The Suspicious Glint in the Eye

Hearing these words, the crowd began to curiously press forward.

Initially, none of them were willing to take another look because the scene was simply too gruesome.

"Hey? This dog actually has another eye, doesn't it? It's just a bit smaller. I didn't dare look closely just now, but looking at it this way, it's definitely there..."

As soon as the middle-aged woman said this, the others grew interested as well.

Once everyone spotted the small eye, someone finally figured it out.

The short-haired female student turned to me and said, "Handsome, the common point you mentioned earlier—does it mean that this dog's eyes correspond to the driver's eyes, allowing it to substitute for the birth-date and time to trigger the array?"

I had rarely interacted with women before. The girls in my village were not nearly this pretty. I didn't know about other villages, but in ours, everyone's skin was tanned dark by the sun, and they wore hand-me-down clothes.

In my entire life, I had only laid eyes on two pretty girls. One was a female corpse, hardly a girl at all. The other was Second Granny’s daughter, who happened to be a ghost.

Called "handsome" by her, I was suddenly overcome with awkwardness.

I averted my gaze.

It happened to lock directly onto the eyes of the female corpse sitting on the vehicle.

Instantly, I snapped back to reality!

Amitabha.

This poor monk has a fierce tigress waiting at home...

Steadily regaining my composure, I nodded at the crowd and said, "She is right. Therefore, you all need to think carefully about whether you've offended anyone recently, otherwise everyone is going to die along with him."

Hearing this, the driver froze.

Then, he furrowed his brows, seemingly searching his memories.

Meanwhile, the short-haired girl seemed deeply intrigued by this. She turned to me again and asked, "Handsome, you mentioned that this driver is already quite special. But how could the person practicing this evil sorcery manage to find a black dog that matches him so perfectly?"

The others nodded in agreement.

The middle-aged woman chimed in, "Exactly! Even if one eye could be gouged out, how did they handle the other one? Did they specifically go looking for a stray dog with the exact same odd eye?"

"It's not as absolute as you think!"

As soon as I finished speaking, right under the watchful eyes of everyone, I slowly placed my hand directly over the dog's eye.

"What are you trying to do?"

The crowd glared at me in shock.

Ignoring them, I shoved my fingers straight inward with force!

My fingers instantly sank deep into the socket.

"That's so disgusting! What on earth are you doing?"

"Oh my god, this young man is even more of a freak! Things are already like this, and he's still digging out its eyes!"

"Seriously, why go this far? Since it's already dead, just let it rest in peace!"

I let out a cold snort.

Far from withdrawing my hand, I pushed even deeper with greater force.

Everyone winced, their teeth bared in revulsion.

Strangely enough, not a single drop of blood stained my fingers.

Then, a faint sound echoed out.

"Pop—"

It wasn't loud, but everyone heard it clearly.

"Did its eyeball just burst?!"

"Oh mother, I want to go home. What kind of madness is this?!"

"Let's go back, I'm not going into the city anymore. The city is too terrifying."

The next second, I gave a sharp pull.

Then, I raised my hand and displayed it to the crowd.

To their astonishment, there was not a trace of blood on my hand; instead, a small, round plastic ball rested gently on my palm.

"Huh? What is that?"

Prompted by the middle-aged woman, those who had been covering their eyes in fright opened them up.

Realizing it wasn't as bloody as they had imagined, curiosity flared among them.

The burly man stepped forward and snatched the round ball directly from my hand, turning it over to inspect it.

"Isn't this just one of those plastic eyeballs from a toy bear?"

The rest of the crowd caught on as well.

It really was the sort of plastic accessory typically sewn onto plush dolls.

Fatty chimed in, "I know!"

I glanced at Fatty with a smile.

Looks like his gears are finally turning.

Fatty declared, "This eye must be imitating the driver brother's eye!"

I was left utterly speechless.

Imitating...

Expecting Fatty to have a sudden flash of insight was truly wishful thinking on my part.

Before I could speak, the burly man furrowed his brow. "Huh? There seems to be something inside this eyeball. Hold on, let me squeeze it open and see."

As he spoke, he pinched it tightly between two fingers.

Then came a sharp sound:

"Crack!"

The plastic eyeball split neatly into two halves.

It was evident that it had been designed to openable in the first place.

Inside lay a slightly yellowish object, resembling a coin.

The burly man immediately fished the item out.

Holding it firmly between two fingers, he presented it to the crowd.

"A copper coin?"

Seeing this, I was struck by a sudden realization.

The reason I hadn't spoken up earlier was because the eye didn't need to be meticulously matched; it didn't strictly have to be a dog with heterochromia.

However, it did need a connection to the original owner.

And that connection had to be this copper coin.

I raised my head to look at the still-dazed driver.

"Have you received a similar copper coin in the past two days?"

At these words, the driver—who had been furrowing his brow in deep distress, agonizing over who he might have offended and why someone would want to harm him—suddenly smoothed his expression. He exclaimed, "Little brother, I know what you're talking about!"

"Just at noon today, I was planning to grab a bowl of noodles in the county town before running some afternoon fares. I stopped at a roadside noodle stall. While I was eating, a Taoist priest came and sat across from me. At first, I didn't think much of it; after all, at street stalls like that, if there are no empty tables, you have to share."

"It's just that the person sharing the table was a Taoist priest, and there was no reason for me to make a fuss just because of his profession, so I just kept my head down and ate my noodles. But the priest wasn't eating; he just stared right at me."

"At the time, I even wondered what on earth he was staring at. Since it was inconvenient to eat with them on, I had taken my glasses off."

"After three or four minutes, the priest stood up and left. I finished my noodles too, and just as I was about to pay and leave, I noticed he had left a copper coin right on the table where he had been sitting. It looked quite valuable. Seeing that nobody was around, I picked it up!"

With that, the driver fished a copper coin out of his coat pocket.

Everyone crowded around to look.

To their astonishment, this copper coin was an exact match to the one the burly man was holding, right down to the identical degree of wear and tear.

The burly man immediately declared, "Well, if that's the case, it must be that Taoist priest who's trying to harm you!"

"Right, right! When did you ever offend someone in the cultivation world? Let me tell you, you cannot afford to provoke these capable masters!"

"Exactly! A high-level expert like that can kill you without you even figuring out the reason!"

I remained silent.

The driver's destiny palace was bright and clear.

This indicated that despite his unusual appearance, he was open-minded and magnanimous.

People like him would generally rather suffer a loss themselves than let others take the hit.

He was a classic pushover.

While such people could be exasperating, they certainly didn't go around making enemies.

Combined with the fact that the culprit was a Taoist priest, another possibility sparked in my mind.

So, I asked, "Older brother, what was the priest dressed like?"

The driver now completely believed in my abilities, so he answered every question without holding back, terrified of meeting a sudden demise. Since he drove for a living day in and day out, peace of mind was everything to him.

He immediately said, "He was wearing a yellow Taoist robe and a hat, looking to be about forty or fifty years old. Oh, right—that priest had a very conspicuous handlebar mustache!"

Hearing this, my head snapped up.

"A handlebar mustache?"