Chapter 1 A Salty Aura

A Cadillac stopped in front of the bookstore. It was still early morning, so South Street, usually bustling during the day, was still quite deserted.

A woman stepped out of the car, wearing a lily dress and black stockings. Her delicate, flawless skin and youthful appearance perfectly embodied the harmonious unity of youth and sexiness.

Licking her lips, the woman didn't rush in. Instead, she looked at the archways on either side of the bookstore, one reading "Gūwàng tīng zhī" and the other "Rú shì wǒ wén." (Take it with a grain of salt; Thus have I heard).

I'm just casually recounting hearsay stories, so please listen casually and don't take it too seriously or to heart.

A wave of salty-fish-like (lazy) air washed over her.

If a retired high-ranking official hung this up at his doorstep, it would give people a sense of having seen the world's vicissitudes and returning to simplicity;

But the woman knew that the owner of this bookstore had a salty-fish (lazy) disposition to begin with. To put it bluntly, he was a bit unmotivated, only thinking about getting by day by day.

It's like how ordinary people who see a hundred-dollar bill on the ground and deliberately pretend not to see it and not pick it up would be seen as trying to save face, while if Bill Gates didn't pick it up, it could give rise to many profound and meaningful lessons.

Walking to the door of the store, she found it locked. For a bookstore that usually only opened for business late at night, the fact that it was locked at this hour was unusual.

The woman flicked her finger gently,

"Click..."

The lock inside opened by itself.

She pushed open the door,

And walked in.

The woman closed her eyes, a look of extreme enjoyment on her face.

You see,

At this moment, many places in the bookstore were covered in frost, especially near the ground, where white mist lingered, like the mist surrounding the edge of an ice cream bar in summer, but it wasn't the effect of dry ice.

At first, it was comfortable, but gradually, even the woman couldn't stand it anymore. She looked at the motionless man and woman on the sofa and chose to retreat.

Then, she took out her phone and dialed a number.

Soon,

The old Daoist (Taoist priest), wrapped in a cotton-padded army coat, shivering and sniffling, ran down from upstairs, especially when passing by his boss.

The old Daoist didn't dare to delay and immediately ran outside the store, then took off his army coat.

The summer night was usually sultry, but now the old Daoist was enjoying the heat, wishing it were even hotter.

Looking around, the old Daoist saw the Cadillac, then approached it and saw the woman leaning against the car door, holding her phone.

The woman was very young, perhaps only a little older than Bai Yingying in the bookstore.

"Oh, you're here!"

The old Daoist's face immediately lit up with a flattering expression, and of course, the joy of seeing an old friend again.

The visitor was none other than Tang Shi.

Tang Shi looked at the old Daoist whose nose was red from the cold and smiled slightly, saying:

"Someone saw your boss in the Yellow Springs in a dream, and he asked me to come and take a look. It seems the problem is quite serious."

"Um, how is the boss?" the old Daoist asked.

Tang Shi sighed, pointed to her eyes, and remained silent.

The old Daoist also sighed and didn't ask further. Then, he looked back at the "Frozen" themed bookstore and said, "Should I wake him up?"

"Waking him up is useless. This matter isn't that simple, and it might cause trouble. Tell me what exactly happened first. He didn't explain it clearly when he came out, he just told me to come and take a look."

"Okay, why don't we go inside and have a cup of tea…"

The old Daoist spoke, then looked back at the "Frozen" themed bookstore,

And shook his head, saying:

"Forget it, let's just sit on the curb and talk."

……………………

When dawn broke, the mechanical roar from behind the police station had already started. A newly approved piece of land was being converted into an underground parking lot, and because they were rushing the construction period, the construction team started work early in the morning.

Zhang Yanfeng had just woken up and was yawning. He was usually busy with work, so sleeping in the office was commonplace.

After returning from the bookstore last night, he sat in his office smoking one cigarette after another, then unknowingly fell asleep on his desk.

He had a dream,

Dreaming that he and Zhou Ze were sitting face to face on a park bench, and he had forgotten what they were talking about. He only remembered seeing rusty chains on both his and Zhou Ze's legs.

The first thing he did after waking up was to wash up. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Zhang Yanfeng finally felt his mind clear up a bit.

Just as he was holding his toiletries, preparing to return to the office to start work, two young police officers walked towards him. The two were discussing something enthusiastically and bumped into Zhang Yanfeng at the corner.

"What are you talking about? So engrossed."

Zhang Yanfeng wasn't angry. A divorced middle-aged man who was used to sleeping in the office couldn't possibly be arrogant.

"Team Zhang, sorry. We were talking about the things the construction team dug up behind us, like spirit tablets and some pottery," one of the young police officers replied.

"What?"

Zhang Yanfeng immediately stuffed the things in his hand to the young police officer next to him and ran straight out of the office building towards the construction area behind.

He didn't expect Zhou Ze's speed to be so fast. He had only told him about the construction team last night, and this morning he was able to arrange for people to deliberately dig deeper to see what they could find.

Officer Zhang misunderstood Boss Zhou.

Not long after he left, Boss Zhou had already fallen asleep and didn't have time to instruct the old Daoist or Xu Qinglang to arrange this.

Even if he had arranged it, it wouldn't have been so effective so quickly. Even the simplest and most brutal intimidation of smoothing things over and greasing palms wouldn't have been so fast.

It could only be said that it was a coincidence,

A coincidence that they were building an underground parking lot, so the depth of excavation was already quite large, and it just so happened to hit the right spot, digging up some things.

When Zhang Yanfeng ran to the construction site, he found that there were many police officers watching the excitement. Fortunately, it was within the police station, and the onlookers couldn't get in, so the scene was still stable.

Actually, it's not surprising that everyone likes to watch this kind of thing. It's not uncommon to dig up something during construction all over the country.

Some time ago, Rongcheng renovated a stadium and found an ancient tomb under the lawn. Thinking about how the stadium is often used for concerts, it's truly "dancing on a grave."

But Tongcheng isn't Rongcheng. Although it has the reputation of being the "First Modern City of China," if you really want to talk about underground relics, it really can't compare to Rongcheng or Xi'an. This excitement is really new to the people of Tongcheng.

"What did they dig up?"

Zhang Yanfeng asked a police officer next to him.

"The things that were dug up have all been collected here." This was a police officer from another department, who pointed to the things placed on a piece of white cloth next to him. "They're all small, broken things, and from what I've seen, they don't seem to be antiques. They look like they're from modern times.

But just to be safe, I've already told them to stop construction. I just called the bureau leaders to report, and they said to contact the comrades from the Cultural Relics Bureau to come and take a look."

There are many talented people in the police station. This officer had recently assisted in investigating a case of smuggling antiques and had a good eye for things.

Zhang Yanfeng looked at the things on the white cloth and found that most of them were ceramics, made into the shapes of small animals, and some spirit tablets, but they didn't seem to be for people, very small and mini.

"Tsk, tsk, things from the Republican era. The Japanese liked this style. Many Japanese families used to buy this for their children as toys."

Zhang Yanfeng looked up,

And saw the old Daoist squatting opposite him,

With a beautiful young woman standing next to him, dressed very attractively.

Zhang Yanfeng recognized the old Daoist and nodded to him, assuming that the old Daoist was someone Zhou Ze had sent.

"What's written on this?"

Zhang Yanfeng pointed to the Japanese characters on the spirit tablet and asked.

The old Daoist was stumped. He was knowledgeable, but when it came to professional things, he was almost completely clueless.

Tang Shi, on the other hand, squatted down at this time and reached out to touch the spirit tablets.

A police officer next to her subconsciously wanted to stop her, but Zhang Yanfeng dissuaded him.

"For sacrificial use, to commemorate small animals," Tang Shi said. "There are also words on this cloth strip. The Japanese meaning is to commemorate these small animals who sacrificed themselves for the Great Japanese Empire, hoping that they can bathe in the light of Amaterasu Omikami, and so on."

The old Daoist glanced at Tang Shi in surprise. "You understand Japanese?"

Moreover, she didn't just understand Japanese, she clearly knew a lot about Japanese culture.

Tang Shi ignored the old Daoist's doubts, clapped her hands, and stood up again.

Zhang Yanfeng, on the other hand, thought of what Zhou Ze had said to him last night, that there was likely to be a concentration camp underneath. Anyone who knew a little about World War II history should know what a concentration camp meant.

So he immediately said to Tang Shi:

"These are all used by the Japanese to commemorate the small animals that died in the experiments, right?"

Tang Shi nodded.

"Then if we continue digging, will we find spirit tablets and urns for people?"

During the invasion of China, the Japanese army conducted human bacterial experiments in China, which was well known. Zhang Yanfeng was asking this now to prepare for the follow-up work arrangements. These things must be properly handled, after all, they were all people who had suffered, and they were compatriots.

Tang Shi shook her head. "There won't be any."

"Why?" Zhang Yanfeng asked.

"When the 731 site was cleaned up, they found places and facilities set up by the Japanese to commemorate the small animals in the laboratories, but those people who died in the laboratories and were used as living specimens didn't even have ashes left, let alone spirit tablets or memorial tables."

"Why?" the old Daoist asked.

"Because in the eyes of the Japanese, the Chinese at that time were not even as good as livestock."