C15 The Great Sale of Protective Talismans

In the afternoon, Ye Cheng was still engrossed in a game of cat and mouse in his office when a crowd of Supernatural Bureau staff began to gather at the door.

"Master, Master, could you draw a few protective talismans for me?"

Officer Liu managed to push through the throng, arms laden with snacks.

Ye Cheng, hiding behind the sofa, peeked out, "What's going on? Are you here to arrest me? Please, don't! I'm innocent!"

Liu stood there, completely baffled, unsure of what had transpired or what he might have said to cause such a misunderstanding.

Watching Liu's confused look, Ye Cheng burst into laughter and leaped out from behind the sofa. "Haha, I'm pretty good, aren't I? If I pursued acting, I'd definitely win awards."

Acting?

Liu, still fixated on the talismans, approached with the snacks and set them on the coffee table. "Master, have a look. If it's not enough, I can get more."

Ye Cheng seriously inspected the snacks arrayed before him and nodded with approval. "Good, good, you've shown real sincerity. I'll reluctantly accept these."

"So, Master, could you draw a few protective talismans for me?" Liu asked, pulling out several sheets of yellow paper from his pocket, which he had specifically purchased beforehand, believing they'd be much more effective than white paper.

Impressed by the offering of snacks, Ye Cheng quickly sketched out the enhanced talismans on the yellow paper. "Here, take these."

Liu clutched the talismans like precious gems.

The officers waiting at the door, clutching their own offerings of snacks, had been patient for quite some time. After Liu emerged, they filed in one by one, exchanging snacks for talismans.

They might have previously been skeptical about Ye Cheng, but after witnessing the incident with the female officer, their faith in his abilities was unshakable.

By the end of the afternoon, the Supernatural Bureau's snack supply was completely wiped out, not even a single spicy strip remained.

As dusk approached, Wang Anshi finished his tasks and hurried back to the Supernatural Bureau, only to find his subordinates huddled together, each holding a few pieces of paper and murmuring amongst themselves.

"Something's not right. Why do all of our protective talismans look different?"

"True. I've seen Huahua's talisman, and it's not the same as ours. Could it be a fake?"

"If it were fake, do you think Huahua would still be alive? She would've been long gone. It's probably because the master is incredibly skilled and crafted each talisman specifically for our individual constitutions."

Wang Anshi observed police officers streaming out of his office, each clutching a piece of paper.

He had only been away for a day. What on earth had happened at the Supernatural Bureau?

Filled with curiosity, Wang Anshi swung open the door to his office. Snacks were strewn everywhere—on the sofa, the desk, and even the floor. It looked like a miniature snack store.

Behind the mountain of snacks sat Ye Cheng, sucking on a lollipop and drawing protective talismans on paper. He had been at it all day and was clearly fed up with the task.

A tall, muscular officer examined the hastily drawn talisman in his hand and asked uncertainly, "Master, is this really going to work?"

"If it doesn't, you can give it back," Ye Cheng replied, reaching out to take it.

The officer quickly pocketed the talisman, offering a sheepish grin, "My apologies. I'll keep it. Definitely."

As the officer turned to leave, he collided with Wang Anshi, who was approaching. Looking like a child caught in the act, he stammered, "Chief, Chief."

Wang Anshi gestured dismissively and said in a stern tone, "Everyone, back to work. I need to speak with Ye Cheng."

The officer who had been waiting at the door without receiving a talisman, however reluctantly, didn't dare utter a word in Wang Anshi's presence and had no choice but to depart.

Wang Anshi peeked out the door one last time to ensure all the officers had cleared out before letting out a sigh of relief. He then sifted through the snack piles, found some blank papers, and spread them out on the table.

"T300, given the gravity of our situation, could you draw a few protective talismans for me?"

Ye Cheng, with a chip in one hand and a soda in the other, glanced at Wang Anshi's empty hands, "Everyone else traded snacks for theirs, but you've brought nothing. Hmph, I'm not drawing one for you."

Wang Anshi had initially planned to leverage the situation at headquarters to persuade Ye Cheng to draw a talisman for him. However, he worried that if he upset Ye Cheng again, and Ye Cheng chose to work on a different film, Wang would need to find another way to earn his trust.

With this in mind, Wang Anshi rummaged through his pockets and reluctantly pulled out two hundred-yuan notes from his wallet. "Would this be enough to make the exchange?"

"Sure."

Ye Cheng might have been eccentric, but he was no fool. He certainly understood that these two bills could buy a plethora of snacks at the snack shop.

Wang Anshi exchanged two hundred yuan for a pair of protective talismans. Upon his arrival, he had heard about the talismans and hurried to the snack shop, only to find it completely sold out. This time, he had indeed taken a significant loss.

After securing the talismans, Wang Anshi stood up and took a moment to observe Ye Cheng. Surrounded by an abundance of snacks, Ye Cheng seemed content enough to stay there by himself. Reassured, Wang Anshi left the room.

"Chief, there's been another incident," Officer Liu approached, clutching a file.

"Get everyone to the conference room for a meeting."

The previous night, a body had been discovered in the deserted outskirts of the western suburbs. The corpse was ripped in half, with evident bite marks on both sections. Oddly, while the body was bisected, the head was missing.

The deceased's identity was confirmed through an ID card found in the wallet left at the scene. It showed that the individual had been out drinking with a friend the night before. The friend witnessed the deceased encountering a beautiful woman in a strappy dress and leaving with her, though the destination was unknown.

The police had spent the whole day searching for the woman described by the witness, but even the nearby surveillance cameras had captured no sign of her passing by.

After some deliberation, Wang Anshi and a few team members conducted a Yin Qi test at the site where the body was found. Surprisingly, the results were normal, indicating no presence of ghosts.

It appeared that Ye Cheng would need to be involved.

Wang Anshi reached out to the director of the psychiatric hospital, Chen Yangguang, who, with his assistance, managed to coax Ye Cheng out. As soon as Ye Cheng stepped out of the Supernatural Bureau, he caught sight of the hospital's ambulance and immediately became uncontrollable.

"T100! You've deceived me! You're actually trying to take me back! I won't go back, I won't!" Ye Cheng yelled at the top of his lungs as he frantically ran toward the Supernatural Bureau.

Wang Anshi realized something was terribly wrong and quickly dashed over to grab Ye Cheng, "T300, calm down. The ambulance isn't here to take you back. Trust me."

"I don't trust you! You've tricked me! You've conspired with the hospital staff to label me as insane and take me back. You think I'm clueless? I won't go back!"

Ye Cheng wrenched his arm free from Wang Anshi's grasp, shivering as he pressed himself against the wall, his eyes wide with terror as he watched the encroaching crowd.