Chapter 926: The Divine Machine Jade Strategy
After showing off his trick, the old man left the stunned group. Chen Shi quickly followed him, asking, “What will it take for you to cooperate with us? You mentioned breaking rules—what rules exactly?”
The old man replied, “What makes a bad cop?”
“Not doing their job, not following the law.”
“Exactly. He uses his skills to swindle money—that’s within his bounds. But if he were to deceive people in other ways, like seducing women, killing, or betraying his master, that would be crossing the line. If he crosses the line, I can help you. It’s not that I can’t work with the police, but I need a justifiable reason. And of course, I charge a fee.”
“So, if we can prove he has other intentions, you’ll help us?”
“That’s one way to put it.” The old man patted Chen’s shoulder and was about to leave.
Lin Dongxue called after him, “Sir, we have a few more questions.”
“I’m tired. I need to go home for dinner.”
“We’ll treat you to dinner!”
The old man gave a cunning smile, “Alright!”
The restaurant he chose was quite expensive. As the waiter brought dishes like stir-fried vegetables, mushroom pork ears, and shrimp with chives and eggs, KK and Sun Zhen reached for their chopsticks. But the old man, with lightning speed, dumped all three dishes into his big bowl of white noodles, mixed them up, and began eating heartily.
“Take it easy, old man, don’t choke,” KK said irritably.
The old man ignored him, eating noisily. Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue sipped tea, waiting for him to finish.
After devouring his bowl, the old man wiped his mouth with the tablecloth and said, “Ask your questions.”
“This case hasn’t been made public yet, so please keep it confidential,” Lin Dongxue began.
“I understand,” the old man waved dismissively.
“Someone is collecting human organs. They only kill people born on February 19, 1973. Two victims have been found so far, one missing a heart and the other a liver. We suspect they’ll continue or have already done so. Could this be related to some cult ritual?”
The old man stroked his beard, “This sounds like the Five Elements Rebirth Secret Method.”
“What’s that?” Lin Dongxue asked excitedly.
KK was dismissive, “Sounds like some cheesy method to resurrect people or something.”
The old man shot KK a look and continued, “It’s mentioned in the ‘Divine Machine Jade Strategy,’ a formation using the heart, liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys—representing the five elements. By arranging these organs and performing a ritual at midnight, it’s said you can bring a dead person back from the underworld. But they only live for a day before turning to dust, and the practitioner shortens their life by twelve years.”
The old man’s tone was mysterious, and Lin Dongxue found herself swallowing nervously.
Then the old man burst out laughing, “Of course, there are no ghosts or underworld. It’s all nonsense. This is just a way to swindle people. We tell them how difficult it is, making them pay more. When they fall for it, we perform the ritual using animal organs, not human ones. It’s all smoke and mirrors, with a stand-in for the dead person, who pretends to come back from the underworld, looking disfigured and matching the description we’ve gathered. After a day, they ‘disappear’ in front of the client, with special effects to make it seem real. This trick is quite advanced and not something just anyone can pull off.”
Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue were stunned. KK translated, “The ‘client’ is the rich person, and ‘the trick’ is the method of earning money. ‘Matching the description’ means learning about the deceased person’s personality and history.”
The old man picked his nose and said, “Telling you all this, a hundred meals wouldn’t be enough to repay. There’s a saying in our world, ‘Better to give up a nugget of gold than to reveal a single spring secret.’ I’ve told you the deepest secrets out of kindness today.” He smiled at Lin Dongxue, showing his yellow teeth.
KK said, “Old man, your skills are dying out because you hoard them. Wouldn’t it be better to pass them on?”
The old man sneered, “And then what? Write novels or make movies about them? We’d starve!”
“You’re still treating old tricks like treasures from centuries ago,” KK scoffed.
Chen Shi asked, “So, when you teach your disciples, you tell them it’s fake, right?”
“Of course! Take Liao Chunhuang’s tricks. The floating table uses a special prop to lift it with one hand, hidden by his sleeve. The talismans climbing the wall have cockroaches glued to the back. Writing in smoke? That’s… well, all tricks. People think we’re masters or semi-immortal because they don’t know the mechanisms. We’re not fooled by our own tricks.”
“Who gets to see this ‘Divine Machine Jade Strategy’?”
“Only practitioners. But…” The old man looked pained, “With the internet, some idiots leak bits of it online. Some years ago, a writer got hold of it and turned it into a novel. It pissed me off so much I sent word to the community to deal with that jerk. We bombarded his novel with bad reviews, but it only made it more popular.”
Chen Shi laughed, “What’s the novel called?”
“‘Divine Machine Jade Strategy.’ I was livid. Taking our bread and butter to write a book—no decency at all. But that guy was an outsider, didn’t understand the real secrets, and turned it into some supernatural nonsense. Ridiculous! The real ‘Divine Machine Jade Strategy’ was written by our ancestor Zhuge Liang. Each formation has a chant like ‘The heavens command, I report to the Jade Pure One, summon the true spirits, to meet at the court.’ It’s like a code. Without a master’s guidance, it’s gibberish. Only those who understand the true meaning can perform the rituals and make money!” The old man rubbed his fingers together, indicating cash. “Without that knowledge, it’s just a book of nonsense.”