Chapter Seventy-Four: There Is No Such Thing as Magic in This World

"Director, would you like to come and take a look?" The door to the director's office swung open as an officer poked his head inside.

Director Li lifted his gaze from the documents. "What is it? Has something happened?"

"Well... You asked me to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. This Daoist priest, Lin Zhengying, seems a little off," the officer replied.

With a sharp movement, Director Li stood up at once. "Take me there!"

He felt a flicker of excitement—had they finally found their target? On his way downstairs, he even took the time to straighten his clothes, trying to appear more dignified, and sucked in his slightly protruding belly.

But the moment he saw Lin Zhengying downstairs and heard what he said, his belly sprang back out with a jolt.

The officer asked, "Daoist Lin Zhengying, is it? Does your feng shui and fortune-telling actually work?"

Lin Zhengying replied, "It's not a matter of whether it works or not. It's psychological comfort, you understand? Psychological comfort."

The officer paused. "Psychological comfort? So you have a degree in psychology?"

Lin Zhengying answered, "No, I studied engineering. But this psychological comfort is just like burning incense, you see?"

"Incense? What kind of incense?" the officer probed.

Lin Zhengying explained, "The long kind—you light one end with a lighter, and it flares up and starts to smoke."

The officer pondered for a second, then fished a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and pulled one out. "Like this?"

Lin Zhengying began to suspect the man was toying with him. "Incense! Not cigarettes! Never mind, let's just talk about feng shui and fortune-telling."

"Alright then. Is your feng shui and fortune-telling accurate?" the officer asked again.

Lin Zhengying was silent.

Taking a deep breath, Director Li glanced at the officer beside him. "Is this the abnormal one? Or is it the person asking questions who's got something wrong upstairs? How did this guy get hired? Did he pass the civil service exam?"

The officer scratched his head. "He did, and with a pretty good score. But you can't really blame him. Before you came down, Daoist Lin here spent half an hour giving him a science lesson and basically talked him into a daze."

Lin Zhengying let out a long sigh. He didn't even know what to say anymore. Was this whole line of questioning a setup? Who in this day and age would dare claim their calculations are accurate? If you say you can predict things accurately and charge money for it, you could be detained if they're strict about it.

"My predictions are never accurate. Have you seen my sign? It says 'Ten out of ten, never right,'" Lin Zhengying said, massaging his temples.

"Then, if your predictions are never right, why do it at all?" the officer asked reflexively, then realized his own words sounded odd. After a moment's thought, he added, "Is it because you don't want to work on a construction site? I get it, that's why I ran away and took the civil service exam myself."

Lin Zhengying truly did not know what to say. He wanted to ask how this man had ever passed the exam.

"My child, listen to me. There's no such thing as fortune-telling in this world. Daoist arts are all fake. They simply do not exist!" Lin Zhengying's voice rose several degrees.

The others in the interrogation room turned to look. A Daoist explaining to the police that fortune-telling is a fraud, that Daoist arts don't exist—how absurd was this? Had their roles reversed?

Just then, a man with bloodshot eyes suddenly darted to Lin Zhengying's side, clutching his sleeve and refusing to let go. "Master! Master! You have to save me! There's a female ghost in my house! She's possessed my wife!"

His wife followed, looking helpless, her face bearing fresh bruises. She gave Lin Zhengying an apologetic smile, then gently patted her husband's back.

"Honey, let it go, please. Don't make a scene. You've just been under too much stress lately. Let's go to the hospital for a checkup," she soothed softly. But her husband seemed not to hear, lifting his head to gaze at Lin Zhengying.

Director Li beckoned the officer in charge of the statement over and lowered his voice. "What's going on?"

"Domestic violence. But according to neighbors and her parents, the man used to be a model husband, the best neighbor. He'd never raised a hand or even spoken harshly, and they've had a good relationship for years. The wife thinks her husband might be ill and doesn't want to press charges—instead, it's the husband who refuses to leave, and he's been here for hours."

Director Li looked at the officer, bewildered. There'd been far too many strange cases lately. "Who reported it?"

"The husband did, after he'd calmed down. His wife couldn't stop him," the officer replied helplessly. You saw all sorts of odd cases at the station, but few this bizarre.

Lin Zhengying's nose twitched. Something was wrong with this man, an odd scent clinging to him—faint, suppressed by the atmosphere of the station. If not for his own mastery of Daoist arts, he might not have noticed at all.

After considering, Lin Zhengying quietly left a trace of magic on the man, intending to deal with things after leaving the station. Best not to reveal himself if it could be avoided.

"Honey, honey, look at you—don't trouble the master," the wife said gently, pulling her husband away. Throughout, she was patient and gracious, showing not a hint of anger.

After this interruption, the officer taking Lin Zhengying’s statement recovered his composure and the questioning became much more normal. Half an hour later, the interview ended, and Lin Zhengying left the station.

He was waiting at the bus stop beside the police station when he suddenly looked up toward the entrance. The man who had asked for his help was coming out, escorted by an officer and his wife.

Channeling his power to his eyes, Lin Zhengying saw wisps of black mist curling around the man's waist. The further they moved from the station, the denser the mist became.

"Don't step out!" Lin Zhengying shouted.

The man looked up at Lin Zhengying, instinctively hurrying over for help, and in doing so stepped right across the threshold.

Instantly, a wraith burst from the jade pendant at his waist and lunged straight at his wife.

"You evil spirit! How dare you harm others!"

Without thinking, Lin Zhengying flicked his hand. A wooden sword grew long in the wind, shooting forward at lightning speed.

In the blink of an eye, the sword pinned the ghostly figure to the ground.

Startled by the sudden appearance of the sword, the man froze for a moment, then instinctively stepped in front of his wife.

Inside the station, the officer who had interviewed Lin Zhengying witnessed everything through the window. He glanced down at the statement on his computer screen—the last words Lin Zhengying had said when leaving: "There's no such thing as magic in this world."

"Master... weren't you just pulling my leg?"

Upstairs, Director Li’s eyes lit up as he watched from the window.

Wonderful! He’d found exactly what he was looking for! His future was now limitless!