Chapter 137: Majiazhuang

Anyone's memory is like a vast ocean. From childhood to adulthood, what one sees and hears might sometimes fade from immediate recall.

Yet this does not mean these things are truly gone from the memory. One only needs the right keywords or some other form of reminder, and these memories will gush forth like a springing fountain.

Now, expecting the Karmic Retribution Fiend to find that tiny, negligible speck within Seventh Brother's memories—especially without any keywords or catalysts—was truly like searching for a needle in a haystack.

In other words, it needed time.

"Jiang Huai, are we really just going to keep waiting like this?" Wang Zihao checked the time and continued, "What if he never wakes up?"

I glanced at Wang Zihao and shook my head decisively, because I had no answer to the question he posed either.

This was the first time I had ever done anything like this. "Be patient. There will be results eventually."

Wang Zihao had no better options left at the moment. Since he had chosen to trust me, he chose to do so completely.

The two of us sat there in front of the constantly trembling Seventh Brother. Neither of us could have imagined that this sitting would last for seven hours.

Wang Zihao stretched lazily, his phone nearly out of battery from constant use. He yawned, picked up his teacup for a sip, only to find it completely empty.

He stood up and said, "Jiang Huai, I'm going outside to get some water."

Yet the exact moment Wang Zihao stepped out of the interrogation room, Seventh Brother suddenly snapped his eyes open.

His eyes widened as he stared straight at me, breathing heavily. At a rate visible to the naked eye, soybean-sized beads of sweat began pouring out from every single pore of his skin.

"What... what kind of person is this?! What on earth has he been through?!"

These were the first words spoken by Seventh Brother after being possessed by the Karmic Retribution Fiend.

His gaze was filled with absolute terror. I was utterly astonished—could there really be something in this world that even a Karmic Retribution Fiend feared?

"I'm done! I'm really done playing! Let me go, I'll never come out again, I'm done!"

Just as Wang Zihao returned with his water, he happened to witness Seventh Brother's frantic breakdown.

Seventh Brother tried to struggle free, but no matter how hard he tried, he remained firmly bound to the interrogation tiger bench.

"Done playing? Do you think this is something you can just quit whenever you feel like it?"

Unbothered, I took the teacup from Wang Zihao's hand and said, "If you're done playing, then I won't bother with you either. The Death Seal will simply torture you to death."

Seventh Brother said nothing. He stared at me for a long time, as if locked in an intense internal struggle. Finally, he closed his eyes and slumped limply back against the chair.

Slowly opening his eyes again, he gave me a thumbs-up. "I never imagined that the moment I was finally born into this world, I would run into a jinx like you."

The corner of my mouth twitched. I glanced at Wang Zihao, who had just sat back down, and said, "You take charge of recording. From now on, whatever Seventh Brother knows, he can answer in his place."

I stood up, walked over to Seventh Brother, pulled a cigarette from my pocket, lit it, and placed it between his lips. "Where is the Corpse Pool? Where is Lin Feng? And everything you know about the Cicada Society—tell me every single detail you have."

"The Cicada Society..." After muttering the name to himself, he looked at me with a bizarre, haunted expression. "Is there really something in this world even more terrifying than fiends like us? Are those people even human?"

Curiosity surged within me. Just what on earth had he seen inside Seventh Brother's memories?

Seventh Brother sighed, speaking in a tone still lingering with dread. "The Corpse Pool is at Majiazhuang. Lin Feng is there too. Majiazhuang is Lin Feng's main base."

Majiazhuang? The name sounded vaguely familiar to me.

That village wasn't very far from Jianghuai. I remembered my grandfather taking me there once to attend a funeral.

Back then, with nothing better to do, I had wandered all around Majiazhuang, but no matter how I looked, I hadn't even seen a decent-sized pond, let alone anything resembling a pool.

Could the Corpse Pool really be in Majiazhuang? Was he trying to trick us?

Before he could finish spilling everything he knew, I stood straight up.

Wang Zihao called out to me, "Jiang Huai, where are you going?"

Pondering for a moment, I replied, "Majiazhuang."

Seeing the look on Wang Zihao's face, I knew what he was about to say, but I cut him off before he could voice it.

I spoke first, "Brother Hao, you don't need to say anything. I'll go check it out myself. If there's any real situation, I'll contact you. If it turns out to be fake, do whatever you see fit with this guy."

"You can't go! You can't go! You said you'd help lift the Death Seal off me!"

I let out a cold laugh. "That's assuming I first go verify whether you're lying to us or not!"

Hearing my words, Seventh Brother collapsed entirely onto the tiger bench. In his view, I was walking straight into a tiger's den; once I went to Majiazhuang, there would be zero hope of survival.

Realizing my mind was made up, Seventh Brother made a request that struck me as utterly bizarre.

He begged that since I was going to Majiazhuang anyway, I might as well finish him off right then and there. Convinced I would die the moment I arrived, he simply wanted to avoid the agonizing torment of the Death Seal.

"Then you'd better pray I manage to come back alive."

Since the laws of the mortal realm had no power to punish a Karmic Retribution Fiend, I certainly wasn't going to let him die an easy death. The Death Seal was a wonderful choice, especially since he already had two human lives on his hands.

When I returned to the shop, Song Zhong was busy hosting a woman wearing dark black sunglasses, while Wang Lei had already woken up and was sitting quietly beside him.

Seeing me return, Song Zhong immediately stood up. "Jiang Huai, you're finally back."

Before I could even speak, he pulled me aside and whispered, "She says she's Wang Song's ex-wife. I checked with the boy, and it's true. She's here to take him away now."

I looked at Song Zhong in confusion. "Then let her take him. Wang Lei is fine now; you surely didn't plan on raising him for the rest of your life, did you?"

"No, that's not what I mean. What about our payment for the job? Besides, doesn't this kid have some kind of karmic eyes?"

A thought crossed my mind, and I understood what Song Zhong was getting at. Waving a hand, I replied, "We have no control over his eyes—he was born with them. If heaven gave him such eyes, it's his own destiny. As for the payment..."

Before I could finish, Song Zhong had already dragged me right over to Wang Lei's mother and made the introduction. "Ms. Hu, this is our boss. He's here to discuss the business between us and Mr. Wang Song."

Oh, this Song Zhong.

Doing a job and getting paid for it was only right and proper. After a moment of thought, I sat down opposite Ms. Hu.

"I wouldn't have expected the boss of the Jianghuai Funeral One-Stop Service parlor to be so young."

"Ms. Hu, have you heard of us before?"

She didn't answer my question. Glancing around the room, she pushed up her sunglasses by the bridge. "Let's cut to the chase. How much money do you want?"

To be honest, the money itself didn't matter much to me, but I really disliked her attitude.

Before I could even speak, she tossed a bank card directly onto the table in front of me. "There's one hundred thousand here, consider it settled. And I'm taking the boy with me."

Without missing a beat, Ms. Hu stood straight up, grabbed Wang Lei by the hand, and began walking toward the exit.

I picked up the bank card and looked at it. I hadn't even had a chance to say a single word; she had handled the entire conversation all by herself.