Those two coffin bearers completely ignored my reminder, still sitting in the back seat with a confident and steady posture.

Zhu Zi's face darkened instantly. He turned around and threw a punch at the two of them.

"Damn it, trying to take advantage of me? Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. Anyway, someone's dealing with Zhao Jianjun. As long as Zhao Jianjun is taken down, you'll be safe, and you don't need to think about ways to save your lives. Damn it, I hired bodyguards at a great cost, why should I let you two bastards benefit?"

White Face and Mole Man were caught off guard and immediately sported a pair of panda eyes each. They instantly turned hostile, asking Zhu Zi what he wanted to do. Just because they called him "Big Brother" didn't mean he could get carried away. They were all in the business of dealing with the dead; who was afraid of whom?

"Get out!" Zhu Zi roared, a murderous aura emanating from him.

The Mole Man wanted to argue, but White Face quickly stopped him: "Forget it, don't bother with them. Let's just get out of the car."

The Mole Man was stunned: "Get out of the car? Then—"

"It's okay, listen to me." Without further explanation, White Face pulled the Mole Man out of the car.

Zhu Zi, still furious, spat several times out of the car window before starting the car with a curse.

I reminded him to concentrate on driving and pay attention to traffic safety, or else he'd die in a car accident and waste a good book.

Zhu Zi took a few deep breaths, stopped talking, and stared intently at the road ahead, driving in silence.

It was already ten o'clock at night when we entered the village. Perhaps because of the consecutive deaths in the village these past few days, every household had closed their doors and locked them, turning off their lights early.

Our car drove along the small road in the village, and the only area we could see was the limited area illuminated by the headlights.

Zhu Zi said that they had already searched Zhao Jianjun's house and Zhao Tian's house during the day, inside and out, but they hadn't found Zhao Jianjun's body. Therefore, Zhu Zi guessed that Zhao Jianjun was hiding in Zhao's old house.

The old house was an adobe house built when Zhao Tian's grandfather married his wife. It was located on the far west side of the village, and there were many dilapidated houses and courtyards in that area, all from about the same era. No one lived there anymore, and some had already collapsed. Usually, no one went there, and the grass on the road was waist-high, making it a good hiding place.

I nodded in agreement with Zhu Zi's statement and told him to drive directly to the adobe house area. The old village alleys were narrow, and the car couldn't drive in, so the two of us had to get out of the car and walk with flashlights.

After walking for a while, we saw a person squatting in the middle of the road not far ahead. The area below the waist was whitish, and we couldn't see clearly from a distance. It looked like someone was squatting in the bushes in the middle of the road taking a dump.

Zhu Zi had sharp eyes and recognized San'er squatting in the bushes at a glance.

"Damn it, didn't this kid say he couldn't rely on me and was going to find an expert on his own? Why is he squatting here again? He's just afraid Zhao Jianjun won't kill him."

I adjusted the focus of the flashlight and shined it at San'er in front: "He doesn't have to be afraid anymore. The dead don't know fear."

"What, he's dead?" Zhu Zi's face showed exaggerated surprise, and it looked fake no matter how I looked at it, probably because his expression was too exaggerated.

"Does he look like a living person to you right now?" I replied with a cold face.

Zhu Zi kept shaking his head and sighing, and there seemed to be remorse in his eyes.

I didn't say anything and walked towards San'er. I patted him from behind, and San'er fell to the ground, with bluish-black handprints on his neck.

"Are they the same as the bald guy's neck?" I asked Zhu Zi.

Zhu Zi squatted down to check. I clearly saw his eyes darting around, but he quickly blinked and told me: "The same. He should have been strangled to death by Zhao Jianjun as well. He really didn't become deaf, but he became a dead man. Shopkeeper Wan, do you think he made the wrong choice? Should he have chosen to be deaf like Gouzi, so he wouldn't have died?"

"Whether he chose right or wrong, the choice has already been made. There's no regret medicine in this world. Which one is the Zhao family's old house?" I walked past the body towards the front.

"It's right ahead."

Zhu Zi stood up and planned to lead the way for me, but as soon as he was about to step forward, he suddenly tripped. He turned his head and saw San'er's body reaching out a hand, tightly grabbing Zhu Zi's ankle, and a hoarse friction sound came from his throat: "It's all your fault!"

Zhu Zi was in the business of dealing with the dead and had some skills. He pulled out a talisman and slapped it on San'er's face. His movements were clean and swift, without any hesitation.

Then, a stream of black water gushed out of San'er's throat, and his face quickly withered and collapsed, as if it had been drained by something.

Zhu Zi pulled back his leg and hid behind me, finally showing a panicked expression: "Wh-what's going on? Wasn't he already dead?"

"Although the person is dead, the thoughts haven't dissipated. Seeing people or things related to their obsessions in life will cause the body to react instinctively. You've been in this business for so long, even if you haven't seen it, you should have heard of it. You can't possibly not know, right?" I said with a cold face.

Of course, Zhu Zi heard the implication in my words and retorted directly: "What do you mean by that? He just grabbed my leg. Are you implying that I'm the cause of his obsession? Are you suspecting that I killed him? I've been with you all this time. I haven't seen him since he left the coffin shop. How could I have time to come here and kill someone?"

I just gave Zhu Zi a blank look: "I didn't say you killed him, but you are indeed the cause of his obsession. As for why, only you know. Also, you're the one who said he was San'er. I don't know any San'er or Si'er. He does look a bit like that kid I met in the coffin shop, but people are already dead like this. How would I know if they're the same person?"

Zhu Zi snorted, too lazy to argue with me anymore. He just reminded me that I had accepted his benefits and had to do what I said and protect his safety.

I said, "Don't worry, Wan Qian has always been a man of his word."

The two of us continued to walk forward and pushed open the Zhao family's old wooden door. The stench of blood immediately rushed out. Directly in front of the door, a corpse was hanging upside down. It had been dead for a long time, and its face had been slashed to pieces, but you could still see the big mole on the left side of its cheek.

The Mole Man was already dead here, so who was the person I saw in Second Aunt's coffin shop?

The adobe house had a total of three rooms. The stench of blood in the rooms on the left and right was also very strong, so there should be corpses there as well.

On the shrine in the main room was a dusty statue of a god. I didn't know which god it was specifically, but judging from the smoky traces next to the shrine, it had been worshiped for a long time. It should be some kind of deity that specifically protected the coffin bearers.

The old house leaked rain, and the rain had washed the face of the statue several times, making it look like it was covered in tears. Zhu Zi stood in front of the statue, his hands beginning to tremble uncontrollably.