Otherworldly Merchant

Senior Shu said, “What else could it be? It’s corpse toxin, of course.”

“Corpse toxin?” I was speechless. “The toxin from a zombie?”

“Your knowledge of otherworldly items all comes from Hong Kong movies, eh?” Senior Shu said in a mocking tone. “You think that only zombie can produce corpse toxin? If it had been the extreme corpse toxin from a zombie, he would have become a zombie and bit you badly by now…”

I smiled awkwardly. “Yeah, I’m not that much of an expert!”

“This injury could be made by an otherworldly item,” Senior Shu told me as he was treating Li Mazi’s wound.

“The otherworldly item that caused the death of Mu Wan’s previous husbands?” I was startled. “Sir, do you mean that she’s been dooming her previous husbands on purpose by using some special method? Do you mean it has nothing to do with an otherworldly item?”

Senior Shu smiled disdainfully. “Well, I thought that you were dumb before, but it was an understatement, I guess. If she used some special method to kill her previous husbands, then that’s not dooming them. That would be murder. If it was a murder crime, I would be able to tell immediately.”

I was more embarrassed and felt like an ignorant student in front of Senior Shu.

As soon as Senior Shu started talking, it seemed he could not stop. He kept mumbling, “Why would Chuyi want to help you? You’re dumb, ugly, and poor. More importantly, you’re a man…”

It seemed I was that pathetic in Senior Shu’s eyes. I was both angry and annoyed, but I had no choice but to listen to him as I watched Li Mazi.

Senior Shu used something stinky. It was a chunk of a feces-like substance. He smeared it over Li Mazi’s wound. Then, he stuck a dirty plaster on it. After everything was done, he sat down directly on the ground. His face looked exhausted.

“Senior Shu, is this your family’s herbal plaster? It looks quite dirty, though. Won’t it infect the wound?”

Senior Shu laughed at my question. “It is my ancestral-imparted secret treatment. You can’t buy it, even if you have money. How about the price of one hundred thousand renminbi? I’ll sell the recipe to you for this price.”

I immediately became interested. It would be really nice and profitable to be able to buy a secret recipe with only one hundred thousand renminbi. “Senior Shu, what kind of diseases can this secret medicine cure?”

“It won’t be able to cure the flu or fever. However, this thing can eliminate corpse toxin and Yin energy. If you swallow it, you can hide your human aura in front of ghosts or monsters. Isn’t it excellent?”

It was excellent for sure! However, I didn’t have any money with me.

Senior Shu was generous enough to let me have it as long as I wrote him a note of debt. “You can pay me whenever you want. I actually don’t need the money right away. I just enjoyed doing business.”

However, when I looked at the recipe, I thought I was deceived. The sticky thing that looked like feces was actually feces! However, it wasn’t some turd from normal people. It was the turd from someone who had died the moment Yin energy was thickest. Also, it was extracted from such a body within forty-eight hours after death.

The plaster wasn’t normal, either. It was a shroud strip that had wrapped around a dead, two-week-old infant…

I felt nauseous for Li Mazi. If Li Mazi knew the truth, he would retch his stomach from the inside out.

Although these things were gross, they worked. After one hour of being unconscious, Li Mazi woke up. He looked drowsy and asked me, “What happened? I felt like someone hit me with a stick.”

“It’s all right. The drip bottle fell and accidentally hit your neck,” I told him.

Although Li Mazi looked doubtful, he didn’t ask much. “Is Chu Chu okay?”

“She’s okay.”

Li Mazi felt his neck sore and went to the mirror to check. “Hey, how did I get this ragged strip that looks like a shroud on my neck? This hospital is so fraudulent! They didn’t even use a clean bandage on me!”

Then he went to find someone to talk to. However, I stopped him. “Well, it was free. How could something that is free be good enough?”

Senior Shu didn’t leave and said that he wanted to go with us to Chaonei No. 81 tonight.

However, we had waited until 11 PM and Senior Shu still hadn’t mentioned a word about Chaonei No. 81. Feeling helpless, I asked him, “Senior Shu, when will we depart?”

Senior Shu lowered his voice, “Wait, someone will bring us there. Don’t panic when it happens.”

I was skeptical. Chuyi hadn’t returned yet. Who would take us there?

While I was still twisting about this, Senior Shu nudged me and motioned me to look at Li Mazi.

I turned to see Li Mazi. The man was sleeping and drooling.

I was about to approach him and wake him up. However, Senior Shu grabbed me. “Don’t move. Let’s see what Li Mazi wants to do.”

“What can he even do? He’s dozing off,” I told Senior Shu.

“Are you sure?” Senior Shu sneered oddly as he stared at Li Mazi.

From the reflection in Senior Shu’s eyes, I saw Li Mazi wiggle then jolt up.

I was frightened and immediately looked at him.

Sure enough, Li Mazi got up from his chair. His eyes were closed. Senior Shu motioned me to look at Li Mazi’s feet. Li Mazi was touching the ground with only the tips of his feet. He trembled several times but quickly became steady on his feet.

“A ghost is possessing him!” I was aghast.

Senior Shu got up. He opened Li Mazi’s coat and took out a black talisman from his pocket. He spat saliva on it and glued it onto Li Mazi’s chest. Then, he closed the man’s coat.

Li Mazi looked as if he didn’t sense anything. With his eyes closed, he trembled then headed out of the room.

Senior Shu and I followed him.

Although Li Mazi’s eyes were closed, he could still recognize the way. After walking around some obstacles, he headed to the back door of the hospital.

Senior Shu and I followed closely behind him.

I was fearful. “Senior Shu, will Li Mazi encounter some trouble?”

“Don’t worry. Chuyi has everything planned. This is part of his plan, too.”

After hearing Chuyi’s name, my worries were lifted.

Then, Li Mazi staggered all the way to a bus that was headed toward Chaonei No. 81.

I brought Senior Shu to my car and followed the bus to Chaonei No. 81.

When the bus stopped, Li Mazi got out of the vehicle. His eyes were still closed. He walked into the haunted house.

It was the second time I was here, and I found Chaonei No. 81 much more terrifying this time! Vines covered the old, cracked walls. The window glass was shattered. Strange and evil winds sometimes blew through the cracks, creating wuthering sounds as though someone was weeping mournfully.

I couldn’t help but recall the scenes from the movie “The House That Never Dies.” There were scenes of so many dead corpses hung in the halls, and a faceless little girl walked around the house…

Only humans could scare humans to death.

Senior Shu and I found a place to hide. We then watched Li Mazi walk like a soulless corpse. He walked to the haunted mansion and gently knocked on the worn-out, tattered door.

The entrance to the house had lost one of its door leaves. He could have easily walked through the entrance. However, he still patiently knocked on the door.

My heart was so tense that I couldn’t move my eyes away from him. I wondered what would happen next.

Then, a cold hand patted my back.

I was almost petrified. I turned around and saw Chuyi.

He signaled me not to talk then squatted next to me. He watched Li Mazi’s movements.

After he had knocked on the door, the door opened from the inside. A slender woman wearing red clothes stood there.

It was Mu Wan.

Mu Wan spoke gently, “You’re here?” Li Mazi gave her a slight nod. Then, the two held hands and walked into the house.

I paled because now I knew that Mu Wan had done something to Li Mazi. I urged Chuyi to seize the time and charge in.

However, he didn’t agree but took out a pure white, small snake from his pocket. He put the reptile on the ground. Then, his fingers made strange symbols. Eventually, he placed his fingers on the heart of the white snake.

The small snake wiggled on the ground in pain. In the end, it didn’t move. It lay stiff as if it was dead.

Chuyi stretched two fingers, which he used to cut the snake’s stomach. He took its bile out. He wanted to press the bile on my forehead.

Instinctively, I wanted to avoid it. Chuyi told me, “This snake bile will suppress your Yang energy. It will help you hide.”

Senior Shu half-joked to me, “If you don’t like the snake bile, you can swallow some of my secret ancestral-imparted treatment for free.”

After each of us had some dabs of snake bile on our foreheads, Chuyi led us to the haunted house.

Under the cold moonlight, the gloomy, ghostly house became more haunting and terrifying.

I didn’t know why but as soon as I entered the house, I felt that something was following me. When I turned my head to check, I saw a shadow flash and disappear. I wondered if it was just an illusion.

Some rooms in this haunted mansion still had curtains and glass chandeliers. Many white silk ropes hung from the ceiling. When the wind blew, the silk ropes began to sway and billow. It made us feel strange and shudder.

Chuyi didn’t give us time to linger. He brought us to the stairs. We needed to go to the higher floor.

I tried to search for Li Mazi. I didn’t see him anywhere and assumed Mu Wan had taken him to the top floor.

The roof was a dangerous place. If Mu Wan wanted to kill him, she could just push him off from the roof. Even if he didn’t die, he would become disabled.

Soon, we went all the way to the top of the building. However, we didn’t go up to the roof but hid at the stairwell instead, monitoring the situation.

I saw Li Mazi.

Li Mazi and Mu Wan sat at a table on the roof of the mansion. They said nothing and just looked at each other’s eyes.

I was confused. What the heck are they doing up there? Are they getting to know each other? 

Soon, I realized that something was wrong. The table had many chairs, one next to another. I counted seven of them.

“One, two, three, four, five…” All of a sudden, Mu Wan started to count with her mild voice.

I was perplexed. What is she counting?

When she counted ‘five’ the cold smile on Mu Wan face turned clearer. She looked at Li Mazi.

Li Mazi spoke in an icy cold voice, “Six.”

“Um, six. That’s enough.” Mu Wan said. “Darling, I’m tired. We should rest.”

Li Mazi nodded gently. “Good, we should rest.”

Then, Li Mazi stood up and carried Mu Wan. He placed her on the table. He was about to undress Mu Wan’s red dress.

Mu Wan gave him an alluring smile. She raised her hand to stop Li Mazi. Then, she actively pulled down Li Mazi’s pants and used her hand to help him.

I gawked and dropped my jaw in shock. Holy moly, what does she want to do? 

I was restless and asked Chuyi. “Are we not going out to help him now? Li Mazi will be killed sooner or later!”

Chuyi calmed me down. “Just watch. I want to see what Mu Wan wants to do.”