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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 441: Human Skin Puppet (Part Four)
The madman snatched the lottery ticket, and I didn’t chase after him. Why would he run away if he wasn’t feeling guilty? Besides, there were several intersections between us; why was he so panicked? There was too much controversy around, and I didn’t want to listen any longer. As I turned to leave, a shout from behind startled me.
It was the madman, but now he was just a spirit, a wisp of his soul standing before me.
“Thank you, I can finally become a normal person.”
The madman’s spirit stood in front of me, invisible to others. I couldn’t speak; I just stood there, pointed at myself, and then looked at him with questioning eyes: “Thank me? What do you mean?”
The madman replied, “Someone wanted to buy your life. The lottery tickets in my hand could have won big today. If I hadn’t stolen your ticket, your life would no longer be yours.”
Someone wanted to buy my life? I thought of that fortune teller. Who was he? Mysterious and gone in the blink of an eye. Who exactly wanted to buy my life? Just as I was about to ask the madman, two shadows appeared before me like a gust of wind. I could vaguely see their grotesque faces; it was the Ghostly Enforcers come to take the madman’s spirit to the Underworld.
The madman waved goodbye with a grin: “I have to go now. Because I saved your life, I get a chance to reincarnate and be born as a normal person.”
Watching the madman being taken away by the Ghostly Enforcers, I instinctively waved goodbye to his retreating figure.
“Ma Qi, who are you waving at?” A voice from behind startled me into turning around quickly; it was Qin Jian. He seemed to have rushed over after hearing something had happened here.
“No one, just scratching an itch that I decided not to scratch anymore.”
“That’s strange. I hurried over after hearing that something happened with the grocery store owner; she told me something.”
No need for clarification; Qin Jian's grocery store owner was the same one I had encountered. There were very few grocery stores around here; most places were barbershops or foot massage parlors, with one red flag supermarket and other shops selling clothes and cheap goods.
Ordinary people preferred grocery stores because they stocked everything you could think of—if you couldn’t find it anywhere else, you could find it there. Hearing Qin Jian say this, I casually asked him, “What happened?” as we walked side by side toward where we parked.
“The owner is quite interesting. A madman tried to trade cigarettes for lottery tickets; she refused him. Then an old lunatic snatched the tickets away, leading to an unexpected car accident.”
Wow!
That grocery store owner really is something else!
I cursed inwardly as Qin Jian pulled out a pack of cigarettes and handed them to me: “Don’t buy lottery tickets anymore; they’re pointless.”
I glanced at the cigarette, choosing not to walk with Qin Jian but instead headed towards the grocery store, ignoring his question as I made my way.
The grocery store owner was still snacking when she saw me come in. With a smile, she asked what I wanted to buy.
I handed her the cigarette that Qin Jian had given me. "This cigarette has the wrong barcode. Do you want to come with me to the business bureau?"
Upon hearing this, the owner was startled and momentarily forgot about the snack in her mouth. Instinctively, she tossed the shell into the trash can and squinted her eyes in thought. Then she noticed Qin Jian following behind me and suddenly realized, "It's you."
"Yes, it's me."
The owner let out a cold laugh, lowering her voice and putting on a fierce expression. "Listen here, I’ve been running this place for a while now. Don’t think you can push me around..."
"Auntie, you better take back what you just said word for word. Did you not see who is behind me? Do you want me to show you my work ID?"
"What are you looking at? All my supplies come from legitimate sources. Don’t think I’m easily intimidated!"
"Is that so?" I straightened up and called out to Qin Jian, "Qin Jian, Auntie wants to see your work ID."
Qin Jian seemed puzzled by my words but still reached for his ID. Usually, he kept it in his wallet, and since he had bought cigarettes earlier, I figured the owner must have seen it already. When I asked him to show his ID, her expression shifted to one of discomfort.
"Hey man, don’t make things difficult for her. What do you want?"
"My sister passed away long ago. Auntie, if you want to be my sister, that’s not happening. Your goods come from legitimate channels, so don’t be scared. I’ll just call the relevant authorities to check on your stock."
Qin Jian was confused; he had urgent matters earlier and now seemed to have time to investigate something here. He didn’t continue searching for his ID but smoothly said, "It’s probably easier if I make the call." He really took out his phone.
Seeing this, the owner panicked; beads of cold sweat appeared on her nose. From my observation, there was nothing wrong with the pack of cigarettes in my hand; the issue lay with her stock. The owner then went all out to please me, even taking the pack of cigarettes to smoke herself while refunding us every penny.
Counterfeit goods were rampant throughout the market—not just at her store but everywhere consumers gathered in the city. I couldn’t understand her previous attitude; damn it, just moments ago she had been mocking me and treating this as a joke.
Now she looked foolish!
She showered Qin Jian with compliments and threw a bunch of flattery my way as well. In the end, we warned her to sort out her counterfeit goods quickly and voluntarily go to the relevant authorities to accept fines; otherwise, she should prepare to close up shop.
After dealing with the arrogant owner, Qin Jian and I hurried straight towards Riverside.
It seemed that things had escalated. As we were heading to Riverside, Qin Jian's phone suddenly rang. He handed the phone to me, and when I answered, I heard my boss's urgent voice on the other end: "Qin Jian, you and your partner need to get to Riverside Family as soon as possible. There's been an incident."
The Jiang'an Family Bridgehead Hotpot Restaurant had been around for over a decade, and I had visited it before with Qin Jian and Chi Xinrong. The food was decent and the place was clean. However, many of the fish served at hotpot restaurants were sourced from other regions, yet they advertised them as local delicacies. Only those who knew better wouldn't be fooled; tourists or those unfamiliar with the area often ended up paying high prices for subpar food. In this regard, Jiang'an Family Bridgehead had truly crossed a line.
I couldn't help but wonder if this incident was caused by expired lobsters or if some rotten fish had poisoned people. The details were unclear over the phone, so I started to speculate wildly in my mind while agreeing to my boss's instructions. I casually asked what exactly had happened.
Upon hearing my voice, my boss paused for a moment before responding, "Alright, you all hurry over there and take a look. This is serious; several people have died."
Dead? My eyelids twitched, and my heart sank as I thought about Gousi and the others mentioning Riverside. Could they have been there too? Unable to make sense of it all, I handed the phone back to Qin Jian and said, "Something big has happened."
"How big?"
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