Chapter 146: Everything Must Be Decided by Me

Could my eyes have been playing tricks on me? Yet could there really be someone in this world as unsightly as him?

Amidst my confusion, my phone rang. It was Wang Ziyu, and his voice on the other end was very low.

He told me that he had already brought people disguised as tourists into this Majiazhuang Village!

Hearing this almost made my jaw drop, and the cigarette I had just lit fell straight to the ground.

"What did you say? Brother Yu! How did I tell you to handle this! Why did you bring people in here?"

I suppressed the anger rising in my chest. Why was Wang Ziyu so utterly incapable of listening to advice?

After asking for his exact location, I hung up the phone.

Walking downstairs with a heavy frown, I remembered he said he would be waiting for me under a pine tree at the east end of Majiazhuang Village, where some old men were playing Chinese chess.

Soon, I reached the pine tree he had mentioned.

He was watching the old men play chess with great zest.

Stepping up to him, I pulled him away without even a greeting. Who knows if any of those chess-playing old men might be members of the Golden Cicada Society?

"Aren't you surprised? Aren't you excited?"

With a deep frown, I looked at Wang Ziyu, but he only patted my shoulder. "Relax. Now that I'm already here, I couldn't possibly let you bear the brunt of all this alone."

Wang Ziyu smiled slightly at me, and before I could speak, he pulled a document out from inside his coat. "Keep this safe. Sign it and give it back to me when you have a moment. This is your appointment letter. From this moment on, the Golden Cicada Society Special Investigation Team is officially established, and you are our special consultant."

Looking at this appointment letter, the harsh words I had prepared to lecture Wang Ziyu with were forced right back down my throat.

"You're the team leader?"

"I'm the deputy team leader. The leader was dispatched from above, though it will take a few more days for them to arrive." Wang Ziyu looked around and said, "Before the team leader arrives, don't I want to present him with a grand gift?"

"A grand gift? My dear Brother Yu, spare me. The situation here is extremely complicated; don't end up burying yourself here."

"Don't I still have you?"

Wang Ziyu laughed and punched me lightly in the chest. "Alright, now that I'm here and I've gone to all the trouble of deploying the men, if you tell us to leave now, the brothers won't agree."

Wang Ziyu chuckled and continued, "I promise you, from now on, all our actions will be under your command, okay? Stop wearing such a long face."

Could I not wear a long face? I really didn't want a repeat of what happened to Team Leader Cui.

However, it was unrealistic to send them back now, so I gave Wang Ziyu an order for everyone.

From now on, forget your identity as police officers. You are simply here as tourists.

If you discover anything unusual during this time, do not act rashly. Report it to me immediately.

Wang Ziyu readily agreed. "That's no problem at all, but now we need to go check out the courtyard you mentioned."

Seeing Wang Ziyu's attitude, I knew this trip to Majiazhuang Village wasn't going to be simple.

As I led him toward the courtyard, I also filled him in on everything that had happened to me since I arrived here.

"All the video footage is in the recorder; you guys can check it out yourselves later."

By then, I had led him to the entrance of the courtyard. Pointing at the gates, I said, "It's right inside."

Wang Ziyu made a move to go straight in, but I grabbed him and pulled him back. Going in right now was pointless and might even expose us.

I dragged him back to my quarters. "Why did you pull me back?"

"Going in won't change a thing. You said that from now on, everything goes according to my instructions. I'm ordering you to act like a tourist and take pictures everywhere, paying special attention to the staff working inside Majiazhuang Village."

I paused for a moment before continuing, "I suspect that all the staff here are actually already dead, just like the girl in the photo I sent you."

Wang Ziyu was just about to speak when the door was pushed open. I looked up and saw Yin Cheng.

Yin Cheng didn't know Wang Ziyu was coming, nor did he know his identity, so I introduced them.

"This is my assistant, Wang Ziyu."

"And this is Yin Cheng, our current client—the one I told you about on the phone whose partner was kidnapped by people here."

Wang Ziyu wasn't an idiot and immediately understood what I meant.

He proactively stepped forward to shake Yin Cheng's hand. "Don't worry, we will definitely help you find her!"

Yin Cheng nodded without overthinking it. The fact that his girlfriend was missing was a settled matter; right now, he was much more concerned about the young couple he had been tailing.

"Jiang Huai, it's unbelievable. Everything that couple encountered outside was identical to what Xiaoxiao and I went through," Yin Cheng said, frowning deeply. "The only difference is that the people are different."

Yin Cheng's words were within my expectations.

The seven corpse-howlers I had eliminated were likely the ones responsible for gathering intelligence, selecting targets, and carrying out the abductions.

Just as I had guessed, they were replaceable.

Seen in this light, the Golden Cicada Society truly had no intention of stopping.

"What about that couple?"

"They went back to their room. Their schedule today was almost an exact replica of ours back then," Yin Cheng said with utmost seriousness. "I suspect something is going to happen tonight."

"Jiang Huai, what should I do now?!"

I hadn't expected Wang Ziyu and Yin Cheng to blurt out the exact same question at the same time.

I reached out and patted both of their shoulders simultaneously. "You two don't need to do a thing tonight. Just get some good rest and leave it to me."

"How can that be? Mr. Yin can rest, but I'm your assistant—I definitely have to go with you!"

I glared at Wang Ziyu. "No way. You need to stay behind and protect Yin Cheng; he almost got buried alive."

Wang Ziyu still wanted to argue that someone else could handle it, but I didn't give him the chance.

"Every step here requires extreme caution. If I take you along, I'll be distracted whenever something happens."

I looked straight at Wang Ziyu. "You don't want to end up being a burden to me, do you?"

Although my words were a bit harsh, they made complete sense. Wang Ziyu nodded understandingly. "Then be careful."

How I was supposed to be careful, I had no idea. All I knew was that I was currently very miserable.

In the dead of night, I was lying flat on the roof of that couple's room, feeding the mosquitoes.

God knows what kind of blood the mosquitoes in Majiazhuang Village lived on; a single bite left a massive welt.

It was currently eleven o'clock at night. According to what happened to Yin Cheng, Xiaoxiao had disappeared around one in the morning, leaving us two more hours.

I pulled out a few photographs Yin Cheng had taken during the day while following the couple.

The men and women in the pictures were the replacements for the seven corpse-howlers.

According to Wang Ziyu's investigation, those seven people had all been missing for at least half a year, and some had already been declared dead.