Otherworldly Merchant

This time, we didn’t earn a dime, and we were already struggling to find the money for Chu Chu’s treatment.

Li Mazi was really worried. He had stayed in Beijing’s Panjiayuan Market all day in hopes of bumping into a rich man that needed some business.

I was also anxious and put up an advertisement in the circle. As long as we could earn money, we were willing to do anything, even if it was dangerous!

However, the day after I had put up the advertisement, Chuyi dropped in and transferred one million renminbi to Chu Chu’s bank account. Li Mazi and I gawked in awe. We didn’t think that Chuyi was that rich.

Chuyi asked me, “Did you put up the advertisement?”

“I did.”

“I took it down. I don’t want you guys to do that again. If someone sees it and comes up with bad intentions, they will make you guys solve a dangerous case. You will be screwed if that happens.”

I sighed helplessly. “I did it because I was desperate.”

“Do you want to go to the Northeast? I have a former client who works in forestry. He has a problem and needs help,” said Chuyi.

He didn’t have the time to help the client and he thought of us.

Li Mazi didn’t hesitate. “Yes, we’ll go! After we solve it, I’ll pay you back your money.”

Chuyi shook his head and said, “Just consider it as a gift from me.”

I was speechless. How rich is he? It was just a gift but it had seven zeros!

Li Mazi also gawked in disbelief. Chuyi gave us a card and told us to contact the client directly.

“If you have any problem, just call me.” Then, Chuyi left.

Li Mazi and I looked at each other. We felt like losers in front of him.

If this was a job Chuyi had arranged for us, of course, we would try our best to complete it. Otherwise, we would ruin his reputation. I immediately hit the numbers on my phone.

The person on the other end of the line was a typical man living in the Northeast. He had a rough and loud voice. “Who is it?”

“Chuyi introduced you to me,” I explained. “I’m an otherworldly merchant.”

After hearing my introduction, the person changed his tone into a more respectful one. “Sir, where are you now? I’m going to send someone to welcome you. We need to hurry to save people. Several people have died around here…”

“Send me your address. We’ll depart now,” I said immediately.

The man agreed and asked us to come over as soon as possible. He promised to give us a big reward after we solved the case.

Li Mazi and I didn’t hesitate and directly hit the road. The client was a businessman who worked in the forestry industry in Xingan Ridge. From his business card, his lumberyard seemed to thrive well as he had even had business deals in Thailand.

We took a flight to Heilongjiang. The man had sent a car to fetch us.

The car was a Hummer and the driver was talkative. He told us that it wasn’t easy to travel through the forest. If he drove a common Sedan, it would overturn itself soon.

The driver took us all the way to a town outside Xingan Ridge. We finally met our client in an average-looking tavern.

A beefy Northeastern man warmly welcomed us as soon as he saw us.

His name was Lin Longshan and he was a native who grew up in the forest. He had followed his father in the forestry business. He had started the company by himself, and it had gone from a small lumberyard to a big export and trading company…

Of course, he didn’t forget to brag. Li Mazi and I listened patiently.

Eventually, Li Mazi went straight to the matter. “Sir, could you tell us what kind of odd event you’ve encountered?”

Lin Longshan gulped and waved his hand to dismiss the others. Then, he said mysteriously, “Lately, an executioner has appeared in my lumberyard.”

“An executioner?” I was surprised. “Why didn’t you report this to the police?”

“Report to the police?” Lin Longshan smiled embarrassedly. “Please listen to me first.”

I recognized how blunt I was when I said that. If he reported to the police, the compensation he had to pay could make him vomit blood.

It turned out that a worker at Lin Longshan’s lumberyard had died due to a big tree falling on him. Lin Longshan gave his family some compensation then decided to bury the deceased near the lumberyard.

However, while digging the pit, they accidentally unearthed a weird-looking statue. It was a statue of a headless person whose hands and feet had been tied. At first glance, it looked like a decapitated prisoner.

As they all thought it was a sign of bad luck, they hoisted the statue up and threw it away before burying the body.

However, something happened that night.

Around midnight, an old guard working at the lumberyard went out to pee. All of a sudden, he shouted, “Zou San'er? How is this possible?!”

After his shout, everything turned silent.

His scream had woken up many people. They went to check things out, and they saw that the old guard was lying in a pool of blood. His head had been cut off with a clear and neat cut. It was caused by some sharp weapon.

The people were frightened and hid into their sheds. They all believed that the man who died in the morning had come back to life because Zou San'er was his name!

What happened was very strange. Lin Longshan decided to investigate. He thought that Zou San'er didn’t actually die and that he had crawled out of his grave to take revenge.

With that thought, he brought the people to where they had buried Zou San'er. When they got there, they found the beheaded statue they had thrown away earlier, sitting right above Zou San'er’s grave!

Lin Longshan was now even more sure that it was Zou San'er’s doing. He decided to unearth his body.

However, when they dug up Zou San'er’s body, they gawked in shock. Zou San'er’s head was nowhere to be found. His corpse posed in a kneeling position, which was similar to the statue.

Lin Longshan was terrified. He asked the men to bury the body one more time. Then, he went to town and hired two shamans. They performed dancing rituals to expel the evil spirits and eventually burned the headless bodies of Zou San'er and the old guard.

At first, it worked. There were no strange phenomena or activities at the lumberyard. Everything was back to normal.

However, it didn’t last long. After three days, something strange happened again.

A worker went to the bathroom at night with a flashlight, where he saw two people squatting.

He recognized the clothes they were wearing. It was what Zou San'er and the old guard had worn before they died! They turned to the light of the flashlight, and a faint voice came from the decapitated bodies. “All of you will die.”

After declaring the threat, they vanished into thin air.

The lumber worker stumbled and ran back to his shed. He woke up all the workers and told them what he had just seen in the toilet. They didn’t really believe him, so they personally rushed to the toilet to check.

There was nothing in the washroom. The crowd then teased the lumber worker for being a coward. But all of a sudden, someone screamed, “Zhi Qiang, why are you kneeling there?”

They went to check and saw one of the slumber workers kneeling on the ground. He had a scary smile over his face.

Some brave workers went and called him. However, the guy kept kneeling on the ground with a blank face. No matter how loudly the others called him, he didn’t move.

Everybody noticed the strange situation. They wanted to go to their sheds and enshrine a statue of Grandma Huangsan to expel the evil spirits.

Grandma Huangsan was one of the ‘Five Immortals’ the Northeastern people had been worshipping. She was considered to be very powerful, especially in the deep forest.

However, as soon as they dispersed, someone with sharp eyes spotted a strange phenomenon. The man stuttered and called the people to look at the washroom wall.

In the next moment, everyone became scared. Their faces turned pale, and they almost shrieked in fright!