Forbidden Land – CH 123

The man drove Zhang Chao to a 24-hour teahouse in Wenyi District, Hangzhou. He ordered a private room, and the three sat down. Longjing tea and some dried melon and fruit were served.

The man smiled and said, “Let’s introduce ourselves first. Her name is Wang Hong, and mine is Li Zheng. This is my business card. What’s your name, classmate?” He handed over his card.

Zhang Chao took the card and glanced at it. Li Zheng’s title was Chairman of an architectural design company in Hangzhou. More importantly, Zhang Chao recognized the name of this architectural design company; even he, as a student, had heard of it. Undoubtedly, it was a large company. No wonder he drove such a luxury car; he was certainly wealthy. Zhang Chao also introduced himself and his department.

Li Zheng nodded and said, “Then I’ll call you Xiao Zhang. Is that alright?”

Zhang Chao smiled and shook his head.

Li Zheng continued, “Since you know about the Qiushi Society, I don’t need to hide anything from you. The Qiushi Society is a secretive organization at Zhejiang University. Because our research direction isn’t mainstream science, we’ve never disclosed it to the public. Hehe, I can’t reveal the specifics to you, because members don’t want others to know their identities. I’m just a member, not even a core member. Xiao Wang is a new member. Actually, our understanding of feng shui and metaphysics is only superficial. I mainly provide research funding to the society to help out. Of course, as a small business owner, my funding is limited, not as much as other members.”

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Zhang Chao asked curiously, “Why do you need so much funding for researching feng shui and metaphysics?”

Li Zheng sized him up for a moment, then slowly said, “You, or your friend, really don’t know our research direction?”

Zhang Chao thought for a moment, realizing this man hadn’t been entirely clear; his previous words were an attempt to get information out of him. He quickly probed, “I heard you’re researching some things that can’t be said.”

Li Zheng stared intently into Zhang Chao’s eyes, seemingly trying to see through him. Zhang Chao cleverly returned the gaze, preventing Li Zheng from guessing his guilty conscience.

After a moment, Li Zheng laughed and said, “You can’t fool me. Actually, you don’t know anything at all.”

Zhang Chao was slightly surprised; he hadn’t expected Li Zheng to see through him. But it was to be expected; the experience of a seasoned veteran like the owner of a large company was clearly beyond what a student like Zhang Chao could match.

Li Zheng said, “Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore. Why did you follow Xiao Wang so many times, and why did you come to the School of Medicine at this time today?”

Zhang Chao thought back. He noticed Wang Hong purely by accident; he only followed her because she was dressed strangely. The first time was understandable, but encountering Wang Hong repeatedly at different times afterward seemed too coincidental. It felt like…like Wang Hong deliberately appeared at those times to lure him into following her, rather than him intentionally following her.

And tonight, he wasn’t coming to the School of Medicine; he came because he received a text message saying there was something interesting happening there.

Who sent the text message, and how did they know Li Zheng and Wang Hong happened to be at the School of Medicine?

Seeing that he was a big company boss and a member of the Quishi Society, Zhang Chao assumed he meant no harm and showed him the text message from earlier that day.

Li Zheng glanced at the message, exchanged a look with Wang Hong, and Wang Hong lowered her head, saying, “We’ve been followed.”

Zhang Chao asked, “Do you know who sent the text message?”

Li Zheng shook his head, saying, “No. Even if we are being followed, why would they notify a student like you, or…”

Wang Hong suddenly walked up to Zhang Chao and said, “Let me see your student ID.”

Zhang Chao realized they suspected he wasn’t a student but one of the people following them. He didn’t have his student ID in his wallet, only his access card, and quickly said, “I didn’t bring my student ID. Will my access card work?”

Wang Hong was about to hand it over when Li Zheng waved his hand and said, “No need. If he really was following us, there’s no need to expose himself directly and even deliberately send a text message.”

Zhang Chao asked curiously, “You…you guys, what exactly are you doing at the School of Medicine?”

Li Zheng smiled and said, “Xiao Zhang, you say the School of Medicine is related to you. Tell me, in what way?”

Zhang Chao then told him about Bai Qiu and Li Weihao’s suicides and also briefly recounted hearing a woman singing opera at the School of Medicine and seeing a woman in an ancient costume and a mountain demon.

Li Zheng nodded. “Who told you about the ghosts, the mountain demon, and the jiangshis?”

Zhang Chao replied, “A highly skilled person.”

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Li Zheng didn’t ask further, only asking, “Did you clearly see the woman in an ancient costume?”

Zhang Chao shook his head.

Li Zheng asked again, “You really didn’t see the woman in an ancient costume, for example, up close, face-to-face?”

Zhang Chao suddenly remembered the last scene in his hypnosis session; he turned his head, and it seemed the person behind him was the woman in an ancient costume, but he couldn’t quite remember. He said, “I don’t know if anyone will believe me if I say this. I feel… I feel like I really saw her face-to-face, but… but I can’t seem to remember.”

Hearing this, Li Zheng laughed, but this time his laughter seemed genuinely happy.

Zhang Chao was puzzled as to why Li Zheng was so curious about whether he had seen the woman in an ancient costume clearly. After a moment’s thought, he asked, “What does it have to do with anything?”

Li Zheng shook his head and said, “I was just asking casually to see if that woman in an ancient costume had frightened any students. You’re right, there are indeed ghosts, mandrills, and jiangshis.”

Hearing his certainty, Zhang Chao couldn’t help but be shocked and asked, “Then it’s true that there are malicious creatures in the swampy fields to the west?”

Hearing this, Li Zheng frowned slightly and said, “You even know that?”

Zhang Chao excitedly said, “Then it’s true!”

Li Zheng remained noncommittal, simply saying, “These things will be gone soon. You don’t need to think about them anymore.”

Zhang Chao asked urgently, “Were my two classmates really killed by ghosts?”

Li Zheng frowned and simply said, “Ghosts can’t kill people.” After saying that, he shut his mouth and stopped talking.

Zhang Chao asked anxiously, “What exactly is that evil spirit? What method are you planning to use to deal with it?”

Wang Hong said coldly, “It’s none of your business; you don’t need to know. Li Zheng, we talked to him too much today; I think we miscalculated.”

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Li Zheng nodded, his attitude seemingly less friendly, and said to Wang Hong, “I thought he knew about the gang’s affairs. Well, I didn’t expect it, haha. I miscalculated.” Turning to Zhang Chao, he said, “Xiao Zhang, you don’t need to worry about anything else; just focus on your school life. I promise, all the evil things will disappear by the end of the month. It’ll never happen again. I hope you promise me you’ll never tell anyone, okay?”

Seeing their change in attitude, Zhang Chao could only nod. “Okay, I promise you, I won’t tell.”

Wang Hong added, “You must do it.” It sounded like a threat, but her tone was flat.