Uncle Nine: You were supposed to drive corpses, so you summoned the Monkey King!

A system notification sounded in my mind.

Lin Chen pushed open a crack in the window.

[Having traveled 100 li, you have gained +1 to your Constitution.]

[Unravel the mystery of the living person pretending to be a corpse, gaining +1 Spirit.]

[By strengthening relationships at Nantianmen, you gain +1 Agility.]

The streets of Jiuquan Town were deserted at midnight.

In the shadows of the street corner diagonally opposite the inn, several men dressed in black short-sleeved shirts were carrying a thin-skinned coffin on their shoulders, walking hurriedly.

The coffin lid wasn't nailed shut, and a smell leaked out as the coffin was jostled around. Ordinary people wouldn't be able to smell it; at most, they'd think it was the stench of a dead person.

Lin Chen's five senses were keen, and the unique sweet smell of Fushou Ointment mixed with the sour smell of the embalming solution hit his nose.

The Taoist priest next door, Four Eyes, is still snoring. This kind of investigation is best done alone.

Lin Chen climbed out of the window, used the roof tiles for leverage, and landed in the shadows of the street corner.

The four men walked quickly, deliberately choosing deserted alleys, showing they were very familiar with the terrain of Jiuquan Town.

Lin Chen followed twenty steps behind, holding his breath to suppress his heartbeat.

After leaving the western end of Jiuquan Town, the group made several turns and stopped in front of an abandoned old winery.

The courtyard was overgrown with weeds half a person tall, and a few windproof oil lamps were lit as men carried the coffin into the courtyard.

Lin Chen leaped onto the roof of the winery, where there was a flat area in the middle of the courtyard.

Tu Long sat on a grand chair, with six stiff zombies standing behind him, each with a yellow talisman stuck to their forehead.

Lin Chen could tell that only two of the six zombies were real corpses, while the other four were all living people in disguise.

A living person's chest rises and falls; no matter how hard they try to hold their breath, they cannot hide their yang energy.

The men placed the thin-skinned coffin in front of Tu Long and stepped aside.

The main door of the house was pushed open.

A young man in a white suit walked out.

The young man had a thick cigar in his mouth and was playing with a Browning pistol in his hand, with three thugs following behind him.

"Master Tu, this shipment is half a day late." The man in the white suit exhaled a smoke ring and slowly walked down the steps.

Tu Long snorted, not moving an inch: "Young Master Ye, we encountered some stray dogs blocking the way and had to take a longer route, but we delivered the goods to you intact, not a single ounce less."

Young Master Ye snapped his fingers.

His men stepped forward and yanked open the thin-skinned coffin lid.

The coffin was filled with neatly stacked oil paper packages.

Young Master Ye took out a folding knife, opened a packet, picked up half a finger's worth of black ointment with the tip, and smelled it.

"Good quality." Young Master Ye folded the razor blade.

"Master Tu is really resourceful. He used the guise of corpse driving to transport the Southeast Asian ginseng and longevity pills into Jiuquan Town. No matter how strictly the old men in the town government investigated, they didn't dare to open the coffin of the Maoshan Taoist priest."

"Enough with the nonsense." Tu Long rubbed his thumb against his index finger.

"Cash on delivery. This time I ran into my meddlesome senior brother, so it's risky and I'll have to pay extra."

Young Master Ye's smile vanished, and he took two steps closer, a cigar dangling from his lips.

"Add more money? Master Tu, the 500 silver dollars fee was agreed upon by my father. Raising the price at the last minute is breaking the rules, isn't it?"

"I set the rules." Tu Long stood up, reached out and grabbed the Browning pistol in Young Master Ye's hand.

A crisp cracking sound.

The steel-forged pistol barrel was flattened into iron by Tu Long.

Young Master Ye staggered back several steps, dropping the cigar from his mouth to the ground. The three thugs behind him drew their short knives, but Young Master Ye raised his hand to stop them.

"Good, good skill." Young Master Ye forced a smile. "Since Master Tu has spoken, let's add two hundred silver dollars to make it a lucky number of seven hundred, and be friends."

Young Master Ye waved his hand.

A thug carried a leather suitcase over and placed it on the armchair, opening it with a click.

Inside were rows of silver dollars, and next to them lay two gold bars.

Tu Long grabbed the gold bar, took a big bite, and stuffed it into his pocket.

Lin Chen watched this scene from the rooftop.

Despite his wicked intentions, Tu Long was still quite skilled in martial arts. After the loot was divided, Young Master Ye had a coffin filled with opium carried into the house.

The courtyard quieted down, and Tu Long and his men took the money and left.

Lin Chen jumped off the roof and returned to the inn via the same route.

the next morning.

The breakfast stalls in Jiuquan Town are steaming hot.

Lin Chen ate five baskets of meat buns and drank two large bowls of thick soy milk before putting down his chopsticks.

Master Si Mu sat opposite, his hair disheveled, eating a fried dough stick dipped in soy milk.

"Master, I figured it out last night." Lin Chen recounted the whole story of Tu Long's opium deal with Mayor Ye's son, Ye Dawei, in the deserted courtyard.

Snapped.

Master Simu slammed his hand on the square table, causing the bowl of soy milk to shake and spill soy milk all over the table.

His eyes widened, and his right hand instinctively reached for the Crimson Flame Bronze Greatsword leaning against the table leg.

"That bastard has disgraced Maoshan. He's been transporting corpses and smuggling opium. I'm going to chop him up right now."

The people eating breakfast around them turned to look.

Lin Chen reached out and grabbed the hand of the Four-Eyes Taoist.

"Master, please calm down."

Lin Chen released his grip, picked up his teacup, rinsed his mouth, and said, "Wait a couple of days and see. Then we'll take down the mayor's drug money and him all at once, ensuring he can never recover."

Master Four Eyes gritted his teeth and loosened his grip on the sword: "Fine, I'll listen to you. Let this scoundrel live a few more days."

As the two were talking, a commotion came from the other end of the main street.

The crowd surged toward the town entrance, with several security guards clearing the way by banging gongs.

"Let's go take a look."

Lin Chen threw down two copper coins, and he and Daoist Simu picked up their weapons and followed the crowd.

The two left the inn and followed the flow of people to the Western clock tower in the center of town. The Western church at the entrance of town, covered with withered vines, was surrounded by a huge crowd.

Two faded, blackened yellow talismans for warding off evil spirits were pasted across the rusty iron gate of the church.

On the steps in front of the door stood an old foreign man in a black robe and wearing a silver cross, followed by three young monks.

Father Wu held up a parchment document stamped with a red seal and shouted in broken Chinese:

"The Lord loves the world. I am Father Wu, sent by the Vatican. This church is the Lord's territory. Today I will reopen the Lord's door and bring the gospel to the lost sheep of Jiuquan Town."

Mayor Ye, dressed in a silk robe, twirled two iron flasks in his hands, and led several local gentry from the town government to block the steps.

"Father Wu, something happened in this church twenty years ago. The old priest died inside. It's not clean. For the sake of the town's peace, this door cannot be opened," Mayor Ye said in an official tone.

Father Wu held up the silver cross: "Mayor, God will forgive everything and drive away evil. It is our responsibility to restore its glory and save your souls."

On the outskirts of the crowd, Master Four Eyes narrowed his eyes, surveying the terrain around the church.

"Lin Chen, did you notice?"

Lin Chen nodded and pointed to both sides of the church.

"The water flows to the left, the road is blocked on the right, and it faces the wind. It is a typical Three Killings position. This church is a natural pool of Yin energy. It has not been opened for twenty years, and the Yin energy inside has long since solidified into a tangible substance."

Four Eyes snorted: "Foreigners don't understand feng shui. They treat this kind of ominous place as a treasure. If no ruthless person comes out of here, I'll be letting down the feng shui compass passed down from our ancestors."

On the steps, Mayor Ye was still arguing with Father Wu.

Last night, Ye Dawei, the man in the white suit, squeezed out of the crowd, stood next to Mayor Ye, and whispered a few words in Mayor Ye's ear.

Lin Chen was too far away to hear, but from his lip movements, David mentioned "opium" and "hidden goods".

Mayor Ye glanced at his son, and his tense face broke into a smile.

"Since the priest insists, I can't stop him anymore. It's about freedom of religion, so please open the door." Mayor Ye stepped back to make way.

The townspeople around were caught off guard by Mayor Ye's sudden change of expression.

David Ye waved.

Several security guards stepped forward and used thick iron crowbars to smash the iron lock on the gate.

Bang. Bang.

The iron lock broke and fell to the ground.

Two young monks stepped forward and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

With a scraping sound, the door was pushed open to both sides.

A strong musty smell mixed with a chilling aura wafted out from under the door, and the townspeople watching the commotion in the front row shivered and backed away as the wind blew in.

Standing at the back of the crowd, Lin Chen caught a whiff of something carried on the wind: the smell of blood and Western medicine.