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墨書 Inktalez
Sister Li looked at the unburned red candles and incense on the dining table in the living room. The disgust that had once been on her face was gone, replaced by a forced smile as she said, "Have you really taken care of everything?"
I nodded, choosing not to say more. This matter was finally settled, and the aftermath of Feeding the Hungry Ghosts was also concluded. After tidying up a bit, I prepared to leave. How Sister Li would handle things from here on out was no longer my concern. She was older than me and had worked her way up from the bottom; her life experience far exceeded mine. I trusted she would manage.
Seeing me about to leave, Sister Li hurriedly said, "Xiao Liu, I can't let you help for free. How much do you want? I'll give you a reward."
Before I could respond, Dr. Deng chimed in with a sarcastic tone, "How can you prove that you've really taken care of it?"
Instead of answering Sister Li first, I turned to Dr. Deng and replied, "If I hadn't handled it well, would I have stayed here instead of running off like you and Master Wang?" After saying that, I addressed Sister Li again, "As I mentioned before, I don't need a reward. Helping your family was just a matter of fate for me; it was merely a step in my work with Feeding the Hungry Ghosts. As for what happens next, you should be able to see clearly who is right and who is wrong. Take care of yourself; I'm leaving now."
"Hey, Xiao Liu! You could at least leave me your account number!" Sister Li's voice called after me. Ignoring her, I continued toward the stairs. Liu Bi knew I was serious about leaving this time and chuckled, "Bro, are you stupid? She's offering you money, and you're turning it down? You know this reward has nothing to do with whether you did Feeding the Hungry Ghosts or not."
"Sigh, yeah. Even if I took her money, it wouldn't be unreasonable. But I feel like if I accept it, she might think I'm just after her money afterward. Plus, I believe Dr. Deng will use this against Sister Li later."
"Why care so much? You're strangers anyway. What happens later has nothing to do with you," Liu Bi still didn't understand.
"Why are you getting so tangled up in this?" Once inside the elevator, I stopped talking to Liu Bi. In places where there might be cameras, I acted cautiously.
To my surprise, as I drove out of Sister Li's neighborhood and turned onto an adjacent service road, a few people stopped me. Upon closer inspection of these individuals, one familiar face stood out: Master Wang, who had just fled from Sister Li's house. He had already removed his robe; if it weren't for the cigarette dangling from his mouth, I might not have recognized him.
At that moment, Master Wang had a cigarette in his mouth and wore an expression filled with disdain, barely bothering to glance my way.
After parking the car steadily and taking a quick look around, I counted four people in total. Liu Bi sat in the passenger seat and laughed heartily as he said, "Brother Liu, looks like you're in trouble now."
I forced a smile and replied to Liu Bi, "Check around for any patrolling officers nearby. If there are any, just call them over." Shifting into neutral and pulling the handbrake, I opened the car door and stepped out. Master Wang approached me with a condescending look that scanned my entire body before he said disdainfully, "You think you're pretty tough, huh?"
"Heh, not really," I said while pulling out my phone.
Master Wang paid no attention to my actions and simply said, "Are you going to call someone?"
I nodded and replied, "Yeah, I can't take on you guys, the Four Great Kings, so I need to call for help." As I spoke, I noticed Liu Bi quickly running towards one of the main roads.
Actually, having Liu Bi come help deal with these thugs was not a problem at all; it was just that he was bound by the rules of the Underworld and couldn't randomly attack Yangjian people without cause.
"You damn stubborn fool," Master Wang said, clearly enjoying his role as a thug. He fully embodied the traditional virtue of thugs who disregard reason and immediately prepared to throw a punch at me.
I had dealt with thugs before, and their methods were somewhat systematic. When there were personal grievances involved, they would come up and "talk it out." Of course, this "talking" was merely a prelude to a beating; at this moment, no matter what I said, if they were determined to fight, it would be useless.
As he came at me ready to hit, I naturally had to dodge. I couldn't fight back; if I did, the other three would join in and gang up on me. Although I was strong and fit, I wasn't arrogant enough to think I could take on four at once. So all I could do was evade and buy some time.
Master Wang was shorter than me and moved slowly, clearly someone who rarely exercised. His strikes lacked any technique, so I began playing a game of cat and mouse around the car with him. I deliberately kept a distance that was neither too far nor too close, occasionally letting him brush against my clothing. It seemed Master Wang enjoyed this chase so much that he even told the other three not to come over to help.
After two or three minutes, Master Wang started to tire out. He stopped, panting heavily as he said, "If you keep running, we're going to gang up on you."
At that moment, I heard Liu Bi's voice in my ear: "Bro, the police are already coming this way; you can make your move now."
Hearing Liu Bi's voice and glancing at the motorcycle approaching from down the road gave me a jolt of energy. I swiftly slapped Master Wang on the head while he was still catching his breath. Before he could react, I kicked him hard, sending him crashing to the ground. I held nothing back here because we were blocked by the car; even if the police were nearby, they wouldn't see me hitting him.
Seeing this situation unfold, the other three had no hesitation left and rushed towards me.
"Bro, don't panic. Leave those three to me," Liu Bi's voice rang out again. I quickly replied, "No need; just stay out of it." After saying that, I turned around and dashed around the car towards the approaching police vehicle. As I ran, I shouted loudly, "Officer! I've been attacked! I'm being surrounded!"
When the Four Great Kings saw the police coming, they quickly fled in the opposite direction. Looking back at Master Wang, who was limping away while covering his face, I couldn't help but give him a thumbs up in my heart. Master Wang truly was dedicated; he was risking his life just to be a thug.
When the police arrived, they first saw me. I pointed at the group of thugs who had just fled and said, "Look, those guys tried to stop my car and wanted to rob me. When I resisted, they were going to hit me, but luckily the police arrived in time. Thank you!"
The officer sitting behind the motorcycle looked at me with a puzzled expression, then smiled slightly and said, "No need to thank us. Do you want to file a report? If so, you can come back with us to take care of the paperwork."
I quickly replied, "No need, that's too much trouble. Our People's Police are so formidable. Those thugs probably won't dare to do this again. I have some urgent matters to attend to, so I won't keep you two from your patrol. Goodbye!"
After saying that, I leisurely walked back to my car, only to hear one of the officers say to the other, "This is really strange; there are actually people committing crimes here."
"Did you really hear someone say there was a fight?"
"Yeah, it was just beside my ear, very clear. But there was no one else around except for you, and it wasn't your voice either. It's really odd."
"Should we ask that handsome guy what’s going on?"
"Forget it; we’re police officers. We shouldn’t start getting paranoid..."
Hearing this, I quickly got into my car and drove away. Not long after, Liu Bi slowly appeared in the passenger seat and said, "Bro, that slap you gave was pretty fierce; that guy's lip was bleeding."
I laughed and replied, "Serves him right."
As we left the Guangzhou Urban Area and crossed the New Guangda Bridge into Panyu, Liu Bi suddenly exclaimed, "Stop, Brother Liu! Pull over!" I quickly slowed down and parked by the side of the road. Liu Bi wouldn’t say stop without a reason.
I joked, "What’s wrong? Are you feeling carsick?"
Liu Bi looked at the mountain on the right and said, "No, I saw a Wandering Soul."
I shot it a glance and said, "What's the big deal about seeing a Wandering Soul?"
Liu Bi replied, "Oh, this is different. It looks familiar; it should be that Sister Li's husband. I saw a Memorial Photo at her house, so it must be him."
"So what if it is? He just died a few days ago. The Wandering Soul is on its way to the underworld to report in; what's so special about that?" With that, I released the handbrake and prepared to continue driving home.
"Well, wait for me a moment. I'll bring it over, and you'll understand," Liu Bi said before vanishing from the passenger seat, heading who knows where.
I let out a bitter laugh and rolled down the window, taking a few deep breaths. I had a vague feeling that this matter wasn't over yet. I thought I could go home and get a good night's sleep, but who knew I'd run into the deceased Mr. Huang here?
Just seconds later, I felt a chill behind me. When I turned around, I saw Liu Bi and Mr. Huang's spirit sitting in the back seat. Liu Bi seemed fine, but Mr. Huang's spirit was quite scattered, slumped in the back seat with his head tilted and completely motionless.
I asked Liu Bi what was going on, but Liu Bi didn't answer; instead, he placed his hand on Mr. Huang's head and slowly turned it towards me.
When Mr. Huang's face was finally facing me, I was indeed shocked.
How to describe it? Mr. Huang's face was pockmarked with unhealed wounds; although there was no visible blood, it looked extremely unpleasant. His features were somewhat distorted, and his complexion had turned pale with a hint of blue. There was a coin-sized hole in the center of his Yintang, completely black inside, making it impossible to see how deep it was.
I frowned and said, "Let's go back first; this soul is about to scatter."
"Yeah, let's keep him in my umbrella for a few days," Liu Bi replied.
I turned my head and quickly started the car toward home. Deep down, I was quite reluctant about this whole situation, mainly because I didn't want to see Sister Li and the others again. But now that Mr. Huang's spirit had appeared like this, I had no choice but to follow through with it. Plus, seeing Mr. Huang in such a state was rather pitiful; I couldn't bring myself to just ignore him.
Upon returning home, Liu Bi took Mr. Huang's spirit into the study. When I followed in after him, I found only Liu Bi there. He pointed at the Oiled Paper Umbrella and said, "I've put him inside; he's too badly hurt and will need some time to recuperate."
I asked, "What happens to you Spirit Gods when you're injured?"
Liu Bi replied, "It doesn't hurt, but you feel completely weak all over, and everything in the world becomes blurry in your eyes. You lose all sense of direction. Without someone or Yin Chai to guide you, you wouldn't be able to find your way at all. At this level of injury, it's quite serious. Very fragile; even a strong wind could blow it away."
I said, "Hmm, what usually causes this? Is there any way to treat it?"
Liu Bi looked at me and said, "There are many causes, but the conditions are very harsh. As for treatment, I'm not sure. It seems that some people from Yangjian can do it, but they are extremely rare. Other injuries will need to be treated by the Ghost Doctor below."
I replied, "I won't be able to find anyone from Yangjian who can treat spirits. Tomorrow I'll call my master to see if it's possible. If not, I'll let it recover for a while and then send it on its way."
"I have a feeling that Mr. Huang's injury was caused by someone from Taoism," Liu Bi said thoughtfully.
I nodded and said, "Stop guessing; if you can't figure it out, just let it go. So, are you not going out to handle things tonight?"
Liu Bi slapped his forehead and said, "Oh right, I almost forgot." In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into thin air.
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