The Tale Never Ends Chapter 138 Checkmating The Weasels

Chongxi was already pestering us to get a move on even as we barely finished lunch. He was anxious to meet the farmer, this being the first time he had handled a case by himself.

The farmer had already completed his work of flipping the fertilizers into the ground when we reached his fields. He immediately tossed his cigarette to the ground and grounded it with his boot when he saw us stopping the car and got up to his feet, walking towards us with brisk steps. He was in good spirits; offering each of us a cigarette while thanking us, "What a tall order you've accomplished indeed! You guys are the real deal!" Real, of course, I mused wryly, we are as real as it gets. Chongxi chuckled gleefully, extremely pleased at himself, "Don't mention it! It's just a simple task for us!"

I breathed and exhaled a puff of smoke from my cigarette. "Would you like to have a look at the weasel, or weasels, which have harmed your chickens?" My question seemed to have caught the farmer off-guard. Stunned for a second, he replied tentatively, "O-of course, I do..." I simply chuckled. Chongxi was equally surprised himself, although he too began to snicker as Lin Feng was grinning with his cigarette between his lips. He has realized what I was up to. "Make some signboards," he told another farmer, "Write down the message 'Caution: Explosive Mines Underground. Keep away!' and then stick the signs around here," his finger pointing at the spot where he stood. He flashed a devious smile at Chongxi and me.

A little more than an hour pa.s.sed, and two elder men came walking to the fields with several signboards. With Lin Feng's instructions, the signs were stuck into several spots along the edges of the field.

The work was done by four in the evening and the presages of dusk were beginning to show in the faraway sky. I stood up, pulling a strip of talismanic charm from my pocket, a Charm of Divine Sight. With a curt mutter of "open", the piece of paper burst into flames, and my sight immediately changed. The Charm of Divine Sight grants a temporary and weaker simulation of the actual Divine Sight to its user.

I peered around and saw a ghost standing by one of the paths just beside the fields. I waved to the ghost and called out to him, "Hey, you! Come here!" The spirit was shocked to see a human calling out to him. He looked around and saw that there was no one else around him and pointed to himself inquiringly. I nodded hard and yelled again, "Yeah, you! Come here!" The ghost drifted towards me. "What do you want?" he asked, and I smiled, "Do you know how to cast Ghost Barriers?" He shook his head, "Nope." "No matter, go look for three more ghosts. Anyone would do." Knowing that I am hardly an ordinary person, he turned and vanished. Before long, he came back, bringing with him three ghosts – two male and one female. From their appearance, they were well past their teens when they met their deaths.

I a.s.signed each of the ghosts to four locations around the field, "Each of you will stand here, here, here and here..." I pointed to four different spots and left them orders, "Wait until the night. Do not stray from these spots. But if something comes your way, do this..."

When everything was ready, I retreated out of the field, wearing a broad smile on my face. The farmers were waiting for outside by the road. I spoke to the farmer, the one who looked for our help, saying, "Bring as many people as you can tomorrow morning! You'll enjoy a show of weasels running a marathon!" The farmer tried inviting us for dinner at his home, but we declined respectfully and promptly left.

We arrived back to Wu Zhong at six in the evening. It was already dark, and the streets were filled with blazing rows of lights from cars choked at the intersection due to the busy traffic. The jam on the streets was not helped by everyone rus.h.i.+ng to reach home after work and the restlessness of being caught in the middle of the chaotic clamor and tumult grew incessantly. For more than half an hour, our journey was stymied by the rush hour traffic that it was almost seven when we were finally before the entrance of the Center. A van was parked just outside. Clients surely, I thought, and I quickly got off and went inside.

A young couple in their early thirties stood up at once as I walked through the door, smiling benignly at me. Yuanyuan and her friend were just beside them and Yuanyuan quickly introduced, gesturing at me, "This is the Head Person of this center." The man and wife came forward and we shook hands, as Yuanyuan added, "This couple is our neighbor from our village. They have encountered a problem and they need some help. Since I was here when they called us, I decided to ask them to wait for you here." I nodded and said to them, "Please, have a seat. So, how can I help you?"

"Please, Sir! We need your help! It's my husband!" The woman screamed first. Her finger was jabbed straight at her husband. I studied him with my Spirit Sight on and found a faint whiff of demonic aura shrouded over him like perfume on a lady, although the aura was too weak to do him any harm. I went to the door, thinking that the couple was here to request for Chongxi's fortune-telling services, and stood there and yelled, "Hey, Chongxi! You're up!" He heard me and came running over as I walked back in. "So, what is it that you wish to find out?" Chongxi came in just in time to hear the lady explaining, "We love fis.h.i.+ng. Last Sunday, we went to a lake nearby. But instead of getting fish, my husband fell into the water! I was just in the car at that time when I saw him in the water. I ran quickly to him and a few other anglers just nearby came over to help him up. He swallowed a few gulps of water, that's all. The strange thing is, my husband knows how to swim! But he nearly drowned! Something was pulling at his leg when he was in the water, he said, although everyone, me included, did not believe him initially. Some of the other men even teased at him for trying to lie! Finally, we decided to call it a day and head home. But when we reached home, I discovered that his calf... Maybe it's better if you see it yourself!"

The man rolled up his pants and there was a very visible swell on his calf.

My hand snuck into my pocket and I extracted my Spirit Gourd. With a little spell, a black foul aura which had been swirling over the swelling was drawn into my Gourd. It was a foul, demonic aura for sure, although it was faint and weak, posing no danger to humans. "So... This is what you want us to see? This swelling?" Chongxi uttered in dumb incredulity at the man. Chongxi reached forward and was about to ask the man about his birthdates for the fortune-telling, but I cut him short. "Your husband is safe, there's nothing to worry about," I said quickly to the woman, "So is there anything else we can help you with?" "I need you to help us see if anything has followed us home since our fis.h.i.+ng trip at the pond!" The woman exclaimed, "Will it affect our fortune and our futures? Was it really something sinister lurking in the pool? Something which had yanked his leg in the pond?!"

"No, no. It's only underwater weed or some other vegetation that coiled around his leg when he was in the water. I'm sure of it. It's nothing paranormal, so nothing has affected your fortune. Don't worry. Just enjoy yourselves when you go fis.h.i.+ng again and be careful. We'll not charge you this time but do not hesitate to come back to us if you have any inquiries!" I stood up and extended a hand to shake theirs. The husband and wife were relieved and was comforted by our reputation. They shook our hands gratefully and left.

As soon as I saw them out the door, Chongxi grumbled, "A dark smog is hanging over them. It's clear as day that they are in terrible fortunes! Why are you showing them out! Do you not want money?!" "Of course I can see that too," I replied, "I know that the swelling is not caused by anything ordinary. But they are safe now. Something tells me that the misfortune they now endure will be part of their destiny. We will not interfere with that. As for the malevolent ent.i.ty responsible for this, it will be of no more concern to this couple. That is why we will not collect payment from them. But I had kept the foul aura so that we could track it down. We will tell the couple nothing of this since they are merely bystanders caught up into this. They will never dare go near any pond to fish again if they know the truth."

Chongxi was left dazed and speechless. For a moment, he was speechless, before he said, "So... You mean..." I set alight another cigarette. "We'll have a look at the pond after dinner and eliminate whatever is that which lurks inside." "All right, dinner!" Yuan Chongxi quipped with delight. Having witnessed the whole episode, Yuanyuan stifled a giggle, "You moron! Food is all that matters to you!"

Apart from the word "dinner", Chongxi seemed to have barely heard a word I said. Unlike me, who had grown to become insensitive to Chongxi's sensitivity towards food, Yuanyuan could not hold back a snort at his shenanigan.

I made a phone call to Edelweiss to ask her to get us dinner on her way to the Center. Once we had finished dinner, we made our way westward towards Linnancangzhen town, with Yuanyuan and her friend directing us.