Chapter 58: The Night Watch of the Dead

　　The wind had stopped, but the old wind chimes continued to tinkle ceaselessly.

　　"Strange, I never noticed these wind chimes before. There's no wind, so why are they ringing?" Hu Zi looked at the wind chimes with curiosity all over his face.

　　But he didn't pay much attention and continued to close the door.

　　"Hu Zi, wait!" Lu Fei called out to him, "We can't close the door yet, a guest has arrived."

　　"A guest? Where?" Hu Zi widened his eyes and looked outside.

　　The dim and desolate street was empty, without a single person in sight.

　　"Tonight, it's night duty!"

　　Lu Fei took a white candle from the cabinet, lit it, and placed it on the counter.

　　"Hu Zi, turn off the lights."

　　"Oh." Hu Zi did not understand why, but he complied anyway.

　　The electric light went out.

　　The ancient little pawnshop instantly became dim and shadowy.

　　By the flickering candlelight, Lu Fei's face was half-lit and half-shadowed as he gazed towards the door, speaking softly, "This is the Sinisterium Pawnshop. If you have something to pawn, please come in."

　　As soon as he finished speaking, a cold wind blew into the pawnshop.

　　The wind chime stopped, and the candlelight instantly turned an eerie green.

　　Huzi opened his mouth in shock, wanting to ask something, but Lu Fei made a hushing gesture at him.

　　He quickly covered his mouth with his hand, nervously glancing around, but saw nothing.

　　But Lu Fei was looking at the front of the counter, as if there was a customer standing there.

　　"May I ask what you want to be?"

　　Lu Fei's serious expression as he questioned the air made Huzi feel goosebumps all over.

　　There was a shadow of a woman, drenched in blood and headless.

　　Without a head, naturally, she couldn't speak.

　　Lu Fei steadied his mind, took out a piece of yellow paper, and pushed it forward.

　　Drip, drip.

　　Blood dripped onto the yellow paper, forming a crooked and twisted blood letter.

　　"Knife!"

　　Lu Fei was startled.

　　The woman's head should have been cut off; could it be that the knife is to serve as the weapon that killed her?

　　The headless woman knelt down in front of Lu Fei, as if silently pleading.

　　"Where is the knife?"

　　Drip, drip.

　　Blood dropped, forming three more words once again.

　　Duobao Xuan.

　　Seeing these three words, Hu Zi's heart was filled with tumultuous waves.

　　Duobao Xuan, isn't that his former boss's shop!

　　What came in?

　　Lu Fei was also extremely shocked in his heart.

　　It seems that the tragedy at Duobao Hall is not as simple as it appears; there really is an evil presence at work.

　　The headless woman bent down to Lu Fei, making a kowtowing gesture.

　　"Alright, I'll accept it!"

　　After a moment of hesitation, Lu Fei agreed.

　　The headless woman was overjoyed and bowed three times to Lu Fei. After a gust of cold wind, she disappeared.

　　The candlelight returned to its dim yellow color.

　　On the yellow paper, those four blood-red characters were clearly visible, strongly stimulating Hu Zi's nerves.

　　But without any indication from Lu Fei, he did not dare to speak easily.

　　"Tiger, you can turn on the light now." Fortunately, Lu Fei soon took action on him.

　　He hurriedly went to turn on the light.

　　The light illuminated the entire pawnshop, and Tiger swallowed his saliva, nervously asking, "Boss, what was that just now?"

　　"A special guest."

　　Lu Fei answered slowly.

　　"On certain nights, when the wind chimes ring, it means a special guest has arrived."

　　Sinisterium Pawnshop doesn't just do business with the living, but also with the dead!

　　"The one who came in just now should be the owner of Duobao Hall; she wanted to pawn a knife to me."

　　"A knife, what kind of knife?"

　　Tiger had actually already guessed, but he still found it unbelievable.

　　"The knife that killed her!" Lu Fei drew a slight breath.

　　It was his first time as a night watch, and to say that he wasn't at all shaken by facing a headless ghost would be a lie.

　　A once happy family, now utterly destroyed, the mistress of Duobao Hall harbors resentment and refuses to leave.

　　The knife that killed her family must be extraordinary.

　　Tiger was stunned for a moment before saying, "Wasn't she killed by Boss Liang with a kitchen knife? The kitchen knife was taken away by the police as evidence."

　　"It shouldn't be that simple. If she and the child were killed by Boss Liang, then after he was brought to justice, she shouldn't still have unresolved grievances," Lu Fei mused.

　　"I guess the kitchen knife was just the weapon, not the culprit. The knife that killed them must be another evil object. Perhaps it was that evil object that influenced Boss Liang, causing him to kill his wife and child in a state of confusion."

　　"Now I remember! Before the incident, he had acquired an antique wrapped in black cloth, which was shaped like a knife!" Tiger blurted out, "Then, isn't he innocent?"

　　"We can't make a definitive conclusion before we see that evil knife." Lu Fei shook his head and glanced at the heavy night outside.

　　"Tomorrow, we will go to Duobao Hall."

　　"Good!"

　　Huzi nodded heavily, a complicated expression on his face.

　　That night, Lu Fei took a long time to fall asleep.

　　He was thinking about the tragedy that had befallen the Duobaoxuan family.

　　The next morning, he got up very early and found that Huzi had arrived at the pawnshop even earlier than him.

　　Huzi had dark circles under his eyes, clearly having not slept well all night.

　　After all, it was an incident involving his former boss's family, so it was natural for him to be concerned.

　　"Let's go, Huzi."

　　Lu Fei patted his shoulder.

　　They left the pawnshop, grabbed something to eat, and then went to the entrance of Duobaoxuan.

　　Only half a month had passed since the incident at Duobao Pavilion, yet the shop seemed as if it had been abandoned for many years, exuding an eerie and dilapidated aura.

　　The rumors of ghosts at Duobao Pavilion on the antique street, it seems, were not without basis.

　　Those who die unjustly carry their resentment and tend to linger in the place of their death, unwilling to leave for a long time.

　　Huzi still had the keys to Duobao Pavilion.

　　His hand trembled slightly as he opened the door, but this time it was not out of fear.

　　Creak—

　　The main door slowly opened, and a cold draft mixed with the smell of mold and dust rushed towards them.

　　Huzi was about to step inside when Lu Fei stopped him.

　　"Wait, let's disperse the dead and yin energy first."

　　Huzi halted and peered inside first.

　　The shop was dark, with the floor and shelves covered in dust, and the antiques on the shelves were all well-placed.

　　Probably due to the rumors of hauntings, no one dared to come here to steal anything.

　　When the cold had dissipated a bit, the two of them walked in.

　　Houses that have been uninhabited for a long time always feel colder than other places.

　　"Let's look around and see if there are any knives, especially ancient ones." Lu Fei handed Hu Zi a pair of gloves, telling him to wear them while searching and not to touch anything directly with his hands.

　　The two carefully began to search through Duo Bao Xuan.

　　After searching the entire shop, they found a few worthless small daggers. Lu Fei examined them and found no trace of yin energy; they were not evil objects.

　　"It should be in the back living quarters."

　　Lu Fei was not surprised. When Boss Liang had the knife, he kept it so tightly hidden, as if afraid that others would find out, so of course, he wouldn't have put it out on the shelf for everyone to see.

　　They searched here to avoid missing anything.

　　The living room was where the tragedy occurred.

　　The image of the neatly arranged human and dog heads on the ground has remained a shadow in Hu Zi's mind to this day.

　　"Let's go to Mr. Liang's bedroom first."

　　The bloodstains on the floor had already dried and turned black, and weeds had grown in the corners of the yard.

　　Lu Fei asked Hu Zi to lead the way and pushed open the bedroom door.