Zhou Huan glared fiercely at Dongzi. "What are you afraid of? Learn properly from now on. The most important thing is that we have a clear conscience and use necessary means to solve problems!

If you don't learn, I won't bother with you anymore." Dongzi mumbled in reply, "Got it. I'll go with you, then!" Dongzi followed behind Zhou Huan as they returned to the corner where the small beggar usually stayed. This time, they actually saw the little beggar. He was happily eating a steamed bun held in his hands, and every now and then, one or two corpse worms would crawl out near the corner of his mouth!

Zhou Huan cautiously approached the little beggar. He slowly squatted down. "Little friend, are the buns tasty?" The little beggar shot him a look of intense repulsion, his eyes flashing with anger. He clamped his teeth together, biting off the corpse worm near his lip, and quickly hid the remaining half of the bun behind his back.

"Kid, I asked if the bun is tasty. Why aren't you answering?" Dongzi hurried over to Zhou Huan's side, bending down to ask the little beggar. This time the little beggar grew even more tense, his gaze shifting to one of pure hatred. He quietly murmured, "It's tasty.

Don't try to take it from me." As he spoke, the little beggar turned to run. Zhou Huan reached out and snatched the remaining half of the bun from the little beggar's hand, tossing it aside. Then, Zhou Huan placed both hands on the little beggar’s shoulders, turning his stubborn body around. "Little friend, can you tell Uncle where the lady who gave you the bun is?

In the future, Uncle will bring you food, and I guarantee it will be much better than this bun." The little beggar seemed genuinely filled with immense hatred for Zhou Huan. He glared viciously at Zhou Huan, opened his mouth, and bit down hard on Zhou Huan with his teeth, which were stained with black blood and corpse worms. Zhou Huan suddenly pulled his hand back; a deep bite mark was clearly etched onto his arm. The little beggar finally found his chance to escape.

He took off with small, quick steps, rounding the corner as if his feet were wheels. The last time the little beggar ran off, Zhou Huan hadn't caught him. This time, having learned his lesson, he immediately shouted to Dongzi, "Quick, chase him! Don't let him get away, or we won't find Li Tianxiong and his junior sister, and this little beggar will be beyond saving!" Dongzi was the type whose brain was simple but whose limbs were strong.

Seeing someone to chase, he broke into a sprint and quickly caught up with the little beggar. When Zhou Huan rounded the corner, both Dongzi and the little beggar had vanished without a trace, which greatly puzzled Zhou Huan. He shouted twice, "Dongzi, where did you run off to?" Since the corner led to a straight road with no alleys to turn into, it was impossible for anyone to disappear so quickly, no matter how fast they ran. Zhou Huan pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Dongzi's number, but Dongzi’s familiar ringtone sounded right behind Zhou Huan.

It turned out that when Dongzi bent down earlier, he had dropped his phone on the ground. This infuriated Zhou Huan, leaving him with no choice but to devise another plan. He paced back and forth on the spot for a moment before finally deciding to go up to the derelict building, from where he could clearly observe both the corner and the street outside. Zhou Huan sprinted upstairs.

His former beggar brothers were nowhere to be seen. On the floor where they usually stayed, only discarded plastic bags remained, along with the luggage they used for sleeping. But at this late hour, where could these people have gone? This series of events bombarded Zhou Huan’s mind as he tried to analyze everything.

Slowly, he walked to the jutting-out part of the floor and surveyed his surroundings. However, it was already deep night, and the environment was deathly silent, broken only by Zhou Huan’s own breathing and the faint sound of wind scraping against the air. "Hoo!" Zhou Huan let out a long breath. He realized that these events seemed interconnected; otherwise, he wouldn't have missed anything unusual.

After surveying the surroundings from the floor, Zhou Huan slowly ascended the rough stairs toward the rooftop. Near the entrance to the roof, there were no more stairs. Beneath the roof opening was a pile of unused bricks, likely left by his brothers when they came up to enjoy the view. Some scraps of trash lay on these bricks, suggesting they sometimes gathered here for a meal.

Suddenly, Zhou Huan spotted a piece of talisman paper stuck to a brick. Wasn't that his own handwriting? Could it be that the talismans he hung in the corner... At this moment, Zhou Huan was consumed by an urgent need to see the rooftop; it was highly probable he might find a clue about his brothers there.

With this thought, Zhou Huan placed both hands on the pile of bricks and jumped up, using his legs for leverage. At his height, he could just reach the roof opening with his arms. Then, with another strong push from his feet, he vaulted onto the rooftop. Once on the roof, Zhou Huan searched around.

The atmosphere and environment here felt even more stagnant than downstairs. Zhou Huan frowned slightly. What was going on? Why would the talisman he wrote be on the pile of bricks below?

And how did Dongzi chasing the little beggar make them both vanish around the corner? Moreover, the buns eaten by those people at the supermarket—it couldn't have been Li Zhi’s subjective will driving those actions. The night wind was cold, truly cold, sending a shiver down anyone’s spine. This was because Andong City was a hilly area along a river and coast, with many mountains, meaning the wind blowing in often carried dampness.

"Huh?" Zhou Huan involuntarily questioned himself. Why was there an overwhelmingly foul smell in the air at the supermarket? This stench wasn't the usual odor of a latrine's biogas; it smelled more like... decaying flesh!

Zhou Huan followed the direction the stench came from, guided by his senses. Slowly, he walked toward the far end of this derelict building's rooftop. This end of the rooftop held a small structure, resembling a single-story hut. This little building had no windows, only a large iron door that looked incredibly heavy.

The lock on the door was open, but the rusted bolt and handle suggested it wouldn't be easy to open. "Is anyone here?" Zhou Huan asked softly. Due to his profession, he could sense the presence of ghosts or specters, but he couldn't feel any ghostly aura whatsoever here. Thus, he posed the question.

After a long silence, there was no reply from the small room. Zhou Huan approached the iron door. The stench of decay was much stronger now. He tentatively pushed the iron door, but it wouldn't budge.

He pushed harder, still nothing. He stepped back two paces, preparing to kick the door open, as he was certain the smell of vengeance was emanating from inside. Zhou Huan retreated more than ten steps, then charged forward, delivering a powerful kick. The heavy iron door let out a screeching sound as it moved.

Gradually, a thin beam of light seeped out from the hut. The light wasn't strong, but in the pitch darkness of the night, it served as a beacon. Zhou Huan slowly pushed the door, which he had managed to move, and as it swung fully open, the scene inside stunned him into silence. "Daniu, Ergou, what are you doing?" Zhou Huan asked, his expression tense and his tone surprised.

Zhou Huan’s beggar brothers were all crouched on the floor of the small room, each holding a piece of meat aloft before them, staring vacantly. That vacant gaze betrayed no sign of life; it was utterly lifeless. In Zhou Huan’s assessment, they were bewitched. Zhou Huan flipped his hands, forming a lotus seal, and chanted the Great Ming Six-Syllable Divine Mantra.

He then pushed the lotus seal from his hands toward the Yintang (the point between the eyebrows) of the four men. With a few thudding sounds as palms met foreheads, all four men collapsed to the floor, showing no reaction. Zhou Huan stepped forward and checked their pulses one by one; their heartbeats were normal. Looking at their teeth, he found nothing unusual either.

With great effort, Zhou Huan dragged all four men out of the small hut and laid them flat on the rooftop to catch some fresh air. As soon as he set the four down, he noticed that their lower legs had varying degrees of flesh loss, and the blood around the wounds had already congealed. These appeared to be fresh injuries from a few hours ago, but the flesh around the wounds was blackened, rotting, and festering. This immediately brought to mind the incident earlier at Yu Family's Bun Shop.

Furthermore, he discovered a sack of flour inside the small room. This sack of flour was moldy, with black-green spots already staining the outside of the sack. And the stench of decay was actually coming from the new wounds on these brothers. "Brother Huan, damn it, I’m exhausted!

That little brat ran too fast; I couldn’t keep up!" The voice that drifted over was surprisingly Dongzi’s, filling Zhou Huan with unexpected joy and finally easing the worry he'd held for his friend. Zhou Huan composed himself. He couldn't say if he was excited or not, but he asked with a tone of concern, "I asked you to chase a child, where did you go?" Dongzi wiped his hands on his pants, then tapped one shoe on the ground. "Brother, don't even mention it.

That little rascal slipped into a sewer drain the moment he turned the corner. I immediately jumped in after him, nearly smashing myself to death. When I looked up, the kid was right over my head! I reached out to grab him, but that brat played a trick on me.

After running down, he rolled twice in the sewage ditch, then bolted off in the direction opposite to me. The sewer passage was too narrow; I couldn't run properly. The farther he ran, the more distance he put between us. At some point, an iron grate separated us; I couldn't get past it." "So you gave up?" Zhou Huan pressed.

Dongzi puffed out his chest. "How could I? How could I give up a mission Brother gave me? I kept chasing along here, but after running a stretch, he actually climbed out from where I had jumped in!

Ah!" As he finished speaking, Dongzi sighed with a look of serious frustration.