Shadow 380,000 Level 17 Suspended Spirit Hurricane Arrives

Chapter 17

This is a deck of cards featuring characters from the Three Kingdoms period. I took the cards he drew and turned them over.

The figure depicted on the card has a face as beautiful as a peach blossom, dressed entirely in pink, with flowing robes, alluring and seductive—it is none other than Diao Chan, one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. This is a four of hearts.

I was secretly pleased; drawing a female general was a good starting point.

“You drew a woman as your first card,” I said slowly, trying to make my voice sound distant and profound.

"The first card represents a beginning, indicating that something important to you is starting with a woman, or that this woman is an opportunity."

Ouyang Cheng listened silently without any reaction.

"Diao Chan is a beauty, so the woman she represents won't be too bad-looking either. You'll be attracted to her and try to get closer to her. The most famous legend about Diao Chan is the 'beauty trap.' She was always surrounded by several men, first Dong Zhuo, then Lü Bu, and then Guan Yu. So, that woman, you're not the only one surrounding her."

As I spoke, I kept an eye on Ouyang Cheng and saw his thick eyebrows slowly furrow.

Tell me, who did you think of?

He stared at Diao Chan for a long time, his lips twitching a few times, but he didn't say anything.

I smiled, feeling a wellspring of ideas for charades flowing through my mind, and continued.

"This is a bad card."

Ouyang Cheng's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"Dong Zhuo is dead, Lü Bu is dead, and Guan Yu is dead. All the men associated with that woman have met with misfortune. The woman you're thinking of brought you misfortune. Moreover, her own situation was also terrible. Of the Four Beauties, apart from Xi Shi, the other three did not have good endings. It's a sin for a woman to be beautiful."

As I spoke, I inwardly cursed myself; beautiful women are God's masterpiece. And I could feel the chill emanating from Kou Yun beside me; I was worried she'd reach out and pinch me, ruining the whole atmosphere. Thankfully, she knew how to restrain herself. I needed to restrain myself too; playing the charlatan was so much fun, I got a little carried away.

However, what I just said had a good effect. I saw Ouyang Cheng's eyes twitch. Hmm, let's add fuel to the fire.

"This card is a four. Four is a very unlucky number for Chinese people, representing death. Moreover, it's a heart, the red color is congealed, I can already see blood."

"Who did you think of?" I asked him again.

Ouyang Cheng's lips trembled.

“A woman.” He seemed to be transported back to the scene of the murder that night, and his face turned pale.

“A woman named Huang Yun,” he said.

"Was what I said just now correct? If there's anything wrong, you can tell me, so I can be more accurate when drawing the second card." Now that he's started, it'll be easy for him to continue. Although my reasoning is utter nonsense, a mentally ill person probably won't care about such things.

"Huang Yun is dead. I didn't kill her. I didn't kill her. I didn't kill her..." Ouyang Cheng muttered to himself, his thoughts seemingly caught in a loop again.

Kou Yun finally couldn't hold back and whispered in my ear, "Brother, it seems your magic tricks aren't working very well."

"Just stay a block of wood." I glared at her fiercely.

"Who is Huang Yun's favorite person?" I asked.

I was prepared for Ouyang Cheng to ignore me, but to my surprise, he suddenly looked up, stared at me, and said, "Of course it's me."

"Has it always been you?" I quickly asked.

Ouyang Cheng's mood plummeted again. His lips moved, but this time I couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Let's draw another card," I said.

The person on the sign is an elderly man dressed as a Taoist priest, wearing a tall crown and a crane-feather cloak, with a calm expression.

Nine of Hearts, Yu Ji.

I secretly breathed a sigh of relief; if I had drawn another female general card, I really wouldn't know what to say next.

However, Yu Ji was a Taoist priest who cured the sick and saved countless lives. How to link this to Kou Feng required some quick thinking.

"Do you know Yu Ji? Yu Ji was a very famous Taoist priest during the Three Kingdoms period..." I went on and on about Yu Ji's background, but it was all nonsense. I needed to give myself some time to think about how to say the key things.

The conversation drifted to a scene from *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, where Yu Ji was killed by a soldier at Sun Jian's behest, then transformed into a ghost and frightened Sun Jian to death. At this point, a thought struck me: the card Ouyang Cheng drew was actually quite fitting.

7. Who is the murderer? (4)

"You drew Yu Ji on your second draw, which is also a heart. This means that what Yu Ji represents is related to Diao Chan, whom you just drew." Having made up my mind, I got to the point. Whether my guess could be confirmed depended on what I said next.

"In legends, Yu Ji was a man with supernatural powers. Even after his death, he could become a ghost and take revenge on the person who killed him. This shows that he represents a very strange person or a very strange thing."

Ouyang Cheng's fingers had stopped trembling and were now intertwined, twisted tightly together like a pretzel.

“All the records about Yu Ji are related to life and death. He cured many people’s illnesses, which is life; he was killed, and then killed others, which is death. So the person and the event he represented were also entangled in life and death.”

“Tell me, who did you think of?” I asked.

Ouyang Cheng's expression changed; he was no longer blank as before, but rather wore a complex look of anger, fear, and bewilderment.

"Kou Feng!" he spat out the two words through gritted teeth.

I felt Kou Yun tremble slightly next to me, so I quickly patted her arm gently to comfort her.

"What kind of person is he?" I asked him in as soft a voice as possible, as if we were chatting as friends.

"When I first saw him, Old Zhang said, 'Try to transform yourself.' He gave Old Zhang a pen and then transformed back to normal. It was very strange, very strange. Old Zhang couldn't figure it out, and neither could I. I couldn't figure out what method he used."

Ouyang Cheng started rambling on, recounting Kou Feng's first interview at the troupe. I found it a bit strange; his answers were somewhat off-topic. However, considering his mental state, I listened patiently.

Unexpectedly, once he started talking, he went on and on. His voice rose and fell, and what he said was rambling and incoherent. Sometimes he would repeat the same story two or three times, and the order of events would be messed up. When I asked him questions, he would not answer. I had to listen very carefully to make sense of what he was saying.

Later, I realized that all my previous efforts—such as trying to coax him into answering or playing tricks on him by flipping cards—had failed to bring him back to his senses and get him to answer my questions. He was still trapped in his own world, only now I had manipulated him from one scenario to another.

I believe he repeats what he's saying to me now, often when no one's around. Sometimes the rhythm and order of his speech make me feel like I'm being interrogated, answering police questions. It's as if an invisible policeman is sitting in front of me, constantly asking all sorts of silent questions, sometimes roundabout, sometimes sudden. That's why I felt confused when I first started listening.

I am almost certain that this was the actual scene during his interrogation. The repeated interrogations, coupled with the internal pressure, must have been the source of his mental breakdown.

Kou Yun and I sat opposite Ouyang Cheng and listened to him talk for over an hour. Kou Yun and I sometimes exchanged opinions, but he didn't seem to care.

After he recounted all the details more than twice, everything that happened that night, deeply imprinted in Ouyang Cheng's mind, had been painted into a fairly complete picture before my eyes.

The rumors that Commander Zhang heard were not unfounded. Less than a week before the incident, Huang Yun had already decided to dump Kou Feng and turn to Ouyang Cheng.

In reality, Huang Yun didn't have any deep feelings for Kou Feng. It was just that they were working together and spending all their time together. Kou Feng had feelings for her, and Huang Yun had a relatively open-minded view, so they naturally became close. However, everything changed when Ouyang Cheng officially launched his romantic offensive.

Ouyang Cheng is handsome and knows how to please girls, while Kou Feng is described by Huang Yun as a "country bumpkin who doesn't know many things." So even though the magic tricks have become more dazzling, they cannot stop Huang Yun from changing her mind.

Huang Yun joined the Illusionary Colors Troupe earlier than Kou Feng. Although she was quite beautiful, Ouyang Cheng wasn't initially particularly interested. However, as his rivalry with Kou Feng intensified and he consistently found himself at a disadvantage, he began searching for every opportunity to undermine Kou Feng. When he discovered that Kou Feng was almost completely devoted to Huang Yun and cared deeply for her, he conceived the idea of taking her away from Kou Feng. Ouyang Cheng readily admitted to this under police questioning. However, human emotions are reciprocal. After using various romantic methods to win Huang Yun's heart, Ouyang Cheng gradually began to find many captivating qualities in her.

On the evening of the day of the incident, Ouyang Cheng heard someone knocking on the door. When he opened the door, he didn't see anyone. There was a piece of paper lying quietly on the ground in front of the door.

Ouyang Cheng picked up the paper and discovered that it was a letter addressed to him, written by Kou Feng.

The letter was simple: Ouyang Cheng was to come to Kou Feng's room at 7:15 pm after dinner so that the three of them, along with Huang Yun, could clarify things and settle the matter.

In Ouyang Cheng's view, this was nothing more than a loser's last effort. He planned to act like a winner and give Kou Feng a good dressing down, so as to vent his anger at being suppressed by Kou Feng for the past two years.

Ouyang Cheng was a very punctual person. Seeing that it was almost time, he called Huang Yun, only to find her phone was off. Ouyang Cheng didn't think much of it. These past few days, because Kou Feng was choreographing a new magic trick, Huang Yun, as his assistant, had often been at Kou Feng's place rehearsing and discussing improvements to details. Therefore, Ouyang Cheng assumed Huang Yun was at Kou Feng's place at this moment. He casually placed the letter on the table and went out to Kou Feng's place.

At 7:15, Ouyang Cheng arrived at Kou Feng's door and was about to ring the doorbell when he found the door ajar. He vaguely smelled an unusual odor, but without thinking much of it, he pushed the door open and entered without ceremony.

Kou Feng was not in the room; only Huang Yun was there.

Huang Yun lay on the ground, her face filled with horror and disbelief, a knife stuck in her chest.

Only then did Ouyang Cheng realize that what he had smelled earlier was Huang Yun's scent.

The smell of blood.

He rushed forward, grabbed Huang Yun's hand, and put his arm around her shoulder, finding that her body was still warm. Her eyes, which were almost bursting out of their sockets, still had a glimmer of light, but she was already unable to move.

"Who is it? Who is it?" Ouyang Cheng cried out in despair, but Huang Yun did not respond.

Once the panic and fear subsided, Ouyang Cheng realized that the most important thing to do at that moment was not to find out who had done it, but to call an ambulance. In fact, he had already vaguely thought of someone.

Ouyang Cheng gently put Huang Yun down and tried to stand up to find a phone to dial 119. Perhaps due to his turbulent emotions and the smell of blood, he felt dizzy, lightheaded, and had ringing in his ears as soon as he straightened up.

The dizziness lasted for more than ten seconds. Ouyang Cheng braced himself with his hands on the ground, waiting for himself to gradually calm down before slowly standing up. He had already seen the phone on the coffee table not far away.

Ouyang Cheng's calves were a little numb and he couldn't put any strength into them. He grabbed the armrest of the leather sofa next to him for support, but before he could exert any force, he suddenly felt a pang of fear and turned around abruptly.

Kou Feng stood quietly at the door, seemingly having been there for an unknown amount of time. His face was grim. He simply stared coldly at Ouyang Cheng, without uttering a single word.

When Ouyang Cheng met his gaze, his heart skipped a beat, and then he understood everything. His anger flared up, and he opened his mouth to shout loudly.

"It's you..."

7. Who is the murderer? (5)

The moment he opened his mouth, he saw Kou Feng reveal a strange smile. This smile was completely different from his usual gentleness, and it made people feel sinister from the bottom of their hearts. Their chests tightened, and they swallowed back the two words they had just cursed.

The mental shock passed in an instant, and Ouyang Cheng quickly regained his senses. He thought that no matter how strange Kou Feng was, he couldn't let him get away after killing someone. His fear was overwhelmed by his grief for Huang Yun, and he was about to shout loudly, stand up, and rush forward to fight Kou Feng to the death.

"Look at Huang Yun!" Kou Feng suddenly interrupted.

Ouyang Cheng thought Huang Yun had caught her breath, so he ignored Kou Feng and abruptly turned his head back.

Blood gushed from the wound on Huang Yun's chest, splattering all over Ouyang Cheng's face and body.

Ouyang Cheng was so shocked that he collapsed to the ground, and then suddenly realized that the fruit knife that had been stuck in Huang Yun's chest was now in his hand.

Ouyang Cheng was speechless with shock, while Kou Feng shouted at the top of his lungs, "Murder!"

Not long after, Regiment Commander Zhang rushed over and, seeing the situation, shouted along with Kou Feng.

Ouyang Cheng's account essentially ended there, but he still managed to repeatedly confirm that he had indeed received the letter from Kou Feng. However, when questioned by the police, the letter was nowhere to be found in Ouyang Cheng's house. Furthermore, no one was found to have entered his home during the short period after he left.

He was covered in blood and holding the murder weapon, and his words were completely inconsistent with the reality of the situation, so he was undisputed to be guilty of murder.

Leaving Ouyang Cheng, who was still muttering to himself, Kou Yun and I left the private room. What I learned from Ouyang Cheng was basically in line with my expectations, but because of his condition, I couldn't ask him any more detailed questions, such as what it felt like when the fruit knife suddenly appeared in his hand.

"Oh dear, your arrival has ruined all our previous treatment efforts." The doctor went in to take a look and immediately came out to complain to us.

"What's wrong?" I asked apologetically.

"He's back to how he was when he first came here. Whenever he's lucid, he keeps arguing as if the police are interrogating him, and he keeps talking until his voice is hoarse. Sigh." The doctor sighed heavily.

I don't think he was any more normal when he first started performing magic tricks for us; it was just a shift from a closed-off approach to a different one. Of course, talking incessantly might be more annoying.

What is the cause of his illness?

"He was extremely frightened and interrogated by the police continuously, leaving him mentally exhausted and unable to recover. Also, he felt he was framed and couldn't understand why he was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve."

The doctor turned to a passing nurse and said, "Keep an eye on Ouyang Cheng. If he gets too agitated, give him a sedative injection. Also, make sure he takes his medication quickly and observe the effect. If it's not noticeable, you'll need to increase the dosage next time."