____

"I"m afraid that you"d bite."

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　　This small family lounge was only ten square meters, with a dozen burning iron chains hanging in mid-air. Of course, in less than three or five minutes, the room could be preheated like an oven, but the cold and damp atmosphere had spread from all directions, forcefully overwhelming the heat of the blaze. The four walls gradually oozed out water droplets like during the monsoon season.

　　Xuan Ji"s iron chains trapped the mysterious long-haired man, but he was overwhelmed by his suffocating gloomy and cold odor, and he did not know who was trapped for a moment.

　　The tiny beads of water on the wall slid over, leaving wet traces connected to each other, forming rows of words that stood out from the wall.

　　It was not any kind of common language in the world. Xuan Ji took a glimpse from the corner of his eyes, and a slight chill rose up along his spine.
　　
　　At this moment, the head field personnel of the Chiyuan Branch had also heard about the incident, hastily rushing to the door.

　　The door was sealed tightly and they didn"t know what was going on inside. The head field personnel promptly separated everyone, stepped forward and knocked on the door: "Director Xuan, I am..."

　　"Self-introduction session is postponed for now," Xuan Ji interrupted the outsider, staring at the man trapped in the chains and he said said quickly, "Handle this hospital... everyone in the hospital within ten kilometers have to transfer, immediately! Make all the people you can use to come over, report to the head office!"

　　The head field personnel at the door had not finished yet his sentence but a series of orders already smashed his head. He was confused for a moment and said, "Brother, what"s your position? As soon as you started talking, you"ve already arranged work for us?"
　　
　　From the day of the establishment of the Deviant Control Office, the field work had been always superior.

　　Since time immemorial, functional departments* have always felt that they were superior over others. Moreover, the number of "Special Abilities" were limited, only the field work department was fully manned with "Special Abilities". Other logistics support department were still mainly ordinary people, and the individual "degenerates" working with ordinary people - the Special Abilities in the logistics department - most of them were useless weirdos.

*a term for departments with clearly defined organizational roles

　　Even if the so-called "Reparations Department" was sent by the Head Office, the local field workers only had superficial respect for them, the sincerity could not be found - just like the att.i.tude of generals towards eunuchs during ancient times.

　　They find it troublesome to entertain ordinary official work, not to mention this kind of unimportant trouble-finding.

　　The head field personnel was relatively more sophisticated. He paused and patiently explained: "Leader, transferring the residents is not a trivial matter, then what... transportation, supplies, economic losses, these are all work. Not to mention that this will cause panic among the common people. Not counting myself, our branch couldn"t do anything without the chief. Besides, our people are basically in the great valley right now, the mutant trees over there haven"t been cleaned up yet , it"s truly busy..... "
　　
　　Xuan Ji didn"t argue anymore, straightforwardly ignoring him, raising his voice and shouted: "Old Luo, call Xiao Zheng, tell him that the mutant tree is just additional baggage, this is actually a "gloomy sacrifice!"

　　The head field personnel was conscious about being a social person with high emotional intelligence. This kind of directing blindly in a confused state made his chest stuffy, and he hurriedly summoned all of his self-restraint and stopped himself from swearing.

　　Who knew that Xuan Ji had no fear of making someone else lose their temper, adding a sentence: "I don"t actually know what is a "gloomy sacrifice", let him search on the internet by himself!"
　　
　　Head field personnel: "......"
　　
　　b.a.s.t.a.r.d!
　　
　　Sheng Lingyuan was listening to their words with an overflowing interest in the raging fire, like a porcelain man with an unusually high combustion point. The tongue of the fire wrapped around him and he could not move even a single muscle, but he thought that it rather felt nice and warm, and his pale face reflected the bright color of the flame: "You seem to know about the gloomy sacrifice? This is rare."
　　
　　Xuan Ji sneered: "With my knowledge, I can even fight against the Eight-Nation Alliance*."

*ENA was a multinational military coalition response to Boxer Rebellion which was an anti-imperialist uprising in China (1899-1901). He"s basically saying he knows a lot of history.

　　Sheng Lingyuan felt that he was not saying good things, but he did not get angry, asking in a tone of talking to a lost child: "The demon clan and the human race have had blood feuds since the past dynasties. Even if the demon clan was defeated, they stayed at a distance far from the humans, retreating and hiding in the mountains and forest. What is wrong with you, little demon? Suffered grievances and rebelled against your own clan? Or did you make a mistake and was exiled by the clan"s people?"
　　
　　This time, Xuan Ji already felt that the cold sweat on his back had frozen and that there were gooseb.u.mps on his bare neck, but his lips turning blue didn"t stop him from shooting his mouth off: "Uncle, our fifty-six ethnic groups are now under one nation. How much ancient histories have you been reading throughout your whole life? Just now you said I rebelled and got exiled, don"t you know there"s a law of against defamation - Old Luo, is your phone out of credit? Have you gotten through yet?"
　　
　　After Xiao Zheng received the phone from old Luo, he was stunned then said "Wait a while". He used his mobile phone to connect to the database network of the Deviant Control Office and searched for the so-called "gloomy sacrifice". However, only a few news links of investigations on popular feudal superst.i.tions and swindler gangs jumped out, nothing valuable.
　　
　　"He is being senseless again, isn"t it, making trouble out of nothing?" Xiao Zheng frowned as he asked - this a.s.set surnamed Xuan could absolutely do this kind of thing, "You open the video call, I will talk to him directly."
　　
　　The head of the branch office coldly groaned and walked away abruptly. The others looked at each other, but also followed their boss in retreating.

　　Old Luo couldn"t take care of this side, because this particularly talented "temporary worker" boss had caused him to lose two hair strands on the spot and suffer a serious work-related injury.
　　
　　Before Old Luo at the door could turn on the video call, Sheng Lingyuan who was in chains suddenly said with an unclear meaning: "Little demon, if you don"t let me go, be careful of the injuries."
　　
　　As his voice fell, the iron chains strapped to his body started rattling. The totems on his robe began to bleed, and the water droplets on the wall suddenly turned into a dark color.

　　Ice shards instantly formed on Xuan Ji"s hair tips and on the hem of his clothes. The word "stop" on the door broke apart. The hideous water stains penetrated the walls of the family lounge, directly seeping to the other side, and a mournful evil wind swept out. The windows and the lights in the corridor smashed into pieces altogether. The wind squeezed through the doors and windows and made a sharp whistle, as if there was a dying blood-curdling screech.

　　The field workers who had not enough time to go far had their covers blown up together, involuntarily revealing the non-human parts on their bodies - even old Luo"s collar showed a green radish bud.
　　
　　Xiao Zheng, who just connected to the video call, saw this scene and his pupils suddenly contracted. He turned around and rushed into the elevator: "Ancient Books Restoration Department - Old Luo, you let him hold on for a while!"
　　
　　Old Luo: "Xuan, Xuan Xuan Director, Xuan, Xiao Xiao said..."
　　
　　"I heard it," Xuan Ji squeezed a word out of his teeth. "If he doesn"t hurry up, you let him wait for his father to "throw the basin"**!"

　　Xiao Zheng was only the head field dispatcher of the Deviant Control Office. It would be too late to consult his superiors, so he directly called the head of the Chiyuan Branch to recall all the field workers from the "front line" and to urgently transfer all the people in the hospital. Then, he broke into the Ancient Books Restoration Department with quick steps.

　　The Ancient Books Restoration Department was a place to study the scroll of lost ancient books. Most of the staff members were outside archaeologists and the office area was very quiet. Xiao Zheng did not knock on the door, directly rushing into the office of the person in charge: "Dr. w.a.n.g, do you know what a "gloomy sacrifice" is?"

　　Dr. w.a.n.g of the Ancient Books Restoration Department wore a pair of gla.s.ses, had a hunched waist, and his neck could probably extend forward for two miles. It was said that this old man was born in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, and his special ability was nothing else but immortality, so he was specially hired by the Deviant Control Office, to specialize in antique research...... the only problem was that he was getting older and reacting a bit slower.

　　"Ah? What?"

　　"Gloomy sacrifice! Have you ever heard of it?"
　　
　　"Oh, gloomy sacrifice?" Dr. w.a.n.g opened his mouth like a lao dan*, and the anxious Xiao Zheng crazily wanted to press fast forward. The old man was trembling as he opened the laptop and poked on the keyboard with one finger. "I know, I know, it"s a kind of a sacrificing ritual... a while ago, we just made a dissertation, the file was saved...... ah..."

*old woman role in Chinese operas

　　Xiao Zheng picked up his laptop and rushed to the archives, dragging a bouncing power cord behind him.
　　
　　The archives room of the Ancient Books Restoration Department had a constant temperature and humidity, there was no light, and there were rows of crystal cabinets inside. Original ancient books were enclosed in the cabinets, and a small screen on the cabinet door could grant access to the researchers" annotations. Xiao Zheng rummaged through every corner until he finally reached the dissertation cabinet for "sacrificing rituals".

　　The so-called "sacrificing ritual" was actually a general contract. Xiao Zheng skipped the general summary of the common sacrificing traditions and directly turned to the chapter of "evil sacrifices". He read very quickly through the lines and found a word about the "gloomy sacrifice" in a corner.
　　
　　"This is one type of ancient sacrificing ritual that has been lost for a long time. According to legend, it is one kind of malicious sorcery. It can be used to summon demons by sacrificing living animals. The living animal must die violently, and must die full of resentment. It is difficult for ordinary animal sacrifices to meet these requirements, therefore, it is best to be human. However the so-called "die violently" and "die full of resentment" are very difficult to define clearly. We have not been able to find a successful prior circ.u.mstance. At present, we cannot do textual verification of its authenticity, only from circulating folklores among the people......"

　　"Might as well tell you that his sacrificing ritual will be finished, only one "living animal" is missing. This is a sacrifice of a thousand lives," Sheng Lingyuan rubbed his fingertips on the bloodstain on his robes, slowly put it in his mouth and tasted it, "Little demon, since you recognize the sacrificing ritual, you should understand that once the ritual is completed, not to mention your three chains, even Mt. Tai would be unable to suppress it. You are not going to look for the perpetrator? What am I being entangled for"?

　　Xuan Ji: "I"m afraid that you"d bite. "
　　
　　At that time, Luo Cuicui ran over: "Director Xuan, non-field staff have been transferred urgently. Director Xiao said that they would let them listen to your plans, then what should they do?"
　　
　　Xuan Ji"s cell phone rang, his hands were wrapped in ice shards and could hardly move. His eyes glanced down and the phone automatically flew out of his pocket and floated to his ear to connect.
　　
　　Xiao Zheng"s speed of speech quickly flew up: "There is a record in the Ancient Books Restoration Department. The gloomy sacrifice must be completed within one month and first living animal must be sacrificed on "the zi* time of the first day of the lunar month", and the last sacrifice is on the "the zi time of the first day of the next lunar month". I flipped through the calendar, today is the the first day of the lunar month!"

*11pm-1am
　　

　　Sheng Lingyuan seemed to have a great interest in the phone, staring intently.
　　
　　Xuan Ji: "The living animals must die violently. Within a month, a thousand people died unusually. It is impossible to not have any news on this..."

　　Xiao Zheng was shocked and said: "What did you say?"
　　
　　"A sacrifice of a thousand lives, the summoned devil said it himself, I don"t know if it"s true or this kid is f.u.c.king bragging..." The chill penetrated his lungs through the nose and mouth, and even his breathing began to hurt. Xuan Ji"s breath suddenly paused unnaturally, "I don"t... ah...feel like he"s bragging."
　　
　　"Contact the Public Security Department to check the unnatural deaths in the last month," Xiao Zheng told the man next to him, "Are you okay?"

　　"There is something," Xuan Ji firmly bit his teeth to stop his trembling jaw, "Why don"t you give me a central heating in the Great South!"

The author has something to say:

**Throwing the basin -- it is a folk custom during funerals. When the coffin is lifted, filial sons and virtuous grandchildren will smash a basin.