I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 132 - 106: The Missing Girl

Zheng Xuan took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled. Amidst the swirling smoke, the traffic cop suddenly seemed dazed, and Zheng Xuan twisted the handlebar and made an escape.

Xu Yichao, who was ready to get off the bike, almost tumbled off.

"Mr. Zheng, didn’t Grandma Shufen say we shouldn’t bully ordinary folks and must abide by the human world rules?"

"Who said ’we’? I’m authorized, you just focus on getting into college first!" Zheng Xuan retorted grumpily.

"Then you should follow the rules even more!"

"Or are you going to pay the fine?"

"Uh... bending rules in emergencies isn’t entirely wrong either, but do we really have ’related departments’?"

"Don’t inquire when you shouldn’t!"

"Oh, then just go faster."

Zheng Xuan sped through the streets with Xu Yichao. Sang Que and Jiang Zao were chatting in a taxi about the Little General and Little Prince’s recent activities.

Sang Que took out his phone and quickly typed a line.

"I’ll show you. Little General has grown a lot this month, but he’s still completely suppressed by Xuan Yu."

[Don’t make a fuss, this driver is sketchy]

Seeing the words on the phone, Jiang Zao shivered involuntarily, but with Sang Que by her side, she quickly calmed down and immediately engaged in conversation.

"Next time I’ll bring Little Prince to your house, two against one, let’s see how Xuan Yu boasts then."

Sang Que pretended to search for photos.

[When we get off, you go report to the police]

Jiang Zao nodded, "Little General is indeed growing more majestic."

The two continued to chat off and on. After a while, the taxi drove more and more into desolate areas, veering away from the route to the building materials market, heading towards Yu City’s outskirts and Dragon Spine Mountain.

Sang Que asked the driver, "Sir, you’re going the wrong way, aren’t you?"

The young driver in front suddenly pulled out a watermelon knife, "Shut up if you don’t want to die!"

Jiang Zao immediately snuggled up to Sang Que, but she wasn’t afraid at all. She felt the driver was destined to be the one to end up ’dead’ - after all, Sang Que was the Human World Female Warrior God.

The moment for heroism had arrived!

"Oh."

Sang Que responded blandly, leaning back with Jiang Zao on the seat.

Both of them were calm and collected, with Jiang Zao’s eyes shining brightly, causing the driver to glance back several times, wondering whether he had kidnapped a pair of fools.

The sun set, and as the sky gradually dimmed, the taxi turned onto a bumpy dirt road surrounded by small woods and farmland, with villages visible in the distance.

The farther the car went, the more desolate it got. The headlights illuminated the dark path, kicking up dust, giving the unsettling feeling that a female ghost might suddenly appear ahead to block the way.

"Why does it suddenly feel a bit cold?" Jiang Zao rubbed her arms, leaning against Sang Que.

Sang Que frowned; it wasn’t a sudden chill but genuine yin energy in the surroundings. She glanced at the taxi’s front, noticing an odd black Buddha pendant hanging under the rearview mirror, not a local design.

If anyone else came here, they’d probably encounter a Ghost Wall.

Yet another supernatural incident, Sang Que felt not the least bit surprised since she herself, being more involved with the Nine Netherworld, easily got tangled in such spooky predicaments.

When dealing with Evil Spirits during the Deceit Dynasty, she’d always be the first targeted when standing alongside Xia Chan.

Before long, the car lights revealed a dilapidated courtyard with two half-open, peeling red iron gates and a sign partially broken, reading ’Scrap Collection Depot’.

As the car entered and stopped, the driver got out, wielding the watermelon knife and angrily demanded the two to disembark, "Get out, no funny business or I’ll chop you."

Sang Que gestured with her eyes for Jiang Zao to stay inside the car. Stretching out her long legs, she swiftly got out before the driver could press the knife to her neck. Her gaze hardened and she swiftly made a move.

From inside the car, Jiang Zao heard a muffled groan, followed by something heavy crashing to the ground. She immediately scrambled out, unsurprised to see the driver already unconscious, with Sang Que holding the watermelon knife surveying the surroundings.

"How dare he! Trying to kidnap our Sang Mulan, serves him right!"

Jiang Zao mercilessly sneered, pulling out her phone to report to the police.

"Oh no! No signal here, what do we do? It’s so remote."

The scrap collection depot was a mess, with all sorts of waste scattered around, one side being prefab houses, another a two-story building, and further a pair of large warehouses.

Sang Que felt a faint agitation in the village resentment’s power, indicating there was resentment lingering here.

"Let’s get this guy tied up first."

They found a rope in the pile of junk and tightly tied up the young driver on the ground.

Sang Que placed a triangular-folded Exorcism Talisman in the pocket of her school uniform jacket, took it off, and draped it over Jiang Zao, who was only wearing short sleeves.

"Wait in the car, I’ll go in and have a look. Be good, don’t wander off."

Without giving Jiang Zao a chance to protest, Sang Que pushed her back into the car, turned on the flashlight on her phone, and walked towards the small two-story building where the resentful aura emanated from.

Around a heap of junk, the bed sheet on the clothesline in front of the building was whipped up by the wind, then gently floated down, revealing a human silhouette obstructing the entrance.

"Is this... a ghost?"

Jiang Zao’s voice came from behind, and she quickly ran to Sang Que’s side, staring intently at the bed sheet ahead.

Sang Que thought Jiang Zao would be scared, but she was excited instead, striding forward and reaching out to pull down the sheet.

"Hey, hey!" Sang Que wanted to stop her but couldn’t catch up.

The bed sheet was pulled down by Jiang Zao, and underneath there was nothing but a gust of cold wind that blew through Jiang Zao’s hair.

"Wow! Sang Sang, did you see that? It wasn’t dangling on a wire, it’s really a supernatural phenomenon!"

Sang Que: .....

"Oh no, I forgot to record it just now, such a pity."

Sang Que didn’t know what expression to make. She knew Jiang Zao had a brave and bold spirit since childhood, often exploring haunted houses and even introduced her to horror movies.

But she didn’t expect Jiang Zao to truly not fear these things. Wouldn’t an average person be breaking out in a cold sweat and shaking by now?

"Come on, come on, let’s go in and take a look. I’m going to record everything this time."

Jiang Zao started recording with her phone, her eyes shining brighter than light bulbs.

They pushed open the two wooden doors, and the smell of dirty socks hit them. As soon as they stepped inside, Jiang Zao asked Sang Que to wait, holding her phone up to record the entrance.

The air stilled for a second, two seconds, three seconds...

Jiang Zao wondered aloud, "Why don’t the doors close by themselves? Aren’t they supposed to in horror movies?"

Sang Que chuckled, "Zaozi, doing that will make the evi... those ghosts feel really humiliated. Are you truly not scared?"

"What’s there to be scared of? I grew up living and eating with the puppets in the theater troupe. Those are the real eerie things. My grandma said as long as I maintain a righteous spirit, these things can’t harm me. If I get scared first, they’ll take advantage!"

"So when I watch horror movies, or go to haunted houses, it’s actually to build courage. Plus, I have faith. Our puppet theater has always worshipped the ancestor ’Yanshi’, and if anything happens, the ancestor will protect me from harm. Little Sparrow, don’t be afraid, now it’s my turn to protect you with the ancestor’s blessing, quickly stand behind me."

Sang Que chuckled. But it seems that Yan Daozi once said, evildoers like to frighten people to instill fear first, so they can attack.

And then there’s that bearded man who’s an ordinary person, facing evil without any fear, he’s not easily attacked by them, so he can live longer.

Jiang Zao continued, "I honestly think people are scarier than ghosts. You handle the people stuff, leave the ghost stuff to me!"

The first floor wasn’t big, stepping in was a living room, with lunch boxes and beer bottles on the table, and lottery tickets and scratch cards all over the floor, indicating someone lived there.

At the right was a room, with a candle-like light shining through the gap under the door.

The resentful aura was coming from there too.

Jiang Zao led the way over. A password lock hung on the door, Jiang Zao frowned, sensing complexity in the situation.

"Usually, the password clues should be nearby. If we carefully check our surroundings, we can..."

Bam!

Sang Que kicked open the door, cutting Jiang Zao off her train of thought. She forgot this wasn’t an escape room.

With the phone’s light shining inside, Jiang Zao’s breath hitched, instinctively stepping back and bumping into Sang Que, who pressed her shoulder and shielded her behind.

Inside the room, candles and intersecting red threads were everywhere. A girl, like a puppet, was suspended mid-air by red string, wearing a Southern Ocean skirt, posed in a dance.

Her rotting face was painted with heavy makeup, forming an eerie smile facing the doorway.

At her feet was a shen kan, with a dish and offerings, and inside the shen kan was a doll, the size of a fist, covered in gold paint, lifelike.

Jiang Zao swallowed, "Isn’t this the girl who’s been missing? It’s been over two months, the level of decomposition isn’t right."

Just then, footsteps came from upstairs.

"Qiangzi, is that you back?"

Hearing the voice, Sang Que motioned for Jiang Zao to be silent. They turned off their phones and quietly approached the stairs, slowly making out the middle-aged man coming down.

Sure enough, it was the taxi driver, also her family’s former landlord.

Zhang Qinggang!