IBGSW Chapter 141
Someone Has Gone Missing
The moment Zhao Fusheng's question left her mouth, Zhuang Laoqi, who a moment ago had looked so blank and wooden, shuddered violently from head to toe and collapsed backward onto the floor in terror.
Now everyone in the Demon-Suppression Bureau could see it: something had truly gone wrong in Zhuang Family Village, out in Wulidian.
"..."
Magistrate Pang's smug look froze on his face.
"Don't tell me another case has broken out?" he asked in alarm.
Zhao Fusheng turned to Zhuang Laoqi, kneeling on the floor, and smiled.
"Looks like there's a case. What I can't tell yet is whether it's a human calamity or a ghost calamity—"
When she said "human calamity," Zhuang Laoqi looked only a little frightened and managed to stay fairly steady. But the instant she said "ghost calamity," his body trembled without stopping and his face went deathly pale.
After that, Zhao Fusheng didn't need to ask anything more. Everyone knew.
Zhang Chuanshi took one look and scrambled backward, not daring to push forward again. The Fan brothers didn't dare make a sound either, and Wu Shaochun was uneasy, though he held himself together.
The calmest person in the room, strangely enough, was Magistrate Pang, who used to quake at the very words "ghost calamity."
That was the confidence Zhao Fusheng had given him.
Whenever a ghost calamity struck Wan'an County, Zhao Fusheng went to it herself. She was the first commanding officer in the Great Han willing to shoulder such burdens. She didn't shove people toward their deaths, and she didn't use the crisis to extort donations from everyone and leave them begging. It was as if, with her sitting here, Magistrate Pang felt he could sleep soundly.
"It seems I don't need to ask further. A ghost calamity has broken out in Zhuang Family Village," Zhao Fusheng said.
"A ghost calamity?"
Gou Laosi was thoroughly caught off guard by this. "Zhuang Family Village is really haunted?"
He whipped his head around to look at his cousin. He'd expected Zhuang Laoqi to protest, but instead he saw his cousin's face gone blue-white, nearly convulsing with fear. Gou Laosi jolted too, and instinctively shuffled away from him on his knees.
"My lord is truly sharp," said Magistrate Pang.
Now that a ghost calamity had been confirmed, his expression turned grave.
Since the Ghost Mausoleum disaster, Wan'an County had enjoyed a rare month of quiet, the most peaceful stretch since the ghost fog first appeared. The county town had finally regained a bit of life, and with Zhao Fusheng sitting in the bureau, everyone had let their guard down.
In those precious days of calm, Magistrate Pang had forgotten that the ghost fog still hung over the county, and that its presence made malignant ghosts far more likely to revive.
Luckily Zhao Fusheng was sharp. From a scuffle between two menial workers, she had caught the first trace of a malignant ghost.
Wulidian wasn't far from Wan'an's county town. If a ghost calamity had broken out there and anyone grew careless, and the ghost advanced in rank, the consequences could be beyond control.
Magistrate Pang felt a lingering dread. He rose, bowed, and sat quietly to one side.
With the case confirmed, Zhao Fusheng's face turned stern, and she called out:
"Zhuang Laoqi. What exactly has happened in Zhuang Family Village?"
Zhuang Laoqi's eyes darted about. Clearly he didn't want to talk.
Zhao Fusheng had no patience to waste words on him. She glanced at Fan Wujiu, who understood at once. He stepped forward looking like a ferocious demon, hauled the man up by the collar, and drove two fists into his belly with a dull thud, thud.
"..."
Fan Wujiu was big and strong and hit hard. After those two blows, Zhuang Laoqi was drenched in sweat, curled up on the floor like a wounded shrimp.
"You should be glad I haven't had the bureau's torture chamber put back in order since I took charge. I'm giving you one chance to tell it now. Refuse, and you'll talk after a proper session of torture instead."
Zhao Fusheng looked coldly down at the man sprawled on the floor.
"I'll— I'll talk, I'll talk—"
Zhuang Laoqi retched up a puddle of yellow fluid. At the mention of torture, he had no courage left to resist.
This lord of the Demon-Suppression Bureau seemed gentle and easygoing, yet her mood could turn on you in an instant. And the moment a ghost case came up, she showed a ruthless, cold side that left Zhuang Laoqi trembling.
"Have mercy, my lord! Actually, actually I can't say for sure, it's just lately, lately lots of people in our village have gone out and then disappeared—"
He wailed as he spoke.
These words were the fear he had kept buried inside. Something had stopped him from saying them before, but now, driven by Zhao Fusheng's pressure, once he started, a mix of terror and relief spread across his face.
Gou Laosi stared at him in disbelief.
Once Zhuang Laoqi got going, he needed no more prodding and spoke plainly:
"About seven or eight days ago, for some reason our village got dark early, then a thick fog rose in the morning and the day wouldn't brighten for the longest time. The old folks all said it was unnatural."
These country villagers didn't know what such oddities meant. He only thought the fog in the village was strange. But to the ears of the bureau's people, it was a bad omen. They all knew it probably meant a ghost domain had formed.
"..."
Fan Bisi and Fan Wujiu exchanged a look, both speechless.
Magistrate Pang had been through a ghost domain himself and knew how terrifying they were. Hearing this, he gave up any hope that this might not be a ghost case.
Zhuang Laoqi, still unaware of what the bureau's people were thinking, went on:
"After that, people from the village kept leaving, one after another. Once they went, they never came back. It had everyone in a panic."
He told it with no beginning and no end, and Fan Wujiu's hot temper couldn't stand it. He balled his fist.
"Tell it in more detail!"
"Have mercy, my lord, have mercy—"
Zhuang Laoqi had been beaten into fear. The moment Fan Wujiu raised a hand, he covered his head with both arms and begged loudly.
"..."
Zhao Fusheng lifted a hand, signaling Fan Wujiu to be quiet.
She could see that Zhuang Laoqi was honest and dull. His expression was blank, his thinking stiff, his reactions slow, and his eyes kept dodging. There was clearly more behind this case.
With someone like this, intimidation and pressure alone wouldn't get any useful clues. Frightened, he'd ramble incoherently and talk in circles. Worse, to avoid a beating he might even go along with whatever lie suited the moment to placate them, just as he had when he was dealing with Magistrate Pang a moment ago.
With that in mind, Zhao Fusheng asked him:
"How did the villagers leave? Did anything strange happen before they went?"
"They just, just packed their bundles and went. Strange things, strange things—"
Zhuang Laoqi thought for a moment.
"I don't know."
"You scoundrel," Magistrate Pang couldn't hold back any longer. "If you don't know, how do you know disaster has struck? You're working away from home yourself. Is it forbidden for other villagers to go out for work?"
"Not for work, not for work! They all went to Kuailiang Village."
The instant he said it, he realized he had slipped. He clapped a hand over his mouth, but it was too late.
"Kuailiang Village?"
Zhao Fusheng's heart sank.
From Zhuang Laoqi's words, it was clear that while she'd thought all was well and peaceful, a ghost calamity had quietly taken root in Wan'an's jurisdiction.
Yet to this day, the chief of the Wulidian precinct that governed it hadn't reported the case to Wan'an County.
Zhuang Laoqi had said the ghost domain appeared seven or eight days ago. That meant a malignant ghost had been rampaging in the county for that long, and for so long there had been not a whisper. It showed that the hearts of the people under Wan'an County were scattered.
She suppressed her anger.
"Tell me more about this Kuailiang Village."
Her tone was calm and her face showed no trace of anger, yet for some reason Zhang Chuanshi felt that her expression was severe, her gaze impossible to meet, and that a terrifying pressure radiated from her.
"This, this—" Zhuang Laoqi mumbled, at a loss, so Magistrate Pang explained in a low voice:
"My lord, Kuailiang Village is one of the villages under Wulidian. It has no outsiders. Nearly everyone is of the Kuai clan. Several hundred years ago, one of their ancestors was a scholar who rose to be an imperial official, and the village is quite well known around Wulidian."
"Kuailiang Village has a sizable population. According to the records, there are close to three hundred people, all related by blood or marriage and very tightly bound."
Magistrate Pang frowned as he spoke of the place.
"They have numbers and clout, and are often hard to deal with. Even the local precinct chief, Zhou Zhihai, has had plenty of headaches over them."
"But they're reasonably law-abiding and pay their taxes every year, so on small matters the authorities could only turn a blind eye," he said.
Now that Zhao Fusheng had a rough picture of Kuailiang Village, she nodded.
She looked at Zhuang Laoqi again.
"How do you know these people went to Kuailiang Village? Seven or eight days ago, when things went wrong in Zhuang Family Village, did anything big happen in the village?"
Zhao Fusheng could tell Zhuang Laoqi was hiding something, and that it concerned something important and not to be touched lightly. If she hadn't opened up his defenses first, a blunt question would only put him on guard.
She came at it sideways, starting from other topics. Zhuang Laoqi's taut nerves loosened. He swallowed and answered:
"Because before they left, they all said so. They said they were going to Kuailiang Village to fetch someone—"
"Seven, seven or eight days ago," he said, and his speech began to stumble again when it came to those days. Zhao Fusheng knew that the source of everything lay on that very day.
This was a ghost case. She didn't back off. She simply stared straight at Zhuang Laoqi.
He didn't want to say it. Gou Laosi grew anxious and bumped him:
"Cousin, what happened seven days ago? Say it!"
"If it's really haunted, you can run off, but your folks are still back at home."
His words made Zhuang Laoqi shudder all over. He too started to panic, and in his confusion he blurted out:
"Seven or eight days ago, Mancai from Kuailiang Village came to report. He came to ask our village chief to help save lives, said something terrible had happened in their village—"
"What terrible thing?"
Zhao Fusheng asked.
Zhuang Laoqi bit his lip again and his eyes flickered.
"He, he didn't say."
Well. Had he not said that, it might have passed. But the moment he did, Zhao Fusheng became certain: when the Kuailiang man came begging for help, he had surely said something. For some reason, though, that had become a secret Zhuang Laoqi felt bound to guard, and it made him cagey about this whole case and unwilling to say more.
She filed that away and didn't press for now. Instead she asked another question:
"All right. Seven or eight days ago, someone from Kuailiang Village came to Zhuang Family Village for help, saying disaster had struck their village. After that, strange things began happening in Zhuang Family Village: the day was slow to break, the night fell early, and there was fog. Is that right?"
"Yes, yes, yes."
Seeing that she hadn't asked about the reason for the plea, Zhuang Laoqi relaxed and nodded repeatedly.
"Then the problem lies in Kuailiang Village."
Zhao Fusheng said:
"It must have been the arrival of the Kuailiang villager that drew in a malignant ghost's marking rule."
When it came to judging and analyzing ghost cases, she had overtaken everyone; even the Fan brothers had nothing to add.
"And afterward, before the villagers of Zhuang Family Village left, you said they took bundles and went to Kuailiang Village," Zhao Fusheng asked again.
This question clearly didn't touch the point he was guarding. He thought, then nodded again.
"Yes."
"How do you know it so clearly?" Zhao Fusheng asked him.
Zhuang Laoqi looked left and right, seeming a bit uncomfortable. It was a good while before he said:
"Because, because these missing people all left one after another within two or three days."
Eight days earlier, after the Kuailiang people came begging for help, the village had been shrouded in strange fog.
After Kuai Mancai, who had come asking for help, left, people from Zhuang Family Village also went home one after another to pack their bundles.
At first no one thought anything of it. They assumed the village chief had given orders for people to go lend a hand.
"Are the two villages on good terms?"
Hearing this, Zhao Fusheng asked again.
Zhuang Laoqi nodded.
"They used to be fine." He began to mumble again, and said no more.
But Gou Laosi, now frightened because a ghost case was involved, saw him trail off and hurriedly took up the thread:
"They're related by marriage. Twenty-some years ago, an aunt of my cousin here, his father's cousin, married into Kuailiang Village, and later, through her introduction, eight years ago, one of his elder cousins was married over there too—"
Before the words were out, Zhuang Laoqi suddenly drove an elbow hard into Gou Laosi.
"Ow!"
Gou Laosi screamed.
Zhuang Laoqi hit hard. The blow caught Gou Laosi in the ribs and knocked him to the ground screaming, in full view of everyone.
Gou Laosi writhed on the floor, groaning, glaring at Zhuang Laoqi, fury kindled by the blow.
Zhao Fusheng's face darkened.
"Drag Zhuang Laoqi out and give him five strokes of the paddle first. As long as he's still breathing, that's enough!"
Anger rose in her.
Fan Bisi answered and called out:
"Men!"
Menial workers of the bureau answered from outside and burst into the room, looking fierce.
Zhuang Laoqi's face went white.
He had only meant to stop his cousin from talking, and never expected such a result.
"Have mercy, my lord—"
"Drag him out!" Zhao Fusheng waved a hand. "If I don't teach him a lesson, he'll go on thinking he can fool heaven and earth."
"This should have been done long ago," Magistrate Pang agreed, nodding. "My lord ought to set up a torture chamber. Some stubborn commoners won't talk, and you have to find a way to pry their mouths open."
"This ghost case involves the safety of countless people in Wan'an County. If one Zhuang Laoqi makes the case spin out of control, killing him would be no great loss."
As soon as Zhao Fusheng finished speaking, the workers seized Zhuang Laoqi and dragged him out.
Before long, screams rang out, followed by the solid thwack of paddles landing on flesh.
A little while later Zhuang Laoqi was dragged back, having soiled himself from the beating.
The men wielding the paddles were recruited menial workers, not real torturers, and Fan Bisi knew Zhao Fusheng only wanted to teach Zhuang Laoqi a lesson so he'd stop hiding things, not beat him to death, so the blows were light.
The five strokes were meant only to make him suffer, not to take his life, so they all landed on his thighs.
Even so, they had frightened him half to death.
"From here on, when I ask, you answer honestly. If you keep dodging and stalling, I'll hand you over to Magistrate Pang for the heavy treatment."
Zhao Fusheng warned him.
Zhuang Laoqi's nerve was broken. Hearing this, he nodded again and again, sobbing:
"I'll confess, I'll confess, I'll tell everything. Ask me anything, I'll answer."
