The next day, right at noon, the butler was still uneasy. In addition to the young Chinese man, he brought along a few others for courage, and together they returned to the Liu family's old residence. The seal on the front gate had only just been removed. All the passersby in the neighborhood knew what had happened here, and at the mere sight of the mansion, they gave it a wide berth. Though it was broad daylight with the sun high in the sky, the place still felt eerily cold and desolate.
After entering the residence, the Chinese man walked a full circuit around the grounds. The deeper he went into the estate, the tighter his brows furrowed. By the time he had made a full round and returned to the starting point, his brows were so tightly knit they looked like a knot. After inspecting the residence, the Chinese man didn't speak to anyone. Head down, eyes fixed on the ground beneath his feet, he wandered out of the mansion as if sleepwalking, heading west without a word. The butler had no idea what was going on. No matter how he called out, the Chinese man gave no response. Left with no choice, the butler locked up the mansion and led his men to follow.
This strange journey went on for more than two hours. Just as the butler and his men were about to collapse from exhaustion, the Chinese man finally stopped in front of a public cemetery. It seemed he had discovered something. He whispered a few words to the butler. At first, the butler looked skeptical, but after hearing a few more sentences, his face turned ghostly pale. He gave the Chinese man a heavy, solemn nod.
At the Chinese man's request, the butler bribed the cemetery caretaker and brought over some tools—shovels, pickaxes, and the like. Under the Chinese man's direction, they began digging at several empty plots in the cemetery. Once they had dug down about half a meter, they started to uncover small stone figurines. After they were all unearthed and counted, there were exactly sixty-seven of them.
Each figurine was about the size of a palm, densely engraved with scriptures from an unknown religion. On each stone figure's forehead, a name was written in cinnabar. All the names shared one thing in common—the first character was "Liu." One of them bore the name "Liu You."
The moment the butler saw these stone figures, he understood what had happened. Meanwhile, the Chinese man had somehow produced a short incense stick and seven or eight ancient Chinese coins. He began chanting under his breath. The butler couldn't understand a word of it and didn't dare interrupt. He and the others simply retreated a good distance away, silently observing the man's every move.
As the man chanted, he laid the coins around the figurine labeled "Liu You" in a peculiar formation. Finally, he placed the lit incense stick in front of the figurine. Then, under everyone's watchful eyes, a strange scene unfolded—the smoke, which should have risen straight upward, suddenly bent midair and drifted diagonally toward the southeast. The smoke floated three to four meters in that direction before gradually fading away.
The Chinese man's eyes locked onto the direction the smoke had taken. His right hand began forming calculating gestures, fingers constantly shifting as he performed an intricate divination. He didn't stop until the incense burned out. It seemed he had confirmed something. He carefully collected the coins, clearly preparing to leave the cemetery for another destination. Fortunately, the butler had been prudent—before entering the cemetery, he had sent someone to bring the car around. When the Chinese man saw the vehicle, he didn't object. After getting in, he instructed the driver to head southeast.
Nearly an hour later, the car stopped in front of an artificial lake in the city outskirts. The Chinese man didn't get out—he simply rolled down the window and pointed to a luxurious villa by the lakeside, asking the butler who lived there. In truth, the butler had already begun to suspect something the moment he saw the villa.
The villa's owner belonged to another wealthy local family. Generations ago, their ancestors had also fled to Thailand to escape war in China. However, unlike the Liu family, this clan had chosen to marry into Thai society. After several generations of intermarriage, their Chinese bloodline was nearly diluted to nothing. Still, they retained the Chinese surname "Ma."
Long before Liu You was even born, the Liu and Ma families had been engaged in a long-standing rivalry. Although they hadn't torn off the façade publicly, behind the scenes they were locked in open hostility. A few years earlier, while competing for a new district development project, the Liu family had clearly outmaneuvered the Ma family. On top of that, a string of failed investments (rumored to have been sabotaged by the Liu clan) left the Ma family heavily damaged. For a long time afterward, the Ma family saw little recovery, and to outsiders, it seemed that this once-powerful clan was on the verge of decline.
After the butler explained all of this, the young Chinese man let out a cold chuckle. He then instructed the butler to investigate whether any unfamiliar guests had moved into that villa around the time of the Liu mansion tragedy. As the saying goes: "Money makes the devil turn the millstone"—and that held true in Thailand as well. With money properly spent, they received news the very next day.
A week before the Liu family disaster, an elderly man had suddenly moved into the villa. From the moment he arrived, the villa's original housekeeper and domestic staff were all relocated elsewhere, leaving only a few young family members to serve the household master and this mysterious old man.
The night the Liu family incident occurred, even the head of the Ma family and the younger members left the villa, leaving behind only that old man. What he did inside, no one knows. But for that young Chinese man, the information was already sufficient. He returned to Liu You's residence, avoided the others, and pulled Liu You into a separate room where not even the butler was allowed to enter.
What the Chinese man said to Liu You remains a mystery, as no third party was present. Three days later, on the night of the full moon, Liu You wrote a note instructing the butler and all the staff to take a day off, and not return until after dawn the next morning.
That evening, though the sky had been clear and full of stars, a thick mass of black clouds suddenly rolled in. Lightning began striking furiously—and strangely enough, nearly 70% of the lightning bolts that night struck a villa by an artificial lake in the suburbs. The strikes ignited a fire in the wooden structure, killing several wealthy businessmen surnamed Ma along with a mysterious old man. Later, during forensic examination, it was found that none of the victims had shown any sign of struggle or escape. They had suffered unimaginable pain without moving, allowing the flames to consume them alive.
As soon as the incident concluded, the mysterious Chinese man left Thailand, taking Liu You's hand-written testimony of witness and brotherhood with him. From that point onward, the once-powerful Liu and Ma families in Thailand fell into decline. A few years later, just as Liu You was about to reach legal age for inheritance, another shocking piece of news surfaced: the astronomical fortune he was set to inherit had, through the years of "relentless reinvestment" by the property management committee, transformed into negative assets. Not only was the fortune gone, the estate now owed the banks a massive sum in trustee fees and losses from failed investments. Meanwhile, several original trustees had seen their own wealth skyrocket geometrically over that same period.
Thus began Liu You's descent from a privileged heir to destitution. Banks and creditors seized all his properties, cash, securities, and precious metals. The butler and other staff eventually left. After a failed legal challenge, Liu You ended up on the streets. Overwhelmed by grief and anger, he fell severely ill and nearly died.
Just when Liu You was on the brink of death, the same young Chinese man surnamed Hao reappeared. Upon hearing Liu You's misfortunes, he returned specifically to find the now-beggarly young man and took him away from Thailand. No one knew where the two went.
Years later, the elderly locals were startled to see that the once-prominent Young Master Liu had returned. However, after all that time, his aphasia remained uncured—he could only communicate via gestures and writing.
Upon returning, he had already abandoned the name "Liu You" and now went by the name "Nameless." As Nameless, he wandered all over Thailand, making a living by offering blessings and exorcisms. He even performed several great feats, and his name gradually spread far and wide, eventually drawing the attention of the Thai King, who appointed him as a religious advisor. Due to his appearance, outsiders gave this once-Young Master Liu a nickname—Crow.
After finishing this long tale about Crow's origins, Huang Ran was panting heavily and drenched in sweat. With a final eye roll, he fainted.
Sun Fatty and I pinched his philtrum and slapped his cheeks until he finally came around with a groan. Over on the other side, Xiao Heshang and Hao Zhengyi's group had already noticed what was going on. Sun Fatty waved at them and said, "It's nothing—Old Huang just missed a breath. Don't worry, he'll last another hour or so."
His words gave the already-impatient Blind Jin something to latch onto. He tilted his head sharply toward Hao Zhengyi and screeched, "How long has it been already? Why haven't Ma Xiaolin and the other one come out yet?"
Xiao Heshang looked up at Blind Jin and said, "Old Jin, getting antsy already? Why don't you cast a divination and check?" Then he shook his head and answered himself, "Ah, no, that won't work. Your school's rules forbid divining for oneself, right?"
Blind Jin snorted and didn't reply.
Truthfully, all of us were growing impatient—it was just that Blind Jin had been the first to voice it. Hao Zhengyi gave a faint smile and said, "Mr. Jin, it's nearly done. We should have news shortly. Just wait a little longer…"
Before he could finish his sentence, his pupils suddenly contracted sharply as he whipped his head toward the study. At the same time, every one of us in the living room—all those with Heavenly Eye and even the butler and servants—looked instinctively in the same direction. Even the barely-conscious Huang Ran strained to lift his head.
In that instant, a wave of icy chill seeped from under the study's door. The previously harmonious and gentle energy from Blind Jin's feng shui array was instantly replaced by this cold, oppressive aura. It wasn't just us with special senses— even the ordinary servants looked visibly uncomfortable.
Xiao Heshang and Hao Zhengyi exchanged a glance, then leapt from the sofa simultaneously and dashed toward the study. Although they moved at the same time, Xiao Heshang was older and slower by a step, and even Crow, who followed behind, quickly overtook him.
The servants outside the study, seeing their fierce expressions, hastily got out of the way. Sun Fatty and I were the furthest from the study. By the time we reached Xiao Heshang, I heard him mutter, "Stay back—let them go first." Sun Fatty bared his teeth and grinned, "I figured…" He was mid-sentence when we suddenly heard a thud—Blind Jin, being both blind and in a rush, had tripped over the steps.
There was no time to check on him. Hao Zhengyi and Crow had already reached the study door. With a loud bang, Crow kicked the door open.
As the door flew wide, both men darted to either side of the doorway, revealing the scene inside. From the back, we could clearly see a gray-robed man with white hair standing at the center of the study. The chilling aura emanated from him. In each of his hands, he held a stun baton, seemingly fascinated as he repeatedly pressed the switches.
Zzzzt zzzzt zzzzt… Blue-white sparks flickered from the tips.
On the ground lay Ma Xiaolin, Jin Buhuan, and two others, all twitching violently. The two strangers' faces were turned away, so I couldn't see their appearances from where I stood.
At first glance, the white-haired man gave me the illusion that Director Wu had arrived. But the moment I caught his cautious, calculating gaze, I recognized him—Yang Xiao. Judging by Xiao Heshang's shocked face, even he hadn't known Yang Xiao was here.
Seeing no immediate threat, Hao Zhengyi and Crow cautiously stepped into the room. Hao Zhengyi blinked and said, "Mr. Yang Xiao?"
Yang Xiao wasn't surprised that Hao Zhengyi recognized him. He nodded and said, "Glad you didn't mistake me for Yang Jun. I hear the Religious Affairs Commission has a new chairman—didn't expect to be recognized so quickly."
Hao Zhengyi gave a slight smile, looked down at the four writhing bodies, and said, "Mr. Yang, was this your doing?"
Yang Xiao glanced down as well and replied, "Not much of a 'doing'—just doing a good deed. Helped you catch two thieves."