Taboo Mage - Chapter 174 - Disguise

t typical residential complexes. These guards were around 1.8 meters tall, with muscles bulging like steel plates on their bare arms in the summer, and they had electric batons tucked into their belts.

I pursed my lips. For us, it seemed impossible to even get past the gate of their community, let alone navigate through the numerous residential buildings to find the wall where Li Zhiqiang’s body was sealed.

More importantly, if that wall happened to be in someone’s home, which family would allow strangers to waltz in and meddle in their affairs?

My head was spinning, and I couldn’t help but glance over at Jue Chi. Clearly, he had also realized the problem; his hand holding the Buddhist prayer beads had gone still.

“Brother Gu, what do we do…” The Village Chief tilted his head, looking at the tightly packed buildings, asking.

I bit my lip and remarked determinedly, “What can we do? We’re already here.”

With that, I lowered my head and charged toward the entrance, but sure enough, before I even reached the gate, one of the large security guards stopped me, saying, “Excuse me, sir, you look unfamiliar. You aren’t a resident, are you?”

I shook my head; there was no point in pretending. If they checked with the property management, they would know immediately. If I claimed to be a resident and got caught lying, that would only complicate matters.

“Then what are you here for? If you’re looking for someone, you’ll have to have a resident come down and escort you; otherwise, you can’t enter the community.”

With that, the guard waved for me to step aside.

I scratched my head, stepping back toward the nearby flowerbed. Everyone had seen what had just happened; trying to force our way in would only get us turned away. Now we had to be clever.

“How about we say we’re renovation workers?” The Village Chief took a couple of puffs from his cigarette before slapping his thigh, suggesting.

I shook my head. “The problem is, we don’t look like workers. Where would we go to get two sets of work clothes now?”

Bored, I scanned the area and suddenly noticed a delivery vehicle parked at the entrance. The bright yellow box was hard to miss.

I chuckled and pulled the Village Chief and Jue Chi over. “See that? Delivery drivers can get in. If we pretend to be renovation workers, we’d need property management’s approval, but pretending to be delivery guys shouldn’t be a problem.”

With that, I grabbed the delivery guy, who was rushing back in a hurry, and asked, “Hey, are you busy?”

“Busy, yeah.” The delivery guy looked at me in confusion, probably thinking, “If you know I’m busy, why are you holding me up?”

I pointed to the people in front of me, saying, “We just came from the countryside, and our wallets were stolen. We can’t buy tickets to go home. So how about this: we help you deliver food in this community, and you give us twenty yuan?”

“Well… that doesn’t really comply with our regulations,” the delivery guy hesitated, but looking at his expression, he seemed to waver.

I pressed on, “No problem! We promise to deliver it on time! You can keep our phone numbers, and if anything goes wrong, we’ll take responsibility!”

Before he could hesitate further, I had the Village Chief take out his phone and ID. Seeing that we had both young and older people, the delivery guy relented and pulled out four or five food boxes from his delivery box.

“The addresses and delivery times are written on them. You must deliver them on time,” he instructed.

I quickly took the boxes and nodded repeatedly.

After the delivery guy left, we lowered our heads and made our way inside. This time, with our cover well prepared and my smooth talking, we managed to blend in successfully.

Once inside the community, I asked the Village Chief and Suzhen to help deliver the food while Jue Chi and I searched for Li Zhiqiang’s body.

In the sea of people, finding a corpse would be extremely difficult. I asked Jue Chi if he had any ideas, but he shook his head.

He was good at exorcism, but when it came to locating something, he was genuinely at a loss. I sat down on the edge of a flowerbed and closed my eyes, contemplating. The body was sealed in cement, and its bones had been pierced by rebar. That was why Li Zhiqiang had come to me in a dream, saying he was in great pain.

Perhaps we could try using the blood of a next of kin to attract the compass for locating it. Of course, this method was just a guess; I couldn’t guarantee it would work.

With that thought, I pulled the compass out of my backpack and placed it on the ground, allowing the sunlight to shine directly onto the jade plate in the center of the compass. I would wait for the Village Chief to return and then let his blood drop onto the various positions of the compass.

As I recited the incantation, the needle of the compass began to spin. We followed the direction indicated by the compass until it finally stopped in front of a building.

Building No. 3… Once inside, to search more thoroughly, I led everyone up the stairs, checking each floor, and finally, the compass needle stopped moving on the fourth floor.

We found it!

I excitedly nodded at the Village Chief, who looked at the tightly shut door with tears streaming down his face. It seemed that the moment that door opened, he could finally see his son.

With a sigh, I pressed the doorbell.

After what felt like an eternity, footsteps finally echoed from inside. The security door swung open, revealing a woman in a tank top nightgown, looking at us with a puzzled expression. “Who are you?”

“Hello, we were wondering if we could come in to talk for a moment?”

“Get lost.” The woman rolled her eyes in annoyance and shut the door abruptly.

I rubbed my nose in frustration. It was easy enough to get into the community, but why would someone let strangers into their home? They could easily accuse us of attempted burglary.

At that moment, Jue Chi suddenly pressed the doorbell again. Before I could stop him, the security door opened once more, and the woman yelled impatiently, “Who the heck are you? Be careful, or I’ll call the police!”

Jue Chi brought his hands together in a prayer gesture and softly recited a Buddhist chant. “Madam, have you been plagued by nightmares lately? In your dreams, a man calls out to you in pain, begging for your help.”

The woman froze for a moment, her face draining of color. “You… how do you know that?”

“This man is the father of the one you see in your nightmares. He tragically died in your home, and the resentment has gathered here, unable to disperse. It’s the source of your nightmares.”

I frowned and took a step back, studying the woman closely. Indeed, there was a dark energy clouding her forehead.

The woman hesitated for a moment, clearly intrigued by his words. “Wait a minute,” she finally said.

With that, she shut the door again.