The years I was in the human world

"Oh my god, how cruel! The head and body are no longer in the same place."

"It seems to have happened last night. I don't know who did it. Everyone in the inn died."

"Last night? I didn't hear anything. How could someone be so stealthy?"

"That's right. The night watchman, Old Chen, has passed by here countless times, but he never found it."

"Old Chen? Isn't he crazy? His shit and urine are all over his pants, and he keeps shouting 'there are ghosts, there are ghosts.'"

"I'm afraid he went crazy because of what he witnessed at the inn last night?"

"Who knows..."

……

Lu Zhouxue wanted to go back to the inn with Xiao Fengzhuo to see what was going on, but before she got close, she saw the inn was filled with people who came to watch the fun. They poked their heads in and talked among themselves.

Seeing this, Lu Zhouxue frowned, having a bad feeling. He subconsciously pulled the brim of his hat closer and pulled a man who was watching the excitement outside to ask, "Excuse me, big brother, what happened?"

The man was dressed in coarse linen clothes and had broad shoulders and a strong waist. He seemed to be a cook who did heavy work and was a carefree person. Lu Zhouxue didn't find it strange that he was dressed that way. After all, it was not surprising that all kinds of people came and went in Rongcheng, a cold and bitter place on the border.

When Lu Zhouxue asked him, he just looked him up and down, and without thinking too much, he said, "What else could it be? Someone died last night. I heard that everyone in the inn was torn apart overnight. Now the immortals from the hall are investigating inside."

"Immortals..." Lu Zhouxue seemed to be thinking about something, remembering the group of people from Jiang Ling whom she had seen in front of the pork stall earlier. She thought that Baili Changqing and his group had arrived, so she asked, "Are you from Zhongting?"

"Yes, it's Zhongting." The man clenched his fist and clapped his palms, but soon he started mumbling again. His voice was not loud, but it was loud enough for Lu Zhouxue to hear clearly. He said, "It's just that this immortal is talking nonsense. Instead of catching the murderer, he is looking for some evil spirit. In my opinion, this matter should be reported to the government. Only the Lord of Heaven will know the result."

"Government?" Lu Zhouxue had a confused look on his face. It was not that he didn't know about the government, but this Rong City looked a little strange. He didn't expect that it was still based on the ordinary human system and relied on the government to manage the city?

"Yes, the City Lord has specially set up a government office on West Street. We can report any grievances to the authorities. That's why, although our Rong City is a bit remote and desolate, we can still live and work in peace and contentment." The man said this with a face full of gratitude and admiration, and his words were full of support and recognition for the "City Lord."

Lu Zhouxue exchanged a glance with the black cat in her arms, and then asked tentatively, "Is your 'madam of the city lord' a 'Li Lanyin'?"

"How can you call the Queen by her name?" The man frowned unhappily at Lu Zhouxue, obviously dissatisfied with the disrespect shown in his words when he mentioned "the Queen of the City Lord".

Lu Zhouxue: “…”

After saying a few perfunctory words to the man, he walked away with Xiao Fengzhuo in his arms, squeezing through the crowd to a place where he could see clearly what was going on in the inn but not attract attention, and quietly watched the fun.

The situation in the inn was almost exactly as the man had described. The tables and chairs in the lobby were scattered about, blood was everywhere, and the headless corpses were piled together. Although it was a little cooler in autumn, there were still many corpses, and flies were buzzing around them.

Baili Changqing was directing his disciples to deal with the scene, some were collecting evidence, some were cleaning up the bodies. He himself was walking around the inn as if he was aware of something, as if he had noticed the arrangements Lu Zhouxue had made last night.

The two people outside had a panoramic view of the situation in the inn. Just by taking a casual look, they realized that something was wrong. Before Lu Zhouxue could say anything, Xiao Fengzhuo said, "Mianmian, look at that corpse. Does it look like the corpse you and I piled up to burn last night?"

Lu Zhouxue frowned slightly, and seemed confused about the situation in front of him. Just as Xiao Fengzhuo said, the corpses piled up in the lobby of the inn were indeed the corpses that he had sent paper figures to pile together last night. He had intended to burn them with the fire talisman, but because there was a soul attached to them, they looked like living people, so he just simply suppressed them.

But similarly, those corpses were moving rotten corpses at the beginning. He first cut off their heads with willow leaves, and then revealed their true faces under the mirror in the hall. But now it is daytime, why do the pile of corpses that should have been suppressed by the human head wind chimes and not exposed to the public appear in this appearance?

Lu Zhouxue's palms were covered with cold sweat, and he was hesitant when he spoke to Xiao Fengzhuo: "Azhuo, you and I were blinded by the hanged ghost last night, did you mistake a living person for a living person?"

When he did it last night, he was convinced of what he saw and heard, but now that a night had passed and the scene before him was beyond his expectations, he began to doubt whether he had accidentally killed someone last night because he had been deceived. After all, there were fresh corpses piled there, so he had to doubt it.

"No." Xiao Fengzhuo said firmly. His calm attitude unconsciously made the shaken Lu Zhouxue firm. He bit Lu Zhouxue's finger gently, without using any force, but it made the man lower his head and look at him with a puzzled look, then raised his hand and pinched his face: "What are you doing?"

"Don't doubt your own eyes. A skull that has been soaked in blood-refined tea can't be fake." Xiao Fengzhuo said. At this time, Baili Changqing broke the paper figurine that Lu Zhouxue had placed in the corner of the inn and found the human head wind chime from the corner of the inn. There were tea stains on the snow-white skull from being soaked in blood-refined tea, which made it look even more evil.

Wei Ruge also followed suit and found the paper figurines and Buddhist beads that Lu Zhouxue had arranged in the four corners of the inn. He placed all the things in front of Baili Changqing with a serious look on his face: "Master, we found these. They look like some kind of evil sacrificial formation."

Baili Changqing looked at the human head wind chime in his hand and frowned in thought for a while. He really couldn't tell what kind of formation it was. He handed the skull to Wei Ruge and told him, "You can't tell what it is for now, so keep it for now."

“Yes.” Wei Ruge responded in a low voice, and put the human head wind chime, several Buddhist beads and paper figures into his storage ring. He remembered something and said, “Master, when counting the number of deaths, I found that there was a suspicious person on the check-in list last night.”

"Oh?" Baili Changqing looked over when he heard that.

"Most of the people staying at the inn are outsiders, and their identities are hard to confirm, but this year-end..." Wei Ruge spread out the list of names kept by the innkeeper and pointed at the pseudonym used by Lu Zhouxue. "My disciple accidentally heard a traveling merchant mention him, and he seems to be a demon who specializes in sinister activities."

"I, your disciple, have also seen all the bodies in the inn. There is no Taoist priest among them."

After listening to Wei Ruge's guess, Baili Changqing thought for a moment and then said, "Can you still find the traveling merchant?"

"can."

"Well, go find the traveling merchant. No matter whether the Taoist Sui Mo is the murderer or not, find him first." Baili Changqing ordered, but his eyes fell on the innkeeper's record list, which showed the check-in records for the past six months. But just in these two days, the number of guests suddenly reached full, which meant an overall increase in the number of outsiders in the entire Rong City.

It happened that at the moment when he decided to reinvestigate the old case in Dongshan, Baili Changqing did not think this was a coincidence, but he did not tell anyone else.

As for Lu Zhouxue and the other person outside the inn, they had left quietly as soon as Baili Changqing found the human head wind chime. After all, he was still dressed as a demon. If Baili Changqing saw him, he would be in trouble again.

But even though he left, he still had doubts about what happened in the inn. He was worried and unconsciously stroked the fur of the black cat in his arms. When he touched the back, he found a dent. He looked down and found that there was a bald spot there, but Xiao Fengzhuo had covered it up with a trick: "Why is it bald?"

Xiao Fengzhuo did not respond to Lu Zhouxue's mumbling. He just sighed in his heart, thinking that this guy was still bothered by the fact that he might have accidentally killed someone. "Ancient books record a kind of evil magic. Mortals who want to live forever but cannot cultivate immortality will deceive the way of heaven through some kind of sacrificial activities, so that they enter a state of neither life nor death. During the day, they are no different from ordinary people, but at night they will become rotting corpses."

"Although I'm not sure whether the people in the inn have become like this because of evil magic, but if you look into it in detail, they are definitely not living people." Xiao Fengzhuo turned his head to look at Lu Zhouxue, his amber cat eyes full of gentleness and tranquility. He said this out of concern for Lu Zhouxue, and he sincerely hoped that the latter would not blame himself.

Lu Zhouxue suddenly understood the deep meaning in the amber-eyed kitten's eyes. He lowered his head and gently rubbed Xiao Fengzhuo's furry forehead: "Thank you, Azhuo." As for the reason for thanking him, the two of them understood it tacitly and there was no need to make it clear.

The kitten narrowed its eyes, and suddenly spoke with a smile: "Since you want to thank me, why not put it into action?"

"Hmm? What does Ah Zhuo want?" Lu Zhouxue looked at him curiously, her cold and beautiful face looking particularly innocent at this moment.

"I'm afraid Baili Changqing has already thought of 'Sui Miao'. Does Mianmian really want to show off like this?" Xiao Fengzhuo didn't mention how Lu Zhouxue should thank him. Instead, he started to talk about his identity. Lu Zhouxue didn't know what he was up to, so she had to listen to him in silence. "A demon Taoist holding a black cat, this feature is very obvious."

"So?" Lu Zhouxue hesitated. For some reason, he saw ill intentions in the cute cat's face. He felt that Xiao Fengzhuo was setting a trap for him.

"You and I might as well change our clothes and hide our identities to save a lot of trouble." Xiao Fengzhuo calmly stated his purpose, "After all, you and I are still staying in Rongcheng. I guess the female ghost will come to collect the debt tonight. If we change our appearance, she won't be able to find us."

"So the female ghost looks for people based on their attire?" Lu Zhouxue looked at Xiao Fengzhuo suspiciously, but the latter looked at him without any guilt. In the end, Lu Zhouxue gave in first and said in a compromising tone, "What are you going to do?"

……

A woman in a black dress and a cold face was strolling along the long street with a beautiful boy with a cold temperament. The woman had a western face, a tall figure, and charming eyes, like a proud cat. Although she was dressed simply, she could not hide the Loulan style at all.

The young man looked exactly like a young man from a noble family in the Central Plains, but he was wearing a set of gorgeous silk and satin made in the Western Regions. His arms and most of his back were exposed, with only his chest covered by intricate gauze. The gold ornaments on his wrists and ankles jingled when he walked, causing many people to turn their heads and stop to stare.

Xiao Fengzhuo stared at the exposed back of Lu Zhouxue and hissed, feeling like he was shooting himself in the foot: "Mianmian, I suddenly feel that the clothes you are wearing may not be appropriate."

Lu Zhouxue turned around and looked at him with a half-smile, "Isn't this the one you carefully selected? Why, do you regret it?"

It's no wonder that Lu Zhouxue had this attitude. When Xiao Fengzhuo took out such a set of clothes, he knew that this guy with bad intentions was trying to tease him, so he immediately calmed down and put on the clothes. In fact, it was nothing big. Who would have thought that Xiao Fengzhuo would regret it so quickly.

"I don't regret it." Xiao Fengzhuo said, and took out the cloak for Lu Zhouxue to put on again. While tying the ribbon of the cloak for him, he said nonchalantly, "Even if you wear this dress, if some scoundrel shows up, I'm afraid I will have to protect you."

"Why, have you been wronged by protecting me?" Lu Zhouxue looked up at him. Xiao Fengzhuo's appearance was really good. Even in his female form, he was still incredibly beautiful. "Hmm? Little Sister Su."

"Xiao Su" is the alias Xiao Fengzhuo gave himself. When he saw the young Lu Zhouxue, he felt playful and immediately changed into a woman, coaxing Lu Zhouxue into calling him "Sister Xiao Su."

"How can I feel wronged when I protect my Mianmian?" Xiao Fengzhuo pinched Lu Zhouxue's nose and laughed out loud. His voice was still male after the transformation, just a little more feminine, but his laugh was very pleasant. He lowered his eyes to look at the well-behaved boy, and suddenly took out a string of candied haws, "Here, eat."

"Where did you get it?" Although he was very surprised, Lu Zhouxue still took it. The red hawthorn was wrapped in a layer of honey. Somehow, he thought of the red jade hairpin that Xiao Fengzhuo gave him. Suddenly, he couldn't bear to eat it, so he wanted to put it away and hide it.

"Just eat it." Xiao Fengzhuo still smiled, and reached out to gently pat Lu Zhouxue's head. His eyes curved into crescents, and he whispered very softly, "Good boy, Mianmian."

"Hmm?" Xiao Fengzhuo said the latter sentence very quietly. Lu Zhouxue didn't hear it clearly. She looked up at him in confusion. He was still eating hawthorn in his mouth, and his cheeks moved like a white rabbit chewing grass.

Xiao Fengzhuo chuckled and laughed even more happily. Lu Zhouxue became more and more confused, but he said nothing. He just shook his head and looked at Lu Zhouxue softly: "Eat, and then we will go to the city gate. Aren't you curious about those two guards?"

Lu Zhouxue nodded, thinking of the strange things that happened when she used spiritual energy to investigate in the morning, and slowly finished eating the candied haws.