Chapter 44: Master, did you read something problematic in my physiognomy?

Su Chen felt a tinge of surprise.

From the original owner's memories, he knew that Cuicheng—no, to be precise, the entire country now—exercised extremely strict control over narcotics.

Yet, only a dozen years after opening up, drugs and drug traffickers were already running rampant across the country.

And in Cuicheng, with its countless mountains offering easy hiding spots, the traffickers were even more brazen. Based solely on what the original owner knew, three young men in Liangshan Town had fallen victim to drugs. Not only had their families been completely ruined, but their wives had also divorced them. As for where those men went afterward, the original owner hadn't bothered to pay attention.

It was just that... with Zhao Dongsheng acting like this...

"Brother Zhao, do you have family members who were ruined by that stuff?"

Zhao Dongsheng shook his head, his teeth grinding in sudden fury: "It was my good brother!"

Su Chen nodded.

Understood!

No wonder he harbored such a deep-seated hatred for drugs.

I suppose that good brother of his must have had his entire family destroyed as well.

Sigh~

Just as he was sighing, Zhao Dongsheng started rummaging through the bushes again, before quickly pulling a brick-sized mobile phone out of his backpack.

Su Chen: "!!!"

Wait, was Boss Zhang really that wealthy?

It was one thing for him to own such a massive mobile phone himself, but he even equipped his driver with one?

"Hello, police station? I found some poppy fruit on Mount Long. It's dried fruit, and I suspect there are drug traffickers manufacturing drugs on the mountain."

He actually had a strong sense of justice.

Just like his junior brother from his past life who had set up formations alongside him, completely indifferent to life and death.

Su Chen looked at Zhao Dongsheng with a gaze of appreciation.

However, he soon went back to drawing talismans.

Catching drug traffickers was an urgent matter, but catching ghosts was even more urgent.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye.

Su Chen looked at the cinnabar running low at the bottom of the container and put it away.

"Brother Zhao, let's go. Time to put up the talismans."

He didn't feel at ease leaving Zhao Dongsheng here all by himself.

Once he circled the area dense with yin energy and finished pasting all the talismans in his hand, he heard Zhao Dongsheng ask, "Master, is this considered setting up a formation too?"

"Mhm, the talismans are imbued with my Daoist energy, and they can influence one another when the formation is activated. Just to be safe, we're using a few more talismans today. This is a Spirit-Binding Formation."

Su Chen paused, then chuckled softly: "Well, telling you about formations probably won't mean much to you anyway. I spoke too much."

With that, his expression turned stern as he began forming hand seals with his fingers.

Zhao Dongsheng clearly felt as though the woods before his eyes had shifted slightly, but upon closer inspection, they looked just as they had a moment ago.

He scratched his head, muttering inwardly: "A Spirit-Binding Formation, but in broad daylight, can it really bind a ghost?"

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard Su Chen say, "Done. Now we just wait."

"Huh? Th-that's it?"

Where was the ghost?

Skeptical, Zhao Dongsheng looked over the woods again and scratched his head.

Fine, whatever. A master's ways were naturally out of the ordinary.

Seeing the warm sun hanging high in the sky, Zhao Dongsheng took out some bread and water, handed them to Su Chen, and couldn't help glancing down the mountain again.

Two full hours had passed, why hadn't the police arrived yet?

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Soon, a team of eight plainclothes officers climbed up, panting heavily.

"Captain Zhang, you're leading the team yourself?"

Zhao Dongsheng exchanged pleasantries with the newcomer and pointed to the poppy pods that had been placed aside earlier: "Look, this one was found right here. Afterward, I searched through the bushes and found two more. Come look, there's one over there, and another under those leaves."

"Captain Zhang, these people are getting too brazen. They actually managed to smuggle this stuff in. I'm guessing they might want to manufacture drugs right here in the mountains."

Zhang Ming looked closely and shook his head: "Bringing the fruit versus bringing the finished drugs—which do you think is more convenient, and which makes more money?"

Zhao Dongsheng was stunned by the question.

"Captain Zhang, what do you mean by that...?"

"To my mind, I'm afraid these fruits grew right here in the mountain."

"What?!"

Zhao Dongsheng found it hard to believe: "Are they out of their minds?"

"Hah, have we seen any shortage of crazy people? As long as there's money to be made, people will murder and dismember bodies. Planting something in a remote corner of the mountain is nothing by comparison. Some villages even deliberately have seventy or eighty-year-old elders do the planting, betting on the fact that we won't dare to arrest them."

Zhang Ming irritably pulled out a cigarette, handed it to Zhao Dongsheng, and squinted back toward the mountains in the distance: "Fortunately, there are only two villages inside Mount Long. Even if they want to grow things, they have to go up and down the mountain, so they might run into the villagers. We'll go down to the villages to investigate shortly."

As he spoke, Zhang Ming puckered his lips toward Su Chen and lowered his voice to ask Zhao Dongsheng, "Did you get a new boss, buddy?"

"No, this is a master deeply respected by my boss. The boss sent me to pick up the master and take care of him along the way."

"A master?" Zhang Ming frowned suspiciously. "What kind of master? A master architect?"

He knew Zhang Yugui, who was a contractor and businessman.

Thus, he made that assumption subconsciously.

Zhao Dongsheng waved his hands repeatedly: "No, a master who can catch ghosts."

Pity that Zhang Ming had just lit a cigarette and taken a drag; he choked instantly, coughing violently until his face turned flushed.

Zhao Dongsheng patted him on the back: "Don't get so worked up, Captain Zhang."

Zhang Ming rolled his eyes at him.

Once he caught his breath, he said irritably, "Isn't this obviously a scammer?"

"Shh, shh, shh." Zhao Dongsheng hurriedly covered his mouth.

He glanced back and, seeing that Su Chen was still leisurely eating bread and drinking water, let out a sigh of relief and lowered his voice: "Captain Zhang, there are always people better than you and heavens beyond the heavens. I get that you don't believe in this stuff, but don't slander the Master. He has genuine abilities, not a scam."

Zhang Ming chuckled.

Seeing how nervous Zhao Dongsheng was, however, he patted the latter on the shoulder: "Alright, alright. Near vermin you become red; I understand you've been around Boss Zhang too long and started believing this nonsense. I won't argue with you. A-Qing, we're splitting into two groups. I'm heading to Qingshan Village, and you guys go to Songming Village!"

Lin Qing immediately nodded: "Got it!"

The officers quickly split into teams. Just as they were about to move forward, Zhao Dongsheng spread his arms to block them.

"Wait."

"Old Zhao, if you have something to say, spit it out."

Zhao Dongsheng warned: "You guys can't pass through here. Either you take a detour, or you'll have to wait a while."

"Why?"

"Because... a formation has been set up here."

Zhang Ming surrendered, took a deep breath, and snapped, "You—me—Old Zhao, you know very well there's only this one path entering Mount Long. How do you expect us to take a detour?!"

"Then just wait," Zhao Dongsheng said, turning around to ask hesitantly, "Master, about how much longer until this formation is ready?"

Su Chen asked, "What time is it?"

"It's five minutes past 12."

"Wait another five minutes."

Zhao Dongsheng offered a placating smile to Zhang Ming: "Captain Zhang, just five more minutes. It'll be real quick."

"Fine, exactly five minutes."

Zhang Ming held his breath as he stared at his watch, casting occasional disdainful glances at Su Chen. In the end, unable to let it go, he pulled Zhao Dongsheng aside and asked, "Seriously, why on earth did you two come all the way here to set up some formation and catch ghosts?"

Just as the words left his mouth, A-Qing warned, "Captain Zhang, someone's coming!"

Zhang Ming hurriedly signaled the others to scatter, watching the path below vigilantly as two familiar figures slowly approached.

He blurted out in surprise: "Captain Lin? Why are you here?"

Lin Jingchun looked equally surprised upon seeing him: "Captain Zhang? What are you..."

His gaze falling on Su Chen, Lin Jingchun immediately broke into a trot: "Master! I went to Chunming Street this morning hoping to buy a peace talisman from you, but you weren't there. I was wondering where you'd gone—never expected you'd be up here."

Su Chen nodded at him, though his brows furrowed a moment later.

Lin Jingchun instantly grew alert: "Master, did you spot a problem in my physiognomy?"