Yanjing, the Zhang Family.
Zhang Chen, being from a wealthy family, could have chosen the dorms provided by Yanjing University, but it was inconceivable for him to squeeze in with his classmates while a grand villa awaited him. Therefore, every day after school, he lived in a villa in an affluent neighborhood not far from the school, a villa that Zhang Gong had bought for him. Not many people knew about it.
As the "Eldest Young Master" of the Zhang Family and the "Young Master" of Zhang Real Estate, Zhang Chen naturally had everything taken care of—the classic hand-fed and mouth-served lifestyle. Of course, it wasn’t his parents but the servants who took care of him.
Within the villa, there were three maids responsible for chores, as well as a chef and a butler. By the time Zhang Chen arrived home each day, everything was already prepared, so he had almost nothing left to do himself.
In the dead of night.
Zhang Chen sat alone on the sofa, completely engrossed in a mobile game, while outside the window, a shadowy figure flickered past...
"Top lane, defend the tower." Zhang Chen mumbled while playing on his phone, occasionally calling out commands.
"Lucy, make me a drink." Zhang Chen felt a bit thirsty and casually ordered, one second passed, then two, three—no one appeared or responded to his call. The spoiled Eldest Young Master clearly lacked patience.
"Lucy, Lucy, where the hell did you die off to? Monica, someone come out." Zhang Chen loudly called out the names of several maids, but oddly enough, after a full thirty seconds, there was still no answer.
"Bastard." Zhang Chen cursed, abruptly springing up from the sofa, kicking over the coffee table in front of him, holding his phone in one hand and marching upstairs in his slippers.
Suddenly, all the lights in the house went out at once—the chandelier above, the table lamp, even the TV all "agreed" to cut out, plunging the entire living room into darkness. Zhang Chen froze in shock, stepped on a teacup on the floor, lost his balance, and fell to the ground, with his phone flying out of his hand... Googlᴇ search novel·fire·net
The teacup on the ground had just slid off the overturned coffee table, and now Zhang Chen had stepped on it, like lifting a rock only to drop it on his own foot. What frustrated him even more was that the phone had slipped to the ground and was now playing hide-and-seek with him, because without light, he could only fumble in the dark to find it.
It was indeed strange: power outages had never occurred in this neighborhood where Zhang Chen lived before. How could it be so coincidental that it happened today?
At that moment, the sound of footsteps approached from not too far away. With the dim moonlight, Zhang Chen could vaguely make out the outline of a person, appearing to be a man.
"Butler, what’s going on here?" Zhang Chen yelled angrily. The villa’s butler was a middle-aged man, and Zhang Chen, not known for his good temper, often took out his frustrations on these people.
The footsteps grew clearer and nearer; the man slowly walked towards Zhang Chen. His pace was not fast, but every step was firm and steady...
"What are you dawdling for?" Zhang Chen, having stood up, spoke impatiently. Just then, a gust of wind blew the curtains open and moonlight streamed in, illuminating the man’s face.
"You... who are you?" A look of horror snapped onto Zhang Chen’s face, his voice trembling as he spoke. It felt like every pore on his body was open, and he toppled backward, collapsing onto the floor.
"Demon exorcist." The man’s hoarse voice sent a chill through the air, truly terrifying.
With the moonlight shining down, the dagger in the man’s hand glinted ominously. But for Zhang Chen, it was the harbinger of death, and now the words Ye Shikai had spoken during the day echoed in his mind.
A disaster that brings death.
"No... don’t... kill me."
.....................
Another bright morning arrived, and Yanjing City began to awaken, everything returning to its usual routine. However, this night was bound to be anything but peaceful.
Early in the morning, Ye Shikai received an "urgent death summons" from Zhang Ting, calling him back to the police station. Upon arrival, he was met with a piece of news that was shocking yet not unexpected—Zhang Chen was dead. Early in the morning, the comatose butler and maids woke and discovered his body; shocked and frightened, they promptly called the police.
The reason this was anticipated was purely due to Ye Shikai’s analysis of the killer’s prey—Zhang Chen happened to fit all these characteristics. However, what Ye Shikai hadn’t expected was how quick the killer acted; the campus bullying incident had just occurred two days ago, and now the killer had already made a move.
"Get your policemen out here." Inside the police station, several men were shouting, naturally led by Chairman Zhang Gong of Zhang Real Estate. His son had been murdered; of course, he was heartbroken, but amidst his grief, he recalled the words Ye Shikai had said the day before.
This is a disaster that brings death.
People of Huaxia have never liked crows, not for any other reason but because of their black feathers and the ominous "crow’s mouth" symbolism.
This was probably why Zhang Gong was making such a scene at the moment. At this point, he was nothing like a dignified businessman; he was more like a ruffian.
"What is it, Mr. Zhang, do you need me for something?" Ye Shikai wasn’t going to dodge him—in fact, there were many things he wanted to ask Zhang Gong.
"You... you bastard, come here." When Zhang Gong saw Ye Shikai, he charged over, grabbing him by the collar. The nearby officers immediately rushed over to intervene but were stopped by Ye Shikai’s hand.
"What exactly did you mean by what you said yesterday?" Perhaps feeling somewhat guilty, Zhang Gong had intended to curse but suddenly paused.
"What I wanted to say yesterday, you and your son weren’t willing to listen. Now you’re interested?" Ye Shikai spoke coldly. It wasn’t that he wished Zhang Chen to be killed; he’s not that petty, nor would he take pleasure in another’s death. In fact, before yesterday, he didn’t have confirmation that Zhang Chen would be the killer’s prey. In other words, even if the father and son had been willing to stay in the office at the university "to listen" to Ye Shikai’s advice, he wouldn’t have had enough evidence to warn that someone would definitely harm Zhang Chen. At most, he could have offered a caution, after all, if one day someone nervously tells you on the street that you’re facing a disaster that brings death, most likely, you’d think they were insane...
"Mr. Zhang, please come with me, there are some questions I need to ask you... if you want to catch the killer and avenge your son." Ye Shikai continued coldly, noticing Zhang Gong’s hesitation, as if he was wary of something, and didn’t respond.
"This time it was your son who suffered, next time it might be your wife, your parents, or even you." Ye Shikai went on.