Chapter 119 Princess Anle (ETL) Part 2
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Chapter 119 The Princess is Really Gone!
The police asked about the situation and took detailed notes.
Ding Xiaoxiao started going on about her thoughts of the princess again, saying that the princess had gone to find her lover on her own. This girl’s mind was full of romantic notions, leaving the police both amused and exasperated. After she finished speaking, Gu Ye asked, puzzled, “Why do you prefer to believe she went to find her lover rather than believe there was a corpse-driving master?”
Ding Xiaoxiao replied seriously, “Because it’s not romantic for a corpse-driving master to steal a corpse.”
“Okay, girl, you win.” Gu Ye gave a thumbs-up admiringly. Then he turned around and was pulled away by Xiao Wang.
“What’s this about corpse-drivers?”
Gu Ye gave a general overview, “…In short, just like how we use talismans, their sect has its own secret techniques to make corpses obey their commands. Of course, I don’t deny the scientific explanations Li Xuan gave; such cases exist, but there are also truly skilled ones.”
Xiao Wang asked again, “Was it really done by humans?”
Gu Ye nodded, “It was definitely done by humans. Whether they were corpse-drivers or not, I don’t know. I heard the sound of bells in the video, which gave me this idea.”
Since Gu Ye said so, Xiao Wang immediately reported it to his superiors and asked others to investigate other clues. He straight away pursued the clue of the corpse-driver, asking the museum staff, “Is there anyone from Xiangxi/western Hunan?”
Surprisingly, two of the men were indeed from western Hunan. They were from the same hometown, and one of them had worked there for over ten years—Lu Qiangjun, the security captain who saw the princess leave. The other was a new temporary worker, the one who had been startled and opened the gate in fright. Because he lost the princess, Lu Qiangjun had angrily fired him. Most coincidentally, this man was actually introduced to the company by Lu Qiangjun.
Hearing that, Gu Ye’s lips twitched. This dismissed man was likely a corpse-driver; getting dismissed would play right into the other party’s hands.
Xiao Wang sighed and asked, “What did your fellow villager do before?”
Lu Qiangjun looked pale. “To be honest, we weren’t close. A friend introduced us, saying this guy was from my hometown and wanted to find a job. He was new in town, had no work, and nowhere to live, so I let him work here temporarily. Who knew he’d be so unreliable? He couldn’t keep an eye on the princess and let her go.”
Xiao Wang took a note: “He let her go?”
“Yes, he just joined, so I couldn’t let him come in to stand guard. I had him guard the main gate instead. Not many people come at night, and he did a good job at first, being very responsible.”
Xiao Wang frowned and asked, “You didn’t know him well, yet you gave him a job?”
Lu Qiangjun was quite kind. “I might not know him well, but we’re from the same village. It’s not easy for people living away from home, so I helped him out when I could.”
After this conversation, Xiao Wang was certain that, regardless of whether he was the legendary corpse-transferring master, this security guard was a suspect. After finding the man’s registered ID number at the facility, the police began investigating his whereabouts.
“Found him. His name is Fu Yonggen. He was at this hotel 2 hours ago.”
This man hadn’t even left Beijing and was staying at a three-star hotel. Fortunately, now you need to register with your ID wherever you stay. As soon as Xiao Wang received the notification, he immediately took a team to chase after him. Unexpectedly, upon arriving at the location, the receptionist told them, “I’m sorry, Fu Yonggen left half an hour ago.”
Xiao Wang anxiously asked, “Do you know where he went?”
The receptionist replied apologetically, “I only saw him hail a taxi, but I don’t know where he went.”
The police had to check nearby surveillance footage to find out where Fu Yonggen had gone. Before they could find anything, someone messaged them: [Just found out, Fu Yonggen booked a ticket back to Xiangxi this morning, a last-minute standing ticket, and he seems to be in a hurry. The train leaves in half an hour.]
Xiao Wang immediately led a group to the train station to intercept Fu Yonggen, reminding the staff to detain him and prevent him from leaving. If he managed to escape back to Xiangxi, they would have to go through a lot more trouble.
There was traffic on the way, and when Xiao Wang and his companion finally arrived at the train station, the staff told Xiao Wang, “The train has already left, but this person did not get on.”
Xiao Wang was furious. “What the hell? Was he just wandering around in circles? He booked a room but didn’t stay, bought a ticket but didn’t board, what was he doing?”
The policeman who had run this trip with Xiao Wang was also exasperated. “It feels like he knew we were coming to look for him!”
The comment made Xiao Wang think about it and realize something was amiss. It was best to ask Gu Ye about this kind of supernatural event. Upon hearing Xiao Wang’s explanation, Gu Ye said helplessly, “Those in this line of work usually know a thing or two. He probably calculated that you were going to look for him and was just going in circles.”
“What can we do? Who has time to play along with him?”
“No rush. If it really is him, the Princess’s body won’t pass security, so he can’t leave yet. Let me do some divination for you.” Gu Ye took out his beloved divination board, began searching for the person, and determined the direction. “Brother Xiao Wang, look around you. Is there a bridge nearby?”
Xiao Wang looked around and exclaimed in surprise, “Yes!”
“Go there and find a crowded place to wait for him, you’ll definitely see him.”
Xiao Wang went there, half-believing, half-doubting. There happened to be a bus stop near the bridge. The two waited there for about 10 minutes, and then a short man wearing a mask got off the bus. His eyes were shifty and evasive. Xiao Wang recognized him immediately by the shape of his eyes and grabbed him. “Are you Fu Yonggen?”
“No!”
The man still dared to deny it. Xiao Wang ripped off the mask, revealing a pair of large, droopy double eyelids, making him easy to recognize. Xiao Wang sneered, “Still dare to deny it? Come with us.”
“Why are you arresting me?” Fu Yonggen jumped up and down in a panic. He was thin, but surprisingly strong; it took the two of them to barely hold him down.
“Why are we arresting you? Don’t you know why? If you hadn’t done anything wrong, we’d let you go.” This man was incredibly strong, so they had to handcuff him. Only after putting the handcuffs on did they notice the bandages on his wrists; they had drawn blood from his struggles. Xiao Wang asked coldly, “How did you get those marks on your wrists?”
Fu Yonggen looked completely innocent. “I just felt life was too hard, I didn’t want to live anymore. You police want to control me in my living days and now want to control my death too?”
Xiao Wang was amused. “How did you know I was a cop? I was in plainclothes.”
Fu Yonggen opened his mouth, speechless for a moment, then muttered, “You, you just look like one.”
Xiao Wang sent a message to Gu Ye in admiration: [We caught him. You’re amazing, your calculations are always right. But this guy seems slippery; he must have been good at calculations, he recognized us as cops at a glance.]
Gu Ye: [I’m on my way to the station. Don’t talk to him much, and definitely don’t tell him your birth date or let him touch your hair.]
Xiao Wang replied [OK], and sure enough, during the trip back to the police station, Fu Yonggen tried to get information out of them. “Where do you live? You two look familiar, are we from the same hometown?”
Xiao Wang ignored the man. He glanced at him but remained silent.
Fu Yonggen paused. “You’re so young to be police officers, how old are you?”
Xiao Wang still ignored him.
Fu Yonggen innocently said, “I have no idea what I did wrong. I’m just a poor laborer. You must have misunderstood.”
Fu Yonggen: “What do you want to ask? Ask now. Don’t take me to the police station; I’m scared there.”
“Why aren’t you two saying anything?” Fu Yonggen made a gesture to pat their shoulders, but Xiao Wang held him down. “Behave yourself.”
The policeman next to Fu Yonggen simply put his mask over his eyes. “Shut up, close your eyes and mouth.”
After that, no matter what Fu Yonggen said, Xiao Wang and his colleague ignored him completely. After getting out of the car, they took Fu Yonggen directly to the interrogation room, while reminding their colleagues, “This guy’s a bit strange. Let’s wait for our advisor to arrive first.”
Upon hearing the word ‘advisor’, everyone knew it was Gu Ye, and an unpaid advisor at that. Cases involving Gu Ye are usually not easy to solve, so the people in the station joked, “We’re so done, no sleep tonight.”
“Oh, the advisor is here.” Gu Ye heard this as soon as he arrived, and he was both amused and exasperated. “When did I become an advisor? Big brothers and big sisters haven’t paid me a salary yet!”
Xiao Wang chuckled and led Gu Ye inside. “Well, it’s all for serving the people, even the underground police are still police. I’ll take you to see that guy; he’s a bit strange and incredibly strong.” Saying that, Xiao Wang rolled up his sleeve, showing Gu Ye his wrist, where there was a purple mark. “This is from when he struggled; I don’t know where he got the strength from, being so skinny.”
Gu Ye’s eyes darkened. He took Xiao Wang’s hand, drew a spell on the back of his hand, and tapped it twice. The purplish-blue mark gradually disappeared.
Xiao Wang’s eyes widened. “What’s going on?”
Gu Ye explained, “These aren’t pinch marks at all. He handles corpses all year round; he has corpse poison.”
Xiao Wang was startled. “Will I turn into a zombie? Should I apply some glutinous rice on it?”
The question made Gu Ye chuckle. “It’s not as dramatic as it’s portrayed on TV. It might leave you with bad luck for a couple of days, but you have righteous energy, so it will dissipate much faster than normal. A normal person would get seriously ill.”
Xiao Wang quickly called his colleague over so Gu Ye could take a look. Sure enough, they found similar finger marks on the colleague’s wrist. The colleague hadn’t paid much attention, assuming it was from being pinched and would heal in a few days. As police officers, minor bumps and scrapes are normal; they didn’t consider these kinds of injuries a big deal. Gu Ye followed the same procedure, erasing the traces on the other person’s hands. Seeing this miraculous feat, the two looked at Gu Ye with admiration and extended an olive branch, “Come serve the people after graduation, Advisor.”
Gu Ye quickly shook his head, “No, I don’t like following the rules. Don’t let me tarnish your reputation.”
The two were incredibly disappointed. Having witnessed Gu Ye’s abilities today, they felt he was practically a cheat code. With him, solving cases was like having a cheat code, saving them a lot of effort.
Fu Yonggen sat in the interrogation room, looking completely innocent. Seeing Gu Ye, who was clearly not from the police station, a flicker of doubt crossed his eyes, and he lowered his head to hide his wariness.
Gu Ye sized Fu Yonggen up, then chuckled, “Just look at your eyes. You’re destined for a gruesome death, dismemberment. The white of your eyes muddled with hazy black, thick skin, and a violent nature. Even after wealth and honor, you will fear the punishment. After all, heinous crimes will not be tolerated by the law.”
Fu Yonggen’s face hardened. “What do you mean?”
“It means that someone like you, with your fierce and volatile nature, even if you achieve wealth and honor, will be punished by law for your numerous evil deeds. If you continue to handle corpses and practice evil arts, you will not have a good end. Dismemberment, understand?”
Fu Yonggen’s face stiffened. “I don’t know what you mean. This is a police station, and you’re still indulging in feudal superstition.”
Scoffing, Gu Ye noticed the injury on Fu Yonggen’s hand and asked, “How did you get this injury on your wrist?”
“I couldn’t think straight. I wanted to commit suicide. Is that any of your business?”
Gu Ye grew increasingly annoyed with Fu Yonggen. Using such a vile trick on two policemen showed how vicious he was. Besides, he had a murder charge against him; he had killed someone. Seeing his behavior, Gu Ye wanted to slap him twice. So he spoke bluntly, “You want to feed her with your own blood, don’t you?”
At this point, Fu Yonggen had already recognized Gu Ye. Gu Ye’s face was familiar to everyone in their circle. Given Gu Ye’s current fame and notorious temper, no one in the circle wanted to offend him. Even those who disliked Gu Ye would give him face to avoid accidentally offending him and getting into trouble. Fu Yonggen hadn’t expected Gu Ye to know so much about their industry. Fu Yonggen’s expression grew increasingly grim. His earlier innocent look had turned pale, and his hands clenched into fists with nervousness. Knowing that saying more would only make things worse, he simply remained silent.
Gu Ye laughed, “You think I don’t know what you’re up to just because you don’t say anything? You want to turn her into a zombie, a 500-year-old Jiangshi. Once you’ve done that, that would be powerful. That’s pretty intense, buddy.” Gu Ye slammed his hand on the table, teasingly saying, “Aren’t you just asking for trouble? With your half-baked skills, even if you manage to turn her into a zombie, she might not listen to you. You’ll get a backlash and die.”
Provoked by Gu Ye’s words, Fu Yonggen loudly said, “Don’t talk nonsense! I have no idea what you’re talking about! You’re the one with half-baked skills!”
“Tsk tsk tsk,” Gu Ye asked helplessly, “Why are you getting so worked up? You get angry just because someone says you’re not good enough? What’s there to be self-conscious of? Fine, let’s not talk about your bad skills, okay? We’ll just say you’re amazing.” Gu Ye smiled and said, “Have you ever heard of a corpse-driver?”
Fu Yonggen’s face turned cold. “Never heard of one.”
Gu Ye said seriously, “I think you look like a corpse-driver.”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Fu Yonggen stood up angrily, “I recognize you, you’re Gu Ye! Even a master can’t talk nonsense!”
Gu Ye laughed, “You are a corpse-driver, and you’ve even practiced half-baked skills of Taoist arts.”
Upon hearing Gu Ye mention ‘half-baked skill’, Fu Yonggen couldn’t control his anger anymore and couldn’t keep up the pretense. He retorted angrily, “You’re talking nonsense! Corpse-drivers are all ugly, and they’re all physically disabled. How do I meet those criteria?”
Gu Ye applauded like a seal, “Well said! If you don’t know anything about corpse-drivers, how do you know those criteria?”
Fu Yonggen’s expression froze. He opened his mouth, stammered, and said, “I saw it on TV.”
Raw word count: 10371 (whole chapter)
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