Chapter 45 Gold

Looking at the gleaming gold bars, a chill ran through Le Dong's spine...

The obsession with gold shown by Old Man Hu’s wandering spirit on that day was still vivid in his mind. Could he really take these?

Le Dong fell into a bitter internal conflict. Anyone who laid eyes on over two pounds of solid gold would inevitably feel a surge of temptation.

Not to mention that after paying for his son's and wife's medical treatments, combined with his monthly mortgage, Le Dong could be said to be utterly penniless.

He longed so desperately to accept this money—to buy his wife a nice set of clothes, take his son out on a trip to broaden his horizons, and even pay off his mortgage so they could afford a decent little car...

Gulp...

Le Dong swallowed hard. Just as he was feeling tormented and uneasy, his wife's voice drifted in from the kitchen:

"Hey, Le Dong! I was scrolling through some short videos yesterday and saw that the supermarket downstairs is having discounted vegetables again. We'd better hurry this time, don't be late like last time..."

His wife's voice carried a note of joy, and a pang of heartache pierced through Le Dong's chest.

Screw it! Old Man Hu got beaten up by Fan Biao the other day; who knows if he even still exists or not? Besides...

A cold look flashed in his eyes.

If I sell the gold bars to someone else, even if Old Man Hu is haunting someone, he won't be able to come after me!

With that thought, Le Dong finally made up his mind. He hastily closed the lid of the box, turned around, and shouted toward the kitchen:

"You and our son go ahead and eat. I need to run an errand..."

Without waiting for his wife to question him further, Le Dong grabbed the box and hurried out of the house. His destination was a jewelry store a few streets away...

On the way, he received a call from Cai Kun, who had also received Boss Hu’s token of gratitude.

Unsurprisingly, Cai Kun had accepted the gold, but his reason was absurd—the family members of the person who had jumped from the building last time had sued him in court, and yesterday's trial ordered him to pay eight hundred thousand yuan in damages!

Over the phone, Cai Kun cursed until his mouth was dry. While preparing for the second instance and bracing himself for the worst-case scenario of paying the compensation, the gold bars had arrived right on time...

Le Dong grumbled a few complaints as well, casually arranging to meet up with him at the jewelry store. When the two of them laid out a total of ten gold bars, the jeweler's expression grew visibly cautious.

Finally, after a long explanation and having a portion of the price shaved off, Le Dong and Cai Kun both received the blissful notification of funds deposited into their bank accounts.

"Tsk tsk, Dongzi, though this Boss Hu isn't exactly a good person, his generosity sure packs a punch, huh?"

"He saved his life, after all. By the way, how is the investigation into the source going these past few days?"

"Who knows? Old Uncle stuck several needles in me over the past two days, acting all cryptic... If you ask me, we should just stomp that bug to death and be done with it."

"What the hell do you know? If it were really that easy, wouldn't Old Uncle know?"

Le Dong spat out a mouthful and lit a cigarette.

"Right, how is Ma Wenwen doing?"

"Still unconscious in the hospital. Dongzi, how come you're only asking with your mouth?"

Seeing Cai Kun's teasing tone, Le Dong laughed and cursed at him. Naturally, he understood what Cai Kun meant. Since they were both out today anyway, it was indeed time to go check on this savior of theirs...

At midday, Le Dong bought some nutritional supplements and hurried over to a VIP hospital room.

As soon as he stepped through the door, Le Dong saw Fan Biao holding the Zhong Kui statue from his own neck and pressing it firmly over Ma Wenwen's eyes.

Was this... performing a ritual?

Le Dong and Cai Kun exchanged bewildered glances and stood quietly to the side.

After a long while, Fan Biao sighed, removed the sculpture, and turned to look at the two of them.

"Sigh, earning a couple of bucks from you guys is really not easy..."

Hearing the grievance in that tone, Le Dong forced a smile, carefully placed the gifts to one side, and turned his gaze toward the bed.

Ma Wenwen's face remained deathly pale, hooked up to a series of monitoring equipment, except the gauze over her eyes had been replaced with a yellow cloth covered entirely in runes.

"Master Fan... how is Ma Wenwen?" Le Dong asked softly.

"Her bodily functions have recovered, but as for the rest, we'll just have to wait and see..."

Seeing that Fan Biao did not wish to elaborate, Le Dong knew better than to press and steered the conversation elsewhere:

"Master Fan, we really owe you and Uncle Zhou for this. Once this is all over, I'll prepare another generous red envelope for the two of you and Wenwen."

"No need. In our line of work, every word is as good as gold. Besides, you don't need to thank me; if my apprentice hadn't called me that day just as I was about to rush back, it's hard to say what would've happened to you guys that night."

Le Dong gave a dry chuckle. After staying in the hospital room for a little while to confirm that Ma Wenwen's condition was stable, and exchanging a few brief words with Fan Biao, he rose to take his leave.

Back home, Le Dong pulled out the text message showing the transfer and explained the story he had concocted along the way—claiming it was a reward from Boss Hu.

Although his wife was startled by the sheer amount of money, the reasoning sounded plausible enough. The financial burden that had weighed heavily on their hearts for years seemed to have eased slightly, and the atmosphere at home grew much lighter.

Two days later, just as Le Dong finished transferring a sum of money to pay his mortgage, his phone rang. It was Cai Kun.

"Dongzi! Quick! Old Uncle and Master Fan got a lead! Get over to Master Fan's place right now!"

"What's the situation?" Le Dong's heart instantly leaped into his throat.

"Uncle Zhou said they figured it out. That bug is called a 'Corpse Puppet Gu'," Cai Kun clearly had just been educated on the subject, stumbling slightly over the unfamiliar name. "Uncle Zhou said this thing is vicious as hell! People specifically raise them, using their eggs to control corpses and wandering souls. Anyway, just hurry up and get over here!"

Not daring to delay, Le Dong immediately hailed a cab and rushed over.

When he arrived, he found the atmosphere even more solemn than he had imagined. Everyone's expression was grim, especially Fan Biao's, whose brow was furrowed into a tight knot.

"Uncle Zhou, Master Fan, what is going on? How do we deal with this?" Le Dong asked, panting slightly.

Zhou Fan signaled for them to remain calm, nodded, and spoke slowly: "Yes, we've basically figured it out. This 'Corpse Puppet Gu' is an evil creature kept by crooked 'ghost masters' or 'Gu sorcerers'.

The person raising the Gu uses special insect eggs to parasitize corpses or wandering souls, and then manipulates the mother Gu to control them like marionettes.

The bug itself survives by feeding on the Yin energy of wandering souls and corpses. The more it feeds, the stronger it becomes. The trickiest part is that it is impervious to both water and fire, completely immune to ordinary methods, and innately repulsed by the vitality of the living, preferring only to dwell in places brimming with deathly stillness."

Fan Biao chimed in with a cold snort: "To put it bluntly, it's a disgusting little freak that burrows into piles of corpses and feeds on the dead. The person raising this Gu must possess the means to suppress the mother Gu, otherwise, if the mother Gu turns on its master, the first one to die is the Gu master!

Although this little bastard is dangerous and troublesome to raise, it yields rapid results, so there are always some degenerates taking shortcuts who use it."

Cai Kun couldn't help interrupting: "Can't we just kill the mother Gu?"

"It's not that simple!" Fan Biao cut him off with a sharp voice. "If simply killing the mother Gu was enough, would we need to go through all this trouble? The crucial part is the eggs; those eggs have already been planted inside the corpses.

If the mother Gu dies without its control being sensed, the eggs will instead accelerate their evolution and hatch into mother Gu. The wandering souls controlled by them will become even more powerful, and that's when the real trouble begins!"

Seeing the look of sudden realization dawning on Le Dong and Cai Kun, Zhou Fan proceeded to explain the situation they had encountered:

"In your case, Steward Ma used you guys to plant the 'Corpse Puppet Gu' eggs into the bodies of those who died wrongful deaths. Once the eggs parasitize the hosts, not only do they interfere with the consciousness of the vengeful spirits themselves, but they can also be directly manipulated by the mother Gu, magnifying their resentment. That's why they kept haunting you guys..."

Le Dong and Cai Kun felt their scalps tingle as they listened. Thinking of Steward Ma's insidious appearance, they immediately cursed bitterly: "That bastard surnamed Ma, I hope he gets a firing squad!"

"Alright," Zhou Fan waved his hand. "The top priority is to find the corpses, extract the eggs, and resolve this matter completely."

Le Dong instantly reacted: "Right! Do we even know where Boss Hu and his wife's bodies are?"

"I'll ask Boss Hu," Cai Kun interjected. A few minutes later, a look of relief washed over his face: "Luckily, Boss Hu only just got out of danger a few days ago and has been recovering in the hospital; he hasn't had time to sign off on the cremation yet. Those two bodies are still resting in the funeral parlor!"

Without further ado, the group immediately drove to the funeral parlor.

Boss Hu had clearly received the news as well and was already waiting at the entrance.

His complexion remained pale, and a thick layer of bandages was wrapped around his chest. Through the open collar of his shirt, the gruesome edges of the wound beneath the gauze were faintly visible.

Worth noting was that he had brought a dozen burly bodyguards trailing behind him this time; it seemed the previous incident had left him with quite a few psychological shadows.

The meeting naturally involved polite pleasantries. Le Dong looked at his frail state and felt a pang of mixed emotions, but just as he was about to look away, he heard Fan Biao suddenly speak up.

His voice carried a trace of hard-to-detect solemnity: "Boss Hu, this... tattoo on your chest, what is it about?"

Hearing this, Le Dong instinctively looked back at Boss Hu's chest.

Sure enough, in the gaps where the gauze was wrapped, a very faint cyan mark that nearly blended with his skin tone could be seen. Its shape was peculiar, resembling several twisted and intertwined archaic text symbols, revealing just the tip of the iceberg.

Boss Hu was startled for a moment. He looked down, patted his chest, and explained: "Oh, is Master Fan talking about this? This was tattooed on me by someone my father hired when I was a child. He said it's our family totem, meant to bless descendants with peace and safety. My father had an identical one on him as well."

"A family totem?"

Fan Biao's brow furrowed tighter. His sharp gaze scrutinized the exposed portion of the tattoo, his eyes filled with doubt, though he ultimately refrained from pressing further.

"...... Let's go inside and get down to business first."