Otherworldly Merchant

Yin Xinyue was thrilled and shed tears. Excitedly, she said, “All right, we’ll get married when you’re back.”

After seeing Yin Xinyue leave, I felt full of guilt toward her.

For the entire year, the time we had spent together was less than the time we spent apart. This was due to me working away from home. And, every time Yin Xinyue had accompanied me on my trips, she had to endure danger.

Once we get married, I don’t think I can even give her the security she needs. Would my rushed proposal harm her? 

After thinking about this, I felt even more guilty.

I now had an odd thought. After this case was over, I would wash my hands and retire. In the future, I just needed to collect and trade antiques. It would be enough to make ends meet for my family.

However, I didn’t know if Yin Xinyue would reprimand me. She was a beautiful and smart white-collar woman. Meanwhile, I was just a joke. I was a lowly member of some freaking dissenting group… Sigh, thinking about it gave me a headache. I simply stopped thinking about the matter.

I kept in contact with Yin Xinyue through my phone until I knew she was safe and sound at home. My worries were finally lifted.

I was worried that the bronze mirror could somehow affect Yin Xinyue.

These days, when I had free time, I would circle around Ms. Song’s apartment building. Every time I went there, I saw that her door was locked. I thought that perhaps she had come to stay in the villa. That’s why I wasn’t so concerned.

Also, during this time, Ms. Song didn’t call or ask me to deal with the mirror. These were enough indications to conclude that the woman in Ms. Song’s apartment wasn’t her real self.

I had a big doubt in my mind, though. Where had the real Ms. Song gone?

On the third day, the Sirius Whip that Yin Xinyue sent me had arrived.

I kept the whip with me and prepared some items. Then, I called Ms. Song and told her that I wanted to solve the case of the bronze mirror. I told her to wait for me in her apartment.

Ms. Song agreed and told me that she would go to the apartment.

I could hear her panting as if she had just done that. I couldn’t help but laugh. Ms. Song was indeed interesting.

When I arrived at the building, Ms. Song’s house was open. She was wearing a nightgown. She sat on the sofa and showed a seductive smile.

The hem of her nightgown was too short. While she sat on the sofa, the lace fringe of her underwear was exposed. I could clearly see her long, fair legs. When she saw me come in, she purposely shifted her legs.

I couldn’t help but cough and tried to control my mood. I didn’t look at her and said, “Ms. Song, please behave yourself. Where’s the mirror? After I deal with it, I need to leave. I have some other business to do.”

Ms. Song smiled but said nothing. She came over and locked the door. Then, she slithered on my body like a snake.

She smells good!

Her fragrance seeped into my nostrils, making me unable to control myself.

I took a deep breath. Then I gathered all of my courage and pushed her back on the sofa. “Ms. Song, please behave yourself.”

Ms. Song still had a charming and lustful smile on her face, and she even shook the strap off of her gown.

I cursed and turned around in an attempt to break the door. Who knew if she was a human or a ghost? No way I would get intimate with her!

However, the door was locked. I couldn’t push it open.

I turned around and looked at her with rage. “What do you mean by this? I’m calling the police if you keep doing this!”

“Oh, call the police.” She smiled and said, “I really want to see if the police will arrest me or you.”

“Go to hell,” I scoffed. “Who are you, after all? You’re not Ms. Song. Spit it out. What do you want?”

I coldly glared at her and took out my Sirius Whip. We had already gotten into an argument. There was no use in hiding it.

When Ms. Song saw the Sirius Whip, she wasn’t scared at all. I didn’t expect that reaction from her at all. It was quite awkward because she kind of welcomed me and pulled the Sirius Whip. “Oh, it turns out you like SM. Very good, come here. I’m ready.”

Then, she pushed me to the ground with one hand. She started to crazily kiss me.

Something’s wrong! Why isn’t Ms. Song scared of the Sirius Whip?

The thick aroma on her body swarmed my nostrils. I recognized that my consciousness was drifting away. I couldn’t control my body. Her sexy body and her flawless face were irresistible.

My body eventually reacted. I had forgotten every moral or ethic. I was surprised that I had ‘fallen’ to her tricks so easily.

What the heck is going on here?  I wanted to chant the sacred text of Daoism. However, at this moment, my brain went blank. I couldn’t recall a word of the sacred text. My head was now full of lustful, dirty images…

I couldn’t hold it anymore. I turned and put her under me. I started to attack her crazily.

However, right at this critical moment, my phone rang. My numb consciousness became clear for a moment.

I immediately took my phone out. My blurred vision couldn’t see the incoming call number. However, I could still figure out where the answer button was.

Li Mazi’s voice came from the other side. “Brother Zhang, where are you?”

“Ms. Song’s apartment,” I answered in a daze.

“Who’s there with you?” asked Li Mazi.

“Ms. Song,” I answered. “What’s wrong?”

"Don’t be scared. Listen to me,” Li Mazi continued. “I went to Ms. Song’s villa and I heard her voice. She was screaming for help. I’m standing right outside her villa and I can still hear her calling for help. You… You should quickly escape that place and meet me at the villa.”

“Okay.” Although my heart was beating fast, I answered him calmly then hung up.

Ms. Song wanted to hold my neck. She was groaning inaudibly.

I tried to read the sacred text of Daoism. Then, my lost consciousness returned to me.

I got up from Ms. Song’s body. I didn’t try to be a gentleman. Instead, I used the Sirius Whip and hit this shameless Ms. Song. “Give me the key.”

Ms. Song was dumbstruck under my lash. She dropped her jaw. “Y-You…”

“I’m so sorry, I like men,” I told her. “Li Mazi is my lover.”

“Impossible, impossible…” Ms. Song looked at me with disbelieving eyes.

She was bewildered and stared at me. I didn’t bother to discuss with her. I directly searched for the key under her short grown. I opened the door then left.

I had actually wanted to bring her to the villa with me to see if we could find the real Ms. Song.

If we found the real one as well, we could make the two talk face-to-face.

However, I quickly erased that thought. This woman wasn’t afraid of the Sirius Whip. It would be hard for us to defend ourselves, let alone dealing with her.

It was good enough that I could escape safely.

Eventually, I walked out safe and sound. She didn’t chase after me but laid there, mumbling, “Why? Why?”

It was as if me being gay was even harder to explain than the existence of UFOs.

I didn’t dare to take the elevator. Right now, I was somewhat afraid of shining things that could reflect images.

I ran down ten floors in one breath. When I got to the bottom, I was out of breath. However, I didn’t bump into any danger or obstacles. There were only a few people waiting for the elevator. They looked strangely at me because I wasn’t using the elevator but the stairs instead.

After I got out of the building, I called a taxi, heading to Ms. Song’s villa.

Li Mazi was waiting for me at the door. After seeing me, he greeted me with some complaints about me being late.

“It’s already a miracle that I could come here. What happened? Did you call the police?”

Li Mazi forced a smile. “What should I report to the police? That someone inside the villa is screaming? What if they arrest me for making a false alarm?”

Li Mazi had a point. I couldn’t do anything but to leave the police for later. I approached the villa and carefully listened.

Indeed, I heard a feeble voice. It was calling for help from the villa.

I took a deep breath and grabbed the Sirius Whip. Then, I gently knocked on the door.

I didn’t expect to find the door unlocked. As soon as I knocked on it, it opened by itself.

The moment the door squeaked open, a strange, evil wind blew out from the inside. The gust of wind brought some stench. I immediately recognized it was the smell of a corpse.

“Ms. Song?” I frowned and called at the door. But nobody answered me. I brought Li Mazi in. We searched around the house.

The deeper we entered the house, the thicker the pungent smell had become. It was so bad that I couldn’t breathe.

Where is this corpse smell coming from? I can smell something burning, too. 

I ran to the kitchen. But there was no sign of a stove being used.

Li Mazi was worried that some dead body was inside. He thought that we were in the house without a convincing reason. He pulled me to leave.

I also thought that it wasn’t good to get deep in this and agreed to leave. Before leaving, we needed to think of a way to make the police notice the situation here.

However, when we came to the door, we heard a thudding sound. It seemed something had just fallen. I even heard the water dripping.

I halted and turned around to check. There was nothing strange.

Then, a bizarre wind blew out from the bathroom. The stench of the corpse came from the bathroom.

I exchanged looks with Li Mazi and pointed to the bathroom. Li Mazi picked up a mop from the ground. He was ready to go in and check with me.

As soon as Li Mazi picked up the mop, I saw blood on it and felt scared. Although someone had washed it with water, there was still a lot of blood, which was really frightening.

Li Mazi was scared and threw the mop aside. He pulled out a pair of gloves and put them on. Then, he tried to rub the mop. He was afraid that he would leave some fingerprints, which would cause the police to suspect him.

I walked with Li Mazi, and together, we stepped towards the bathroom.

As soon as we were near, I was shocked. I saw a puddle of a thick, dark liquid. Soon after, we saw a block of something that was burnt. It was lying on the ground and was oozing the dark liquid. There was some foam covering that thing.

I was attracted to that thing. While I was about to go closer to check it out, Li Mazi screamed, “Oh shoot, oh shoot! RUN!”

Then, he grabbed my arm and dashed out of the villa.

Although I didn’t know what had scared Li Mazi out of his wits, if it made him that scared, I was sure it was something I couldn’t deal with. That was why I followed him and ran away.

When we got out, I stopped and looked at Li Mazi nervously. “What did you see back there?”

Li Mazi said, “Ms. Song is dead. She was skinned and was hanging on the ceiling fan…”

What the…

My scalp went numb. I looked at Li Mazi in the eyes. “Are you sure?”