The situation was far more complex than the two had initially imagined, but the clues had not been broken. Yan Shouyi handed the petals to Meng Guohui and glanced at Ding Li, who was still unconscious. He said,
"We cannot rule out Ding Li's identity yet, but we absolutely cannot stay with him any longer. Director Meng, have someone come to take over the scene, and let's find a safe place to continue our discussion."
Meng Guohui made several phone calls to have his subordinates handle the aftermath, then hailed a taxi by the roadside. After the three got into the car, Meng Guohui gave an address, which turned out to be thirty kilometers from the city center of Rongcheng, in the suburbs.
Meng Guohui explained, "That is where my wife passed away. If the fox demon has a connection to my wife, perhaps we can find answers there."
On the way, Yan Shouyi asked Meng Guohui to think carefully about what grievance he had with the fox demon. Meng Guohui pondered for a long time and finally had some leads.
More than twenty years ago, when he first arrived in Rongcheng, he worked as a bricklayer on a construction site.
One day, a large coffin was unearthed at the construction site!
It was during the workers' holiday, and there were very few workers at the site. Meng Guohui was working overtime to earn more money. After the coffin was dug up, some workers felt that there must be valuable antiques inside. They conspired to open the coffin, privately divide the valuable treasures, and share the money.
Meng Guohui vaguely felt that this was not right, but now he was one of them. Even if he didn't want the money, others wouldn't agree, because only by accepting the money would they be united, and others would believe that Meng Guohui wouldn't report them.
So Meng Guohui could only agree to join them.
Several workers jumped into the pit with crowbars and pried open the coffin. They found nothing but a skeleton inside, and were quite disappointed. They angrily told the excavator operator to smash the coffin.
As a result of this smashing, everyone discovered that there were quite a few antique pottery jars at the bottom of the coffin!
The pottery jars had strange shapes, and on the front, a face that was neither human nor fox was molded. It was so lifelike that it sent chills down one's spine.
Still, some daring workers carried out the pottery jars and studied them carefully. Finally, they even broke the seal on the mouth of the jars, which was sealed with earth!
After the earth was removed, the workers noticed a Taoist talisman on it. Before they could react, several foxes crawled out of the pottery jars!
The foxes were about the size of wild dogs. It was unknown how they got into the pottery jars. After coming out, they were extremely ferocious and bit anyone they saw. The bitten workers screamed in agony, and their wounds quickly rotted, creating a terrifying scene.
Fortunately, the excavator operator directly controlled the huge bucket and crushed those foxes. When he was about to crush the last white fox, Meng Guohui deliberately left a way for the white fox to escape.
Later, it was rumored that the bitten workers did not survive that night and died of poisoning.
With such an incident at the construction site, the foreman did not want to escalate the matter. He drove away all the workers present that day and completely blocked all news.
The innocent Meng Guohui left the construction site like this. However, after that incident, Meng Guohui repeatedly had the same dream: a woman in ancient costume, exuding an ethereal aura, dancing gracefully around him. When he lifted her veil, he discovered that she had a furry fox face with a long, pointed mouth, and her laughter was terrifying.
Meng Guohui was woken up by this dream several times. He always felt that his dream was related to the foxes at the construction site. He then tried to inquire about the whereabouts of the other workers present that day. To his surprise, all the workers present that day died mysteriously within seven days. Some died in accidents, while others died under unclear circumstances. However, without exception, their deaths were particularly horrifying, and even their bodies were not intact.
At that time, Meng Guohui was very scared, fearing that he would be the next to die. However, after a long time, nothing happened to him. Instead, his business grew larger and larger.
The fox-faced woman who often appeared in his dreams also gradually disappeared.
Years passed, and Meng Guohui had become a real estate tycoon. The memories of the past had gradually become blurred. This time, recalling everything, he still couldn't figure out why, if the fox demon wanted revenge, it would wait so many years.
"Perhaps the fox demon was also injured after killing people and has been recovering for years, only now thinking of revenge?" Long Feicheng analyzed.
Yan Shouyi shook his head. "It should not be like this. From what Mr. Meng said, the pottery jars they dug up at that time were likely foxes intentionally captured by Taoists in the past, sealed in pottery jars and buried under the coffin to drive away snakes, insects, rats, and ants for the coffin's owner, slowing down the decomposition of the corpse. However, the foxes sealed in the pottery jars should have already had some cultivation. They ended up cultivating in the pottery jars. When the workers dug out the pottery jars, the foxes thought they had encountered their enemies and started biting people indiscriminately after escaping... As for the subsequent mysterious deaths of the workers, it was indeed the revenge of the fox demon. The fox demon did not kill Mr. Meng in the end, likely out of gratitude for his life-saving grace at that time. In that case, after so many years, there would be no reason to kill Mr. Meng."
Long Feicheng, who had been interested in thinking, couldn't help but cover his forehead. "I'm getting more and more confused."
"It's been tough for you." Yan Shouyi patted Long Feicheng's shoulder. The harm was small, but the insult was immense.
Since Meng Guohui's connection to the fox demon only existed in the past, many things could no longer be investigated. Yan Shouyi certainly couldn't go to the construction site where the pottery jars were unearthed, as it had long since been replaced by tall buildings.
For now, they could only continue following the clue of Meng Guohui's wife and see if there were any new discoveries.
The taxi driver, having received a large fare, hummed a tune along the way as the car drove steadily on the Third Ring Road.
About half an hour later, the car finally arrived at the small courtyard where Meng Guohui used to live. After becoming a big boss, the first thing he did was buy this villa and preserve everything in its original state, all to retain the memories of their life together, supporting each other.
As soon as they got out of the car, Yan Shouyi smelled a fox-like odor and walked in with a frown.
Meng Guohui received a phone call and stood outside the door, communicating.
A moment later, Meng Guohui hung up and followed them in, saying anxiously, "Mr. Yan, I have some bad news."
"I have some bad news for you too."
Yan Shouyi, with his back to Meng Guohui, pointed to an ancient well in the middle of the courtyard and said, "You're in trouble."
Meng Guohui's heart skipped a beat. He quickly looked around the courtyard and saw that the ancient well was gurgling with water, and it kept pouring out, filling the entire courtyard.
"This well should have been dry, shouldn't it?" Yan Shouyi asked.
Meng Guohui nodded blankly.
"A dry well spouting water, a new grave cracking open – these are all ill omens."
Yan Shouyi looked around and asked, "Director Meng, what bad news do you have?"
Meng Guohui came back to his senses, holding his phone, and said, "My subordinate just informed me that Ding Li has gone missing."
"Missing?" Long Feicheng exclaimed, "Isn't he about to die? How can he go missing?"
"I don't know." Meng Guohui shook his head irritably.
Yan Shouyi noticed that the water from the ancient well in the courtyard, although it had flooded the small yard, had also nourished the flowers and plants growing around the yard.
He vaguely seemed to understand something, but the fleeting thought eluded him.
At this moment, Meng Guohui suddenly pointed to the second-floor window, his face filled with terror, and shouted, "Fox, fox demon...! The fox demon is in my house!!"
Yan Shouyi and the others quickly looked up and saw a white fox standing behind the only open window on the second floor, staring intently at them!