Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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If it were the original owner, Gu Xisha, he would have already dragged Zhuo Zhuo out and given him a good beating, either through coercion or intimidation, until he obediently handed over the clown wood carving.
But Li Yuebai didn’t choose that path.
He called Ye Qing out, and the two quietly exchanged opinions in the corridor.
“Zhuo Zhuo is very suspicious. I have three directions of suspicion,” Li Yuebai said. “First, he’s being controlled by a dormant entity.”
This line of thought was easy to understand. So far, they had seen several people whose minds had been controlled by dormant entities, and they all became extremely paranoid and abnormal, refusing to listen to any advice.
“Second, he knows the inside story, knows about the dormant entities, and out of a kind of self-pursuit, hopes to become a vampire.” Li Yuebai revealed a startling statement: “He hid the clown wood carving because he wanted to find an opportunity to secretly open it and be possessed.”
According to the setting, vampires can live forever if they aren’t killed.
The allure of immortality is undeniable. Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, after conquering the vast empire, dedicated half his life and the nation’s resources to the pursuit of eternal life.
Subsequent rulers, seeking immortality through pilgrimage and divination, searched high and low, all in pursuit of eternal life.
It’s easy to imagine the madness that ensued when the secret of vampires was revealed in the previous life.
Immortality! Immortality!
Possession!
After a brief period of madness, most people calmed down.
While vampires may be immortal, their appearance changes, they needed blood, dislike sunlight, and fear garlic and pure silver… These were manageable, but the most significant consequence was being hunted by police worldwide, targeted by vampire hunters, and betrayed by family and friends.
Immortality was possible, but a single silver bullet could end it all.
And even with immortality, how can you be sure you’ll still be yourself after being possessed by a dormant entity? Perhaps your self-awareness will have vanished.
Therefore, many ordinary people still obediently chose the conservative route of avoidance.
On the other hand, there were also quite a few who risked everything for immortality, especially those who already held a certain amount of power.
They were tough, radical, feared death, loved power and money, were determined to be in control, and had enough confidence to fight against vampire hunters.
So in the original storyline, humanity would be caught in a bitter struggle against vampires— because too many human elites and high-ranking officials joined the vampire camp in pursuit of immortality.
Now, the situation was still unclear, and the vast majority of the public was still completely unaware of vampires.
But it was foreseeable that among the very few who knew about the existence of dormant vampires, there must be a few who hope to be possessed by a dormant vampire and become vampires!
Zhuo Zhuo may be one of them.
He was an expert in cultural relics and was very sensitive to the news. Several previous cases were related to cultural relics, but they were not made public. Perhaps Zhuo Zhuo learned about the inside story through some channel.
“Is there a third possibility?”
“The third possibility is…” Li Yuebai paused, “He’s Gao Chengyu’s subordinate.”
“…”
“Think about it from Gao Chengyu’s perspective,” Li Yuebai said, “You are Vlad III, the King of Vampires, possessing immense power and immortality. You’re not in the country, but your old followers are all there, and there are some unclaimed dormant bodies scattered throughout the country… So why don’t you send your followers to collect these dormant bodies? Going a step further, perhaps you’d like to organize a vampire army…”
“Think about it from the perspective of Gao Chengyu’s followers. You’ve followed your leader for many years, and suddenly he becomes Vlad III. As a fugitive, wouldn’t you be even more desperate to serve him? Wouldn’t becoming a vampire be a great temptation? Wouldn’t you decide to make a big splash?” Li Yuebai said, “So they didn’t come after me because they were busy collecting dormant bodies, waiting to turn themselves into vampires. At that time, I would be no match for them.”
“But Zhuo Zhuo is too high-profile,” Ye Qing said.
“That’s because that’s always been his personality,” Li Yuebai nodded. “Since everyone has gotten used to his high-profile and domineering ways, they won’t find what’s happening now unusual. Did you notice the other restoration experts just now? They’ve worked with Zhuo Zhuo for a long time, they know him well and trust him, and they don’t find it strange that he’s hoarding cultural relics… So they’re all busy with their own work and won’t make a fuss at all.”
“If we hadn’t come, the news wouldn’t have spread at all,” Ye Qing said.
“Yes, the restoration experts are used to Zhuo Zhuo’s behavior and won’t talk about it. Team Leader Wang is too shy to say anything… Besides, the clown wood carving wasn’t on display.” Li Yuebai sighed. “If we hadn’t come, Zhuo Zhuo would have found an opportunity to secretly take away the dormant body from the clown wood carving, avoiding everyone’s gaze.”
If the third possibility is true, then Zhuo Zhuo certainly didn’t expect Gu Xisha and Ye Qing to come to him personally. With the Municipal Bureau’s official duties so busy, how could they possibly notice a clown wood carving that hadn’t been publicly announced?
The two men had witnessed his carefully laid plan, yet Zhuo Zhuo, far from panicking, stubbornly continued his arrogant act, maintaining his consistent persona.
He had plenty of escape routes; even if caught red-handed, he could blame it on the dormant entity, claiming it had clouded his judgment.
“Zhuo Zhuo will change his plan,” Ye Qing said. “Now that we’re here, he’ll definitely deal with it.”
“Yes,” Li Yuebai replied, his gaze fixed on the restoration room through the window.
There were too many restoration experts, not to mention the security team watching— the guards were also afraid Zhuo Zhuo would secretly steal the artifact. Therefore, the only thing Zhuo Zhuo could do was lock the clown wood carving in the safe in front of everyone; he had no chance to handle it alone.
Next, Zhuo Zhuo’s task would likely be to secure a private opportunity, or even a chance to escape.
Li Yuebai could certainly beat up a threatening criminal, but this was the restoration room, the restoration team’s territory. Zhuo Zhuo, as an expert, had the right to temporarily safeguard the artifacts. If Li Yuebai were to force a confession, demanding the safe’s combination, that would be illegal.
Li Yuebai wasn’t in a hurry. He took Ye Qing back to the restoration room, found chairs, and calmly continued observing.
Zhuo Zhuo was even less anxious, still sitting at the table with his legs crossed, giving instructions and cursing.
The artifact restoration was nearing completion, but the atmosphere in the restoration room was tense.
Seeing everyone’s unfriendly expressions, Team Leader Wang broke out in a cold sweat.
Wang Wen was a team leader temporarily assigned by the museum. He lacked artifact restoration skills and wasn’t part of the expert team like Zhuo Zhuo. Although he had only worked with Zhuo Zhuo for a few days, he had been quite tormented.
Now, just as they were about to get rid of this troublesome figure, it seemed the troublesome figure had angered the police.
Judging from the situation, Wang Wen was genuinely worried that a gunfight might break out.
Anyway, the repair work was almost finished, and he, as the team leader, didn’t have much to do, so he should probably appease the police officers.
Wang Wen coughed twice, pulled over a table, and sat down opposite Li Yuebai and Ye Qing. He also waved to the intern, “Xiao Tian, brew some good tea.”
The intern, wearing black-rimmed glasses, hurriedly escaped from Zhuo Zhuo’s clutches, found three Jingdezhen porcelain cups in the cabinet, washed them, brewed tea, and brought them over.
His whole set of movements was neat and efficient, unlike the clumsy actions of a typical graduate. No wonder, working with Zhuo Zhuo and being scolded by him every day, he should have developed this skill long ago.
“How long has Xiao Tian been working here?” Li Yuebai asked casually as he took the tea.
“Just a few days.” Xiao Tian shyly put down his teacup and scratched his head. “I came here through an internship recruitment. It’ll only be a few days. After I’m done, I have to go back to class.”
“Working with that expert must be tough, right?” Li Yuebai became increasingly gossipy, feeling like a busybody, but he had no choice. To get more information about Zhuo Zhuo, he had to do this.
“No, no, it’s not tough at all.” Xiao Tian quickly waved his hands. “The expert’s professional level is very high, and the requirements are very strict. I can learn a lot from the teacher.”
He was obedient and knowing that Zhuo Zhuo could hear him, he dared not say anything bad.
Li Yuebai took out paper and pen from the folder and switched to written communication.
From Zhuo Zhuo’s angle, it was impossible for him to see what they were writing.
Li Yuebai wrote: Has Zhuo Zhuo shown any unusual behavior?
Xiao Tian saw this line, paused, and a trace of panic flashed across his face.
After all, he was just an intern, and he dared not offend anyone, but he couldn’t not answer the police officer’s questions.
Xiao Tian glanced tentatively at Team Leader Wang, and seeing that Wang didn’t object, he cautiously wrote on the paper: “A bit, I can’t say for sure.”
Their written exchange proceeded slowly. Li Yuebai repeatedly inquired before finally learning from Xiao Tian that Zhuo Zhuo was acting strangely, seemingly contacting someone privately.
Contacting Gao Chengyu? Li Yuebai naturally guessed.
He was so engrossed in the written exchange that he hadn’t even had time to drink his tea. Just as he picked it up, a loud bang came from behind him.
Already tense, he immediately threw down his teacup upon hearing the sound, turning around to confront the source… only to find it was the sound of some device shutting down.
“Nothing unusual, don’t be nervous,” Ye Qing calmly scoffed at him.
“…” Li Yuebai was embarrassed.
Turning back, he discovered something even more embarrassing had happened— his entire cup of tea had been splashed onto Team Leader Wang.
“It’s alright, it’s alright…” Team Leader Wang was quite embarrassed, grabbing tissues from the table and vigorously wiping the water off his clothes. He wasn’t a restoration expert, so he wasn’t wearing a white coat, just a thin shirt, which was now completely transparent from the spilled tea.
Li Yuebai sighed and felt like a clueless cleaning lady in a TV drama; Gu Xisha’s character had long since collapsed.
This commotion drew a few more glances from Zhuo Zhuo, who assumed Li Yuebai was up to something again.
Li Yuebai felt ashamed, feeling he had completely disregarded the villain’s attention.
Time ticked by, and soon it was noon.
Ye Qing, growing impatient, had already been typing on her laptop for a while.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and the secretary entered.
“Zhuo Zhuo, the approval from above has come down.” The secretary held up a red-headed document: “They agree to send the wood carving away.”
Zhuo Zhuo raised an eyebrow, a victorious smile spreading across his face.
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