Otherworldly Merchant

After I reached Ms. Song’s apartment building, I hesitated a little before knocking on her door.

Shortly after, an unkempt woman came to open the door. She reeked of alcohol. If it wasn’t for her voice, I could hardly believe that the beggar-like woman in front of me was the luxuriously dressing Ms. Song from the past.

I was startled by her appearance. “Ms. Song, are you okay?”

Ms. Song looked panic-stricken. She took us into her house then quickly closed the door. Then, she sprinkled a lot of cinnabar at her door before sighing with relief. She was so flustered she almost cried.

Li Mazi lowered his voice. “Little Brother Zhang, what happened to this woman? She said she wanted to invite us to dinner, but her house is a mess. I’m sorry, but I’ve lost my appetite.”

I shook my head as I didn’t have a clue, either.

Ms. Song made us two cups of tea and sat across from us. “Is there anybody following you?”

“No. You should tell us what happened to you.”

“The Parasitic Ghost King... Do you know what it is?” Ms. Song hurried to ask.

“The Parasitic Ghost King?” Li Mazi and I asked in unison. How did she come with this name all of a sudden?

I knew the Parasitic Ghost King. A Ghost King, as its name suggested, was a sort of intimidating ghost. If we categorized ghosts, we roughly could divide them into three levels. There were upper, intermediate, and low levels.

The common lonely and resentful souls that couldn’t reincarnate would eventually become Ghost Kings.

Since the required conditions to create a Ghost King were extremely harsh, the chances of encountering one were really low. It was even smaller than the chances of winning the lottery. That was why for years, people couldn’t verify if such a ghost still existed.

Since Ms. Song had just mentioned the Parasitic Ghost King, there should be some otherworldly item that involved a Ghost King. If so, I wouldn’t be able to handle this!

“Ms. Song, could you elaborate?” I asked the woman.

Nervously, Ms. Song started to strip off her clothes.

I was so angry that my face turned purple. “Are you tired of living?! Do you think this is the time to flirt with men? If you don’t stop, we'll leave!”

Ms. Song waved her hands continuously. “No, don’t misunderstand. I want to show you something.”

Then, she took off her shirt. Her skin was bright and soft as if it could be broken with a blow of the wind. It was very tender.

Even if she uses milk to bathe every day, she shouldn’t have such smooth and firm skin! 

Li Mazi turned his head to one side. He didn’t dare to look at Ms. Song.

Ms. Song slowly turned around and showed us her back.

I was speechless. Ms. Song’s smooth back had a spot of wrinkled skin. It was shaped like an oval and looked like a face.

Furthermore, that oval face had what seemed to be eyes, a nose, and a mouth. I could even see some fine hair above its forehead.

I looked at the face in disbelief.

It was actually a human face. The more I looked at it, the more familiar it was!

I pulled Li Mazi and gestured at him to look at Ms. Song’s back.

Li Mazi gasped then pointed at Ms. Song. “This face… Isn’t this your face? How come you have two faces?”

Ms. Song said, “You should use the bronze mirror to check.”

My heart started to beat fast. When Li Mazi said that the face on her back was exactly like herself, I was shocked.

Sure enough, Li Mazi was right. That face and Ms. Song looked really alike! Although it hadn’t been developed fully, its form and facial features resembled Ms. Song’s.

I used the bronze mirror to check the face, and I couldn’t help but gulp.

The bronze mirror wasn’t like a modern glass mirror. The face in the mirror was a little blurry.

However, in the blurry mirror, the face turned more three-dimensional. It was actually Ms. Song’s face with bulging eyes. A cold sneer hung on the face’s mouth. It was really frightening.

At this moment, I seemed to understand what had happened. I sneered then put the bronze mirror back on the table. I said, “Ms. Song, what attracted you so much, that you didn’t even hesitate to kill your own sister to get it?”

Ms. Song turned gloomy and absentmindedly put her clothes on. “You… knew?”

“It’s as clear as day. How could I not know?” I shouted sharply.

In order to create a Parasitic Ghost King, the victim’s closest family member had to torture her to death. Then, she would take her soul out of her body. This way, it would make the soul strong and full of resentful energy.

However, this was just the first step.

One then needed to nurture the soul in the body of the victim’s closest family member. It was best if it was the victim’s twin sister or brother since their date and time of birth were almost the same. The souls wouldn’t reject each other but would slowly fuse. Eventually, it would become a rare twin soul.

The final step was to use some evil magic to refine the twin soul to create a Ghost King!

During this process, there was one item that played the most important role: the bronze mirror. Since this mirror could affect people's souls, it was like surgical glasses that doctors used when operating on a patient.

This pair of twin sisters had been tricked.

I patiently explained this to Ms. Song. She had tears all over her face. “It’s my fault. It’s because of my greed! That man told me that after the thing was done, we would take my sister’s wealth and live together! He never told me that it would take my sister’s life! I’m begging you. Please save my sister! I’m so sorry...”

I burst out laughing. “You don’t have a brain, do you? Do you think that after you’ve obtained your sister’s wealth, that man would still stay with you? You’re also part of his plan, you’re bound to die.”

Ms. Song wiped her tears. “I suspected that much. That’s why I’ve come to you for help.”

I took a deep breath. “All right. First, you have to tell me everything. I’ll see if I can help you. You must tell me everything about the bronze mirror, including its origin.”

Ms. Song nodded. “I will. I will tell you everything.”

It turned out the real Ms. Song was dead. This woman was Ms. Song’s twin sister, Song Yushu.

Their parents had divorced when they were really young. Song Yushu lived with her father while Ms. Song lived with her mother. However, after her mother passed away, Ms. Song went to Beijing alone to work. Eventually, she earned her wealth and achievements.

At the same time, Song Yushu’s father was an alcoholic gambler. Eventually, he dirtied his hands with drugs, and he ended up in jail.

Song Yushu had no place to go and didn’t have any skill. Eventually, she decided to go to Beijing and live with Ms. Song.

Ms. Song was really happy when her sister came to live with her. She treated her very well.

However, as time went by, more and more disputes burst out between them.

Ms. Song had been establishing her career in Beijing for years. She didn’t depend on other people and made her own decisions. She was a strong woman. On the other hand, Song Yushu lived with her father and had learned bad habits from him. She asked for money and went to bars. She had fun all night long.

Ms. Song was displeased. She often talked to Song Yushu and asked her to find a decent job. If she couldn’t do anything else, she could still work like a WeChat saleswoman like her. The income would be enough for her monthly expenses.

Song Yushu did that. However, all of her money was wasted at restaurants, bars, and on men. Eventually, she found a handsome gigolo and told her sister that she wanted to marry the man.

Ms. Song exploded in rage. She disdained this sort of leeching men. She had a big fight with Song Yushu.

Song Yushu thought that Ms. Song looked down on her. She persistently left the house. However, after she left the house, she started to experience how horrible and difficult it was to be homeless. She understood her sister’s intentions but she couldn’t put her ego aside to return home.

Ms. Song tried to find Song Yushu. However, Beijing was a big city. How could she find her sister so easily?

When Song Yushu almost collapsed and had to sleep on the street, she bumped into a rich and handsome man in an Internet coffee shop. That rich man treated Song Yushu well. He looked like a responsible man and he didn’t regret spending money on her.

Of course, there was no such good thing in this world. After spending a lot of money on Song Yushu, he told her that his company recently encountered problems with turnover. He wanted to borrow Song Yushu’s money to overcome the situation.

Song Yushu didn’t have a single cent on her. However, after seeing her beloved man’s depressed face, she decided to ask her sister for money.

When she told her rich, handsome boyfriend her idea, he told her that he was afraid he would need to use all of Ms. Song’s properties to help his company. Of course, Ms. Song wouldn’t agree to let them borrow all of her money.

In the end, the handsome boyfriend came up with a solution. At first, they would deceive her in taking the money. When his company returned back to normal, he would pay back double the amount to Ms. Song.

Although Song Yushu wasn’t willing, she couldn’t stand to see her boyfriend begging. She agreed in the end.

The man immediately asked Song Yushu to give the mirror to Ms. Song. He told her it was a birthday gift. It happened to be their birthday so this gift was given easily.

When Ms. Song saw the mirror, she was pleased. Then, she gave Song Yushu a car that cost five hundred thousand renminbi. That was why Ms. Song told us she had bought the mirror at the price of five hundred thousand renminbi.

Ever since she gave Ms. Song the mirror, Song Yushu suddenly realized that her rich, handsome boyfriend had disappeared from her life. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t contact him.

Then, everything unfolded the way her boyfriend had planned. As time passed by, Song Yushu recognized that her thoughts were controlled. She had cruelly murdered Ms. Song in the villa, skinned her, and burned her corpse…

After listening to the whole story, I sighed. I pitied Ms. Song. She was murdered for so little and turned into a resentful ghost.

Song Yushu was really malicious, and she had even used such vile methods to deal with her twin sister!