Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Shi Xuan caught the fox hair falling from the air and said incredulously, "A fox spirit? Was that the cunning laughter of a fox just now?"

How is Butler Wu connected to a fox demon again?

Lately, Butler Wu, who only seems to care about eating, is actually a transformation of fox spirit hair. Shi Xuan's eyes turned cold as a suspicion formed in his mind.

Could it be that his son is also still alive?

On the day Shi Xuan was born, the sky was shrouded in yin energy, drawing countless ghosts and demons from the surroundings to kneel in submission, all drawn to him.

Shi Xuan still remembers a ghost deity lurking in the shadows telling him that this child was the most yin and evil entity in the world. If the ghost energy he was born with wasn't contained, leading to demons and evil spirits spreading everywhere, he, Shi Zongguang, would be the world's greatest sinner.

From that day on, Shi Xuan felt as though he had been given a divine mission, yet the world has still changed.

Posts about evil spirits are rampant online, and even the most clueless ordinary citizens have started buying exorcism items.

And these don't seem to be Shi Xuan's doing.

But Shi Xuan quickly shook his head again. Even if the current situation isn't Shi Xuan's fault, it's still a good thing he restricted his ghost energy from harming others.

If Shi Xuan is really alive and runs off to join those ghosts and demons, becoming their lackey, the entire Shi family would be doomed!

And Butler Wu, who knows so many of the Shi family's secrets and can't keep his mouth shut, has also run away...

Shi Xuan thought for a long time, irritably scratching his head and muttering to himself, "I might as well just die."

Shi Xuan then sternly called the servants, "Take all this food away!"

It's better not to touch the food eaten by a fox spirit, in case it carries rabies that could kill someone.

*

"Thank you, Dr. Wu. My wish is fulfilled, and I'm ready to go to the underworld to face Yanjun's judgment." After the evening wedding banquet ended, Nie Wei floated out of the cat's body and bowed to Wu Heng.

Wu Heng nodded, "Go ahead."

"Duo Duo!" Chen Ying, still in her toast dress, cried as she ran to Nie Wei, hugging her neck tightly. She knew that seeing her again tonight would be their final goodbye, and she would never see Duo Duo again in this lifetime.

"Ying Ying, take care of yourself," Nie Wei said softly, gently stroking Chen Ying's smooth hair. "We'll be best friends again in the next life."

"When we were alive, you were a year older and took care of me more. This time, I'll go to the underworld first, and in the next life, let me be a few years older so I can take care of you."

Chen Ying sniffled and said, "Then remember to be no more than three years older than me, or we'll have a generation gap."

"Okay."

The two girls shared their final embrace across the realms of yin and yang in this life. Nie Wei slowly let go and walked step by step toward Lai Yin Chai. "Thank you, sir, for your leniency these past two days. I'm ready."

"But I'm not ready yet! Wait over there." Lai Yin Chai tossed the lantern aside and squatted on the ground, counting red envelopes with a big grin.

Chen Ying and her husband really know how to play the game. They probably figured the yin emissary would come for Nie Wei after the wedding banquet, so they prepared several underworld red envelopes in advance, filled with paper money.

When they burned them for the yin emissary, they insisted it wasn't a bribe, just a festive gesture on a happy day, and all the guests received them.

Lai Yin Chai said with satisfaction, "Hahaha, it's a decent amount of money, just enough to get Wu Heng a birthday gift."

Most of his recent salary and the tips he didn't want but the ghosts insisted on stuffing into his pocket have already been used to bribe the little ghosts, after all, his promotion speed is fast, which solved his urgent need.

Wu Heng was silent for a while, not really wanting the gift from the yin emissary.

Lai Yin Chai didn’t waste any time; he confined Nie Wei inside a paper lantern and left quickly.

Wu Heng, carrying several boxes of wedding candies, was also about to leave. Seeing Chen Ying’s reddened eyes, he simply said, "Take care of yourself."

"Xiao Heng, should we get high-speed rail tickets together to go back to our hometown?" Wu Su asked, burping from the alcohol.

Wu Heng took his phone and personally bought a high-speed rail ticket for Wu Su without any issues, then added, "No, I’ll fly back. Dad, you can return on your own tomorrow or the day after."

Why bother with the train when he could fly?

Chen Ying’s husband assured, "Dr. Wu, don’t worry, we’ll personally escort Uncle Wu to the high-speed train and watch him leave."

Wu Su slapped his head, remembering something important, and said to Chen Ying, "Don’t forget to add me as a gaming buddy."

Chen Ying immediately nodded, promising that she would add Uncle Wu as a gaming buddy in the bridal suite instead of counting the cash gifts.

Before Wu Su even boarded the high-speed train, Wu Heng had already returned to Nan Nuo Village.

As soon as he entered Chengde Medical Hall, he saw Eugene’s ever-busy figure. Chen Zhao was instructing Su Dayi to practice the height-growth exercise that Wu Heng had previously announced, while distributing wedding candies from his pocket.

"Too bad you’re tied up with school, otherwise you could have come to the wedding banquet with me," Wu Heng said, seeing Shi Xuan who had just returned, and handed him a box of wedding candies with a smile.

Recently, Shi Xuan and his classmates have been busy preparing for their final exams.

Shi Xuan opened the box of wedding candies, took out a candy, and looked at the big red "double happiness" symbol on the wrapper, casually saying, "Next time, let’s go to a wedding together."

Wu Heng, seeing Shi Xuan’s slightly flushed face, had to turn his gaze elsewhere.

The little white snake was especially eager, carrying a box of wedding candies to its turf outside Jiaming No. 1 High School to deliver candies to He Yunxiao. As for Li Hao and the others, it could wait until there was time, and Zhou Yi, who went home tonight, could receive his candies tomorrow morning.

Seeing Su Dayi lying on the wooden floor with a box of wedding candies, tongue out, eyes lifeless, looking like a lifeless dog.

"Wake up, wake up Su Dayi, aren’t you supposed to slim down to a lightning-fast figure and transform into Su Daji?" Eugene put down the wedding candies, pushed the gas tank, and called out.

"Ah—! Why are you zapping me?!" Su Dayi, who was lying on the floor, suddenly twitched her plump buttocks and sat up in a flash, looking incredulously at the bewildered Eugene, "Are you mistreating a dog? I’m a canine. Such a beautiful dog and you mistreat it?"

She only said she wanted to slim down to a lightning-fast figure, not to be struck by lightning.

Eugene quickly wiped his hands and said, "What abuse? I love small animals the most. It’s just static—happens a lot in winter."

Wu Heng, looking at Eugene’s hand, suddenly asked, "Did we have any patients at the clinic today?"

"Recently, there have been quite a few patients coming to the medical hall. Dr. Chen Zhao and I have been taking turns to see them," Eugene thought for a moment and added, "But the courier who usually delivers our packages came to the medical hall in a hurry today, zapped me too, and left when he heard you went to a wedding banquet."

Wu Heng took Eugene’s left hand and could feel a slight electric current, saying, "Brother Eugene, I’ll inscribe a secret character for you."

Su Dayi, seeing Wu Heng using ancient Zhu You techniques, took advantage of Eugene’s closing time to approach Wu Heng and said, "Dr. Wu, recently the Nuo dance doesn’t seem as popular in the village anymore, can you prescribe me some painless weight-loss medicine?"

Chen Zhao had been making her exercise, and she really couldn’t handle it.

Wu Heng looked Su Dayi up and down and said, "Did you put on weight again?"

Su Dayi immediately shook her head, no way.

Wu Heng affirmed, "You have gained weight, what have you been doing?"

The little gray snake’s eyes widened, and it immediately crawled to the backyard to check the chicken coop and count if the number of chickens at home was still correct.

Su Dayi suddenly felt a bit guilty, but soon raised her big head indignantly and said, "Isn’t it your fault I gained weight? You plucked two of my hairs to impersonate your dad, who has so many delicious things at his house..."

Wu Heng understood: "So your fox fur was used to eat the Shi family's delicacies? If not you, who else would get fat?"

This fox fur came from a fat fox spirit. Though it was just an illusion, it could still taste one-tenth of the flavor, causing it to gain some weight. Su Dayi was the kind of fox who could gain weight just by drinking water.

Wu Heng wondered why she had been so eager to contribute her fox fur back then.

Su Dayi argued righteously: "Dr. Wu, that’s not how you should phrase it. If your father didn’t eat, wouldn’t people realize he’s a fake? I gained all this weight for you and your father. I made such a huge sacrifice; you have to take responsibility."

Wu Heng: "I never told my father to eat eight meals a day."

On the surface, he seemed refined, avoiding worldly pleasures and only sniffing incense and candles, but in reality, he was eating eight meals a day like a glutton.

Hearing this, Su Dayi immediately rolled on the ground, throwing a tantrum and demanding that Wu Heng prescribe her weight-loss medicine, or else she wouldn’t get up.

She had also considered that eating through the fox fur would minimize the impact, so she even skipped the wedding banquet.

"The heavens have their own tests for every creature that has gained intelligence," Wu Heng said as he went to the pharmacy to get weight-loss medicine. "This medicine must be combined with exercise to work."

"From now on, run twenty laps around the medical hall every morning. Remember: control your mouth and move your legs."

Seeing that the chickens in the coop were all there, the little gray snake returned, satisfied. It roughly understood its godfather’s meaning. The test for the fat fox spirit was weight, the test for the big white brother was courage—so what was its test?

Wu Heng patted Xi Xi’s slightly confused head and said, "It’s whether you can stay true to yourself."

Xi Xi immediately raised its head high. Of course it could!

-

The authorities later announced the Ping’an Village incident, revealing that the village had trafficked nearly a hundred women, and all the villagers died of heart palpitations on New Year’s Eve. Since both the victims and the suspects were dead, the case was declared closed.

A special task force was set up to aggressively rescue trafficked women nationwide, urging the public to provide tips in hopes of reuniting the women with their families before the New Year.

"I live in a small town outside the mountains, and I just saw dozens of police cars heading toward the mountain village. That village is the notorious trafficker village—many people in the town know about it."

"Looks like they’re really cracking down on this—good! I don’t want to end up kidnapped and taken to the mountains to have kids someday."

"Dr. Wu really has some skills. If it weren’t for the patient’s bone mud, this wouldn’t have been uncovered."

"Dr. Wu’s abilities have been recognized. Did you see the message forwarded by the blue v? In a few days, Dr. Wu from Chengde Medical Hall will hold a press conference on the recent outbreak of evil diseases."

"Great! I hope Dr. Wu releases one or two common prescriptions for exorcising evil spirits then. I think medicine would be easier to get than exorcism talismans."

You Jin immediately asked Wu Heng if this was true. If so, he’d have to hurry and get a haircut and buy a new suit—he couldn’t let Xiao Heng lose face.

Wu Heng was surprised. "No, I never said I was holding a press conference."

You Jin checked his phone. This wasn’t a rumor among netizens—it was an official preview message released by major blue v accounts.

"Huh? Who is this? What medical expert also happens to be surnamed Wu? It’s not a common surname."

Wu Heng looked at the message and probably knew who it was.

"Whoever it is, it’s always a good thing," You Jin thought quickly and soon mentioned another thing. "Uncle Wu Su just called saying he will arrive in the provincial capital by high-speed train in the afternoon and take a bus to the town in the evening. I’ll go to pick up Uncle Wu Su then."

You Jin also admired, "Xiao Heng, when I used to call Uncle Wu Su for work, I could never get through. Now I can contact him easily—it’s indeed because Uncle Wu Su was very diligent at work when he was in office."

Wu Heng twitched his mouth. The butler, who loafed around all day, was just grumbling to himself that his boss was an old bastard.

Wu Heng checked the time. First, he did a set of exam papers sent to him by the teachers of Jiaming No.1 High School. The medical hall had bought a printer, so he printed out the electronic version and worked on it himself.

After roughly correcting it, Wu Heng opened his phone to start a live broadcast.

As soon as the live stream started, Chen Ying and her husband immediately started showering him with gifts.

Chen Ying had a dream where she couldn’t see Nie Wei in the foggy dream, but she knew it was her.

Nie Wei mentioned that the trial would start in a few days, and the defense lawyer said the situation in the living world was pretty grim. The rural land provided nourishment for them to become fierce ghosts, and as fierce ghosts, they lost their rationality and devoured other ghosts. They were hoping to get their sentence reduced.

The defense lawyer was arranged by Dr. Wu Heng through a yin emissary.

Upon waking up, Chen Ying thought about how to thank Wu Heng, and as soon as he started streaming, she went all out sending gifts, quickly becoming the top donor.

Even Wu Heng’s birthday gift was sent out via express delivery.

Wu Heng first thanked Chen Ying for her gifts, then said, "Today’s another free clinic day. I’ll be consulting until dark. If you need help, please request a connection."

There were babies crying non-stop, people who couldn’t stop shivering, and those who had been suffering from insomnia for half a year. All sorts of illnesses came flooding in, but Wu Heng calmly consulted and sent prescriptions privately.

"Did everyone notice? This time, a lot of the cases are tied to evil illnesses, all somewhat tainted by evil energy."

"+1, last time, half of them were just messing around. I still remember the guy who turned green from his dyed underwear, which made me laugh so hard. This time, everyone who connected got exorcism medicine, and there was even a woman who ran into a ghost out of nowhere."

"Wait, is the supernatural really making a comeback? Can we stop it from coming back? I just want to live a peaceful life."

"From this perspective, the Yang-boosting vaccine still works. None of the patients who connected for exorcism this time had taken that vaccine. I hope I’m up soon."

"+1, can we stop it before it starts? If they really come out, I bet we’ll be the ones to suffer."

Wu Heng took a sip of water and then put up over three thousand handmade masks for sale. The camera shifted to a young woman with pale skin, sporting a neat black short haircut with two cute hairpins, wearing a goose-yellow cotton jacket.

"Hello, Dr. Wu... sorry, my phone’s been acting up with the signal lately," came the woman’s intermittent voice.

Wu Heng’s gaze slightly paused, and he put down his teacup, saying, "Let me fix the connection."

Unfortunately, Shi Xuan hadn’t finished school yet, so Wu Heng had to take his wrist guard to set up a formation and adjust the network.

"Huh? What’s going on? Why did it turn into black and white?"

"Em... I’m a family member of a passenger from the last G4044. Seeing this quality, I have a bad feeling."

"This lady looks so pale, she seems so worn out."

"I remembered Mrs. Tang Xueshan..."

Wu Heng glanced at the comment section and said, "She’s only twenty-five, no need for you twenty-year-olds to call her ‘auntie.’"

Instantly, the netizens in the live stream were shocked. She didn’t look twenty-five; some would believe she was forty.

The woman on the other side quickly cheered up, coughing a few times from a cold breeze, and said, "The network is back, and it’s quite smooth."

Wu Heng asked, "What’s the illness?"

The young woman was silent for a while, then said, "Dr. Wu, what illness I have doesn’t matter anymore. I just want to ask you..."

The woman hesitated, seemingly finding it hard to speak, unsure how to phrase it.

Just as the netizens were getting anxious, the woman finally spoke, "The news reported that the drone show in the capital city was you lighting a life-extending sky lantern for Professor Zhao. I want to know if there’s a way to live longer."

Wu Heng, extremely sensitive, asked, "What news?"

The young woman thought she would be mocked by netizens for being a young girl who dared to ask, or scrutinized for not having enough money to do such a thing, but Wu Heng asked about the news.

"It's from the official news."

At that time, the overwhelming publicity was all about Professor Zhao Qingyun being blessed by heaven, extending his life by thirteen years.

"??? Which media outlet reported this? Isn't this all just rumors and speculation?"

"Although Dr. Wu was indeed awarded one million by the authorities afterward, it wasn't explicitly stated that it was for extending Zhao's life, right? Even now, there hasn't been any public acknowledgment of a supernatural resurgence."

"This lady... oh no, this young girl, where did she get this fake news? But... Professor Zhao is truly a pillar of the nation; how can she make such a request?"

The woman continued, "I'm a teacher at Hezipo Town Middle School. I feel like my body is failing, but my students are taking the college entrance exam next June. I... want to know if there's a way for me to last until June."

The New Year is in early February, which is less than half a year away.

Zhou Fenghua is a young female teacher at Hezipo Town Middle School, just twenty-five years old this year. She used to be youthful and beautiful, loving to dress up and wear high heels, but for some reason, she has aged rapidly, now looking like a middle-aged woman in her forties. She is a local of Hezipo Town and joined the town's middle school after completing her studies.

Hezipo Town Middle School is the best school in town, with both male and female students. Some come from wealthier families who do business in town, while others are from the mountain villages.

She teaches English and has a class of sixty students. However, being young, she easily gets along with her students, who affectionately call her 'Sister Zhou.'

She's been feeling unwell recently, and her students have urged her to see a doctor more than a hundred times, especially Zhou Yi from the neighboring class, who had a supernatural experience and scared the school by jumping off a building. He seriously advised her to go to Chengde Medical Hall for a check-up. But she had to grade papers, so she opted for an online consultation.

Upon hearing 'Hezipo Town Middle School,' Dr. Wu asked, "Did Zhou Yi send you?"

Zhou Fenghua nodded.

Dr. Wu nodded to himself. The name Zhou Yi was given by his grandfather. Now, after spending so much time with him, he has probably become sensitive to these matters and immediately suggested that the teacher seek medical advice.

Zhou Fenghua smiled bitterly and said, "Dr. Wu, am I being too presumptuous?"

Dr. Wu shook his head and instead asked, "Teacher Zhou, why do you feel like your body is failing?"

Zhou Fenghua didn't know why she had this thought, but recently the idea has grown stronger. "I can smell a very strong stench on me. When I sit at my desk grading papers, insects often crawl on me and gnaw at me. I'm always tired and sleepy, wanting to close my eyes and never open them again."

Dr. Wu asked, "What kind of stench?"

Zhou Fenghua described, "Dead mice, the stench of dozens of dead mice after being blown by the winter wind."

"Isn't this description a bit exaggerated? If it's so strong, wouldn't everyone around smell it? This isn't just simple body odor."

"People who are afraid of insects would go crazy. The words this female teacher used—gnawing, not biting—gave me chills."

"I'm a forensic doctor, and this description sounds a bit off. Maybe I'm being too sensitive."

"This lady seems off, looks more serious than those who accidentally got involved with evil spirits during the previous free clinic, right? Don't scare me, Hengheng, can you give a warning in advance? Is this a ghost woman?"

Dr. Wu used to give early warnings when encountering serious dangers, telling those with weak fate or conflicting zodiac signs to leave the live stream.

Dr. Wu said, "Teacher Zhou is not a ghost."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but then Dr. Wu added, "Nor is she human."

Instantly, the live stream's comment section was filled with question marks. If she's not human, isn't she a ghost? How can she be neither human nor ghost?

Su Dayi, who had just returned from a run, came over and said, 'A spirit?'

Su Dayi glanced and laughed, 'Not a spirit either, this is a person.'

In front of a fox spirit skilled in illusions, the disguises of other spirits are just minor tricks.

"Wu Heng, Wu Heng, do you think I've lost weight?" Su Dayi, not paying attention to the patient in the live stream, proudly stuck out her waist like a gas tank.

She believed she had lost weight by taking diet pills and exercising hard! Although she didn't really want to work out, she was afraid that Wu Heng might stop prescribing diet pills in the future, so she forced herself to run.

Seeing that Wu Heng ignored her, Su Dayi trotted over to You Jin and whispered, "You Jin, could you buy me a body fat scale?"

You Jin, puzzled, pointed to the scale at the entrance of the clinic, "There's already an electronic scale here."

It was specially bought by the Village Chief for the clinic, which could not only weigh but also measure height, super handy.

Su Dayi dared not step on it because the scale would announce her weight out loud, she hummed twice, "I’m talking about a body fat scale, not just a regular scale... forget it, I'll ask Zhang Dayong to buy one for me!"

In the black and white footage, Zhou Fenghua was having a hard time accepting it, not quite understanding what Wu Heng meant, "Dr. Wu, what do you mean, neither human nor ghost? Sss—"

Zhou Fenghua didn't notice, a huge black and red bug had bitten her wrist hard, she yelped in pain and flung it away, tearing off a layer of loose skin, revealing the flesh and blood inside.

"Whoa, that freaked me out! How did such a big bug suddenly appear and bite? Is it just because we’re in the countryside? But my town doesn't have that many bugs."

"Are there any entomology experts here? What kind of bug is this? Is it venomous? Should we go to the hospital immediately, or can Dr. Wu detoxify online?"

"I know my bugs, but the footage was too quick, I'm not sure, but... but if it's the bug I'm thinking of, that can’t be possible, right?"

"Same, I think I’m hallucinating."

Wu Heng explained, "This bug is called a burying beetle, it specializes in eating carrion, a forensic scientist’s best friend."

Everyone was shocked, starting to catch Wu Heng’s drift.

Seeing Zhou Fenghua stunned and knowing she wouldn't believe it, Wu Heng added, "Teacher Zhou, if you’re okay with it, I’ll teach you a pain-relief spell, now take a pair of tweezers, I'll show you how to do it."

Zhou Fenghua immediately went to the office to get a steel tweezer, disinfected it as Wu Heng instructed, and then heard Wu Heng directly teach the pain-relieving spell in the live stream.

"?? This time it's not a private chat, teaching it live on stream? Can we use it too?"

"I’m in labor right now, on my way to the hospital to give birth, I want to ask if this pain-relieving spell can be used by pregnant women? Although I can get an epidural, it still hurts like crazy before that!"

"Is this just a one-time thing? So it doesn't matter if it's spread in the live stream? Or can everyone use it?"

Wu Heng smiled, "Everyone can use it, this is also one of the ancient Zhu You techniques, silently reciting this spell can ease the pain, but not 100%. And there's a premise, don't use it unless absolutely necessary, messing around with this might make it stop working for you in the future, it must be used with reverence."

"Ahhh thank you Dr. Wu, I don’t know if it’s in my head, but my cramps aren’t as bad after saying it."

"If it works, that's fine, not 100% is okay, I didn’t pay a dime and now I’ve got this spell, why demand so much."

"Got it, then I won't try it randomly now, thank you! This method is just casually revealed, then I'll send a small gift."

"This doesn’t seem like a good sign, Dr. Wu publicly teaching a pain-relieving spell to everyone, isn't it preparing for something in the future?"

Wu Heng looked at Zhou Fenghua, signaling her to start.

Zhou Fenghua silently recited the pain-relieving spell taught by Wu Heng, closed her eyes, and with the steel tweezer, she poked into her own flesh, she could clearly feel the slender tweezer entering her flesh, but there was only slight pain, and something alive seemed to be gently twisting inside her arm.

Wu Heng sternly said, "Hold it tight, don't let go, pull it out directly."

Zhou Fenghua immediately pulled the tweezer outward, and a maggot wrapped in dirty blood and sticky saliva was seen wildly shaking in the tweezer.

"Ahhh my god, I'm most afraid of bugs, goodbye I'm out of here."

"I'm a forensic scientist, from her symptoms earlier, plus this maggot, this is a walking dead body."

"That freaked me out. I’ve never seen a maggot up close before."

"A maggot? There’s a maggot... inside me?" Zhou Fenghua’s steel clamp fell to the ground with a crisp sound as she gaped in shock at the maggot crawling toward her.

How could there be maggots inside a living person’s body?

What was she? She wasn’t alive.

"*Am I*... a ghost?"

Wu Heng shook his head and said, "You’re a living corpse."