Chapter 362: Human-faced Lotus
Xiao Ye, on the other hand, walked up to the table where the woman was sitting.
He wasn't good at hitting on people, especially women.
But when the woman saw him, her eyes lit up.
As a woman who was experienced with men, she could tell with a single glance what kind of physique Xiao Ye was hiding under his clothes.
She smiled. "Are you here for me?"
"Yes." Xiao Ye looked at her, truly at a loss for words. "Shall we go?"
The woman hadn't expected him to be so direct. Still, it made him different from the others.
Most other men would first try to show off, talking about everything under the sun and acting cool, before getting to the point.
But Xiao Ye's bluntness was actually quite intriguing.
"Alright. It's been a while since I've met a cute young man like you." The woman reached out to grab Xiao Ye, but he dodged her.
"I don't want anyone to see," Xiao Ye said, making an excuse. "There's a hotel right next door. I've already booked a room."
"So you've already made all the arrangements." The woman was quite pleased with herself. Being picked out by a man at first glance was a testament to her charm.
The two of them walked out of the club together and headed for the hotel next door.
Xiao Ye saw his chance, struck the back of her neck hard, and dragged her into a car.
「Meanwhile.」
Jin Mingzhu was tailing the man closely.
When she saw him get into a car, she quickly hailed a taxi to follow. "Driver, secretly follow that car up ahead."
"My husband is in there. I think he's cheating on me."
The driver wasn't surprised at all. This kind of thing happened all the time.
The two cars drove one after the other. To avoid arousing suspicion, Jin Mingzhu switched cars midway.
After tailing him for half an hour, the man finally stopped.
The man arrived at an old residential complex, got out of the car, and headed straight inside.
Seeing that the area was dimly lit and nearly deserted, Jin Mingzhu found the right moment and attacked from behind!
THUD!
The man collapsed limply.
Jin Mingzhu dragged his body into the shadows.
Laying the man on the ground, Jin Mingzhu pulled a black pouch from his coat. Inside, just as she'd expected, was a rosewood box.
But unlike the previous one, this one looked brand new.
And there was a talisman paper stuck to it.
To be safe, Jin Mingzhu didn't open it recklessly. Instead, she called her people to take the man away as well, lest he wake up and sound the alarm.
「An hour later.」
Inside a private residence.
Xiao Ye and Jin Mingzhu met up.
"How did it go on your end?"
Xiao Ye shook his head. "I haven't asked yet. What about you?"
"I found this." Jin Mingzhu took out the box. "It has a talisman paper on it, so I didn't dare to open it."
Xiao Ye took it and examined it carefully. "You were right not to open it. This talisman paper is used to suppress yin and baleful energy."
"If you had opened it recklessly, you could have been invaded by yin energy."
Once yin energy enters the body, it causes illness. Mild cases have symptoms similar to a cold and result in total body weakness. Severe cases can damage one's core constitution, leaving behind permanent harm even after recovery.
Xiao Ye slowly peeled off the talisman paper, replaced it with another one, and only then opened the box.
When he saw what was inside, even he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
Jin Mingzhu's brow furrowed. "What is that?"
Inside the box was something that looked like a lotus flower. It seemed to be made of wood, but there were no grain patterns on it.
It also had a faint blackish tint. The strangest part was the center of the lotus, which looked like it had a human face carved into it.
It was elegant yet bizarre, unsettling to look at in every way.
Xiao Ye explained, "It's an antique. To be precise, a ritual offering."
"This is an artifact made from human bones. It requires the brow bone of an infant—the softest part of the skull."
Jin Mingzhu's eyes widened in shock. "An infant's brow bone? Wait, this thing is so big. One bone wouldn't be enough, would it?"
"Correct. The number of lotus petals you see is the number of infant brow bones that were used."
"My god!"
Jin Mingzhu looked at the layers upon layers of petals. "There must be more than twenty here... They killed over twenty infants just to make this thing?"
Xiao Ye nodded. "That's right, just for this. But these are very rare."
"Any tomb that uses this kind of ritual offering belongs to a person of wealth and power. They were also very ambitious, attempting to use this method to bless their descendants."
"These brow bones were all taken from the children of wealthy and influential families. Only children born to such people possess good fortune. And in both Buddhism and the Taoist School, the lotus has a very special meaning."
"As for the face in the center, it's a binding rune meant to restrain that fortune. It's painted with human blood, forcing that fortune to serve the blood's owner and their descendants for generations."
Jin Mingzhu clenched her fists. "That's... absolutely despicable!"
But she also knew that's how society was in the past.
The rich and powerful could decide the life and death of common people at will.
Besides, there were no surveillance cameras back then. Even for a powerful family, if they weren't careful and their child was stolen, it would be nearly impossible to find out who was responsible.
"This lotus is tainted with an immense amount of yin and baleful energy, which means it has backfired. The original owner's descendants not only failed to receive good fortune but also died tragic and violent deaths."
Jin Mingzhu suddenly felt a sense of satisfaction. "Now that's more like it. It would have been disgusting if the descendants of such an evil person had actually lived well!"
Xiao Ye looked at the lotus. "This thing is extremely rare and valuable. No wonder they dug it up in advance."
"After all, these things are finite. One that has backfired like this is even more of a rarity."
Thinking of this, Xiao Ye took out his phone and called General He.
"I've found a very important clue here."
"A Human-faced Lotus, an extremely rare ritual offering. I doubt there are even two of them in all of the Dragon Country."
"And the enemy has been trying to keep us from finding this. It's highly likely that this thing has a known origin."
"General He, I'll take a picture and send it to you. Use the photo to trace its origin. You might be able to find the people behind all this!"
Jin Que is just a pawn.
Besides the Ouyang Family, there must be others helping the Angel Association with this kind of work.
General He agreed at once. "I'll have my people investigate immediately. I'll inform you the moment I have any news."
Hanging up the phone, Xiao Ye put the Human-faced Lotus away. "Time for the interrogation!"
SPLASH!
Two basins of water were thrown.
A man and a woman opened their eyes at the same time.
The woman saw Jin Mingzhu, while the man saw Xiao Ye.
They were in two separate rooms.
When the man saw Xiao Ye, his face changed drastically. His first instinct was to reach into his coat.
"Don't bother looking. It's right here." Xiao Ye picked up the rosewood box. "You people are really something else, being able to find a thing like this."