Hao Wenming and Qiu Bulao's injuries weren't as serious as I had imagined. Both of them were wearing inner armor beneath their clothes—something like bulletproof vests. I don't know what material it was made of, but it was able to withstand such powerful attacks.
I picked up Hao Wenming's special extendable baton, twirled it in my hand, and said, "Boss Hao, this thing is pretty good. When will you equip me with one?"
Hao Wenming reached out and took his baton back. "Equip you with one? What do you think this is? Some cheap kitchen knife you buy on the street for twenty kuai (3 USD)?"
Po Jun whispered in my ear, "Don't even think about it. That's Boss Hao's personal treasure."
I asked, "You can actually use your own gear?"
Po Jun nodded. "Basically, all six directors do that. Some even have more than one."
While we were talking, Sun Fatty helped Qiu Bulao up. He asked, "Director Qiu, what exactly was that pile of scraps? Don't tell me it's even human."
Qiu Bulao, annoyed by his chatter, hobbled over to the pile of ashes and coldly spat two words: "Soul Husk."
Sun Fatty didn't understand and asked, "What?"
"It's a Soul Husk," Po Jun took over. "I'm telling you, Da Sheng, you should spend more time checking the archives in the bureau's data room."
My interest in the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation's data room was second only to the shooting range. The term "Soul Husk" sounded familiar—I think I'd seen it in some file before. It described a method of artificially refining souls: after death, a person's soul is extracted and placed into a man-made soul vessel. At the time, I thought it was just mythology, but the impression stuck with me.
Po Jun added, "I only read the files, too. Didn't expect to get a chance to see one with my own eyes."
"Not to brag, but this was my first time seeing one with Old Qiu too," Hao Wenming said. "You're lucky. This Soul Husk is top quality—there are actually a thousand souls packed inside."
Sun Fatty still didn't get it and asked, "Boss Hao, can you explain more clearly?"
Hao Wenming sighed and said, "That tall thing just now wasn't alive. It's made up of a lot of people's skin, bones, and organs stitched together…"
He was cut off by Sun Fatty, "Boss Hao, are you saying it's a human skin lantern?"
"Can you let me finish? Show me some respect!" Hao Wenming shot him a helpless look. After several interruptions, the director was too tired to argue. "Its technical name is Soul Husk. It's covered with protective armor, and inside are over a thousand souls. No matter what kind of attack it faces, the damage is distributed among the souls, so normal attacks barely affect it. To really get rid of it, you have to destroy the thousand souls inside. The best way is to burn it with fire."
After Hao Wenming finished, I asked, "Boss Hao, you said the Soul Husk has a thousand souls. Could that be about one-third of the corpse souls in the main tomb chamber upstairs?"
Hao Wenming froze for a second, then suddenly turned to Qiu Bulao and shouted, "Old Qiu, there are two more—"
"Quiet!" Qiu Bulao pressed his ear to the ground, as if hearing something. "Someone's coming."
After a moment of silence, we could faintly hear footsteps on the water surface.
More coming? Hao Wenming and Qiu Bulao had barely managed to kill one Soul Husk by pooling their efforts. If two came at once, I didn't dare to imagine the outcome…
Sun Fatty picked up a metal cylinder that Hao Wenming had dropped on the ground and asked, "Boss Hao, can this still be used?"
Hao Wenming didn't even look at the cylinder and sighed, "One-time use only. Just this one."
Sun Fatty wasn't convinced and turned to Qiu Bulao. "Director Qiu, you should still have some, right?"
"Used it." Qiu Bulao's answer was blunt. The signal flare we'd seen earlier was fired from his fire tube.
The footsteps got closer and closer. My heartbeat quickened. Five pairs of eyes all stared in the direction of the sound. Qiu Bulao and Hao Wenming once again grabbed their weapons.
A white figure finally appeared before us. The shape slowly became clearer. When we saw his face, Sun Fatty and I exchanged glances.
He wasn't very old, but his hair was completely white, and he wore a full set of white clothes from head to toe. He carried an oversized travel bag and was dragging two people by their feet. When he got closer, we realized he was dragging two Soul Husks. They showed no obvious injuries but couldn't move, like dead bodies being toyed with by the white-haired man. A few minutes ago, Hao Wenming and Qiu Bulao had fought desperately to kill a Soul Husk, but this guy had easily subdued two at once.
Sun Fatty and I had seen this man before, a few months ago at the Water Curtain Cave in Yunnan. I still remembered his name—Wu Mian.
I thought I'd never see him again in this life, but unexpectedly, here he was.
But we weren't the only ones surprised. After seeing the newcomer's face, Hao Wenming and Qiu Bulao both put away their weapons and simultaneously turned their faces away.
Wu Mian didn't say a word. His gaze flicked constantly between Hao Wenming and Qiu Bulao. Not only that, he occasionally sneered. Hao Wenming and Qiu Bulao acted like they didn't see or hear anything. For a moment, Sun Fatty and I also dared not speak. Wu Mian's behavior in the Water Curtain Cave made us wary of him.
"Director Wu, you're here too…" Po Jun finally broke the silence.
He was also a bureau director? The Sixth Investigation Division's director Wu Rendi? But wasn't his name Wu Mian? I hadn't met Wu Rendi before, but it seemed that I had met Director Wu several months ago.
Wu Rendi nodded at Po Jun, answering him. Then he looked at the ashes of the burned Soul Husk on the water and said, "I said, how can there be three Soul Husks but one missing? If you don't have the skill, don't run around recklessly." His words sounded like muttering to himself, but also like he was speaking to Hao Wenming and Qiu Bulao.
Hao Wenming pretended not to hear and showed no expression on his face. But when Qiu Bulao heard Wu Rendi's words, the muscles at the corner of his eye twitched a few times. He turned his head back and stared straight into Wu Rendi's eyes, saying sharply, "You're the one who set up the formation near the missing persons?"
"Yeah." Wu Rendi nodded once. "Want to learn?"
Qiu Bulao snorted coldly and turned his head away again.
Pojun stepped forward to smooth things over. "Director Wu, let me introduce you to two newcomers from our First Division…"
"No need." Wu Rendi interrupted Pojun, then turned to look at me and Sun Fatty. "How about coming to the Sixth Division with me?"
"What do you mean, Wu Rendi?" Hao Wenming, who had always treated Wu Rendi as air, finally couldn't hold back. "Do you run the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation? I'm just saying, these two are from the First Division when alive, and when dead, they're still First Division corpses. If you want them, come ask in your next life!"
Wu Rendi ignored Hao Wenming, only giving him a slight glance filled with a trace of mockery.
Director Wu's attention was still on me and Sun Fatty. He looked at us and said, "Count what you two have done as one for me. When you're done, send my share over to the Sixth Division." Then he threw two Soul Husks he was dragging onto the ground in front of Hao Wenming. "These two Soul Husks were specifically requested by Gao Liang." After saying this, he turned and walked away.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Hao Wenming shouted at his retreating back.
Wu Rendi turned back helplessly. "I have nothing more to do here. The formation eye of the Nine-Bend Array outside has already been broken. Qiu Bulao knows how to get out. Remember to bring the tomb raiders back when you leave." Saying this, he ignored us and strode toward the outside.
Sun Fatty looked after Wu Rendi's back and asked, "Tomb raiders?"
"Director Wu was referring to the missing archaeological team members. In his eyes, they're also tomb robbers—just a nicer name." It seemed Pojun had a bit of a personal admiration for Wu Rendi.
"Lazi, Dasheng, what does Wu Rendi mean? Have you met him before? Seriously, why does he have to stick his nose in our business?"
Aside from the Night Pearl incident, I told the two directors everything that happened in Yunnan, emphasizing that aside from that, we had no further connections with Wu Rendi.
That was how we finally managed to get through it. Hao Wenming and Qiu Bulao still wanted to check the Embracing Moon Jade Coffin.
When we reached the coffin, what we saw stunned us again—this blow was no less shocking than the earlier battle with the Soul Husks.
The Embracing Moon Jade Coffin had already been opened. The coffin lid was resting intact against the side of the jade coffin. Looking inside, it was completely empty—no corpse, not even a single burial item remained.
Qiu Bulao recalled something: the direction from which Wu Rendi had appeared was exactly this place. No wonder he was carrying such a big backpack.