Chapter 1 Start

The strange phenomenon quickly disappeared.

Wei Yuan regained his senses, covered his finger, and hesitantly looked at the thing on the table.

The waist tag lay there quietly, exactly the same as before.

But words had truly appeared on the original white paper, and there was also the pair of red embroidered shoes, with a red base and gold trim, seeming to gleam slightly, quite eerie and bizarre. The burning sensation from Wei Yuan's finger had not yet dissipated, sending waves of stinging pain, telling him that what had just happened was not his imagination.

So, this waist tag is the identity proof of the Sili Xiaowei of the Great Han Dynasty, and now that he has this token, he has to catch these red embroidered shoes? Hmm, catch ghosts?

Everything about this matter felt strange.

He had been brave since he was a child, reaching out to grab the waist tag and turning it over to examine it. There was nothing unusual about it. Touching the white paper again, there was no stinging sensation. Wei Yuan frowned and focused his gaze on the computer next to him.

………………

A moment later.

Wei Yuan's fingers tapped on the keyboard, and the search engine displayed records about the Sili Xiaowei. His eyes were fixed on the words above, without blinking. Beside him lay the bizarre Wolong waist tag and the white paper with many more words on it.

"Sili Xiaowei, formerly known as Wolong."

It was a military officer in ancient China.

The duty was to govern the capital and external prefectures, and there was nothing that was not investigated.

Marquises, relatives of the emperor, and those below the three highest ministers, regardless of rank.

When entering the palace, they were called envoys in the middle passage, and at every meeting, they arrived later and left earlier.

After reading these materials, Wei Yuan closed his eyes.

Putting aside everything else, entering the palace court, arriving later and leaving earlier, their high position and authority were real, but they were just ancient supervisors. It had nothing to do with investigating witchcraft and slaying supernatural beings, as written on the white paper.

Unless what they supervised was not only people, but also the demons and ghosts of various states and counties.

He tapped the keyboard to turn the page and continued reading.

It was a list.

The last few Sili Xiaowei of the Han Dynasty.

First was Zhang Fei, and after Zhang Fei's death, it was Zhuge.

Cao Cao also held the position of Sili Xiaowei in his early years.

If these people could slay demons and eliminate evil, Wei Yuan would find it less difficult to accept.

He looked at the quiet waist tag and casually typed the three words "red embroidered shoes" into the browser to search, but there was no useful information. Apart from the ambiguous ghost stories in the forums, there were also several best-selling gold-trimmed red embroidered soft shoes on a certain treasure website, which looked antique and had a bit of an ancient flavor.

Just as he was about to shut down the computer, he suddenly caught sight of a post in a forum and casually clicked it open.

[A murder occurred in Fuchun Community in Quanshi City. The deceased was a young girl. Alas, I don't know who did it. Everyone in the city should be careful. Maybe it's another perverted serial killer. Girls, don't go out at night, and lock the doors when you're home alone!!!]

Fuchun Community?

Isn't that next door?

Wei Yuan paused, slid down the webpage to continue reading, and clicked on the post. He saw a somewhat blurry photo that was probably taken secretly. A woman's face was covered with a white cloth, and all that could be seen was her dark, thick long hair, which seemed to have just been washed and was still dripping water. On her feet were a pair of blood-soaked three-inch golden lotus red embroidered shoes.

Forcing modern people to wear the dregs of ancient times, three-inch golden lotuses, no wonder they say it's perverted.

"What a pity, so young."

Wei Yuan sighed in his heart, his attention falling on the red embroidered shoes. The red base and gold trim made them seem eerie and bizarre, and also revealed an indescribable sense of romantic beauty. A strange sense of familiarity emerged. Wei Yuan turned his head to look, and they were exactly the same as the red embroidered shoes on the white paper. There was no difference in the details. He subconsciously clicked to enlarge it, but saw nothing. The photo had been deleted by the administrator.

But he could confirm that the embroidered shoes worn by the deceased were exactly the same as those drawn on the white paper.

Recalling the post just now, and the waist tag only reacted after he heard the police siren, it was obvious that the red embroidered shoes had been taken away. Wei Yuan felt somewhat relieved, without the surprise and hidden fear he had felt just now.

This was the natural trust that people living in modern China had in the police.

The shoes had been taken away by the police, and he had no way to get his hands on them and bring them to justice. Moreover, even if they hadn't been taken away, he didn't plan to really capture these red embroidered shoes according to the words on the white paper.

He just had some strength in his arms, and it was hard to say whether the other party would be affected by physical salvation.

Not to mention that he didn't have much strength. If he stupidly went to find the red embroidered shoe ghost, wouldn't that be like holding a lantern in the latrine, purely looking for death? One should eat as much as one's stomach allows. There was no way to seek death like this.

"Can't afford to provoke them, but I can avoid them."

Wei Yuan muttered twice, casually closed the webpage, opened the recruitment website, and continued to send out resumes. He had failed the postgraduate entrance examination and missed the recruitment period. There were not many companies recruiting people now, and Quanshi City was not big or developed, so there were even fewer places that needed people. After searching around, he sent a few emails.

Then he continued to tidy up this small house.

After busying himself, it was already evening. Wei Yuan casually made a bowl of instant noodles and ate them hastily, then lay down on the bed.

He had been tired all day, moving luggage and cleaning the house. Exhausted, Wei Yuan quickly fell into a deep sleep.

He had no intention of wading into the muddy water of the Wolong waist tag's so-called arrest warrant. However, a murder had occurred in the neighboring community, and there might be a ghost. Thinking about it still made him feel a little uneasy. Seeing that this thing could identify ghosts, he had the intention of using the Wolong waist tag as a talisman and casually placed it on the bedside table.

Wei Yuan quickly fell asleep and vaguely had a dream.

…………

He was in an unfamiliar place.

It was a building, a three-story wooden building, covered with red satin.

There was fog, white mist enveloping the building. Faintly, there was also a clear sound, it was opera, a female voice, a dan role, singing so beautifully. The surroundings seemed to be... a river, a small river. The sound of the water flowed in the mist, sometimes near, sometimes far.

Wei Yuan walked forward uncontrollably in the fog.

He walked to a courtyard.

The road he came from had disappeared. The surrounding four three-story wooden buildings enclosed a square courtyard. The red silk that had been hanging everywhere had somehow turned white, fluttering in the fog, making a rustling sound.

In the middle was a crooked old locust tree, already dead, with white silk hanging all over its branches.

Under the tree was a well, a square stone well.

The sound of water flowed from inside.

A woman sat by the well, looking down at Wei Yuan, wearing a pair of red-bottomed, gold-trimmed three-inch soft shoes on her feet.

Wei Yuan walked forward uncontrollably.

Between him and the woman was the square water well. The sound of water became clearer and clearer.

Suddenly.

In Wei Yuan's ears, a low, angry tiger's roar violently exploded, making him feel dizzy. He groaned, and the whole world shattered inch by inch. Wei Yuan only felt his body sink, and he suddenly fell down. In the end, the woman in red shoes screamed, her face pale white, her dark eyes without a trace of white.

"Hmm... What time is it?"

In the house in Quanshi City, Wei Yuan opened his eyes groggily and yawned.

Mortal eyes could not see ghosts, and it was difficult to remember ghost dreams. He completely did not remember what happened in the dream just now. He just didn't know why he woke up suddenly. He reached under the pillow and pulled out his phone, looked at it, and saw that the time was three in the morning.

In ancient times, the Yin hour was the time when yin qi was at its peak, about to turn and decline, and yang qi was about to rise, the alternation of day and night.

It was also the time when yin qi was at its peak.

Outside, dogs barked incessantly, and the howls of night cats were like the cries of infants. Wei Yuan yawned, got up and poured a glass of warm water, and felt that the ground seemed a little wet, as if a water glass had been knocked over. The Wolong waist tag lay quietly on the bedside table. He slumped on the bed, leaning against the pillow, and habitually swiped his phone. Only the light from the screen illuminated his face.

"Ding-dong, you have a new email."

Wei Yuan was slightly surprised. An email at this time?

He opened the email.

It was an employment notice, five thousand a month, with free meals and lodging. The destination was...

He opened the photo attached to the email, an old-fashioned window sill painted with green paint. Because of wind and sun, the paint was peeling off a bit. Behind the window, he could see many shelves. On the nearest one were several white paper figures, their lips blood-red, as if crying and laughing.

"Folk Museum..."