Chapter 31

"The Place of Great Evil 1, The Strange Shadows of the Evil Land"

Since Yang Le's case, Anger had been closely following newspapers and news to track the white monster, but to no avail. He also reviewed some books but couldn't find any relevant species. With no recent cases and Oss's absence, Anger had plenty of free time, aimlessly wandering his room every day.

Mo Fei had been quite busy these past few days. In the blink of an eye, he had been working for Angler for over three months. The substantial salary from Angler had allowed Mo Fei to save a decent amount. Not wanting to spend frivolously, he invested part of his funds and saw satisfactory returns. Hence, he developed an interest in economics and finance, constantly burying himself in books on the subject.

Anger showed a dismissive attitude towards all books related to numbers. Seeing Mofei busy managing his gallery business and self-learning from books, he had no choice but to wander half the day, then spend the other half painting in his studio.

This tranquility lasted for over half a month, so peaceful that Mofei almost forgot Anger was a detective, until suddenly, one day, a visitor arrived.

That morning at nine, while Mofei was reading and pondering what to cook for lunch, he heard the doorbell. A middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes walked in.

The man, in his thirties, was not tall but somewhat plump, with a crew cut, hair slicked with oil, a hint of cologne, impeccably ironed suit, and a neatly groomed beard, indicating a person who pays attention to his appearance.

Mofei couldn't immediately discern the man's background and asked, "Sir, are you here to buy a painting?"

The man pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. The weather was not hot, even a bit cool in the mornings and evenings, so wearing so much shouldn't be too warm. Mofei noticed the man's nervousness, stood up, and asked, "Who are you looking for?"

"Uh," the man pulled out a piece of paper from his suit pants pocket, read the address on it, and asked, "Is this the place?"

"Yes," Mofei nodded.

"Uh, I'm looking for someone named Anger," the man said anxiously, "My name is Zheng Jiu, a friend referred me here."

Mofei nodded and asked, "What's your friend's name?"

"Well, he's a fortune teller named Xia Fan. I ran into some trouble, and he said Anger could help me."

Mofei nodded, understanding that the man had come for help, possibly with a case. He looked up towards the upstairs studio and called out, "Anger!"

About three seconds later, Anger pushed open the door, peeked his head out to look downstairs, and seeing another person there, he understood a case had come in. So, he walked out of his studio and descended the stairs leisurely. Mofei was genuinely worried for him, thinking, "Don't fall now, a clumsy tumble would be embarrassingly out of place."

Fortunately, Anger managed well this time, not misstepping and landing safely.

"Uh... are you Anger?" Zheng Jiu seemed a bit surprised, adding, "You know Xia Fan, right?"

Anger looked at him and asked, "What trouble have you encountered?"

Mofei gestured for Zheng Jiu to sit on the sofa, then turned to fetch tea from the kitchen.

Truth be told, at first, Zheng Jiu thought Mofei was Anger, given his appearance and build, fitting the profile of a private detective. But upon seeing the real Anger, he hesitated, wondering if Xia Fan was playing a trick on him. Anger looked young, delicate, and somewhat frail – could he really be a detective?

Seeing his silence, Anger said, "Xia Fan didn’t deceive you, I should be able to solve your problem. Besides, detectives don't need to be strong, just smart enough." As he spoke, Mofei had already brought the tea, expertly handing Zheng Jiu a cup of green tea, and serving Anger his preferred black tea with two cubes of sugar and a spoonful of milk... Mofei thought Anger's tea habit was a bit too sweet, but considering his mental exertion, extra sugar was probably necessary.

"I didn't mean that," Zheng Jiu said with an awkward smile. "I really have an urgent matter to resolve, and if it’s not solved, I fear I might not live much longer."

Both Anger and Mofei were startled, exchanging glances before looking at him. Anger asked, "Explain in more detail."

"Alright," Zheng Jiu took a sip of tea, steadying his breath, and said to Anger and Mofei, "I’m a contractor. Recently, I won a bid for a piece of land, planning to build a theme park."

Mofei thought for a moment and asked, "A theme park? Is it the 'Fairy Tale World' theme park mentioned in the newspapers? The bidding price seemed quite reasonable."

Anger blinked at Mofei, and Mofei continued, "That one, it was in the financial news... With the rising property prices, buying land for a theme park at that price is quite a deal."

Anger glanced at him, silent. He read all kinds of newspapers, except for the financial section, which he disliked.

"Uh, yes," the businessman nodded. "Although our city is large, it lacks a proper theme park. The few amusement parks we have are quite small. Luckily, I have experience working as a senior executive in large theme parks, so I'm confident in managing this."

"Hmm," Anger nodded, seemingly uninterested, and asked Zheng Jiu, "This sounds like a good thing. How does it put your life in danger?"

"Here's the thing... The construction of the theme park has already begun, and I hired a renowned designer for it... But recently, some strange occurrences have been happening at the site," Zheng Jiu swallowed, "It's quite frightening."

"At the construction site?" Anger's interest piqued slightly. "What kind of strange occurrences?"

"Look at these," Zheng Jiu said, taking an envelope from his pocket. He opened it and pulled out several photos, "These were taken at a construction site at night. Take a look."

Anger examined the photos and frowned slightly. The scene in the photos was indeed a construction site, dimly lit, with two figures standing side by side amidst the rubble. They were dressed oddly, with floral headdresses, beaded chests, and black silk official robes embroidered with wave patterns, featuring a blue patch with golden sun and mountains, and a barely discernible animal, perhaps a tiger.

Indeed, the two figures standing side by side were dressed in Qing dynasty attire. Strangely, their heads hung forward onto their chests as if their necks were soft, their feet dangling in the air, hovering over the construction rubble. In the dim night, they appeared eerily surreal.

Angler looked at the photo for a while, then passed it to Mo Fei, and looked at the second one, which showed the same two Qing Dynasty figures, but this time from a side angle. There were about a dozen photos in total, capturing these two individuals from various angles: top, bottom, left, and right.

The last photo, without the Qing dynasty figures, was taken during the day. However, the scene was enveloped in mist, as if the construction site was shrouded in dense fog. In the thick mist, a woman in white clothing could be faintly seen, standing with her back to the camera, her lower half missing.

Having looked through all the photos, Anger leaned back on the sofa with his tea and asked, "What's the story with these photos?"

"Several security guards stationed at the site claim it's haunted, with ghostly occurrences at night," Zheng Jiu shook his head, sighing. "I didn't believe it at first, but then someone showed me these photos, and I started to doubt. So, I installed cameras around the site, like on streetlights and scaffolding, and that's how these images were captured." As he spoke, he pulled out a CD.

Mofei took the CD and played it on a laptop. They saw in the pitch-dark night of the construction site, the two Qing dynasty ghosts floating eerily, creating a sinister and frightening scene.

Clearly intrigued, Angler crossed his legs with interest, stroked his chin thoughtfully, and asked Zheng Jiu, "Do you think these are ghosts?"

"That's what I thought too," Zheng Jiu sighed helplessly, "I'm not a local. I came here to invest. Later, I asked some local friends, and they said, 'You think such a prime location could be bought so cheaply? It's because the place is unclean. It used to be a school where several students died without reason. Many people claimed to have seen ghosts. After the school moved, the site was demolished, making way for this land. A Feng Shui master said it was originally a place for executing prisoners, with too many aggrieved spirits underground. It's a cursed land – buildings collapse, residents die, no one escapes. There's only one outcome for opening a theme park there...'"

Angler and Mo Fei turned to Zheng Jiu, who ominously said, "If a theme park opens there, more people will be harmed by vengeful spirits... Then my theme park would collapse, and the investment would be lost, a massive loss... But honestly, losing money is a small matter, losing my life is a serious one!"

"Indeed, quite troublesome," Angler nodded and then asked Zheng Jiu, "But you're talking about something that would happen later. Why did you just say that you can't be saved and will die soon?"

"Ah..." Zheng Jiu sighed and shook his head, "These past few nights, I've had nightmares. The first night, I felt a zombie approaching my window. When I slowly opened my eyes, it was really staring at me from outside. A few days later, I dreamt it entered my room, and when I opened my eyes, it was standing in the middle of the room."

"You mean, those two Qing Dynasty figures?"

"Yes," nodded Zheng Jiu, "As soon as I turn on the lights, they disappear, very quickly. But when I turn off the lights, they come back. This happened several times, and now I dare not sleep without the lights on."

"You sleep at the construction site?" Mo Fei asked in surprise, "Not in a hotel?"

Zheng Jiu shook his head, "The site is rushed day and night, and I prefer staying in a rented house nearby. It's been my habit for many years."

"And then?" Angler urged, "What did the ghosts do to you?"

"Nothing yet," Zheng Jiu helplessly shook his head, "They should come tonight, maybe they'll do something then."

"How can you be so sure?" Angler looked at him skeptically.

"Ah..." Zheng Jiu gave a wry smile and shook his head, "The night before last, they drew the knives from their waists and stared at me with ill intent."

Mo Fei felt a chill down his spine upon hearing this. It was too bizarre – either Zheng Jiu was spouting nonsense from a dream, or it was truly a ghostly encounter.

"I initially wanted Xia Fan to check the Feng Shui for me, but he said that my problem couldn't be solved by Feng Shui," Zheng Jiu looked at Angler, "He gave me your address, saying only you could help me."

Mo Fei looked at Angler, who seemed very interested in the photos, gazing at them for a long while before patting Mo Fei and saying, "Mo Fei, let's visit the construction site tonight."