"Xiao He, I'm a businessman," Si Jiangchen said with a soft sigh when he saw me stubbornly refusing to leave the secret chamber. "Businessmen always aim to maximize their profits. Do you understand?"
I did understand business. I once teamed up with A Wen to sell an exorbitantly priced magical artifact to a nouveau riche. But the people in the secret chamber were living beings, not items for trade!
When I looked at him in confusion, Si Jiangchen's gaze went over my head and landed on the chaos inside the chamber. "There were originally eight people in there. If they die, everything will be over. But now, six or seven policemen and the Xue family's mother and son have been dragged into this mess."
"Those eight people are also lives! How can you just abandon them?" I couldn't be as heartless as he was, especially since those people weren't heinous criminals who deserved to die.
"Xiao He, if your car's brakes fail on the road and you have to choose between hitting one person on one side and ten on the other, which way would you turn the steering wheel?" Si Jiangchen's words only made my mind more confused. I knew rationally what the right choice was, but my emotions couldn't accept it. I tried to say something but my lips just moved soundlessly.
"Uncle Zhao, the two bad guys are trying to escape!" Suddenly, Xue Shuo's voice came from behind us. "They can turn people into zombies. If they get away, more people will be killed!"
Immediately after, there was the sound of Officer Zhao loading his gun. "You two, don't move! Put your hands on your heads and squat down!"
Officer Zhao had been holding Xue Shuo, trying to escape the chaos in the chamber. But when he heard Xue Shuo's words, he immediately put the boy down and shielded him behind him, aiming his gun at us. By now, Officer Zhao fully believed Xue Shuo's words. The terrifying chaos in the chamber was clearly caused by Si Jiangchen.
Si Jiangchen slowly raised his hands, and I turned around as Officer Zhao ordered. Just when the tense atmosphere seemed to ease a bit, Xue Shuo suddenly threw his whole weight against Officer Zhao's lower back. Officer Zhao, caught off guard, stumbled towards us. The passage outside the chamber was only about a meter wide. When Officer Zhao fell towards me, I instinctively reached out to help him, but with the gun in his hand, my action looked like I was trying to grab it.
"Bang!"
A police gun was not something an ordinary person could mess with. Officer Zhao didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. The gunpowder smoke billowed in front of my eyes, but I felt no pain. Although I was supposedly an "immortal bone," I felt pain just as much as an ordinary person.
When I looked up, I saw Si Jiangchen's arm in front of my chest. A splash of blood was seeping through his shirt sleeve.
"Ah!" I didn't have time to be shocked. I immediately grabbed Officer Zhao's finger, preventing him from pulling the trigger again. Si Jiangchen, seemingly oblivious to the pain, stepped past me and Officer Zhao and grabbed Xue Shuo by the neck with his uninjured left hand.
"Help! Uncle Zhao!" Xue Shuo, scared out of his wits, turned pale and screamed for Officer Zhao. Officer Zhao desperately tried to pull his gun back from my hand, but I tightly held the bottom of the trigger. The pain of having my fingers squeezed between the metal was like a medieval torture. I gritted my teeth so hard it hurt.
Si Jiangchen grabbed Xue Shuo and threw him to the ground. The boy let out a grunt and almost passed out.
"What are you going to do to the child?!" Officer Zhao shouted angrily. "Are you even human?!"
Si Jiangchen ignored Officer Zhao's shouts. He stepped on Xue Shuo's chest, preventing the boy from moving, and then drew a faint talisman in the air with his left finger. A faint blue light emanated from his fingertip. Inside Xue Shuo was the essence of the One - Eyed Buddha Mother. Sensing danger, it let out a shrill scream and tried to escape. Si Jiangchen had already blocked the Baihui acupoint on the child's head and the Renzhong acupoint above his lips. So, the One - Eyed Buddha Mother had to crawl out of Xue Shuo's mouth.
Officer Zhao could only see the child being stepped on by Si Jiangchen, rolling his eyes and wailing in pain with his mouth wide open. But I clearly saw that half of the One - Eyed Buddha Mother's head had squeezed out of Xue Shuo's mouth.
"You're such a fool!" Taking advantage of Officer Zhao's distraction, I lowered my head and rammed into his throat. Officer Zhao was knocked back a few steps and hit the earthen wall hard.
"The laws of heaven are clear, the laws of earth are spiritual!" I pressed my body against Officer Zhao's gun and arm. While chanting the spell to open the spiritual eyes, I swiped my free right hand across Officer Zhao's eyelids. Officer Zhao closed his eyes in fear. When he opened them again, two faint blue lights had merged into his pupils.
"Ah!" When Officer Zhao looked at Xue Shuo being stepped on by Si Jiangchen again, he couldn't help but scream. He also saw the strange sight. The hideous face of the One - Eyed Buddha Mother had squeezed half of her shoulder out of Xue Shuo's widely opened mouth.
"What... what is that thing?!" Officer Zhao, although a policeman, had never seen such a strange and terrifying sight. He was so scared that he forgot about grabbing the gun from my hand. Instead, he stared at the strange scene in front of him with wide - open, terrified eyes.
"That's the evil ghost causing all these deaths. If you keep causing trouble, all your brothers inside will be killed!" Now that he had seen the One - Eyed Buddha Mother, I blamed all the casualties inside on her. It was true. If she hadn't hidden inside the child to avoid our pursuit, the monks at Hongluo Temple wouldn't have been killed. She was the culprit of this tragedy!
"What should we do now?!" Officer Zhao was stunned by the sight in front of him. Even with Si Jiangchen's spell suppressing her, the One - Eyed Buddha Mother had managed to wriggle out half of her body. Her face was covered in slime, and her single copper - bell - like eye had only a black pupil. She felt Officer Zhao's gaze on her and grinned at him with her mouth full of sharp teeth. "Uncle Zhao, save Shuo Shuo..."
"Aaaaah!" A visible shiver ran through Officer Zhao's body. If I hadn't been holding him up, he would have collapsed on the ground.
"Si Jiangchen, it's out!" I let go of Officer Zhao's hand and rushed back to Si Jiangchen's side.
"Xiao He, give me your hand!" Without having time to feel sorry for Si Jiangchen's blood - soaked right arm, he grabbed my palm. I instinctively formed a sword finger, and he held it and quickly drew another demon - suppressing talisman in the air.
"Roar!" Sensing danger, the One - Eyed Buddha Mother immediately wriggled her body and lunged towards Officer Zhao.