Brother Wei put the hem of his shirt down. “But you can join the case now. 

After all

, I sold the 

item

 already

, and

 I know you’re capable of retrieving it. 

Y

ou can sell it for a few hundred renminbi later. It’s a win-win situation.” 

I cussed, “Win-win my 

butt

! 

You cheated us

!” 

“Don’t speak such words. We’re in the same business. Are you confident that

all the otherworldly items you’ve sold are safe? Don’t fool yourself and lie to others. This business is like selling drugs. We know they’re not good, but

 people still ask

 for them

, and we deliver. 

We’re just working to make ends meet. Don’t 

think too 

much

 about it

.” 

Brother Wei’s code of 

ethics

 made me speechless. 

He collected his stuff and put them 

in

 a big suitcase

. 

He even put on a pair of sunglasses

 and prepared to leave 

with an excited face. Before 

leaving

, he to

ld 

me, “Boss Zhang, I owe you this time. When we have a chance, we should work together!” 

After he left, I sat down helplessly

 and clutched 

my head. 

“Are you okay?” asked Yin Xinyue. 

“I’m doubting the ethics of my profession.” 

She comforted me. “You shouldn’t think about it that way. 

I don’t think you need to feel 

guilty

. After all, y

ou can’t ensure everybody’s happiness. And, 

some people are

 willing to exchange their longevity and 

luck

 for something beautiful

, even if it’s

 just for a moment. It’s their choice. It has nothing to do with you…” 

Yin Xinyue

’s words

 made me feel better. “Xinyue, you should keep 

your

 distance 

from

 that screenwriter. When he

 has

 a problem, I will help him for free.”  

This was 

another

 burden 

on

 my mind. 

When

 I got home, I started my preparations. I checked books and journals

 and drew

 some talismans. 

Yet

, although it had been a few days already

,

 I 

hadn’t heard anything 

from Meng Dongye. I even followed his Weibo page

, and

 there 

were

 new updates every day. It was 

either about some insights he had or updates about his good

 mood and his writing, which 

was going

 smoothly. 

The magic brush seemed to work well. 

Half a month later

.

I 

was occupied with other activities,

 so I had almost forgotten about this case. One

 day

, while I was eating with Yin Xinyue, she told me that Meng Dongye had submitted his new script to the director, which the director highly appreciated. The overall assessment of the script was extremely high

;

 it could even reach the standard of Hollywood movie scripts! 

However, there were so many typos and sentence structure problems. It

 wasn’t easy

 to read. They needed to hire 

an

 editor to smoothen it. However, Meng Dongye graduated with a degree in Chinese language and literature. His writing shouldn’t have such low-level mistakes. The director guessed that he had made such mistakes because of his fast speed.

I asked Yin Xinyue

,

 “How many words are there in a script?” 

“For a forty-episode script like his, it would be more than 

800,000

 words.” 

“Gosh!” 

I had a high school classmate who worked as a web

novel

 author. His target per day was 

10,000

 words, and his commission for one thousand words was just a few cents. Every day, he 

worked u

ntil he exhausted himself to earn around two hundred 

renminbi

. 

It

 looked like he had a lot of free time

 as t

here was no boss to watch over him or urge him to w

ork

, but it was as hard as any other job

.

Meng Dongye had written 

800,000

 words 

in

 half a month. What kind of concept was that? He must 

have written

 at least more than 

50,000

 words a day to achieve that. Moreover,

 writing wasn’t

easy

. 

He would

need

 time to let his brain rest to think about the details and outlines. Let alone writing everything down, even if he had the draft and just needed to write from it, he would have to sit in front of his computer for more than ten hours a day.

Seeing how much he was working

, I was worried about Meng Dongye’s body condition. I suggested that we visit him in the afternoon. Yin Xinyue agreed with me. 

In the afternoon, Yin Xinyue and I drove to Meng Dongye’s home. 

He lived in

 an apartment building in a luxurious neighborhood. He 

was

 divorced, and 

his

 two kids

lived

 with their mother. His job was to stay home and write scripts

, and he 

sometimes 

went

 out to discuss the storyline with the directors. 

We went to the building and hit the intercom. It took a long time before someone picked up the call.

We announced ourselves

, and

 Meng Dongye 

replied,

sounding

 exhausted

,

 “I’m sorry but please leave. I’m writing. I don’t have time to welcome you

.

” 

“Didn

’t

 he finish his script? What

 could he be working on

?” asked Yin Xinyue. 

“I’m afraid he’s bewitched.” I frowned. 

“Should we 

go

 in or not?” 

“Of course, we have to see him!” 

We waited in the lobby until an aunty 

returned

 home from the grocery store and opened the door. We quickly followed her into the building.

Meng Dongye lived 

on the

 fifth floor. Before my hand could reach his door, Meng Dongye screamed from the inside

,

 “Get lost! Go away! Don’t disturb me!” 

“He'

s getting more and more cocky

!” I knocked on the door. However, Meng Dongye ignored me. 

“He doesn’t want to open the door. We should come 

back

 later

,

” s

uggested 

Yin Xinyue. 

“No! He’s not in good condition. If 

this

 lasts longer, 

things

 will turn worse. We need to see him today.” I contemplated

 then said,

 “If we can’t do it the soft way, we’ll get someone to pick his lock!” 

“If we want to pick 

a

 lock, we

’ll

 need to

 contact

 the police first.” Yin Xinyue looked worried. 

“

There’s n

o need. I’ll just call Li Mazi!” 

I immediately called him. “Hey Li Mazi, come with your lock-picking tools. I

’ve

 got a top priorit

y

 mission for you!” 

Li Mazi 

came shortly after

. 

“Li Mazi, I guess your lock-picking skills 

have

improved

. I’m giving you a chance to show your talent!”  

“You w

ant me to o

pen this lock?” Li Mazi rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah.” 

“I’m not bragging, but I just need two toothpicks to unlock this ordinary anti-theft door.” Li Mazi laughed. 

Then, he took out his tools

 and started 

to work on the lock.

 H

e didn’t forget to flatter himself. “Now,

count down from twenty. If it takes more than twenty seconds, then my skills aren’t good enough.”  

When I finished the countdown, he screamed “Open!” and used his hand to pull the door. However, the door didn’t move. 

“Your trick fail

ed

? 

You really lost face this time

!” I laughed. 

“No,

 there is something wrong here

!” Li Mazi stooped and studied the lock. “This door is locked from the inside. Someone’s in the apartment!” 

“Yeah, 

that’s

correct

.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? You just need to knock on the door! Did you have 

so much

 free

 time

 that you wanted to check my skills? Were you that bored?” 

“You can try knocking on 

the

 door.” 

Li Mazi hit the door several times

. The last few knocks were louder than the first. 

Meng Dongye suddenly thundered

,

 “Go! Go away! Don’t disturb me!

”

“Who is that? H

e’s so angry! 

Did he swallow a lot of pepper?” asked Li Mazi. 

I told him

 about

 the situation. “You must figure out 

a

 way to open this door today. Otherwise, Meng Dongye will possibly die in his apartment.” 

As soon as Li Mazi knew that 

the man

 inside was a client, he became high-spirited. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” 

“I’m somewhat responsible for 

what happened to him, so I’m doing this for free

.” 

“

For free?!

” Li Mazi fumed. 

“Well, I

’m not 

forc

ing 

you. If you open the lock for me, I’ll pay you a few hundred renminbi. Is 

that

 okay?” I said. 

“

Am I

 just a 

jerk

 that only works for money in your eyes? Don’t talk nonsense. I’m going to open this door for you

!

” screamed Li Mazi. 

Then, he took out a hand drill

 and asked 

us to watch over the scene for him. 

Li Mazi used his hand drill to slowly bore the door. It was a boring process

, so w

hile drilling, he asked me, “Little 

B

rother Zhang, how much 

is

 that magic brush 

worth

?”

“

Y

ou can’t hide your nature after just three sentences.” I had a wry smile. 

“It 

was just a casual question

.” Li Mazi pouted. 

After drilling through the lock, Li Mazi inserted two tiny hooks

,

 gently turn

ing

 them

 and opening the door

.

At least, 

Li Mazi had a specialty we could count on. 

As soon as we entered the living room, I 

smelled a terrible stench

. 

E

mpty wine bottles, leftovers in takeaway boxes, and cigarette ashes were scattered around the floor. Dirty clothes were on the sofa

, and t

he curtains hung loose. I wondered how long this room had been 

concealed

 from the sunlight. The entire house was 

about

 to grow mold. 

“Oh gosh

! Do

 all famous authors live like this

?

Do they hate 

the sunlight?” Li Mazi pinched his nose. 

“It depends, I guess

,

” I answered casually. Anyway, I didn’t know much about their lifestyle. 

We heard 

Meng Dongye

 yell 

from his bedroom. “Go away! Get lost! All of you! You 

thugs

!” 

The three of us exchanged looks. 

What

 wa

s going on? Why did he scold us? We 

hadn’t

 done anything!

Well

, we 

did

pick

 his lock. 

Eventually, I decided to go to his bedroom to see. He was just a screenwriter that didn’t even have the strength to truss a chicken. What could he do to us?

As soon as we entered the room, we felt a gloomy

atmosphere. 

When I saw

 the interior, I was dumbstruck. There wasn’t 

just

 one person in 

the

 room! There were five of them!