Captain Liang brought us to his office then poured each of us a cup of tea. “Allow me to introduce myself again. My name’s Liang Xiaoyue. I’m the captain of the city’s Criminal Police Force.”

Li Mazi immediately beamed at him to earn his favor. “I really admire you, Officer Liang. You’re this young and already a captain. You are a talented man. My family name’s Li. Here is my business card. Please take care of me later.”

Then, Li Mazi took out a card and gave it to him with both hands.

I glanced at the card. It read, ‘Geomancy Advisor, Ghost & Monster Hunter, Master of Antiques.’ There were many titles. I even saw ‘Researcher of Urban Legends’ written on the card. Li Mazi had polished himself nicely!

Officer Liang didn’t put on airs. He received the business card, took a look at it, then smiled. “So you’re into this kind of business.”

“Don’t laugh at us. It’s just the way we make ends meet.” Li Mazi laughed and patted my shoulder. “Anyway, my brother’s ancestors all worked as otherworldly merchants. Don’t assess him from his young age; he’s very skilled. When someone wants him to solve a paranormal case, the result will turn out better than praying to a deity or Buddha.”

Li Mazi was flattering me so much that it made me nauseous.

Captain Liang smiled. “I’ve been working as a cop for years, and I’ve indeed encountered things that can’t be explained by science, so I’m not as conservative as you think I am. If we need your help in this case, I do hope that you guys will give us a hand.”

“No problem. However, you must follow the principle of our business. The item will belong to us,” I said.

“What item?” Captain Liang was bewildered.

I gave him a brief explanation about otherworldly items. After listening to me, Captain Liang nodded. “As long as it follows legal procedures, it’s not a problem to give it to you. All right, we should go now. Let’s check the corpses.”

I asked Yin Xinyue to stay and chat with Fengshen Nana, but she wasn’t pleased. “It’s been a long time since I last encountered something exciting.”

As we walked, Li Mazi whispered to me, “What does he mean by legal procedures?”

I shook my head. “Let’s not talk here. It’s not the first time we’ve got involved with the police. Also, I’m not sure if an otherworldly item is behind this.”

We went to the morgue and saw several beds. The corpses of the robbers were covered with sheets of white fabric. The fluorescent lights in the room were on, which were accompanied by a gloomy atmosphere all around. Two forensic doctors were chatting and laughing. They pulled themselves together when they saw Captain Liang.

“How’s the autopsy going?” asked Liang.

“We’re still waiting for the test result from the lab, but we have the preliminary result…” One of the doctors handed him a piece of paper. Captain Liang read it then handed it to me.

The autopsy result reported that all the corpses had been dead for more than forty-eight hours. Livor mortis had appeared on their bodies. Their livers and pancreas had necrosis. The basic conclusion was that they had consumed poison.

Then, the doctor lifted the white fabric to reveal one of the corpses. The body had been opened at the chest and abdomen.

“We found something in the corpse’s abdomen,” said the forensic doctor.

He grimaced and kept silent for a long moment before placing a plate in front of us.

Lying dead on the plate was a mucus-covered, gray mouse. Its eyes and ears were stitched closed, exactly as I had guessed.

“Mr. Zhang, you’re incredible.” Captain Liang gave me a thumbs-up. “But how did you know that the corpse had a mouse in its stomach?”

“Because in this world, only the shamanic ‘Soul Jar Technique’ can do that,” I answered.

“What’s that?” asked Captain Liang.

“It dates back to the history of Shamanism.”

The oldest religion in China was Daoism. However, it was just within the Han ethnicity. Strictly speaking, Shamanism was the true oldest religion.

Shamanism believed that there was a spirit vein underground that had been there for thousands of years. When one’s life reached the end, their soul would gather in this spirit vein. The shamans had to absorb energy from this underground spirit vein to perform their magic techniques.

To perform the Soul Jar Technique, a small-sized animal would be put into the victim’s body. Snakes or mice would be the best since they had their nest underground, meaning that they had a close relationship with the earth.

Once those small animals entered the victim’s stomach, they would turn the body into a Soul Jar that could absorb the energy from the spirit vein to revive itself. The caster could control the body through the animals.

I had read this from a book my grandpa left me…

After listening to me, Captain Liang was convinced. “I’ve always thought that these things were just used to deceive old people. I can’t believe there’s so much knowledge behind this. Today, my view of the world has truly widened!”

Then, he said, “Mr. Zhang, can you trace the ringleader through these corpses?”

“It won't be easy. The culprit is a cautious one and left no clues on the corpses. Officer Liang, could you help me figure out these people’s identities first?” I requested. “These people must have contacted the murderer when they were alive. If he could trick them into drinking poison, they must have had a close relationship with the culprit. Moreover, you should investigate children under five years that have gone missing during the last few years.”

Captain Liang believed in my skills now. He nodded and said, “I’ll send my people to work on it right away.”

“Then, we’ll part from here.”

I gave him my contact information and asked him to notify me when he got a lead.

We left the police station, and Li Mazi drove us home. On the way back, Yin Xinyue told me quietly, “Nana seems to like Captain Liang.”

“Why didn't I see that?” I didn’t expect Yin Xinyue to like gossip this much.

“It’s my intuition as a woman. The way she looks at Captain Liang is different from the way she looks at the others,” said Yin Xinyue.

I didn’t have a bad first impression of Captain Liang, either. He was capable and efficient, and became captain despite being very young. He was an outstanding young man in the Criminal Police Force.

Li Mazi was more interested in the otherworldly item. “Is this the work of an otherworldly item? How much could it be worth?”

“I don’t know. But ever since I’ve worked in this business, I’ve experienced a lot of different cases. My intuition has never been wrong.”

When we returned to the shop, Li Mazi bought two bottles of wine, and Yin Xinyue cooked some dishes.

After dinner, Li Mazi went home. Yin Xinyue started to watch a Korean drama on my laptop, while I carefully took the book my grandpa had left me, which had a chapter about Shamanism. Unexpectedly, I found a Corpse Subduing Talisman inside the book.

I was excited. Following the instructions that my grandpa had noted down at the corner of the page, I mixed rooster blood, lead powder, and water ink. I then cut a piece of yellow paper that was three inches long and one inch wide, starting to draw on it.

A spirit talisman was different from a calligraphy drawing. It would work if the one who drew it had some cultivation. If someone with no cultivation drew a talisman, it didn’t matter how beautiful the drawing was. It was just an ordinary piece of paper.

It was also simple to test if the talisman could work or not. I just needed to quietly read the incantation and place the talisman between my index and middle fingers. If the spirit talisman suddenly turned rigid like a knife, it worked. If not, it was just a piece of ordinary paper.

I used a few bundles of yellow paper to create around ten Corpse Subduing Talismans. It wasn’t a bad result.

I kept drawing until my shoulders were stiff. When I checked the time, it was 11:00 PM.

Yin Xinyue was yawning, so I asked her if she wanted to go home. She stretched her arms and wrapped them around my neck. In a seductive voice, she said, “No, I won’t go home. I want to stay with you tonight.”

“I only have a steel spring bed here. You should go home and sleep on your big Simmons bed.”

“I want to sleep on your small, steel bed!”

Then, Yin Xinyue buried her head in my chest. I felt a little restless. “Honey, this shop is my grandpa’s inheritance. If we act rashly, we will provoke my grandpa.”

Yin Xinyue’s voice grew softer. “Then, why are you still hugging me?”

Since I had always been busy, I didn’t spend quality time with Yin Xinyue as of late. All right, no matter what, my grandpa has been yearning for a great-grandson. He’s a big man with a big heart. I’m sure he won’t blame us!

Right when the atmosphere was right, my phone rang.

I picked up the call, and Captain Liang’s hurried voice came from the other end of the line. “Mr. Zhang, things are not good. The robbers’ corpses came back to life!”