Pixiu Restaurant, No Way Out

Su An, as soon as he left the bank, looked up at the sky and couldn’t help but frown at the sight of it becoming gloomy all of a sudden.

After all, it was sunny not too long ago.

The Abacus Spirit felt a bit restless as he sat on the bus, heading back to the Restaurant. So much so that he would occasionally glance at the gloomy weather outside, wondering if it would start raining at any second. However, this worry was due to the fact that he hadn’t brought an umbrella with him, not for any other reason.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning exploded high in the sky, and Su An had to speed up on his way back home as soon as he got off the bus. Sometimes, spiritual beings might have some kind of foreboding that something might occur soon, and at that very moment, Su An’s demonic intuition told him that something wasn’t quite right.

At that precise instant, that same intuition was telling Su An that something bad had happened in the Restaurant.

With hurried steps, Su An turned a corner, only to end up bumping into a disoriented man.

“Don’t get mad….don’t get mad. He’s fine…..”

“Don’t scold me…..I didn’t know this was going to happen either….”

Su An turned to look at him. This man looked like a refined gentleman, but he was holding something wrapped in a black cloth, and he kept muttering to himself. As if he were possessed.

Under normal circumstances, Su An might have stopped to help him in order to gain merits. But now….

Without even looking back, Su An ran in the direction of the Restaurant. Upon arrival, Su An found that the Restaurant was surrounded by a group of onlookers, police cars, as well as at least one ambulance, with its blue and white flashing lights parked on the side.

Su An’s vision became blurred. He nearly fell into a trance, before regaining his composure.

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‘It’s over. It’s all over. It has only been a day and they’ve already found out that the Boss has robbed a bank. Truly, with such technological advances, the surveillance network of Humans cannot be underestimated!’

Su An forced himself to calm down and looked out at the packed crowd at the entrance of the Restaurant, feeling an unparalleled amount of internal conflict.

‘I was the one who handled the stolen money. If the Boss would turn me in, I’ll have no way to evade going to jail. But….the bank card is now in my pocket. If I were to go back to the bank now, and withdraw all the money, then I can escape…..’

Faced with such a thought, Su An suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself, completely dispelling those ungrateful thoughts from his mind. Having strengthened his determination and faith, Su An pushed his way through the crowd, advancing towards the Restaurant.

As soon as Su An pushed away the last person in front of him, he came across Pi Xiu, who was standing between Erlang Sheng and Li Jing1, looking as if they were already ready to take him prisoner. Su An’s legs failed him and he ended up kneeling in front of them, shouting in anguish: “Boss!”

Everyone present was stunned by the dramatic scene. Pi Xiu, seeing him like this, asked: “Why are you kneeling when it’s not even New Year’s?”

Xiaotian Quan lifted his nose and sniffed. Thereupon, he approached Erlang Sheng and whispered in his ear: “He’s a Demon. He exudes a strong copper smell.”

The Monkey Spirits rushed to help Su An up from the floor, and said: “Su-ge, are you alright? Don’t be afraid, it’s just that someone came to cause trouble in the Restaurant and the Boss is taking care of it. It’s no big deal, no big deal…..”

‘Is it really no big deal?’ Su An didn’t believe it for a second. He looked at his Boss, and said, “Boss, I’ve taken care of everything you instructed me to do today.”

Pi Xiu answered him with a simple nod. All of a sudden, he seemed to remember something and said: “Some chairs in the Restaurant ended up smashed, the biggest table also needs to be replaced, and some goods have been damaged. Write it all down and we’ll sort it out when I get back.”

Su An wanted to ask his Boss if he could really come back. ‘Is it possible that this Old Demon has some kind of privilege? That even after having robbed a bank, he can still escape unscathed?’ However, he didn’t dare to do so. With a solemn expression on his face, Su An nodded his head and assured Pi Xiu: “Boss, don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything until your return.”

As soon as Su An said that, Wen Xi walked out of the Restaurant. The lines of the demonic mark had just faded, leaving behind a faint red trace lingering at the corners of his eyes, making him look as if he had just cried.

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“I’ll go with you.” Wen Xi said, staring at Pi Xiu as he reached out to grab his arm.

Wen Xi’s cold touch felt more icy than usual, but it seemed to do the trick at extinguishing the burning heat and anger in Pi Xiu’s heart. Finding himself calmer, Pi Xiu suddenly stopped feeling that it would be annoying to go to the Supervision Office to solve the problem.

“Stay at home, I’ll be back soon.” Pi Xiu, who rarely displayed patience, showed an unusually good temperament.

However, Wen Xi didn’t appreciate it. He held Pi Xiu’s arm tighter than before and refused to let go: “I’ll go with you. If I’m not with you and you get angry again, what will happen?”

“I won’t get angry again.” Pi Xiu chuckled, and called out to Su An: “Take him inside.”

Su An’s expression froze as he realized that his Boss was entrusting Wen Xi to him. He walked towards Wen Xi and respectfully said: “Madam, come with me. The Boss will be fine.”

“Boss Pi’s Wife?” Li Jing frowned upon hearing this, looking up and down at Wen Xi: “A Male Ghost? Do the two of you even have a marriage license?”

Wen Xi glared at him and said: “Why do you care?”

Pi Xiu sighed, reached out and patted Wen Xi’s head: “Don’t worry. They’re simply taking me to ask me some questions so I can clarify the situation. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“But…..” Wen Xi frowned and clung to him again, refusing to let go.

Pi Xiu looked at the number of people gathered around them and his face darkened. Pi Xiu lowered his voice and whispered in Wen Xi’s ear: “Listen to me. Go back inside and wait for me upstairs.”

Ren Jiao, seeing the pair engaged in their game of a tug-of-war, took the initiative to approach them and say: “Wen Xi, go inside. I’ll go with Pi Xiu.”

Ren Jiao smiled at Wen Xi and added: “Lil Broom will be back later. Could you keep an eye on him for me and make sure he does his homework?”

Wen Xi looked at Pi Xiu again. Upon seeing the stern expression on his face, Wen Xi withdrew his hand and said with downcast eyes: “Alright, I understand. Make sure you quickly come back then.”

Pi Xiu walked to the car and sat inside. When he looked out of the window, Pi Xiu found that Wen Xi was still standing at the door of the Restaurant, his gaze fixed on himself. Wen Xi’s face looked pale already, with the addition of having a frown on his face, it made Pi Xiu’s heart feel uncomfortable.

Erlang Shen followed Pi Xiu’s line of sight and asked: “What is it? You can’t bear to leave him behind?”

“I’ll see him later when I get back. Why should I be reluctant to part with him?” Pi Xiu leaned back against the car seat and closed his eyes. At that moment, Pi Xiu seemed to remember that there was a cake shop on the way back from the Supervision Office, and thought: ‘The little one has never tasted a cake all this time. It would be good to bring him one on the way back for him to try.’

Hearing Pi Xiu’s words, Li Jing couldn’t help but laugh: “Do you really think you’ll be able to return so soon when you’ve hit a couple of mortals?”

Ren Jiao leaned against the window and looked at Li Jing: “Does this mean that the Pagoda-bearing Heavenly King wants to imprison my Boss?”

“Just as Humans have laws they must abide by, Monsters have them as well. Those who break the law will be sentenced according to what the laws dictate. The first rule of Monsters is not to harm Humans indiscriminately, let alone…..”

Suddenly, Pi Xiu opened his eyes and a brimming amount of Demonic Qi was emitted from within him. Xiaotian Quan involuntarily growled, then hid in Erlang Shen’s arms, which only encouraged Erlang Zhenjun to open his Heavenly Eye and face Pi Xiu.

“You talk too much.” Pi Xiu suppressed his Demonic Qi and coldly said: “Do you really think anyone can stop me if I decide to go back?”

Ren Jiao looked at Li Jing’s gloomy face and joked: “Of course, the Pagoda-bearing Heavenly King doesn’t have his wife and child waiting for him at home, so he’s already used to having no one waiting for him back home. But how can he not let a husband return home to be reunited with his wife and child? That’s a bit heartless, don’t you think?”

As Erlang Sheng gently stroked Xiaotian Quan’s back to soothe him, he calmly said: “Even if the Pagoda-bearing Heavenly King’s words were wrong, nothing justifies releasing such an amount of Demonic Qi to scare others.”

“Sorry. I’m already used to being an arrogant guy, so I can’t just change.” After he finished speaking, Pi Xiu closed his eyes again and didn’t look at anyone else.

After the car arrived at the Supervision Office, Pi Xiu got out of the car and confidently walked all the way to the Interrogation Room. There, the leaders of various Divine Beings and Monsters were already waiting for him.

As soon as the Queen Mother of the West saw Pi Xiu walk into the Interrogation Room, she straightened her posture, trying to make the winks she threw at him less obvious.

The King Father of the East2 was sitting on the other side, fiddling with a small clock, not paying much attention to Pi Xiu’s arrival. The Jade Emperor3, for his part, was sitting right in the middle with a smile on his face. However, inside, the Jade Emperor was cursing at Pi Xiu, that old fellow, for always causing so much trouble for no apparent reason.

Pi Xiu sat on a chair and crossed his arms: “I want to make something very clear. They were the ones who started wrecking my establishment.”

“We already know that.” The Jade Emperor said with a gentle smile. “But at that moment, the weather changed so drastically from one second to the next, that even the Way of Heaven became alarmed. It seems like old Pi Xiu was genuinely angry this time.”

Pi Xiu replied frankly: “Nothing out of the ordinary. I just wanted to rip that guy’s head off about seven or eight times if possible.”

The Jade Emperor choked, struggling to keep the smile on his face intact, but not really succeeding.

“Is there anything else you need to know? If not, I’ll be heading home. My little one is still waiting for me at home.” Pi Xiu, feeling somewhat impatient, tapped his feet to urge them to hurry up and question him so as not to waste everyone’s time anymore.

“At the time of the quarrel, there were still mortals present, so we will need to assign specialized personnel to erase their memories. As soon as the list of people present at that time is ready, we will need your cooperation in order to proceed.” The Jade Emperor said.

Pi Xiu replied: “That’s fine. There are cameras installed in the Restaurant. When the time comes, you can send the three-eyed one to come and visit me to get the footage.”

All of a sudden, someone knocked on the door of the interrogation room.

Erlang Shen opened the door, nodded his head at the Jade Emperor, and said: “Laojun4‘s examination report is ready. As a matter of fact, there is a problem.”

Erlang Shen handed the folder in his hand to the Jade Emperor and walked back to position himself near Pi Xiu: “It was discovered that the mortals you wounded had traces of Demonic Qi, which means they must have been under the spell of a Demon who sought to impulsively provoke you. However, we now have a bigger problem. The remaining Demonic Qi is very weak, making it difficult for us to trace its origin.”

Pi Xiu raised an eyebrow and said: “So what?”

“We need you to provide us with a list of the Demons you have had conflicts with in the past. We will need to investigate one by one.”

Pi Xiu paused, pondered for a moment, and finally replied: “I’ve had too many conflicts with a wide variety of Demons. So many that I can’t even remember them all.”

Hearing this, the Jade Emperor frowned his eyebrows, closed the folder in his hand, and looked at Pi Xiu: “There are two types of Demonic Qi, so it seems to be a team operation. Pi Xiu, think carefully who you have offended. Using Demonic Qi to manipulate people’s minds is strictly forbidden by the Way of Heaven. If another incident like this were to occur, it could bring severe consequences…..”

“Who have I offended?” Pi Xiu suddenly laughed. “Is there anyone sitting here that I haven’t offended? Raise your hand, so I can see it with my own eyes.”

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. On one hand, the King Father of the East’s hand that was playing with a clock stopped and he even seemed to have secluded himself in meditation. On the other hand, the Queen Mother of the West pretended to admire the scenery around her. The only one whose face had become rigid, was that of the Jade Emperor.

Everyone’s fists were tightly clenched.

The Interrogation Room remained silent for a long time, and the smile on Pi Xiu’s face finally faded: “Give me a piece of paper, I will write down the names.”

Ren Jiao had been waiting for Pi Xiu in the hallway all this time. By the time the hands of the clock turned a full circle, Pi Xiu finally came out of the Interrogation Room.

Ren Jiao: “So, how was it?”

“Not much. Those brats had Demonic Qi in their bodies. The three-eyed one said they acted impulsively under the influence of a Demon’s spell.” Pi Xiu replied.

Ren Jiao clicked his tongue: “What Demon? I have yet to meet someone bold enough to take the initiative to stir up trouble for you. This is really impressive, I must say. I’ve never seen someone so daring in my life.”

“There were two types of Demonic Qi.” Pi Xiu lowered his voice and continued: “When you have time, go to the hospital where those brats are and take a look at them.”

Ren Jiao nodded: “Got it.”

All of a sudden, the door behind them creaked open, and Erlang Shen came out holding a piece of paper in his hand. He stood in front of Pi Xiu, and said: “A person is missing from this list.”

“Who?” Pi Xiu asked.

Pi Xiu thought to himself: ‘Have I perhaps forgotten who my enemies are?’

Erlang Shen took the paper and read it again, as if to confirm in front of Pi Xiu before saying: “Taotie is missing. Why?”

“No reason.” Pi Xiu turned around, and as he left, said: “Taotie is just a damn dog who swindled me out of my money. He’s not my enemy. You’re always talking too much nonsense.”