This Taoist priest is so unprofessional!

Zhang Chen's gaze lingered on those strange items for a moment before shifting away.

He glanced at Wang Xiaoer, who was leaning against the wall and panting, and then at the thief who was slumped on the ground like mud.

"Li Ming," Zhang Chen said calmly.

"Ah? Yes! Master, I'm here!" Li Ming was startled and quickly stood up straight.

"Could you please help the waiter to the recliner at the alley entrance to rest? I'll take care of things here."

"Okay, okay!"

Li Ming felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly stepped forward to help Wang Xiaoer up.

Wang Xiaoer shook his head, his breathing still a little unsteady.

"Brother Chen, I'm fine, I think..."

"You want to see how I conduct interrogations?" Zhang Chen interrupted him, saying without turning his head, "My methods are a bit dirty; you'd better not watch."

Wang Xiaoer wanted to persist, but Zhang Chen glared at him with an unyielding look that silenced him.

He knew that Zhang Chen was afraid that the other party might have some other tricks up their sleeve and wanted him to stay away.

"Alright." Wang Xiaoer stopped trying to be strong and let Li Ming help him walk step by step towards the alley entrance.

In the alley, only Zhang Chen and the half-dead thief on the ground remained.

A night breeze blew by, carrying a chilly, damp feeling.

Zhang Chen squatted down and laid out the items he had found one by one on the ground, as if admiring his spoils.

The man on the ground finally caught his breath. He coughed up a few mouthfuls of water mixed with mud and sand, staring at Zhang Chen with resentment in his eyes.

"Who...who exactly are you?" His voice was hoarse and weak.

Zhang Chen did not answer him.

He slowly and methodically began rummaging through his canvas bag again.

The man watched his movements warily, thinking he was about to pull out some talisman or magical artifact.

He knew better than anyone that talismans were less effective against living people.

But he didn't dare to gamble.

Everything that happened tonight had an eerie quality that defied common sense.

However, what Zhang Chen took out was neither a yellow talisman nor a magic weapon.

Instead, it was a small white porcelain bottle, about the size of a palm.

The porcelain bottle had a simple, antique design, with no patterns on it, and was simply plugged with a red cloth stopper.

Zhang Chen removed the stopper and tilted the bottle opening.

He held the bottle up to the thief's eyes and shook it gently.

Several dark, round things rolled from the bottle opening into his palm.

It looked like some kind of beetle, completely black, smaller than a fingernail, with a fine, hard shell on its back that gleamed oily under the dim streetlights.

As soon as they came into contact with the air, they immediately came to life, their six tiny legs wriggling rapidly as they tried to crawl out of Zhang Chen's palm.

Zhang Chen looked at the insect in his hand with a smile, his tone light and cheerful, as if he were introducing his pet.

"Do you recognize it? Someone gave it to me."

He pushed his palm forward even further, almost touching the thief's nose.

"She said these little darlings have a nickname: 'Seven Orifices Patrol Messengers'."

"They don't bite, they're not deadly, they just have one hobby."

Zhang Chen's smile widened, revealing two rows of neat teeth.

"It likes to crawl into the ears and nostrils of living people and wander around inside their seven orifices."

"They say the feeling is... incredibly amazing!"

The thief stared intently at the black beetles wriggling in front of him.

His pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints the moment he saw the insect's appearance.

A fear originating from the depths of his soul, like a flood bursting its banks, instantly overwhelmed all his psychological defenses.

He's seen this thing before!

In the sect's punishment hall, he personally witnessed a senior brother who had violated the sect rules being rewarded with this insect.

That senior student howled for three days and three nights, smashing his head against the stone wall until it cracked, and finally drove himself insane!

That miserable state of being unable to live or die was his lifelong nightmare.

"I'll talk! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"

The thief completely broke down, his body convulsing violently, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Please...take it away! Please take it away!"

Zhang Chen's smile remained unchanged, but he showed no intention of withdrawing his hand.

"Name, origin, purpose," he succinctly stated in six words.

"Yin Laowu! My name is Yin Laowu!"

The thief blurted out rapidly, "I come from the Five Ghosts Gate! I'm a scout within the gate!"

"The Five Ghosts Sect?" Zhang Chen raised an eyebrow, seemingly having some recollection of the name.

"Yes! Yes! Our sect doesn't seek wealth or harm lives; we practice the 'Five Ghosts Moving' technique!" Yin Laowu was afraid that if he spoke too slowly, the insect would crawl into his nostril.

He explained urgently, "But we're not moving gold and silver treasures; we're moving... the fortune of the living!"

Zhang Chen's eyes turned cold.

They really are a bunch of filthy bastards.

"Go on."

"My task is to wander around and find targets with strong fortune, and then report them to the sect using secret methods."

Yin Laowu glanced in the direction of the alley entrance, his voice trembling uncontrollably and tinged with greed.

"That kid... that kid named Wang Xiaoer, his luck is unlike anything I've ever seen in my entire life!"

"That wasn't just ordinary good fortune, it was...it was like a flood coming down from the mountain!"

"In our Five Ghosts Sect's scriptures, this kind of chosen one is called the 'Child of the Dragon Vein'! They are the best main ingredient for refining the 'Sun-Changing Pill'! They are the ultimate medicine that the entire sect dreams of!"

At this point, Yin Laowu seemed to remember something, and a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes.

He seemed to have found his talisman.

"I had already used a secret method to report his approximate location and aura characteristics to the sect!"

"Even if I fail today, it's useless! Before long, other fellow disciples will come knocking on my door! Their methods are a hundred times, a thousand times better than mine!"

Yin Laowu roared fiercely, but his voice was weak inside, trying to intimidate the other party with the name of the sect.

"You'd better release me now! Once you've offended the Five Ghosts Sect, you'll never have a peaceful life, no matter where you run to!"

The entrance to the alley.

Wang Xiaoer leaned back in his chair, and although there was some distance between them, Yin Laowu's hysterical roar still came through clearly.

Son of the Dragon Vein?

Big medicine?

Tang Monk's flesh!

The word immediately popped into Wang Xiaoer's mind.

He finally understood that the good fortune he was born with was not all good.

While protecting itself, it also acts like a beacon in the darkness, attracting countless covetous eyes.

The ones I encountered before were just insignificant little devils and monsters.

Now, he has been targeted by a professional, evil organization that preys on people like him, the "Tang Monk's flesh."

An unprecedented sense of crisis, like an icy tide, instantly overwhelmed his heart.

In the alley.

Zhang Chen's expression remained unchanged after hearing Yin Laowu's threat.

He wasn't even angry.

He simply played with the few small black insects in his hand, watching them crawl between his fingers.

After a long while, he finally raised his eyelids and looked at Yin Laowu.

The smile on his face only grew wider.

"Oh?"

He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but like an ice pick piercing Yin Laowu's eardrum.

"But in my opinion, to your sect, you've already exposed your location and revealed all your target information..."

Zhang Chen paused deliberately, his smile turning playful.

"traitor?"

The threat and arrogance on Yin Laowu's face froze instantly.

The color drained from his face at a visible speed, until he became as pale and ugly as a dead man.