Chapter 144: A Night Visit to the Crematorium

"Burnt a living person to death? Dao, you must be kidding."

The Emperor beside me broke out in a cold sweat on the spot. Then, he looked at Old Yang and asked if their crematorium actually engaged in the wicked business of burning living people.

Old Yang's expression changed instantly. "What are you joking about? I've been a corpse burner for nearly forty years, and I've only ever burned the dead. How could I possibly burn a living person?"

The fat man beside us also shook his head vigorously, saying, "Little brother Wu Dao, don't jump to wild conclusions. You can't just throw around accusations like that."

On second thought, I realized it was indeed unlikely. After all, a living person being locked inside a cremation furnace and burned would be an act of murder. This crematorium had been operating in our city for decades with a stellar reputation; it was practically impossible for them to commit such a heaven-defying crime.

So, I didn't say anything more. I simply suggested that we wait until midnight, and if any ghostly cries truly came from the cremation furnace, we would go over and take a look.

Checking the time on my phone, I saw it was already almost half past eleven. With only half an hour left until midnight, the few of us stayed in the monitoring room and started chatting idly.

During the conversation, the pack of cigarettes and the lighter I vividly remembered stuffing into my jacket pocket suddenly ended up in the fat man's hands out of nowhere. Seeing the puzzled look on my face, the fat man smiled, handed the lighter and cigarettes back to me, and said, "We folks from Mount Longhu are all well-rounded talents, so don't be surprised."

"Does Mount Longhu teach the art of thievery too?" I took back the cigarettes half-believingly, offered one to each of them, and asked.

The fat man scratched his head awkwardly without offering any explanation. Before long, midnight arrived.

Right at that moment, a piercing scream suddenly broke the quiet night air outside, followed immediately by a loud bang.

Amidst that scream, I faintly caught the sounds of someone shouting, "Help! Let me out!"

My entire body instantly surged with adrenaline. I glanced at the fat man and said, "Brother Wushang, it seems there really is a ghost making trouble over at the cremation room. Let's hurry over and capture it."

With my current abilities, I was a hundred percent confident in dealing with a ghost in this crematorium. However, my main purpose for coming here was to test whether this Zhang Wushang actually possessed genuine skills, which was why I immediately called upon him.

Zhang Wushang gave a hee-hee chuckle. "A mere wandering ghost—where is the need for Daoist Master myself to personally step in? Brother Wu Dao, you possess some capabilities yourself, so why don't you handle this matter this time? I'll wait for you right here. If you guys truly can't handle that ghost, I'll step in to save you, how about that?"

Hearing this, I felt something was amiss. Just as I was about to offer some polite and tactful refusals, the Emperor became displeased. He threw an arm around the fat man's neck and said, "Brother Wushang, you're the coach of our Paranormal Investigation Team. This is your debut, how could you possibly sit it out?"

With that, the Emperor dragged the fat man toward the cremation room, while Old Yang and I followed closely behind. Looking from behind, I noticed the fat man's entire body was trembling slightly. When I caught a glimpse of his face from the side, I saw it was deathly pale!

Meanwhile, cries for help continued to echo from within the cremation room. The sounds were shrill and eerie, making one's scalp tingle over and over again.

Just as we were about to step into the cremation room, Zhang Wushang suddenly let out an "ouch" and said his stomach was acting up violently, immediately asking Old Yang where the restroom was.

Old Yang looked as though he could tell the fat man was faking it, but he didn't say much. He simply pointed toward the main entrance of the crematorium.

Upon hearing this, the fat man clutched his stomach and ran toward the restroom, shouting as he went, "Brother Wu Dao, you guys go on in first. I'll come help you as soon as I'm done in the restroom."

I exchanged a knowing glance with the Emperor, who nodded in understanding and followed the fat man to the restroom without a second word.

By now, I was almost certain that this fat man was an imposter. I knew better than anyone what kind of figures the Three-Flower successors of Mount Mao, like Qin Yu, were, and my sworn brother Lu Li from Mount Shu was also a genuine expert of exceptional talent. Mount Longhu was a major Daoist sect on par with Mount Mao and Mount Shu. This so-called number one genius of Mount Longhu, White-Haired Wushang, would certainly not be as cowardly as this lecherous fat man.

Yet, even after confirming he was a fake, I didn't expose him right away. After all, since we had already come to the crematorium, we had to resolve the issue for them regardless. Peng Li's Paranormal Investigation Team had just been established, and we were operating under its banner; we couldn't ruin Peng Li's reputation.

So, after the Emperor and the fat man left in succession toward the restroom, Old Yang and I headed to the cremation room.

As we walked in, Old Yang still appeared somewhat nervous. Given my youth, he was undoubtedly worried about my ability to handle the ghost inside the cremation room.

I smiled, handed Old Yang a cigarette, and signaled for him to rest assured that I would definitely help him subdue that ghost. Seeing me pat my chest in absolute assurance, Old Yang finally nodded, unlocked the door to the cremation room, and walked in shoulder-to-shoulder with me.

The moment we stepped inside, the cries for help that had previously echoed from within stopped abruptly. The surroundings were frighteningly quiet, as though the drop of a needle could be heard clearly. At the same time, a chilling draft swept through the space. I hurriedly activated my Yin-Yang Eyes and saw Yin qi pervading every corner of the cremation room. Even when I looked at Old Yang, I noticed countless wisps of Yin qi swirling around his body.

Still, I didn't pay it too much mind. A crematorium was naturally a place of extreme Yin qi, and the cremation room where corpses were burned would naturally have even denser Yin qi. Furthermore, Old Yang had been a corpse burner for over forty years, so it was completely normal for Yin qi to linger around him.

Just to be safe, the moment I stepped into the cremation room, I condensed a Palm Thunder incantation in the palm of my hand. Then, accompanied by Old Yang, I walked cautiously toward the cremation furnace from which the screams had originated.

As I approached the furnace, Old Yang walked toward a nearby light switch, appearing to turn on the lights in the cremation room.

Since my Yin-Yang Eyes were active, I could still make out my surroundings in the pitch-black darkness. I peered into the cremation furnace but failed to spot anything unusual inside.

"Uncle Yang, can you open this cremation furnace?" I asked.

"Open it for what?" Old Yang's eerie voice drifted from behind me. Perhaps due to the peculiar environment, I found the sound deeply unsettling.

"The furnace door is closed, so I can't see what's inside. If there really is a ghost in there, it might be hiding. Open it up, I want to reach inside and take a look!"

"Alright, hold on a second!"

Old Yang then walked toward a control panel not far away. Meanwhile, I kept my eyes fixed on the furnace, monitoring the situation inside. Soon, I heard a click, like the sound of an electronic lock disengaging.

Instinctively, I grabbed the handle of the furnace door, intending to pull it open. However, I soon discovered that although the lock had been released, I simply could not pull the door open at all.

"Uncle Yang, what's going on? It won't budge." I asked while tugging hard on the furnace door.

"Of course you can't open it." Behind me, Old Yang's eerie voice echoed once more, this time laced with a strange, mocking chuckle: "Because this cremation furnace was sealed shut a long time ago."

"What?"

I felt a surge of confusion, completely unable to grasp what Old Yang meant. At the same time, an intense wave of crisis welled up in my heart. Reacting on pure instinct, I spun around to see Old Yang standing behind me with an eerie expression, gripping a gleaming fire axe in his hands.

Startled, I blurted out, "Uncle Yang, what are you doing?"

Even as I spoke, Old Yang had already raised the fire axe high above his head. An expression of utter terror and malevolence twisted his features into a hideous smile. He let out a low chuckle—a sound identical to the one that had echoed from inside the cremation furnace just moments before.

With a loud bang—an explosion suddenly erupting from within the cremation furnace—Old Yang brought the raised fire axe crashing down heavily toward my forehead.