Otherworldly Merchant

I instantly became alert and studied the brazier for a long time. 

Li Yuntian also stared at the big brazier. He took a deep breath, then said, “Did he use the same method of burning coals in that brazier to find the executioner’s footprints?”

I immediately squatted down in the hopes of seeing some footprints. However, I found nothing. 

I was a little confused. What had Wang Leng wanted to do? 

Being curious, I used a pair of steel pliers to open the brazier. I then found that the things burning inside didn’t look like chalk coals. 

This was because coal would turn ash-white after it was burned. However, the residue in the brazier was black. I used the pliers to touch it. It felt really soft. 

With a serious face, I asked Li Yuntian, “Officer Li, if someone were burned to death, and the skin hadn’t been burned thoroughly, what would the residue look like?”

Hearing my question, Li Yuntian couldn’t help but shiver. “Mister Zhang, what do you mean?”

I didn’t answer and instead used the pliers to grab a black thing inside the brazier, slowly and carefully taking it out of the flames. “You see this black residue? Don’t you think it looks like human skin…?”

Li Yuntian was frightened. He reached over and didn’t care if he could get burned. He pinched a small amount of the residue between two fingers, bringing it to his nose to smell. He was sweating as he said, “It’s skin, but it could be animal skin.”

“Right.” I nodded. “But, why would Wang Leng want to burn skin? In such hot weather, only an idiot would burn such a big brazier inside the house.”

It seemed that Yin Xinyue suddenly thought of something. “I got it. Wang Leng was afraid of being recognized, so he wanted to destroy his face!”

I burst out laughing. “Nice one. But, even if he wanted to destroy his appearance, he didn’t need to peel off his facial skin and burn it. Moreover, in this world, nobody would treat themselves in such a cruel way. I think under harsh conditions they might do that though. For example, if the executioner forced them.”

“The executioner came here too?” As soon as I mentioned the executioner, Yin Xinyue and Li Yuntian’s expressions changed.

However, for the time being, it was the most reasonable explanation. 

I thought for quite a long time and came up with the conclusion that if Wang Leng wasn’t dead, he would come back here. Since he still needed to eat, it was impossible that he’d abandon this room, which was full of valuable antiques. After careful consideration, I decided to stay here tonight, hugging the tree and waiting for the rabbit.

Li Yuntian, of course, offered to stay with me. I agreed with him. Yin Xinyue was a girl who liked to join in the fun, so she naturally wanted to be with us too. 

We went out to buy some food and fill our stomachs. Then, we returned and waited inside Wang Leng’s apartment. As it was still early, Wang Leng would likely return home around midnight, when no one would see him. As I had nothing to do, I started to study Wang Leng’s antiques. 

Wang Leng was a businessman in the antique business with considerable assets. The antiques he stored here aged from the Warring States, all the way to the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Although some of them were counterfeits, there were many genuine items with high artistic values.

He hadn’t sold them, so I guessed those came from illegal sources...

No matter what, there weren’t many buyers able to digest those antiques. He would have to sell them one by one. 

I asked Li Yuntian how the Police Bureau was going to deal with all these illegal antiques.

Li Yuntian shook his head, forcing a smile. “We don’t have many choices. In China, the law on this aspect hasn’t been completed yet. These merchants would likely take advantage of the gaps in the law. If the police can’t find any evidence saying that these antiques are from tombs underground, we can’t do anything to Wang Leng.”  

I sighed, thinking that China had so many precious items, but they were likely being destroyed by those scumbags! 

The sky was growing darker. Perhaps it was all in my head, but I started to feel that this room was gradually becoming darker and more sinister. Li Yuntian and Yin Xinyue apparently felt the same as their faces didn’t look good, either. They didn’t dare to go around the room as they were afraid that the antiques could be otherworldly items. 

Still, I thought this possibility wasn’t big as otherworldly items were extremely rare. Some antique merchants never encountered such items during their whole career. I had more chances than them because I was an otherworldly merchant, so I often ran into otherworldly items. 

I brought the two to the bedroom. We would observe the living room from here. I wondered if Wang Leng would come home tonight or not. If he didn’t, perhaps we’d have to stay here for a long time. 

We must find the origins of that ancient painting. Otherwise, even if my grandfather was still alive, we wouldn’t be able to solve the issue related to the evil immortal inside the painting. 

As time ticked by, inside the dark and heavy atmosphere of the room, we felt that a day was long as an entire year. Around 9 p.m the neighborhood grew completely quiet and devoid of street lights. 

We didn’t turn on the lights inside the apartment since we were afraid it would alert Wang Leng. Using the cold, dreary moonlight, I could barely distinguish Li Yuntian and Yin Xinyue’s shadows. 

I was worried about what I should do if I spotted another shadow in this room, or if Li Yuntian and Yin Xinyue suddenly smiled at me with a twisted expression on their faces. Everything was unknown. 

The more I thought about it, the more frightened I grew. I was actually scaring myself! 

Time ticked by fast. 1 a.m, 2 a.m…

Around 4 or 5 a.m, in the early hours of the morning, the living room was dead silent. There were no sounds, not even the tiniest one. 

This tranquil atmosphere made my nervousness increase. I’d been feeling that something was strange, but I couldn’t point out what it was. 

It wasn’t until people started leaving for work that the strange feeling in my heart slowly dissipated. 

Reluctantly, I waved at the other two. “We stayed up the whole night, and Wang Leng still didn’t come home.” 

Hearing my voice, Li Yuntian and Yin Xinyue exhaled. It seemed that they hadn’t expected Wang Leng to come home since we didn’t know what ‘form’ he would return with.

Unfortunately, since he didn’t come back yesterday, tonight, we’d have to wait for him again. I brought the two downstairs to have breakfast. While eating, Li Yuntian received a call. When he hung up, his expression changed. 

Looking at his countenance, I knew that something bad had happened. Indeed, after questioning him, Li Yuntian told me that the ancient painting had gone missing…

Hearing him, my heart sank. “When did this happen?”

Li Yuntian shook his head. “It was sometime last night. This morning, when the officer on duty did a regular check, he found that the ancient painting had disappeared.”

I cursed under my breath, then asked Li Yuntian to bring me back to the murder scene. 

Perhaps it was Wang Leng’s trick to make us stay at his home while he went to steal the ancient painting. 

When we arrived at the crime scene, we saw policemen watching the door. Seeing Li Yuntian, they came to report the situation to him. 

“Everything was normal yesterday. No one came to the third floor. But, that painting mysteriously disappeared…”

I immediately asked, “Are you sure that no one came here last night? And, during your shift, did you see anything strange? You must tell me any details you remember.”

The officer confirmed, once again, that everything was normal. 

I took a deep breath. “Open the door, I want to check!”

The officer opened the door and I could tell the lock was untouched. Unless one had the key, he wouldn’t be able to enter the apartment from the main door. 

Everything looked normal inside. We didn’t see any footprints or anything strange. However, the painting on the wall had disappeared. 

Carefully, I walked to the place where the painting used to hang and checked. I didn’t find any clues. 

Li Yuntian whispered into my ear, “Maybe the…dead stole that ancient painting?”

I wasn’t sure. So, we had to go to the morgue to see if the corpse was still there. 

Li Yuntian then brought us to the mortuary. The place was still cold and dark. Drawing the locker out, we found nothing strange on the corpse. 

I inhaled deeply. Damn, what is going on?