Chen Yifei pondered for a moment and then followed them.
As the law enforcer responsible for Cold Dew Street, Chen Yifei needed to keep track of the number of people on the street. Even natural deaths needed to be recorded, let alone if something sinister had happened...
Furthermore, he wanted to know which person on Cold Dew Street had died, causing such a commotion.
Under the dim sky, Chen Yifei trailed behind everyone, following them to a wilderness at the back of the mountain. Along the way, people whispered to each other, saying things like "It's better to send it farther away" and "Don't let it come back," which only made Chen Yifei more confused.
Under Mr. Xu's direction, several residents with good physical strength started digging, and soon they cleared out a space sufficient to accommodate the coffin. They gently placed the coffin inside.
"Alright, cover it with soil and burn some joss paper... That's it."
Mr. Xu threw the bag containing the two hearts into the grave, and the others immediately started burying the soil.
Seeing the bright red coffin disappearing under the soil, everyone felt slightly relieved, and their whispering grew louder.
"Now, it should be truly over..."
"I heard this place has good feng shui. I hope he can rest in peace forever."
"After we go back, we should go to the next street and erect a monument for him. Just a mound of earth looks creepy... I feel like he can still come out."
"Impossible, can he really become a ghost?"
"..."
Mr. Li and the others also crouched down, took out a basin from somewhere, ignited the joss paper, and threw it into the basin. A cold wind swept across the wilderness, scattering another bag of joss paper beside his hand.
In the dim light, a figure voluntarily stepped forward and bent down to pick them up one by one.
"Thanks," Mr. Li couldn't see his face and just thanked him.
"You're welcome."
Mr. Li was startled and suddenly felt that the voice sounded familiar.
The man clutched the joss paper and walked to the newly ignited fire basin, feeding it sheet by sheet. As the flames grew stronger, the man's face gradually emerged from the shadows.
"By the way, Mr. Li, who are you burying?" The firelight illuminated half of Chen Yifei's face as he slowly raised his head.
Mr. Li was instantly stunned.
He blinked hard, as if he had seen a ghost!
"Old Li, you're burning the joss paper too slowly. We've finished everything here," Mr. Xu walked behind Chen Yifei, who was crouching with his back to him, and couldn't help but say,
"Hurry up and burn it. Everyone should go back and rest."
"You... You... He... He!!" Mr. Li's face turned pale, and he pointed at Chen Yifei with one hand, unable to say a complete sentence for a long time.
"What's wrong with him?"
Mr. Xu lowered his head in confusion, just as Chen Yifei looked up at him. The firelight illuminated half of his face from his chin, making it pale and eerie.
"Mr. Xu," Chen Yifei suddenly remembered something, "Where are the peaches I asked for?"
[Audience Expectation +3]
[Audience Expectation +3]
[Audience Expectation...]
Mr. Xu's eyes suddenly widened. He stared fixedly at Chen Yifei's face. After a while, his eyes rolled up, and he fainted on the spot.
"Mr. Xu?"
"Hey, what's wrong with Mr. Xu?"
Seeing this, the others immediately gathered around, not knowing what had happened. Just then, a figure stepped forward and helped him up.
"What's wrong with him?" Chen Yifei's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
The midnight wind blew across the wilderness, lifting the joss paper before Mr. Li and scattering it around Chen Yifei...
In the next moment, everyone's breathing stopped... They stood there like sculptures.
After several seconds, they turned around in terror and ran down the mountain!
Seeing everyone fleeing from him as if they had seen a ghost, Chen Yifei's eyes were filled with confusion.
"Yifei?" A voice came from beside him.
"Uncle Zhao," Chen Yifei looked at Uncle Zhao, the only one who hadn't run away, and couldn't help asking, "What's going on?"
Uncle Zhao looked at him complexly and sighed deeply after a long while...
...
Half an hour later.
Under the night sky, the door of Zhao's Breakfast Shop was pushed open.
Uncle Zhao lit the kerosene lamp, heated a bowl of soy milk from the back kitchen, and handed it to Chen Yifei at the table.
"A demon that loves eating human hearts?" Chen Yifei's face flashed with surprise after hearing Uncle Zhao's description, "I didn't..."
"They said they all saw you on the street that day, taking out hearts from the bag and giving them to everyone one by one... They were all terrified," Uncle Zhao looked at him complexly,
"Yifei... I've also heard about your parents and Muyu. I can understand how you feel now... But there are some evil ways you can't take."
Chen Yifei's mind immediately conjured up the scene of being surrounded by the bosses on the street that day, but what he gave out were clearly peaches...
Wait.
Chen Yifei suddenly remembered that every time he gave out a peach, the audience expectation increased, and his face looked somewhat ugly.
He seemed to understand what was going on...
No wonder that person fell down at his doorstep that day and kowtowed to him with three loud knocks. It turned out that he was mistaken for a psychotic killer.
"After you gave out the peaches, you went to the Ancient Treasure of the Weapon Path... During this time, the rumors about you have become more and more bizarre. Some say you are a demon reincarnated, some say you have psychological problems, and even outside Cold Dew Street, people have heard about you."
"...It's all a misunderstanding," Chen Yifei struggled for a long time before he could say this.
"I also think it's probably a misunderstanding."
Uncle Zhao gave him a few more tea eggs and chattered, "But you should be careful. These rumors will affect your image... If this continues, everyone will be afraid to get close to you."
Chen Yifei had been rushing around and hadn't eaten many full meals. At this moment, he peeled a few tea eggs and stuffed them into his mouth, swallowing the soy milk on the table in large gulps.
"I'll find some time... to explain to them," Chen Yifei said helplessly after finishing.
Things had developed to this point, which was not what he wanted... But those pranksters in the audience were too malicious for fun. He didn't know to what extent his image had been altered without his consciousness.
Just as the two were talking, a fatigued figure walked through the street and pushed the door open.
"Chen Yifei?"
Zhao Yi saw Chen Yifei at home, was startled for a moment, and then said in a displeased tone, "Why are you here eating at my house in the middle of the night?"
Zhao Yi was still a rude person. Even though Chen Yifei had become a law enforcer now, he didn't show any humility and was still as overbearing as when they were children, finding Chen Yifei unpleasing no matter how he looked at him.
Most importantly, earlier when his father misunderstood that he liked men, Zhao Yi had pondered for a long time and still felt something was off. He guessed that it might be Chen Yifei causing trouble secretly... Unfortunately, he had no evidence.
Seeing Chen Yifei now, he naturally wouldn't give him a good look.