My family tree hollow connects to the modern era : Chapter 38

Lu Mingyu suddenly stared at Zhuang Lixu, who looked back at him triumphantly. “Why are you looking at me? If I have a chance to take revenge, of course I have to resolve them at the first opportunity. Letting them live even one more minute could lead to uncontrollable changes. I killed them first and then intended to handle their families slowly. It is a pity; if I had not been caught by you, I would have let these so-called powerful people truly experience what it feels like to have one’s life and death out of one’s own control.”

Bai Zhizhi let out a soft “wow” and asked curiously, “How did you manage that? You were already caught, yet you could still kill people?”

Zhuang Lixu raised an eyebrow. “How did I manage it? Of course, because they were already dead before you caught me.”

There were people who could see him once he had become a spirit, and there were even things that could help him increase his power, which proved that this world was not just what he saw on the surface. Furthermore, in their traditions, there had always been celestial masters. Although he had never met one, what if they actually existed?

Therefore, on the same night he killed Wan Fang’s family, he killed Miao Sheng, Liu Tao, and Qin Yilun, fearing that he would be caught before he could get his revenge. It was a pity that their parents were not home at the time, otherwise, those three families would have already been reunited in the underworld.

Fortunately, he had already sent Wan Fang’s family, whom he hated the most, down there.

Compared to the Miao, Liu, and Qin families, Wan Fang was the most hateful. The animosity from Miao Sheng and the others could be traced back step by step to the point of no return, but with Wan Fang, it was an unprovoked malice. He did not even understand where this evil came from.

He had excellent grades and was top of his grade in almost every exam. As his homeroom teacher, Wan Fang received praise, and if he had become the top scorer in the college entrance exam, her resume would have been even more brilliant.

As a homeroom teacher, who wouldn’t want their students to achieve high scores and win honor? Not to mention that teaching at a private school meant high scores didn’t just bring honor; they also brought bonuses.

But for some inexplicable reason, Wan Fang despised him and wanted to suppress him, as if his existence ignited all the evil within her. She wanted to break his wings and trample him into the mud so he would never have a chance to get back up.

That night, he drifted behind Wan Fang as he had before, full of unwillingness. He watched her leave the school and enter the alleyway. He didn’t know if there was something buried in the area where she lived or if it was just a strange location, but every time he got close, he felt like the strength in his body was being sucked away, making it impossible to get too close.

After Wan Fang returned home, he could no longer follow her and could only wander aimlessly.

It was at this time that some foreigners saw him and asked if he had any unfulfilled wishes or lingering obsessions. He said yes; he told them he had been murdered and wanted revenge.

The other party gave him a thin, transparent sheet. After his fingernails grew long, they told him that as long as he clawed through his enemy’s heart and liver and devoured their soul, he could become stronger.

He wanted to ask why they were helping him and what price he had to pay, but the group disappeared, looking even more like ghosts than he was.

He could feel his spiritual body becoming stronger, at least enough to resist the suppression of the alleyway area, so without delay, he went to Wan Fang’s home and killed her family of three.

When he stabbed through the heart of Wan Fang’s son and consumed his soul, his spirit became even more solid. He saw the terrified expression on Wan Fang’s face and the despair as she tried to flee but found her path blocked by him; he felt nothing but gratification.

The second one to die was Wan Fang’s husband. He had no grudge against him, but just like with Wan Fang, there was no reason for the malice, yet he was the root of his family’s misfortune.

Watching Wan Fang crawl away desperately as her legs gave out from fear, he finally asked the question that had been in his heart: “Why do you despise me so much, to the point where you destroyed my family?”

Wan Fang shook her head in horror, only able to mutter apologies, claiming she wasn’t the one who killed them and begging him to let her go.

Zhuang Lixu could not help but laugh loudly. Let her go? Then who would let him go? What had he done wrong? What had his parents done wrong? Just because of one person’s hatred, his entire family had met such a miserable end.

That night, he slowly inserted a sharp wooden stake into Wan Fang’s heart, watching her struggle in pain and die in despair.

Finally, he heard her say that she had argued with her son. As a “gold-medal” teacher hired at a high salary by Mingde High School, her son was a high school dropout. She saw him as a disgrace and a failure, but he told her he would rather not have a mother like her.

The son she had spent so much effort raising said he hated her, said he would rather be an orphan than have a mother like her. It was also on that day that the admissions teacher brought Zhuang Lixu to see the school. He was young, wearing plain clothes, but full of confidence.

Confidence in himself, confidence in his studies, and confidence in his future. He said he would work hard to win scholarships every year, that he would make his way through his own ability without increasing the burden on his family, and that learning was his own business, not requiring his family to go to such lengths to cultivate him.

There really is such unprovoked hatred in this world. When someone has worked hard but failed to receive the expected rewards, and then sees someone else receive enviable results without having to pay any price, the malice in Wan Fang’s heart sprouted. The more excellent Zhuang Lixu was, the more she wanted to destroy him.

Zhuang Lixu tugged at the red rope on his wrist. “Is it not laughable? Just because she had a son who dropped out of high school, she could not stand my excellence and wanted to destroy me. Just because of this ridiculous reason, she led the bullying at school, incited those rich kids to target me, and ended up ruining my family. Am I wrong to kill her whole family?”

Bai Zhizhi shook his head silently. He wasn’t wrong. It was just that these humans were a bit too bizarre; how could such unprovoked hatred exist?

After talking about Wan Fang, Zhuang Lixu continued, “I don’t know how much time I have left, and I don’t know how long this accidentally acquired power will last. After killing Wan Fang’s family, I immediately found Miao Sheng and the others. They were much easier to deal with. These people were nothing more than bullies relying on their family background. When they saw I would not bow my head, they could not swallow their pride. Miao Sheng apologized while crying, saying they had not expected things to turn out like this, that they had only meant to hire people to cause trouble at my mother’s shop to teach me to submit, but they didn’t expect anyone to die in the chaos. He said he was wrong, and offered to burn paper money for my family—so much paper money—begging for my forgiveness.”

Zhuang Lixu let out a scoff. “Now that I am at their door, they know they are wrong. When they forced me to jump from the rooftop and talked about ‘cutting weeds and pulling out roots’ to eliminate future trouble, they didn’t know they were wrong. This isn’t knowing they were wrong; this is fear. If given even a slight chance, they would only strike back until my soul is scattered.”

Bai Zhizhi nodded in agreement again. Bowing one’s head when the situation is against you and acting arrogant when the situation favors you—in this regard, demons and humans are much the same.

Zhuang Lixu closed his eyes and said with regret, “It is a pity their parents were not at home. I killed Miao Sheng and then Qin Yilun. Fearing that their consecutive deaths would arouse suspicion, I threw Qin Yilun’s body into the water and possessed Liu Tao’s body, just to buy time and wait to send all three families down to hell.”

He never expected he would be one step too slow. Miao Sheng, Liu Tao, and Qin Yilun deserved to die, but their parents, who indulged them by relying on money and power, deserved it even more!

He really wanted to see what those wealthy people, who didn’t take human life seriously, would look like when their own lives were threatened and death approached. Unfortunately, he would not be able to see it.

Bai Zhizhi continued his commentary: “Decisive and swift. It is a pity you have already killed them, otherwise, now that you have been caught, sob sob sob…”

Before Bai Zhizhi could finish, Lu Mingyu covered his mouth and dragged him out of the room.

Bai Zhizhi kicked Lu Mingyu away. “Why are you covering my mouth!”

Lu Mingyu said, “He is already a spirit with persistent obsessions. Instead of guiding him, you are adding fuel to the fire. The more his heart is filled with unwillingness and the less he wants to be reincarnated, the more harm he will do to himself in the end.”

Bai Zhizhi replied, “His unwillingness is not because of my words; it is because he has grievances. It is your human race that acts unfairly, causing innocent people to die with grievances, yet you blame me for ‘adding fuel to the fire.’ You really cannot tell black from white. Had I known he died so miserably and unjustly, I would not have caught him.”

Lu Mingyu said, “If you let vengeful spirits go just because you pity them, it would be fine if they were willing to reincarnate after getting their revenge. But if they are deluded by powerful forces and become vengeful spirits that slaughter the innocent just to become stronger, you would be an accomplice to their evil!”

Bai Zhizhi rolled his eyes at him. “I think you are the one reversing black and white!”

Lu Mingyu shouted, “You!”

Mei Tianli, who had been waiting at the door, hurried over and stood between them. “Why are you two arguing? The spirit has been caught; we will handle the rest according to procedure. Zhizhi, let’s go back to the small courtyard. Didn’t you say you wanted to eat crispy duck? Let’s go buy some—buy ten of them!”

Bai Zhizhi pushed aside Mei Tianli and asked Lu Mingyu, “How are you going to deal with Zhuang Lixu?”

Anyway, he felt that Zhuang Lixu was not wrong. If these people were going to scatter Zhuang Lixu’s soul just because he took revenge and killed people, he would definitely take him away. They caught him without figuring out the cause and effect, so they had to be responsible.

Although Zhuang Lixu had been manipulated by Aike and the others to use demonic power, which led to him being wrongly accused, he had suffered so much that he had to seize any opportunity for revenge. He could understand that, and therefore did not blame him.

Lu Mingyu said, “He has grievances, so we will file a report for him. How he died, how his family died—if the three families of Miao, Liu, and Qin really used their power to shield criminals, they will also receive severe punishment under the law. As for Zhuang Lixu, we will perform a ritual to send him off. Spirits are not judged in the mortal world; the underworld will judge their merits and faults.”

Bai Zhizhi nodded upon hearing this. “That sounds reasonable.”

Mei Tianli added, “Specialists will handle the rest; the Bureau was founded precisely to deal with these matters. Alright, Zhizhi, let’s head back to the courtyard. They have plenty of work to do.”

Bai Zhizhi said, “I will be watching you all. If you don’t handle this fairly, just you wait.”

Seeing Mei Tianli pull Bai Zhizhi away, Lu Mingyu remained silent for a moment before laughing softly. Bai Zhizhi was indeed different from other demons; other demons wouldn’t care about human life or grievances. He suddenly understood why Jiang Lin treated Bai Zhizhi differently than other demons.

While there was no result yet regarding Zhuang Lixu, the people who had entered the energy field finally came out.

As soon as he emerged, Jiang Lin heard that the little fox had ruined Huer and his group and had also flooded the Bureau with spiritual soil. The cause and effect of these matters were not yet clear, and now he heard that the little fox had been running to the Bureau every day to check on the progress of a homicide case. He was full of question marks—in the few days he had been away, the little fox demon had not been idle for even a second.