Chapter 134: Shared Destiny

The tall, thin man simply could not believe what was happening right before his eyes; it was utterly unbelievable.

"Yuxiu, you... you..."

At this moment, Yuxiu let out a few cold laughs, and with a sudden surge of force, she violently crushed the living, beating heart with her bare hands!

The tall, thin man's eyes lost their last trace of vitality, his head slumped down, and fresh blood gushed in torrents from his mouth.

The small flame in his hand dropped between the two of them. With a whoosh!

The gasoline covering Yuxiu's body ignited instantly, and flames soared into the sky.

"Hahahaha... Teacher, now. Now you can never leave me again. We, we will be together for all eternity..."

Then came a heart-rending, piercing roar. Cradling Liu Mengran's corpse, the two of them rolled over and over amidst the raging flames.

Cui Yue was stunned. He never imagined it would end this way. Yuxiu had actually chosen to perish together with Liu Mengran, ending things in such a tragic and fierce manner.

The ghost returned to its physical vessel, sealing all seven orifices of the body with the supreme primordial energy, refining it to death.

The fire burned brighter and louder, crackling constantly. Yuxiu held the tall, thin man tightly in her arms. The previous ferocity had vanished completely, leaving her face serene and peaceful.

With you by my side, time flows peacefully and the years are good. Even if I must set out for the netherworld, I shall face it with a smile, sharing a bowl of the soup of reincarnation; my heart is content!

That ball of fire burned away all the hatred, attaining rebirth through nirvana within the ashes. With no hope in this life, we shall continue our story in the next.

Cui Yue stared blankly at the rolling inferno, his mood plunging to the absolute depths. There was not the slightest joy of having survived a disaster; who could truly untangle the web of love, hatred, and enmity wrapped up in all of this anytime soon?

He got up silently, pulled the small peach-wood sword out of the ground, and tucked it carefully into his bosom.

Just as he turned around, a blurry figure suddenly popped into his mind: The Lord God?

What on earth was this so-called Lord God?

He felt that Liu Mengran's sudden rampage and murder were definitely connected to this organization called the Lord God. But now that Liu Mengran had been turned into charcoal, there was no one left to ask.

"Brother Wu, how is it? Are you okay?"

Old Wu sat dazedly in the pit, staring at the diminishing fire, his mind completely blank.

He reached out to touch his own face, then moved his arms and legs, only then confirming that he was still alive.

"I... I'm still alive! That's wonderful! I'm still alive!"

Old Wu leaped to his feet, grabbed Cui Yue's arm, and wept with excited tears.

"Brother Wu, alright, it's over now, it's all in the past!"

Cui Yue fully understood driver Old Wu's feelings at that moment and offered words of comfort.

After quite a while, Old Wu's emotions finally calmed down.

"Brother Wu, what kind of nonsense was that Lord God the guy kept muttering about?"

Cui Yue asked, puzzled.

"The Lord God?"

Old Wu paused. "I don't know. It's definitely nothing good. I'd say it's more like some evil deity, ruining a fine college teacher like that."

His words carried a trace of lingering pity.

"Right! That fellow had a pattern on his shoulder!"

A pattern!

Yes!

Cui Yue had also noticed it—a totem resembling a religious symbol, which might well be the emblem of this Lord God.

"It looked sort of like a circle?"

Old Wu drew a circle on the ground himself, thought about it, felt it wasn't quite right, altered it a few strokes, but still felt unsatisfied, as it didn't quite match his memory.

Cui Yue had only caught a rough glimpse, added a few strokes of his own, but also felt it looked wrong, and simply shook his head.

"Little brother, I never expected that you, just like Master Huo, would know the ways of capturing ghosts and subduing demons."

The look Old Wu gave Cui Yue was filled with newfound reverence.

Cui Yue gave a wry smile. Ever since he got this peach-wood sword, everyone seemed to take him for a Taoist master of yin and yang, completely unaware that he was actually a complete fraud.

Cui Yue couldn't be bothered to explain further and could only accept the misunderstanding.

"Little brother, what do you think we should do now?"

Instead, Cui Yue had now become Old Wu's backbone, and Old Wu asked cautiously.

"I think we should hurry to the town and report the case. No one can make sense of this current situation; perhaps the public security organs will have some clues regarding this Lord God."

Old Wu thought about it and agreed. These two corpses were indeed difficult to explain. If they failed to report it rashly, they might get entangled in it later on, which would truly spell big trouble!

There was no time to lose. The two quickly made their way back to the roadside, where the minibus was still parked across the road.

Fortunately, the minibus was not severely damaged and was still fit to drive. The two of them hurried all the way back to Xingfeng Town to report the crime.

...

When the two of them finally emerged from the town government compound again, it was already noon on the third day.

These past two days were spent pointing out the scene, surveying the area, locating the primary crime scene, and recording statements. After all this rushing about, they hadn't closed their eyes for two nights.

According to the public security department's investigation, Liu Mengran was a Chinese teacher at Xingfeng Town High School, which basically matched the description. In Liu Mengran's dormitory, he had brutally murdered the high school girl Yuxiu with an axe, which was confirmed as the primary crime scene. As for the subsequent corpse-dumping site, it was confirmed to be the cornfield.

According to the testimonies of Cui Yue and Old Wu, after committing the murder, Liu Mengran had intercepted a vehicle to dump the body and intended to silence both people in the car. As for why Liu Mengran ultimately burned himself and the female corpse to death, doubts still remained.

However, the scandalous and twisted romance between the two of them had basically been corroborated by teachers and students at the school.

The motive for this vicious incident should have been Liu Mengran committing a crime of passion after failing to break up with Yuxiu, and finally, realizing he was at a dead end, committing suicide by arson.

Before leaving, Cui Yue asked the investigating police officer a question.

"Comrade, have you ever heard of the Lord God?"

"The Lord God? Never heard of it. Does it have any connection to this case?"

Cui Yue thought for a moment and shook his head slightly.

After coming out, Old Wu grabbed Cui Yue's arm and insisted they have two drinks to calm their nerves.

"Little brother, why did we have to hide things? Why couldn't we tell the police officers the truth?"

"What?"

"It was clearly Yuxiu's corpse that killed Liu Mengran, and the lighter happened to ignite the gasoline on Yuxiu, creating the illusion that she had burned to death."

Cui Yue gulped down a mouthful of liquor and frowned.

"Brother Wu, do you think the police officers would believe any of those things you just said?"

A dead person getting back up and slaying their own murderer—do you think that conforms to reason?

This single question stumped Old Wu, who rubbed his head and thought carefully.

"It seems they wouldn't!"

Old Wu raised his wine glass as well and downed it in one gulp.

"If we can't make our story hold water, we'll only bring unnecessary trouble upon ourselves. Such matters of ghosts and spirits will naturally be dealt with by those whose job it is!"

Cui Yue suddenly found that his tone sounded remarkably like Old Freak Huo's.

"Right, right! That makes sense."

Old Wu nodded repeatedly.

To borrow Old Freak Huo's phrase: the realm of the living has its own laws, and the netherworld has its own order.

The police were responsible for the affairs of the living world, while the underworld naturally had its Yama kings and ghost bailiffs. As for them, these yin-yang Taoist masters roamed the boundary between the living and the dead to maintain order!