"Mr. Hua, sorry to trouble you," Lu Fei said with a smile.
"Not at all. This is a small matter. As long as Shopkeeper Lu keeps his promise, everything will be fine." The bald man smiled with ease, as though he already had the upper hand.
"Of course."
Lu Fei circled around the bald man, pretending to observe him closely. Suddenly, he stopped and said with a serious expression, "If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Hua, there are seven infant spirits clinging to you."
"The crying of babies you hear at night is caused by these infant spirits. They might be small, but they drain your life energy. If this continues, it could pose a serious threat to your health."
"Is that so?" The bald man's smile faltered slightly. A hint of surprise and urgency appeared in his eyes. "Shopkeeper Lu, do you have a way to get rid of these little things?"
"At Evil Pawnshop, we have a talisman specifically for expelling spirits. It's designed to deal with infant spirits." Lu Fei took out an exorcism talisman and said, "Place this under your pillow when you sleep at night, and the infant spirits won't dare come near you."
"As long as you keep your head on the pillow until morning, these infant spirits will no longer cling to you."
The bald man examined the talisman with a skeptical expression.
"Does this talisman really work?"
"If you don't believe it, give it back! Others would pay handsomely for it. You know Su Liguo from the Su family? He paid 900,000 yuan for just three talismans!" Tiger snapped.
"How could I doubt Shopkeeper Lu?" The bald man immediately changed his tune, smiling brightly as he carefully tucked the talisman away.
"Thank you, Shopkeeper Lu. I'll place this under my pillow tonight. If it drives away the spirits, I'll be forever grateful."
"Follow my instructions, and you'll be safe. It's getting late; we should head back." Lu Fei smiled faintly and left Wangyue Manor with Tiger.
On the way, Tiger puffed his cheeks in frustration. "Boss, why help someone like him? Couldn't we just give him some random junk and call it a day? That guy's so shady!"
Even though the child wasn't at Wangyue Manor, Tiger still had a bad feeling about the perpetually smiling bald man.
"He's definitely not honest. To deal with people like him, you need patience. We have to find evidence first," Lu Fei said calmly.
"Boss, what do you mean? What evidence?" Tiger asked, confused.
"Evidence of the child being abducted, of course!"
"What? The child is really there? How can you tell… and why didn't you tell Mr. Yu?" Tiger stammered, flustered.
"I'm not 100% certain, so I can't confront him directly."
Lu Fei didn't explain further, quickening his pace.
Watching their retreating figures, the bald man smirked coldly.
"Honey, they didn't find anything, did they?"
A woman with a birthmark on her face walked up, her expression worried.
"We've covered our tracks perfectly. What could they possibly find?"
The bald man pulled out the exorcism talisman, looking smug.
"Still, he could see the infant spirits on me. He's not entirely useless. I'll give this talisman a try tonight."
"That's good." The woman let out a sigh of relief. "I hope it works so I won't have to worry about you all the time. Maybe once the infant spirits are gone, we should stop what we're doing. We've made enough money to live comfortably back home for the rest of our lives..."
"Enough? This is nothing!" The bald man glared at her, then softened his tone and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Honey, I promised to give you the best life. This is far from enough."
"I'm doing this for our future. Don't you want children? Once I'm healthy, we'll have a child of our own. We need money to give them a good life."
"Now, be good. It's late. Go prepare the eels for tonight."
The woman hesitated, then turned and walked toward the flat houses.
Antique Street.
Back at the pawnshop, Lu Fei began preparing.
First, he had Tiger buy aged mugwort. They boiled a large pot of mugwort water and poured it into bottles.
Then he filled some mineral water bottles and packed them into a backpack.
Finally, he gathered tools, including a lightning-struck jujube wood stick and a ghost-slaying blade.
"Boss, didn't you say we're looking for evidence? Why bring so much water?" Tiger asked, lugging the heavy backpack.
"Whether we find evidence or not depends on this water," Lu Fei replied, squinting at the darkening sky.
Night.
Wangyue Manor was as lively as ever.
Cars came and went until late into the night, when the diners finally dispersed.
The manor's lights dimmed, and it grew quiet.
After waiting for hours, Lu Fei and Tiger carefully approached the manor with their heavy backpacks.
"Tiger, can you climb walls?"
"I'm decent."
Under the cover of darkness, they reached a section of the wall Lu Fei had scouted earlier—a blind spot for the security cameras.
After ensuring no one was around, they climbed over the wall.
Landing quietly, they surveyed their surroundings.
The small building and flat houses were pitch dark. The bald man was likely already asleep.
The talisman Lu Fei gave him was genuine and would keep the infant spirits at bay, allowing him to sleep soundly tonight.
"Let's go."
Moving stealthily under the cover of night, they reached the flat houses. Tiger used a small iron wire to unlock the door, and they slipped inside.
The air was thick with dampness and the smell of fish. Occasionally, faint splashes came from the water tanks.
Sticking close to the walls, they made their way to the storeroom where the lambs were kept.
The storeroom had no windows, so Lu Fei turned on a flashlight.
In the dim light, the lambs lay curled up in their cages, eerily still.
"Tiger, pour the mugwort water on them," Lu Fei said, setting down his backpack and pulling out a bottle.
"Boss, aren't we here to find evidence? What's this for?" Tiger asked, confused but compliant.
"You'll see soon enough."
They poured the mugwort water over the lambs in the cages.
Then Lu Fei gestured for silence and watched the lambs closely.
One second.
Two seconds.
Under the faint light of the flashlight, the once listless lambs began to move, as if waking from some strange state.
They scrambled to the backs of their cages, their frail bodies trembling. Staring at the two strangers, their eyes were filled with fear.
Though their mouths opened, no sound came out.
"As expected..."
Lu Fei's heart sank as his suspicions were confirmed.
"Boss, what's wrong with these lambs? Their eyes... they look human!" Tiger shivered.
"They *are* human," Lu Fei said grimly.
"What?! Humans?!" Tiger gasped, utterly shocked.
"This is an ancient dark art called the 'Art of Creating Beasts.' It's used to turn humans into livestock—a cruel technique for trafficking people!" Lu Fei grabbed a bottle of mineral water from his backpack and approached the terrified lambs.
"There's no time to explain. We need to save them. Feed them the water, and they'll return to their human forms! Quickly!"
"Got it!"
Ignoring the goosebumps all over his body, Tiger opened a cage and approached a trembling lamb.
Lu Fei had already unscrewed the bottle cap.
But just then—
*Splash!*
A loud noise came from the direction of the water tank.
Then—
Rustling sounds filled the darkness, as if something was crawling out of the water.