Chapter Thirty: Abai's Unusual Behavior

Jinglong County, at the entrance of Fang Mu’s home.

“What? Another death?” Fang Mu, neatly dressed, frowned.

“Yes, it was a little girl. Her family found her. There were no wounds on her body when she died, it was as if she simply dropped dead.”

Outside the door, the constable’s face was shrouded in gloom, marked by exhaustion.

Fang Mu paused, returned inside to fetch his wooden case, and scooped up Ah Bai, who was fast asleep beside him. He spoke succinctly, “Let’s go.”

Something strange was afoot. Fang Mu had his suspicions—it might be related to the supernatural—but he needed to confirm it.

The constable nodded and led the way.

They crossed several streets until they reached a secluded house. The commoners had already been driven off by the bailiffs; peering into the house from outside, aside from the bailiffs, two people were kneeling on the floor.

“Make way, make way, Brother Fang is here!” the constable shouted, ushering Fang Mu inside.

Upon entering, Fang Mu paused, his brow furrowing further.

On the ground lay a little girl, her face pale, eyes wide open and staring lifelessly at the ceiling.

Beside her, a man and a woman were kneeling, their faces streaked with tears.

Fang Mu recognized the girl—he’d seen her earlier in the day. At the time, she had seemed captivated by Ah Bai.

“Brother Fang, have a look,” the bailiff said, stepping aside.

Fang Mu stepped forward to examine the corpse.

The moment his hand touched the girl’s body, a notification sounded in his mind.

[You have touched a supernatural corpse and gained a trace of true energy.]

Boom!

That sliver of true energy coursed into his body, making his head buzz. The thread of true energy that usually flowed smoothly now stalled slightly, as if pulled in the opposite direction by this new trace.

Yet the pull of this single thread was weak, causing only a sluggish flow.

“It’s… reversed?”

Suppressing his thoughts, Fang Mu kept his composure and began the autopsy.

It was strange; there were no wounds on the body, and tests with his tools revealed no signs of poisoning.

Though Fang Mu was now certain it was the work of something supernatural, he didn’t show it. He completed the examination as usual and reported his findings.

“Could it be sudden death?” the bailiff muttered, scratching his head in confusion.

“Perhaps.” Fang Mu disinfected his tools, put them back into his case, and looked at the little girl’s body.

“Meow!”

At that moment, Ah Bai, who had been perched on Fang Mu’s shoulder, bristled and let out a low growl.

And it wasn’t directed at anyone else—it was aimed at the middle-aged couple.

“Hm?” Fang Mu soothed Ah Bai, smiling as he explained, “My cat doesn’t like strangers.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” the couple replied politely, still wiping their tears.

Fang Mu took two steps forward and patted each of their shoulders with his hands, saying, “My condolences.”

[You have touched a supernatural corpse and gained a trace of true energy.]
[You have touched a supernatural corpse and gained a trace of true energy.]

Two more traces of true energy entered Fang Mu. One joined the previous thread and increased the pulling force, causing the original energy to flow in reverse more rapidly. The other trace formed a square above the original thread, like a gate.

Each time the reversed energy passed through this “gate,” it would leap upward, but never quite make it through.

“The Dragon Gate!”

As if enlightened, Fang Mu suddenly understood.

He had now steadily entered the Dragon Gate realm, but this reversed thread of true energy still lacked the strength to pass through the “Dragon Gate.” It was only just at the threshold, the gate itself vague and insubstantial.

For now, the Fish Leaping realm was still far off. He hadn’t even stabilized his footing in the Dragon Gate realm—it was merely his first step.

Each futile attempt of the reversed energy to leap through left the Dragon Gate towering above, watching coldly from above.

“Still a long way to go,” Fang Mu thought to himself.

“Thank you…” The couple thanked Fang Mu.

He withdrew his hands. “There’s no need,” he replied.

These two were not human!

At first, he hadn’t suspected them; their grief for their daughter was so convincingly portrayed. But then Ah Bai had suddenly growled—at the couple specifically.

To others, Ah Bai was just a white cat, but Fang Mu knew its true nature: a Devourer of the Supernatural.

There were so many people in the house, yet Ah Bai had only growled at the couple. Something was wrong with them.

Feigning sympathy, Fang Mu patted their shoulders, immediately triggering his corpse-touching technique.

It was obvious now: the couple were supernatural beings.

“How interesting…” Fang Mu mused.

With the bailiffs and constables still present, Fang Mu decided to wait and see what these two would do.

But everything proceeded normally. The bailiff said the body would be taken away, and the couple agreed.

The bailiffs and constables left, and Fang Mu was the last to go.

After everyone had left, the man stepped forward and closed the door.

The light dimmed. The man turned back, a chilling smile spreading across his face.

“Never enough to eat…”

The woman smiled as well. “Never enough…”

Thump, thump, thump…

From the corner came the sound of a ball bouncing on the floor…

At night, moonlight spilled onto the street as the house door suddenly swung open.

The middle-aged couple emerged, their expressions stiff and unnatural, slowly making their way down the street.

They stopped before another house and knocked.

“Who’s there…”

After a while, a voice sounded from inside, accompanied by footsteps.

Creak—

The door opened and a man poked his head out, looking puzzled.

“Where’d they go? Someone was just knocking…”

The doorway was empty—no one in sight.

The street was pitch black, not a soul around.

Whoosh—

A gust of wind blew past, making the man shiver; he muttered to himself, shut the door with a bang, and the street was quiet again.

But in the shadows, something was happening, unknown to ordinary people.

Two supernatural entities were pinned against the wall, their faces blank.

Fang Mu had them by the throat, pressing them hard against the wall, a hint of regret in his eyes.

After leaving the house earlier, Fang Mu had hidden in the dark. He hadn’t expected the pair to really come out.

He dragged them to the corner, hoping to trigger his corpse-touching technique again.

From his experiments, Fang Mu had learned that the technique changed according to the state—or strength—of the supernatural being. For example, the headless female corpse was completely different depending on whether it had its head.

And most importantly, the corpse-touching technique could be used directly on corpse-type entities, but for rule-type entities, they had to be killed first; then, for a brief moment when their heads emitted ripples, the technique could be used.

Unfortunately, this time it didn’t work—the two entities hadn’t changed.

“In that case, you can’t be allowed to live.”

The butcher’s knife at his waist flashed as he slashed toward the two supernatural beings—

But at that moment, something unexpected happened…