I consulted a feng shui master in Hong Kong.

The tenement building that Gu Chengyue mentioned is in Yau Ma Tei.

No. 14 Yong'an Lane.

The old Tang building has six floors.

Yong'anli is older, more crowded, and darker than Fu'anli.

The old tenement building was sandwiched between two new buildings that were built later. From a distance, it looked like a piece of paper that had been flattened by a door.

The alley is not wide during the day, and with the high walls on both sides pressing down, only a sliver of sunlight remains, and the front of the buildings is always shrouded in shadow.

The signboard at the entrance had long been removed, leaving only a few rusty iron nails nailed to the wooden frame, like a few rotten teeth that couldn't be pulled out.

The area outside the building has been cordoned off.

The police officers guarding the scene were taken aback when they saw Gu Chengyue arrive with his men.

Seeing that Chen Qinghe was just a thin young man in his early twenties, she couldn't hide the suspicion in her eyes.

Someone wanted to say something, but after glancing at Gu Chengyue, they swallowed their words.

Gu Chengyue didn't explain further, only saying, "I'll do whatever Master Chen says."

As soon as he said that, the expressions of the police officers next to him changed.

Chen Qinghe didn't go inside first, but stood at the entrance of the alley and looked around the building from all sides.

Huang Shouzhou followed behind, and the more he looked, the more uncomfortable he felt about this place.

It wasn't eerie, but suffocating. It was like a breath that should have been released, but was forcibly stuck here. If it stayed stuck for too long, the whole building would become like an old patient, even its breathing would be noisy.

"Junior brother, what did you see?" he asked in a low voice.

"This is the Heavenly Slash Scheme."

"The Heavenly Slash Bureau? What is the Heavenly Slash Bureau?" Huang Shou-chou asked curiously.

"The so-called 'sky slash' originally referred to two buildings that were close together, forming a natural slash, more like a wind blade that was split open by heaven and earth."

Chen Qinghe looked up at the narrow, thread-like gap between the two tall buildings and said calmly, "A narrow gap between two buildings doesn't really count as a 'sky-cutting'."

"A true 'sky-cutting' requires three things to be complete. First, the buildings on both sides must be tall and imposing, like two walls pressing down from the left and right; second, the gap in the middle must be narrow and deep, so that only a sliver of sky can be seen when you look up; third, the wind must come straight and go quickly, consuming light during the day and swallowing shadows at night. In such a place, the energy doesn't just pass by, but is forcibly cleaved, shredded, and then poured down like a knife."

Huang Shouzhou felt a chill run down his spine and couldn't help but look up again at the narrow strip of sky between the two tall buildings.

It's alright during the day, but if it gets late at night, the wind presses down through that crack, and it's probably just like Chen Qinghe said, an invisible wind knife.

Gu Chengyue stood at the entrance of the stairwell, his brows furrowed deeply: "But surely the Heavenly Slash alone shouldn't cause three deaths in a single month?"

"Of course not." Chen Qinghe withdrew his gaze, his tone calm. "The Heavenly Slash is just the foundation, the root of the problem, not the final, fatal blow. What truly drives a person to their death is what follows."

As he spoke, he turned back into the building, pointed to the cold white light at the top of the stairs, then to the slender mirror at the corner between the second and third floors, and then pointed to the iron railing on the fourth floor, the bottle view in the back window on the fifth floor, and the gas money that had just been dug up.

"The sky is cleaving the spirit, the mirror reflects the soul with terror, the white light presses down overhead, the iron gate is broken, and money is buried on the threshold to stifle life. If this building was originally just uncomfortable to live in, then these things are like rubbing salt into a knife's edge. People are first annoyed, then irritable, then suspicious and paranoid, and over time they are prone to going to extremes."

Gu Chengyue's gaze grew increasingly somber as he listened.

It wasn't that he didn't believe there was a human element involved in the murder case, but previously he had always been investigating people, testimonies, and neighborhood disputes. He never imagined that the building itself had been turned into a slow, agonizing trap. If Chen Qinghe hadn't broken it down layer by layer, he probably would have just thought these were three unfortunate and bizarre cases.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

"Dismantle it." Chen Qinghe answered decisively. "First, dismantle the additional steps that follow, then release the air that was originally trapped in the building. The Heavenly Slash is the general trend, and it can't be changed; but those smaller schemes inside, we can dismantle them one layer at a time."

Upon hearing this, Huang Shouzhou immediately perked up.

"I'll do it!" he said, heading towards the mirror.

"Don't rush." ​​Chen Qinghe stopped him, then turned to Gu Chengyue, "Do you have enough manpower?"

Gu Chengyue immediately nodded: "That's enough."

"Alright." Chen Qinghe pointed, "Take down the mirror between the second and third floors, and don't let it reflect the stairs anymore. Turn off the white light in the middle of the building and replace it with a warm light, and don't use white glass for the lampshade anymore. Pry open the iron railing on the fourth floor, and don't let it block the airway anymore. Move all the bottles from the row of bottles by the back window on the fifth floor, leave none behind. Also, put away those three death money coins under the threshold, and don't let anyone touch them."

The officers exchanged bewildered glances, but Gu Chengyue didn't utter a single word of nonsense and simply waved his hand: "Do as instructed."

As soon as people started moving, the stagnant atmosphere in the building seemed to ease.

The first thing to be removed was the mirror. As soon as the mirror was taken off the wall, Huang Shouzhou felt that the unsettling feeling at the stairwell dissipated somewhat. Then the white light went out, and the oppressive white light that had been hanging over him disappeared, making the entire stairwell much more pleasing to the eye. Once the iron railing on the fourth floor was pried open in the middle, the draft that had been preventing it from getting in from the back of the building finally crept in, bringing a slight coolness to the end of the corridor.

"It really is a bit different now," a young police officer couldn't help but whisper.

He had just left here last night, and his legs were still a little weak. But now, after dismantling only a few things, the tightness in his chest actually lessened a bit when he stood at the bottom of the stairs again.

Gu Chengyue glanced at him, but did not deny it himself.

Because he noticed it too.

Chen Qinghe ignored all of this and walked back to the door, squatted down to look at the three coins that had been pulled out from under the threshold.

He turned the money over, and with his fingertip, he gently wiped the edge of the hole, removing a layer of fine gray-black powder.

"This is dead ashes," he said. "Mixed with incense ash and bone fragments, it's placed under the threshold, not to attract wealth, but to let the vitality of this building gradually sink away."

Gu Chengyue's face turned ashen: "Who would do something like this on purpose?"

"Either they have a grudge against this building, or someone is using it to set a trap." Chen Qinghe put the three bills into a piece of paper, slowly stood up, and asked, "What kind of place was this building before?"

Gu Chengyue immediately replied, "It's a secondhand store. It used to store imported cloth and spices more than ten years ago, but it fell into disrepair and was later converted into residences and small shops."

"That's right," Chen Qinghe said. "The secondhand warehouse is all about quick turnover, not keeping people around. The fact that it was later converted into residences already puts a problem on the floor. If someone else were to join in, everyone who moves in would be taking a loss for someone else."

Upon hearing this, Huang Shouzhou suddenly realized: "Junior brother, you mean... this place isn't just unlucky for one person, but rather whoever lives here will suffer misfortune?"

"Pretty much," Chen Qinghe nodded. "It's just that some people stay longer, and some stay shorter. Those with strong constitutions get sick first, and those with weak constitutions die first."

As soon as he said that, the police officers in the building fell silent.

They initially thought they were investigating a murder case, but now they felt like they were standing in the middle of a net that had been woven in advance but whose threads had just been unraveled.

Three lives lost, several colleagues infected, an inconspicuous old building riddled with traps—who did it? It's no longer just a simple case of a "murderer."

Gu Chengyue remained silent for a while before saying in a low voice, "Master Chen, if you hadn't come today, we might have lost a few more lives."

Chen Qinghe waved his hand: "Don't thank me yet. The operation in the building is only half-completed, the people haven't been arrested yet, and the perpetrators are still outside."

"So what's next?"

"Investigate two things," Chen Qinghe said. "First, who ordered the installation of mirrors, lights, iron railings, and decorative items in the building; second, who has benefited from this building in the past six months."

Gu Chengyue's eyes darkened, and he immediately understood.

When someone suffers misfortune, someone else always benefits.

If this building was indeed used to set up a trap, then it certainly wouldn't just be a case of murder without cause; there must be other accounts, other interests, and other schemes involved.

"Okay," he said. "I'll pull these two lines down myself."

Chen Qinghe nodded, and then looked back one last time at the narrow strip of sky.

The wind pressed down through the cracks in the building; it was still cold and direct, but most of the lights, mirrors, thresholds, and back windows in the building had already been removed.

The Heavenly Slash is a blade, and that can't be changed; but at least the layer of poison smeared on the blade's edge has been scraped off first.

"That's enough for today," he said. "I'll stay out in the sun for another day, and then I'll come back tomorrow morning to finish off the last bit of my breath."

Gu Chengyue responded and personally escorted him to the outside of the building.

Once outside Yong'an Lane, the sunlight seemed much brighter.