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Thinking about this, Qin Ye immediately took the initiative to ask, "Driver, when did the Land God Temple's forehead crack?"
"Let me think… I don't know exactly how long, about three or four days ago, I guess. I found out about it three or four days ago. It was said that someone went to pray that day and discovered the forehead had cracked."
The driver recalled. "It cracked on the spot, scaring the worshiper. That person even thought that maybe their prayer request was too excessive, angering the Land God so much that the statue cracked."
"After that, when the temple caretaker found out, he got someone to repair it. But…"
At this point, the driver's expression became even more peculiar.
Before meeting Qin Ye, he didn't think there was anything particularly strange about the Land God Temple. But now, Qin Ye had casually guessed the forehead crack.
This was too uncanny. He hesitated for a moment and then said, "But no matter how they tried to repair the Land God's statue, they just couldn't fix it. Every time they filled in the crack, it wouldn't hold. Young man, with your knowledge of old traditions, do you know what this means?"
If it can't be fixed, then that means something has happened to this god. Qin Ye thought to himself but outwardly just smiled and replied, "Oh, there's no special meaning. It's just a bit inauspicious. Ha, driver, I believe in these things, but I'm not blindly superstitious. Between metaphysics and science, I believe in science too."
"This is clearly because the Land God's statue is too old, and the repair material just isn't sticking."
"Hahaha! That explanation is pretty scientific! So that's the reason." The driver laughed heartily.
"I thought it might be something mystical. I was even thinking about telling my neighbors about it. But since that's all there is to it… young man, do you still want to go to the Land God Temple?"
"Of course! I want to see it for myself. This is my first time encountering something like this."
After that, the two continued chatting along the way, talking about various temples in the capital.
Ten minutes later, Qin Ye arrived at the Land God Temple.
On a normal day, even at this time, there would be some worshippers coming and going. But today, the temple was unusually empty.
He was the only visitor. Qin Ye walked in alone.
The temple was not large. In less than half a minute, he reached the end of the hall, where two deity statues were displayed—the Land God and his wife.
As the driver had said, the forehead of the Land God statue had cracked, with the fissure extending all the way up to the head.
Qin Ye looked around. His gaze fell on the outside of the temple hall, where he saw the temple caretaker watching him. The caretaker seemed a little surprised to see him here and approached to speak with him, explaining that the Land God Temple was temporarily under repair.
"It's fine, I'm just looking around." With a few words, Qin Ye brushed off the caretaker.
He stretched out one foot, drew a circle on the ground, and formed a hand seal, then lightly stomped his foot.
In an instant, the Land God Temple lit up with light—light invisible to the naked eye.
Qin Ye had set up an illusion barrier. From the outside, people would see him just casually looking around the temple. But what they saw and heard would all be a trick of the illusion.
After finishing this, Qin Ye leaped onto the statue platform and examined the Land God statue.
"This is not the main body statue of this generation's Land God." He murmured and then took action.
With a flick of his hand, he summoned some leftover repair materials and attempted to mend the Land God statue, but the crack could not be filled.
"A secondary statue can't be repaired?" Qin Ye narrowed his eyes.
The main body statue of the Land God was directly tied to the Land God's life, but that didn't mean the secondary statue was irrelevant.
If even a secondary statue couldn't be repaired, then there was only one possibility.
The Land God was either gravely injured or already dead.
As for which it was, he would need to find the main body statue of the Land God to be sure.
However, the main body statue, being vital to the Land God's existence, would usually be moved between different Land God Temples for safekeeping.
It wouldn't be easy to find. He would have to visit every Land God Temple in the capital one by one.
Qin Ye turned toward the Land God's wife's statue. "Land God's wife, Land God's wife."
He called out. Since the Land God could not be found, he would seek the Land God's wife instead. If she could take him to the Celestial Prison, that would work just as well. Or, he could ask her about the Black City God.
"Land God's wife, come out."
"Land God's wife, I am Qin Ye, the King of the Night from the Northern Song. I have come specifically to ask you about the Black City God's escape from the Celestial Prison."
But after calling out several times, there was no response at all. It was like shouting into the void.
Qin Ye sighed. "Looks like I can only find the main body statue of the Land God and his wife to get to the bottom of this."
To ensure the Celestial Prison remained undiscovered, its location was not fixed and was managed by the Land God and his wife of the capital.
If he wanted to go there, or learn how the Black City God had escaped, he had to find them first.
Luckily, he had anticipated this.
Clack.
Qin Ye jumped down from the statue platform. He removed the illusion barrier, took a small broken piece of the Land God statue, and walked out of the temple.
Taking out his phone, he looked up all the Land God Temple locations on the map.
"So many… this will take a while."
There were far too many Land God Temples—anywhere from 40 to over a thousand. Even after excluding the very ancient ones, it would take time to check them all.
Gurgle.
His stomach rumbled. Qin Ye rubbed his belly.
"Let's eat first, then search."
He glanced at the broken statue piece in his palm, asked the temple caretaker for a nearby night market, and left. But not even half a minute after he left—
"Old man." A voice called out behind the temple caretaker. He looked up to see another young man entering the temple.
Unlike the previous handsome visitor, this newcomer had dyed yellow hair and was dressed fashionably.
"Can I ask what that man earlier was asking about?" The yellow-haired young man took out a police badge.
The temple caretaker was stunned. He was surprised that this person was a police officer—was he an undercover cop?
Despite his confusion, after verifying that the ID seemed genuine, the caretaker answered the young man's questions one by one.
"Oh? So he knew about the Land God Temple's forehead crack but still came to look around?"
"Yes."
"Alright, thank you, old man. He went to the night market, right?"
"Yes, in that direction."
"Got it. Thanks." The yellow-haired man left the temple, heading in the same direction as Qin Ye.
On the way, his eyes gleamed. "Aside from Bureau 749, there's actually someone else investigating the Land God… Could he be involved in the Underworld incident?"
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