Xiaotao shouted at the top of her lungs, "Put on your headphones now!"

We placed the headphones over our ears, having already prepared them. Turning up the volume to the max, the deafening tune of "Little Apple" played in our ears, but it wasn’t enough to block out all sounds completely. To our despair, the music from the xun penetrated the headphones and entered our eardrums, the irresistible tune seeming to resound throughout the warehouse due to the reflecting sound waves.

The effect of the Heartbroken Xun seemed stronger than last night. Not only could the sounds be heard but also seen, but the air around us fluctuated like ripples. Under this influence, the room around us appeared distorted.

I felt as if all the blood in my body was boiling, my heart racing like a freight train. The blood vessels in my temples throbbed as intense grief gripped my heart, making it feel like it would soon tear apart.

When I turned to look at Xiaotao, I found her kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down her face, her entire being wracked with pain. The others showed the same anguished expressions, and several officers even took out their guns.

At this moment, we were all engaged in a gruesome battle against these invading emotions, too busy to save others. Bang! The first thunderous shot filled the air. A young officer held the muzzle of his gun in his mouth and committed suicide. The warm, metallic scent of blood drifted into my nose, sweet and attractive like a bewitching invitation. My heart was aroused by an irresistible impulse to die, and in the face of this overbearing impulse, all reason became utterly vulnerable.

I watched helplessly as Xiaotao raised the gun to her lips in a trance. At this point, my feelings for her overwhelmed my instinct to kill myself. I threw the gun aside and held her hands down, desperately shaking my head at her.

My remaining rational thought told me that staying in the warehouse any longer would only result in all our deaths. I flung off my headphones and shouted, "Get out of here! Go now!"

Right then, a loud voice drowned out mine. "Evil demon! How dare you stir up havoc! Everyone, take off your headphones and chant after me!"

Zhang Jiulin entered the warehouse like some sort of powerful immortal. I wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but his entire body seemed to be enveloped in an invisible aura that could resist the demonic music. In the warehouse where the deadly tune had invaded every nook and cranny, only he appeared unaffected!

Many officers reflexively aimed their guns at him, to his utter disregard. “Repeat after me if you don't want to die!" he shouted.

"Why should we trust you?" yelled Director-General Cheng.

"I’m risking my life to save you,” he yelled back. “You can believe me or not!"

Then, he sat cross-legged and began to recite, "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things. Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery.”

His voice was deep and mysterious, reaching the depths of my heart like a warm current that eased the grief and despair. I quickly repeated after him.

The officers began to chant along. The mantra fell from our lips, converging and buzzing throughout the warehouse, struggling to resist the ubiquitous demonic music. I felt as if my insides were trembling as a warm breath circulated in my body–a feeling of incomparable lightheartedness.

We tried our best to focus on reciting the mantra. Many officers sat cross-legged like Zhang Jiulin. When the last note of the deadly tune rang, everyone slumped in relief.

Only then did I find my face wet with tears, hands trembling like a leaf. Zhang Jiulin walked up to me and asked softly, "Are you alright?"

"How does it work?" I asked.

He laughed, "You’re obsessed with knowing the scientific principle behind everything. But I’ve already told you that the Heartbroken Xun is a Yin object. The Tao Te Ching can stabilize your mind, but it’s only temporary."

"Temporary?" I frowned.

"Didn't you notice that the power of the Heartbroken Xun is getting stronger?” he asked. “The more people it kills, the more powerful it becomes. If I didn’t step in, you’d all be dead."

He glanced at the headphones on the ground and chuckled, "I can’t believe you came up with such a plan to block your ears and steal your xun..."

"Why have you come to save us?" interrupted Director General Cheng.

"Judging from the current situation, we’re on the same side,” answered Zhang Jiulin. “If we fight alone, we’ll all die!"

Director-General Cheng cast a skeptical look in his direction. As I lifted Xiaotao from the ground, I felt her wrap her arms tightly around me. "Song Yang, that was terrifying!" she cried.

"It's okay. You’re okay,” I comforted. “If you die, I'll go with you."

A thought suddenly crossed my mind. "Please teach us the Tao Te Ching right now,” I said, turning to Zhang Jiulin. “The murderer must still be in the vicinity. Let’s go after him!"

“You won’t be able to resist a second wave,” Zhang Jiulin sighed as he shook his head. "Calm yourself before we proceed."

"If we let him escape, more people will be killed!" I argued.

Zhang Jiulin issued a sarcastic sneer, "Don't worry, he doesn't have much time."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"There’s no such thing as free lunch in this world,” he replied. “Such a powerful killing method will result in a huge backlash on him as well."

From his statement, I concluded that the murderer had indeed coughed out blood into his handkerchief. Glancing at Director-General Cheng and Officers Xun and Luo, I wondered out loud, "Is that why he’s speeding up the process? He wants to kill us all in one go?"

"Xiao Song Yang, can we step out for a chat?" Zhang Jiulin said as he patted his clothes.

I nodded and followed him outside. "I'll cut to the chase!” he declared. “This time, I’ll cooperate with you but I’ll have to take the object with me when the job is done."

"It's not up to me to decide,” I admitted. “I'm only a consultant without any authority."

"It doesn't matter,” he waved his finger. “Don't tell them that I took it! That’s all you have to do."

I furrowed my brows and contemplated my decision. With no other alternatives, the man’s help was indispensable, and between the devil and the deep blue sea, I would rather lie to him. Anyway, he couldn’t tell if I was telling the truth or not.

"Alright,” I said.

Zhang Jiulin held out a hand, "Glad to work with you!"

"Glad to work with you!" I echoed, shaking his hand.

Having narrowly escaped the jaws of death, it took quite some time before everyone regained composure, after which the officers began to clean up the scene. Xiaotao and I searched the surrounding area for traces of the murderer with Zhang Jiulin tagging along. I inspected the grass outside the warehouse using Cave Vision, pointing to a location when I found something. "That area has been stepped on!"

A look of amazement flickered in my direction as Zhang Jiulin seemed to size me up with piqued interest.

The location I pointed to was more than fifty meters away from the warehouse. I was stumped to discover how far the music from the xun could spread. If the murderer intended it, he could kill an entire football field full of people.

I followed the footsteps for about twenty meters before discovering a larger area of indentation where a small pool of blood stained the ground red, seeping into the soil. I tried to deduce the murderer’s movements. From the indentations in the ground, the murderer knelt down and vomited a huge mouthful of blood, suggesting that his physical condition wasn’t optimistic.

I took some blood samples and sent them back for testing. As we walked on, I realized that the murderer’s stride had grown longer. But when I reached the road, I found no sign of a parked vehicle, which led me to the shocking conclusion that the murderer ran away on his two feet.

After witnessing my investigation process, Zhang Jiulin laughed, "It's all quite interesting!"

"By the way, how did you find me?” I asked. “Did Wang Dali tell you?"

Zhang Jiulin frowned, "Who’s Wang Dali?"

As it turned out, early this morning, Dali phoned Pockmark Li and greeted him with a bunch of adulatory remarks, gushing endlessly about how much he admired the man. Awoken from a deep sleep, a groggy Pockmark Li assumed it was a spam phone call and immediately hung up. Zhang Jiulin was able to locate me because he had placed a talisman on me.

Bereft of speech, I attempted to recall last night’s meeting. I was certain he didn’t lay a finger on me. When did he leave the talisman on me? Zhang Jiulin told me to take off my coat and have a look.

Upon removing my coat, I found a talisman painted with vermilion which only served to convince me of the man’s profound methods.

A series of thunderous gunshots sounded from the warehouse, followed by a burst of screams. My heart sank–more people had committed suicide!