Aizi Xing’s sudden words caught me off guard. I immediately asked what was wrong, feeling a bit confused.
He slapped himself across the face and muttered about how he couldn’t resist temptation, admitting that he had messed up the task I had assigned him.
Something felt off, so I urged him to explain further.
It turned out that last night, when Aizi Xing had gone to Hu Bingbing’s villa, he didn’t return empty-handed. While there, he had noticed something strange in the southern part of the villa’s yard—a heart buried in the ground.
He discovered it when the moonlight shone directly onto the spot, and everything else seemed still. Out of curiosity, Aizi Xing stepped on the dirt, only to find something was buried beneath it. He started digging, and to his surprise, unearthed a still-beating human heart. The heart had a strange talisman attached to it, a symbol Aizi Xing had never seen before.
The most bizarre thing was that the heart was still beating, fresh and blood-red, as if it was alive.
At that moment, someone came out of the villa, so Aizi Xing hurriedly buried the heart again to avoid being caught. It was Zhu Li who came outside. She invited Aizi Xing back inside, and since Hu Bingbing wasn’t home, Zhu Li began to seduce him, distracting him completely. They ended up in her room, and she kept him busy all night, draining him of all his energy.
Aizi Xing had intended to go back out to investigate the heart later, but after the distraction, he was completely drained. He slept through the entire night and only remembered what had happened after waking up that morning. He came to me, still groggy and disoriented, only now realizing his mistake.
I couldn’t help but feel a surge of frustration. "Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Now that the ghost tattoo is done, you only remember to speak up?"
Aizi Xing slapped himself again. "When I woke up, my brain was like mush. I only remembered once I was fully awake."
Su Qing, who had been listening, didn’t understand the situation and looked at us with confusion. I decided to explain everything from the beginning, including Hu Bingbing’s involvement and the man in the white shirt.
Su Qing furrowed her brow, then said, "Hu Bingbing definitely has something to hide. I bet she sent Zhu Li to distract you, probably to cover up something else."
I pressed them both for answers. "What’s the deal with the heart? And the man in the white shirt inside the villa?"
Neither Aizi Xing nor Su Qing could give me a clear explanation. So I decided that tonight, we’d go back to the villa and investigate further. Even though the ghost tattoo had already been done, my curiosity couldn’t be shaken.
Su Qing, however, didn’t want to get involved. She had already skipped classes for the past two or three days to help with the ghost tattoo business. If she didn’t return soon, she’d be at risk of being expelled from school.
I was surprised—Su Qing was a university student, a sophomore. She usually only came to me on weekends for training, but now, it seemed like she was too busy to deal with this matter.
She turned to me and said, "When I have some time, I’ll come help you out and bring in some customers. But I want a commission. And don’t go complaining to my sister again, or else…" She flexed her small fists and gave me a warning look.
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"Deal," I said. "I’ll leave the customers to you, and if you help me, I’m happy to share. Just don’t worry about complaints."
Su Qing left, and I was left with Aizi Xing. I gave him an earful for messing up the investigation by getting distracted. If he didn’t straighten up, he’d regret it.
He begged for mercy, even offering to deduct his wages to make up for the trouble. I wasn’t in the mood to be lenient, but I let it slide, knowing that in this line of work, mistakes were inevitable.
That night, Aizi Xing and I returned to Hu Bingbing’s villa. We still had the card she gave us, so getting into the gated community wasn’t an issue. She probably didn’t expect us to come back after the tattoo was already done.
Aizi Xing was worried. "What if the heart’s been moved? What if they’ve figured out we’re coming back?"
I reassured him. "Don’t worry, Hu Bingbing won’t expect us to return. This surprise visit should catch her off guard."
We arrived at the villa and started sneaking around, trying not to alert anyone inside. The lights were on, which meant someone was still there, so we had to be cautious.
The moonlight was unusually bright that night. As Aizi Xing had mentioned earlier, a beam of moonlight remained perfectly still, casting a glow on a patch of dirt in the southern part of the yard.
"This is it!" Aizi Xing pointed at the spot.
I knelt down and began digging. In no time, I unearthed a human heart, still pulsating, with a strange talisman affixed to it.
"Alive?!" I couldn’t believe it. A heart buried in the earth, still beating? This was unnatural.
I tore the talisman off the heart, and immediately, it stopped beating. When I placed the talisman back on, the heart resumed its rhythmic pulse.
It clicked—this talisman was the key! But what kind of talisman was this?
Aizi Xing shook his head. "I’ve never seen a talisman like this. It’s not a normal exorcism talisman. It might be something from witchcraft, a shamanic spell."
Witchcraft? That was even more ominous. But what was the purpose of this heart being buried here? Who had buried it—Hu Bingbing? Would she really bury a heart near her own home?
As soon as I finished unearthing the heart, the moonlight shifted, moving to a new spot, now illuminating the west side of the yard.
"Wait… this thing can move?" I looked up at the sky, wondering if the moon was somehow cursed.
Before I could fully grasp what was happening, Aizi Xing had already started digging at the new spot. He pulled out a lung, which, just like the heart, had a talisman attached to it.
Next, we dug in the east and north, and unearthed a liver and a kidney, both with talismans.
At this point, we were utterly confused. Why were there so many organs buried around the villa? And why were they all marked with these strange talismans?
Then, Aizi Xing had a sudden realization. He whispered in awe, "Boss, I understand now. This is a Five Elements Feng Shui Formation."
"Five Elements? Feng Shui? Explain."
Aizi Xing quickly explained. "Each organ in the human body corresponds to one of the Five Elements. The liver represents wood, the heart represents fire, the spleen represents earth, the lungs represent metal, and the kidneys represent water. Each element also corresponds to a specific direction: wood to the east, fire to the south, metal to the west, water to the north, and earth to the center."
He gestured around the yard. "That’s why we found the liver in the east, the heart in the south, the lungs in the west, and the kidneys in the north. And if I’m right, there should be a spleen buried on the roof, right in the center of the house, which corresponds to earth."
"So this is some sort of ritual, using the organs of a human to create a Feng Shui formation. It’s an evil formation that forces a change in the house’s energy, but at the cost of the person whose organs are used."
I felt the chill creeping up my spine. This was not just a simple burial. This was an ancient and malicious ritual. If I wasn’t wrong, the organs were taken from a victim who had been sacrificed. This was a formation meant to trap evil and harness power, but at a tremendous cost.
The formation was designed to change the Feng Shui of the house, improving the luck of the residents while causing unimaginable suffering to the sacrificed soul. The victim’s spirit would never be able to move on, trapped in agony for eternity.
This was worse than anything I had encountered so far. And whoever was behind this, they were playing with forces far more dangerous than I had imagined.