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"Oh—so that's how it is! Is there something weird about this King of All Trees?" Rainie Cheng asked eagerly.
"Of course there is—right under the roots," Shawn Young said, waving at Sergeant Louis Liu nearby to come over.
Sergeant Louis Liu hurried over and asked, "Mr. Shawn, did you find something?"
"Mm-hmm, there's something under this tree. Go grab a few pickaxes and dig underneath it. Be careful not to damage whatever's down there!" Shawn Young instructed.
"Alright, got it—" Sergeant Louis Liu called over a few officers, grabbed some pickaxes from the car, and started digging beneath the massive King of All Trees. After a while, they suddenly spotted something white buried in the soil.
"Stop digging, hold up—" As soon as Shawn Young saw the thing, he shouted urgently to the officers.
Everyone paused. Shawn Young stepped forward, squatted down, brushed away the loose dirt, and focused his gaze. It was an oval-shaped Orchid Porcelain Spirit Vessel, white with blue orchid patterns, half-buried in the mud. The vessel was inscribed with strange incantations, and its lid was sealed with two crossed tin talismans. Seeing those tin talismans, Shawn Young frowned, then carefully cleared away more dirt around the vessel, revealing eight bronze soul wedges encircling it in a bizarre pattern—clearly the Eightfold Soul-Locking Array. The wedges were mottled with rust but still glimmered faintly, and each was engraved with ancient tadpole-like runes.
"Hmm—Tin talisman, bronze soul wedges, suppressing evil spirits... Could this be the Eightfold Soul-Locking Array?" After examining it thoroughly, Shawn Young muttered to himself, not daring to touch anything.
Sergeant Louis Liu, standing nearby, was burning with curiosity. He quickly asked Shawn Young, "Mr. Shawn, what is that thing? Surely it's not just somebody's old treasure buried here, right?"
"Definitely not—there's something off about this vessel—" Shawn Young wasn't sure how to explain it to everyone, so he carefully picked up the white porcelain bottle, making sure not to touch the eight bronze soul wedges. He still couldn't be certain what was inside, but he knew those wedges were the key to keeping whatever was in the vessel suppressed!
Examining the white porcelain bottle in his hands, Shawn Young noticed that besides the two tin talismans at the mouth, the gaps were sealed with some black glue-like substance. After thinking for a moment, he asked Sergeant Louis Liu, "Officer Liu, do you have a knife or something like that on you?"
"Yeah, I do! Here's my Swiss Army knife—it's pretty handy!" Sergeant Louis Liu said, pulling it from his belt and handing it over.
Shawn Young took the Swiss Army knife and carefully pried open the seal at the mouth of the white porcelain bottle. After some fiddling, he finally got the lid off, revealing a dark green bamboo tube inside. The tube was sealed with a stopper, also engraved with weird, dark red incantations that looked like they were written in blood, radiating a chilling, sinister vibe.
"Whoa—this thing is seriously weird! It's sealed in so many layers. What could possibly be inside?" Sergeant Louis Liu asked, curiosity written all over his face.
"Uh—I'm not sure either—" Shawn Young shook his head. He didn't dare open the bamboo tube, knowing that whatever was inside couldn't be anything good! He thought for a moment, then slowly put the white porcelain bottle back where it was. He planned to use his 'Celestial Eye' to take a peek and see if he could glimpse what was inside.
Before he could activate the 'Celestial Eye,' Mandy Chung suddenly came over. For some reason, her curiosity got the better of her when she saw the eight bronze soul wedges on the ground. "Oh—bronze artifacts! These look like ancient relics!" she said, and, as if possessed, reached out and pulled one out of the dirt, examining it with fascination.
"Ah—Mandy, don't do that! Quick, put the bronze soul wedge back!" Shawn Young called out urgently.
Before Mandy could react, a cold wind suddenly swept through. The massive King of All Trees began to sway, its trunk and leaves rustling with eerie creaks and whispers—"Creak—creak—swish—swish—rustle—" The once-calm pond nearby rippled, and the waves started swirling, forming a vortex that spun faster and faster, making strange "gurgle—gurgle—" sounds. The mix of noises and the swirling water gave everyone a sense of oppressive unease, and the atmosphere grew increasingly bizarre.
"Ah—what's happening? I'll put it back!" Mandy Chung was so frightened by the weird scene that her pretty face turned pale. She hurried to stick the bronze soul wedge back into the ground.
Just then, a flash of black light—"Pop!"—the bamboo tube's stopper popped open on its own. A burst of black smoke shot out, streaking straight into Sergeant Louis Liu's face.
Sergeant Louis Liu's body shuddered, his eyes opened wide, and his pupils suddenly glowed a fierce red. His gaze turned vicious and cold, his slightly chubby frame snapped rigidly upright, and his lips curled into a twisted, almost-smiling sneer, with milky drool dripping from his mouth—he looked downright creepy.
"Ah—Sergeant Liu, what's wrong?" A nearby officer saw Louis Liu's bizarre transformation and cried out in alarm.
"Keh—keh—keh—" Louis Liu let out a harsh, owl-like laugh, then suddenly swung his right hand, grabbing the throat of the officer who'd spoken to him. He lifted the man clean off the ground with shocking strength and flung him aside—"Wham!" The officer screamed, flying seven or eight meters before crashing into a tree, coughing up blood and passing out cold!
"Ah—Sergeant Liu, have you lost your mind? How could you do that—" Mandy Chung hadn't expected things to go south so fast and shouted in panic.
Before she could finish, Louis Liu's body blurred, moving with ghostly speed. In an instant, he was right in front of her, reaching out to grab her by the neck!
In the blink of an eye, Shawn Young leaped forward, grabbing Mandy Chung around the waist and dodging to the side—just barely avoiding Louis Liu's attack. At the same time, he shouted to everyone, "Watch out! He's not Sergeant Liu anymore—he's possessed by an evil spirit!"