in the middle of the night. He clearly stated that he had yelled at her, but from the way they interacted, he didn’t seem to have the temperament to yell at anyone.
What felt even stranger was the poor soundproofing in the apartment building. Lu Congxing had never heard Li Guodong’s shouting at night, so the things he said seemed contradictory.
So, which of the couple’s stories was a lie?
Was it the usually honest husband, or the domineering wife?
Lu Congxing carefully observed Huang Xin, trying to spot any signs of lying, but there were none. When she spoke, she was candid, with no hint of dishonesty.
He then recalled Li Guodong’s expression when he said those things—pale, evasive, as if avoiding eye contact.
Just as he was trying to make sense of it, He Zhouyan’s voice interrupted, carrying a cold tone. “Someone has broken in.”
Lu Congxing froze for a moment, then quickly realized that someone had entered their room 403, where he had left some traps set earlier.
The perceptive Bai Ze had already sensed an intrusion. Even though it was just a temporary residence, to him, as long as he and the cub hadn’t moved out yet, that place was his territory.
The man’s back stiffened, as though ready to spring into action at any moment.
Author’s Note:
The murderer will be revealed in the next chapter~