Grudge

In the prison, Li Ji continued, "It's all my fault! It's all my fault. I'm a gambler, and I told Shopkeeper Liu the news. I owed the gambling house a huge sum of money, and they said they'd feed me to the dogs if I couldn't pay it back. So I had no choice but to tell Shopkeeper Liu the news, and he promised to help me pay off my gambling debts!"

Hearing this, Li Yuanfang was furious and started beating Li Ji again. Zhou Yi, standing nearby, suddenly asked, "What about Shopkeeper Liu's daughter?"

"I don't know, sir. After Shopkeeper Liu helped me pay off my gambling debts, he gave me more money. He told me I just had to play along with a show."

"What show?"

"Shopkeeper Liu said that when I was eating at the tavern and saw Master Gui come to find him, I should tell him the story he gave me!"

"It seems like we've gone in a circle, and it all comes back to Shopkeeper Liu," Zhou Yi mused silently from the side.

Looking back, Li Ji was already barely breathing from Li Yuanfang's beating.

Zhou Yi said to Li Yuanfang, "Stop hitting him. Let's go to the Liu residence."

Upon arriving at the Liu residence, the gatekeeper still tried to stop Zhou Yi. Relying on his physical prowess alone, without activating his blood energy, Zhou Yi knocked out the servants and guards with a single punch each.

After breaking into the Liu residence, Zhou Yi saw Shopkeeper Liu sitting in the main hall. Seeing that things had come to this, Shopkeeper Liu didn't try to escape and just sat quietly on the chair.

Zhou Yi stopped and looked at Shopkeeper Liu, saying, "Speak, how did your daughter die?"

Shopkeeper Liu calmly replied, "I killed her. I drowned her."

"Even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs. Why did you kill her?"

Shopkeeper Liu didn't answer Zhou Yi's question this time, just sat there quietly.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi decided to take Shopkeeper Liu back to the yamen for further interrogation. He then had Li Yuanfang detain Shopkeeper Liu, who was taken into custody without resistance.

Back at the yamen, Li Yuanfang brought the man into the prison and said to Zhou Yi, "Don't worry, sir. No one can keep their mouth shut once they're in my hands."

Zhou Yi sat outside the prison, listening to the sounds of torture and the curses of several constables from inside.

After dealing with so many weird occurrences, Zhou Yi's mindset had become increasingly indifferent, drawing him closer to this world. Listening to the screams from inside, Zhou Yi's face remained expressionless.

Two hours later, Li Yuanfang, looking dejected, approached Zhou Yi. "I'm sorry, sir. We tortured him until he fainted, but he still wouldn't talk. He just kept muttering that he drowned his own daughter."

Thinking of the boast he had made to Zhou Yi earlier, Li Yuanfang's face grew even more embarrassed.

"It's alright. We've had a busy day today. We'll continue the interrogation tomorrow," Zhou Yi comforted Li Yuanfang.

Just as Zhou Yi was comforting Li Yuanfang, a constable ran in from outside, shouting, "Sir, it's bad! Sir, it's bad!"

Li Yuanfang glared at the constable and said, "I'm fine, sir. Tell me, what's going on?"

The constable, panting, said, "Hoo, sir. Li, Li Ji is dead! A pool of water was also found nearby."

"What? Hurry and take me to see."

Zhou Yi followed the two men to the cell where Li Ji was held. He saw Li Ji with his eyes wide open, his lips purplish-blue, as if he had seen something terrifying.

Li Ji's chest was ripped open, and his heart was missing. Even more bizarrely, Li Ji's hands were forcefully pulling at the wound, as if he had torn open his own chest.

Li Yuanfang, standing beside Zhou Yi, gasped when he saw Li Ji's death. Even after many years on the job, he had never seen such a gruesome sight. A chill ran up his spine.

Zhou Yi stepped forward to examine Li Ji's corpse. As soon as his hand touched it, he heard the sound of the modifier in his ear.

Yin Energy +1...

Zhou Yi glanced at the modifier list and found that the Yin Energy had only increased by one point.

"It seems to be just residual Yin Energy," Zhou Yi thought to himself.

Afterward, Zhou Yi had them carry Li Ji's corpse out and burn it.

Seeing that the clues had basically run out, and the only one who could speak, Shopkeeper Liu, refused to talk, Zhou Yi reluctantly returned to Old Qin's residence.

After explaining the whole story to Old Qin, Zhou Yi looked at him and asked the question that was on his mind: "Doesn't the village have the protection of the sacred aura? Why can the weirdness kill people in the village?"

Old Qin explained to Zhou Yi, "The sacred aura can only defend against weirdness from outside. As for the weirdness that originates within the village, the sacred aura is powerless against it. Most of the items dropped by the weirdness from the village are in the storeroom I guard."

"Doesn't a corpse transformation require combining with Yin Energy? This 'thought' hasn't turned into a 'grudge' yet, how can it kill people?" Zhou Yi continued to ask.

"Yin Energy can only enhance the abilities of the weirdness. 'Thought' is a bit special; it is possible for 'thought' to kill people."

"Possible?" Zhou Yi asked, confused.

"Yes, possible. 'Thought' has some intelligence at the beginning, and the people it kills are related to its own death. However, once it starts killing people, the 'thought' becomes more muddled until it finally turns into a 'grudge' and begins to harm ordinary people."

"As for me saying before that 'thought' wasn't strong, that was in comparison to martial artists. Ordinary people would still die if they encountered it."

After Old Qin finished speaking, he looked at Zhou Yi, who was deep in thought.

Zhou Yi snapped back to attention and asked, "Will Shopkeeper Liu die too?"

Old Qin nodded, then said to Zhou Yi, "After Shopkeeper Liu dies, you will have to clean up this mess."

"Then how will I find this weirdness?" Zhou Yi asked.

"It will go back to find its body to absorb Yin Energy. You just need to guard the corpse."

"Okay!"