Xiaowu held Ming Zi down in the spot Ming Zi was lying earlier. This time, he made no effort to resist. He simply reached his hands out as he struggled to pull the jail cell door.

Ming Zi kept muttering inaudibly as his hands trembled.

Why did Ming Zi become crazy overnight?

This turn of events was so unanticipated that Xiaowu was unable to wrap his mind around it. He moved his head closer to Ming Zi and tried to make out what he was saying.

“I… I… I want to go…”

Go? Did he want to go out?

How could he think of leaving at a time like this?

“Stay put and stop trying to run!” interrupted Xiaowu without hesitation. “Your friends have already confessed. Since you are an accomplice, there is no escape for you.”

Xiaowu’s words seemed to completely crush any hope Ming Zi had.

Sadly, Ming Zi refused to give up.

Just as everyone felt Ming Zi was finally going to stop fighting back, he suddenly wriggled as he struggled towards the jail cell entrance.

Xiaowu placed both hands on Ming Zi’s shoulders to prevent him from making a run for it.

Cheng Xiaoxiao could clearly see how breathless Ming Zi was.

However, it was clear that his condition had improved vastly. Ever since he regained consciousness, he had stopped looking as lifeless as before.

In comparison to his ashen face when he was unconscious, his miserable tanned face had regained color. Only his lips remained slightly pale. On close scrutiny, an unnaturally pasty complexion was concealed under this tanned exterior.

Ming Zi now seemed greatly different from the person Xiaowu used to know.

“I-I want… to go out!” This time, Ming Zi kept staring at Cheng Xiaoxiao. Cheng Xiaoxiao felt uncomfortable when he kept looking at her.

“Do you still want to leave?”

Xiaowu didn’t know what to say about Ming Zi’s persistence.

He squatted in front of Ming Zi and said to himself quizzically, “Why is it that you are so insistent about leaving?”

Did he want to leave?

Was something making him want to go out?

Cheng Xiaoxiao was starting to make some headway with the situation.

After all, she had seen a wide variety of movies at home while she lay down and ate fries.

Ming Zi clearly did not look normal. Perhaps he was under some demon’s control.

Cheng Xiaoxiao’s imagination ran wild as she thought about some mysterious man dressed in black hiding in the darkness as he controlled Ming Zi’s every move using thread. With every pull he made, Ming Zi would move.

Oh god.

Cheng Xiaoxiao was so startled that her fur stood erect just thinking about it.

Chu Yunshen detected the sudden fear in the lion cat as she lay in his arms. For some reason, she was scared. He could only stroke the lion cat as he tried to calm her.

Xiaowu was unable to find an answer to his question. The jail cell fell into an eerie silence.

Cheng Xiaoxiao didn’t want to sit around and just do nothing, so she kept wriggling in Chu Yunshen’s arms as she attempted to get a close look at Ming Zi. She might just be able to spot the puppet strings on Ming Zi.

The lion cat was naturally incapable of outdoing a highly skilled martial artist like Chu Yunshen. Just as Cheng Xiaoxiao struggled to wrest herself free of Chu Yunshen, Ming Zi suddenly spoke from the corner, “Please let me go… I beg you…”

His voice was particularly shrill, but there was no emotion in his words, so his voice sounded like the beeping of some faulty gadget.

Was he a robot or something?

Cheng Xiaoxiao sensed chills running through her as she recalled what she had just imagined and couldn’t help trembling.

Chu Yunshen continued comforting the lion cat in his arms. He did not know what came over the cat or why she was so easily startled today.

Xiaowu was all eyes on Ming Zi and felt relieved when Ming Zi was finally willing to talk.

After all, Xiaowu was confident of squeezing it out of Ming Zi if he was willing to speak.

Chu Yunshen looked at Ming Zi as he lay prone on the ground and asked quizzically, “Why do you want to go out? Are you hoping to escape punishment?”

Sadly, Ming Zi only managed to speak, but his eyes were completely unable to focus as he repeatedly said, “Please let me go. Otherwise, I will die…”

“Since the case is still under investigation, you won’t get executed yet.”

However, Cheng Xiaoxiao thought otherwise.

She did not see any injuries on Ming Zi, so it seemed Chu Yunshen had yet to force a confession out of Ming Zi.

She felt Xiaowu probably felt Ming Zi could not take it if he forced a confession out of him.

Since Xiaowu had never seen a horror movie from her time, Xiaowu was oblivious that Ming Zi was a puppet and would get abandoned by his master if he did not get to the master in time!

Cheng Xiaoxiao could empathize with how a pawn like Ming Zi thought.

Then again, if they followed Ming Zi’s puppet strings to their source, wouldn’t they be able to find out who the culprit was?

Cheng Xiaoxiao attempted to get Chu Yunshen to let her go. She wanted to help Chu Yunshen find the mastermind.

However, she failed to get Chu Yunshen’s attention. Ming Zi had stolen Chu Yunshen’s attention completely after finally saying something different for once. His words left the typically composed Chu Yunshen frowning unusually hard and Xiaowu was utterly shocked.

“If I don’t go to the unmarked burial gravesite to absorb Yin energy, I will die! I beg you, please let me go!”

The things Ming Zi said promptly made Cheng Xiaoxiao eat her words.

Was he killed by the puppeteer?

What was he saying about absorbing Yin energy? How could a living human being be capable of that?

It didn’t dawn on Cheng Xiaoxiao that it was pure speculation on her part.

“I will tell you everything I know if you let me go back to the unmarked burial gravesite.”

Just as Ming Zi was about to say more to convince them, Xiaowu’s words left Ming Zi speechless.

“You have no right to raise any conditions. You only have a chance of surviving if you tell us everything now.”

The moment Ming Zi heard what Xiaowu said, he parted his lips for some time and didn’t know what to say.

Cheng Xiaoxiao was caught by surprise when she saw how unyielding Xiaowu was.

Xiaowu composed himself and stopped looking at Ming Zi. Instead, he walked up beside Chu Yunshen and watched as Chu Yunshen stroked the lion cat.

Chu Yunshen looked sideways at Xiaowu and they looked at each other knowingly without saying a word.

It was a brilliant move to back off and not engage!

Cheng Xiaoxiao looked around here and there. She saw Ming Zi sitting in the corner uneasily when she looked at Ming Zi. He opened his mouth a few times and wanted to speak but ended up changing his mind.

The longer the silence, the more suffocating it felt for Ming Zi until he finally couldn’t stand it.

Cheng Xiaoxiao watched as Ming Zi contemplated for a long time before finally standing up in the corner.

He swiftly walked up to Chu Yunshen and was about to reach Chu Yunshen.

The dark energy coursing through Ming Zi became increasingly clear to Cheng Xiaoxiao as he approached them.

No way!

She could not let him come close to them!

Cheng Xiaoxiao acted scared and kept trying to hide in Chu Yunshen’s arms.

The moment Chu Yunshen noticed the lion cat in his arms suddenly get scared of Ming Zi, he started to believe Ming Zi’s words a little.

After all, animals or closer to nature and his lion cat was exceptionally perceptive.

“Just stand where you are to speak!” Chu Yunshen stopped Ming Zi from coming any closer to them.

Ming Zi didn’t think much of it and simply stood at the center of the jail cell as he related his story.

“My formal name is actually Zhong Ming. My father told me one of our ancestors is a Taoist master who became an immortal.”

Zhong Ming’s story promptly caught Cheng Xiaoxiao’s attention. She even speculated whether Zhong Ming was talking about Zhong Kui the ghost catcher.

Sadly, her speculation was proven wrong. As Zhong Ming continued with his story, it became abundantly clear that his ancestor had nothing to do with Zhong Kui.

“Ever since I was a kid, I was very sickly. My father read my fortune and learned I would die before I was five years old given my weak constitution.

A soft light filled Zhong Ming’s swollen eyes as he gradually thought about his past. “My ancestor left behind a handwritten letter with instructions on how to extend life, so my mother begged my father to use the method to save me.”

Hang on.

Where did this handwritten letter come from?

Wouldn’t Hei Wuchang and Bai Wuchang have detected its presence?

Moreover, this method didn’t sound Taoist at all.

Cheng Xiaoxiao felt a little suspicious off Ming Zi’s words.

Zhong Ming was unaware that the cat in Chu Yunshen’s arms could understand what he was saying. He simply went on, “It wasn’t hard for me to extend my life. I simply needed to absorb Yin energy from the dead every now and then.”

Chu Yunshen’s face looked increasingly serious as he listened to Zhong Ming.

Xiaowu had waited all this time for the mysterious veil around Ming Zi to lift so that he could find out what he was up to.

He didn’t anticipate such a story to emerge after Ming Zi decided to come clean with them.

“Since you have been absorbing Yin energy at the unmarked burial gravesite, do you know what happened to the missing burial workers?”

Zhong Ming nodded and shook his head when he heard Xiaowu’s question.

“I don’t know why it happened. This method of extending lives only works on the dead.”

Judging from how natural Zhong Ming seemed, Cheng Xiaoxiao could tell he was speaking the truth.

Wouldn’t this mean Chu Yunshen was getting nowhere with the case?

They still didn’t know why the burial workers disappeared!

“In the past, I was unable to absorb Yin energy effectively, so I could only absorb small quantities.”

Zhong Ming seemed to recall something and added, “I kept searching for the perfect spot on the unmarked burial gravesite. In the end, I found a spot that contained double the amount of Yin energy. Ever since then, I have been absorbing Yin energy there.”

“I think there is something strange about the place.” Zhong Ming did his utmost to recall what he discovered at the foot of the mountain. “But I am not sure if it will help with cracking your missing persons’ case.”

He was unsure why he brought it up, but it was a really weird place and the atmosphere was completely different from the rest of the mountain.

“Really? What was strange about the place?” Chu Yunshen was intrigued to hear this.

“There was a deserted village surrounded by mountains in all four directions! Who would have built a village in a place like that?”

“Where is the deserted village located?” asked Xiaowu excitedly now that they had finally made a breakthrough with the case.

“It’s on the other side of the unmarked burial gravesite and you can reach it by following the path at the foot of the mountain.”

Zhong Ming had a pretty sound memory, so he quickly gave them a rough location.

Cheng Xiaoxiao had never heard about villages getting built in a place with mountains in all directions.

Not even Xiaowu and Chu Yunshen had heard of such villages.