That was why I didn’t think they were killed by a spirit. Someone had murdered them. That murderer was so excellent that he didn’t leave any evidence behind at the crime scenes.

After listening to me, Xiao Quan pondered for a while. Then, he lowered his voice and said, “I understand your idea. At first, we also thought that an elite foreign agent had caused trouble! However, those deceased experts and researchers didn’t work at the same departments when they were alive! That’s not all. Not only were they experts in different fields, but some were ordinary office workers. That’s why we’ve decided to eliminate the possibility of an agent committing all the murders.” Xiao Quan was talking fast, but his explanation was clear and orderly.

I subconsciously frowned after listening to him. The victims had worked at different departments and their ranks were also different. They didn’t even know each other when they were alive. The possibility of a group murder case was reduced by a lot…

However, we couldn’t cross off the possibility yet. I contemplated, then asked Xiao Quan to take me to the murder scenes.

Our country had always treated talented people generously, so they were each given a house, which is why all of the victims lived in Haidian District. This made things convenient for us.

Xiao Quan and I had visited the houses of five of the deceased in one morning. All the crime scenes were well-preserved. However, to prevent the bodies from decomposing, they had sprayed formalin on them. I had to endure the pungent smell of chemicals the entire morning.

The situations were exactly as Xiao Quan had described to me. All of the victims were dismembered. Some of them had their eyes opened wide in fright as it was the last facial expression they had right before their deaths.

I’d heard that people’s eyes could preserve the image of the last thing they saw before they died. With that thought, I loomed over the head of a victim to take a close look. However, I didn’t see anything.

From the surface, there was nothing that could be considered evidence in the crime scenes. It was in line with the nature of a murder case done by a ghost. However, I knew it wouldn’t be that simple.

In theory, after the spirit killed people and left, the wounds on the dead or the interior of the dead’s house would retain some Yin energy. Sometimes, there would be some unusual changes to the corpse. For example, molds and fungi could grow crazily within a short time. In some stranger cases, the deceased’s hair could grow longer.

In the cases I had accepted before, I knew some information about most of the otherworldly items. And, I could investigate and solve the case based on the Yin energy left behind. I had never encountered such a situation before. For the time being, I had no idea what to do.

Xiao Quan thought that I didn’t want to put my best effort into this. He said in a reprimanding voice, “The fate of the nation is in the hands of the capable and responsible ones. The experts who contributed to the development of our country were murdered. Mr. Zhang, how could you just stand and…”

“I’m not!” I rudely interrupted him. After seeing the remains of the victims, I had kept thinking about how to find clues and how to help those dead victims rest in peace.

It was the first time I had boldly snapped back while talking to Xiao Quan. The man was somewhat bewildered. Then, he changed his attitude and talked in a softer tone to me. “I’m just anxious. Please forgive me.”

“All right, I know you just want to solve the case quickly!” I waved my hands and asked Xiao Quan to return to the base of his Special Operation Team. I would go to Panjiayuan, the biggest antique market in Beijing.

Panjiayuan, also known as the Dirt Market, was the biggest domestic antique trading market. It was like a holy land to antique businessmen like us.

There were so many vendor stalls in the Dirt Market, including minor ethnic vendors. It was said that eighty percent of the antiques here were fake. I’d heard that the counterfeits in this market were so excellent that they could even trick the experts in the field. It was also the reason why when a new antique businessman wanted to start his or her new career, they would come to this place to train their eyes!

Of course, I wasn’t here to look for something interesting. I wanted to collect some Five Emperors coins. The Five Emperors coins were differently sized. They were the coins cast during the times of Emperor Hanwu of Qin, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Zhu Yuanzhang. Unfortunately, since it was so long ago, there weren’t many coins left. It was impossible to have a large coin collection.

The small Five Emperors coins were the coins produced and circulated during the reigns of Emperor Shunzhi to Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty. There were many of them and the prices weren’t high, which made them a top exorcising tool.

Anyway, people did make fake coins. I was lucky that my keen eyes were well-trained. After an entire afternoon, I had selected around one hundred coins of a bright bronze color. I called Xiao Quan to visit the victims’ houses one more time and placed a coin next to their dead bodies.

Xiao Quan watched me do that and didn’t have a clue. He doubtfully asked, “Mr. Zhang, it’s just a small antique coin. How could it know if there’s something foul in this place?”

Since we had no clue and I didn’t know if it was an evil spirit that had committed the murder, that was all that I could do for now. As long as the spirit appeared, the bright light on the coins would be gone. At least, I could confirm if a spirit was behind the murders.

After listening to me, Xiao Quan nodded. Then, he asked, “Do you want to have someone watch the scenes?”

“There’s no need. We aren’t even sure if there is a spirit.” I then asked Xiao Quan’s driver to go back to their department.

That night, I was accommodated in the dormitory of the State Security Ministry. While lying on the bed, I replayed what I’d seen today. Still, I wasn’t sure if a spirit had troubled them.

To be honest, using those small coins was just a makeshift method. It was like using a dead horse as a living one. I didn’t have confidence in it.

Perhaps it was because I was in a state’s dormitory, but I was restless and couldn’t sleep. Before midnight, I was still rolling in the bed, trying to sleep. After midnight, I was weary but suddenly felt uneasy. It was a panicked feeling I couldn’t name. My heart raced. The air around me suddenly stagnated. It seemed time had stopped at this moment.

Subconsciously, I thought something foul had entered my room. I got up and looked around. There was no wisp of Yin energy in the room. However, the temperature was so low that I was chilled to the bone!

My thoughts wandered back to the fact that I found no wisp of Yin energy in the houses of those dead researchers and experts. Did that thing keep track of me?

My heart sank at this instant. I felt a pair of sharp eyes lurking in a dark corner, watching me. I gulped my saliva and instinctively turned in that direction. Eventually, my eyes stopped at the door.

I grabbed the Sirius Whip from the side of my pillow. I stood and got a hold of myself. Then, with all of my courage, I walked to the door.

It was the first time I’d felt so much danger since I had joined this business. I hadn’t seen that thing yet, but it had already brought out fear from the depths of my soul!

When I approached the door, I closed one eye and focused on the peephole from a distance. Although it was a hassle, it made me feel safer. I was afraid that once I went close to the door, the other party would suddenly attack and leave me no chance to dodge.

I squinted. My heart started to race when I found an eye gazing at me from the other side of the peephole! That eye was scarlet, just as if it was bleeding. When it faced me, it looked arrogant yet hateful.

Instantly, I confirmed that it was the murderer! But I didn’t know why it looked like it hated me. That thing on the other side of the door gave me a dangerous feeling. It was the only clue I could grasp at this moment. I pulled myself together and opened the door. At the same time, I lashed the Sirius Whip right into the void!

Attacking first to gain the upper hand was a good habit I had formed. Moreover, this time, I had confirmed that the spirit was out there. I thought my whip could hit it. Unexpectedly, I hit nothing.

The eye had disappeared. Instinctively, I retreated into the room and cautiously looked around. I was afraid that it would ambush me. I looked around but found nothing.

Suddenly, I recognized that when the eye disappeared, the pressure and panic I felt had also disappeared.

“Phew…” I heaved a long sigh of relief. I slumped to the ground and rested for a long moment before I could pull myself together. I reluctantly got up.

It was just a short encounter, but I knew that if I had to face that thing, I wouldn’t be its equal opponent. However, I was skeptical as to why it had come to my door.

If it wanted to kill me, why didn't it enter the room? And, if it didn’t want to kill me, what did it want?

After thinking for quite a long time without any result, I felt tired. I went to the door to close it. I wanted to rest. However, I caught the sight of two blood streaks right outside my door.

I was scared. When I finally got a hold of myself, I stepped forward to see. They were two big words written in blood. One word read, ‘Loyalty,’ but it was crossed by a dark streak of blood. The other word read, ‘Death’!

I looked at the two words for a long time as I was bewildered. I vaguely thought I could grab the purpose of the spirit’s current visit. He wanted to convey some information through these two words. However, I hadn’t figured out any possible clues with these two words yet!

I helplessly closed the door and got on my bed as I tried to figure out something. I slowly drifted into sleep until I was woken up by someone banging on my door. I sat up and cleared my head.

No matter what, Xiao Quan was a staff of the State Security Ministry with great composure. If it weren’t something important, he wouldn’t be in such a panicked state. I didn’t have time to put on more clothes and asked him, “What’s wrong?”

“Another person was attacked…”

“What?!” I hadn’t expected that the spirit had gone to kill someone after a sudden visit to my room. “Xiao Quan, what happened? Someone died last night?”

“Ugh, our target is not dead yet.” Xiao Quan was still in shock.

I exhaled when he said that. I signaled at him to continue talking.

“This time, it happened to a leader of the Weapons Research and Development Department. His name is Ye Weiguo.”

Last night, Ye Weiguo had drunk with his peer officials until it was almost dawn before going back home. However, as soon as he went through the gate of his house, he felt a strange chill wafting from inside the house. Being cautious, he didn’t enter the house but asked his subordinate to go first.

As soon as his subordinate went through the door, he screeched painfully and collapsed. At the same time, Ye Weiguo felt a warm liquid splash on his face. He reached and wiped his cheek, then found warm blood all over his hand. His drunk head sobered up in that instant. He looked into the house and was frightened, as he saw his soldier being chopped into pieces!

Ye Weiguo screamed. He turned and stumbled his way downstairs. Recently, people from different departments had been discussing these serial murder cases. Of course, Ye Weiguo had heard something about this. After seeing the scene, he knew that thing had made him its next target.

“How could Ye Weiguo escape? The spirit didn’t chase after him?” I asked, thinking it was somewhat strange.

Xiao Quan nodded and continued to talk. “When Ye Weiguo rushed downstairs, he felt a strange cold wind blowing behind him. His instinct told him that he was in an extremely dangerous situation. He knew that thing was after him. In that difficult moment, his witty brain worked well. He directly ran toward the military base which is next to the experts’ residential area. It was already dawn and he was lucky to see the troopers do their morning exercises. He ran to them. That’s how he was able to save his life.” When Xiao Quan came to this part, his face became serious. He asked, “What should we do now?”

I didn’t answer him. From the surface of the incident, it seemed the collectively strong Yang energy from the soldiers had forced the spirit to leave. However, after thinking about my short encounter last night with the spirit, I had a feeling that it wasn’t afraid of the Yang energies of low-ranking soldiers...

Why did it leave last night?

And, the spirit had locked onto me as soon as I had joined this case. What about Xiao Quan and his Special Operation Team’s members? The spirit should have kept an eye on them, too.

However, they had never told me anything about that. From the way they talked and their gestures, there was no indication that they had encountered any spirit before. It was the strangest point in this case. Still, I didn’t ask him to clarify the matter.