World Occult Usage Guide

Chapter 35 Chinatown

Lin An was not staying at the facility simply for a vacation; he was waiting for the foundation's investigation results regarding the "Chinatown fortune teller."

Several days have passed, and the department directly involved has remained silent.

After making several inquiries, Lin An heard that the investigators had found Jin Zhien at the university. After a long conversation, the other party acted as if nothing was wrong. Those accurate and seductive divination techniques were just luck, eloquence, and a little bit of reading between the lines.

Since the foundation has said so, Lin An will definitely... investigate it personally.

Seeing is believing.

He doesn't have the habit of blindly following public institutions.

It was still early, and Chinatown, also immersed in the winter festival atmosphere, was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. The melody of "Jasmine Flower" was playing in the streets, and the smells of sweat, cigarettes, spices, and food mingled together and wafted through the air.

When it comes to Chinatown, many people think they can see the pure charm of China, but the reality is quite the opposite.

The view is filled with stitched-together buildings, some new and some old. Small shops with broken signs stand next to shiny new convenience stores, futuristic high-rise apartment buildings rise from the ground, and narrow, retro streets are lined with wholesalers of spices and rare fruits.

The restaurant entrance is decorated with fire-breathing dragons and menacing characters. The combination of words such as "Golden Dragon," "Dongfanghong," and "Shangri-La" has long deviated from traditional culture and appears vulgar, yet it is full of enthusiasm.

The streets were crowded with people coming and going, almost all of whom had faces from Central Asia.

Some are immigrants, some are local residents. People from all over the world stay in the United Kingdom for all sorts of reasons. Some have fully integrated, some are unwilling to leave, and some are eager to return home.

Nobody is idle; buying and selling is a daily routine.

From clothing, home furnishings, and gifts to other souvenirs, all kinds of small shops lined the streets, with the Cantonese restaurants, including the one owned by my senior's family, being the most prosperous.

Identity is built on culture. People may think they have escaped their hometown, but their innate beliefs run deep in their blood. The bonds that unite the residents of this street into different communities are like a microcosm of an eagle city.

Lin An sat in an acupuncture shop across from the "Third Intersection of Chinatown," sipping green tea and observing the suspicious gap between the two restaurants through the glass.

The bustling crowd flowed endlessly, and he kept adding tea, which went from thick to thin, until it finally lost all its flavor and became just a pot of lukewarm water.

"laugh."

As the mugwort stick burned out, the shopkeeper added more mugwort while turning his half-bald head to ask Lin An a question.

"Young man, besides drinking two liters of my water, you just stared blankly. You didn't do anything all afternoon. What exactly were you doing sitting in my shop?"

He was wearing sunglasses, with a chart of acupoints and a herbal medicine book hanging behind him. On the table were a golden toad and a bucket of divination sticks. He didn't look like a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner; he looked more like someone who ran a foot massage parlor.

"Waiting for my girlfriend," Lin An casually lied.

"Young man, she's either not coming or something came up." The shopkeeper clicked his tongue. "Here, can I borrow your phone to give her a call?"

Just as Lin An was about to respond, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a flashy figure out of the corner of his eye.

The young man had short hair and narrow eyes, and wore a short jacket, jeans, and sneakers, but carried a heavy package on his back.

Lin An recognized the face; it was Kim Ji-eun.

"Hey, do you still want your phone?" the shopkeeper asked, sounding a little impatient.

"Hold on."

"What a load of crap! My good intentions are wasted on you." The boss grumbled as he sat back down at the counter and picked up the newspaper.

Lin An stared intently at Jin Zhien, who was on the phone the whole time. About three or four minutes later, two people arrived.

The older woman was in her forties, with slightly graying temples and a sallow complexion; the younger woman, around twelve or thirteen years old, was wearing headphones and shaking her head, looking irritable. They appeared to be a mother and daughter.

Upon seeing Kim Ji-eun, the older woman's urge to confide in her burst forth, launching into a torrent of accusations, her emotions running high and her spittle flying.

The girl jabbed at the earphones, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

Lin An thought for a moment, then activated the Magic Bullet Shooter's [100% Accuracy] skill and locked onto Kim Ji-eun.

The moment the focus shifts, explosive news strikes straight to the heart.

"Master, I'm at my wit's end. This child was following the divination instructions step by step—bathing, praying, and meditating—and his grades were improving! But lately, he's gone crazy, running around outside every day. It's driving me crazy!"

The girl pulled down one earphone and retorted angrily, "You're pressuring me every day! All I do is do practice tests! And then you have to perform a 'luck-changing ritual' tonight! Are you trying to kill me?!"

"The aunt next door's daughter studies during the day and practices piano at night. She won first place in the Dietrich math competition and scored 800 on the SAT math test. Look at her, and then look at yourself. All the other kids are studying hard, so why are you making such a fuss?"

"Then you should go be her mother!"

"How dare you talk like that, child? I can't help it, I have to manage everything." The older woman stood with her hands on her hips, looking aggressive. "Master, look at this child!"

"He's a real master, and I'm Qin Shi Huang. You're just trying to put on a show with him, one forcing me to study, the other forcing me to 'do things,' leaving me no energy to do what I want to do." The girl pouted and put her earphones back in.

Seeing this, the older woman could only helplessly say to Kim Ji-eun.

"Master, what should we do now?"

Jin Zhien stroked his chin mysteriously and said, "The divination I gave you is very clear: your daughter is destined to be a wandering singer. Even if you let her perform the ritual according to the auspicious day, the predetermined result is hard to change."

“Destined? A street musician?! This won’t do!” the older woman hissed. “Mom, I think it’s pretty cool,” the girl interjected.

"What do you know! What kind of girl would want to be a singer? This kind of precarious career has no future at all! Sigh, if only I had sent you to learn advanced math when you were little, you wouldn't be playing video games all day and ruining your eyes."

"So annoying! I only play for two hours a week! Even if I'm nearsighted, it's probably from doing practice tests!"
"You're so insensible! Your parents are only doing this for your own good. We're strict with you now, but you'll understand later when no one will care about you anymore! Your parents have learned from past mistakes. Listen to the older generation, or you'll regret it!"

The girl gave a cold laugh and simply shut her mouth.

"In your situation, unless..."

Noticing the older woman's pleading gaze, Kim Ji-eun hesitated to speak.

"What? Master, is there any way to remedy this?" the older woman asked hurriedly. Seeing Jin Zhien hesitate, she added in a shrill voice, "Money is no object! I'm willing to pay any amount for this child!"

“This isn’t about money. Let me think about it carefully… Let’s go inside the dojo to talk.”

"Alright, Master!" The older woman grabbed the girl's arm. "Hurry up and come on! You're so lazy at home, and you're always dragging your feet outside! What will you be like when you grow up!"

As you enter the dark alley, it is narrow but not messy or dirty, clearly indicating that it is cleaned regularly.

"Crench."

Jin Zhien pushed open a door, passed through the shoe-changing room, and Lin An's view suddenly opened up.

Behind the alley was a Kashin-Do dojo, covering an area of ​​about ten square meters. It had floor-length mirrors and national flags hanging on all four sides, and two kinds of soft mats, one red and one blue, on the ground, resembling the shape of a yin-yang symbol, except that there were no eyes.

Kim Ji-eun turned on the lights, revealing the entire space.

Lin An vaguely saw the opening time and realized that the temple happened to be closed on weekend afternoons, so it was deserted at that time.

"Without further ado, please have a seat."

Kim Ji-eun walked towards the table on the north side of the temple, and the mother and daughter followed. They saw him open the box on his back and take out many divination tools.

A four-pillar chart, writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone; annotated diagrams of the twelve zodiac animals; a disc representing the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth); and a jar of yellow divination sticks that closely resembled those found in acupuncture shops.

Setting out her tools, Jin Zhien picked up a calligraphy brush and wrote the girl's birth date and time on a piece of white paper.

Has her fate not changed?

Kim Ji-eun shook her head and changed the subject.

"Did you make her read the book I gave you carefully?"

"I make her read it, I make her read it! I force her to read it once in the morning, once at noon, and once before bed every day, no matter how sleepy she is!" the older woman said proudly. "Master, isn't that enough? I can make her read it a few more times!"

“No need, just read it.” Jin Zhien smiled slightly. “Auntie, the date of birth determines a person’s destiny, but I do have a way to change her zodiac sign.”

Upon hearing this, the older woman was so excited she almost swallowed the man whole, and even Kim Ji-eun couldn't take it anymore and moved back a little.

"This method is both difficult and simple," he said, taking a strange clay figurine from the bottom of the box. "Just carve your daughter's name and birth date onto the figurine, and have her worship it every night, silently reciting, 'Your eyes have seen my unformed form...'"

Lin An's pupils constricted.

Because the pentagram pattern flashed and disappeared the moment Kim Ji-eun picked up the clay figurine.

Canaanite magic?

Kim Ji-eun is from a prestigious family?!
With the countdown about to end, Lin An decisively aimed at Jin Zhien's forehead.

"System, use [100% Accuracy]!"

"The current target cannot be selected."

……what?
Lin An was taken aback. In the instant his shooting line of sight disappeared, he noticed that Kim Ji-eun was vaguely surrounded by armor-like shields, protecting him thoroughly.

Divination, aura, fortune telling... mediums for prophets!
Moreover, its mystery rating surpasses even that of ghost stories!

Lost in thought, Lin An got up and walked to the front desk.

"Bill, please."

"Wow, your girlfriend's here?" The shopkeeper took the hundred-yuan bill and fumbled for change.

“No need to look anymore, Uncle.” Lin An picked up the divination stick container on the table. “Lend me this.”

"Sure, sure. This thing isn't worth much, just a few cents wholesale for decoration. If my business wasn't so bad and I hadn't been restocking in a while, I'd give it to you for free—"

Lin An suddenly reached out and took off his sunglasses, putting them on himself, leaving the incessantly chattering boss frozen in place.

"Uncle, consider the rest of the money as payment for these sunglasses."

As the young man pushed open the door and came out, the boss recovered from his shock, cursed "crazy!", and then picked up the newspaper again.

Only one update today, please be gentle TT
I'll polish the plot and writing a bit, and resume daily updates of 6,000 words tomorrow.


(End of this chapter)