Chapter 169: Every Grievance Has Its Perpetrator and Every Debt Its Debtor

A few years ago, Wang Erjun was placed in administrative detention for illegal forced demolitions, only to be released later due to a lack of evidence. From then on, he acted without fear or restraint. With manpower, money, and power at his fingertips, he essentially became a living King of Hell in Jiangcheng. The locals seethed with anger but never dared to speak out.

After looking into Wang Erjun's daily dealings, the last shred of guilt in my heart vanished.

"The case of the old lady crushed to death was just brushed under the rug. It definitely wasn't an isolated incident." It took a lot of effort to track down one of Wang Erjun's bodyguards and pry his boss's whereabouts out of him.

He stayed at his company during the day. Perhaps because he had done too many dirty deeds, he never went anywhere without two or three bodyguards in tow.

That left me with zero chance to make a move. Furthermore, Yang Qi was strong during the day, making it difficult for the Old Master's vengeful spirit to act, so I could only wait until nightfall.

According to the bodyguard, Wang Erjun was attending a banquet hosted by Jiangjin Real Estate tonight. Word was they were negotiating a massive project, and the identities of the guests were completely mysterious and kept strictly confidential.

The banquet began at eight in the evening at the Jiang Family Villa in the Southern Suburbs.

With the information I needed, I returned to Ting Tang Road to start my preparations.

Committing murder with my own hands was absolutely out of the question. Once I landed on the police radar, my future livestreams would become far more difficult.

Every grievance has its perpetrator and every debt its debtor. To settle this karma, I needed the Old Master to step in.

Up on the shop's second floor, scattered sunlight slipped through the curtains and fell on the bed. The large array drawn on the floorboards had faded so much that it was nearly invisible unless you looked closely.

"Old Master, I've found the black-hearted developer who killed your wife. I'll take you to him tonight," I said respectfully to the coffin. If outsiders saw this scene, nine out of ten would probably think I was a lunatic.

The room was dead silent. I waited for a long time, but there was no response from inside. I stood up, walked over, and gave the lid a push. To my surprise, it slid open effortlessly.

"What is this?"

A complete set of black clothes now lay inside the coffin. The tailoring was exquisite, with a brightly colored venomous snake embroidered around the collar.

"Why is there an extra outfit in the coffin? Who put it here?" I pulled the black jacket out, only to find a pitch-black Talisman Paper hidden inside it.

"A Black Talisman?" I had never seen a pure black talisman before. Instinctively, I brought it closer to examine. A speck of deep crimson rested within the Talisman Core, looking like a gaping, bloody maw that threatened to suck me in if I stared at it too long.

"Black Talismans and Blood Talismans mostly belong to crooked paths; they can't be used lightly. This one appeared out of nowhere, so I have to treat it with caution."

I tucked the Black Talisman away with my Maoshan Seven Dipper Talisman, then peered back into the coffin. The red soil at the bottom had grown even more vibrant, as if it had just been drenched in fresh blood.

I didn't know if my mind was playing tricks on me, but a faint scent of blood drifted into my nose. I reached in, scooped up a handful of dirt, and squeezed. A thick, red liquid oozed between my fingers.

It hadn't even been twenty-four hours, yet the coffin had already undergone a massive transformation. I really didn't know if redeeming this thing was a blessing or a curse.

I found the Black Eyeball nestled in the center of the coffin. It was crystal clear and shimmered with an inner bloody light. The number of ghostly silhouettes imprisoned inside had also grown from one to three.

The three silhouettes were blurry and indistinct—two tall, one short. I could only confirm that the Fate Ghost was unharmed, obediently waiting inside.

"Old Master, I've found the man for you. Tonight, you can make the move yourself." I slipped the Black Eyeball into a cloth pouch, closed the coffin lid, and sat down to meditate until nightfall.

Around five or six in the evening, I pulled on a baseball cap and changed into a set of worn light-gray clothes. I stuffed a prepared pair of disposable gloves and a medical mask into my jacket pocket.

Since someone was likely going to die this time, I had to be extremely careful and prepare backup plans.

"Does this behavior of mine count as murder?"

Tucking the black pouch into my coat, I hailed a cab. "Driver, take me to the Henshan Psychiatric Hospital in the Southern Suburbs."

My reason for not heading straight to the Jiang Family Villa was to establish an alibi. The detectives at the Municipal Sub-bureau knew I had been tracking the black magician, and the direction where the black magician had finally disappeared was also in the south.

Just in case Wang Erjun's death was traced back to me, I could leak the fact that the black magician at the Henshan Psychiatric Hospital had kidnapped Jiang Fei, redirecting the police's attention.

Once in the cab, I kept quiet and simply watched our surroundings through the rearview mirror. It was just out of habit, but a quick scan actually yielded an unexpected discovery.

"Someone is watching me!"

Resting my arm against the window to block their line of sight, I discreetly pulled out my phone and angled the camera outside.

"He's in the alley. That build is somewhat familiar... I think I've seen him before." The stalker was wearing a mask and acting suspiciously. His movements were amateurish; he definitely wasn't an undercover cop or a private detective.

"Driver, head to the Blues Bar first. I forgot something there."

Shortly after the cab pulled away, the man hopped into another car and tailed us.

"Who is this guy?" I didn't have time to investigate his motive right now. I walked into the Blues Bar, quickly greeted Onitsuka Ayaka, and slipped straight out the back door. From there, I caught another cab heading for the Jiangcheng Southern Suburbs.

When the car arrived in the Southern Suburbs, I hopped out and stuck to the deserted streets. Dodging the surveillance cameras, I made my way on foot to the Jiang family's private villa district.

By the time I reached the Jiang Family Villa, it was already eight-thirty in the evening. It had been a slow trek, but a safe one.

The sprawling villa complex was ablaze with lights and bustling with voices. You wouldn't know it was in the remote suburbs just by looking at it.

Focusing my mind on my spirit platform, I activated my Chasing Eye to observe the entire building from a hundred meters away. It didn't take long to figure out the security patrol patterns and the distribution of the surveillance cameras.

Approaching nine o'clock, I took advantage of the shift change and slipped through the front gate.

An open-air banquet was in full swing inside. Waiters wove through the crowd. Compared to the impeccably dressed elites in attendance, I was completely inconspicuous.

Retreating to a corner, my gaze swept over the passing figures. When I looked inside the house, I finally spotted Wang Erjun.

Massive floor-to-ceiling windows separated the indoor and outdoor spaces. He sat facing my direction, holding a wine glass in one hand and tugging at his suit trousers with the other. His fleshy face was scrunched up into a wide, beaming smile.

Sitting beside him were Jiang Chen and Ye Bing. This superficial married couple didn't seem to be on very good terms. Ye Bing wore a professional smile and stared downward in silence, while Jiang Chen and Wang Erjun held their wine glasses, continuously toasting a woman sitting with her back to me.

This woman was clearly the main character of tonight's banquet. She wore a one-shoulder gown that exposed a large expanse of her pale, creamy skin. A platinum necklace, crafted by a French master jeweler, graced her neck. Its luxurious, bright pendant rested delicately within her cleavage; every slight touch and movement created a breathtaking, deeply alluring sight.

Her figure and aura were impeccable, and the way she carried a conversation was equally extraordinary. Compared to her, Ye Bing paled slightly. It wasn't a difference in physical appearance, but rather a loss in inner beauty.

As the woman periodically raised her glass, she utterly captivated the men at the table, effortlessly controlling the rhythm of the entire banquet.

"Huang Lan?" I recognized her the second I saw her back. With so many familiar faces in the room, getting close to Wang Erjun was going to be even more difficult. "I need to plant this Black Eyeball on him before midnight. Now it looks like I can only wait for him to come out on his own."

I stepped out of sight and strained my ears, eavesdropping for a long while before I finally pieced the situation together.

Huang Lan's primary mission upon returning to the country was to establish a new pharmaceutical plant in South China, effectively breaking Huang Boyuan's monopoly on traditional medicine.

Ganding Pharmaceuticals was the second-largest corporate conglomerate in Jiangcheng, trailing only behind the Jiangjin Group. In recent years, everyone had seen the business opportunities in real estate, and Ganding Pharmaceuticals had also started dipping its toes into the housing market. This made the Jiangjin Group uneasy. The pie was only so big; if you wanted to take a cut of their profits, how could they just sit back and do nothing?

So, to keep Ganding Pharmaceuticals in check, Jiangjin Real Estate hit it off immediately with Huang Lan. If you touch the cake on my table, I'll set your backyard on fire and watch your family tear each other apart from the inside.

Jiangjin Real Estate had played a brilliant hand. They didn't want to act directly and openly declare war on Huang Boyuan, so they used Wang Erjun as their proxy, having him assist Huang Lan in building her factory and fighting for the regional supply of raw medicinal herbs.

At this moment, the negotiation table was filled with cheerful laughter, but in secret, these people harbored their own hidden agendas. I couldn't read the others, but the fleshy-faced Wang Erjun was easy to figure out. Fine, bloodshot veins surfaced in his eyes, and he occasionally swallowed hard. As he looked at Huang Lan in her one-shoulder gown, he would often narrow his eyes, trying to hide a greedy gaze that was hopelessly fixated on her cleavage.