Chapter Eighty-Two.

Chapter Eighty-Two.

The young man couldn't recall how he had made it home.

The severe pain in his abdomen became more frequent, and he couldn't help fearing that the thing inside his belly would burst out, spilling his entrails in a bloody mess.

His girlfriend was still at work, allowing the man to inspect his stomach without concealment; he gazed at the last talisman with a dazed expression.

He had eagerly dissolved the talisman in water and drunk it as soon as he got it from Shen Wang.

Minutes after drinking the talisman water, his slightly bulging belly flattened, to his great relief.

However, it wasn't long before his stomach began to feel strange again, this time swelling even larger than before. In panic, the man hastily drank the talisman water again.

Over and over, like some invisible tug-of-war: drinking the talisman water would cause the thing in his belly to disappear, but it quickly retaliated, each time larger and more painful than the last.

Finally, with only one talisman paper left, the man, unable to bear it any longer, sought out Shen Wang's address.

Now, there was only one talisman left.

Stroking his comically swollen yet excruciatingly painful belly, the man looked at the talisman with conflicted eyes.

Remembering what Shen Wang had said, the man, with a complex expression, placed the talisman back on the table.

Just then, his girlfriend returned home from work.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the man panicked and cursed, "Why are you back so early? Don't come in..."

The sound at the door paused, then continued with firm steps towards the room.

The door opened, revealing a delicately beautiful face. The woman, puzzled, looked at the man, "What's wrong with you..."

Her gaze shifted to the man's grotesquely protruding belly, a flicker of shock in her eyes, "What is this..."

"Get out! Get out!" the man blurted out in embarrassment, covering his belly with his clothes, "You wretch, didn't I tell you not to come in? What happens to me is none of your business!"

In recent days, to hide his belly, the man had stayed indoors all day and slept in separate rooms from his girlfriend, avoiding any intimate contact.

The secret he had carefully hidden was suddenly exposed. In a fit of rage, the man drove his girlfriend away and, once back in his room, he lit the talisman ash and drank it without hesitation.

Outside the room, the girlfriend gazed at the Buddha statue she worshipped, softly murmuring the Heart Sutra: "When Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was practicing the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, and he crossed beyond all suffering and difficulty..."

A piercing scream came from the room.

Unfazed, the girlfriend continued reciting: "Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness; emptiness does not differ from form. Form is emptiness; emptiness is form..."

Shen Wang paid no mind to the man. To him, such a self-inflicted scoundrel wasn't worth a second glance.

He thought the matter would pass, but that evening, someone came to Shen Wang about the young man's affair.

Standing at Shen Wang's door were two police officers in uniform, who informed him with stern faces: "The victim, Zhang Qian, was found dead in his room. You were the last person seen with him. Please cooperate and come with us."

Shen Wang instinctively asked, "Who is Zhang Qian?"

Before they could answer, Shen Wang realized that this was the name of the young man carrying the ghost fetus.

He followed the officers to the police station and narrated the events, slightly embellishing the story, to them.

Just as he was about to leave with the report, Shen Wang stopped one of them: "May I contact someone outside?"

The officer turned and said, "You may contact a lawyer; we won't stop you."

"Not a lawyer, actually." Shen Wang chuckled and, right under the officer's watch, called Shi Yan.

When Shi Yan arrived, Shen Wang confidently walked out of the interrogation room. The young officer who brought him was visibly puzzled.

Shi Yan maintained a flawless smile: "We'll take over this case."

The officer in charge also smiled: "Thank you for your effort. It's quite something to have Director Shi personally involved – like a flood hitting the Dragon King Temple."

"Not at all, it's you who are doing the hard work..."

The two exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes before bidding farewell.

As Shen Wang left the police station, he overheard a young officer asking, "Master, he was the prime suspect. Are we just letting him go?"

"You don't understand, this isn't something we can meddle in. You'll see in time."

Shen Wang and Shi Yan hurried to the scene of the crime: the young man's residence.

Approaching the door, they detected a faint scent of blood. Upon entering, the smell intensified sharply.

Shen Wang surveyed the room. The living room was immaculately clean and orderly. He noticed a Buddhist shrine in the corner, adorned with fresh apples.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

In the bedroom, the man they had met twice lay on his back, a large pool of blood beneath him. His stomach had been torn open, his organs clustered together, leaving a strange empty space.

Such a brutal death seemed unlikely to be the work of human hands.

Shi Yan circled the corpse, “The thing that was in his stomach is gone.”

Shen Wang pulled out Xiao Kong, now shrunk to the size of a palm, from his pocket: “Can you sense where your friend has gone?”

Xiao Kong, a naturally formed ghost spirit and an infant spirit, had an exceptionally strong sense for sensing such ghost fetuses.

Xiao Kong looked around, bewildered: “I can't feel its presence.”

How could it be concealed so thoroughly? Shen Wang was also surprised. It was one thing for him and Shi Yan not to find the ghost fetus, but even Xiao Kong couldn’t sense it.

Shi Yan took out a compass-like magical instrument and circled the room. After carefully examining the young man's corpse, he suddenly said, “This method doesn’t seem like it's from a domestic practice.”

Shen Wang was momentarily taken aback.

“It's like those practices from Southeast Asia,” Shi Yan frowned, his disdain evident. “Only the mystic circles there would fancy such... using small ghosts, creating grotesque ghost fetuses.”

In our country, employing small ghosts is considered the lowest form of mysticism. If someone resorts to creating ghost fetuses, they are deemed heretics, despised by the entire mystical community and subject to arrest.

Shen Wang: “...”

It was only then that Shen Wang belatedly realized the mystic world was divided by national boundaries.

Finding no concrete clues, they were about to leave. Just as they reached the main door, Shen Wang suddenly felt a pang of curiosity: “Who set up that Buddhist shrine?”

Shi Yan answered, “It was the victim's live-in girlfriend.”

“Where is she now?”

“After calling the police, she fainted from fright and has been taken to the hospital.”

Shen Wang scrutinized the naive-looking little Buddha statue. The more he looked, the more unsettling the statue seemed.

Shi Yan leaned in, about to ask Shen Wang what he had found, only to see Shen Wang suddenly pick up the little Buddha statue and smash it on the ground.

Shi Yan: “???”

The golden little Buddha shattered, revealing hairline cracks. Shen Wang didn’t stop; instead, he pried along the cracks, peeling off the outer layer.

As the gleaming gold surface was peeled away, it revealed a black object inside. Soon, this object was fully exposed to the air, pitch black and shimmering.

Shen Wang: “...”

Shi Yan: “...”

Shen Wang rubbed his hands forcefully, his face a picture of dismay: “Who would worship something like this!”

The shape was unmistakable, a black phallic object.

Damn it, he had touched this ghastly thing; he felt sullied! Shen Wang knew each country had its own unique spiritual practices, but this was too perverse.

“…This is a revered deity in Southeast Asia…” Shi Yan hesitated in his explanation.

Shen Wang: “...”

Shi Yan: “…It's their belief, not entirely incomprehensible.”

“Respect, blessings, but keep it away from me.” Shen Wang backed away several steps, watching as Shi Yan picked up the large black object, his expression twisting momentarily.

He turned his head, unable to bear looking any longer.

Shi Yan: “...”

Initially, he thought he understood, but seeing Shen Wang’s disgust, he too started feeling uneasy holding the object.

“Enough with that ghastly expression,” Shi Yan said sternly, “Let’s go to the hospital to check on the owner of this black… uh, Buddha statue.”

When they found the victim's girlfriend, she was still in the hospital, quietly tapping away at a computer on her bed.

While beds nearby had relatives and friends for company, there was no one beside her.

Upon learning of Shen Wang and his companion's visit, her face paled, a look of terror in her eyes: “I, I don’t know what happened.”

“After a fight, I went out, and when I came back, I found…” The girlfriend's stomach churned, she covered her mouth to vomit twice, her eyes brimming with tears, “When I left, the neighbors saw me.”

Shen Wang nodded, signaling Shi Yan to bring out the object: “Why do you worship this?”

Seeing the item in Shi Yan's hand, the girlfriend looked embarrassed: “This is?”

Shi Yan held the black object between two fingers, smiling: “Your golden Buddha accidentally broke, and we found this inside.”

The girlfriend was astonished: “How is that possible? I personally requested this golden Buddha from the temple.”

Shen Wang glanced at her: “Which temple?”

“The one where we first met, they should have a record. You can check there.”

As she spoke, her phone rang. She offered an apologetic smile and answered, “Mr. Zhang, I’ve checked your contract, it’s all good…”

While she was on the phone, Shen Wang took the opportunity to observe her closely.

Shi Yan, meanwhile, glanced at the information attached to her hospital bed.

The girlfriend, named Chen Xiaofeng, had clean features and a pleasant demeanor. Orphaned at a young age, she grew up alone but developed a resilient character, establishing a foothold in the city through her own efforts.

That such an outstanding woman chose to be with someone like Zhang Qian seemed almost like charity.

There was no trace of Yin energy or ghostly aura on her...

Noting nothing unusual, Shen Wang still felt that Zhang Qian's death was somehow connected to her.

Lost in thought, Xiao Kong suddenly appeared: “Master, this sister also has a little baby in her belly.”

Shen Wang's pupils constricted.