ading the stomach and intestines meridians. If you just treat the intestinal inflammation, even if it’s cured, Yin-Cold Qi still exists in the meridians, so the gastroenteritis will recur!""Like the p...Chapter 177: Corpse Dead, Soul Gone

The few members of the criminal investigation team cautiously approached and touched Cao Er's nose. They found that Cao Er was barely breathing, intermittently.

"Doctor Li, quickly... quickly take a look at Houding!" Cao Jingmin said anxiously as he pointed to Cao Er lying in the corner when he saw Doctor Li and a group of doctors coming upstairs.

Although he had already known about Cao Er's situation earlier, his face turned pale and looked extremely terrible upon seeing Cao Er’s arms and legs. He really didn't want to go over there.

Since becoming the health care doctor for Old Master Cao, he hadn’t witnessed such a bloody scene before; however, as the health care doctor of Old Master Cao, and with it being Old Master Cao's grandson lying on the ground, he had no choice but to go over there.

Doctor Li walked over slowly with his courage hardened, followed by several doctors from Beijing Hospital. As they continued their examination, their expressions became increasingly grim.

This time, they completed the inspection rather quickly within a few minutes. They looked at each other and shook their heads before stepping back.

"Mayor Cao, ah... Doctor Li is powerless... Please grieve less..."

Doctor Li walked up to Cao Jingmin and said with a sigh after shaking his head.

Without minding Cao Jingmin's grim expression, he led the doctors from Beijing Hospital downstairs.

"You... you all quickly check on Houding!" Cao Jingmin said with a fierce look at the group of doctors in front of him.

The moment Cao Jingmin spoke, several doctors immediately walked towards Cao Er. They knew that they mustn't anger Cao Jingmin right now; besides, even the doctors from Beijing Hospital couldn’t do anything, so whatever outcome wouldn’t matter to them.

Several doctors approached Cao Er and checked his pupils and heart after observing him. Instantly, their hearts sank.

It turned out that Cao Er's pupils were already dilated and there was no heartbeat left. That is to say, Cao Er had died!

The doctors finished examining Cao Er, looked at Cao Jingmin as if wanting to say something, but seeing his expression, they didn’t utter a word, merely shook their heads helplessly and stepped back.

"You... you all there... go quickly..."

Cao Jingmin, with a distorted face, looked at the doctors and said sternly through gritted teeth.

In fact, after the doctor from Beijing Hospital had finished his examination, he already knew that there was no hope for his son. However, he could not accept or acknowledge the reality of his son's death.

The subsequent doctors understood what had happened when they saw the previous two groups; but since Mayor Cao requested it, even though they knew that Cao Er was already dead, they still needed to go over and take a look.

Xiao Yu stood in the crowd, watching this farce-like scene unfold. He knew that during the middle of Dr. Li's examination from Beijing Hospital, Cao Er had already passed away.

At this moment, Cao Er's newly formed soul was being eaten bit by bit by those dozen vengeful ghosts. With each bite taken by these vengeful ghosts, Cao Er's ghost emitted a piercing cry of agony.

The Taoist also watched with a grave expression. He never expected the depth of resentment from these vengeful spirits to be so great that they even targeted Cao Er’s soul for consumption; however, he did not intervene. The heavier the ghosts' resentments, it signified stronger suffering endured in their past lives.

As time passed by gradually, the wails of Cao Er's soul grew weaker until almost unheard.

With Cao Er’s soul being devoured by vengeful spirits, the resentment on these spirits started to dissipate. As the resentment faded away, their consciousness slowly returned.

In no time at all, Cao Er’s soul was completely consumed by those vengeful ghosts and their residual resentments were completely gone.

At that moment when their resentment disappeared, it seemed like a ghost gate sensed their existence—a black vortex appeared in the air inside the room.

Suddenly from within this dark vortex, dozens of chains made of dark fog shot out. These chains seemed to have eyes as they instantly bound all the ghosts inside the room firmly.

With each ghost being restrained by these chains, they let out piercing screams; only those dozen vengeful spirits remained calm. Occasionally, they would look around the room, their memories from recent days flooding back, knowing someone had been helping them, and thus hoping to find that person.

When they saw the Taoist in the center of the room staring at them, thinking he was the one who helped them, they respectfully bowed toward him.

The Taoist stood in the middle of the room. Seeing these female ghosts bowing to him, he thought they were thanking him for not intervening earlier and nodded back to them.

Suddenly, all those chains sharply retracted inward, dragging every soul into the black vortex; leaving behind only the wails of the hospital's stray souls floating in mid-air.

Once these spirits had been completely pulled into the vortex, the black vortex abruptly shrunk and vanished without a trace.

The ghosts of these hospitals originally resided in the morgues, which were considered part of the netherworld and thus could not enter the underworld. Upon arriving here, they encountered a room filled with resentment, blocking the detection by the ghost gate. However, once their resentful energy dissipated, before they could return, they were instantly pulled into the underworld by the ghost gate.

At this moment, all the doctors had completed their examinations and shook their heads helplessly at Cao Jingmin.

Cao Jingmin wasn't without experience; from the previous situation, he knew that his son was already dead, but refused to accept the reality.

Seeing the results of all the doctors' examinations were the same, he sank listlessly onto the sofa with no sparkle in his eyes, gazing blankly at Cao Er lying amidst a pool of blood and flesh. He waved his hand towards everyone in the room.

Seeing Cao Jingmin's state, everyone hurried downstairs without hesitation, especially the doctors who thought to themselves, "There is no better time than now to leave."

These people bid farewell to Secretary Gao one by one after descending the stairs. With Cao Er dead, their presence here was useless. Secretary Gao nodded and let them depart. Xiao Yu also left with everyone.

Since immersing himself in Zhong Kui's memories, Xiao Yu found that his heart sometimes turned extremely cold-blooded, which greatly不適應用於翻譯。請參考以下更合適的版本，它保留了原意但使用了更符合英語表達習慣的詞彙和句子結構：

After exploring through Zhong Kui’s memories, Xiao Yu realized that at times, his heart became very cold and calculating. This was quite out of character for him as a kind-hearted person.

However, paradoxically, when he saw Cao Er inflicting self-mutilation on himself, although it made him feel extremely uncomfortable, the thought of Cao Er receiving his due punishment stirred excitement within him.

"Senior Brother, Esteemed Elders, let’s go eat something together!" After bidding farewell to Chief Doctor Huo at the hospital, Xiao Yu accompanied Elder Yao, Elder Tang, and Elder Liu out of the hospital. As they approached the hospital entrance, Xiao Yu suggested.

It was already past 9 PM, and none of them had eaten since the afternoon. Even Xiao Yu felt hungry, let alone three elderly gentlemen in their seventies.

The esteemed doctors’ expressions turned grim as they recalled Cao Er’s condition; they hastily declined, saying, "Forget it, we’ve been through a long day. Let's all go home and rest early!"

Although hungry themselves, the thought of what had just occurred with Cao Er dampened their appetite.

"Alright then, Senior Brother and Esteemed Elders should head back to get some rest! It’s still early; I’ll take a stroll around town," Xiao Yu understood their reluctance upon seeing their expressions and suggested as such.

"Younger Brother, where are you going Let me give you a ride!" Elder Yao said after getting into his car.

"No need, Senior Brother. I’ll just wander around," replied Xiao Yu.

After seeing Elder Yao and the others off, Xiao Yu walked to a nearby night market not far from the hospital. He was ravenously hungry and decided to grab something to eat there.

Walking along this night market street, the bustling crowd gave Xiao Yu a feeling of being at a grand fair in his hometown.

Following the flow of people towards the heart of the night market, suddenly Xiao Yu caught a whiff of an aroma that made his stomach rumble.

Xiao Yu followed the scent through the crowd and soon reached the entrance of a residential compound. There, an elderly couple in their sixties had set up a makeshift stall with several small tables selling dumplings.

When Xiao Yu arrived, there weren't many customers around; only a few people were present. The elderly couple was busy, one rolling out dough and the other stuffing the fillings; it was from this that the aroma wafting in the air originated.

"It smells so good! Is it pork and spring onion filling" Xiao Yu asked the couple as he approached them.

The elderly couple chuckled upon hearing him, "Yeah, is that what you smell

“Yes, I recognize it. It tastes just like the ones at home... Rumble…” Xiao Yu nodded his head and said with a rumble from his stomach.

"Haha, little brother, please take a seat; we’ll get them ready for you right away!" The old man laughed loudly upon hearing Xiao Yu’s rumbling belly.

Xiao Yu sat down a short distance away from the couple. The elderly woman looked at him and asked: “Judging by your accent, are you from the north”

“Yes, I’m from Zhongbei,” replied Xiao Yu.

The elderly woman was surprised to hear that he was also from Zhongbei. "Oh You’re a fellow citizen of Zhongbei!" she exclaimed.

Xiao Yu looked at the couple and asked: “Are you both from there too”

“Yes, but... It’s been over several decades since we last went back! I wonder how our hometown looks now!” The elderly woman sighed with a sense of longing.

Xiao Yu was chatting with the elderly lady when suddenly a cacophony of voices erupted from inside the compound behind her.

Turning around, Xiao Yu looked towards the compound; both the elderly couple turned to look as well.

"Ah, it's that old Ma household again! You have to wonder what kind of karma they’re suffering!" The old man sighed after glancing back at the compound.t's time for dinner so that you can adjust your body clock."After hearing Song Guozhu’s introduction, Xiao Yu nodded at the two service staff and then nodded again at Song Guozhu.Despite having been o...