After the sneer, Lao Zhang's expression instantly became serious, "In that case, we can't stir up trouble here anymore! We shouldn't stay in a contentious place for long, let's leave here quickly!"
"Tch! Just the Religious Affairs Bureau?"
Hearing him say that, I felt somewhat disdainful and said involuntarily, "What's so great about that? We don't even care about the Political Commissar of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, let alone a clean bureaucracy like the Religious Affairs Bureau!"
"Clean bureaucracy?"
Lao Zhang glanced at me as if I were an idiot, "Don't speak presumptuously if you don't understand. The 'clean bureaucracy' you're talking about has much greater authority than the Public Security Bureau!"
Before I could ask, Lao Zhang took the initiative to explain, "The Religious Affairs Bureau, or the Bureau of Religious Affairs, is a special organization responsible for managing religious affairs directly under the State Council."
"On the surface, they are indeed just a clean bureaucracy with limited powers and insignificant affairs under their management. But in reality, it is a very terrifying behemoth; over half of the members of the Religious Affairs Bureau are almost all practitioners! In fact, their main duty is to restrain practitioners like us!"
"Wow! That powerful?"
After listening to Lao Zhang's explanation, I suddenly realized and was shocked at the same time.
I had been wondering all along, with so many practitioners, if they were to do something out of line, the public security system or even the military would not be able to handle them at all! Turns out, there is a "relevant department" specifically for dealing with such incidents behind the scenes?
I used to think that the special organizations like the "Dragon Group" mentioned in novels were just fictional. I never thought that there were actually similar organizations in real life!
Indeed, this organization was none other than the "Religious Affairs Bureau" mentioned by Lao Zhang! No wonder even a guy like Huang, who acted arrogant, showed utmost respect to Ning Zhaoyang. It seemed that their authority was indeed astonishing!
"Let's go, let's go..."
Since we can't afford to provoke them, can't we just avoid them? Since the people from the Religious Affairs Bureau have gotten involved in this matter, there's no need for us to worry about it and end up not benefitting in the end...
Moreover, we are in a hurry to return to "building the foundation," and we don't have time to meddle in this trivial matter. After saying goodbye to Captain Han and others in a hurry, Lao Zhang and I headed towards the door.
Just as we walked out of the gate, Lao Zhang suddenly stopped. He looked around carefully, ensuring that no one was paying attention to us, before asking, "Did you think that Chairman Ning was acting a bit strange?"
"Yes! Indeed, something seemed off!"
I nodded solemnly, then lowered my voice, "I always feel like he's trying to deliberately provoke us, to force us to take action against him! And, when I was leaving just now, I clearly felt that he had the intention of killing both of us!"
"Not bad! You're not entirely clueless!"
Lao Zhang nodded in satisfaction and said with a sneer, "He did indeed have the intention to kill us. If those few police officers hadn't suddenly barged in, he would never have let us leave so easily!"
"Yeah!"
In agreement, I looked puzzled and said, "But I don't understand, why would he do that?"
"To tell you the truth, we really did him a big favor. If we hadn't arrived in time today, it wouldn't have been just the funeral parlor employee who died!"
"Hmph! Do you think he cares about the lives of those police officers?"
Lao Zhang sneered, his expression turning even more grim, then looked back towards the direction of the funeral parlor and said in a lowered voice, "I suspect that the evil formation in the morgue is very likely related to him!"
"Huh? No way?"
I looked at Lao Zhang in disbelief, and my expression changed involuntarily!
To be honest, I really hadn't dared to think in this direction. Because in my opinion, the person who could set up such a malicious formation must be extremely evil and deranged. And although the big bald man was quite annoying, he was after all the vice chairman of the Qianzhou Buddhist Association, so he shouldn't be so evil, right?
"Even if it's not himself, he is definitely an accomplice. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in such a hurry to silence us!"
Seeing that I still appeared incredulous, Lao Zhang couldn't help but smirk, "If you don't believe it, how about a bet between us?"
"Fine!"
Hearing this, I couldn't help but become interested and instinctively asked, "What should we bet on?"
As I showed my interest, Lao Zhang couldn't help but feel a little happy in his heart and hastily said, "If you win, I will agree to help you with something! Similarly, if I win, you also have to help me with something!"
"Okay!"
I quickly weighed the pros and cons in my mind and finally nodded, "I'll gamble with you! A gentleman's word..."
"Can't be taken back!"
Before I could finish, Lao Zhang quickly added the last sentence and then smiled triumphantly, "You've already lost!"
"Tch!"
Seeing Lao Zhang's confident look, I refused to be weak and said, "It should be you who's already lost. I don't believe that the big bald guy has the guts for something like this!"
"Heh, you haven't seen anything yet!"
"Think about it, if a person can betray their own beliefs, what else is impossible for them to do? Besides, when he just extinguished Feng Chen's soul, did he show any mercy?"
"Well..."
Listening to him, I was really starting to waver. Isn't it true? After seeing his decisive face when he killed Feng Chen's soul, I was really uncertain.
Seeing me lost in thought, Lao Zhang continued with a smile, "Actually, there's a very crucial factor that you overlooked!"
"Oh?"
I looked at Lao Zhang subconsciously, "What factor?"
Lao Zhang looked mysterious and said, "The source of those coffins!"
"The source of the coffins?"
I couldn't help but be puzzled, then said doubtfully, "Didn't Captain Han already say that all those coffins were moved out of the cemetery on the hill behind?"
"And what about it?"
Lao Zhang asked with interest, "Have you ever thought, since hundreds of coffins have already been sent to the funeral home, and there's a crematorium next to it, why not choose to cremate them the same day."
After a pause, Lao Zhang continued, "You must know, it's much easier to preserve ashes than to preserve hundreds of bodies. Even if there are no relatives of the tomb owners to contact, the government can still forcibly cremate them after a certain period of time!"
"So what?"
I was a bit confused and didn't understand what Lao Zhang was trying to say.
"So, it is obvious that this was deliberate! And, who could have the power to bring about such a thing?"
Did he deliberately make us discover the conspiracy in this funeral home? But what is his plan? Could it be that he had already found the conspiracies in the funeral home and wanted to use us to destroy it?
But isn't he overestimating us too much?
Also, why would he do this? Does he have a grudge with the one who set up the formation?
The more I think about it, the more questions appear in my mind, making my head ache! Vaguely, I feel as if there is a huge conspiracy, like an invisible net slowly enveloping me!
Since the day Zhang Yao jumped from the building, my life has never been peaceful.
First, there was the shadow woman, the ghost mother Xiong Sha; then there was the snake demon from the Liu Family; next was the rumored "14th Floor" in the hospital; and now, I inexplicably encountered the absolute formation in the funeral home...
If all of this is really a conspiracy and can all be connected, then I truly admire the mastermind behind it! This is not something an ordinary person can do; it requires intelligence, strategy, means, and connections.
Damn it! You want to drag me into this conspiracy of the absolute formation? I won't fall for it!
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but pull on Old Zhang's arm and said, "Let's go! I give up, let's go back first."
"Huh?"
Upon hearing this, Old Zhang couldn't help but look at me incredulously and teased, "So straightforward?"
"Sigh..."
Letting out a long sigh, I helplessly said, "There's no choice. You've already analyzed it to this extent, I have no choice but to give up..."
"Are you telling me we should go back and find out what's going on?"
As he said this, I appeared nonchalant, but my peripheral vision remained fixed on Old Zhang's changing expressions.
"Absolutely not!"
Upon hearing me, Old Zhang was suddenly startled and hastily said, "The waters here run too deep, it's not something we can handle! Remember, after we go back, don't mention this to anyone, it's best if you forget about it yourself!"
"Okay, understood!"
Old Zhang's reaction somewhat relieved me, at least for now, it seemed the likelihood of him being the mastermind was not high! Of course, it's not impossible that he saw through my probing and intentionally played along to gain the upper hand!