Chapter 17 The Truth

Mei Shu's expression changed drastically the moment he heard this. His identity was already special, a corpse fisherman who dealt with corpses year-round. According to old sayings, he was covered in yin energy and corpse energy, making him the most susceptible to being possessed by evil spirits. He believed in these things himself and dared not violate any taboos, quickly waving his hand and saying,

"Shh! Don't talk about that filth in my house! Don't implicate my family!"

The pale-faced man smiled enigmatically and said, "What if I told you that the dark figure in the coffin wasn't a dirty thing? What if I told you that everything that happened yesterday had nothing to do with ghosts and gods? Would you believe it?"

Mei Shu looked at the pale-faced man like he was a lunatic and asked, "Those dead people last night… the things in the whirlpool in the river… weren't dirty things? Don't tell us we imagined it all, or had a fit of hysteria! We all saw those things with our own eyes last night!"

At this moment, Old Li's apprentice stepped forward and said, "Seeing is not necessarily believing. Many seemingly supernatural events can actually be explained by science. I believe that what happened last night was the same."

Mei Shu glanced at her dismissively, and snorted, "Hmph, I wonder which girl peed her pants in fright because of the things in the river last night."

Old Li's apprentice blushed, bit her lip in shame, and lowered her head.

Only then did I realize that she had been so scared that she wet herself last night. No wonder she walked a little strangely when she left with Old Li, as if she was deliberately clamping her legs together. I was only focused on escaping at the time and didn't have time to look closely. Mei Shu had a keen eye and noticed it.

Seeing that the topic had been derailed, the pale-faced man cleared his throat and continued, "As long as you cooperate, I guarantee to restore the truth of the matter. I can guarantee to you that the dark figure in the coffin is not a dirty thing."

Mei Shu didn't believe this at all. He was too lazy to pay attention to him, and took out a cigarette for himself, not offering it to anyone else, and started smoking in silence.

I was more or less convinced by this pale-faced man.

Although I had a sense of awe for ghosts and gods, I didn't believe in things like "the gates of hell opening on the fifteenth day of the seventh month," "water ghosts claiming lives," or "blood corpses in coffins." I felt that these things were too fake and only existed in horror novels or movies.

There must be a reasonable explanation for the dark figure in the coffin.

The pale-faced man seemed to be able to read minds. Although I didn't say anything, he seemed to see through my thoughts at a glance. He didn't say much to Mei Shu, but patted my shoulder and said kindly,

"Little Chen, you're a young man. Your generation shouldn't be so superstitious, right? You definitely can't be fooled by these ghosts and gods."

I smiled and said nothing. After all, it wasn't good for me to contradict Mei Shu in person, as he was going to be my father-in-law.

Seeing that I didn't deny it, the pale-faced man continued, "I understand, you think I'm not sincere enough. Okay, in addition to the reward I brought you today, as long as you cooperate with our investigation, I'll pay you another reward after this matter is over, definitely no less than today's. What do you think?"

As soon as he said this, I was completely moved.

The envelope in my hand already contained five thousand yuan in cash. Five thousand yuan in this era was not a small amount! It was the savings I could accumulate after working hard for ten months without eating or drinking!

The pale-faced man also guaranteed me an even richer reward after the investigation was over, which meant that I could directly become a ten-thousand-yuan household!

Ten thousand yuan!

I guess my eyes lit up at that moment!

It wasn't that I was greedy for money, but the key was that Xiaomei and I were planning to get married. I lost my parents at a young age, and Xiaomei's family didn't have much of a foundation. We needed to buy a new house, furniture, and hold a wedding banquet, so how could we do it without money?

I quickly turned to look at Xiaomei, first handing her the five thousand yuan in cash, and said, "Xiaomei, take this money first. I'll go assist these comrades with the investigation…"

Xiaomei quickly stopped me, "Rongsheng, don't go, I'm afraid something will happen to you…"

I smiled and said, "With so many comrades protecting me, what could happen? Besides, it's broad daylight, not night. Even the most evil ghosts are afraid of the sun, aren't they?"

Xiaomei was still a little hesitant, but as soon as she got the envelope full of money, she wavered.

She also knew that two young people couldn't get married without money. As the saying goes, poverty-stricken couples grieve over everything. Only those who have suffered the bitterness of poverty and are afraid of being poor know how good money is.

After convincing Xiaomei, I turned to Mei Shu and said, "Uncle, don't go. This family can't be without a man. You stay and take care of Aunt and Xiaomei."

Mei Shu took a puff of his cigarette, squinted his eyes, and shook his head, "How can I not go? You're a young man with shallow Taoist skills. Alone, you'll probably be eaten by this group of old foxes until there's nothing left but bones!"

When Old Li heard this, he quickly denied it, "Mei Laosan! What are you talking about? We're not bad people. Why would we eat Little Chen? We're public servants of the people, protecting the people and serving the people…"

Mei Shu smiled dismissively and asked coldly, "Then let me ask you, are you looking for my son-in-law so you can make him go into the water again?"

Old Li didn't speak this time, and the pale-faced man was also silent.

This meant that Mei Shu was right.

I knew it wasn't so easy to make money, and it was even harder to make big money. How could I exchange for cash without risking my life?

But since the decision had been made, I couldn't go back on it. I couldn't even finish this breakfast. After Mei Shu finished smoking, we followed Old Li, the pale-faced man, and the others to the car outside the door.

Before leaving, Xiaomei ran over and hugged me tightly, whispering in my ear,

"Rongsheng, you must be careful. It doesn't matter if we don't get the reward, you must come back safe and sound!"

I also hugged Xiaomei, stroked her back, and said,

"Don't worry, I'm the reincarnation of the prince of the East Sea Dragon Palace. Water can't take my life. When I come back with a lot of money, I'll buy you beautiful new clothes! I'll make you the most beautiful bride in the world!"

After saying that, I got into the car. Xiaomei stood at the entrance of the street, watching with a frown.

After closing the car door and starting the engine, the pale-faced man sitting in the passenger seat turned around and said to us,

"Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Jiang Yongguang. My colleagues call me Da Yong. I'm from the special task force, specifically responsible for this incident in Tuo River."

After hearing this, Mei Shu curled his lips and asked casually, "There's even a special task force for this kind of thing? What kind of special task force? A special task force for catching evil spirits?"

Jiang Yongguang smiled and explained generously, "We can't engage in these feudal superstitions in our line of work. Of course, the special task force doesn't deal with evil spirits or dirty things. Our group has a nickname called 'Xiaoling Guard.' Have you heard of the Xiaoling Guard?"