Otherworldly Merchant

However, what happened afterward gave me the deepest impression.

I was deeply impressed not because of the horrible details or the high-value otherworldly item. It was because of the handling process, which was so tortuous that I once thought to give up.

It was two years after the event involving the Ban Liang coin.

In that year, my reputation had grown quite a bit in the circle of otherworldly merchants and I received many cases. However, most of them were minor cases, and it was all because of wicked people. There were no evil items to take care of.

Then, after one or two cases I got bored. I wasn’t interested in most of the cases, and I sent Li Mazi alone to solve them.

He used the methods I had taught him to deal with the otherworldly items and actually managed to resolve things quite well.

He even jokingly called me his master.

Master, my ass. I knew that Li Mazi’s understanding of this occupation was superficial at most. So, something unexpected would always happen.  

However, what I hadn’t expected was that the situation this time would be so serious!

It was almost the Lunar New Year, and I had planned to close the shop for several days to go back to my hometown. However, I could never imagine that Li Mazi would get into trouble at that critical moment…

As the business was at a lull during the Lunar New Year, Li Mazi decided to stay home to take care of his son and help him with his homework.

However, one day, around 4 AM, I received his call. From his tone, I could tell he was panic-stricken. As he was filled with fear, he had started stammering.

I hurriedly asked Li Mazi, “What’s happened?”

After telling me to stop with the questions, Li Mazi cried out, “It’s not easy to explain over the phone. Come here, and hurry! If you’re late, my life will be over!”

I was startled. I didn’t think much and just put on my coat and left the shop.

There was a lot of snow and my feet sank deep into it. I slowed down, worried that I would slip. However, along the way I still slipped a lot and hurt myself several times. When I reached Li Mazi’s place, my entire body was covered in snow, and my legs were so cold they were numb.

I knocked on the door and waited in the cold for quite a long time before Li Mazi’s son opened the door. Seeing me, he hugged me, crying unceasingly. “Uncle Zhang, you’re here! Please check on my dad. Something has happened to him!”

I comforted him, “Calm down, kid. Take me to see him.”

Seeing Li Mazi’s son, my restless heart became even more flustered. His son was a calm person, and it was rare that he was that scared.

I wondered if Li Mazi was half dead…

However, when I saw him, I was surprised.

Li Mazi looked fine. He didn’t look sick at all. However, he was lying on his bed, his blank eyes looking at the ceiling, and his face slightly pale.

I hurried to ask, “Li Mazi, what happened?”

Li Mazi took a deep breath, then told his son to go to the living room and do his homework. After he closed the door, he started to yell, “Damn it, I didn’t mess with anybody, all right? I just slept with some girl and now there’s a problem.”  

I shushed him, “Keep your voice down. Don’t let your son hear that!” From his choice of words, I knew what happened to him was something inappropriate for children.

Li Mazi then started to explain. It turned out that he had been uncomfortable recently. He had a recurring dream where someone was stepping on his knees and staring coldly at him.

At first, he didn’t really mind as he thought that due to keeping his mind busy the whole day resulted in the nightmares at night. However, these days he had been thinking about his encounter, which happened several days ago.

Several days ago, Li Mazi went to a mountain village to buy an otherworldly item. Since he had the gift of the gab, he had managed to pass himself off as an expert. In short, he tricked a young widow into sleeping with him.

Around midnight, Li Mazi felt someone stepping on his knees. He opened his eyes and found the young widow he was sleeping with had crawled over him and now she was standing still on his knees.

Li Mazi knew the widow was sleep-walking. Gently, he pulled her down and hugged her to his chest, going back to sleep. From that night onward, Li Mazi often had strange dreams. Every night, he felt someone standing on his knees.

When he woke up early in the morning, he felt his knees hurting a lot. However, the pain would disappear shortly afterward. That was why he didn’t pay much attention.

Tonight, as usual, he had the same strange dream. However, when he woke up, he felt the pain on his knees several times worse than usual.

It was so painful that he couldn’t bear it. He turned on the light and took off his trousers to see what happened. As soon as he saw it, he was petrified. He knew he had encountered something evil. That was why he called me for help.

I asked, “What did you see? Why are you frightened like this?”

Li Mazi was still scared, looking around gingerly. He lowered his voice, “You must prepare yourself. Don’t scream when you see it and scare my son.”

I burst out laughing. “Don’t talk nonsense!”

Then, he lifted the blanket covering his body. He wore only a piece of red underwear.

Damn pervert! 

My eyes glided to his knees. At first glance, I felt the hair on my nape rising.

I never expected to see footprints on Li Mazi’s knees!

Heck, the footprints looked black like bruises. It seemed like someone had stood on his knees for quite a long time, which prevented his blood from flowing through his veins and had caused skin necrosis.  

Also, they were human footprints. I could even see the marks of the toes on both of his knees.

I attempted to poke my finger at the black footprints. But Li Mazi stopped me. “You can’t touch it. It’ll hurt really badly if you do!”

I furrowed my brows. “Li Mazi, what happened? Did you sleep that little widow to death? And she has now returned as a ghost to haunt you?”

Li Mazi scoffed, “Little Brother Zhang, I don’t have the mood to joke with you. You should hurry and help think of a solution! I feel like needles pricking my flesh. It feels as if something wants to come out from my knees.”

I nodded. If Li Mazi’s legs were gone, I would lose a decent assistant.

I immediately lifted Li Mazi, bringing him directly to the hospital.

The doctor wanted to test his knee reflexes, but Li Mazi scolded him, saying that his knees hurt so bad even with the slightest touch, let alone use a small hammer to hit them.

Instead, he asked the doctor to take an X-ray to see if there was something in his knees. He felt that something wanted to get out from under his skin.

The X-ray result was shocking. Li Mazi’s knees had signs of natural but serious wear and tear and were in danger of failing.

This time, even the doctor couldn’t stay calm. “There are not many cases of knee failing like this in the world. I’m afraid we can’t do anything.”

Helplessly, we visited several big hospitals. The replies we got were almost the same. Some doctors even suggested to amputate Li Mazi’s legs.

Of course, Li Mazi wouldn’t just let his legs be cut off. Furiously, he scolded the hospitals for being useless. Fortunately, Yin Xinyue had some friends abroad, so I asked her to help us contact some hospitals over there.

After we got an appointment, we prepared to depart the very next day. However, that night, Li Mazi’s situation turned worse!

In order to take care of him, I’d stayed in his house. Around 2 AM, when the clock bell rang, I was awakened by Li Mazi’s screeching.

I jumped in fright. I rushed to his room and asked him, “Are you all right?”

After he woke up, he groaned and had a fever. Eventually, he began to rave unconsciously.

I was frightened. I then lifted his blanket and threw it aside. I wanted to check if Li Mazi’s knees were stepped on again.

However, as soon as I lifted the blanket, I was dizzied as a horrible stench assailed me. I struggled to adapt to the nauseous smell then took a look at Li Mazi’s knees. Checking, I gawked in shock.

His knees had started to rot with many translucent blisters, and I could even see small maggots wiggling inside those blisters!

Li Mazi’s son heard his father screaming. Hastily, he knocked on the door. “Uncle Zhang, how’s my father?”

I assured him, “He’s all right. He just had a nightmare.”

I found a needle and disinfected it with a lighter. Then, I started to prick the blisters on Li Mazi’s knees.

Instantly, black blood flowed out together with the gray maggots. Although they were flushed out with the blood, the maggots tried to head back into Li Mazi’s flesh. I used the needle to pin them out. 

Not good! We can’t just wait here!

I guessed that someone had plotted against Li Mazi while he was sleeping with that young widow.

The methods of such people were always uncanny. I knew we couldn’t count on normal hospitals. Without further ado, I put Li Mazi on my back and threw him into the car, heading toward Baisha Village.