A single divination predicts life and death; the entire internet begs me to start a live stream.

The Chen family ancestral home was very quiet.

It was so quiet that it didn't seem like anyone had just gone missing.

The ancestral hall door was open, and the night breeze blew in from the courtyard, causing the incense ash on the offering table to scatter gently.

The ancestral tablets stood in rows in the shadows.

The gold lettering on the old wooden sign has faded, but under the dim light, it still exudes a solemnity that makes it hard to breathe.

Chen Bufan stood in front of the offering table.

His gaze fell on the word "blood".

【rebel】

One word.

It was written very heavily.

The bloodstains were hanging down from the edges of the strokes and were already half-dry.

The smell of blood was still very faint.

This indicates that the time since this character was left behind will not be long.

Chen Laojiu has disappeared.

On the offering table, only a broken piece of the Chen family's life-saving coin remained.

The money was stained with blood.

Chen Bufan reached out and picked it up.

The copper coins from the Chen family usually retain a temperature.

And this coldness seems to have been there for a long time.

The Chen family's copper coins follow the fortune teller and are connected to people's destiny.

Only when separated from the master of destiny will it lose its warmth.

A bad feeling crept into his mind, and he shouted:

"Uncle Jiu".

no respond.

Deep within the ancestral home, only the soft rustling of beams being blown by the wind could be heard.

Squeak.

Squeak.

It sounded like an old man coughing with his throat constricted.

Chen Bufan gripped his life-saving money tightly.

Just then, hurried footsteps came from outside the courtyard.

Lin Wanqing walked in with two criminal police officers.

She scanned the scene as soon as she entered.

Where are they?

Chen Bufan did not turn around.

"It's gone."

Lin Wanqing walked to the entrance of the ancestral hall and saw the blood-written characters on the offering table.

"Don't disturb the scene."

Chen Bufan put the money for his life back on the offering table.

"It's already started moving."

Lin Wanqing glanced at him but did not blame him.

She knew what that fate coin meant to the Chen family's fortune tellers.

She put on gloves and crouched down to examine the ground.

"There are no obvious signs of dragging."

"There were no signs of a struggle."

"The tables and chairs are not messed up."

"The incense burner hasn't fallen over."

"There were no signs of damage to the doors and windows."

A detective quickly finished checking the entrance and reported back to his superior:

"Team Leader Lin, there are no pry marks on the gate of the ancestral home."

"The latch is intact."

There was no sign of them climbing through the window.

Lin Wanqing frowned even more.

"In other words, the people who took Chen Laojiu away didn't force their way in."

She looked up at Chen Bufan.

"He opened the door himself?"

Chen Bufan looked at the old marks on the threshold.

"not necessarily."

Lin Wanqing asked:

"What do you mean?"

Chen Bufan said:

"Not just anyone can enter the Chen family's ancestral home."

Lin Wanqing recalled the scene when the ancestral home was opened before.

The broken money has returned to its rightful place.

Door ring groove.

White lights guide the way.

Chen Bufan also reminded her that outsiders were not allowed to enter the Chen family's house.

She immediately understood.

"Did the person who took Chen Lao Jiu know about the Chen family's security measures?"

Chen Bufan nodded.

"At least I know how to avoid alerting the access control."

"The area is very small."

"The Chen family?"

"There are very few people left in the Chen family."

Chen Bufan's voice was very low.

"Even fewer are alive."

Lin Wanqing did not ask any further questions.

She turned to the detective and said:

"Collect blood."

"Check the footprints."

"Extract traces from the surface of the offering table, incense burner, door knocker, and joss paper."

"We retrieved all the surveillance footage from the village entrance, outside the ancestral hall, and around the ancestral home."

The criminal police acted immediately.

"Yes."

Lin Wanqing walked to the offering table and looked at the blood-written characters.

"These words written in blood must have been left by Chen Laojiu."

Chen Bufan said:

"It could also have been written in his blood by someone else."

Lin Wanqing nodded.

"Therefore, it is a priori."

After taking the sample, she quickly contacted the technical team.

Half an hour later, the preliminary test results were sent back.

The bloodstains were highly consistent with the biological samples that Chen Laojiu had previously left on the cups.

Lin Wanqing looked at the result and whispered:

"It's Chen Laojiu's blood."

Chen Bufan was not surprised.

His gaze fell on the incense burner on the offering table.

There are three incense sticks in the incense burner.

Everything has been burned to ashes.

However, the incense ash did not fall neatly; instead, it was offset to the left by an inch.

The bowl of water in front of the offering table was also moved.

A speck of incense ash floated on the water's surface.

Chen Bufan reached out and gently touched the edge of the water bowl.

At the bottom of the bowl, there was a small patch of black paper ash.

He took out the ashes and placed them in his palm.

Lin Wanqing looked over.

"What?"

Chen Bufan said:

"It's not ordinary incense ash."

Lin Wanqing reacted quickly.

"Ashes?"

"Um."

Chen Bufan brought the ashes closer to the lamp.

There are still some unburnt lines at the edges of the paper ash.

Black life mark.

But it's not the complete black life pattern that Lu Changsheng usually uses.

This pattern is older.

Thicker.

It looks like something left over from some old-fashioned esoteric magic.

Lin Wanqing asked:

"Did you recognize who it was?"

Chen Bufan shook his head.

"It's not certain yet."

"But the people who came were not only familiar with the Chen family's access control."

"He also understands the old talismans of the Xuanmen sect."

Lin Wanqing frowned.

"Lu Changsheng's people?"

Chen Bufan remained silent for a moment.

"It might be, or it might not be."

Lin Wanqing looked at the blood-written characters on the offering table.

"If it's not Lu Changsheng, then who else could it be?"

Chen Bufan did not answer immediately.

The words Lu Changsheng left behind before he departed flashed through his mind.

—Your father didn't die at my hands back then.

—Before he died, he saw the person he trusted most.

The person I trust most.

Chen Laojiu?

Master?

Or someone else?

Chen Bufan closed his eyes.

Lin Wanqing looked at him.

"Are you doubting Chen Laojiu?"

Chen Bufan did not answer.

Lin Wanqing continued:

"Judging from the scene, there are two possibilities."

"First, Chen Laojiu was taken away by an acquaintance, and before leaving, he used his own blood to leave the word 'traitor'."

"Secondly, someone took him away and wrote words in his blood to deliberately mislead you."

Chen Bufan whispered:

"There is a third option."

Lin Wanqing looked at him.

"What?"

Chen Bufan looked at the memorial tablets on the offering table.

He left on his own.

Lin Wanqing frowned.

"Walk by yourself?"

"If he knew someone was coming, or if he already knew something."

Chen Bufan continued:

"He might leave with someone else on his own initiative."

Lin Wanqing asked:

"How do you interpret the blood-written words?"

Chen Bufan lowered his voice slightly.

"remind."

"Or confess."

After those words were spoken, the ancestral hall fell silent for a moment.

Confess.

These two words are too heavy.

Lin Wanqing looked at the word "betrayal" on the offering table.

"Traitor, does it refer to the Chen family traitors?"

"Is it referring to Chen Laojiu?"

Chen Bufan remained silent.

He remembered when Chen Laojiu first emerged from the shadow of the ancestral home, his back hunched, calling him "Young Master".

I remember him kneeling in front of the ancestral hall, saying that the person who truly killed the Chen family back then was not just someone who changed his fate.

I recall him saying that the Chen family were orthodox fortune tellers, and that the "Record of Destiny" was not a book of fortune telling, but a book of judging destiny.

I also recalled that whenever Chen Laojiu mentioned the mole, he always avoided the most crucial name.

Does Chen Laojiu really not know?

Still afraid to speak?

Or perhaps, he's been waiting for this day all along?

Chen Bufan's fingers tapped lightly on the offering table.

a bit.

Two times.

Suddenly, the cloth bag on the table moved.

The "Record of Destiny" slid out of the cloth bag automatically.

Snapped.

It landed in front of the offering table.

Lin Wanqing had already witnessed the anomalies of the "Destiny Record".

But every time she sees the book open to her, she still feels instinctively alert.

The pages of the book turned without any wind.

Page after page flashed by.

Finally, it stopped on a blank page.

A little ink first appeared on the paper.

Immediately afterwards, the ink turned into a dark red.

It looked like blood seeping from under the paper.

Chen Bufan stared at the pages of the book.

Lin Wanqing also held her breath.

A few words slowly emerged.

The old servant's life hangs in the balance

The traitor hides within the mystical gate.

The sound of the wind in the ancestral hall suddenly stopped.

Lin Wanqing read it aloud in a low voice:

"The old servant's life hangs in the balance."

"The traitors hide within the mystical gate."

She immediately looked at Chen Bufan.

"Chen Laojiu is still alive."

Chen Bufan remained silent.

Alive. But hanging by a thread.

This result is more troublesome than seeing the body.

Even if someone dies, the hatred remains.

Alive, yet held in someone else's hands.

This indicates that the other party did not simply intend to silence the witness.

Instead, the goal is to force him into a certain situation.

Lin Wanqing put away the sampling tube, her voice calm and steady:

"Since the person is still alive, we can search for them."

Chen Bufan looked at the incense ash on the offering table.

The three incense sticks burned out.

The incense ash is slightly to the left.

The bowl of water was moved.

The broken money was placed in the center of the offering table.

The words were written in blood in front of the ancestral tablets.

These arrangements were not left out randomly.

Like a letter.

It looks more like an invitation.

Someone told Chen Bufan:

Chen Laojiu is in my hands.

Lin Wanqing thought for a moment and said:

"It's very likely that Lu Changsheng sent someone here. Seeing that the media blockade was ineffective against you, he used Chen Laojiu to force you to shut up."

Chen Bufan rested his chin on his hand and thought about it for a moment. He felt it made sense and nodded.

Lin Wanqing turned to the detective and said:

"Check the surveillance footage."

"Village roads, intersections, village entrances, and national highway entrances surrounding the ancestral home."

"The time frame is from 8 PM tonight until now."

"Pay special attention to unfamiliar vehicles, people in gray Taoist robes, and people who take elderly people away."

The detective nodded.

"Yes."

Chen Bufan finally spoke:

"It's not that easy."

Lin Wanqing looked at him.

Do you think the surveillance footage will be taken down?

Chen Bufan looked at the dark courtyard outside the ancestral hall.

"A person who can enter the Chen family ancestral home without being disturbed by the gate restrictions."

"I'm not afraid of you checking the surveillance footage."